The BEST medicine

We are finally starting to recover from all the yucky sick bugs that have invaded our home this winter. What could be the best treat for that? Why a BEAUTIFUL spring day spent playing in our backyard of course! I was so excited to be able to put the kids in shorts/capris and just a shirt today that after Robby's morning nap we headed outside for most of the day. We simply played and enjoyed the warm sunny weather together which was ohhh so fun. We even sat on our little picnic bench and had lunch outside. After the afternoon kiddy naps I dragged them outside once again to enjoy the warm weather. We even loaded up in the wagon and took a nice long walk around our neighborhood. What a perfect day it was! The funniest part was that by the time we went to bed it had started raining outside. I am seriously so glad we took the opportunity to enjoy our perfect day.... I just can't get enough of this little girl. She is so funny. She is obsessed with wallets at the moment. She calls it her "pocket" and is constantly asking to play with our wallets. Maddie will spend all day pulling all the cards out and back in the wallet. The only problem is that she keeps losing my bank debit card...yikes! She absolutely insisted I put her hat on before we went outside and she absolutely HAD to wear her pink crocs as well. She has probably worn these shoes every waking minute of her life for the past two weeks. When she wakes up in the morning, she opens her closet and will pull out every shoe in there until she finds these shoes. She will then happily parade around the house in her princess pajamas and crocs!

And yes... it is official, Robby is now walking. I guess he really has been walking since around his first birthday a few weeks ago. But, just in the past few days he will actually purposefully let go of an object and walk away. He also will walk all the way across the room to me, instead of crawling. He tends to start out looking happy enough, but as he gets closer to me he starts to cry or whine and inevidently those little hands raise up in the hopes that he will then be picked up. Aahhh, he is just a tAd bIt of a momma's boy, but I seriously love it (most of the time :)

I guess I went a little crazy with the day and seriously pulled like half of the toys from our family room out onto the back lawn so we would have plenty to do! LOVE IT!! That's all I can say about his picture. I know it's a tad blurry thanks to my pro skills with the camera :), but this is such the Madison we know and love at our house! She was playing peek-a-boo with me during this picture. She would turn her head away from me and I would pretend like all of a sudden I could no longer see her. Then she would turn back and laugh like crazy when I acted surprised by her....so funny~

Robby has taken a new liking to the flowers in our front yard. While left all alone with them, he decided to try them out to see how tasty they were. Judging from the look on his face at the end...he obviously didn't like them as well as he thought!

How much of the world have you visited?

The Three Bros

I have one brother and Jesse has two: combined together that gives us three brothers. The neat thing about the three of them is that they all have birthdays within five days of each other. I am doing a combined post for all their birthdays today!!

The first of the pack is Benjamin, my younger brother. He turned eighteen last Friday on February 15th. I cannot believe he is already all grown up. It seems like just yesterday that he was born. His birth was quite memorable for Lori and I. When we were little we would always tell our mom that we wanted a little baby brother. We were thrilled when mom announced that she was pregnant. My dad was beside himself with excitement when Ben was born and he finally had his little boy. Lori and I were like little mommy's to Ben when he was a little baby, always wanting to hold him, change his diapers and take care of him. I remember making up little nicknames for him and singing songs to him. Ben was an incredibly active little guy (my little Madison is JUST like him in this way) and would always keep us on our toes. He would run around with a big grin on his face as he destroyed the house! He had several memorable accidents as a little boy:

1. Going down the basement stairs in his walker when the door was left open- thank goodness he mainly just scared himself.

2. Falling out of his high chair and breaking his arm- we have pictures from his 2nd birthday with him in a blue cast!

3. Stitches on Christmas when he tried to open up a puzzle box with a knife

4. Diving headfirst off the top of his bunk bed.

He used to love to experiment and make all sorts of potions with anything he could get his hands on. I still have an aversion to milk from when he sneakily had me try one of his potions that contained hairspray, perfume, milk, etc.

Ben is seriously so smart. He gets straight A's in school and already has a full ride scholarship to ASU to prove it. When he was younger he used to love to read the instruction manuals for anything electronic. He would learn how to do all sorts of things no one ever got around to reading about. He figured out how to put the child protective locks on our car and it took us a while to realize what had happened. He used to reprogram the TV and would play with our mom's cell phone and change all the options without her knowing it. Whenever I have a problem with anything malfunctioning he is the one I call (he has reprogrammed the remote to our TV several times for us).

Ben has always loved children. After Jesse and I were married for a few years, Ben used to tease us about having kids. He would always remind us that it is a commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. :) He was so excited to finally have a niece when Madison joined our family. Even still he is always up for babysitting for us- THANKS!!

Ben holding baby Madison

Ben holding Baby Robert (Robby and Ben share the same middle name- James)

This past summer we went to Hawaii with my family. Ben was kind enough to always ride in our car so that he could help out with the kiddos. He also stayed with us in Hawaii an extra 9 days so that he could continue to help out with our kids. He even babysat them for a night so that we could go on a romantic dinner cruise! Happy birthday Ben! We are so proud of you with all you have accomplished and for what is yet to come!!

Brett's birthday is the second of the group. He was born on February 18th and just turned 19 years old yesterday! Although I don't remember him when he was born :), he has always been so sweet to me from the day I met him. He is forever our "boo-hoo Buddy" of the family. Brett's middle name is Robert, so our little Robby has a lifelong connection to his Uncle Brett.

When Brett graduated high school last May, he ended up moving out to Queen Creek for a little while into a house with a few friends. It was so much fun to have him stop by from time to time and visit with me and the kids. He is always so kind and patient with them. He has even helped me tend them a few times when I have had activity days to attend to. He takes care of our lawn maintenance right now and comes several times a week to mow, blow and clean up outside. Madison gets so excited each times he comes and will stand by the window on her step stool and watch him work. After he is done outside, many time he'll come inside and hang out with us for a little bit. I sure treasure the chance to spend time talking with him one on one! As he is preparing to turn in his papers to go on a LDS mission, it is exciting to see him grow and mature in many different ways. We cannot wait to see the changes in him as he serves a mission but will also miss him so much! What a great example he is to my children.
Brett at his high school graduation last May
Brett and Madison in Colorado Feb 2006

Madison, Brett, Adam & Robby at the temple this past Xmas

Last, but not least there is Adam. He will turn 27, tommorow February 20th. Although he is far away from us right now in Boston, he is constantly in our thoughts and prayers. I always remind him that he is my older brother that I never had! Some of his baby pictures remind us a lot of our little Robby. They were both chunky little babies and are both very snuggly and loving. Adam has always been by far the most affectionate one in Jesse's family, and I love how he always gives me a great big hug every time I see him. He truly adds a fun little spark to Jesse's family and we always look forward to seeing him. Things are always a little more exciting with him around.

He is such a caring and thoughtful person. He always remembers to buy his mom flowers for her birthday, mothers day, etc. and one year, he even gave me a mother's day present just because. Jesse and Adam have a special relationship, being the oldest two in their family. They both served missions in Peru and can both speak Spanish fluently. Whenever Adam is in town, Jesse can always count on him to help out him out at the stores where needed. I love it when he calls me out of the blue just to say hello and he is constantly doting on and spoiling our kids! We can't wait to see him in a few weeks when he comes into town, and we are also excited to be able to go visit him in Boston in March.
Maddie giving her Uncle Adam a flower at his graduation ceremony from Arizona State University Dec 2006
Adam with Robby on Easter 2007

My poor SICK house

I decided I must document the yucky winter that we have had this year at our house. We have had sick kids pretty much constantly for the last 6 weeks straight. Here is Robby's long list of illnesses: ear infection, croup, stomach flu, upper respiratory infection, bilateral ear infections (both ears), chronic cough and NOW "erythema multiforme". Maddie has had: pneumonia, upper respiratory infection, ear infection, chronic cough and NOW influenza A and bilateral ear infections. I swear I try to keep our house as clean as I can and I try to keep my kids from eating food off the floor, and playing in toilets, and eating dirt outside, and well I guess you get the idea :) It makes me so sad (and tired) to see them sick constantly. It was almost a joke today, because I took Robby to the doctor in the morning for the latest medical condition where he has these horrible red welt looking patches ALL over his body. It turns out to be "erythema multiforme", which is caused by a virus that produces this awful allergic looking reaction to the skin. Unfortunately there is not a lot you can do about it, other than lots of Benadryl. Then later on, Madison woke up from her nap with a high fever and cough. So it was back to the doctor's office in the evening with her. One of the ladies that works at their doctor's office even recognized me and laughed about me being there earlier that day with my other child. It turns out that Maddie has Influenza A (respiratory flu) and ear infections in both ears. Sooooo, once again we are all back on antibiotics hoping for better luck this round. I might just go crazy if we don't get better soon! I guess the one light at the end of the tunnel is that I haven't gotten sick through ALL of these yucky bugs (knock on wood). I hope everyone else has healthier households than us and I especially hope that it warms up even more around here so that the sicky germs will begin to go away.

Cousin Time

Last Tuesday, I had the fun opportunity to babysit my one and only niece for my older sister while she went to work. Maddie sure loved sharing her house and toys with her little cousin, Kaylin. Robby is actually only about one month older than Kaylin (she will turn one on March 1st), but probably at least twice her size. Kaylin is such a little peanut, while I have a giant for a little boy :) We went outside for a little while in the morning, which equals dirty, dirty little children. That was when I decided to do a bath with all of the kids. They all had so much fun playing in the tub together and Maddie wanted to give Kaylin hugs the entire time. We cannot wait to have another play date together!

A day as a mommy!

So I was inspired by Jenna to do a post about my day. She wrote about what she would do if she didn't work (she doesn't have kids yet). So I thought I would go through and write down what I do as a stay at home mommy!

wake up (whenever the kids dictate the time, is when you end up pulling your booty out of bed...anywhere between 5am-7am).
feed robby his morning bottle while maddie gets her sippy cup of milk to appease her.
beg, plead, and otherwise trick children into wearing clothing (maddie has already expertly managed to undress herself out of the pj's).
throw some kind of breakfast out on the table for maddie, while jesse finds himself something to eat.
feed robby his yogurt- always making sure to have some kind of edible object in front of him so he doesn't yank the spoon from me.
wash children off after eating.
give each child their antibiotic (sometimes includes being incredibly flexible so that I can hold all body limbs down while I force it down their throats).
make myself breakfast--normally gets partly eaten when a child starts crying or needs something (sometimes that food will sit out all day without being touched again).
go to the gym and drop kids at the kiddie kare area!!
rush home for robby's morning nap.
shower, get ready, while maddie goes through my purse, hiding credit cards and pictures at times.
robby wakes up.
feed children lunch.
make myself lunch, which once again gets partly eaten before a child beckons.
play on the floor for a few minutes with the kids.
afternoon nap time for both children!!
rush and clean the house or do laundry for the few precious hours that they both sleep.
kids wake up--diaper changes for both of them.
cook dinner.
jesse comes home from work, includes lots of kisses and hugs, as well as some fun play time for robby and maddie (I always love to watch him interact with them after being gone all day).
feed the two kids and jesse their dinner.
bath time.
once again convince the kids that they must wear clothing to bed.
antibiotic for both kids (this time I have jesse's help in making sure they take it).
7pm bed for robby.
heat up my own food and eat.
8pm bed for madison.
wash dishes, do laundry, clean up the kitchen, put all the toys away, etc.
watch suns basketball game with jesse, or some other random show (normally while folding laundry).
check on each child before I go to bed (one of my favorite things to do each day..when I see their sleeping faces, it makes everything else TOTALLY worth it) 10:30pm bedtime
(this includes the absolute possibility that I might be woken up several times at night by one or both children)

Happy Birthday Robby!!

We sure love our little guy and wanted to wish him the best birthday ever. Even though this past year has flown by, we don't know what we would do without him. He has been so sick this past month, always seeming to be battling something different, but he is such a tough little guy through it all. Robby has the sweetest personality and we can't get enough of his smile and laughter. He is so patient when his big sister is constantly stealing the toys away and has truly learned how to fend for himself. He even lets Madison sit on him for a few minutes before he gets upset. He has figured out how to play peek-a-boo and loves to pull the blanket over his head and scare me again and again. I love his squel of delight when I say peek-a-boo each and every time. He also just recently learned to clap his hands and loves to do it and then giggle because he is so proud of himself. He just began the adventure of walking in the past week and will now pull himself up and take 4-5 steps away before falling...I know that means getting into even more things, but it is sure fun to watch as he learns and grows! Even though at times it is hard to get things done when he is awake because he's clingy, I sure love all the cuddles and loves I get from him. It is a wonderful feeling to have someone always want to be in your arms! Happy Birthday Bubba, we love you so much!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary

The view from the balcony of our room.
Our gorgeous room at Las Palomas!
We just celebrated our five year anniversary a few weeks back. We had decided we would go to Rocky Point for the weekend a little bit after the actual date and have my mom come out and stay with the kids. I was actually pretty stressed to leave my kids at home with mom because #1 Robby was sick and #2 Madison learned how to climb out of her crib that same week. My mom handled it like a true champ and we are so grateful to have family so close that can take care of our kids from time to time! We had sooo much fun in Rocky Point! It was so relaxing and fun to be able to spend quality time together. We tried out a few new restaurants down there, watched TONS of Lost season 3, took a jog along the beach, went shopping, took in some sun on the beach, slept in, and basically were just plain old lazy.

Every Princess NEEDS their own Crown!

My cutest every sister-in-law, Abby, just celebrated her sixteenth birthday a few weeks ago. Maddie always LOVE to help me with anything I am doing. While I put the gift in a bag I sat and explained to Madison that it was her Aunt Abby's birthday and so we were giving her a present. (I tend to ramble and carry on conversations with her as though I am actually speaking to an adult :) I asked her if she had a present for Abby. She then went running into her room and came out with one of her "princess" crowns to give to her Abby. We put her present in a gift bag and brought an extra crown in tow when we went to dinner that evening. She is such a precious little girl and I truly couldn't imagine life without her!

Hair Today...Gone Tommorow!

Robby didn't quite know what to expect as we strapped him in the booster seat outside, wrapped in a garbage bag.

I cannot believe how different he looks now with his hair buzzed off. He looks like such a little boy!

Some fun Christmas Pictures!

Christmas 2007

I haven't posted in a while because my computer won't read the card from our camera right now. So no fun Christmas pictures put on our blog right now :(

I have decided I will go ahead and share our Christmas experience this year anyways :) Our Christmas festivities this year began on Saturday with my extended families "Annual Sheffield Christmas Party", which includes lots of fabulous soup (my personal fave is my mom's Broccoli Cheese soup), desserts (Natalie brought this amazing popcorn and fudge), and of course the white elephant gift exchange. It's always fun to get together and I especially enjoy seeing how big the other little kids are getting!

On Sunday, Jesse sang a SOLO in church of "Oh Holy Night" with the choir. What a brave man!!! He did a great job and it was wonderful to have his family in church to enjoy the singing, as well as help me with the kids :)! We went over to my in-laws that evening for dinner and had a BIG spaghetti dinner with more extended family to celebrate Jesse's sister, Esther's birthday!! My mother-in-law truly makes the BEST spaghetti I have ever tasted.

Monday morning found me in Robby's room at 4am, rocking him while he coughed like crazy and was having a hard time breathing. That day I spend almost two hours at the doctor's office with my two kids. Maddie was put BACK on antibiotics again for her never-ending cough and Robby was diagnosed with croup, and an ear infection & so they gave him a steroid shot and sent us on our way with Rx in hand. We went over to my parents house that evening for Christmas eve dinner and Maddie had so much fun helping to light the luminaries with her "papa". That evening we went and saw the Temple lights with his family and FINALLY made it home for mommy to begin working on presents, projects, etc. I think that this year was my record for how late I stayed up on xmas eve. I had lots of things to still do and a sick little boy that kept waking up every few hours, so I finally made it to bed around 4am :(

Thank heavens for kids who like to sleep in! That's what I decided was a blessing come Christmas morning. Both of my kids slept in until 8am. We then went out and saw what Santa brought to our house. Madison was so cute this year; when we walked into the front room she yelled "presents". She loved opening presents and especially LOVED the chocolate that Santa put in her stocking. She ate ALL OF IT in literally 20 minutes. It was insane. Then as we loaded her into the car to go visit Grandma & Grandpa all that lovely chocolate came back up and all over the car and car seat. We then spent the next little while cleaning up the car and hosing down the car seat. Oh well... at least all the candy was gone so quickly right?? I am afraid that Madison and Robby were spoiled completely by us, and both sets of grandparents! We had so much fun spending time with family, other than Robby being sick and feeling crummy all day (did I mention he has also been teething like crazy). When we finally made it back home, Jesse and I looked back and both kids were passed out in the backseat.

Merry Christmas to All of you!!

So sweet

So Jesse & I have been trying REALLY hard the last few months to teach Madison about being more reverant in church and during prayers at home. We keep reminding her how we fold our arms when we pray and what to say at the end of a prayer (amen). It has seemed like a pointless task because she rarely, if ever, actually follows us and tends to run around in circles during prayers.

We put up this adorable little christmas tree in her bedroom for the Holidays that is prelit and just a bit taller than Maddie. She loves to touch each light and talk about the colors ("dis is boo", "a lellow light", "I like da pink one", etc). Yesterday we were all in the kitchen and I noticed that Madison was missing. I started searching the house for her (like I always tend to do when I realize I haven't seen her in a few minutes).

I walked down the hall to her bedroom and noticed she was standing right next to her tree. She had her head bowed, arms folded, and was praying to her Christmas tree! I walked over quietly right by her door and listened to what she was saying. She was talking about her home, mommy, daddy, "dank you", and then said amen. Then after she was finished she clapped her hands and said "yeah". She looked so proud of herself. It was histerical. I went out to the kitchen and had Jesse come see as well. When we walked back over she was doing it again! So I guess we were completely WRONG; she has been learning and getting what we've been teaching her. Madison is DeFiNitEly a two year old, and every once in awhile she does the sweetest things. Case in point: she loves to hold Robby's hand in the car while we drive. Jesse took this picture with the kids in his car holding hands the entire drive to Mesa!!

Our Thanksgiving

What did we do for Thanksgiving? Jesse, Robby, Madison, & I after running in the race. Jesse was awesome and ran the 10K with his sister, Abby. I ran in the 2mile with my sister Lori (her hubby also ran the 10K). It was so much fun and my father-in-law was so nice to come watch the kids that morning at the park!

A group of us after the races. Loriann with Kaylin, Abby holding Madison, Me (Tiffany) holding Robby & Jesse

After the Turkey Trot we went home and got ready (kids took naps :) and then we headed over to my in-laws for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

Three of the cutest girls I know! My three sister-in-laws: Abby, Esther & Joanna

Uncle Brett & Robby After dinner, the whole clan minus Robby & Aunt Joanna went to the ASU vs USC football game. We were soo bummed by the loss, but still had fun going to the game together. Madison was so good at the game with all the people and noise--we were so proud of her...it's the first game she has been to in over a year. I just love the face she is making in this picture with Jesse!

Girls Weekend

A bunch of us ladies from our neighborhood went on a girls weekend/over nighter from Friday night through Saturday. We took off and stayed at this AMAZING vacation house in Scottsdale and dined, shopped, goofed around, slept (a tiny bit) and had loads of laughs together. Although I got home completely exhausted, it was so much fun to spend some girl bonding time together and get away from kids for a night. We really have the best group of women in Cortina!! Fun picture right after our delicious breakfast at the clubhouse. From left to right: Andy, Melissa, Katie Budge, Brigett M, Tiffany, Jen W, Hillary, Katie Brown, Bridget C, & Kelly. After breakfast we went shopping some more. We were such good bargain shoppers at the Rack and Old Navy!

Me (Tiffany), Jen & Katie in the back of the car with Hill and Katie in the front. It was so funny to see Katie trying to steer her HUGE vehicle into some tiny parking spaces :)

We all struck a pose together...we are quite the mommy group! At one point we sat and added up all the kids we had combined and out of this group I think we had around 35.

Is it time to cut some hair?

After Robby's afternoon nap on Sunday, I got to noticing just how much his hair has grown. I swear the last time I looked, he was just getting enough hair to cover that big head of his. Now when he wakes up from naps, his hair is sticking out every which way with little curls all across the back of his head. It looks like he is cursed with our genes for sure.
Luckily it still doesn't look SOOO bad if I sort of comb it down again.
My goal: not post anymore pics of my little angels until they have decent hair again :)

Happy Birthday Big Sis!

I am so excited to send out a happy birthday to Loriann! We are only sixteen months apart and so we truly were "raised together". I was always a little jealous of the fun things that she was "old" enough to do and sometimes my mom even let me do them with her. We have so many fun memories that I will always hold dear to me. Hear are just a couple of them:

1. We shared a room for the first 17 years of my life and I still love to remember how we would stay up and talk or play together at night. When my parents would hear us we would fling ourselves onto our beds and pretend to be asleep (it never really fooled our parents) Nighttime with Lori was always a special time to me, because even during our teenage years when we didn't always see eye to eye, we still would talk and laugh at night.

2. Lori and I used to LOVE to play dolls, barbies, etc. My parents built in this little room off our bedroom where we could store all of the dolls. We used to sit in there for hours, making a TOTAL mess, but loving every second of it. Growing up, it was so nice to always have a friend to play with.

3. I have many fond memories of all the different "classes" my mom put us in together. We took tumbling, gymnastics, archery, ballet, soccer, the list goes on and on. We also went to trefoil ranch camp together, and I even got to sort of join Lori's girl scout group when I was too young.

4. My dad used to travel a lot with work when I was younger. While he was gone my mom would put a blanket out either on the lawn (summer) or in front of the fireplace (winter) and we would read books together. Little Women and the Secret Garden are both books I will never forget reading with them!

5. Lori was always such a "model" student in school. When she was younger she always said she either wanted to be a librarian or a teacher when she grew up. She loved to play school with me, but always insisted on being the teacher (just a touch bossy---after all she is the oldest). I still loved to play school with her and we would make tons of lists of all the students in the class together. Who would know that Lori would actually go into business instead?

6. A few years ago, Lori & Tyler had season tickets to the Suns only a few rows away from us. They were soo sweet and would take Madison and hold her for a good portion of the game! That allowed Jesse and I to sit alone and feel like we were sort of on a "real" date.

7. Now Lori has her own little girl, Kaylin, who is now 8 months old! She is such a little peanut and so fun to hold. I love whenever we get together with our kids. I cannot wait to watch our kids grow up together. I always loved having cousins to play with....so thanks for giving my kids a cousin Lori Lou!!

We ate at bUbBa gUmPs on the Big Island of Hawaii this summer and this was a bench in front of the restaurant fashioned after Forrest Gump!

Don't you just love those matching pink bathing suits?! Ben was happy sitting on the little raft until a second after the picture was taken and we dumped him (on accident I promise) into the Great Salt Lake!!

Lori, Robby, Cousin Kaylin, Grandma Sheffield
Lori with my little guy, Robby

Wasn't she a beautiful, blushing bride!

We all sure LOVE you!