Life in Loa

Madeleine Jolie

2010-05-03T09:39:00.001-07:00

Madeleine is a really fun kid. She is becoming my best helper. She loves her name. I hope I'll always remember the day she and I were playing and she said, "Mom, you're my best friend and my Mom at the same time. I just want you to call me Madeleine not Maddie or Mad." She has loved every minute of preschool and dance. Madeleine is creative and smart. There are a few words that she can't say yet and they crack me up. Play is "clay," Pinata is "rata," brown is "grown," place is "clace." Right now she loves puppies. I love her determination, sense of humor, enthusiasm for life, and most of all that I get to love her every day because I'm her mom.

A Walk in the Park That Is Our Home

2010-05-03T06:50:00.001-07:00

Madeleine is obsessed with puppies right now, so she begged for a puppy party for her 5th Birthday. I've always loved planning birthday parties for my children. It's one of my favorite mom duties. We used mostly recycled, totally free materials to make our invites and the kids seemed to think they were pretty cool.

I was determined not to have cheesy decorations, but then once we got to the party store it was impossible to get out of there without any. One screaming Henry and too much money later we ended up with "Pin the nose on the Puppy," a dalmatian pinata (or rata as Madeleine calls it), little dog bowls filled with candy bones for each guest, rings, bracelets, helium ballons, puppy cutouts, and other miscellaneous goodies.

Our original idea was to have the party at the park, but it had been snowing the two days prior to the party and the day of the party was super cold and windy, so we had the party at our house. When the girls arrived, they stopped at the groomer for some face paint and a party hat. Madeleine had arranged all of her stuffed puppies by the fireplace, so then they all got to play with a puppy friend.

Madeleine's friends are just all adorable and well-behaved. I was really impressed. She was so excited about the presents she received that the next morning she woke up before anyone else to play with them!

This party was almost as much fun as Disneyland. Just look at her face!

I'm a little embarrassed to post these pictures of the pinata because our yard is dead. Why we need the hose is beyond me because it's obvious we haven't been watering any plants. This pinata did not want to break. The girls each got 3 or 4 turns. Madeleine was absolutely tickled that she was the one who finally broke his head off.

After the pinata, we went back inside for more puppy games. We played Trainer Says, Balloon Fetch, Musical Dog Bowls, and Dog, Dog, Cat.

It was funny and maybe a little creepy when the girls spontaneously started chanting a bark (does that make sense?) after the pinata was all said and done. Poor puppy.

I love this girl! I can't believe she's 5 years old!

We ended with pupcakes that had spotted insides. I had a hard time ending the party because these girls were all so cute and played so well together. I've realized that kids just keep getting more fun as they get older. 5 is my favorite age so far. I thought I'd be sad when my kids were all out of the baby phase, but now I think it will be a blast! I'm so glad I get to be a Mom!

A Sunbeam, a Sunbeam

2009-03-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, Anna did not like that I walked her up to the middle of the stairs, sat her down, and left to take her picture. Madeleine, on the other hand, loves to climb these steps!

Anna is our sweetheart. I don't know how we are so blessed to have her in our family, but I'm glad we do because we need her.

There is a closeup of Anna's flower that I made for her hair.

Poor Hop Hop got dragged down the redrock stairs by her ears! Ouch!

I can't believe that I have a child old enough to be a Sunbeam! That just seems way too old for me. It's crazy how fast it happens. One day babies turn into kids and it feels like we missed it even though we were here the whole time. I love this girl more than I can say. It's fun to watch her as she transforms into a kid.

This post is mostly for Mom so that she can see the girls in these sweet little dresses she sent. These pictures were taken after church, so their hair was a little wild. I had fun making their little hair flowers. Madeleine did have two, but one fell out on our way out to the car. Mike had to stay for choir practice, so I thought I would take a couple of pictures of the girls on the steps to the chapel. Where is Henry? It was SUPER windy, and he had fallen asleep during primary, so he was nestled into his carseat out of the wind while I took their pictures. My next post will be all about Henry, I promise.

Hot Chicks!

2009-03-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Introducing the newest additions to the Reynolds Family... Ten baby chicks! We have 4 Black, 2 White, 2 Brown, and 2 Buff. Anna says, "I want baby chick on my lap, Mommy. Chick on my lap, mommy." And Madeleine absolutely loves them and is extremely careful with them. Why does Anna look like a little Grandma in this picture? I love her!
I hadn't brushed her hair yet after the bath... And now that I think of it I probably shouldn't have let these freshly bathed babes hold their chicks for some pics... Oh well...
Double trouble... This picture was taken a little later when her hair had dried.
Anna's chick climbed up onto her head, and she was not happy about it!
These girls are good at sharing their chicks. We are excited to build their coop and collect their eggs this summer. We think that they will be fun pets and hope that they will like being in our family.

Their trash, our treasure

2009-03-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have recently began shopping thrift stores, KSL.com, and craigslist for used things. It's really fun. We needed a new fish tank stand when we moved to this house because our tank doesn't fit underneath the cabinets here like it did at our last place. We had looked online at a lot of stores and also at pet stores when we would make it to civilization and we decided that we just couldn't afford one... until I looked at ksl and found this one used. After sanding, painting, and sealing, it looks like this. It used to have a lovely 80's oak finish, but we felt this black antiqued look went better with our black and dark furniture.

Our poor rainbow got a little stressed out we think when the tank was cleaned, and unfortunately passed away the day after we had put the tank on the new stand. We loved this rainbow, were happy with his growth and hope that he made it to fish heaven.

Christmas Past and Present

2009-01-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2005, Madeleine's 1st Christmas was spent in the Orem Condo. We had just moved from the yucky Provo house that I'm sure all who visited will remember. This year was especially fun because Grandma Laurel and Grandpa Jerry were visiting!
I couldn't resist posting this one of Madeleine playing with her Christmas toys that year in her diaper. Look at those rolls!
Christmas 2006. Madeleine's 2nd Christmas was spent in that same Orem Condo. I wish I'd have kept that sleigh.
She opened the blocks first and really we could've stopped there because she loved them and didn't want to open anything else. We sure do miss our kitty, Cleo. She is the best cat in the world.
Christmas 2007. Our next Christmas was spent in our Loa Apartment and it was Anna's 1st Christmas, Madeleine's 3rd. I don't miss those stairs! We cut our tree down at Fish Lake that year and I hope I'll always remember sliding down the mountain with our tree, children, and saw!
These girls have a great time with pretend play. Madeleine was afraid to come downstairs because she thought Santa would be waiting to watch her open her presents.
Christmas 2008. This Christmas was spent in the Loa "Pink" House. Everyone in town calls our new residence the "Pink House" because although no longer pink, it was for many years.
We had a new addition to our family this Christmas. Madeleine is really into the Elf movie, so she named him Buddy after the main character of that show. I hope our Uncle Buddy is not offended!
Madeleine and Annaleise spent the day playing princess birthday/tea party. Again this year, Madeleine was afraid to come out to see what Santa brought until we assured her that Santa had left to take other kids their presents.
Henry's first Christmas was spent cuddling his presents and watching his silly sisters.
Michael spent a lot of time decorating the living room and it looked great, so I thought I'd share.

We moved ten days before Christmas this year and so we didn't get decorations up until the night before Christmas Eve. When I went to post pictures of this Christmas, I browsed back through Christmas Past and decided it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane. 3 out of 4 of Madeleine's Christmases have been spent in different locations. I hope this isn't obnoxious. I wonder where we'll be next year.

The Musical Weekend

2008-11-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

Mike's students performed "Schoolhouse Rock" at the beginning of November. I meant to blog about it sooner, but we're just always crazy around here. The opening night of the play, I covered a shift at the grocery store for one of the cast members so that they wouldn't have to miss. While I was there, Anna fell off of a chair at the babysitter's and broke her arm. Who knew tea parties were so dangerous? My friend who was babysitting didn't realize she was that hurt. Anna's such a sweetheart, she doesn't always show her true emotions. She stayed up all night crying and saying "hurt." Once I figured out what was hurting, we spent the next day at the local clinic and the hospital getting x-rays and a cast, so we didn't make it to the second night of the play as planned.

I had told another cast member that I would work for them on Saturday, but due to Anna's broken arm, I was able to get someone else to work that night and I got the chance to take the kids to the musical.

It was a great show! The kids performing were obviously having a great time with their singing and dancing. They're a bunch of characters. Madeleine's favorite part was when the "scary bear" came out, which due to budget constraints was really the school's badger mascot costume. She kept asking when the bear would come out again. My favorite part was the "Adjectives" song because I remember it from my childhood and the girls that sang it were funny and animated. Anna's favorite part was running out into the hall and flirting with Elvis. Henry's favorite part was taking a nap, which was nice for me because the girls kept me really busy.

These girls really love their daddy and are very proud of him. After it was all over and cleaned up, we stopped by the cast party and dropped of some Snickers Apple Salad. I give this year's musical 2 thumbs up. It was really fun, the voices were great, and it was the perfect length of time for a crazy mother of 3 really young kids to survive.

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

The whole gang... Claire the Pink SuperGirl was holding Henry the Skeleton while surrounded by the witch twins, Abbey the Storm Fairy was behind her with her mummy friend, Emma the Husky Wolf was helping to keep Anna the Easter Bunny in the picture, and Asher the Dinosaur was sitting so sweet behind Madeleine the Pink Fairy on Paul and Jenny's spooky porch.

Here's one of our sweet Anna by herself. This costume really fit her personality and she loved to rub it on her face and tell us it was soft.

Our Henry the Skeleton asleep in his carseat. Lately he's been either sucking on his fingers, or sucking on his pacifier with his favorite fingers stuck in the middle of it. I love this boy!

Anna the Easter Bunny and Maddie the Pink Fairy playing at the piano.

Madeleine playing the piano, but missing her wings! Oops!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. We went trick or treating with Paul and Jenny's kids and their friends because we conveniently had Dr. and car appointments in Utah County on Halloween.

I loved watching Madeleine trick or treat this year because she was so into it. Sure, sometimes she was too nervous to say "trick or treat" until after they closed the door and she had her candy, but I was proud of her "trick or treats" and "thank you's."

Anna went up to a few doors, but we had to go up with her and I felt like it was silly. Even though she loves candy, Anna didn't really care about the trick or treat part of it, so she spent most of the night in the stroller with Henry.

We have way too much candy in our house right now. I filled two gallon freezer bags and hid them in the pantry for Mike to give to his students when he needs a bribe, and we still have a bowl full on the counter.

Our Halloween started stinky because we had to leave at 5:30 in the morning to get to all of our crazy day appointments, but ended good because we had great family and yummy food. Thanks to Jolyn for getting me to my appointment while the car was getting worked on, and to Paul and Jenny for letting us crash (probably literally) at their place once again.

Church Halloween Party and Anna the Artist

2008-10-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

We went to our ward Halloween party on Tuesday night. The kids will be wearing different costumes on Halloween, but I still wanted to document these costumes. Madeleine has been super excited about this leotard hand-me-down that I think is from Paul and Jenny's kids, so we decided to have it be part of her costume. I should add that her hand-me-downs from Abbey, Claire, and Emma are very much loved by her because she loves those girls. I threw together a little skirt for her with scraps of fabric and things I had around the house. She was a ballerina, Anna wore Mad's old witch costume, and Henry was Captain Adorable. He had a yellow blanket as a cape, but this was after the party, so the kids had ditched a couple of their costume pieces by the time I got their picture. Madeleine is really into Halloween this year and being spooky. I love that she's getting to be a kid. I also love that Anna absolutely adores Henry. So, this morning the girls were happily coloring on the ottoman in their jammies and I ran upstairs for something and when I came back down Anna was undressed and coloring on her tummy with markers. I got the camera and took a picture because she's just my cute little artist.

An introduction

2008-10-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

I decided that it's finally time to start a blog about our little branch of the Reynolds family. Here is a little introduction to us and what we're up to.

I stay pretty busy taking care of these kids, cooking, and cleaning. I've decided that I'd like to go back to school and finish a degree, I just don't know for sure what that degree should be. Any suggestions are welcome. This week I've been thinking that an awesome job would be a high school librarian. I've recently realized how much I like to read (I've gotten more of a chance while nursing Henry), I think it would be fun to learn more about research, and teenagers crack me up. I've always thought that I would have some sort of business, and I have new ideas all the time, but never enough of the green stuff to get them in the works. Maybe some day...

Michael is the music teacher for Wayne High School and Middle School. We just got back from taking 3 of his students "up north" to participate in the All-State Choir. Michael collaborates with the drama teacher in the production of a musical each year. This year, they are performing "Schoolhouse Rock". The musical is in the beginning of November, so hopefully I'll be able to see it without the kids so that I can blog a full review. :) He is also working on his master's degree in education through Utah State University. We are very proud of Mike and the progress he is making to create a music program here.

Madeleine is three and has a very strong personality. I've noticed recently that she has an extremely vivid imagination. She loves coloring, painting, and playing with playdough. She also loves to dance and can't wait until she's old enough to go to the local dance studio next year. Madeleine is very social and loves making new friends everywhere we go. She loves to be outside, go for long walks, and play at the park.

Annaleise is one and a half and super sweet. She loves her "ba-baol" (bottle) and her "me" (binky). We really need to get rid of the bottle but she's just so sweet when she asks for it that it's hard for us. She learns new words every day and loves to repeat people when they talk. My favorite thing is when she sings the Strawberry Shortcake song. She absolutely LOVES Henry and smothers him with affection all day. Anna also loves her daddy, animals, baby dolls, and anything that is soft.

Henry is a month old and so far pretty serious and sweet. He just started giving us little grins. He is constantly hungry and is already about to outgrow his bassinet. I don't know what else to say about him other than we're just so happy to have him in our lives and are excited to see his little personality develop.

That's us in a nutshell. Hopefully I'll have something fun to blog about soon.