Easter 2015

On April 5th, we all gathered in our backyard to do a BBQ, Easter Egg Hunt & dye Easter Eggs.  Unfortunately Mom was sick so she and John stayed home.  Angela did come to visit, and it was quite the pleasant day.

It is such a joy to watch the children interact with one another.  Elly watches Madelynn for us, but I rarely get the opportunity to see all of them together.  They fight of course, but for the most part they are so kind to one another.  I am relieved by how close they are since Madelynn is an only child.  Matthew and Bella act as pseudo siblings, and give her that connection she may not have otherwise had.

Halloween!

While shopping for Madelynn's birthday party, we were fortunate enough to pick up her Halloween costume. For the previous two years she has gone as some kind of incarnation of fairy, and this year was no different.  She chose the Spider Fairy costume.

Of course because it is Utah, and cold alterations had to be made for the nugget and she didn't look quite like the girl in the stock photo, but if you ask me she is cuter.  We did a ballet bun, added some warm pink capris and a pink long john shirt.  Madelynn only weights 32 pounds and chills very easily.  Unfortunately the tiara was really flimsy and didn't make the trip from Salt Lake City to American Fork...again I still think she pulled it off and was once again a super cute fairy.

Dad and Angie dressed as Coke products. I dressed in scrubs, and Jeremy wore his zombie shirt from last year.  Mom and John didn't dress up, but they went to an allegedly cool, new park called Evermore.  The photos they took were Halloweeny and I thought it fit with the collage.

Since we live on a fairly busy street that doesn't have a lot of homes to trick or treat on we decided to travel down to Dad and Angie's.  Of course, it was Madelynn's idea to call Grandpa Dave (as she affectionately calls him) to see if he will go with her.  She had asked for Uncle Darren to come around with her, but he had to work.  She was excited to see her uncle once he did get off work, and stopped by Dad's house for a quick visit.

Madelynn made a haul with the candy.  It helped that we didn't get a start until 7:30 or so and everyone was winding down.  About half way through the walking she claimed her little legs couldn't possibly carry her any further.  I didn't get any photos of Madelynn being carried by a giant coke bottle, but here are some cute shots of her knocking.

Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for the Gibson clan; Elyssa, Matthew and Bella celebrated Halloween in Texas. I couldn't let a Halloween blog go without photos of my beloved niece and nephew.  I'm sure they had an amazing time with their grandparents and uncles.  They don't get to see them very often, and it was great that they were able to experience Halloween with them all.  Ms. Bella was Super Girl, and Matthew was Darth Vader.

Visiting the Utah Cousins - October

From October 19th to October 23rd Madelynn and I were in Utah for her follow ups with TSH and the Neonatal Clinic.

TSH gave us the option to stay the whole weekend in Utah giving us the opportunity to visit all the cousins.

On Saturday, October 20th, after Madelynn's testing we headed over to my mom's to see Bella and Matthew.  Later Darren and Elly joined us for some pumpkin patch fun.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Bella because of her upper lip.

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On Sunday we visited with Poppa Hurst and Grandma Myker.  Evan and MaKayla came over to play and paint pumpkins.

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Candid Family Photos

Everyone had a camera.  While I do not have access to everyone else's photos I am posting the candid that I do have that do not really fit into a category.

The Three Amigos.  Who knew there would three toddlers around this
year?

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If there was a way to describe our family it would
be passive aggressiveness.
I guess Madelynn feels the same way. 

Popa and Matthew getting ready for some sand.

Miss Maddie Bug stealing Baby Bella's hat.

Grandma and Madelynn dancing with special appearances by Aunts Amber and Cheri.

On Our Way to Pacific Beach

My mother, stepfather, brother and his brood came up from Utah to join us at Pacific Beach for the annual Anderson family reunion.  (As my grandmother would say "She has posterity").

Madelynn and Matthew had not seen each other since February.  They warmed up to each other fairly quickly.  Matthew had a lot of patience with Madelynn once he realized her communication delay.  They shared all the toys very well, and enjoyed hugging and being with each other.

Matthew wanted to ride with Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Crystal , and Madelynn.  We were happy to have him.  The kids did really well...at first.

Chilling, reading her book.

He's very delicate ,and needs a neck pillow.

Matthew then got mad at me when he took a toy from Madelynn, and I took it from him.

You don't want to see him mad. :)

Then he was happy just in time to fall asleep.

I love you Crystal!

The Toe Heads are sleeping.

The trip was a little over two and a half hours, and for toddlers they did very well.  

Matthew and Madelynn

On Friday Jeremy graciously offered to watch Matthew, as I had other plans for most of the day.   Matthew and Madelynn play so well together.  These are just some videos we took of the two that day.

Elly's Blog

My sister-in-law has some super cute pictures of Madelynn and Matthew.  Check them out!

IHOP with Grandma

After a long afternoon of running around, Mom treated me and the kids to iHop for lunch.

Matthew the Builder

Jeremy and I bought a new entertainment center from IKEA.  My mother and step-father came down to help put it together, and Matthew was with them.  When we got back to our home, the men unloaded the boxes.  At first Matthew thought he had a new jungle gym.

Once the guys started to open the boxes, and unload the pieces Matthew was anxious to help.

After a long afternoon we finally had our final product:

Much thanks to my mom, John, and Matthew!

4th of July BBQ

Darren and Elly hosted a BBQ this year. It was great fun to be around them, Matthew, my mother and step-father John. Elly is such a good cook, and Darren is an excellent BBQer. It was a lot of fun had by all.

I didn't get any pictures of the adults, but plenty of the children.

How Maddie chills with her feet.