And we danced....

I mentioned a while back that when Madison was with Kendal she did some drawings. Kendal would draw something and then have Madison do it. In this first picture I'm pointing to the flower Madison drew. I'll point out that she even drew the little leaves and did a great job of copying Kendal's flowers.

A few weeks ago Madison went to the Dentist for the first time. She did great and the dentist did great. He made the comment that she must not eat many sweets because her teeth looked so good. Oh no, that is not the case, but her Dad does have great teeth. Claire all ready to go in one of her new birthday outfits.
Madison wanting to be in the picture too!

Aunt Cassi made the girls matching hooded towels for their birthdays. You might me wondering why Claire is in this position. You'll have to watch the video. She started doing this all by herself. It's so funny in person.

A picture of Claire in her Peruvian dress. I can't believe it's been a year since McKay and my parents returned from Peru and brought her this.

We've been without a Daddy for the last few days. He's been on a High Adventure Trip with the YM in our ward. I always hate it when we're apart, but it's given me time to work on and complete several projects. The girls and I have pretty much been home bound as he took my car and my cell phone. We've done lots of swimming and playing. Lately Claire has been sleeping terrible at night between being sick and having company I've let her get away with it, but that all changed when Chris left. I weaned her and have been letting her cry it out during the night. She goes to sleep great, but about 3 hours later it starts. The first night she woke up 4 times, but I never went in. When I got her up that morning her crib was filled with Madison's blanket and several stuffed animals. When Madison got up I ask her why all that stuff was in Claire's crib, "I was trying to make her happy!" She must have woken Madison up, but Madison took care of it because she never came and got me up. The second night she woke up at 4:30 and cried off and on until 6:30 a.m. when I finally got her up. The third night (last night) she didn't wake up until 6:30 a.m. and I got her up at 7:00 a.m. So we are definitely making progress. I would love for her to sleep until 8 a.m. I know Madison would if Claire didn't wake her up in the mornings. So since Madison's been back I've also struggled with nap time. But I think I've finally got it figured out. Claire takes a good morning nap. For the afternoon nap, we read stories and then Madison gets in her bed and Claire and I leave. About 45 minutes later I bring Claire in and put her in the crib. 8 out of 10 times Madison is asleep. Claire will watch Madison for a while and then realize she's not going to wake up and play and will lay down and go to sleep. When Madison wakes up, I have now trained her that if Claire is asleep she needs to quietly come out and find me. Lately, I'll be doing something and all of the sudden I hear "Boo" and Madison is standing beside me still not quite awake. It's been great! Madison takes a 2 hour nap and Claire takes a good afternoon nap. One day this is how I found Madison when I brought Claire in...

After we went to Kirtland for the 24th of July Celebration, Madison headed to Arizona with Aunt Kendal & Uncle Martin. She was so excited to go! She had so much fun. Here's a list of some of the things they did...
1. Went to the princess store and got a new wand and antennas
2. Go swimming with Max & Briant
3. Eat yummy yogurt multiple times
4. Run through the noodles a.k.a attend the Phoenix Children's Museum
5. Bake Cookies with Uncle Martin (we were making cookies last week and she asked if she could have one. I explained that she could after we baked them. She then proceeded to tell me that Uncle Martin lets me and then I understood. She wanted to eat the cookie dough!)
6. Go shopping and get new clothes and new converse shoes.
7. Paint with Aunt Kendal's paints.
8. Draw pictures with Aunt Kendal.
9. Go to the movies and eat popcorn.

Needless to say I wish I could go and get spoiled by Aunt Kendal! She had a ball! Kendal sent me all of these pictures from her phone.

A week after we went to New Mexico, all of Chris' family except his Father game to Las Vegas to play. We had so much fun with everyone. Saturday morning started off with a Cousin's camp for the Kids with Grandma Dottie. It was on Penguins and she did the cutest things...decorated bags, learned how to walk like penguins, black & white treasure hunt, books, movies, worksheets, treats...the kids LOVED it. (In fact when they woke up Sunday morning, they wanted to know where Grandma Dottie was and when Cousin camp began...they're definitely ready to do it again). While Grandma had the kids the adults went shopping and to a movie.