February Birthdays

February is always fun because Casey and I share such close birthdays. We always enjoy all the freebies that restaurants offer, and this year took advantage of: Benihana, Rubios, and Souper Salad. The day of Casey's birthday, I had to babysit, and Maddie was mega sick. Like, the sickest she's ever been. I managed to get over to the house and make his crepes for breakfast, then took both kiddos with me to the doctor. Turned out that Mads had RSV, a double ear infection and a temp of 101. Casey tended to her all day until I got home around 4pm. I then attempted to make his birthday dinner and cake all while trying to comfort my sickly child who only wanted to be held. It was stressful, and I felt bad that Casey took second on his birthday, but he's a good dad.
My birthday was less stressful, and we enjoyed Panda Express at home. Casey made me a strawberry cake with purple frosting. It looked like an Abbey Cadabby cake, and Maddie still talks about it; it was yummy of course.
I now look forward to Maddie's birthday where I can go all out, or at least as far as our budget will take us.

Miss Maddie Modeling

Maddie is usually a stinker about letting me take her picture, but on this night that's all she wanted to do. She kept going to different locations and doing different poses. She would immediately want to look at the picture after I took it. I think we have a future model on our hands.

Showing off her new "Valentine" tree (we had to improvise to get her to take down all her Christmas decorations and tree).



Future Mousekateer.



Katie Kangaroo and Baby Joey. An exotic shoot in Australia.



Sneaking a peek.



E.T. impersonation.



I think she's going for "saucy" here.



This is her vogue pose.



Mona Lisa smile

Christmas

Maddie's fantastic Christmas.
She gets plenty of time on her tricycle, cruising to the park, cruising around the block, cruising at the zoo...she always asks to ride her tricycle to whatever destination we're going; near or far.


We were about a month too late in buying her the Cars dvd, she has yet to watch it even though we ask everyday. (As opposed to watching it EVERYDAY at her cousin's house the previous months). But she is quite fond of her Cars garage from Grandma and Papa. Every so often, when she decides she can entertain herself for a few minutes, I can hear her in her bedroom playing with her cars. I love her little sense of imagination and pretend conversations.



Of course Christmas was a lot more than just presents for us. Maddie really understood a lot the birth of Christ and who was involved. She loved all of Grandma's Nativities and visiting the temple lights to see baby Jesus. Although, she was always concerned that there was no angel at the temple. And we went once during the day when baby Jesus was inside "taking a nap", she was quite distraught at his disappearance. I loved being a mom during this time of year and teaching my daughter about Christ and how special he is. It's so fulfilling to see your child learn and understand such important topics.

New Year...New Attempts

High lights and some low lights of 2010.

At the beginning of 2010 I never thought we'd be where we are now...living with the inlaws. We're so grateful for their kindness, but hope 2011 goes a little better in some areas. Here's a year in review for Jessie Lewis; a list of things I remember most (in no significant order).

1. Maddie learning and talking and growing! She went from speaking words to speaking full conversations. She had a few encounters with the potty, but has remained faithful to her diapers. She loves to sit and listen to us read her books every night and often throughout the day. She's loving joy school and doing well at remembering her letters, and definitely loves all her friends.
2. Anniversary date with Casey (and dates in general). Ice skating and dinner with my main man was so much fun.
3. Maddie's 2nd birthday was so much fun to plan and create. I'm excited for this year's!
4. Last year I made a goal to read a book a month and I was so close to succeeding. I loved reading a new genre each month and hope to continue trying new books.
5. Summer checklist was a fun adventure for the Lewis family.
6. We were so happy for Tasha and Derek and their fun Vegas wedding.
7. Maddie's emerging diva. We've had several recent meltdowns (and I mean meltdowns) concerning mom's choice in her wardrobe or in having to dress at all. Getting dressed for church is always fun, as is trying to get jeans on this kid.
8. Wonderful sewing nights with my friends, cabin trips, girls' nights and farewell parties.
9. Babysitting my nephew Chase. He turned one in June and is just getting more and more fun to be around each week. Maddie loves going to his house and is learning to love being nice to him.
10. And of course, the big move. Unfortunately we couldn't afford to stay in our condo and had to trim our already trimmed budget. We're working hard to find Casey a job at a hospital and hopefully get some student loans to help us out as well. We're so excited for Casey to get into his "real" classes, the ones that are specified to his Business Administration major.

I truly think this upcoming year is going to be a good one for us. I'm excited to see what comes of it. And of course a post on new year's day must include a list of my resolutions. So here goes another attempt at bettering myself on an upcoming year.
1. Study/pray everyday (this seems to make the list every year)
2. Sew a wearable garment for myself (I had to add "wearable" because I've attempted clothing in the past, and have yet to wear them)
3. Read one classic novel.
4. Make one pretty cake.
5. Learn to identify one new bird (yes I aspire to become a bird watcher)
6. Learn to identify one new tree/plant (yes I aspire to become nerdier)
7. Learn to play one new hymn on the piano
8. Learn to drive Casey's scooter
9. Make a quilt
10. Make one family movie (I'm soooo behind on home videos)

Make it a good one folks!

Final Book Review

Soooo, September was the last book I posted on. October was a failed attempt at Emma. Sorry Jane, it just wasn't cuttin' it for me. Maybe someday...

I did read a book in November. The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson. This one was captivating, but definitely too graphic for me. I won't be reading the sequels or watching the movies. This was a murder mystery book, and reminded me of the Agatha Christie book I read earlier this year. I forget names, but this man is attempting to solve a decades old murder and also dealing with his own issues of libel fraud. The girl with the tatoo is an odd one, who helps him solve the case. The language is bad. There is too much reference to sexual crimes on women; too disturbing for me. But it was a quick read for me because I was definitely drawn in to the plot. I think mystery is a genre I'll keep going back to.

As for December...I attempted Emma again, got bored again, and am now reading Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes. So far so good. It's a romance story of Mary and Joseph...and I'm a sucker for romance.

November

Oh man, November went too fast, and I have entirely too much to write about. Here it goes...
#1- The Big Move
We officially moved in with the in-laws over Halloween weekend. It had been months and months of waiting, so we finally just did it. Things are going really well. My inlaws are saints for letting us invade their home and inviting a bipolar two year old as well. She had a rough first week or two, and would often cry and ask to go to Maddie's house. It broke my heart. (she now refers to this as her home).

#2- Maddie's New Sleeping Habits
She also has had to adjust to a twin bed, rather than her crib. She wakes up most every night and climbs into bed with us. It's hard to be strict on this, because I don't want her crying and waking up everyone, so we always let her in. I am a little sad about the change in bedtime routine. Before, it was: read books in chair, sing and rock in the chair, then into her crib and out I would go. Now she wants to read books in bed, and when books are done she wants her music on (not Mom's beautiful, melodic singing voice) and she's become a back stratching Nazi. We have to lay in bed with her until she falls asleep. She will not fall asleep on her own. More than once, I have fallen asleep with her and woken to her still grasping my hair. I love this kid.

#3- Thanksgiving
We had a big scare the day before Thanksgiving. My mom called me from Show Low hospital and said she was at the ER, they found some "space" in her brain on the MRI and they were emergency flying her to Banney Baywood. I majorly panicked and thought she was dying or something, so it was a pretty lousy day for me. I went to the hospital and was there when the neurologist came in. I felt much better after he left because he didn't seem too concerned. We waited all day and some of the next morning for her to get in for an MRI and MRA. (Why they flew her in such a hurry to make her wait, I don't know) Everything is fine, she's fine, I'm far happier. They got released from the hospital and arrived to the Lewis' just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

#4- Harry Potter was awesome! Thank you Casey for doing a midnight showing with your wife.

#5- Here's an adorable pic of Maddie post bathtime.

Happy Halloween From the Lewis'

I was so excited when our Bunko group did a couples costume theme this month! Both Casey and I are big fans of Halloween, so it was great fun for us. And to answer your question, no we did not get our costumes from The Office, but I am excited to see how Pam's and Jim's costumes turned out.

Miss Maddie had been really excited about Halloween this year. She LOVED all the spooky decorations, the Halloween books from the library and daily themed crafts. Seriously, everyday she would ask to make Halloween decorations. In the very beginning of Halloween mania, she decided she wanted to be Belle. So me, being the over-excited mother, raced to Joann's to buy all the necessary items to make her a Belle dress. A few weeks later she changed her mind and wanted to be Backpack (from Dora). Then it was Buzz, then a happy witch, then a cuckoo (mystery)...everyday it was something new, but never Belle. Then Halloween arrives. We were so excited to go to our church's block party and see all the cute kids in their costumes and play fun games. Casey and I tagteamed Maddie and wrestled her Belle dress on her. Really, we wrestled her down. She went CUH-RAZY. Crying, screaming, tearing at her dress. We caved, took off the dress, and gave her the stink eye for about an hour for making us miss the block party. In steps Grandma who was able to get her in the dress and in smiles for trunk or treating.

After that, the night was pretty smooth. She was so sweet as she stepped up to each trunk and very quietly said, "trick or treat...thank you." I love this girl. But I think the highlight for Maddie was handing out candy to the trick or treaters. Each time the doorbell rang, she would squeal and dash to the door. I think we had a pretty great October and I'm already looking forward to next year.