Sisterly Love

Madi spoon feeds Hannah her breakfast Cheerios.

Hannah ended up with a soggy lap  full tummy and HAPPY HEART!

                                                

Madi reads Hannah the deep doctrines of General Conference in the Ensign.

"Break it down for me, Big Sis!  This is heavy stuff.  I'm a bit confused...line upon line!"

These pics are to remind Mama that Madi IS capable of kindness.  She CAN be so nurturing, soft and sweet to her little sister.  

Hannah is pure goodness--a peachy, pleasant, mild and sweet little nugget of joy.  She has the sunniest disposition and a gleeful grin that makes my heart sing.  She ADORES her big sis, tagging along wherever Madi roams.  She crawls as quickly as she can to be right by Madi's side and never lets her out of her sight.  You'd think after being mis-treated and injured time and time again lately, she'd give her dangerous sis a wide berth, but little Hannah is just too forgiving  and can't get enough of her fun and ferocious bestie.  Currently Hannah is covered in war-wounds from being scratched, pinched, clawed, pushed, punched, bit, whacked, stabbed, etc. etc.  It makes me soooo sad and MAD when Madi hurts Hannah.  BUT ANYWAY...

Positive Moments I Want To Remember:  

A few days ago we needed to get somewhere quick but only had the single stroller with us in the back of the van.  I asked Madi if she could scootch up and share with Hannah.  Madi looked at me with her angelic face and chirped, "Sure, Mom.  Madi and Hannah BEST FRIENDS!"  I plopped Hannah in back of Madderdoon and we strolled merrily and squishily along.  

Today at Wal-Mart Madi had Hannah hysterically giggling in the cart.  She was tickling her toes, playing peek-a-boo and being so fun and cute.  

On good rides in the bike trailer, Madi will feed Hannah snacks and retrieve her Sippy when she drops it, pressing the cup up to her little sister's lips to make sure Hannah stays hydrated.

Madi and Hannah love to giggle together and light up when they are reunited after one or the other wakes up from a nap or comes in to say "GOOD MORNING!"

They both LOVE the Lorax and will laugh out loud as they watch it together...kids' laughter is contagious and pretty soon we are all giggling and having fun!

                                                
I really hope these sweet sisters will be best friends forever and will be a source of strength and comfort to each other.  There's nothing quite like that special relationship between sisters.  I sure love each one of mine and hope my cuties will treasure each other, too!
                                              
                                            

                   

WE LOVE YOU, DADDY/MATTY!

We lucky ladies love our Daddy/Matty more than words can say!

Bike Trailer Adventures

Joyridin' with my Bestie---Loved this rainy, cool ride through the fairgrounds.

An Outing With "SUPER BABY" (Madi calls herself this when she is swinging, performing stunts or fighting crime) and her SMILEY SIDE-KICK.

"Some people just ain't cut out for life on the road." 
The Ogden River Parkway after Dinosaur Park...terrific, tiring fun!

Recipe For True Happiness = Madi + Grandpa + Bike Trailer

THE ADVENTURE DREAM TEAM

The 3 Amigos

"Saddle Up, Partner!"

What Ya Lookin' At?  A brief moment of " too close for comfort."

One of our many adventure destinations.  It was quite the challenge getting up that gigantic hill but OOOOOOOh, how we girlies hooped and hollered, squealed and screamed as we flew down the hill.  YAHOOOOOOOOO! 

We've been having a blast with our new bike trailer!  Madi wakes up each morning and begins planning, packing and pleading for an adventure in the "bike trailer" (which she says perfectly).  We worried that Hannah would be too little to ride comfortably but her sweet cheeks and floppy ears keep her lodged upright and she has even been known to doze off and sleep comfortably as we cruise along.  Lily has claimed the storage compartment in back and enjoys the breeze in her fur (once when we left her home, she had literal tears in her eyes as she heart-brokenly greeted us at the door).  The girls snack, slurp their sippys, sing and gab as Mama sweats, soaks in some Vitamin D and pedals along enjoying the powerful endorphins.  We are LIVIN' THE DREAM! 

Sand Babies

Lovely Liv & Happy Hannah

May 2013

Who do we love? GRANDPA, of course!

Grandpa with his Terrific Trio--Madi, Olivia and Hannah

Cell Phone Pics are never that great but I really love this one of Grandpa and his groupies.  He has quite the witto fan club of lovely ladies flocking him where ever he roams.  He is truly our SUPERSTAR and we just can't get enough of him!  Thanks for making us sparkle and shine, Grandpa.  WE LOVE YOU MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY!!!

Terrific Two (Yr Old) Tot Twisting & Turning in her Twirly Skirt

Terrific Two 

May 2013

DRAMA, DRAMA and ....

MORE DRAMA! :)

Oh, my goodness!  Make it stop, MAKE IT STOP!  How did another year already fly by?  Little Miss Too-Big-For-Her-Britches Madison Mae is already TWO YEARS OLD!!!  OOOOOooh, how we love and cherish this little character!

Interesting Terrific Two Tidbits:

• Madi still has a gigantic sense of adventure.  She LOVES our new bike trailer, throwing rocks in the river, "parkin"(it's crazy to watch her climb up and whiz down the huge slides all by herself), trips to the fairgrounds and zoo and PLAYING!
• Is the funniest little pack rat!  Whenever I go to get her out of her crib in the morning or after naps, she bustles around with her fuzzy Aunt Mabel hair gathering armfuls of treasures to take with her--blankets, books, toys, pacis, etc, etc.  When we are getting ready to head out on an adventure in the bike trailer, stroller or van she is a flurry of nervous energy toting her various and sundry items for the trek..no horsie, toy, or blankie left behind!
• Is a witto sponge, mimicking and saying anything and everything.  She has quite the vocabulary and is a JABBER-BOX--singing, chattering, yelling and squawking all the livelong day!  She knows her colors and loves letters and numbers.  Now, halfway through any story, she'll grab the book and say, "I READ!"  She points and "reads" me or Hannah the book.
• LOVE, LOVE, LOVES horses.  She is 100% cowgirl.  Last weekend we spent some time with Matt's family out in Cornish.  They have tons of land, a farm and HORSES!  Matt was carrying Madi through the field of mud, rivers and poop, leading the pack.  They came to the horse pasture, opened the gate and a herd of gorgeous horses started running towards them.  It was a bit scary...almost like a stampede.  As the charging horses neared, Madi tried to console and calm her nervous dad.  "Don't worry, Dad.  DON'T WORRY!"  Hilarious!  The horsies approached and stopped.  Madi coaxed them in, hunched over, trying to feed them grass.  She didn't hesitate a bit when Dad plopped her on the back of the buckskin and beamed a gigantic smile, "YEEE-HAW!"
•  Madi is a happy crafter--loves to color, paint, sticker, create with play-dough, etc.
• She has a HUGE imagination and loves slightly terrifying things like dinosaurs, lizards and DreamWorks Monster Vs. Alien Halloween Specials on Netflixs (Mutant Monster Pumpkins and Carrots).
• She has a hilarious sense of humor and loves to tease.  The other day I was quizzing her and asked, "Madi, who's your best friend?"  She looked at me, cocked her head, waited...waited.  I whispered, "SAY MAMA!"  She sported a sly smile and with a glimmer in her eye blurted, "GRANDPA!"
• Madi is a BIG messer helper!  She loves to clean.  She sweeps, scrubs, washes, cooks, helps Daddy paint and fix, puts away toys, diapers and gives her babies "tubbies", and helps all day long.  She loved using an old toothbrush to help me scrub the floor and chairs and stayed engaged for hours.  Later that day I discovered her "helping" Hannah by using one of Mom's filthy scrub brushes to comb Hannah's sprigs of hair. She is usually more destructive than productive but her heart is always often in the right place!    
• Madi is growing more affectionate and will occasionally let us cuddle her.  She is very loving and gives warm hugs and sugars.  She is a nurturer and a very good little Mama.
• We are hoping that she will graduate from her stingy/not-so-nice/pretty-darn-rotten-to-Hannah stage SOON!  When Hannah was born, Madi was so tiny it didn't ruffle her in the least.  It's like she didn't know any different and she was pretty hands-off.  But recently she can be pretty downright MEAN.  She's in the, "MINE, MINE!" stage and assaults and attacks sweet Hanner if she gets too close to her goods.  It does my heart soooo much good when I see her be sweet and kind to her sis.  Yesterday I came in to check on them and Madi had made a comfy pillow/blanket pile to lay Hannah on and was bringing her toy after toy, book after book.  A few days ago as Madi was sitting in the high chair and Hannah was strapped into the makeshift stroller/highchair right next to her, I was about to roll Hannah out of the danger zone and a safe distance away from Monster Madi when Madi began to tenderly feed her spoonfuls of delicious Cheerios, serving her little sis breakfast.  These glimpses of sisterly love help me hang on to hope that they will indeed be besties again someday soon.
• Madi feels things STRONGLY.  She can be hopping mad-tantruming and screaming, then chew on a fruit snack or marshmallow and be right back to cheerful and sweet.
• Madi is still a true tomboy.  She LOVES trains, garbage trucks, dirt, rocks, sticks, messes, fun and excitement.
• We love her ice blue eyes and curly, fuzzy head!  We're not really sure what to do with her loopy locks but think we'll stop chopping them for a spell and see what happens (if she'd just leave a clip or pony in to keep all that hair out of her eyes).
• Madi is energy and joy!  She is Daddy's special buddy and the apple of his eye.  She often calls him, "Babers" since that's what Mommy calls him.  She is referred to as "Monkey."  Mama feels truly special when Madi refers to her as "Punzel" (for Repunzel with my yucky long locks).  It makes me sparkle when she exclaims, "Oooh, Mommy.  You're beautiful!" (when I have finally done my hair and make-up--"makes," as Madi calls it).  She then asks, "Church?" since she knows that's usually the once-a-week reason I get ready. :) She is truly our SUNSHINE and we love her so very, very much!

Miss Madi Tours Ogden's Union Station

 Ogden Union Station 

May 8, 2013

We "CHOO-CHOO-CHOOSE" Grandma Black as world's best and MOST FUN photographer.  On top of the amazing pictures, we LOVE the fun adventures and time spent with our loving, hilarious, talented, generous, kind, happy, FUN, FUN, FUN Grandma Black.  THANKS & WE LOVE YOU!