Madison's first day of 1st Grade!!!

 Madison is just growing up and I am soooo going to miss her this year.  I almost cried when I dropped her off this year.  I was fine last year!  I have come to not only love and enjoy Madison being around, but I have come to rely on my little sweet angel helper.  She always does what I ask and is always wanting to help, serve, give hugs, cheer up Abby, share, and give where needed.  She is an avid learner and is always asking questions and wanting to create something, make something, or invent something new.  She is the one that keeps me on my toes.  Oh, how I will miss her!!!  She is in a class with two of her best friends from last year and that brings me comfort since they are great girls!!!  See you later Madison!

She is loosing teeth like crazy as of late.  She has lost seven now and 2 of those came out in the past few days.  I know this because the tooth fairy has forgotten to leave money under her pillow for four days now.  We sent her and e-mail today!  I think she may come while Madison is at school:-)  My girl is growing up!

Random Post Catch-up

My neighbor brings me food all the time and has amazing presentation.  It was sooooo good too.  I love her hummus!!!

This is the girls playing dress up one day...I just had to get a picture.  I love the scarves and how it enhances the use of their imagination.  They can be just about anything.

Sam, Madison's best friend who moved away, came to visit and they had so much fun playing together again.

We celebrated Madison's birthday as a family.  Abby gave her a baby with a stroller and Grandma gave her the elephant.

Abby got her four year old shots today...all four of them in her arms.  She couldn't move her arms very well that night, hence the tears even with ice cream:-(

Madison and Daddy eating her birthday ice cream with an oreo.

I made these mint brownies for teacher appreciation and they turned out pretty nice.  I love having mint grow everywhere here...

Madison got her snowflake put up in the school in a picture frame.  There was one other kid from her class that had his up.  There are only 6 displayed at a time, so it was an honor for Madison to have hers up there.  She loves to do art and takes her time with anything that is crafty.  She was really into origami for a while there and now draws roses and flowers everywhere.  She is also doing poetry.  I'll try and post one of her poems:-)

The combined birthday party.  Sorry for so little pictures...we were a bit preoccupied with the and 20 kids:-) pinata

 Here is a picture of the barbie cake the girls demanded having.  It's made with marshmallow fondant and has the barbie in the center.

 So sad, some of these friends will be moving all the way to Florida next month.  We do weekly play dates with them and will miss K., A., and E. so much when they are gone and I will miss J. terribly.

 Today at school was wacky hair day...well, this is what it looked like...then Abby had to have hers done the same way, so we did hers too.

Abby says...

I jammed one of my fingers playing basketball and have jammed it two consecutive times after that, so needless to say it's still swollen and hurts pretty bad, especially when I do hair.  I put Madison's hair in a pony and it really hurt and so I was whining a bit and Abby said, "Mommy's having a hard life again."  I usually ask them if they are having a hard day when they are really whinny and so Abby asked me that this time.

Book of Mormon Miracle

For the past two nights Madison, on her own, has read the book of mormon before she has fallen asleep.  She works on reading the words she knows and sounding out those she can and skipping those that are too hard:-)  That is what she informed me of this morning.  She is such a good, sweet little girl who is trying to be like Jesus.  I feel so blessed to have her as a daughter to teach me...there is a quote from Conference that says, "One of the great discoveries of parenthood is that we learn far more about what really matters from our children than we ever did from our parents." -Elder Packer

Well, that is so true.  I know I am way behind in posting, but they will eventually make it on the blog:-)

Scooter Miracle

So, that night the scooter was MIA I went to a stitchery group in our ward and told Abby's sad story and the lady who was hosting it said, "oh, I have one of those in my garage.  I think it's pink.  Come and look at it and if it's what was stolen you can have it.  I got it from a neighbor and was going to give it to my grandchildren, but they live so far away and already have one."  So, she went to her garage and came back with a pink barbie razor scooter in better condition than the one that was stolen.  I was almost in tears and thought that Heavenly Father must really love Abby, because Abby prayed for a pink one, not an orange one:-)  It took a lot of self control not to wake her up that night and show her the scooter.  She was so elated and never looked back.  Well, the story doesn't end there.  We were driving home Saturday through the neighborhood behind our house and I saw a girl riding Abby's scooter.  I was positive it was Abby's scooter.  Long story short we got it back and will probably end up giving it back to the little girl who found it.  We aren't sure she is the one who stole it, but she was so sweet about it and probably needs the scooter more than we do and Abby likes the Barbie one better anyway.  So, God does answer prayers and loves ALL of His children.  I know he loves this little girl that ended up with the scooter and that she wanted it just as bad as Abby:-)

Poor Abby

Abby has been praying for a pink razor scooter that will go really fast for over a week now.  So, finally we found one on craigslist for $9 (exactly how much she got for her birthday money from Grandma M and sticker Grandma).  So, we bought it and last night her prayer was "thank you for the fast orange razor scooter that can go really fast and beat people.  Only to notice today that someone stole it right from by our house.  It was up against our house and now it's gone.  I know we don't live in the best neighborhood, but I haven't heard of anyone getting their razor scooter stolen.  Everyone leaves them out by their house. Well, I guess we start shopping again.  First her pumpkin and now this.  Poor Abby.  She is getting a glimpse of the real world and it makes me sad.

Kite Flying Fun

 Abby with her sucker and kite.

 Getting ready to launch the kite.

 Barbie...we let them choose and this is what we ended up with.  Granted it does fly well.

Abby just held the end and kept the kite up in the air for a long time.  Then she tired of holding it and was done.  She is a natural.  She takes after her daddy. 

 The joy of kite flying.  We have a perfect bowl by our house that we can fly them any time.  

Happy 4th Birthday Abby

 Abby's Bunny Cupcakes...

 I was able to make this birthday banner from a bunch of fabric JoAnn K. gave me.  It will come out every birthday:-)

This is the present Madison wrapped and gave to Abby.  She is really into drawing mermaids and spent a lot of time coloring this for Abby.  

 Madison was just as excited for Abby to open her presents as Abby was.

 I love how Abby posed.  She is such a sweetie.  I can't believe she has been a part of our family for four years.  She is so fun to have around.  Some funny things that I love about her are when she is holding my hand, she makes sure I am squeezing her hand the whole time or else she will then go to holding two fingers (pointer and middle finger).  I love her laugh, it's contagious.  She has the cutest dimples on her cheeks and when she smiles big enough you can see both of them.  When she climbs in bed with me in the morning I have to put my arms around her facing her and she usually has to put a leg over my body.  If I am facing the other way, or don't have my arms around her, the tears come.  She is such a cuddle bug and a monkey.  When I hold her (40 lbs) She wraps her legs and arms around me:-)  I just love this little girl and don't know what I would do without her. 

Happy Girl 

 Abby is truly loved by grandparents, sister, and family.  What a fun day.

It took her about 10 tries to blow all four out.  I had time to take multiple shots and keep my favorites.  These are the two that made the cut. 

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa E.  Madison has been asking me to do this with her all morning:-) 

 Abby thanking Madison for her gift.  A baby that can go in the bathtub.  Abby loves it!  They of course had to take a bath together after opening presents. 

 Madison sat on the table to help Abby open her presents and didn't see Abby's birthday cupcake there. I just had to take a picture.  Madison was oblivious to it.

 Grandma and Grandpa Evans gave her this fun book that sings a song.  Abby kept saying, "look how long it is!"

Grandma and Grandpa McVea gave her a beautiful dress up that I'm sure we will have pictures of her wearing soon.  She wore it that day, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera since we had to go out later and she couldn't wear it outside.  It would be a bit too chilly.