Madeline turns 2

A few months ago Madeline turned 2! We are so excited for her to be such a big girl. When she turned 2 she was certain that she was 5 and when asked would reply that she was 5, not 2 :) She loves playing whatever game her big sister is playing.

Don't ask me what they are doing here :)

She has quite a serious disposition and loves to observe, but is learning to let loose a little more and is taking up dancing. Usually this involves moving her arms up and down and stomping, but she is really proud of herself. She is speaking in sentences now, but only around people she is extremely comfortable with. Anyone who has watched her thinks that she doesn't say anything, but as soon as she is around us she starts jabbering.

We love our little Madeline! For her birthday Madeline really wanted to have a Dora birthday party. Dora is the only show that she will watch on tv. She will sit down and watch an entire episode, but if anything else is on she has zero interest in it. We had a few friends over (Miles, Simon, Emma and Preslee) and went on a Dora the explorer search for the treasure chest. It was really fun! We went over the river and through the candy forest and found the treasure chest, which had party hats and a birthday cake inside.

She insisted on a dora backpack cake. This was what I came up with.

Madeline and her friends, Simon, Miles and Preslee. Emma didn't want to get in the picture.

Enjoying cake and ice cream. Look at Madeline holding the juice all by herself. She's growing up!

The only picture of her with her presents. She got tons of fun stuff. Thanks everyone. Also, Candy and Tony came out for her party. Thanks guys!


We took a lot of little videos during the party, but in my opinion this was the best one. I love that David will be silly with his kids!

Proof that Madeline loved her party! She is sometimes so serious it's hard to tell if she's enjoying herself. I love this video :)

Job news, but it's not what you think...

Quick update:
So after about 8 months of searching we finally felt like I should look for a job.
The search was actually a little stressful for me because out here in Philly there aren't a lot of nursing jobs. I applied to places all over! In the city and near us in the burbs. We went to the temple and prayed about whether or not I should take a job out here or if we should move, but we felt like I should try to get a job here. When we got back out to our car I had a message waiting for an interview.
I ended with 3 interviews in the same week and got the job that I really wanted. I was really worried that I would have to work in a scary place in the city, but I will be working in a hospital aobut 2-5 minutes from us in a med/surg floor just like the one where I worked before. It's not easy work, but they really need people who care and so I'm excited to work there. I will be working full time nights (which as a nurse is just 3 12(7pm-7am) hour shifts). Even though I don't love the idea of working the lord has provided the best possible job for me and our family!
I will be starting in May right after David finishes classes. On the same day that I was offered the job I also got an offer to teach violin at a music store. It will just be a few hours on Saturday. I am up to about 12 students with the possibility of 3-4 more. I feel so blessed to be able to do what I love, which is teach violin. Helping sick people isn't so bad either :)
We prayed for work and the lord has provided it, just not in the way we expected.
We are still hoping and praying that David gets a job soon, but in the mean time at least we can live comfortably here. Plus now we don't have to leave Philly so soon! It really is an awesome city. Come visit us!!
Hopefully I'll get some posts up soon. Maddie had a really fun 2 year old birthday party and we have a hamster. More to come soon I promise.

Just for fun!

Gigi and Madeline love playing with their friends Ada and Simon. Their mom Jenny and I often switch off running together and so our kids are super close. On a recent visit I captured these sweet shots of them:



Then they became really silly:



I think this one of Simon is my favorite! He still has the cheese cracker evidence in his mouth.

At first Madeline just laughed at me when I asked her to stick her tongue out.

She finally figured it out :)
I guess I got a little silly too:

Just thought you might want to see our awesome tongues :)

Oh I decided to put this one up of Gigi. I love flinging my kids around. Don't worry I don't do it with anyone else's kids I promise!

Gigi violin update

Gigi has been practicing really hard on the violin lately! We usually get in 30-45 minutes a day during Madeline's nap. She has just learned O Come Little Children. Here it is for your listening pleasure :)

New TV

A few weeks ago we had a major snowstorm and we all decided to just hunker down for a day or two. The girls and I decided to play the wii and after about 5 minutes half of the screen went blank. Frustrated we went to David. He determined that it was not worth fixing it since we only paid $50 for it 5 years ago. It was a good friend to all of us, especially when it enabled me to get a few naps in here and there.
David thought it would be fun to take it apart for FHE so the following Monday night we tried to open it up. We couldn't find the right sized screwdriver though so my manly husband just yanked the thing apart. Then he gave us about a 20 minute lesson of what each part does. It was quite fascinating! Give us a call if you have a tv for us to destroy :)







So for the new TV we really weren't sure what type to buy. Flat screened tv's have become so cheap that we were considering buying a nice new one, but we didn't feel right about spending that much money right now. Then we thought about buying another junk one on craig's list, but we didn't really feel right about doing that either. In the meantime Candy and Tony were awesome enough to lend us their 19 inch flat screen. We fell in love with it. Then Candy offered to sell it to us for a pretty awesome price so we bought it! Even though it is quite small because of the quality of picture we can see things so much better. It even has a dvd built in. All of these are cool features, but the best part is being able to carry it with one arm :) Our old one was a struggle for David and me to carry together.
Feel free to stop on by to watch a show on our new awesome tv :) Just don't bring Jan and Michael Scott over or we might have a problem. (Did anyone get the reference? Thanks people!)

Gigi's workout routine

I haven't posted in forever, which means that just thinking about posting is overwhelming. I hope this random video will inspire me :) Since my marathons I have been rather sick of running so a friend of mine lent me her copy of 30 day shred with Jillian Michaels. It is 20 minutes of pain people! Anyway on Saturday evening David and I still had not worked out and we hadn't had our FHE for the week so we decided to do the shred as a family :) It was pretty awesome. Gigi was seriously into it and didn't quit once! Afterward she wanted to keep going and I was able to get a bit of her workout for all of you to see:



I also have to share this bit of really exciting news: My mom came to town a few weeks ago and treated me to something I have wanted for years...boots! I love them!!! Everytime I slip them on my feet I feel fancy. I guess I really am still 12, but I don't care! I love them! Thank you SO much mom!! I don't actually have a picture of them on me, but here are both of my girls enjoying this truly girly and luxurious item!!

at the dinner table

Madeline's either a math genius or just really likes saying the number 2. You decide :) Grandma Payne notice the green smoothie on Madeline's tray, she LOVES them!