Prom?

What a great couple, don't you think? This is Madeleine's friend Keaton. The two of them helped themselves to the dress-up clothes at another friend's house today. I'm 100% certain that was Madeleine's idea since she was talking about the dress she was going to wear before we even got there. They came out to show off their outfits holding hands. It was so darling! It took a few minutes to round up a camera (thanks, Claire!) so we had to make them pose for this one and I think it is hilarious. Of course when it comes time for Madeleine to go to the real prom I hope she will want her hair out of her face. And I bet Keaton won't want to wear pink high heels.
Ian has pretty much decided that if he can't feed himself he would rather not eat. Much to my dismay, because I really don't want more messes than I already have to deal with. Thankfully, if he is interested enough in eating he doesn't make too big a mess. If I don't take his plate when he tells me, "All gone!" (usually he has eaten only a few bites), then he goes ahead and plays with the food and gets it everywhere. Anyway, he devoured the spaghetti for dinner tonight and, amazingly enough, didn't get any on the floor!

Happy Birthday, Spencer!

In honor of Spencer's birthday, here is a list of 10 things I love about him, in no particular order.

1. Even though I complain that I can't get away with giving him frozen burritios or other equally simple meals, I am actually glad that he prefers healthy foods. It helps me make better food choices for our family because he has such a strong opinion in the matter.

2. He has fabulous taste in music and has helped me to discover the love I have for many of my favorites. I once told him that I didn't like Sting because I wasn't into "adult contemporary" music. I was so wrong about Sting. And I tried to not like Ryan Adams for a long, long time, but Spencer persisted. Well, you may have noticed a lot of Ryan Adams on my playlist because I love him so much now! And one of my all-time faves, Dave Matthews Band. I got way more into DMB after Spencer and I started dating. And he is an excellent bass player!

3. He is a gracious loser and puts up with my bad attitude when we play games. One Christmas before we had kids, we stayed here all alone and the power was out for most of the day. We played games for awhile and I got so mad 'cause he totally schooled me in Scrabble. I know if the tables were turned he wouldn't have been happy to be losing, but he wouldn't have gotten upset at all like I did. He doesn't have a winning record but still is up for playing games.

4. He sees past my many flaws and imperfections and truly thinks I am beautiful.

5. His top priority is our family. He is such a wonderful father! He works so hard to provide for our family now and in the future. He loves spending time with the kids and makes the most of the little time he does get with them. Lately he's been teaching Madeleine to recognize double-digit numbers.

6. He genuinely loves my family.

7. He is a real smarty pants. He knows so much about so many things! He is often my link to current events since he will listen to NPR to stay up to date while I am lost in mommy land.

8. If I have been lazy or having a rough time keeping on top of my responsibilities, he will walk over the messes and let me do it later without making an issue of it. Or, more likely, he will help with the cleaning up.

9. He has a super strong testimony of the gospel. His devotion is evident in all aspects of his life and he is a great example of a Christ-like person.

10. He's the best husband in the world.

pooped!

Today was an errand day. Ian woke up a little earlier than usual and woke Madeleine too. Plus, she had gone to sleep later than normal last night, so I wasn't really surprised that she fell asleep in the car on our way home from Costco. She even slept through the transfer into the stroller (which usually Ian rides in, but since he was awake he walked). Ian also fell asleep soon after we got home so I was able to do some much needed cleaning up. As I was picking up in the living room I found this stash of candy wrappers under the ottoman.
Now it makes even more sense that she totally crashed! I guess the effects of all that candy wore off. How did she get all that candy? Of course I did not just give it to her. While I was showering she helped herself to the candy leftovers from Halloween that we keep in the pantry. Not too long ago, that was a safe place for it, since she couldn't get in there on her own. Not anymore. The child-proof door knob covers are no match for her these days. And the fact that it's on an upper shelf makes no difference either. I might have to put a handle with an actual lock on that door. She can be quite cunning as you'll recall from my posting about her hair. When it comes to candy, however, she is not always so sly. Sometimes she'll say, "Mom, don't you need to go take a shower?" And I know full well she just wants to get rid of me so she can get some sweets. I think we would both benefit from cutting the sugar out of our diets. I just don't know if I am ready to commit to that.

Why do I do this to myself?

Does anyone want some caramel popcorn? It's homemade....from scratch....just yesterday. If you don't help me eat it, I can almost guarantee I will have eaten it all by Sunday. Where is my self control? Why, when it is nearing time to make dinner, do I spend over an hour making a honkin' huge batch of caramel popcorn instead? The results were these: the popcorn is amazing (if i do say so myself) and dinner was definitley sub-par. Oh, and I also needed to be getting ready for a meeting and that had to wait till the popcorn was done so I was totally stressing about getting there on time. And I was a few minutes late. Who can I blame for that? Anyway, the kids are more than willing to help me eat it but I am much better at limiting their sugar intake than I am mine. If you know Spencer, you know he is not too tempted by sweets or at least he is very good at not yielding to the temptation. So, if you want some delicious caramel popcorn you better tell me soon or it will all be gone and I'll be scrounging for clothes that aren't too tight!

You may or may not know this about Madeleine: She is a princess through and through. (Does that make me a queen?) I have mentioned before that she doesn't like to wear pants. I guess she doesn't like to be in civilian attire. You wouldn't believe the drama if I tell her to wear jeans to school. She cries and cries that her friend Hollis will be wearing a skirt so Madeleine needs to also. Some days, one skirt is not enough. She has been known to change her clothes 5 or 6 times in one day. Another aspect of her princess-like personality is that if her clothes get wet or dirty, even the tiniest bit, she MUST change. Her dress-up dresses get lots of use. The sparkly skirt she has on in this picture has become her most recent favorite. There have been a few nights that she insisted on wearing it to bed and I go along with it. You've gotta choose your battles, you know, and at bedtime I am going to go along with most anything that will speed up the process.

Notice the little bit of wave/crimp/curl in her hair. Lately we have been french braiding her hair one day so it can be curly the next day. But she much prefers the braids. One day I was trying to get her to go along with my plan to take the braids out and have curly hair. (One other thing to note is that by this time the braids have been slept on so they aren't looking their best.) This is how the conversation went:

Me: "Maddie, let's take your braids out so you will have beautiful, curly hair."

Maddie: "No, I want to have 3 braids, 'cause I'm 3."

Me: "But if we take them out your hair will be curly like Cyrus's." (her cousin with awesome curls)

Maddie: (thinking for a minute)........."If you say let's leave 'em in, then I will say let's take 'em out."

Me: (thinking, seriously?? is that all it will take??) "Yeah, actually, let's leave the braids in."

Maddie: "OK!" (read with triumph)

She totally got me.