My "little" Girl- the past three months

It has been WAY too long since I have last posted. I have been the worst blogger mommy the past three months. I am so sorry M (and those of you who actually follow this blog. Ha!) But here is a well, not so brief update.

December:

December flew by. Between my clients and Josh's band competing in the Fiesta Bowl, we ended 2010 with our heads in a fog. Promising each other that we won't do that again next December since we barely got to enjoy Christmas. Good thing Josh's parents and grandparents came to visit so we had a reason/excuse to not work as hard. We had a ton of fun with them. We went to the band competition, the boys went to the Insight Bowl and Fiesta Bowl, and the girls went shopping. Most of all we just hung out as a family It was fun! Here are some pictures of the visit.



Here is M opening her first gift on Christmas Eve:


And here is M kissing grandpa:


January:

Start to a new year. Life is good!

For Ari's birthday, we took her to As You Wish to paint pottery. She is a VERY good artist. So this was the perfect gift. While there Madelyn got to paint her birthday plate. Now she has a special plate to eat her cake off of every year!



My little vocalist:


Being a goof ball:


February:

Well, you already know we started February with a new niece. That was super exciting. We are actually flying to see her next week. Yay!! M said Tayten almost immediately. But of course I couldn't get it on video. So here she is kissing and saying hi to her.



I was also trilled when M put her shoes on for the first time all be herself. Again, this never happens on video. But this was pretty funny. Warning: nudity.




And her all time most annoying/most promising thing to do, play piano.


And some pics.



Well, that's the last three months in a nutshell. I feel like our little girl is growing up so fast. And she is so much fun to be around. I guess I am just loving being with her more than blogging. Yep. I can blame it on that. :o)

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN????

I have no clue. Just kidding. I know what we have been up to but it will just make me head spin to recap it all. In all, life is good and 2011 is shaping up to be a great year!

That being said, I am writing to announce that we have a new niece. Tayten Faith Thye was born yesterday 2.1.11, 7 pounds, 12 oz, 19 inches long. She is adorable, and I am a little partial to babies being born on the first of the month! In fact, I found it really hard not to be there to bombard Hillary and Jake with hugs and kisses (mainly because I want to hold that baby!) And of course I am so happy for Jake and Hill. I can't wait until Mad, Josh and I get to visit in March. It will be a nice trip. And M needs to learn that mommy can hold other babies or we are going to have issues around here!

So here's to my new little niece. I pray you stay as perfect and precious as you are today. Love you!!

What we are thankful for...

After a great Thanksgiving weekend with the fam (me, Josh and Mad) I had to write about how thankful I am to have them in my life. This past weekend was the first "time off" that Josh and I have had. No football games, no weddings, no band competitions, no meetings, just time together. We held Thanksgiving at our house so Josh and I cleaned Thursday morning, while I cooked. The Josh and I cleaned again Thursday night, then sat and watched some TV. Nothing super special, but it felt so nice. Then, as usual, I went Black Friday shopping with my mom and Regan and came home to a bare Christmas tree. While I decorated the tree and the inside of the house, Josh did the outside lights. Again, this is something we do year after year (now almost 8). The rest of the weekend went pretty fast. We lazed around. Watched football, ate dinner with friends, and I sang at church. Again, these are things we do all the time. But what I don't do all the time is sit back and reflect. I did today. I was sad that Josh had to go back to work. We had such a great time with him for four full days! But I was happy that I have my little girl to keep me company. She was very needy today (I think she is teething again) and just wanted to cuddle. I couldn't have spent a cold wintry day any other way. I so often get caught up in what is going on around me and the "things" I need to do, that I rarely stop and just take in the moment. Once I do that, I am reminded that there are few things in life that will matter in the end. I got to speak with a dear friend of mine this morning and she reminded me that most people do not look back on life and say they wish they cleaned more, or worked more. But they do wish they spent more time with family, with their kids, etc. She was telling me that her goal is just to have a peaceful home. I like that goal. As always, I am going to let that give me perspective. I also just want to have a God perspective. There is so much in this world that I am blind too because I am so drowning in my everyday life. I need to lift myself out of it and be thankful for what I have or enjoy what I have. Whatever it is... Anyway, so that is what I am thankful for. I am thankful that God has put good friends in my life to remind me of what really matters. And then I have a daughter who forces me to slow down. And I have moments with my husband that I cherish and keep me wanting more. I am so blessed. I am so thankful!

Speaking of thankful, a huge thank you to Gretchen for taking our family pictures again this year. xoxoxo

This shot was not working out so well...

I think this was one of the first pictures we took. We should have just saved ourselves the frustration. Oh boy!
We had her pinned in with our legs. I am super surprise she smiled here. Usually she does NOT like it when you pin her down.
We brought Ella and Regan along so they could get some cute girl shots. And Gretchen captured them perfectly. Ella is in love with Madelyn. She always wants to hug and kiss her. Madelyn wants to do her own thing.
But they both like holding hands. Awwww...




And here is "tee tee" and Miss Ella.

I LOVE this last one!

First Trip to Disneyland

I know this is a little outdated, but it is too important to just not post it.

Over Halloween weekend Mad and I traveled with Josh and his band to California for their marching band competition. The trip just sounded too fun to pass up. I was very reminiscent about the year before when Dave, Cheri and I followed the band with little Miss Thye to the competition and Magic Mountain. We had fun, so I thought I would do it again. Plus, Halloween is not my favorite holiday so I thought going to Disneyland sounded much more fun than trick or treating.

Side note, Josh's band is awesome! They scored very well in California, placing 3rd. Which is really good against California schools, who just might place their children in marching band as soon as they can walk. They always seem to be SO good. And on another side note, the DV band just won the State Competition beating out all other schools in the state by 3 points! Which again, is FANTASTIC! Now we are anxiously awaiting their Fiesta Bowl competition on December 30th. I am praying they win that too. I like winning....

Anyway, back to Disneyland. Here is how our day went, so you know while you are watching the slide show. We were only there for six hours. But that was plenty with a 15 month old.
- Got to Disneyland and took the shuttle into the park.
- Mad was so excited once we were there, she ran around for like 10 minutes.
- We rode the carousel (which she did a year ago at Magic Mountain too).
- We rode Dumbo.
- We took the Storybook Land boat tour.
- We rode the Nemo submarine tour.
- She took a nap and Josh and I joined some other staff members for lunch.
- She woke up from her nap but still laid on Uncle Drew's shoulder for about 20 minutes.
- Then she didn't want to do anything but play with the flowers (as you will see by Drew's little photo shoot). I figured we were in the Happiest Place on Earth, so she might as well do what makes her happy.
- She did meet Mary Poppins while picking flowers. She didn't care much for Burt. He tried to give her flowers and she ran away, picked her own and then gave them to Mary Poppins. It was really cute!

Boo at the Zoo

October Videos

We just got done spending Fall Break with daddy. Unfortunately it started with Josh and Madelyn traveling to Kansas for Uncle Doug's celebration service. He passed away September 29th after his fight with leukemia. His celebration service was on October 9th which was a big weekend for me, so I was not able to make the trip. It was hard not being there, but Josh was a good daddy! Here are some videos of Josh shopping with Grandma Cheri, GiGi (Great Grandma Barnett) and Josh's aunt Lori. She loved the car. Good call grandma!

Then we were able to have some fun at the zoo. We love the zoo! Especially the water!!

Life...

Life can be crazy. Our past month has been B-A-NA-NAS! Next week is Fall Break though. So I am assuming that I will have time to update you all on our life. Love you!