Spring is Coming

Here is why I love Spring time in Vegas! Perfect 65-70 degree weather. Perfect enough to fly this cute ladybug kite Madi got for her birthday!

Payton

So it has been one of those days. You know the kind. The ones were you are gone all day (7 AM to 7 PM). Not to mention getting woken up at the crack of dawn to find a little girl who has turned on some of the lights upstairs and she is sitting on the floor surrounded by pee. Okay we all have similar days. Payton has been battling "bladder infections" for the past month. She is in pain and is having a hard time controlling her potty. The doctor called yesterday and asked us to come in today. So I left work a few minutes early and brought her to the doctor. The good news is Payton does not have a bladder infection! The bad news is that there is something wrong with her and they don't know what it is. They do know that there is blood and protein in her urine. This is not good considering your body needs the blood and protein. My very strong willed daughter easily gave into us getting urine samples twice in the last month. She had more blood and protein in her urine the second time, then the first. So the doctor is sending us to a Kidney Specialist and Payton had to get her blood drawn this after noon. My little Ms. cried, but did a great job as they took 4 or 5 vials of blood (concentrating on holding her arm, not quite sure the exact number). It drained slowly because she jerked and it slowed the blood flow. She totally deserved ice cream after that. She will not bend her arm where they took the blood. She keeps it straight out from her body. Oh well, maybe tomorrow she will forget and bend her arm. :) The doctor said it could be as bad as Kidney Disease or as little as nothing. We will see; hopefully sooner rather then later. I know it is something. Payton would not just loose control of her bladder for no reason. So we will see. Hopefully it will be something minor.

Happy Birthday Madison

On Friday night we told Madi that she needed to go to sleep because her party was in the morning. When she woke up she was disappointed that it did not start right away, but we kept her busy until the time. As we sat at the breakfast table, as a family :), we were having a conversation about parties. Payton was talking about how her birthday is near Christmas (her time line is just a few months off). Then Madi said that my party was next. I told her that I probably would not be having a party. She asked why. I told her it would only happen if she threw me a party. She said, "mom I can't throw a party." I asked why not, thinking she might say she was to little and had no money. But yet again she made me laugh out loud when she said, "because if I throw a party it will fall and break and you will be sad." I told her that she was very correct. So here are a few pictures of the party that was thrown at our house, but thankfully did not break.
Madison decided on a Star Wars theme. I was shown a wonderful website with Star Wars party ideas. They had this light saber cake on the website, so we made the cupcakes with strawberry cake (Madi's favorite).
Madi dressed up as Princess Leia.
We started off the party by eating pizza.
Then we played "pin the belt on Darth Vader."
Greg helped guide the kids with blindfolds. We also played Star Wars bingo and had an asteroid hunt.
We ended the day by hitting the Darth Vader pinata.
The pinata would not break. Greg ended up hitting it a few times to get the candy to come out. The kids had never had a pinata before. You could tell. They just sat there and stared at the candy and toys falling. We had to encourage them to run after the candy and even then they just grabbed a few things. It was funny.

Overall I think the party went well. Here we are singing to Madi.


I cannot believe that she is 5 years old. Time goes by so fast! I love this age. I loved Madi as a baby, but life is so much more fun. Even with her attitude and opinions, I love the communication aspect of children. I hope that doesn't sound weird, but I love that I can ask Madi how her day went and she can recall what she did and tell me how she feels. I love you Madison. I hope you have a great year!

Differences

I know that I have said this in the past, but it blows me away how different my girls are. Here are some examples....

Car rides

• Madi- "Mom, I love trees. Why Madi? Because trees have leaves and I love to pull leaves off of the trees when the branch is low to the ground."
  
• Payton- "Mom when I grow up I want to be a princess. Daddy will be the prince and you will be the witch.
  

Birthday Party Themes

• Madi- Star Wars Clone Wars
  
• Payton- Princess
  

Past time activities

• Madi- video games
  
• Payton- coloring and reading a book (she has one in her hands at all time, while we are home. She even sleeps with a book each night.)
  

T.V. Shows or Movies

• Madi- "Ben 10" and "Star Wars Clone Wars"
  
• Payton- "Sleeping Beauty," Enchanted," The Little Mermaid," etc. you get the picture.
  

Temperament

• Madi- easy going, pouts for a minute and then moves on
  
• Payton- drama queen. Stubborn beyond degree

Toy pick at the Dollar Store

• Madi- Frankenstein
  
• Payton- Sleeping Beauty

I know that each child is different. I just think it is funny how Madi is such a tom-boy and Payton is a girly girl. Only 18 months separate the two. The good thing is that they are the best of friends. They get along so well. Of course they have there moments, but hey, I do too.

On Wednesday it was my brother-in-laws birthday. I meant to have the girls call him and sing to him, but it never happened. I remembered last night when I was babysitting some extra kids so I had all of them singing. For some reason they sang it really slow. Scott, I hope you can still enjoy it! Happy 26th Birthday!

Valentines Weekend

The girls and I had a great Valentines Weekend. It started off a bit rocky, but it ended well. Our plan was to leave for Phoenix after work on Friday. But, on Thursday afternoon Payton kept wetting her panties. I decided if she wet her bed I needed to be worried. She did. So I called in sick and brought Payton to the doctor. It ended up that she has a bladder and yeast infection. With school covered and medicine in hand, we drove to Phoenix and got there 4 fours earlier then we planned. It was a great drive. There was traffic, but the girls were great. Greg's family was very welcoming. It was great to see some of Greg's sisters and brother that I have not seen in a long time. On Saturday Greg's nephew Cole was baptized. The girls keep talking about the pool in the church (they had no idea their was a font before Saturday). It was very nice to witness Cole become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We then ate all weekend. Stephanie makes the best food and I always gain weight while I am there. I overeat every time. Who can help it when there is yummy dinner and treats. We made it home today, found all is well. Here are a few pictures from our adventure...

Madi, Payton and cousins watching "Madagascar 2"

Payton ate more then 20 strawberries this weekend. Every time I turned around she had a red mouth.
I really couldn't get her to stop jumping and screaming, so her pictures turned out funny. Oh, well.
Driving over Hoover Dam is always slow going, so I decided to take a picture of Payton yelling "Look it's Crocodile Lake!"

"Hey what's the deal? Give me the camera (Payton says)"

Payton's view of the dam.

Madi's view of the dam.

I actually thought Payton did a good job with this picture. These towers have Arizona and Nevada time on them.

Another Madi picture (we were taking turns with the camera)

To end I thought I would share a Madi moment. (I was not around when it was said, but here is the gist of the conversation.) Madi walks out of the bathroom and tells her Aunt Megan that she likes poop. Megan asks why. She says because it is warm and soft.

Wow, my girl has some strange logic. But, I got a good laugh out of it.

Random

Just a little update...

Payton is doing better, but we have our moments. Madi is taking everything like a pro. She is so amazing. She really keeps me on track. She is getting herself ready in the mornings and she even brushes her teeth without me asking. She will bring me her toothbrush and say "your turn to finish my teeth." I can't complain. She is coming home from school with new skills. She loves to rhyme and identify the first sound in words. Her most creative rhyme was Danita-Quesadilla. I laughed so hard. Last Saturday I was busy painting, so the dinner dishes did not make it into the dishwasher, then breakfast, and lunch stacked up. By dinner time on Sunday, the sink was full. Madi came up to me and said, "mom you really need to do those dishes. The sink is full." Oh that little bugger. When can she do the dishes? I wanted just a little break from the dishes, but I guess Madi thought other wise. (also shows how often my sink is full of dishes, hardly ever).

One morning this week I thought the girls looked so cute, so I took this picture. It is random, but I thought it was cute.
Last Saturday Madi wanted to do something fun. I suggested we paint the bathroom. She looked at me and said, "but daddy doesn't let me paint the walls." I told her we wouldn't tell daddy. She took a quick nap and then we set to work painting. My grout (sp? you know the gritty stuff that holds the tiles in place) now has a lot of paint in it. Any ideas how to get the paint off?
Payton loved painting the bathroom. She was really good about giving Madi a turn to paint.

Our new blue bathroom!

Madi had a hard day today. She went to the dentist and got a crown and a cavity filled. She is telling everyone that she got a new silver tooth today. Hopefully she will go back easily for more crowns in the next few weeks.
I was on the phone and I turned around and Madi and Payton had gotten a hold of some sample lipstick. I asked her to pucker her lips for me. I guess we need to learn how to put lipstick on better, it was all around their lips :)
I wanted to end with this picture of Payton because I thought the red hair and blue eyes just shined in this picture. Not to mention the lipstick all over her lips.

I think I have figured out how to balance my girls life. The girls have to go to bed at 8, no later. I also think that I need to spend more time with them at home playing games or watching a movie curled up on the couch. Playing at the park or shopping with them is not spending time with them. Even though I love to be on the move.

Well, sorry this post was very random. I guess that is how I feel right now.