Crazy May...

Okay, so its finally updating time. I have not had any time or desire to do so...but it needs to get done before I get even more behind. So here is a re-cap of the last two weeks.

We get a call from Taylor's dad saying his sister Christie is in the ICU, and they didn't know if she was going to make it. So immediately we got on the computer and bought him a ticket back to Canada. This was a Friday, and we were hoping he would be home by Tuesday. Well, that weekend was interesting to say the least...It rained and rained and rained some more. I am literally telling you, I have NEVER seen rain like that. So Sunday rolls around, Christie wasn't doing any better and things at home were not going so well either. Our house flooded, I walked into my room to put eliza down for a nap and noticed that there was a stream running from our door frame to the other side of the room where there are double doors with curtains, and the curtains were wet about a foot high. Well after some more evaluation the closet had a couple inches of water in it, and later the whole wall in general had little streams coming down from it. Just so you know, our house is slightly on a slope...so all the water just ran down hill. Anyway, after missing church and a long weekend with the girls I lost it. I had my pity party, got over and got back to work. Madilyn brought me back to reality by saying, "Mommy is crying like a baby." Thanks Madilyn. well some ward members came over and help set up a system behind the house to try and divert the water..which helped a bit. Oh previously to them coming, me and our landlords just toweled and shot vac'ed everything. Anyway, that day ended and we found out Taylor needed to stay longer because Christie wasn't making a much progress as they were hoping at that point. So Monday, I cried some more. And at this point my mom decided she would come out and help me, and give Taylor the peace of mind that he could stay and not worry about what was going on at home. Tuesday comes, I am suppose to pick my mom up at 4:00pm, 9:00am happens and more rain happens, and more flooding happens. So I spent all day Tuesday repeating Sunday's day, right after I put everything back Monday. Anyway, my mom saved me. I think I would have lost it at that point. Ok, so Christie starts improving and started to breath on her own a bit...so things were looking up over there. But Taylor had to fly home Sunday because it was the cheapest day to come home. But meanwhile I started having fun with my mom and the girls. But then Friday happens...and I break my toe, and about 10 mins after that I find out that we didn't get into TVA for summer, first, or fall term. Which means, January is the soonest we can get in. Okay, and if you remember correctly our rent is RIDICULOUS. So I bawled and bawled and bawled some more. There is no way we can afford to stay here if we don't miraculously get into TVA. So needless to say, May hasn't been the best month...but I am trying to look forward to the future positively even though we have no idea what we are going to do and how we are going to do it...looks like Taylor and I might have to start working. We decided that at this point the most important thing is for Taylor to finish school, and no more switching around...we have already lost too many credits doing that. And to end on a good note, Christie is now out of the hospital and apparently doing really well now, which we are extremely grateful for and it was most definitely a miricle!!

Ok, so here a few pics of this great hidden treasure, Kuloa Ranch. $5.00 horse rides for kids, free petting zoo, and you can feed the horses. Madilyn LOVED it. I am sure we will be there often now that we know its not just a place for tourists. That is where they filmed some shows like LOST, Jurassic Park, and loads of others. And once again, I am so grateful that my mom willing dropped everything to come help me, I don't know how I would have got Thur the rest of the week with out her. I LOVE MY MOM!!!!

Oh ya, Eliza has been taking steps for about a month or more now...but the last week she has started walking...she loves it.

Seriously, she was in heaven. I was a little nervous at first when I realized they were not going to ride with her...but she rode like a pro! Her horses name was JAZZ.

Next we fed the horse and apple, she liked it at first until...

The horse slobbered all over her, then she was over it and wanted to clean her hands.

Then we went to the petting zoo, so fun.

Check out those mountain goats, they were climbing all over that tree it was hilarious. and Madilyn thought one was a camel because how he was chewing on his grass.

Funny story, Madilyn was playing with her favorite white goat when all of a sudden the little Calf mooed really loud, she turn and ran for her life with a look of terror. SO FUNNY! One of those things that you need to see for yourself, it was the facial expression that really got me and my mom.

There was about 4 goats, a donkey, cow, hog, and baby hogs, and rabbits and instead she spent almost he whole time with this little white goat.

Eliza on the other hand hated the animals, she would squeel when I held her far away from them, the minute you put her down next to them she would freak out and cry. Anyway, it was a fun day. thats all.

And can I just tell you how grateful I am to have Taylor back home, things are definitely not the same with out him around and I missed him terribly while he was gone!

Egg Dying at TVA & Bentley's Birthday Party

So to finish off from last week...we also went to TVA (for those of you that don't know TVA is Temple View Apartments, its the on campus housing, we are currently on the wait list to get in. That will take our rent down to $712.00 a month, verses our $1,900.00 a month that we are paying now. Sorry just a side note) So, we hang out over there quite a bit because most of our ward lives there. So we had an egg dying party, it didn't last too long...the kids can't handle waiting for them to get really bright, but it was still fun, unfortunately though Madilyn had a meltdown shortly after when the rock she found and had been pulling around in a wagon got picked up by another little girl when she turned her back on it. Needless to say, we left early, and then Mommy had a meltdown of tears too. I think it had been a VERY long week with Madilyn, she was SO cranky and just being hard. But that weekend she kept complaining about her ears, and wouldn't sleep well at night. So Monday morning we took her in, and she had swimmers ear in both ears, and an ear infection in one. So that would explain why my child was extra cranky, and made me definitely have to apologize to Madilyn for being so harsh when I thought she was just being difficult, but she was actually just miserable. But she now that she has got the antibiotics she is much happier and sleeping much better. THANK GOODNESS!!

Saturday was Bentley's 3rd birthday party in Honolulu. So like I said, with the whole ear problems Madilyn wasn't sleeping well, so we really debated on whether we should go or not, but we decided to go because Madilyn had been so excited for it all week and couldn't stop talking about it. We figured she would sleep in the car if she was tired, and she did, on the way there and back. But we also stopped at Ross so Madilyn could pick out a present for Benny. She chose a big muscle car...and I am pretty sure Benny boy loved it! But we left early from his party because Madilyn was really tired and getting cranky. But she had for a little while, they had a fun Easter egg hunt and some lunch in the park. I didn't get nearly as many pics as I would have liked, but here are a few. Thanks for having us Mike and Becca!!

Ya, I totally cut off Mikes head, whoops!

One of the Easter egg hunts.

Well, its been a fun week for Madilyn. We started with an easter Egg hunt at the Tiny Tots group we go to, there were SO many kids there...so they just threw the eggs all over the grass. Which that was actually perfect for Madilyn, she has a hard time spotting them any other way. So here are a few pics of that day...

They had these fun cupcakes that were inside ice cream cones...she loved it.

Madilyn and her buddy Kolea

And it begins...

We actually live right in those exact hills...the house is just completely hidden by the lush greenery! Oh but isn't she the cutest!!!

My beautiful little girl!

Next up...perhaps tomorrow, egg dying, and Benny boys birthday party!!

Beaches & Picnics

So this past weekend we hit up Sunset beach with the Hitz's. So here are a few pics of it!

Action Shot of Eliza crawling towards the water, both of our children are definitely water babies.

Do you see the red spot on Taylors chest, well he got a super cheesy tatoo at school and decided to put it on before we went to the beach...it was of a grim reaper bear that said "your next" I told him if he didn't take it off I refused to go the beach with him. So he rubbed and rubbed and ended up not getting if off completely, and was left with raw skin. I am so not nice.

Haha, oh haha Gabriella...she cracks me up! She is a mermaid...can you tell?

Next, on Sunday we had a picnic on the temple grounds...

Madilyn loves finding flowers to give to mom, its so cute. And the picture below shows Eliza enjoying the picnic with a nice 6 oz. bottle, shaded under the trees...nothin better in her eyes!

Bounce Place, Kaneohe Mall.

So last week I decided to take the girls to this great bounce place in the mall. Last year when i took Madilyn she ended up being scared of almost everything, well now that she is older and all the stuff there is brand new...she LOVED it! We got there right after it opened, and got there about a half hour before my friend showed up with her kids. So the girls just bounced around, and went down slides. They really had so much fun, I am very glad that I took them!

Eliza LOVED it too, she just crawled around and laughed.

Started hitting nap time, so Eliza was getting tired, but she was still a good sport letting Madilyn stay and play!

Oh my goodness, this picture makes me laugh so hard. So Eliza has two bottom teeth, and for some reason only one of the top teeth came in. Actually the second top one just broke Thur this week, but its not showing quite yet. So this was her getting really excited when I called her name. HAHA...we call her snaggle tooth.

They are making each other laugh in this picture, it was so cute watching them play together. Like I said, they had about a half hour where it was only them in there, but they still managed to have a good time together.

Eliza, just being cute!

Then Eliza's buddy, Kolea came to play. So I don't have many pictures to choose from, Madilyn and Kolea were moving so fast I couldn't ever get a clear shot of them....and they were definitely having too much fun to stop and let me get a picture of them.

Then they discovered the joy of table hockey.

That pretty much concluded our day at the bouncy place. I tried uploading a video of Madilyn and Eliza playing together, but I couldn't get it to work. And I have no idea why this is being underlined, but I can figure out how to take it off...

April happenings...

I suppose its been a couple weeks since I have put up any pictures, so here are a few to sum up what we have been up to.

Okay, so have any of you ever gotten lucky charms, marshmallow maties, or marshmallow stars? If so, have you ever picked out all the marshmallows and left the rest? I know I usually eat all the "stars" first, and save the mellows for the end. Well my children at a very young age have discovered the deliciousness of the mellows. So today Tay gave Eliza a handful, and she picked out all the marshmallows and left everything else.

A beautiful flower at the temple after a rainfall.

I am now in love with this tree at the temple, for some reason I had never noticed it before. But I tell you what, it is HUGE. I wish you could tell how big the trunk is in the picture.

It was so windy, thus the hair...but the funny thing is she grabbed her soother out of her mouth and then stuck it back like this!

Chowing down on grass...whats new. In fact we have a meeting on Wednesday to apply to be on WIC, its just his thing they have for low income families to gets you milk, bread, cheese, formula baby food etc. Anyway of the form it says does your child eat any of the following, and it gives a list of things like cheese, milk, beans, and then it throws somethings in like, clay, sand, paint chips haha etc. Ya, I had to be honest and admit that my child eats sand, and lots of it.

One of our friends at TVA had their little girls birthday party, after it was over a bunch of kids gathered everything they could find and threw it into a giant pile...ya that is Madilyn at the bottom of it, by the chair if you look so very closely.

Have I mentioned I got a Phil and Ted Stroller...well if not, I am just telling you it is probably one of the BEST purchases we have ever made. SO worth the money...I am in love with it. I can jog with both the girls, and it can go on the beach because of the big wheels, and it fits through doorways! Sweet!!

We played at the beach a few times with some friends.

Discovering the joy of 100 grand candy bars!

Picking mommy some pretty flowers.

I decided to give her the whole banana and just see what happened, well that this is what happened...and she LOVED every minute of it.

At our ward Easter/graduation party they had these rice bunnies they gave to the kids...well as you can see this is what happened to Madilyn's bunny. It was super fun to clean up......

And last of all, which was actually last Sunday we dyed a few eggs for Madilyn to decorate while we watched conference.