Joyschool at the Pumpkin Patch

We had so much fun on Tuesday going to the pumpkin patch with our joyschool group. We didn't end up actually going into the farm it was on because it cost money, but the kids loved climbing all over the pumpkins and riding in the wagons.
Maddie was showing off a fall leaf that she found amongst the pumpkins

A shot of all the kids playing in the pumpkins

Robby's favorite part was sitting in the back of the wagons and going for a ride, or pushing the wagons around

The group of five girls that are in joyschool, as well as a little brother

SchNepF FaRmS

We had so much fun tonight at the Schenpf Farms Pumpkin Patch and Festivities. My in-laws were super sweet and invited us to come with them for some much needed fun! Robby loved the tricycle they had in the kids play area. He was sad that he wasn't quite big enough to pedal around the small maze of hay. Maddie on the other hand was quite content to run along the hay bales instead.
We also had fun riding the carousel, going through the petting zoo, and riding these fun four person car/bikes. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my job as the photographer for this ride :)
The Aunts were so nice and took Maddie and Robby on the bumblebee ride, airplane ride, and even down the long tunnel slide several times. Joanna and Abby are always so much fun for the kids!!

We walked through the corn maze for a few minutes, but it was really too dark to see much so we gave up on that idea.
Maddie couldn't resist hopping out of the double stroller to be a part of this picture!
We found this small pumpkin/hay hill which the kids loved climbing up and down. They didn't love all the times that mommy tried to make them smile for pictures, however.

The last place we ventured was the pumpkin patch. That was so fun to walk through there and Robby was hilarious when he picked up a pumpkin all on his own. I tried so hard to capture a picture of that, but it turned out so blurry....darn it! Thanks Nona, Grandpa, Jo-Jo, and Abby for inviting us to come along for a fun evening of festivities, we will definitely have to do it again :)

Maddie's Cooking Lesson

Mmmhh.... who can resist a delicious batch of brownies to go with Sunday dinner! We enjoyed a restful day at home watching General Conference and then cooking dinner as a family. Maddie loved helping out making our yummy brownies and was quite the expert at stirring!

Doctor's Visit: 3 yrs and belated 18 month

These days I am either extremely behind or have thrown in the towel on most extracurricular activities. I have thought many times that I should just give up keeping up to date on our blog with our families adventures. It is moments like this evening that remind me that I truly care about journaling our crazy, busy lives. I know someday I will look back on this and be happy that I recorded a few thoughts and feelings during this time period.

I honestly cannot believe how quickly the past few months has flown by....and yet dragged on at the same time. Most of you know that I have been busy working since the spring and have now been working full time since the beginning of August. It's not an easy feat being six months pregnant, but I am hoping in the next month things will settle down. I miss my kids more than anything when I work and it is especially hard to leave the house as Maddie cries to me to not leave her again. I have gained a new level of respect for working mothers and have learned to appreciate the opportunity I have had most of my children's lives to be a stay at home mom.

I simply cannot believe I have a three year old now and that Robby has already passed the 18 month mark. As with most things, we ended up doing Robby's 18 month Dr's appointment about six weeks late and just threw it together with Maddie's yearly appointment. I am happy to say the kids are still happy and healthy as can be!! We had to wait a LONG time to see the Doctor so we took a few pictures in our little room to pass the time.

Madison Lynn Toronto

3 years old

27 pounds

36.5 inches tall

She loves to talk ALL THE TIME now. She is very imaginative and is always coming up with creative things to tell me and anyone who will listen. She has adopted our ghost stuffed pillow as her "favorite friend" and insists that he be strapped into a seat belt when he is in the car, have a spot at the dinner table, go potty and wash hands with her and even sit by the shower to get a bath. She loves to do puzzles, color pictures, help mommy cook and clean, read books, and snuggle with her mommy. Lately she has become obsessed with doing things "all by herself" and will literally lock people out of the bathroom so she can go potty alone. She loves to pick out her clothes in the morning and will dress herself...sometimes I try to redirect her in another direction when it is an odd assortment of clothing that she has on. (the other day she showed up in our room wearing two pairs of underwear, a skirt, a dress, a clashing shirt, and mismatched shoes) Maddie is such a sweet girl and is always reminding me how much she loves me. I don't think I can ever get tired of the way she will hold onto my chin and make sure my eyes are on her when she says "I love you so much mommy." She started dance lessons across the street in August and loves to practice dancing. Whenever the end credits come on from a movie she will get up and start dancing. She also loves to sing "I'm a Mean Old Witch", the happy family song "I love mommy, she loves me...", "I know an Old Lady who swallowed a fly", etc... I am so grateful for my Madison and the extra spark she brings into our home. She is an independant little girl who is always reminding us that she is no longer a baby, but a big girl!!

Robert James Toronto

18 months old

29lb 9oz

36 inches tall

Robby is getting to be so big now....LITERALLY! He is starting to repeat everything I tell him and a few words he has learned include apple, juice, plane, Papa- grandpa, thank you, all done, nose, moo- for cow, etc. He is my fearless little warrior (not kidding) and LOVES to rough-house with his sister. His favorite games is where he runs at her and then tackles Maddie to the ground. Unfortunately that doesn't go over to well with the other kids his age. I am slowly trying to teach him to be soft with other people, he is just so strong and doesn't always understand his strength. He is still a marvelous sleeper and will generally sleep at night from 7pm until 8am and then take a good 2-3 hour nap during the day. He is a good eater and his favorite drink is juice. He almost always out eats Maddie at meals. His favorite movie is "Cars" and he is obsessed with choo-choo trains and planes. He is such an inquisitive little boy and loves to figure out how things work. After I clean him off and take him out of his booster seat after meals, he loves to climb back up and try to buckle the seat belt by himself. I always love how excited he is when I first come home from work. He starts to squel and will clap his hands and run right over to me. He is a little tease and will pretend to come over to hug you, only to run away laughing. I adore his slobbery kisses he gives me! He has just started to give me real hugs where he will throw his arms around me and lay his head on my shoulder...pretty much to die for as a mom! I sure love my sweet little boy and the laughter he brings into my life.

I am so grateful for my beautiful kids and the noise they bring to our home. Our house isn't always the cleanest and is rarely quiet, but it is sure fun to spend time with the kiddos! They love to play with each other, even when it feels like they have a love/hate relationship. Robby walks around looking lost when Maddie is away from the house and Madison will keep asking about her brother when he is gone or asleep for naps/bedtime. They truly are fun to be around and there are so many happy moments when they share toys, hide under blankets, tickle each other, have running races, and crack each other up with funny faces.

Maddie's Birthday

On Maddie's birthday (one month ago), I had joyschool at our house and we had a Tinkerbell birthday party for her with all her friends.
Robby loved his cupcake....and yes he is folding his arms in the picture. He does that whenever you announce to him that it is time for prayers.

We even found a cute tinkerbell pinata and all the kids had fun collecting candy!

That evening we went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner and a family party. Robby loved the ride on cars with steering wheels and Maddie loved the freaky looking adult size Chuck E Cheese on the stage that would move his head from side to side.
Maddie also LOVED it when the mouse "Chuck E Cheese" appeared and led kids in the hokey pokey. After he was done and had left she kept telling us how he had to go "night-night."

Maddie was overly stimulated at the pizza place and could barely concentrate enough to open her presents, let alone actually enjoy them. We saved the gifts from us until we got home that evening. She loved her new sunglasses and books!

TINKERBELL & the ROCK LEGEND

Side note-- After Maddie dressed up as Tinkerbell she noticed that she doesn't have any green princess shoes like Tink wears in Peter Pan. She brought this to my attention and was greatly concerned regarding the situation. When I told her that we didn't have any green shoes, her face lit up and she said "Yes we do...at the store." Ohhhh what a girl!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON!!!

I cannot believe my little lady is already THREE! Time has gone by way too fast. I hope you have a great day and that you get all that you wanted. Who knows...maybe you will become Tinkerbell and really learn how to fly (her ultimate dream)!

Rocky Point 2008

This is another post that is WAY overdue. August 4-6 we went to Rocky Point with the Toronto clan. It was so much fun to get the whole family together and spend a few days on the beach. Adam flew in from Boston so that we could all get together before Brett left on his mission.The ADORABLE family picture. From left to right: Grandpa, Nona, Abby, Adam, Joanna, Brett, Madison, Tiffany (me), Jesse, Robby, and Esther.

And yes... I am the ONLY white one out of the bunch. I swear I spent time in the sun while I was there even if it doesn't look like it. Even my two children looked like little Indian kids by the end of the vacation.

We left early on Monday morning with our car filled to the brim with coolers full of food, junk food, DVD player with a variety of kid movies set up, the infamous pack-n-play, clothes, pillows, blankets, basically we packed up our house and brought it with us! We prepped ourselves for LOTS of pit stops on the way, now that we officially have our first potty-trained child. That planning proved to be correct: I think we stopped 6-7 times in the five hour road trip, BUT we were happy to hit Mexico without a single potty accident. Robby loved to sit in the drivers seat and pretend to drive our car. He was SOOO mad when it was time to go again and he was placed back in the car seat. Both kids were incredibly good on the road due to the fact that we had cartoons playing nonstop. I am thinking a portable DVD player is probably one of our best items we have invested in.

Once we arrived at the "Las Palomas" resort in Rocky Point it was straight to the beach for us all. Maddie immediately stripped down upon entering the condo room and insisted that she needed her swimsuit on. We spend the afternoon in the pool, watching Maddie go down the slide with her Grandpa over and over. This is a piture of Jesse's BEAUTIFUL sister Abby standing on the beach at Sunset.
Monday evening, the "Aunt Farm" (Grandpa Toronto refers to the three Aunts- sisters in Jesse's family as this) took Madison on a walk along the beach at Sunset and they showed Madison all the little crabs and shells. She LOVED the walk and proudly returned with several shells in hand a while later when they dropped her off at our condo room for bedtime.
Joanna and Abby are so silly sometimes. It reminds me of my sister the way they joke and play around. While we were on our trip it seemed like every time I turned around they were taking pictures of themselves!
Joanna & Brett hanging out at Sunset
The three sisters hung together in the evening
Robby slept in a pack and play shoved into the hall bathroom. It was wonderful because there are no windows in there and consequently he slept in until almost 9am!! Maddie was equally wonderful and also slept in until 7am, which is a miracle considering the fact that her room she stayed in had a flimsy, see through curtain on the window. After having scrambled eggs, bacon and toast it was back outside for the crew to soak up more rays! The kids loved being able to dig in the sand with the shovels. Although it seemed like they equally loved throwing sand at people as well :(

Madison was so funny.... Jesse told her she needed to bring water from the ocean up by our towels so he could help her build a sandcastle. She kept wanting to use the tiny little shovel instead of a bucket for this.
Later on that day we rented a jet ski and all took turns riding around near the shore. Jesse even took me near the end of our hour and we went out for a few minutes. SO MUCH FUN!!
Jesse also was prepared and brought a football to throw on the beach by the water with Brett. Robby thought that it looked like fun as well and wanted to go stand by his daddy and "help" with the game.
I think one of the best parts about going to Rocky Point and staying along the beach is that you can let the kids look like this, rinse them off at the showers and then head straight up to the room to take a bath. It was also very nice to be able to lay the kids down for naps in the middle of the day and settle into my Stephanie Meyer's vampire book for a few hours!

Like I said before, it was so much fun to spend time with Jesse's brother Adam in Rocky Point. He lives and attends school in Boston for his masters degree, so we definitely don't get to see him as much as we would like. It was special to see him spend one on one time with his niece and nephew!

Abby is a totally rockin' sixteen year old girl.
Another fun thing we did, was that all of us girls loaded up in the car and headed down to the outdoor shopping strip mall near the fish mart. We mostly walked around and window shopped. But I must say I was mighty pleased with the knock off Dooney & Bourke bag I walked away with.
Madison playing in the sand at the beach ONCE AGAIN

Abby was showing off her new sunglasses she bought in Rocky Point.
Joanna kept trying sooo hard to get some pictures of her with the kids. Unfortunately they all turned out with the kids squirming out of her arms. For some reason all they wanted to do was get down and play rather than pose for pictures. Sorry Jo!

Madison was a little scared of the ocean because it was "tooo big" according to her. She did however like to accompany me out in the water as long as she was held.
Robby was accidentally dunked into the water by daddy during this picture and was none too pleased about it. He kept rubbing his eyes from the salt water sting.
Maddie's favorite spot in the pool was along the steps. She loves to jump out in the water and then swim a U shape back to the step "all by herself". She is such an independant spirit: she is so proud of how "big" she is and wanted to do things all by herself.

Maddie loved seeing the crabs the evening before and kept trying to catch them in her hands after that.
Robby is basically obsessed with peoples glasses and sunglasses. Another obsession he has is with his Aunt Esther. No matter who is in the room, he almost always goes over to her and begs to be held. She also is such a sucker for him, as you can see from this picture. He wants her sunglasses and then he gets them! I guess that's what Aunts are for.
Robby and Abby
In the late afternoon all of the Toronto siblings headed over for an impromptu game of soccer on the beach. They all seemed to have fun and I appreciated staying in our room and relaxing with the kids asleep.

Joanna and Adam
Robby sitting in his chair at lunch time. We brought this portable booster highchair which was wonderful.
Maddie is obsessed with her bead necklace that she made with Grandma Sheffield. Even on our trip to Rocky Point, the necklace was a necessity.
Our little family standing outside of the restaurant the night before we went home.

Nona and Grandpa
Robby at the restaurant

Maddie and Robby loved all the big fish in the aquarium near our table. They both spent the waiting time for our food to be served standing in front of it and pointing out all the big fish.
After dinner this guy came inside and played "You Are my Sunshine" to Maddie. She was enthralled as you can tell from the picture. She even started dancing towards the end of him playing to her.
All the family posing for a picture before dinner
Maddie completely zonked out before we had barely left. She slept almost the entire way back to our house. The only other exciting moment came when she announced she had to go potty when we were 30 minutes from the nearest restroom. We ended up stopping on the side of the road and taught her how to "pee in the bushes." The only downside to that is now she asks when she can go potty outside. I keep telling her that we only do that for an emergency potty break on road trips. I am not sure a two year old quite gets that!

All in all I was REALLY proud of how well the kids did on our trip. Not only did they do phenomenal in the car, they also slept well, napped well, and had a blast! We cannot wait for the Rocky Point trip next summer.....three kids here we come! This is actually a picture of Robby right after returning home from our trip. Apparently he was really hot after driving so long and wanted to cool off in the fridge.