a photo update





 Maddy has discovered the bicycle is way better than the tricycle. And don't worry, she normally does wear a helmet . . .!



 

Yes, a coat, dress, jean shorts and cowboy boots was her outfit of choice for our outing to Uncle Cody's - on a Sunday afternoon in August! 



 

 We ran into Maddy's long lost best friend Lyla at a birthday party. Lyla's mom isn't working anymore. We miss her at preschool.

Performed a concert "Up Close with Lex de  Azevedo" this past week. What a wonderful experience. 12 year performing with such a talented composer has truly been a blessing.
 



Yup. Countertops. Not a great picture so don't bother enlarging it - I'll have to blog a better photo later 

 

Maddy and the two boys from around the corner decided to have a punch fight. They went through a brand new package or two of Squeeze Its. Maddy must have had the "cool raspberry" or something since the boys were blue.

 



A selfie at the pool. Tyra would be impressed with me for practicing my "inhale"





Maddy's crazy hair from this morning. How in the world does she manage to do that in one night ?!!!?

 

The Great Kitchen Remodel



The Kitchen when we moved in in 2006

Well, it has begun – The Great Kitchen Remodel. Over the past week I’ve been cleaning out and boxing up the kitchen, making piles for DI, throwing out junk, and generally getting ready for Scott to tear out the old 1970’s kitchen. While I will miss having a usable kitchen for an undetermined amount of time, I will not miss the yellow sink, the fake butcher block laminate counter tops or the cabinets that are mysteriously pulling away from the wall (are they sinking?).

We've done some work in the kitchen. As you may remember, we turned the laundry closet into a walk-in pantry and "mud room". We also built a bump out into the garage to house the refrigerator.

Yesterday I came home to no upper cabinets. I’m getting a bit excited. We’ve had the double ovens for about 5 years now, the new gas stove for 4, a new refrigerator for about a year, the dishwasher for a week and base cabinets arrive today. Scott’s got to lay some tile soon so the fun, yet difficult, task of choosing paint, tile, backsplash and the basic design-scheme begins.

St. Patrick's Day

 Happy Saint Patrick's Day

 We had corned beef and cabbage for dinner. We wore our green shirts. We painted fingernails (or toes for Maddy) green. Our milk turned green. Maddy got the hiccups and told me "the leprechauns said, 'it's time for Madelyn's hiccups to come'" 

It was a lovely day until . . .

Oh, this little Leprechaun is in trouble!!!

spaghetti- again

Boy this girl loves spaghetti! She is getting to be such a fun little person - well, except for today when whe was arching her back and thowing a fit at BestBuy. I attribute that to two (or maybe even three) teeth coming in. Oh, my darling!

I vow

I decided on Saturday that I needed to help Scott to feel less stressed and to be more happy (he hates his job, he does the bills, he hasn't climbed Mt. Everest yet). I can't really do anything to change any of those specific things, but, I decided that I could work a little bit harder to make our home a more comfortable and happy place to be.

I have been allowing the house (kitchen especially) to stay piggy all the time. My excuse was that since the house is in an unfinished state, there was really no point in keeping it tidy. After all, does it look any better to have the kitchen table cleared of junk if the wall behind it didn't even have Sheetrock on it? Does having the sink void of dishes make a difference if the countertop has pulled away from the wall by a whole inch (really, it is! come look !)?

Well, I've decided that actually - yes, it does make a difference. I think that we will both be happier if there is order in our home. I vowed to try harder EVERY DAY to clean up the kitchen and to pick up the laundry on the bedroom floor. I want to keep the toys put away in the living room and Maddy's floor even if they will only be pulled out the very next day. I'm tired of apologizing for the state of my home when people unexpectedly drop by. I don't want to be okay with my house being messy because "I work a full time job and have a new baby".

So, there you have it. My commitment to try a little bit harder to be a good housewife even if it means not watching America's Next Top Model until next Saturday and even if it means not going to bed with Scott at 10:00 because I have to stay up a bit later to get a load of dishes and laundry going.

Let's see how long this spell can last! :)

messes

The picture is fuzzy but hopefully you can see the mess I found last night. I put Maddy in her bed with a bottle. After about 5 minutes she started crying and I figured she must have dropped it so I went in to help her out. She was soaked!!! Her clothes, the whole back of her head - I thought she had had a major throw-up moment. I took her in to Scott in the living room and noticed that her front was all dry. That didn't really make sense if she had thrown up. I went back in and found her bottle. Can you see it in the picture? She had somehow twisted the nipple around and leaked milk all over herself. Unfortunately, that meant a bath and a change of sheets and she didn't get to bed till 9. And I had to do another bottle because based on how wet she was, I figured she didn't get much of the last one!