This morning started bright and early...Miles off to meetings, and me working to finish up lesson prep. As I am wrapping things up in the office, I am listening to our girls talking to each other...suddenly Emma starts singing "I Am A Child of God", Maddie quickly joins in and it was an angelic duet! A marvelous start to my sabbath day...which was good because it all unraveled crazy fast!
In very typical fashion, the later it got...the more deaf the children became (anyone ever dealt with this phenomenon?) I find myself with 15 minutes before time to be on the road to church, and BOTH children are still in their pjs...having a wonderful time playing and completely oblivious to their mother's frantic attempts to get them focused on getting ready. In a very human moment, I misplaced my temper for a moment...note I didn't LOSE my temper...just misplaced it :-) and I doomed us to an inevitable late departure by issuing the ultimatum that somebody better get their rear end over to Mom for their church-going hairstyle, or their would be intense unhappiness. This of course got both girls crying, and as previously mentioned...slowed down the process of getting out the door. It also got Maddie off on the wrong foot, and by the time I was ushering her out the door she was pretty upset...to the point that she started screaming and crying that she didn't want to leave her house, "I wanna go back inside my house!" So, I dragged her down the sidewalk, and hefted her into her carseat, and buckled her in as she cried and cried and cried. I grabbed her little body in a big hug, and said a prayer. Emma, who was not happy, but was completely overshadowed by the meltdown from her sister, was quickly buckled in, and I climbed into my seat to head to church...with two crying children. I did stop, and say another prayer, then put the car in reverse and started to back out when Maddie starts screaming again...in a whole new pitch..."NOOOOOOO! Don't leave my house! NOOOOOOO!"
By the time we arrived at church she had calmed down, and after I promised to carry her into church, she left the car, and we made it into church with little to no more incidents. I have a picture schedule for Maddie for sacrament meeting, to help her know what is going on...we try not to use it EVERY Sunday...but this was definitely a picture Sunday. Sacrament meeting went well, and off she went to Primary with her friend, Hailey Chapman. However, this is the fifth Sunday, and that means combined third hour, which means that Primary works differently to maximize the people who can attend...this was NOT the day to mess Maddie's schedule. Needless to say, one of the members of the Primary brought a sobbing Maddie into us at the very beginning of third hour...which she then spent sitting on her Daddy's lap, watching Mommy's watch tick down the seconds until it was time to go home. It was a rough church day!
However, once we got home, things settled VERY quickly, and we have had a wonderful afternoon with the girls. We had the Elders over for dinner tonight, and Maddie was quite the hostess...she wanted to know what they got for Christmas, and what they were going to be tomorrow? It was pretty cute. While Miles took the Elders back to their apartment, the girls and I danced to some rockin' Primary tunes from the group "InsideOut"...and had alot of fun!
Quick Emma story...yesterday Emma hurt her finger, a small cut...nothing life threatening, but definitely in need of a band-aid (whoever invented band-aids HAD to have been a parent...because those things work MIRACLES!). Anyway, tonight at dinner she announced she had to go potty (Emma is in the phase of potty training where she sits on the potty for less than 1 second, gets up...flushes...washes her hands, and reports back to the family that she "used" the potty. ) Apparently, during the hand washing portion of the routine, her band-aid came off...as this is about the 3rd band-aid I have put on her in the last 2 days...I told her she could wait until AFTER dinner to get another band-aid. Being Emma, she would NOT drop the topic..."OWWWWIE, I need a band-aid. Mommy, OWWWWIE, I need a band-aid" Exasperated, I said, "You are NOT getting a band-aid until after dinner...if you want I can tie your hair ribbon around your finger until you get your new band-aid" As an adult the idiocy of this statement is obvious...to a 2 year old it is pure logic! :-) She replied, "I need my pretty on my finger." Stuck, I removed her LARGE hot pink ribbon from her hair and tied it around her little finger...and through the remainder of dinner she was constantly admiring her "band-aid". Another brilliant Mom moment brought to you by me....stay tuned there are bound to be more...
Finally, tonight as the girls knelt to say their prayers, our little Maddie offered up the following, "Heavenly Father, help us to have a baby (she is VERY baby hungry...she wants Mommy and Daddy to have a baby...NOW). We will name the baby "Lay-ta" . Bless the missionaries to be home. Bless the baby we will name "Lay-ta". In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Out of the mouths of babes...:-)
We love you all! Tune in tomorrow for more Maschger zaniness! :-)
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Gotta Love the Holidays
Gotta love the holidays!
It means that you spend a lot of time eating poorly, and playing with the new toys. It also means time with the family. Today was definitely a family day. Tam and I both started strong. You never would have guessed that at the beginning of the day our house was clean, and we were being productive. I don't know exactly what happened, but after the girls got up from their nap, it was play time. There was a whole lot of musical chairs, duck duck goose, and just a bunch of regular tom foolery. Maddie, Emma, and Dad had a good time. Tam, on the other hand, had a really bad headache this afternoon. So, Tam didn't have as much fun as the rest of us. Tam and I tell ourselves that someday we are gonna have to pretend to be adults, and get some real work done. However, not today.
Cute story time:
All right, I have a confession to make...Maddie and Emma both did cute things today (of course it is hard for them not too). When they did those cute things, I told myself that I had to write it down to remember it, but I never wrote it down. Now I can't remember what they did. I am a very bad dad. If I remember it later, and I write it down...I will definitely post an update.
Maddie's cute story will be here, when I remember it.
Emma's cute story will be here, when I remember it.
Our little family has been enjoying spending a lot of time together. We all definitely needed a break.
I hope everyone out there is doing well. Keep in touch.
It means that you spend a lot of time eating poorly, and playing with the new toys. It also means time with the family. Today was definitely a family day. Tam and I both started strong. You never would have guessed that at the beginning of the day our house was clean, and we were being productive. I don't know exactly what happened, but after the girls got up from their nap, it was play time. There was a whole lot of musical chairs, duck duck goose, and just a bunch of regular tom foolery. Maddie, Emma, and Dad had a good time. Tam, on the other hand, had a really bad headache this afternoon. So, Tam didn't have as much fun as the rest of us. Tam and I tell ourselves that someday we are gonna have to pretend to be adults, and get some real work done. However, not today.
Cute story time:
All right, I have a confession to make...Maddie and Emma both did cute things today (of course it is hard for them not too). When they did those cute things, I told myself that I had to write it down to remember it, but I never wrote it down. Now I can't remember what they did. I am a very bad dad. If I remember it later, and I write it down...I will definitely post an update.
Maddie's cute story will be here, when I remember it.
Emma's cute story will be here, when I remember it.
Our little family has been enjoying spending a lot of time together. We all definitely needed a break.
I hope everyone out there is doing well. Keep in touch.
Friday, December 28, 2007
The Writing Party...
Had an absolutely wonderful day with the girls today! Miles had to go in to work this morning, and as always I had a list a mile long of things that I wanted to accomplish before he came home...then Emma got the blocks out and wanted Mommy to help her build a HIGH tower. The next thing I knew Maddie had brought ALL of the MegaBloks down, and magically the morning disappeared amongst blocks, legos, and lincoln logs! :-)
For lunch, I made what is called at our house "white" macaroni...that is ANY kind of pasta with Alfredo sauce on it. Alfredo sauce is a FAVORITE here in the Maschger home. Anyway, Emma decided that she didn't like "white" macaroni today, and when I told her she could eat or head to bed...she got down from the table, climbed the stairs, and put herself to bed. What do you do with a kid like that? Can't really call that a win....:-) Maddie was left at the table eating, so I sat down beside her and started working on a grocery list. She watched me writing for a bit...when suddenly she blurted, "that's a T!" I looked down at my paper, and sure enough there was a T. So I flipped the paper over, and started drawing letters for her to identify...she did AWESOME! She was able to recognize both "big" and "little" letters for most every letter in the alphabet. She is really confused with "K" and "R"..."X" and "T"..."M" and "W"...but other than that, she got them ALL. Then it got really fun...she asked me to write "glasses". So I complied, and as I wrote each letter, she named each one. Once the word was written, she asked me to draw a picture of glasses...ABOVE the word, and then I had to draw a box around the word and picture. This process was repeated for about 15 more words...she was really into the activity, and it was incredible! After about 45 minutes, I was starting to write yet another word, when she says, "Mom, that is enough." I said, "OK, we'll finish after this word" Exasperated she yells, "Mom, PAUSE!" :-) So, I stopped...she then went to grab a stack of paper, and a pen...and wanted to write the word "bed".
I wrote the word at the top of her page, and she set to work. However, she couldn't get passed the letter "B" because she couldn't get it to look like Mom's...and the more she tried, the more frustrated she got. I kept trying to calm her down, and talk to her...but it all ended with her crying and pouting on the floor. I pulled her into my lap, and asked her to tell me what the problem was...she says, "Now I can't go to the writing party" I asked, "A writing party? Where is there a writing party?" She replies, "At Wal-Mart. Now I can't go....and everybody will be there but me." Mom-of-the-year (me) says, "Well, I won't be there." She says, "Yes, you will be there with me, but I can't write." SIGH...:-/
Tonight, we decided to have a family date...we went to Baja Fresh Grill (which our girls call the "Quesadilla store") picked up dinner and brought it back home. We laid a blanket on the living room floor, and had a picnic while we watched our latest Netflix arrival, "Surf's Up". It was a great night!
For lunch, I made what is called at our house "white" macaroni...that is ANY kind of pasta with Alfredo sauce on it. Alfredo sauce is a FAVORITE here in the Maschger home. Anyway, Emma decided that she didn't like "white" macaroni today, and when I told her she could eat or head to bed...she got down from the table, climbed the stairs, and put herself to bed. What do you do with a kid like that? Can't really call that a win....:-) Maddie was left at the table eating, so I sat down beside her and started working on a grocery list. She watched me writing for a bit...when suddenly she blurted, "that's a T!" I looked down at my paper, and sure enough there was a T. So I flipped the paper over, and started drawing letters for her to identify...she did AWESOME! She was able to recognize both "big" and "little" letters for most every letter in the alphabet. She is really confused with "K" and "R"..."X" and "T"..."M" and "W"...but other than that, she got them ALL. Then it got really fun...she asked me to write "glasses". So I complied, and as I wrote each letter, she named each one. Once the word was written, she asked me to draw a picture of glasses...ABOVE the word, and then I had to draw a box around the word and picture. This process was repeated for about 15 more words...she was really into the activity, and it was incredible! After about 45 minutes, I was starting to write yet another word, when she says, "Mom, that is enough." I said, "OK, we'll finish after this word" Exasperated she yells, "Mom, PAUSE!" :-) So, I stopped...she then went to grab a stack of paper, and a pen...and wanted to write the word "bed".
I wrote the word at the top of her page, and she set to work. However, she couldn't get passed the letter "B" because she couldn't get it to look like Mom's...and the more she tried, the more frustrated she got. I kept trying to calm her down, and talk to her...but it all ended with her crying and pouting on the floor. I pulled her into my lap, and asked her to tell me what the problem was...she says, "Now I can't go to the writing party" I asked, "A writing party? Where is there a writing party?" She replies, "At Wal-Mart. Now I can't go....and everybody will be there but me." Mom-of-the-year (me) says, "Well, I won't be there." She says, "Yes, you will be there with me, but I can't write." SIGH...:-/
Tonight, we decided to have a family date...we went to Baja Fresh Grill (which our girls call the "Quesadilla store") picked up dinner and brought it back home. We laid a blanket on the living room floor, and had a picnic while we watched our latest Netflix arrival, "Surf's Up". It was a great night!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Every Day is a Holiday
So we forgot to mention one very funny Maddie story.
We let our girls draw during sacrament meeting. This usually pacifies them enough so we can get through the meeting with minimal noise. Sometimes they ask us to draw a picture for them, and usually we comply. This day, Maddie asked me to draw a “new” mermaid (usually she asks me to draw Ariel from “The Little Mermaid”). After I drew it she then asked me what was the new mermaid's name. I first threw out the “common” name of Anastasia. However, for Maddie this would not do. She told me that “That's not right! What is her name?” I tried another relatively common name, she didn't like that one either. Then thinking I was being funny I placed a bunch of syllables together and came with a name that went something like “tataktadada”. I was expecting the usual “Dad, you're silly”; however, Maddie calmly and quickly responded “Daddy, that's a boys name!”. Apparently there is this great list of names the she is aware of and the rest of the world is not. Needless to say Tam and I almost had to take ourselves out of sacrament because we were laughing.
Now onto todays events:
Because my command was being very magnanimous, I didn't have to go to work today. It was really nice to be home. I definitely need a longer break. Tam and I are hoping to be able to take some leave within the next couple of months. However, the Navy is already planning a number of trips for me. Yeah, I just barely finished unpacking from my last trip.
Tam had a doctor appointment today, so the girls were able to go play with a couple of their friends from church. When we went to pick them up, Maddie fell apart because she didn't want to go home, and Emma (a.k.a. The Narc) began telling Tam everything that the other kids got in trouble for. As a parent, having a narc in the family is such a curse and blessing. You always want to have someone on the inside. However, you also know that nobody likes a narc. So what is a parent to do?
Other than that...nothing exciting happened today. We kept it pretty low key. Tam and I could use more of these. It was nice to spend more time with the family, before I get shipped off again.
We let our girls draw during sacrament meeting. This usually pacifies them enough so we can get through the meeting with minimal noise. Sometimes they ask us to draw a picture for them, and usually we comply. This day, Maddie asked me to draw a “new” mermaid (usually she asks me to draw Ariel from “The Little Mermaid”). After I drew it she then asked me what was the new mermaid's name. I first threw out the “common” name of Anastasia. However, for Maddie this would not do. She told me that “That's not right! What is her name?” I tried another relatively common name, she didn't like that one either. Then thinking I was being funny I placed a bunch of syllables together and came with a name that went something like “tataktadada”. I was expecting the usual “Dad, you're silly”; however, Maddie calmly and quickly responded “Daddy, that's a boys name!”. Apparently there is this great list of names the she is aware of and the rest of the world is not. Needless to say Tam and I almost had to take ourselves out of sacrament because we were laughing.
Now onto todays events:
Because my command was being very magnanimous, I didn't have to go to work today. It was really nice to be home. I definitely need a longer break. Tam and I are hoping to be able to take some leave within the next couple of months. However, the Navy is already planning a number of trips for me. Yeah, I just barely finished unpacking from my last trip.
Tam had a doctor appointment today, so the girls were able to go play with a couple of their friends from church. When we went to pick them up, Maddie fell apart because she didn't want to go home, and Emma (a.k.a. The Narc) began telling Tam everything that the other kids got in trouble for. As a parent, having a narc in the family is such a curse and blessing. You always want to have someone on the inside. However, you also know that nobody likes a narc. So what is a parent to do?
Other than that...nothing exciting happened today. We kept it pretty low key. Tam and I could use more of these. It was nice to spend more time with the family, before I get shipped off again.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Day After...
We wanted to let you know that Santa made it onto base with apparently little difficulty, and made a generous delivery to the Maschger household! Here it is the day after and the girls spent the day playing with their favorite toys dressed in their nightgowns they got from Mrs. Claus. Maddie came down the stairs this morning, and asked if she could wear her nightgown all day today :-) We'll have to let Mrs. Claus know she did a great job picking those out!
Miles headed back to work today, after stopping off at Andrews AFB for his annual flight check-up. Can't think of anything I would rather do on the day after Christmas then go to the doctor's! On his way off base, he got stopped as the base did a lock down for an Air Force One take off...does it get any more exciting?
The girls, as mentioned, spent the day playing with their "take" from Christmas Day. Emma got a play kitchen, and Maddie got a stroller, high chair, swing, and bed for her babies (which is anything that she can hold and has a face!) All the ingredients for hours of play...if not for the fact that Emma wanted the stroller only when Maddie had it...and Maddie only wanted to "cook" when Emma was at the stove! :-) Sound familiar to anyone? The stroller actually spent most of the day in time out :-) We ended the day with the girls snuggling on the couch watching "The Wizard of Oz" for the first time. They are HUGE fans of the VeggieTales version, "The Wonderful World of Ha's"...so we thought they might enjoy the original. They did! :-)
So, this evening for dinner, we had leftover stew. Emma is on a new diet...she doesn't eat ANYTHING for dinner. She can pack away 2 bowls of cereal...if we let her, or a couple of pbj's at lunch...if we let her, but when it comes to dinner, she conveniently forgets how to eat. That is actually what she tells us, "I don't know how to eat." Anyway, this evening, we told her that she could either eat her stew, and then watch the movie...or she could go to bed. She places her chin in her hand, looks up to the ceiling with the deepest look of sincere contemplation...taps her chin with one finger and says, "Hmmm..let's think about this..." She ate the required three bites, and another crisis averted! :-)
Me? Well, I spent the day trying to keep the peace, finish our "Christmas" cards (they'll get in the mail tomorrow!), and working on our commissary list, as we will need to make a run SOON! The excitement...
We love you all...
The Nativity...
Our Maddie is a very spiritual being! She LOVES the baby Jesus story, and knows ALL of the main players. Besides, knowing the story...she LOVES to play "Mary" and act it all out. Here she is as Mary, with a baby Jesus...and a Joseph :-) Note the blanket and pillow on the floor next to her...that is the manger. I love the sweet smile on her face...
An Architect?
One day last week, I went in to get the girls up...."Look, Mommy! Look what I made!" She had used most every block, and I promptly sat down, and helped her use the few remaining blocks...Ta-Da!
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