Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

The weekend before Kimber's birthday we went to Omaha to visit the zoo. This was Kimber's very first visit to any zoo and Madi's third. I have always loved going to the zoo. When I was in grade school it was always my favorite when we went on our annual field trip to the Sacramento Zoo. I hope that my girls have fun going to see all the animals and learning about them like I did. We couldn't have asked for better weather that day it was almost hot. The zoo was totally packed with people I guess that we all had the same idea on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The last time we went to the Phoenix Zoo all of the animals were sleeping and hidden from sight so it was really fun to see all the animals out playing. The polar bear was putting on a show for everyone. He kept on standing up and holding his red ball above his head. Every time he did it the crowd roared. It was great fun to watch him play. I loved the windows by the gorillas and penguins. Madi stepped into this bubble window so it felt like she was inside the tank with the penguins. Really cool! I know that this gorilla is strong enough to pull my arms off but doesn't he just look so sweet and cuddly? He just laid there and looked at us looking at him. It was almost like he was posing for us. I wonder what he is thinking. Brett and the girls were standing right in front of where this elephant walked up to. I told Madi that he was coming over to say hello to her. The aquarium was really neat too. I was excited for the girls to see all the fish. This was their first experience going to an aquarium. It was a lot of fun to watch their faces as the fish and sharks swam over their heads. We all had fun walking through the zoo (some riding or being carried) and watching the animals. It was a fun little outing that I hope we continue to do at least once a year.Look out for the killer squirrels!!

A little sneak peak about my next post... Madi got sick on the way home from Omaha all over Brett... Ewww!!

Happy Birthday Kimber!

We celebrated Kimber's birthday this past Friday (March 20) because Brett had the weekend off. I made Kimber a Bunny cake because she is our little Easter baby. Madi helped Kimber open her presents and they both had so much fun with that. We got Kimber this little doll that giggles when you push on it's belly. It's really cute and Kimber just loves it. We also got her the walker/doll stroller. She is doing really well walking behind it. I still need to take a photo of that. She was really funny with the cake. At first she didn't know what to think of it but after a minute she just dug right in. It was such a fun little birthday party. We also went to the Omaha Zoo but that's for a later post.

Ahhhh!! This is just what I wanted!!

I love my baby!

Ewww!! What is this stuff?

Hey! That's not so bad! Yummy!

Worn out after eating so much cake!

Time to play!

The day I was born, Kimber Lee Barnes

Kimber was born Monday March 24, 2008 in Glendale, Arizona. I was scheduled to be induced on Sunday March 23 which was Easter Sunday. The hospital didn't have any room on Sunday so they waited until the next morning to have me go in. When we arrived at the hospital they got us all set up in our room and we were ready for the long haul. Big sister Madi was at home with Grandma Barnes or Nana is what Madi calls her. My doctor (Dr. McKernan the best doctor)came in to see me shortly after we were settled in to check on how things were going. He then broke my water and got me started on pitocin. I didn't have my epidural yet because they wanted me to have an entire bag of fluids pumped in before they did it. I had my epidural so early with Madi I didn't have the pleasure of really truly feeling my contractions. With Kimber on the other hand oh boy! Brett was getting upset that they were waiting to give me my epidural he couldn't stand to see me in pain like that. He kept asking me if I wanted to squeeze his hand or something. I really didn't see what good having both of us in pain would do so I declined his sweet offer.

I don't remember what time it was when I finally got my epidural but once it kicked it was so lovely. After that point we just hung out and watched TV. Kimber was finally born at 3:26PM. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She was so perfect. Right as I was about to make the final push my doctor told me not to push and then he said to laugh. Just him saying that made me laugh. I thought it was cute that I laughed Kimber right into the world. Tifany had the same doctor as I did and she remembers him having her laugh too. Such a cute thing.
Brett went home after a little while to pick up Madi and Grandma. Madi was so excited to meet her baby sister. She just wanted to give her a big squeeze but I had to hold her back a little I was worried that she might squish baby Kimber too much. Kimber is our little Bunny Baby since she was born the day after Easter. We are so glad that she is in our family. She brings so much joy to our lives. She has such a fun personality and she is starting to show her little devious side.. She is so sweet she worries when she sees that her big sister is sad. Today Madi had dropped her precious silky behind the couch and just wailed because she thought it was gone forever. Madi laid her head on my lap and Kimber came over and started patting Madi on the head. It was just too precious. We have been so blessed to have these sweet little girls in our family. Happy Birthday Kimber! I wanted to write what I remembered about the day that you were born.

Tornado Watch!!!

We had a pretty good thunderstorm here today. We had rain and hail mixed and lightning with booming thunder. It's so fun to watch the rain and hail falling but I'm too scared of lightning that we didn't watch for very long. I had the weather channel on all afternoon checking on the weather forecast. It's pretty disconcerting to see that red outline around the area that you live in. This is the first time since we've been here that I've seen the Tornado Warning on the news. I've been on edge all afternoon. Last week I started looking into tornado preparedness online. I was just getting nervous about what to do and would I even hear the sirens if they went off in the middle of the night.. They ought to give a crash course on tornado's when you move here.

Madi is such a little character. She really wanted to come outside but I'm too chicken. So she just watched from the door. What a silly willy.

Poor Brett had to leave for work right when the rain was falling the hardest. I told him he could use my umbrella but it's a little too girly for him. I would have taken some pictures of the rain and hail coming down but the lightning had me too scared. I did go out when it was all calm and took some photo's. The sky just looks so ominous. While I was outside I heard a bang or a loud pop that made my heart jump. The neighbor up the road a little ways either shot a BB gun or lit a firecracker to scare the birds. I'll tell you what it scared the birds and me too.. Yikes! The birds were going crazy though so I guess I don't blame him for being annoyed.

I called and talked to Tifany on the phone and she said that she will probably have a heart attack every time it rains here and I would have to agree.

Mommy and daughter time

Madi has been sick the last few days and hasn't really had an appetite. Around 10:30am this morning she said that she wanted something to eat. Kimber was in her bed taking a nap so we had the kitchen to ourselves. Madi ate her entire Gerber meal of mashed potatoes and gravy with chicken and carrots. Then she asked for some bread. When she was finished with that I remembered that I had a bag of apples in the refrigerator that I bought the night before. I cut the apple up and gave her a piece. Then I saw some bananas and that sounded really yummy. We sat at the counter eating our apple and banana together it was really sweet. I remember as a kid coming home from school and my Mom cutting up an apple and banana for me and either pouring milk over the top or putting a dollop of yogurt on top. It was such a fun treat after school. I remember that time feeling like it was just me and my Mom around even though somewhere in the house were my little sister and two younger brothers. It was just really special to me to have that little alone time with my Mom since we always had such a full house.

Not a happy ballerina

Just after the beginning of the year we decided to put Madi in a ballet class. She loves to dance around and act silly so I thought it would be a perfect outlet for her. There was a dance class for 3 - 4 year old girls that had started in June but they would let Madi in. I should always go with my first instinct. When we met the dance teacher I thought she seemed a little... Umm... strict I guess would be the best way to put it.

The first day of class Madi was so excited to wear her pink leotard and ballet slippers. She pranced around the house and twirled around around. When we arrived at the dance studio I found out that I wouldn't be able to watch. I mean they shut the doors and there isn't even a little window you can watch through. I haven't been to many dance schools but the one that I danced at had a big window in the foyer and I remember people being able to sit in the dance studio and watch. Anyway, I was a little bummed I had dreamt of taking pictures while Madi danced around. When the class was over Madi came out and she was very subdued. If you know Madi you know that's not normal for her. While I was putting her coat and shoes on she told me she didn't like it. Then when I asked her again she said that she did like it so I didn't know what to think. I thought she was just being silly. So we kept taking her to ballet class for the next few weeks and it was almost like pulling teeth. She really wasn't that excited about it. During the classes I would stand right next to the door and listen to what was going on inside. I could also kind of peek in and see a little. I didn't want to look like a total freak so I didn't look in the whole time. I thought that since Madi started the class later than the other girls maybe I could help her practice if I knew what to show her to do. One time when I took Madi to class I had to go to talk to the dance studio's secretary to find out if Madi's ballet slippers were in so I had to leave my normal post right outside the door. When I finished my business with the secretary I returned to my post right by the door. Shortly later out of the corner of my eye I saw a little girl with one of the dance class helpers walking towards the door. When I looked closer I saw it was Madi. The dance class helper (who is probably in JR. High) told me that Madi needed to go to the bathroom. Right away I knew that something was amiss with Madi. She did not want to go back into her class. So I thought quickly and said, "Hey! I got your new slippers do you want to put them on?" Oh and by this time there is like 5 minutes left of class. Madi was way excited to have her slippers that were just like all the other girls. So I go about trying to put them on her. Then the door opens and it's the dance teacher. She takes Madi's hand and takes her back into the class. I felt a little weird about it because when you know your daughter isn't happy you want to figure out what's the matter. So 5 minutes later class gets out and the teacher comes and tells me that Madi sat down during class and if they don't participate they don't get to "jump over the river" at the end of class. Jumping over the river is when they have this long sheet that they hold across the floor and the girls get to jump over it. She also said that they don't get to have a stamp on their hand at the end of class. At first I was like oh no Madi you have to pay attention in class! Brett and I kept trying to get Madi to show us what she learned in class and we kept trying to help her understand that she needed to pay attention in class but she just wasn't that into it.

A couple of weeks later I found out that the class for that day was observation day. I was so excited that we would get to go in and see Madi dancing. I talked Brett into going (he ended up being the only Dad there) so I thought it was going to be a really fun thing. The first 15 or so minutes we were in there the dance teacher was explaining the makeup for the dance recital and how they want the girls to wear their hair blah blah. Anyway, once the class got going Madi was just kind of messing around, she watched us and played with the skirt on her leotard. She looked really really grumpy. Then there was this taller girl that kept giving Madi a little push. So that didn't make Madi happy at all. I don't think the girl was trying to be mean I think she thought she was helping but it was just the wrong thing to do with Madi. It just made her mad.

(See how sad she looks in this picture.)

After the next weeks class I was ready to take Madi out. I was getting annoyed at hearing (through the door) the teacher call out to Madi not to do this and that. It just rubbed me the wrong way and why couldn't it be fun. The teacher had decided to introduce these little towels that she wanted the girls to hold for the dance recital. Can you imagine what's going to happen when you hand these 3 and 4 year old girls something to hold? They are going to play with it. As far as I'm concerned if you don't want them to do that don't give it to them. Again I'm asking myself why can't dance class be fun. That's why we put her in class after all. I know I'm sounding a bit like that crazy Mom that doesn't think my kid can do anything wrong but come on these are little girls of course they are going to want to play around.

So finally Brett and I decided that we were just going to take Madi out of that class and maybe put her in later. Or better yet put her in a tumbling class or something that she won't get chastised for playing around. So now all I had to do was let the dance school know I was taking Madi out. That night the phone rang and it was someone from the dance studio. They were calling to get Madi's measurements for her costume. They hadn't even ordered it! So I took the opportunity to tell the secretary that we were taking Madi out of the class so they didn't need to order the costume. She wasn't rude at all but she told me that the dance teacher doesn't allow "drops" after January. ?!? I just explained that we only put her in the class in January. She just told me that she would have the dance teacher call me. After I hung the phone up I started wondering what they were going to try to make me do. So I want to take my kid out of their class are they going to try to force me to pay for the remaining lessons? I was just a bit annoyed. A few days later I happen to be out and the dance teacher called and talked to Brett. It ended up being no big deal. She told Brett that she kind of figured that Madi wasn't having much fun since she started so much later than the girls. We are still going to get the costume so Madi will have a little yellow polka dot bikini to play dress up with.

The morale of the story... Go with my first gut instinct. I should have just put Madi in the tot tumbling class at the YMCA.. Oh well, lesson learned.

An awesome award!

Becky over at Babes in Hairland gave me this awesome award for my bow blog and I thought I'd show it off on here too!

"I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!" Thank you so so much! What a fun thing to get. I really try hard to be creative so it's so nice to get this award. I hope that I can live up to it.
I'm supposed to list 7 things that I love and then pass this award on to 7 blogs that I love so here it goes.

7 things I love in no particular order:

1-My little girls
2-My cute husband
3-Spring time (it's not coming soon enough)
4-clean laundry
5-Chatting on the phone with a good friend
6-the ocean (so why do I live in Iowa again?)
7-Photography

Here are my 7 blogs that I love:

1- Today's Creative Blog - If you haven't seen this blog you have really been missing out. I just love all of the fun things that she posts on her blog. Talk about Kreativ! It's right in the title of the blog.
2- Tip Junkie - I just need to figure out how to stop time so that I can catch up on all of the fun projects on this blog. Love love love it!!
3- Jaimie Haley Photography - My friend Jaimie takes the cutest darn photo's! She has such a talent to capture that prefect moment. If only we lived a little closer to each other I really want her to take photo's of my little girls.
4- Picky Palate - Mmm Mmm Yummy!! Come on she was on Food Network! How much more do I need to say about that!!
5- Make it and Love it - Another great blog with so many cute projects. I'm still trying to figure out how to stop time so I can sew sew sew.. Love this one!
6- She does Hair - Of course I had to mention some of my favorite hair blogs. I've tried some of her ideas and they are so cute. I just need Madi's hair to grow out so that I can really go crazy.
7- Then last but certainly not least Babes in Hairland - I know she is the one that gave me the award but she really deserves it right back. I love that she posted instructions of how she gets her girls hair to look so smooth without fly aways. I never thought about putting a bit of product in Madi's hair to help it to behave. Also she is so talented with braiding hair. Do you hold hair braiding clinics?

Well there they all are I hope you enjoy looking at my favorite blogs.
Now to all of you that I have nominated go and nominate your favorite blogs. It's so much fun! Make sure you copy the award and show it off proudly on your blog. Have fun!

I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard...

The weather here in Iowa has really been teasing us the last couple of weeks. We had some really pretty days that got up to the so hot 50 degrees outside and it felt like we were somewhere tropical. Today we were so blessed to get some freezing rain so the roads and everywhere are covered with this lovely sheet of ice. It is terribly slick outside. The temperature is 10 degrees but it feels like -11 with the wind chill. BRRRR!!!
I know I've mentioned our sweet little neighbor Katherine before. She is 94 years old and very active. When it's snowy or icy I get her mail or take her trash can back in so she doesn't have to walk out where it's slick. She really likes to do stuff for herself but I've told her I would feel so bad if she fell. She behaves for the most part but I've seen her outside shoveling a little path to get to her squirrel feeder. Her trash pickup was today but since it was so slick I thought that I would wait until tomorrow to take her trash can back in. The wind is blowing like who'd a thunk it outside so her trash can was knocked over. I was sitting in the kitchen feeding Kimber and this is the dialogue that Brett and I had.
H, "Her can is blowing away!"
B, "I'll go out and get it."
H, "You better hurry before she tries to go get it."
B, "It looks like her garage door is opening."
H, "Hurry so she doesn't go out there!"
So this whole time I'm sitting feeding Kimber and then I look out the window to see what's happening. Brett is shuffling along in bare toes in flip flops! I don't think his coat was zipped up and he didn't have a hat on. I'm not sure how hard the wind is blowing but it gave me a good push when I was out in it a little earlier. I opened the window and yelled out, "ARE YOU INSANE?!" And Brett replied, "YOU TOLD ME TO HURRY!" I was laughing so hard! I thought that he would at least put some shoes on not flip flops. He made his way with the trash can and then started back for the house. The beginning of our driveway is a pretty good slope so picture this, a guy with naked toes in flip flops with his arms stretched out for balance trying to get some traction while walking up the driveway in freezing temperatures outside. He almost fell down with every step that he took. He had this huge smile on his face and I could see that he was finding it pretty funny. I on the other hand was laughing so hard that my face and stomach hurt. You probably had to be there for it to be funny.
When he got in the house he said that his feet weren't what were cold it was his face. I guess when I say jump I know that Brett is all over it.

Funny things that sleepy Daddy's say

The other night Madi was sitting at the counter eating her dinner but not eating her dinner. Brett and I were trying to talk her into eating her dinner and she was being her silly three year old self. Brett finally said to her, "Eat your dinner or I'm going to send you to bed without any sleep." Of course he meant to say without any dinner. Funny things always come out of your mouth when you're sleep deprived. We had a good little laugh about this one.

A glimmer of hope...

So, I feel like I've been working with Madi to get her potty trained for forever and ever. When I found out that I was pregnant with Kimber I was determined to get Madi out of diapers so I wouldn't have two bums to change. Well, any of you that have tried to potty train a very spunky little girl know that it has to be their idea otherwise it just doesn't work. You may remember this back in July. We have been back and forth, up and down with this potty training. Madi has times when she will go into the bathroom very willingly and other times that she fights tooth and nail to go in. I've put her in pull ups and then back to diapers and then tried big girl training pants. It's just a vicious cycle.
Just recently I decided that I would put her in the training pants with a plastic liner in hopes that she would start to understand that she doesn't want to wet her pants. After a week of having to wash her bed sheets everyday I decided to get more of what we call the "crutch panties" pull ups for her to wear at night. We have pretty much caved and she is wearing her "crutch panties" all the time. The other day I had a doctors appointment so I took the girls over to hang with Tifany and the girls. I dropped them off around 11:00am. After we left their house around 12:30pm we went to Walmart and McDonald's and then home. When we got home Madi tells me that she needs to go potty. Her "crutch panties" were completely dry! I couldn't believe that she had stayed dry that whole time. I had to call Tifany and ask her if she had to change her. She hadn't! She totally stayed dry and went on the potty! Woo Hoo!! It's been so great! I am starting to see a light at the end of this very long and agonizing tunnel. She really is doing such a great job and I couldn't be more proud of her. Way to go Moo Moo!
Funny little side note. Today Madi was sitting on her potty and she had finished her business. She looks up at me and says, "Can you smell that?" Silly Willy!