Hurricane Irene...We Survived

This past weekend, New England felt the effects from Tropical Storm Irene. It was a very long 48 hours from Saturday into Sunday seeing that it was pouring rain out with high winds so we couldn't exactly go out to play. I never realized how much I appreciate the fresh air.

Sunday we spent the entire day indoors. Jeremy made a yummy breakfast for everyone. (We knew we would need our energy for the day) Then there was a day full of reading stories, making Jell-O (because everyone needs Jell-O in their fridge during a hurricane, right?), playing with toys and the occasional Dora the Explorer/Diego video.

Samantha let us know what she thought Mother Nature should look like. We determined that Mother Nature has short curly hair and wears a long pink and purple dress.

After we finished dinner, the wind and rain were still howling around outside. So we decided that maybe it was time for a snuggle in and watch a movie...we decided that Happy Feet was very appropriate. The girls absolutely loved it and watched it all. We had popcorn and had blankets and just had a lot of fun. There was lots of yawning, and from the girls too. Ha ha. We figured once the girls were down we would have a game of Scrabble and maybe a glass of wine to toast to for "surviving" Tropical Storm Irene.

Nature had other plans...that's when we lost power. For about 12 hours to be exact.

We can't complain though. We've seen the footage of our friends up in Vermont and the destruction that the storm left behind. Some houses and state highways were completely washed away. We just had a few large branches down in the yard. Clean up was pretty easy, especially when the Madore-ables want to clean up and help Nanny.

So goodbye Irene. Please don't stop by anytime soon...or anywhere for that matter.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Really Made Me Smile This Past Week

1. Samantha has not only been excited and very motivated to write letters with pen, colored pencil, sidewalk chalk...you name it, and she'll write with it. Sam is constantly finding ways to write letters on paper: grocery lists, lists on things "to do", all of our names. Looks like my years of writing lists for everything has paid off.




2. Samantha's newest challenge is crossword puzzles. Obviously Samantha does the word search kind where you find the word and circle it. Can you imagine a four year old doing a crossword puzzle? I can just see it now. "Mommy? Can you give me a 10 letter word beginning with "P" for "a stationary domain that contains elements of fun with slides and swings"? "Hmmm...how about the word playground Sam?" "Thanks Mommy!"




3. Preschool is just around the corner. Samantha received her official letter of being welcomed into the "Red" family at her preschool that she will be starting after Labor Day. We've been invited to an orientation to go meet Samantha's teachers and see her room and where her special cubby will be. Sam also received a special piece of mail today from the mailman...it was a letter from her teachers. She was SO excited to have her own piece of mail.




4. I've been very good with putting sunblock on the Madore-ables, but it appears that a few freckles have snuck through onto Sarah's nose.



5. Sarah's new thing lately is asking me with a very serious face, "Mommy? Are you happy?" This morning, I told her "Yes Sarah, I'm very happy. Do you know why? Because I love you". Sarah looked at me with the sweetest face and said, "Mommy! I love you too!" And followed up with a big bear hug.

Our Little Daredevils

Since we've moved to our current house, I've had a lot of time to remember some good childhood memories while I'm out playing with the girls. You see, the house where we're living is my childhood home. I'm very familiar with the street, and all the driveways that are included.

When I was the Madore-ables age, I used to rack up the miles and ride up and down this same street on my bike. The neighborhood was full of kids who were around my age, so there were plenty of kids to play with. I also would use my brother's skateboard to ride down the hill that you'll be seeing the girls riding their bikes in the following video in a minute.

Years ago, our neighbor was a different home owner. He has since passed away, but his memory lives on now that my girls are using his old driveway for playtime. He was a great neighbor, and he was very gracious to allow all the children who were living on the street to use his driveway. All of the neighbors and I would ride our bikes up and down the street, and up and down his driveway. He never seemed to mind though. In fact, I really think he enjoyed it. In fact, he had a unicycle with a red glitter seat that was always hanging up on the wall of his garage. He made it known quite often that if anyone climbed atop the unicycle and rode it from the top of the hill to the bottom of the driveway then he would buy a banana split. Needless to say, the unicycle has never been touched and is probably still hanging on the wall of the garage to this day.

Looking back, I'm amazed at the fact that when you're a child, you're fearless and don't think about crazy things like jumping on a skateboard and going down a steep hill. Now I look at a skateboard and would fall off of it. Looks like my Madore-ables are following in Mommy and Daddy's footsteps. Mommy had a few "boo-boo's" on her knees from falling off of bikes. Daddy had one pretty bad fall and ended up breaking his wrist as a result.

Hopefully no bumps and scrapes will be added to their current collection. They seem to be having fun, so I'm letting them do that...and praying for no injuries. The smiles on their faces are totally worth it!

(I apologize for the quality of the video)

Summertime [Black and] Blues

This Summer, there has been lots of outdoor time.

Lots of playground time.

Lots of sidewalk chalk time.

Lots of bike riding time.

Lots of pool time.

Unfortunately, this also involves lots of bumps, scrapes, bruises and boo-boos. The Madore-able's have quite the plethora of these on their knees.

The Sleep Entourage

My Madore-ables sleep on beds...

Correction.

They co-sleep with their own entourage's.

Do your children also have their own entourage?

Smolak Farms

Last week the Madore-ables and I had a fun playdate at Smolak Farms with our friend Kerry and her daughter Shannon. Smolak's recently rennovated their petting zoo and children's play area and it looks great fabulous fun and amazing.

Plenty of parking. Free admission. It is truly the best place to go to if you're looking for a few hours to kill some time with the children. Or it's the perfect place to grab some Treadwell's ice cream and Smolak's famous cider donuts. Just be sure to remember to bring your quarters so the kids can feed the animals. Did I mention the yummy cider donuts and the Treadwell's icecream? Fun and yummy all in one place...can you really beat that?

My Madore-ables loved it and have asked me already if we can go back soon.

Sarah checking out the pirate ship

The girls feeding the Zebu (Smolak's also has goats and llamas)

Along with a life size pirate ship, there is also a tractor

Seriously brilliant. Old water pumps hooked up to a large trough full of water for the kids to pump water with. Who would have thought this could be so fascinating?

Sarah loved putting the ping pong balls in the "gulleys" and pumping the water to push the balls to her friend Shannon. They made a great team!

After all that hard work of feeding the animals their lunch and a picnic lunch, we decided a sweet frozen dairy product treat was in order.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Made Me Smile This Past Week

1. Since we've moved, the girls have their own playroom. It's wonderful. One room full of their toys. We no longer have the "toynado" in our living room. Now, when the storm hits the toyroom, we know that it's time to put some toys away to make some room for others. This past week, the girls have been playing and really showing their imaginations. It's cute to listen to them just outside the door and watch them play with their Little People or their kitchen set.



2. I walked everyday this past week. It feels great to be out starting my training for my walk next May.


3. Sarah absolutely loves her little tricycle we bought for her last week. It seriously has to be the best purchase we've made in awhile.


4. I found out yesterday that I am officially employed (outside of the home that is) again. Not sure when my exact start date is, but I'm happy to know that I can have a steady paycheck come in. Not sure of my hours exactly, but it's going to be somewhere around 2 or 3p to 9p or 10p. I can have time to have a playdate or run errands in the morning and drop Samantha off and pick her up at school and still have time to work. I've been so blessed and so fortunte to stay home and be a part of witnessing my girls grow and see them accomplish their milestones. Now, I'll be able to get out of the house for a little bit and help Jeremy contribute financially. We won't have to deal with daycare either which is a HUGE bonus for me. My Mom can watch the girls for a few hours each day and Jeremy is also able to switch his hours so he goes in early to get out early. It truly is just awesome. YAY!


5. Jeremy bought a bottle of my absolute favorite wine last night...Moscato. Mmmm...yum.

Marshmallows Roasting On An Open Fire

It's way too hot for Jack Frost to be nipping at our nose.

Although, this past week, we have had some relief from Mother Nature and had some cooler temperatures. We even received some much needed rain too.

But never hot enough for a night out in the backyard roasting marshmallows with the chiminea.

Since we've moved, we've been very fortunate to eat our dinners outside on the back deck and enjoy the fresh air. We've also just started to use the chiminea as well. Last week we had amazing weather where we could roast to our hearts content...or maybe our stomach's content anyway.

Potty Humor...G Rated Of Course

Miss Sarah has been doing very well on her potty training.


She has very few accidents these days, and we have actually been able to go on long car trips and she notifies us if she needs to "go".


We've also discovered that Sarah is also waking up in the morning with dry diapers. The savings alone with only having to deal with one diaper per day is also very refreshing.




During our recent move, I found an old quote book that I started back when I was young and also added some funny quotes that Samantha was saying. One of the main reasons why I started this blog was because the Madore-ables were doing and saying so much that I couldn't keep up with the quote book. We have had some pretty interesting conversations while sitting on the potty. Here is a few to mention:

• "Mommy! Wee wee is yellow!"



• "Mommy! That's a whole lot of wee wee" (said in a public bathroom)




• "Daddy! That looks like a snake!"




• "Mommy! That looks like carrots!"




• "Mommy! That looks like an island!" (I kid you not)




• "I'm a wee-wee machine"




• "Mommy, my tummy isn't feeling well today. I have broken poopies"

Or, sometimes things don't need to be said. I've walked into the bathroom (at home of course) several times and have found things like this:

Even Sarah's "Moo Cow" needs to be potty trained too!

Oh The Funny Things Kids Will Say

Sunday while we were at church, the time came during the service where the collection plates were about to be passed around. The Madore-ables know that they each will receive a bill of some sort to put into the basket. We think it's a great way not only to give to the church, but it also teaches a good lesson to the girls as well.

(Even if they don't understand it now, they will when they are older).

So, while we were waiting for the basket to be passed around, Samantha was inspecting her dollar bill very carefully. Very seriously, she turns to Jeremy and asks him,

"Daddy? Is this [pointing to George Washington] God?"

Sarah's New Wheels

Since Samantha received her big girls bike last month, Sarah has been dying to ride it. Sarah has also relentlessly tried to ride our neighbor's son's "big wheeler" but Sarah is just barely able to reach the pedals. Where could I find a bike for Sarah?

So, I found the next best thing.

I brought some clothing that the girls have outgrown to the consignment shop down the street from us, and just happened to see this beautiful tricycle sitting out front that had Sarah's name written alllllll over it. I swear I could hear it saying, "buy me!"

So I took a sneak peek at the price tag...

Just $15.00

I couldn't go home without it. That would just be plain awful.

So I decided to buy it. It was only fair.

And we're pretty sure that Sarah likes it.

For the last 3 nights at bedtime, she's asked us if she can ride her bike tomorrow.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile

1. I picked up a tricycle for Sarah yesterday. Just her smile and her reaction alone when she realized that the bike was hers was absolutely priceless. Was so totally worth it. (I also managed to score a really good deal on it too, so hooray for consignment shops!)


2. I cleaned and vacuumed my car last week, and it's still clean. Of course, I haven't really driven much in the last week so that may have something to do with it, but just getting into a nice clean car is so nice. (I still cannot believe the amount of gold fish crackers on the floor and on the back seat. The vacuum cleaner got a great snack that day).


3. I have already begun my training for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Right now, I'm waking an average of 3 miles in a hour time frame. It's a great way to start the day. So far, I have walked every day this week.


4. This past week, we had some beautiful cool weather to have some outdoor picnic lunches.


5. I'm looking forward to having a date night with my hubby tonight. Doesn't happen too often, but always enjoy it when it comes along.

Oh The Funny Things Kids Will Say

Jeremy and I have found a new addiction recently: Words with Friends app on our iPad. (It's really the same as Scrabble).

So Jeremy was playing a game with his brother Joshua who lives out in Pittsburgh and it just happened to be Jeremy's turn. Jeremy was looking at his letters to find a word to play. Randomly, Jeremy yelled out, "How do you spell the word lycra?" He then quickly figured out that it was spelled with a "y" and not an "i".

Samantha decided to help out.

"Daddy! That's the stuff you take for your allergies to make you feel better!!"

Hot Air Balloon Festival

This past weekend, Jeremy and I took the Madore-ables to a hot air balloon festival just outside of Concord, New Hampshire. The closest I have ever been to a hot air balloon is seeing it on the t.v, so I was really excited to see some up close.

The Madore-ables are obsessed with balloons. They absolutely love them. We told the girls on the drive up that we were going to see some pretty big balloons, so they were really excited about what was about to come.

There were many smiles...

There were helicopter rides available, and the girls were just fascinated by them landing and taking off.

Samantha, how big is the balloon?





Silly face time with Mommy



The girls discovered what cotton candy was for the first time.

The girls also were curious to take a ride on the carnival rides that were available...

We realized afterwards that may have been a bad idea...

Thankfully no therapy was involved.

Fortunately, we were able to calm the Madore-ables down for the entire reason of traveling to almost Concord, N.H...

Unfortunately, there were some typical New England thunderstorms that were predicted that evening, so only 2 of the hot air balloons launched. Two was just enough for us though.

The Madore-ables were in absolute awe at the size of the balloons. Not only did they get to experience carnival rides and hot air balloons, but they were also able to have their first sno cones and cotton candy.

Other than the rides, the girls truly did have a great time. The smiles prove it.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Made Me Smile This Past Week:

1. Samantha is doing such an AMAZING job at writing her upper and lower case letters. Not only that, but she's also writing her name...first and last. It's so cute to see "Samantha Madore" all over the driveway in different colors. She's also started to sound out words and is also starting to figure out words that Jeremy and I are spelling when we're talking in "code". Oh dear, I think we need to learn a new language or something.



2. Unpacking is still moving...slowly but surely. Little by little we're getting there. One box at a time.



3. With the exception of this morning, I've walked an average of 3 miles this past week. Training has begun for my 2012 AWBC walk. Hard to believe that we're approaching that season again.



4. I just found out this morning that my brother in law and sister in law are having a boy due in December. Also found out recently that my other brother in law and sister in law are pregnant and due in February.



5. Ask Sarah to say the word "hamburger" sometime...cracks me up everytime.

Dear Sarah (32 Month Update)

Dear Sarah,

Today you turn 32 months old. You have been through quite a lot of changes in milestones in the last month. You're growing to be such a big girl!

First of all, your talking in big girl sentences now. You have gotten to to the point where you're communicating to us exactly what you're looking for. You're also developing your memory too because you bring up things that I assumed you forgot about or wouldn't know about. You're doing a great job with saying "please" and "thank you". We just need to work on not freaking out about something when Mommy and Daddy can't fulfill your request 3 seconds after asking it. I know patience will come over time.

You adjusted very well to moving into Nanny's house. You're now sleeping in a big girl bed. The first night was very intersting. You got out of bed at least 3 times so you could test the waters of your new found freedom. You're outside playing everyday. There's plenty of room to play with chalk in the driveway, and ride the bright red wagon up and down the nice quiet street. Mommy and Daddy are so happy that we have been provided with this great opportunity so you can live in a nice, safe, neighborhood. You've really enjoyed swimming in the pool with all of the noodles (or "noo-noos" as you call them).

You're doing great at using the potty these days. You've been very consistent with making it in time. Mommy and Daddy feel comfortable leaving the house (with extra clothing of course) and you letting us know when you need to use the potty. You're piggy bank is filling up quickly from all the times you've had no accidents. Way to go!

It's been amazing to see how you've grown in the last month. We look forward to each month to see how much you've progressed. We're so proud of you. I hope you know how much we love you.

Love you always,


Mommy & Daddy

Here is what you looked like one year ago in August 2010

And here is what you look like today in August 2011

Dear Samantha (49 Month Update)

Dear Samantha,

Today you turn 49 months. It's been one month since you turned the BIG 4. You've had such a great Summer so far. We've been able to see you accomplish so many things in the last month.

You've had quite the amount of excitement in a month. The biggest is moving out of our old apartment and into Nanny's house. There are so many benefits to the four of us moving in that I don't know where to begin. You're riding a big girl bike with training wheels and have a nice street to ride it on. There is no way you could have done that at our old apartment. You are also sleeping in Mommy's bed from when she was your age. Due to us living with Nanny now, you're also using the swimming pool a lot more often now. You have more confidence now in swimming with a life vest then you did at the beginning of the Summer prior to moving. Moving also gave us a bigger driveway to use our sidewalk chalk in. Between you and your sister, you're wearing down those sticks with all of the artwork you're creating. It's also nice to see you want to practice writing your name. (Which, you are doing such an amazing job at that).

Another big milestone as a result of moving: you're now officially signed up for pre-school for this coming September. I don't know if Mommy and Daddy are ready for this yet, but from the way you're showing how much you want to learn, we know you're going to excel no matter what you do. Your teacher is going to be so proud of you for practicing your letters to write your name!

Daddy and I could not be happier. You have grown so much in the last few months. We're just amazed. School is going to teach you so much more.

Always remember that Daddy and I are so proud of you. Your heart is as big as your smile, and that is a beautiful quality to have. We hope you know that you can always come to us when you have a bad or a good day and we will be here for you.

Stay smiling and remember that we love you.

Love always,

Mommy and Daddy

These are some pictures that were taken of you one year ago in August 2010

This is what you look like today in August 2011

Summertime Graffiti

Now that we have moved, the Madore-ables have a bigger driveway to play with their big tub of chalk in.









This gives plenty of room for Samantha to practice writing her name this Summer before school starts this Fall.

Looks like she's well on her way!

Sleep Tests

Since we've moved, the Madore-ables have had some important milestones happen to them.

Samantha is signed up for pre-school.

Sarah is now going on a full week of sleeping in a big girl bed! We weren't quite sure if Sarah was ready, but she's done very well staying inside her bed like a big girl.

After a full day of playing, this is usually what the Madore-ables look like at the end of the day:

Sarah has passed the test this past week. She's asleep before we finish our nighttime prayers.

Samantha usually sleeps very well, and passes the "sleep test" as well. This particular night, she asked to have her picture taken and couldn't help but be a little goofy girl at the same time.