September 10, 2010

Took Madyn outside for some play time & Captured quite a few cute pictures!
Enjoy :)

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Cardinals Training Camp

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Grand Canyon 2010

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Madyn February-July of 2010

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July 2010

So I'm a couple months behind, but I want to make sure this gets posted.

July was quite an exciting month. At the beginning, Brandon, Madyn and I celebrated 4th of July right from home. The fireworks pictures are ones that I took off the TV.

The next day we got up pretty early and went up north to go to Brandon's grandma's cabin. We took his sisters quad up there and all rode around. It was so much fun. I spent 90% of the day on a quad. It was the first time I had ever ridden one, let a lone drive it. We had lunch up there, and then headed back down town at around 5, making it back home safe and sound at around 8.

July 6th, 2010, was Madyn's 4th birthday! I couldn't believe it when I woke up that morning, but my son was 4!! He's such a joy, and so amazing! I had planned on going to breakfast and he got a free rooty tooty jr from IHOP, only he didn't like this plan. Instead, he woke up and was cranky about almost everything. I finally got him to calm down, and then we got into my mom's van and she had tried really hard to hide part of his present..(a yellow smiley face balloon) behind the back seat, but the little stinker saw it and got all upset once again!! So the rest of the ride to Ihop was loud! He unfortunately is still a temper tantrum throwing little boy.

Once we actually got to Ihop and the balloon was placed in those little hands all was right with the world again. We got in, waited to be seated and listened to madyn talk nonstop. Its so much fun hearing all about what is in his brain. We were seated shortly after and all chaos ensued once again. Madyn did NOT want to sit still, and only wanted to see what else his grams had brought for him. So after calming him down once again, we gave him the present. He started tearing tissue after tissue out of the bag, to reveal at the bottom a toy story sticker book, an eric carle board game, and a new toy story jump rope! He was so happy! ...So happy that he didn't want to eat any of the breakfast that was picked out for him. We finished breakfast and headed home. We needed some rest to refuel, from the morning we had just had.

That afternoon when Brandon got home we opened the gift I picked out for him. A package of action figures, a yo-yo, some temporary tattoos, and a stuffed caterpillar. He loved all of them! Then we headed to dinner, which was Madyn's choice. We went to Grimaldi's, a really nice pizza restaurant! It was my first time there and it was so yummy! Madyn agreed! After that we headed to every little boys favorite place....Toys R Us! Madyn got to pick out some new toys! It was so fun to see him picking out what he wanted. Then we went home for the day.

I think overall Madyn had a very good birthday, and I hope he enjoyed himself. :)

Twas a good day!

So today didn't go quite as planned, but nonetheless it was a good day. Madyn and I got to see my mom and my sister today. We hung around the apartment, and enjoyed a two hour nap, and then went swimming. We both love the pool so this was nice. I couldn't imagine being in arizona without a pool or sprinkler/water hose near by!

Brandon's getting sick, and I feel bad because I can't help him much except to keep Madyn busy so he is able to rest. Hopefully it will go away soon though! I hate when he's sick. :(

Tomorrow I am hanging out with my friend Heaven and her little girl (possibly her husband too but not sure!). I'm going to be taking 1st birthday pictures of her. I am super excited for this opportunity! I love being able to do this for my friends. Photography is my main hobby.

Saturday and sunday I may or may not work, who knows. Even if I'm scheduled I could get called off, or get called in early. Its so funny how it works, but I love my job. Monday we're going up north to see Brandons grandma, and enjoy some time with family up there. Madyn may get to ride a quad for the first time, who konws though. It will be an excellent time to take pictures! On Tuesday is Madyn's 4th birthday, so again...More pictures!!! Keep your eyes pealed for picture blogs coming up! This next week will be fun for sure!

Hope that all my readers/family/friends have a great and safe independence day weekend! Those in Arizona, stay cool!!!! :)

Half way through the year already?

Wow, I can't believe tomorrow is June 30th already! This year is flying by me. In a matter of a week I will have a 4 year old. It doesn't seem real to me, but time is a passing and I can't do anything about it.

I had my application appointment with the headstart for Madyn last week or the week before, and have decided that I am just going to "homeschool" him this year to get him ready for Kindergarden next year. I think this will be better then sending him to an actual school this year, because I am his mom and I have succeeded in teaching him what he already knows now, and because we can do it at our own pace and not worry about him getting behind. He is a really smart boy and I know that we'll have fun doing this together.

Also, Brandon has planned a camping trip next month and I'm super excited! I haven't been camping in ages. We're going to go to the Grand Canyon!! Madyn and I have never been there, and the last time Brandon went was a while ago, so it will be a great vacation for all of us!! I'll have lots of fun and interesting pictures to share when we get back I'm sure!

This weekend Brandon spruced up our master bathroom and I'm in love with it! He completely surprised me when I came home from work on saturday. It was nice. He put some shelves up, but I'm not quite sure what to put on them. I wanted to put candles, but since our wall slopes out the shelves aren't secure enough to hold candles on them. If you have any suggestions let me know!

So yes. I love my bathroom now!!

My Dream House

While I'm up late tonight I am watching HGTV and dreaming up my perfect house. I absolutely love HGTV and am counting the days until I am picking out wall colors, and planning bedroom themes for our house, and while I'm not sure when that will be, I'll just keep dreaming. So without further explanation here's what my dream house would consist of:

In the kitchen there would be cabinets like this:

It would have an island similar to this:

however the countertops would have blackgalaxy granite tops instead:

I would have the walls painted this color:

In the living room there would be giant windows similar to these. If it was one giant window from floor to ceiling it would be even more perfect. The floors would be wooden to make it completely perfect.

The paint in the living room would be a nice happy shade of yellow, not to bright and not baby yellow.

In the living room we would have lots of bright accents around the room. I'm thinking bright orange gerber daisies, Yellow couch cushions, and other complimentary colors/accents around the room.

There would be at least two bedrooms, but hopefully 3. We would have 2 bathrooms. One in the master suite, and a guest bathroom. I would love to decorate the guest bathroom in something very simple, but clean.

The color of this wall is what I think would look good in a guest bathroom, with white accents:

White towels, tissue boxes in blue, and other bathroom accessories would complete the clean look.

In the master bedroom, I want a lot of space. I am a big fan of vaulted ceilings:

and of course the more natural light that is let in the room, the better!

As for the rest of the house, thats another day.

I think I'm gonna have a great summer!

Today I finally took Madyn to the pool for the first time since it started being steadily 90 degrees plus! It was SO much fun. We spent about an hour and a half there. Even though I thoroughly applied sunscreen I still managed to burn on my shoulders and possibly my face. Oh well. I can tell you it won't be the last! I love the water. Its probably the only part about summer that I look forward to right now.

After swimming we ate lunch and got ready for our consultation appointment with a pediatric surgeon. We spent one and half hours in the waiting room and then got back into a room where 5 minutes later we were done. I'm now waiting for my insurance to "approve" the surgery and then we'll schedule a date to have the hernia removed. I'm so glad that this isn't hurting Madyn at all.

All in all today was amazing! The weather was hot, but we still managed to stay cool. As I plan on doing a lot this summer!

Tomorrow I have an application appointment with a headstart to see if I qualify. I want to get Madyn started with some kind of education this year. If I qualify but the school is too far from home, we have decided I will just essentially home school! Which is kind of exciting to me! I do think I would do well teaching him what he needs to know before Kindergarten next fall (YIKES!), considering I'm his mom and he knows me! However, we'll have to see what tomorrow holds!

Hope everyone had a great tuesday! We're halfway through the week!

Today was a good day!

Today was such a good day for us. Brandon went up north to work on his grandma's cabin and I went to work. Luckily Brandon's mom was able to watch my munchkin. I had really really awesome customers, who were more than happy with the pictures I took, and my service, which is always SO good to hear! It makes the whole job worth it, because I know that I'm creating pictures that will last a lifetime! I got to see an old friend from high school that I haven't seen in like 5 years! She is now married and has a BEAUTIFUL little girl. I'm really looking forward to seeing little Catelynn grow up! Chrystenn your daughter is adorable!

I'm about to fix dinner for the little and me. Its just us until tomorrow. I'll be at work when my fiance gets home. I am really looking forward to cuddling with Madyn before bed tonight. He's sooo sweet. I love times when its just us.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day! :)

TGITSF :)

I have been waiting for today forever it seems. The day when my favorite movie (part 3!!) came out! I also love that it happened today, on a friday. So not only is today friday, its Toy Story Premier date! Woohoo! Thank goodness its toy story friday. hahah. Okay so I totally made that up, but I am definitely thankful that today is friday. Yes tomorrow brandon will be out of town and I'll be working, but at least its the weekend!

This week was nice. I got to see my mom/sister twice this week. Monday Brittany had an ultrasound & I got to go to that, which was SO awesome. It was short, but it was awesome. and then wednesday they came over to just hang out. I love my family so much!

Also, I got to see a friend yesterday that I haven't seen in ages!! I hope that she had fun because I know madyn & I did.

I've been trying to take more pictures of Madyn lately, but as usual he doesn't like being in front of the camera, but instead begs to be the one to take the pictures.

The weather lately has been HOT, which isn't unusual for Arizona in June, but the "oficial Monsoon season" is in full swing and we have no rain. Odd huh?

I am going to be an AUNT!

I'm not sure why but I haven't mentioned that I am going to be an aunt! My sister is pregnant and is due October 11, 2010! She is having a little girl and her name will be DiAnna (pronounced Deanna) Nicole S*********. We are very excited. We've known she was pregnant since she was 6 weeks pregnant. I just haven't posted anything about this.

She is registered at Walmart, babiesrus, Target & Baby depot inside burlington coat factory. I went with her to register at target & Baby depot. It was a lot of fun and we were able to visit and enjoy each others company.

Today I went with her to the first ultrasound since she found out she was pregnant. She is 23 weeks along. DiAnna had been pretty still through the first part of the ultrasound when the technician was doing the measurements but when myself & our mom came in the room she started wiggling around and it was so much fun to see her. Unfortunately she didn't get any pictures printed because it was inside the hospital but it was just SO amazing to see my neice!

I am SO excited for october!

Memorial Day 2010

Memorial Day
2010

May 31, 2010 was a fun day. Although it didn't happen as I had planned it, my boy and I still had a blast.

We had planned for us to go to my aunts house in the morning, and then leave at 11:45 and go to my MIL's house for the afternoon, and eat there at about 2.

What happened was as soon as I was about to leave the house with Madyn, my mom calls me and lets me know that my aunt wasn't going to be ready for company until noon. So with a quick revision in plans we headed to fry's and picked up some whipped cream and a small chocolate milk for Madyn. We now had an extra 2 hours to kill until we headed to Debbie's house, so we sat down and watched an episode of farscape.

At around 11:30 we loaded up and went over to my Mil's house to have some lunch and relax. The food was good, we had grilled hamburgers and madyn ate a whole (hot dog bun and all)! After eating Madyn & I went to my aunts house where everyone was already about to finish eating. It was nice to see my aunt/cousins, because I don't see them that much. While we were there we enjoyed lots of swimming, socializing and soaking up some rays with the music playing in the background. We didn't leave there until almost 6 monday.

All in all it was a wonderful memorial day! Thank you again to all the MANY past men & women who have fought for our country. Also a thank you to my cousin & the other many men & women who are fighting currently across the world for us!

<3

PS. HAVE YOU TRIED SWAGBUCKS YET? ;)

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Mandaraye89

june 1st already?!

so today is june 1 2010 which means we're halfway through this year!! It also means that my darling little boy is a month and 5 days away from being FOUR!!! I am anticipating this age, and hoping that it will bring about a whole new attitude change for him. Also, I'm hoping he'll stop wearing pullups at night. He reverted after we got back from california in december and I wasn't too happy. I spent 8 months last year working with madyn to be completely dry at night and now he's back to needing pullups :( gr.

Anyways, I'm still doing swagbucks! Wishing id get more referrals so that I can earn points faster! I have a goal to use my points for my neice and baby things aren't cheap which means I need lots more points.

(450 points=$5 amazon gift card!) :)

I've got Swagger

So a week ago I stumbled upon Swagbucks and before I knew it, I was addicted!!!!!! I can visit it from my phone so I can do searches 24/7 basically (whenever I get the chance!).

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks are points that you earn from doing basic searches on their website. Every so often you'll be awarded points for your searches. For 450 points you earn a $5 amazon gift card. You are able to stack these gift cards, which means you can buy things for free!

I already have 1717 points which is enough for almost 4 $5 amazon gift cards. However I'm saving my points to get $50 amazon gift card (5,900!)

Its really easy!

If you want to join click this link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Mandaraye89

Good luck to all!

I promise its not a scam! I would NOT be doing this if it were! :)

OHH… Madyn…

Okay so when I hear pots and pans being shuffled around while I am in the bathroom and its just Madyn and I in the apartment I automatically know something is going on. When I came out of the bathroom yesterday I was greeted by Madyn who had a yellow “meatball” in his hand…This yellow “meatball” looked suspiciously like the yolk to one of our Easter eggs that we had left in the refrigerator. I took the “yellow meatball” from my sons hand and I walked cautiously into the kitchen to find this:

 

Yep…My brilliant 3 year old had definitely gotten into the Easter eggs and was trying to make scrambled eggs. I was fuming mad at him because I was going to take pictures of our pretty Easter Eggs for another blog post but when I asked him what he was trying to do with the eggs he sweetly replied “I was trying to make scrambled eggs.” How could I possibly be mad at him for that? My little guy already has a strong desire to cook in the kitchen! I can’t deny him that learning experience!

So yes that little event pretty much made my day.

Being a Mom!

No one told me when I was pregnant just how much I would love my boy. No one told me how much he would steal my heart on a daily basis, and nobody told me that no matter what he did during the day, at the end of the night he would still want to cuddle up with me before going to bed!

At age 3 (and a half!) Madyn is my pride & Joy. He’s my everything. He’s in love with running, and jumping and climbing onto anything that seems “sturdy” enough to support him! He loves to eat BBQ chips, Pop tarts, Lucky Charms, PB & J sandwiches, Chicken Nuggets, Popcorn, Broccoli, Strawberries & Bananas! And sometimes if we have all of the above listed he’ll beg me to eat at least 95% of what I listed …In one day! He’s definitely got the appetite of a man already!

Madyn loves toy story (Buzz is his favorite!) He loves Paper airplanes & coloring. If I had to sum him up in one word it would be “Energetic!”

 

My Life has changed dramatically in the past few years since I became a mom! I’ve become quite opinionated on diapers, pacifiers, potty training and other mom related issues. I’ve stayed up later than other women my age, and I’ve also been up way earlier than most girls my age too.

 

I had Madyn the summer before my senior year, which  made going to school really hard for me. I did not have my own car so I walked my infant to a baby sitter who lived near my high school and did 3 online classes a day after my one on campus class (which was marching band!). Since I put top priority to Madyn, my grades dropped dramatically in my online classes and I dropped out of my high school to take care of him. In 2007, the year after I had Madyn I started school at an online campus. It took me 2 years to complete the classes I needed to do to graduate, but when I completed them, I received my high school diploma. The road was far from easy, but I definitely would not take anything back.

 

When my 21st birthday came around this year unlike most 21 year olds I was not able to do the “power hour” with my honey because of the fact that I had to think about Madyn first. Instead we enjoyed a day of bowling and being together as a family for my 21st birthday. It definitely made my 21st birthday more special because I was able to share it with my  son!

 

I’m not really sure what inspired me to write all of this, but I do know that if I could reach out to one young girl about how being a young mom has impacted my life, then I am happy. Honestly the only way to 100% prevent pregnancy is to use protection (birth control/condoms/abstinence!) until you and your significant other are ready for a baby. 

 

I’m also not sure if all of this made sense, or if its just my ramblings but this came from my heart!

 

This little boy is my whole world.

He's just not that into you....

Friday as we were getting ready to leave and run our errands for the day this movie came on (He's just not that into you) and at about 10 minutes into the movie we realized we had to leave! So...we recorded it and saved it for another day. Which happened to be last night! After we put Madyn in bed we put this movie on. I loved it. Yes, it was pretty much just like any other chick flick but I loved it. I was also really enjoying having my honey watch it with me!

Today however is off to a very rough start. Madyn's being a pain. I've already had to take two of his toys away which is not making him happy at all, but I want him to know that it is NOT okay to throw toys, or  punch your mother! He currently is screaming like he was beaten (which sucks because we live in an apartment with neighbors really nearby to our apartment) and I had the windows open until he started this tantrum.

I'm starting to think that age 3 is worse than age 2, because at least age 2 they didn't know how to talk quite as much and they are still taking possibly 2 naps a day. I am seriously counting down the days until he is 4! Hopefully things will go well and I'll be able to get him into a headstart *(preschool)* in the fall so I can get a day job during the week!

Anyways. Things have calmed down now so I'm going to go enjoy playing a game with him...or we may just go outside and play. I love arizona right now!

Hey it’s okay…

I stole this idea from another fellow blogger who stole the idea from Glamour  Magazine!

to not read the articles about “what your baby should be doing” because you know that your child is NOT following the trend and does things their own way and probably always will!

to want to cook a full meal every day of the week

to not cook every day of the week, even though you have the desire to do so.

to love nick jr simply because it keeps your toddler entertained …And its educational too!

to take 50 pictures of your son in one day!

to sleep when there’s nothing else to do!

to want a baby girl…just so you can buy the most lacey, frilly, girly things ever!

to change your twitter/facebook/myspace status whenever you’re doing something different!

---------------------------

Today has been a very nice relaxing day. Madyn took a nice two hour nap again today which will definitely be nice for when his daddy gets home! Hopefully there won’t be any crankies around here tonight!

We went and played golf outside for about an hour, and we ran and jumped and climbed on trees. I hope that he always enjoys playing outside!

Nothing really new happened so far today, but I just wanted to make sure I updated you guys!

<3

He loves golfing…Just like his daddy!

So Exhausting

This month has been full of fun, but tiring events. The most recent one being the wedding of Brandon’s cousin this past weekend. We had so much fun and I really enjoyed being able to attend it. Madyn behaved pretty well, we made it through the ceremony without him yelling out or making a scene so woohoo for that one! The ceremony was beautiful and so was the reception! I wish them many years of happiness!

Congrats Ryan & Sarah!!

 

 

Us at the reception. I loved seeing Brandon in a tux and Madyn in his suit. He is getting SO big :(.

Brandon’s mom made Madyn’s suit!!! :D

Anyways that’s a little of what’s been going on here. Next month shouldn’t be TOO busy so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently!

<3