7 months & dance recital

Lots to update...

Saturday Maddie had dress rehearsal for the recital, after which we went to the zoo. It's was Anna's first visit to the zoo. She loved riding in the sling on dad. She didn't care much for the zoo itself, but loved being outside and toted around by dad, and watching all of the big kids.

Madeline's dance recital went great yesterday! She did well and looked like a real cutie patootie in her little costume. She had a tap routine, ballet and did a finale dance with all the dancers. She made a couple good friends that we're going to keep in touch with this summer (Allie and Madison). I can't remember if I posted about the school carnival. We all had a blast. Maddie came home with so many prizes!

Anna is doing great! She loves to stick her toung out and make putter noises. She emits quite a waterfall of slobber, which is a lot of fun for whoever is holding her. She gets a little upset if she see's me and I don't pick her up. She can also become a little sad if I leave the room. Just now, I walked 10 feet away to get her Nuk and she whined as I walked away. She's so melodramatic. She babbles all the time and flips over on a whim. She gets herself into the crawling position easily and then scoots backward. She's eating one meal per day, at dinner. She gets oatmeal with breastmilk mixed in, a fruit and veggie. She is also eating little bites of things. I give her teeny pieces of graham sticks, freeze dried corn, peas also canned peas. Last night she ate almost everything we ate. We had butternut squash soup and peas. We also had pears but her pears came from a frozen cube. No teeth yet so she can't have anything too chunky yet. She usually takes three naps each day; two small 30 minute naps and one bigger nap; over an hour. She goes to bed anywhere from 7:30-8:30 and awakes anytime from 6:30-7:30.

Maddie is doing well. She's around 42 inches and 40 pounds. Dance class is over until fall and swimming lessons will begin in a few weeks. We will probably start piano lessons in the near future and maybe voice lessons. She said she's interested in singing. We'll see!

Happy Earth Day! Happy Arbor Day!

About a year ago we drove to San Antonio for a vacation. It was a long 16 hour drive, but we enjoyed the changing landscapes. It struck me to see so many oil rigs drilling into the Earth. I've seen them before, during our many trips to Colorado, but never so prolific. Some of them were running while others sat still. There never seemed to be any life around them, in terms of people. There was typically grass around the pad, but they still seemed stark. I couldn't put my finger on it right away, but something didn't seem quite right and every time I saw one I felt sad inside. Then I realized that they seemed foreign, almost invasive. To me, it looked like they were foreign objects attached to a living being, of which they were sucking, literally sucking out the life. It was like they were sucking the blood right from the Earth and every time I saw one I cringed. It looked like death. I wondered if the Earth could scream, would we hear it? I know it must sound dramatic to think of it that way, but that is how they made me feel. I did not have a predisposition toward oil drilling before that trip and my visceral reaction was totally unexpected. It still makes me sad to think about all of those drills, and to think that what we saw was a miniscule part of the entire industry.

So it makes me proud to say that beginning last week I bike to work! I attach the Burley (Thanks to the Jackson's) to my bike and ride to Anna's daycare, drop her off and toodle in to my work. I bike back and forth to feed her. Last night Ryan biked Maddie to her dance class. Sunday we'll bike to church. It feels good to know that we're getting less dependent on the grid. Two weeks ago I started the family challenge to create, at most, one half of a bag of garbage per week. I was very happy to discover that we could do even better than that! We made less than a bag in the last two weeks. It takes a little bit of practice to remember to bring our bags into the store with us, but we're getting much better. I'd like to think that in a year from now, we're doing much better for the Earth. I am encouraging Ryan to bike once per week to his work. We need to find another Burley (hopefully a single wide) so Maddie can use that one while he bikes. So, as the oil and gas prices soar, my vehicle sits in my driveway as the nearly silent hum of my bicycle wooshes past. It's a good feeling; a feeling of life. (Anna loves it too. She's fallen asleep on the way two days straight)

So Happy Birthday to the Earth and Happy Arbor Day!

Let's play Rascal...

Maddie is regressing nicely.

Celebrating my birthday with the Horners

Maddie helping provide some "flare" at the party!


For more than a year now, one of Madeline's favorite games is "Rascal". Maddie pretends to be a puppy at the pet store. Ryan and I "go to" the pet store looking for a new pet, which is ultimately a dalmation puppy that we name "Rascal". Of course it's not that simple because there are about ten thousand rules for the game and everything must go exactly, and I mean exactly, as directed by Madeline. You see, the first time we ever played this game, I think it was me, we were trying to redirect her attention and I think I said "Dad, I think we need a new pet" and it took off from there. The game has changed in the last year and a half; now we look for a kitty and her name is Little Kitty (homage to our late feline family member) and it all takes place at the Humane Society but we still call the game "Rascal". Currently she likes to pretend she's wearing a tag and that tag contains instruction on her care. Including things like "this puppy/kitty is sick and needs extra care" or "this kitty cannot get down from the couch and needs help". I love the rule that the kitty/puppy cannot grow and will stay a baby forever. I kindof wish I could do that to my own kiddos. For some reason Maddie loves this game. She loves it so much that she wants to play it non-stop. She could play it three, four or five times in a row. The same exact game, following the same exact rules. I will be the first to admit that playing Rascal fifteen thousand times in the last year is a little more than I can stomach and it takes a little reflection on my part to put things into perspective. You see, someday Madeline will stop wanting to play Rascal. It already makes me a little sad to think that soon she'll stop wanting to play with us; even the game of Rascal. Especially the game of Rascal. In the meantime I will keep on wishing that I could keep my babies little forever and will treasure every moment I have to play with them. Even if it means playing Rascal. Again and again and again. In fact, I am already thinking that I need a new pet. It might be a kitty, a small timid kitty. Little Kitty sounds like a good name. Did you hear that teeny meow, that might be my kitty just waiting for me.

I want to buy THAT!

The "Whites" from Iowa

Another interesting shot from Rye


Before heading over to the carnival.


Barbie girl pom pom diva's, Barbie Magic of the Rainbow, McDonald's Happy Meal, Wii (Dad wants one of those too), and Sketcher's shoes. Now that Madeline has discovered commercials, we hear more "I want to buy that!". It's hard to discern what toys/clothes/mouthwash she might actually be interested in, so we're still trying to figure that out. It is a right of passage, however, to watch the toy commercials and dream of owning everything you see. As you may already know, we typically purchase European toys and/or educational toys. I wonder what Maddie would think when she received the "pet shop" that did not actually operate of it's own accord. She might ask us why it's not working like it did on T.V. I suppose then we'd have a discussion on marketing and commercials. I guess they do have an educational aspect.

Now that it's summer Maddie doesn't watch television anymore. Even in the winter her t.v. time is limited to a morning cartoon or two on Sunday. She's much more interested in playing and drawing. It's amazing how her drawings have changed. She gave a drawing of three people to my co-worker. One person is red, one purple and the middle person is half red and half purple. Madeline wrote her name at the top, exactly half of which is red and the other purple. Michelle exclaimed "she's going to be a talented geneticist one day". It's a cute picture regardless of her future aspirations.

There are several things going on at our workplaces. Ryan was promoted and I am taking over my boss' responsibilities until he returns from transplant surgery. Ryan just returned from another short visit to Virginia. I recieved an award plaque from the Chamber of Commerce last Tuesday evening at an awards banquet. We closed on mom's house last week too. We were able to do everything from Omaha and didn't need to be present for the closing. That was a blessing since I ended up getting sick and wouldn't have been able to travel anyway. Once on the market, her house sold in less than a week to a wonderful young couple who will enjoy their new home. Mom would have been very happy to see her house go to them and happy to know that everything went very smoothly. The house really looked great. We had several offers on it.

This past week Maddie enjoyed "Donuts with Dad" and Grandpa attended like he did last year. Grandpa really enjoys spending time with Madeline and she truly loves showing him her work and playing with him. It's a wonderful bond that they share. Morning with Mom (and Grandma J) is soon approaching.

Anna banana is growing and doing all the things a healthy beautiful baby girl should. She has a precious smile that warms everyone's hearts. Tomorrow she will meet some of my relatives as they are passing through town. They are very anxious to meet her. We'll also be attending a school carnival to eat some cotton candy and walk the cakewalk. I will post more later.

Aliens!

Madeline came home with a drawing with what looked like jellyfish. I asked her, because moms get used to asking what things are supposed to be, and she told me aliens. I wondered how Madeline had ever heard of aliens so I asked her. She said Gabriel at school told her about aliens. Aliens, to Madeline, look like jellyfish. "What and where do aliens live?" I asked. "They're monsters and they live in Monsterland". I've never been to Monsterland, but I probably thought of such a thing before when I was around Madeline's age. She's recently become afraid of monsters and I am trying to learn more about them so I can help her be less afraid. When I was a child I had two older brothers. They were much older than I and loved to tease me, especially about "the boogyman". Luckily Maddie doesn't have any older brothers so she won't need to worry about that and hopefully her "monster" episodes will be limited and end quickly. However long it takes her, she'll always have Mom and Dad, who apparently are very good at either fighting or scaring away monsters. Even the ones that look like jellyfish.

Spring?

Anna is 6.5 months now and celebrating with the stomach flu. I wasn't sure if she was gagging on some drainage or vomitting, but she did it a second time and I am fairly certain she's puking. Ryan is on his way home to spend the day with her.

Maddie attended a birthday party this past week. She had a great time making pizza and fruit kabobs at Whole Foods. It was a fun party and something different!

Happy Easter

Ryan's modern egg

Madeline's "Madeline" egg

Ron's nuclear waste egg

Anna at the Easter egg hunt last weekend

"The Bunny"

Maddie and Mary coloring eggs today

Easter is tomorrow so we're dying eggs today. The Horner clan is here and busily creating masterpieces. Ryan just finished a crash-test dummy egg, Ron made a nuclear waste egg, I failed at making a poison egg, Mary did a "Mary and Teddy" egg, Grandpa made Cross with a stole on it, Grandma made a "grandma" egg and Maddie made a "Maddie" egg. They all look great!

Maddie had Good Friday off and she and Ryan had a good Daddy-Daughter day. They went to Red Robin for lunch, then headed off to the toy store.

Anna slept 6 hours last night. I think she might finally be done with her 6-month growth spurt. She's still doing the same things as last week. The daycare keeps saying they wish all the babies were as easy as her.

We hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday.

I have to add that as we were out and about tonight Madeline was singing in the back of the car. She loves to make up her own songs. It was so funny tonight that I had to try my hardest to remember what she sang. Ryan and I were cracking up as she was singing. A little preface: they've been talking about Noah in Sunday School lately. So in a sing-songy tune she sang "God told Noah to build an arc..la la la..because he flooded the Earth..la la la..so all the great big meanies would die....la la la" We definitely did not expect that last part, but it was so hilarious to hear her sing it because it was just so matter of fact. We had to ask who the meanies were....and she told us they were Noah's friends who made fun of him when he was building the arc. Ain't Sunday School great?! LOL