4th Birthday Party

On Sunday afternoon we had her birthday party.  Jeremy iced and decorated the fancy cake while my job was just to bake it, cut it, and stack it.  His patience wins out over mine.  Maddox wanted a pink princess party and that's certainly what she got!  Down to pink lemonade and pink water in the rose vase!

 We planed pin Cinderella in her castle window first.  Maddox was a little low, the window is above the door of the castle.

 Hadlee wanted to try too but she refused to wear the blindfold.  Even without the blindfold she was nowhere near the window.  She just wanted to stick one on like everyone else!

 Then we divided into two teams in separate rooms and the teams had one roll of toilet paper, construction paper, scissors, tape, and 10 minutes to make Emily and Maddox into princesses.  Here's the results.  We had neclaces, bracelets, shoes, and even rosy cheeks!

 Then it was present time.  A scooter, My Little Pony, Moon Dough, pillow pal, new shoes, a doll, and clothes...

We're gonna need some practice on this scooter but she told me she wanted one and said it was her favorite gift. 

 Also Hadlee's favorite gift, as long as one of us doesn't break our back first pushing her around.

 Time to blow out the candle and eat cake!

Maddox really only likes the icing.  She ate all the icing off her piece, sat there looking at the cake for a while, then reached out and just grabbed a handful to eat.  You can see the hole in the cake below.  It was so funny!  She was definitely on a sugar high that day!

Jeremy and I went out to dinner for a work dinner and the Lowe's stayed home with my kids and got silly.

 Then, late that night I stayed up and finished making cake pops for Maddox to take for her birthday treat to school on Monday.  Apparently they were a hit rather than just the normal cupcakes.  They were pretty yummy!  Time consuming, but yummy!

We had a very happy birthday girl!  She went to the doctor on Monday and finally broke the 30 lb. mark and is 37 3/4 inches tall... both in the 10th percentile.  She loved going to the doctor and answering all her questions and getting poked and proded.  She had this silly grin on the whole time.  Of course, I had already told her that she didn't have to have shots so that helped.  Remind me when she is a teenager how sweet, loving, and kind she is.  She loves to cuddle and hold hands and constantly tell me she loves me.  I hope she always stays this way!  She is very rarely difficult and if she does get grumpy she knows it, tells me, and we just cuddle a while or read books until she feels better.  She's great with Hadlee, playing with her and helping me watch her.  Occassionally  we have a little tiff over a toy, but that's usually Hadlee's strong will trying to win out.  Speaking of the birthday girl, it's time to go pick her up at school and hear all about her Valentine's Day party!

Maddox Birthday at the Science Museum

We spent Maddox's actual birthday at the science museum here in Des Moines then ate a late lunch at Spaghetti Works.  Grandma Barb came up and spent the weekend with us.  The girls had a great time at the museum playing around with the pretend stuff, making rockets, rolling balls down ramps, visiting snakes, turtles, and bats, and watching a star movie in the planetarium.  Maddox loved that part.  Must be like her mom and love space things.

 Hadlee rolled these balls over and over and over.  She thought it was great!

 That afternoon I let Maddox open 2 presents from Grammy since it was her birthday and her party wasn't until Sunday afternoon.  Jessi was a good sport about it!

 Maddox got LOTS of cute clothes from Grammy.  Where is she?  She's camouflaged!

Finally, snow!

We got about 8 inches of snow in Waukee!  It had been a long time since we've had a lot of snow so we got out there and ran the snow blower, immediately had to shovel again, and played around a little while.  Maddox was whimpy and didn't last long.  Hadlee liked to drag the sled around and run up and down the sidewalk.  She's too little to walk in that much snow.

 Jessi loves leaping around the snow.  She's fun to watch bounch around and try to find balls that bury themselves in the snow as soon as you throw them.

 This is to proove to my girls (when this blog is in book form for them to see when they're older) that I DO dress up sometimes and not look like a comfy mommy!  My choir had to sing at a formal event last night so I went and partied and left the girls and Jeremy at home.  I was not paying $250 a head for Jeremy to join me. 

Des Moines Staycation

Since Hadlee is sleeping off her fever and throw ups, Maddox is enthralled with playing pretend with her dolls, and Jeremy is off on a 10 mile run I think I have some time to update the blog!  In the fall I bought a living social deal for a local hotel knowing we might need a little vacation from winter.  It was a great deal!  Hotel 1 night, pools, slides, hot tubs, arcade, vouchers for dinner, breakfast, and drinks all for $60!  And the pool was clean and warm (and it was warm when you got out too!)  So fun!

 Maddox will do just about anything with her inner tube.  We made her practice a while without it but then she wore it most of the time in all the pools.

 All wrapped up to sit out for a bit and eat some pizza for dinner.

 After dinner we played in the arcade and won some tickets then got this big sucker and tootsie rolls for the kids with them.  Maddox was guarding that sucker well and wouldn't let me have a bite!

 But Hadlee would give me kisses.  I probably bribed her with tootsie roll.  No, she gives kisses and hugs all the time now.  She's very sweet and loving just like her sister.

 The next morning after our huge breakfast it was back to the pool.  Hadlee's working hard at carrying her ring that's about as big as her.

 Hadlee would go down this small slow slide by herself on her tummy and Maddox would go by herself with her ring.

 Hadlee would go down the bigger slides on my lap and get all splashed at the end but go right back around the pirate ship to go back up and do it again. 

 All 3 of us ready to race down the slides... waving at Daddy first.

 I make a big splash! Poor Hadlee!

The two weeks before this were filled with what turned out to be gallbladder attacks and doctors appointments.  Those hurt, a lot!!  The ultrasound showed I had no stones but the HIDA scan showed my gallbladder to be working at about 22%.  So I've met with a surgeon who's ready to do my surgery when I am.  For those 2 weeks I ate 0-2g of fat per meal so I'd quit having attacks.  It's hard to eat 0g of fat with low sugar!  A lot of bread and pasta and fruit.  By this vacation night I was all better and tried pizza, an omelet with cheese and veggies, chips... basically a bunch of cruddy fatty foods and was fine.  I'm still good most of the time but have gone back to having the occasional bad meal or dessert.  So, when my next attack comes, I'll have surgery.  In the meantime I'm doing pretty well with somewhat of a diet change.

We loved our little and short "vacation" and were not ready to go back home!  It was fun to finally get to swim again and be warm!  Now, we wait until spring!

Stylish Maddox

This is what happens when Maddox chooses her own clothes.  She good at matching colors, just maybe a little too good.