She Turned 4

Madelyn turned 4 last month on June 29th. After her breakfast in bed, we spent the day at the Princess Festival at Thanksgiving point. We had a fantastic time meeting all the different princesses, getting her nails painted, face painted and participating in a mid day dance concert. It was pretty fun to say the least.

We had a few different get togethers for her birthday, which included a movie with my family and cake, ice cream and gifts with Spencer's family.

I absolutely love this little girl. I love her motherly little personality, the way she pretends she is a princess and dances around the living room, that she loves to sit and read books with me, that she takes good care of her little brother, and that she loves being close by me...almost always. Happy Birthday!!

A BIG Happy Birthday...

to the littlest member of our family...Sawyer. He turned one yesterday on March 21st. It is a little...I am not sure if the word is, sureal? I just have a hard time looking at him and seeing anything but a little baby. I guess that is because in comparrison to Madelyn he is a baby.

He is starting to act more like a toddler though, so I guess I better get used to the idea of him growing up even if it does give me a little knot in my stomach. He is standing for longer periods. I am just waiting for him to bust out a few steps one of these days soon. He says "uh-oh" when his food falls on the floor, and he knows how to scream when something that he wants is taken away from him (he is really advanced-ha).

I have really been enjoying his little, cuddly and fun nature lately. Hi gives lots of hugs and kisses when he wakes up from sleeping. Lately we have been playing a game where I stand him up, he puts his arms up in the air, he gets a big smile on his face, and then begins to fall forward and I catch him before he hits the ground. He thinks it is great!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, our little Sawyer boy. We love you so much!!!

First Snow of The Year

I was starting to get worried we would have a snowless winter this year, but yesterday we had our first "real" snow of the year. It was pretty exciting for Madelyn because she got to sled on the sled that had been sitting in our carage for quite a while (the slope in our front yard was perfect for her), and it was fun for me because I got to watch her. I also loved getting Sawyer all bundled up in snow clothes (even though he just watched from the porch).
playing in the snow was honestly pretty exciting. By the time we got outside most of the kids on our street were out enjoying the weather. Madelyn had a sledding trail all made up for her by a few neighbors who proceded to show her how to sled (not that it is rocket science, but she did copy what they were doing whether it was going down backwards or with no hands). It was cute to say the least.

It Was a Merry Christmas

It was a Merry Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve with Spencer's family and Christmas day with my family.

The best parts of Christmas included seeing family and of course the presents that were both given and received.

Spence took the week after Christmas off and I think that was the very best part of Christmas (I am pretty sure this will be the case every year). All of Spencer's family was in town and most of my family was in town. It was great to see Ty and Meghan and their girls. We don't see enough of them since they live in Ohio.

Each year there are always a few presents that stand out. This year it was fabulous to see Madelyn get so excited about new dress ups that she received from her grandma and grandpa Stephenson. She is such a girl. I just love it.Madelyn's Aunt Christina and Uncle Nathan made this puppet show stand for her to play with Spence. So CUTE! Of course she loved it and we have been having puppet shows since Christmas.For Spencer's mom we scanned (it was really just me) in all of the photos from the photo albums she has compiled since Christina (the oldest) was born. It took me about four days of scanning. I was glad when it was done. It was fun to do something besides buying something at the store.

We got my Dad this gun. I say "this" gun because I am not sure how to correctly name it. It is a 30 30 or something like that. My oldest brother Becton picked it out. He knew that my dad has wanted one for a long time and he was right. My dad was pretty excited to get it. apparently it is pretty fun to shoot. During the week after Christmas the guys went shooting and now Spence wants the same gun. We did the nativity at my parents house on Christmas day. The kids thought it was great. Madelyn was an angel who had a gift for Jesus, like the wise men. She kept holding it up high and looking at it over and over again.

And we made it to see the lights, though by the time we got to temple square and met up with everyone our kids were very tired...so we did not stay long. Such is the life of parents with little ones.

It was a great Christmas and I am already excited for next year.

Thank You, Thank You!

This year we had Thanksgiving at the Stephenson's. We brought the home made stuffing. who new stuffing was pretty much just bread drenched in butter. I guess I did since this wasn't my first year making it, but it is always somewhat shocking at the amount of butter used.

It was fun cooking with Madelyn. She thought it was fantastic. We have been making candy for Christmas and I haven't let her help very much because it can burn so quickly. Every time I tell her no she says, "but you let me make the stuffing."We ate a great thanksgiving meal, and then of course followed it up with pie. It was fun tasting all the different pies. For the first time I really liked the pecan pie. It is Spencer's favorite and I have always wondered why, but this year I understood. That is probably because last year I made the pecan pie and I guess I don't make pies very well. This year we bought it from Village Inn, and it turns out that they make a fantastic pecan pie. I also must mention Mama Stephenson's coconut cream pie. As long as I have been part of the family she has always made a fantastic coconut cream pie and this year was no exception.

We did a lot of talking and hanging out. All in all we had a great and very relaxing thanksgiving.

October Fest

Our October started out by finding pumkins in Grandpa Stephenson's pumpkin patch.

Apparently we found the perfect one!

...and apparently painting and decorating those pumpkins with Madelyn's friend Matti was pretty fun too.

We visited the Vineyard pumpkin patch where we had our pictures taken, saw the animals...

...and played and played and played on the play ground.

Then we rested.


For halloween we were the Princess and The Frog. Madelyn was a sick little princess who woke up just in time to go trick or treating. And Sawyer was a cute little frog who I wish I could dress up in frog costumes more often.

And because he deserves a little face time too, here is Sawyer helping dad with the laundry.

"I forgive you mom"

The other day Madelyn had a few treats and it wasn't even lunch time yet. I told her that she couldn't have anymore treats, but she found a chocolate which she concealed between her hands, and as I walked by her in the kitchen she stood there and watched me with very focused, concerned eyes. I knew something was up and as I looked closer I could see the chocolate wrapper between her hands. I thought it was super cute and funny, but I felt like I should follow through. I told her that it was not ok to hide things from mom and that she could not have the chocolate. Of course she continued to ask for the chocolate and I gave in. That is right, I tried to follow through, but I didn't. She got her chocolate and followed it up with a very sincere, "I forgive you mom."

All The Funny Things

I really get a kick out of Madelyn and all the random things she says. I love the way she sometimes says things kind of backwards or out of order in her own Madelyn dialect. I have loved hearing her language change. She used to sing the ABC's with the letter"Q" and "R" as one letter like "queyaw" but now "R" is its own letter, just with a thick twang that I am not sure how to explain. You'll have to hear it some time.

This morning Madelyn was painting and she got paint on the table. When I came down from getting ready she had the dish towel over the table and said to me, "don't look under the towel." I just now yelled down to her and asked her how she was doing. Her reply was, "don't come down". Of course I went down to find her once yellow paper covered in A LOT of pink paint.

Yesterday she took two pencils and proceeded to go under the kitchen table. She said to me, "don't look under here." She likes to bite the erasers off of pencils.

Also yesterday, she wanted to put on her swimming suit to play in the hose. She asked if she could just wear the swim skirt without the swim suit. I told her no of course and then she asked if she could wear a bra with her skirt. It took me a second to figure out she wanted a bikini top. Ha.

I love how she interacts with little Sawyer. She is such a little mommy who makes sure he is content while playing on his mat by saying "Are you OK bud". Or when he cries she will sooth him by saying, "Its OK, I am hear, I am hear". And then she will give him encouragement when he rolls over or semi sits up by saying in a very high pitched mom voice, "good job buddy, good job!" She will say it multiple times to make sure he catches her enthusiasm.

Sawyer doesn't do anything especially funny these days. He is just cute. Like I said, he rolls around and is working on sitting up. He loves being tickled and we love tickling him.

ABC's & 123's

This morning I got Madelyn ready for her third day of pre school at Miss Mischa and Miss Becky's A-Z pre school. She thinks it is the best thing ever. Once I tell her it is a pre school day she will ask me every couple of minutes if it is time to go yet. This morning I was blow drying my hair still and realized she was no longer in my bedroom. I just new she was outside looking for the car pool. I went out to find her waiting at the bottom of our grass. So cute. Because I am a little weary of leaving my three year old outside alone I told her she needed to come get her back pack. Of course she came running. There is no way she would forget her princess back pack.

I really love thinking about how much fun Madelyn is having at pre school. I think she feels like she gets to go to a birthday party every Tuesday and Thursday. She has started telling me about new friends that she is meeting, and she loves all the little crafts that she gets to do.

I feel like I have entered a new realm of motherhood. I have a little girl who is no longer a baby. It is fun having little conversations with her, and so fun figuring out how to be a good mom to her (I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I just make it up as I go).

Summing It All Up...

...because I have been busy taking care of my kids, and doing a few others things on the side (like cleaning my house).

Sawyer is growing, growing, growing. You know how it is. They get so chunky and change so quickly when they are so little. Just when you think you got it figured out they change on you. He went through a pretty fussy stage where he cried whenever he was awake (that is when the blogging came to a halt), but that is over now. He is pretty easy going and pretty happy most of the time now. We are currently working with him on sleeping. He was down to one feeding a night and then reverted back to waking up often in the wee morning hours. But I am working on it, and I am not too worried about it. I have already made some changes and it looks like we are back headed in the right direction.

Sawyer's baby blessing was on June 26th. It was special to say the least. It meant a lot to me to hear Spence bless Sawyer with so many wonderful things.

After the blessing we met back at our house for a brunch with both of our families.

We spent some time up at the Stephenson family cabin. You may notice that Madelyn is with her Aunt Mary in three of the four below pictures. She loves loves loves her Aunt Mary. I don't blame her. Madelyn's Aunt Mary is seriously one of the most vivacious people I know who never seems to tire of playing Hide and Seek and multiple other games (many of which she makes up). Many of the games that Madelyn and I play together were inherited from Aunt Mary.

And then there is always the Zoo. We have made it once this summer. I loved taking Madelyn to the Zoo because she thought everything was amazing, especially the dinosaurs. You can see her below with her arms up dancing around the big "water globe" thing, sitting with Nathan and Jaxon on a dinosaur tale, stenching her arms out like a gorilla, and reaching her arms down saying "I am an Elephant". Yeah, it is fun going to the Zoo with a three year old.

And speaking of three year olds, we had Madelyn's third birthday party. It was a Rapunzel party. I was pretty proud of myself for pulling off a three year old Rapunzel party (my craftiness can sometimes be sporadic). It wasn't anything too fancy and seemed to fit a three year olds needs just fine. We decorated with purple flags with suns stenciled on them and some balloons.The party entailed Rapunzel coloring pages (that were delivered by Rapunzel herself...well at least we had a long Rapunzel Brade that came down the stairwell that made all the kids think that Rapunzel was upstairs). And the best part was that "Rapunzel hair" that each of the kids also received from Rapunzel. After we did the usual lunch, cake and ice cream, and gifts we spent the rest of the time dancing around to the Rapunzel soundtrack with our "Rapunzel hair" on our heads. Madelyn thought it was a pretty sweet party and that is all I was going for.

These pictures..

...remind me just how fast my life is going. It has been six weeks since Sawyer got here and it seems like just a couple of days. I feel like Madelyn grew into a little girl over night.

The other day she and I were getting ready in my bathroom when we heard Sawyer crying in his crib. I went to get him and when I came back Madelyn had put on some lip stick. She looked up at me and said with excited confidence, "those are cute lips".

These are just a few pictures of Easter. Seriously, is there anything better than watching your kids get excited about things like plastic easter eggs filled with candy. No, I don't think that there is.

On easter morning Madelyn wanted to be in her princess clothes. I often have to choose a dress for her to wear because that is what she wants. It makes sense I guess, dresses are so much prettier that pants or shorts. Why would you want to wear something practical to play in when you can wear something pretty as a princess.

And here is Sawyer with his daddy. Like I said, the last six weeks have flown by. I really don't know where the days went.

Our Little Buddy

Sawyer Mckay Stephenson made it safe and sound into this world on March 21st at about 2:00 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs 8 oz. and 18 in. long. Despite his little size he did great in the hospital and has been a great little baby since we have been home.

Madelyn has really taken well to being a big sister. She calls Saywer "littlebuddy", and is anxious to do thing for him like get him new jammies and "blankalets". She is also good at responding to his crying by shoving his binky in his mouth and saying "it's ok buddy, it will be alright". I am pretty pleased with how well she is doing.

As I mentioned before, I was anxious to see how Madelyn was going to react to having a little sibling and I must say that she is doing great. I would say that any misbehavior that she has had over the past week would have existed with or without a new sibling.

I also must say that Mom and Dad are doing great too. I was a little nervous about having two, but the transition has been pretty smooth. It was great that Spencer was able to take an entire week off of work, and that we had so much support from our family and friends. (We really had a lot of service via house cleaning, food and visitors). I attribute a lot of the successful two weeks that we have had to everyone around us.

So here we are with two now instead of one. I really don't feel like it is that different, but I am so excited that Sawyer is here. Not only because I am no longer 9 months pregnant, but also because he is a sweet little buddy and we are excited to have another member in our little family.

"Baby bwada Soy-ya"

I hope that you got the title of the blog. That is how Madelyn refers to the baby that is in her mommies tummy. She will hold up one of his outfits or maybe a blanket of his and say, "Dis is for my baby bwada Soy-ya". In case you didn't catch that, "Soy-ya" is Sawyer, and that is the name we have chosen for our baby boy.

I think we are ready for this baby. I am not as worried about having "everything" for this baby as I was with Madelyn. With Madelyn we bought things that we thought we needed and then ended up not using. So even though we don't have "everything" (like a million onesies) I think we will do just great getting started with this second babe.

Our families were gracious enough to throw us a shower. It is overwhelming just how generous friends and family can be. Not only did we get some fun clothes, but it was great to spend a couple of hours with the girls and get excited for baby Sawyer to arrive.

Mama Stephenson, Spencer's sister Mary, me and Spencer's sister Christina

My sister Bryn, Tanner's girlfriend Daniel, Cortney's wife Shannon, My mom, Me and my sister Carrie

Madelyn and Maci Helping with the gifts

And now the question on my mind is how will Madelyn do with adjusting to being a big sister. I think she understands that we are going to have a baby, but just like you can't understand what it is like to be a new parent I am sure she doesn't understand that this baby is coming and never going away. She is excited though, and I am hopeful that things will go well because she is a pretty good little girl as it is. The below pictures are of her helping me make soup. She was pretty excited about being in charge of unwrapping the bouillon cubes. I hope she will be as excited about going to get a diaper and waiting patiently while her Mama feeds the new baby.

I have less than four weeks left. If the baby does not come by March 21st then I will be induced on that day. I am glad to have a date that I can plan on. Between now and then we are just going to be wrapping up baby preparations and a few other household projects. It is a pretty exciting time for us to say the least.

Top Favorites

Its official. The holidays are over. Spence is back at work and I am back to our routine. Though I don't mind the routine, I am sad for it all to be over.

Madelyn had been asking for and anticipating a "Cindewella pwesent", and when she opened her dress ups with "glass slippas" she was in heaven. It showed by the fact that she wore her sleeping beauty dress for three days in a row. We had lots of tea parties with her new tea set, and one special tea party that Grandma Loveless put on for all the little girl cousins.

Visiting Temple square was an especially fun night for me. I had been looking forward to it all season and we finally made it the Monday after Christmas. It wasn't too crowded or too cold. I just loved being there with my family.

Every year there is an assortment of homemade gifts (my sister-in-law Meghan makes some of the best). Spencer's family draws names and we make a gift for the person we draw. Spence got two pair of mittens, one daddy size and one little baby boy size. (We were very inpressed with our brother-in-law's, beau, ability to knit.) Now he and the boy (who we still don't have a name for) can be matchy matchy. And from my sister-in-law Mandy, I recieved a "quiet book" to help with the kiddos in church. I love the homemade gifts, and next year I would love to do more.

The thing I will miss very most of all is having Daddy home. I loved not having a schedule (most days). I loved being the mom and having Spence by my side being the dad.The best times were in the mornings when Spence would get up with Madelyn before I was awake and I would come down to them playing on the computer together, watching a movie, or Spence making his girls breakfast.

And the below video is my favorite of all the season. We made my mom and dad a little "i love you" video and Madelyn recorded this for them. You should watch it, it is pretty darn cute.

"Do you like my turkey?"

"Do you like my turkey?" is what Madelyn asks every time she notices her paper turkey hanging on the fridge. She was one happy little girl when she got to make her own thanksgiving turkey. She couldn't wait to show her dad when he got home from work, and the next morning when she woke up the first thing she said, in that sleepy barely awake voice, was, "I want my turkey". So every time she asks, "Do you like my turkey?" we of course respond with various comments about just how amazing her paper turkey is.

I am especially enjoying this holiday season with Madelyn. She gets so excited about the little things (like homemade paper turkeys). Watching her play with her cousins on Thanksgiving made me so happy. Between jumping on grandma's bed, playing dress up and bouncing around on Grandpa's knee I think she had a fabulous thanksgiving, which made made me enjoy it just that much more.

Oh, did I mention...

...baby number 2 is on the way!

23 weeks and counting

Its a BOY!!

I should have known it was a boy based on the massive appetite I have had

During his ultrasound I couldn't stop smiling - that day was a really great day

Madelyn wants to name him Emily

I am already in love with the little guy and wish that we had a name for him

I decided I like being the mother of two