Maddie Turns 11

Happy 11Th Birthday to my first born daughter Madison Patsy, who was named after my oldest sister who died six weeks after she was born. Madison came into the world with a BANG. My easiest pregnancy, but by far the worst delivery. Weighing in at a honking 9 lbs. 10 oz. I was given morphine for three days to help the pain. I was put to sleep for her birth and I awoke when they were wheeling me to recovery. Yes, imagine no epidural to numb the area and nurses frantically injecting me with needles to numb the fire pain of my gut. I went into shock due to the pain and didn't get to or even want to see Madison until the next day.
Any hoo, Madison is 11 years old and such a joy in our lives. When she was younger she was a show off and loved to perform for other people. She started dance when she was 8 and now is professionally trained in jazz, ballet, tap, and others. She has placed first in many competitions and enjoys the excitement of performing and winning.
Here are 11 funny or interesting things about Maddie that maybe you didn't know about:
1. At Thanksgiving she always has to have the turkey leg to eat, that's her tradition.
2. She's never had to taken an antibiotic for sickness since she's never sick. Except for the common cold or the stomach flu, she's been extremely healthy. Although we just found out she may be getting her tonsils out due them being abnormally large and blocking her airway. Yea, no more snoring!!
3. Madison was climbing a slide while at a swimming pool and slipped from the middle rung. She landed on her bum and cried for hours. The bruise that surfaced covered her entire bum cheek.(OK, not funny or interesting, but something that came to mind!)
4. Maddie loves roller coasters and will scream the entire time out of excitement.
5. Madison received a welcome announcement from President Bill Clinton when she was born.
6. She will try any type of food and once tried frog legs, yet did have a melt down once she knew what they were.
7. Madison's mom was her 4Th grade teacher at Betsy Rhodes ES.
8. Madison is terrified of the ocean and refuses to ever go swim in it. She tried snorkeling last year, but didn't last because she was so terrified.
9. Madison is a Great American and just received that prestigious award for it. She earned it memorizing the 50 states/capitals, Declaration of Independence,and other stuff that I went crazy having to listen to her repeat non stop.
10. Madison loves to cook and is always helping me in the kitchen. She makes really good pancakes.
11. Finally, Maddie LOVES to karaoke and does a mean "Livin on a Prayer."

We love you monkey butt and you will always be our little girl.

To celebrate Maddie's birthday I took her to Disneyland for the day since her aunt and cousin were also going to be there. We had a BLAST and I look forward to going again with Jen and Pam. No men, no little kids, and we could pretty much do whatever we wanted. It was fantastic.


Mom, cousin Jen, Maddie, Aunt Pam


For Maddie's birthday we ate at Blue Bayou which is her favorite restaurant. They gave her a yummy cupcake.


We were all on California Screamin'. We all loved the ride except Jen who cried each time we went on it. Notice my right arm...it's stuck between the bars of the arm strap!

There's my Woody! I'm really obsessed with Woody. Really!

Me and my girl. Love her!!!


Maddie blowing out the candles on her cake. Notice Jaxon's head in the background watching Oswald..his favorite show.


That is one good looking and yummy cake. If I do say so myself!!

A Sick Lil' Girl

Last week I had a sick little girl. A really sick little girl that I probably should have taken to the ER, but didn't.
Last Tuesday night Camryn climbed into our bed in the middle of the night burning with fever and coughing like she had the croup. When she coughs she pukes so Paul and I were jumping up all night taking her to the toilet. The next morning I took her temp which read 104. This is what it stayed for the entire day even with Motrin. She slept the entire day and would only wake up when I gave her medicine or forced her to drink some water.
That evening we took her temperature again and the thermometer read 106!! Paul and I were FREAKING out and wondering what to do. We stripped her clothes and put her in a lukewarm bath while I sent my mom to CVS to get a new thermometer to see what a different thermometer would read since I have never seen a temp go that high. That was our deciding factor as to whether or not we go to the ER.
Anna returned with the thermometer and it read at 105. 15 minutes later it had dropped to 102. Another 15 minutes it had dropped to 101 so the bath and Motrin were finally kicking in. We decided to keep her comfy and put her back to bed and watch her throughout the night. The last time I took her temp it read 99 so I felt pretty good about keeping her at home.
The next morning her cough was horrible and she sounded as if she had just ran a marathon, plus her 104 fever was back. Not wasting any time we left for the doctor who I knew would take care of her.
The doctor knew just by looking at her what her diagnosis was, but he wanted to take proper tests so Camryn had to have a chest x-ray and her oxygen levels were tested. The diagnosis was the beginning of pneumonia! What?! For a 4 year old?
Doc gave her a shot in the booty and the poor girl had to take a decongestant twice a day, Motrin when needed, antibiotic once a day, a steroid once a day, and use her breathing machine 4 times a day for an entire week. It was a crazy week! I've never seen Camryn sleep as much as she did nor eat and talk as little. Those who know my little bundle of energy will agree with me that this is very not normal. The medicine worked and now about 8 days of medicine and staying in the house she is finally better.
Many people asked me how she got so sick and with pneumonia, but I have no answer. Obviously, just a virus in the air that she picked up and it attacked her immune system. Yea, my little girl is better and things are getting back to normalcy. Thank goodness I was on track break so I could take care of her.

About 5 days after she was sick I thought it would be good for her to get out of the house and go for a car ride. She lasted ten minutes until she was fast asleep.


Camryn on her fun breathing machine 4 times a day. She didn't mind doing it since she knew it helped.

I hope everyone else isn't suffering with illness this time of year.

Disney Days

Yes, our family made another quick trip to Disneyland for the weekend. Madison got to perform there so that was our main excuse for going, plus we got to leave Jaxon behind with Grandma so it was pleasantly different to not have to worry about strollers and diaper bags. Since I'm finding myself to be a Disney coniousseur, here are my top 10 tips for enjoying your stay at the happiest place on earth.

1. Buy a season's pass only if you plan on only going to Disneyland for vacation for an entire year. Our family loves to go to Disney and we will definitely get our money's worth, yet we won't be planning any other trips for a year except to go to Disneyland. Unless you have all the money in the world and then you can do what you want anyways.
2. Never go on a weekend! The best days to go to Disneyland no matter what time of the year is Tuesday-Thursday. Those days aren't half as croweded as the weekends and the lines aren't too bad. Try to never go on a holiday. Ugh...need I say more!

3. Don't splurge on a pricey hotel. How much time do you really spend in the hotel anyways? When I book a room I shop around different websites to find the best deal. I won't stay at a one star hotel, but have stayed at a two star hotel and wasn't hightl disappointed. You pay for what you get, but once again if you're only there to sleep then spending a lot of money for a hotel room is silly.

4. Plan to take your own food into the park. Try to have breakfast in the hotel and pack a lunch to eat while in the park. The food isn't that great and it's very expensive. Remember to pack lots of water since a bottle of water at Disneyland will cost you $2.75. I do splurge on popcorn and churros for the kiddos, plus we will either eat dinner at the park or leave and go to another restraunt.

5. Take a thin sweater or jacket for nightime since the weather does turn chilly at night. You can wrap it around your waist or if you don't have a stroller you can rent a locker for $11.00. Yikes!

6.If money isn't an issue I would experience either Goofy's Kitchen or Breakfast with Minnie at least once. This is character dining and the kids will love it. Both places are about $30 a person to eat so again...very pricey.

7. My favorite place to eat is called the Blue Bayou. This is the dark restraunt that you see when you first get on Pirate's of the Caribbean. I never knew it was there until we tried it last year and now we make sure to go there every single time. You need reservations and it's pricey, yet good steakhouse food. The atmosphere is also fun.

8. Only do the water rides in the afternoon since you will get wet! Splash mountain and the River Bend ride can leave you soaked so it's not a great idea to ride on those rides at night.

9. If you're nursing or mom of a baby check out the Baby Centers. They have quiet, private areas where you can feed, plus change the little ones. You can also heat up milk, food, and buy basic baby needs, if needed.

10. Disneyland will be croweded no matter what. Go with a happy disposition and you'll enjoy your day. People will get in your way, no one will move if you have a stroller, and some people are just dumb. All in all you can have a great time and enjoy the happiest place on earth.

Yes, I'm off to the Magical Kingdom AGAIN next week for Maddie's birthday. Just her and I which should be a blast. Look forward for more exciting Mickey photos.

I'm Happy!

Today is a good day....sorta. I'm on vacation for almost three weeks which is always a plus.

I had the great idea to clean out closets since it's starting to get warm here and I want to see what kids can wear what before I go out and buy more. So each room in the house is a complete disaster since I have piles of clothing waiting for me to put in garbage bags.

Camryn is horribly sick with a 104 degree fever along with croup. When she coughs she pukes which makes for lovely messes. Trying to get her to take medicine is miserable unless I bribe her with something.

I'm trying to get at least 45 recipes together to submit for our ward cookbook so I have about fifteen cookbooks spread out and opened all over the family room floor that I have to type up eventually.

I have an endless amount of cords that no one knows what they go to so I've been trying to match ends with ends. Jaxon helps very well with that so cords are strung throughout the house.

I just realized that I sprayed my bathrooms down with cleaner two hours ago intending to clean them, yet never did.
I couldn't begin to tell you the countless messes I've cleaned up that Jaxon has made or the nice bruise on my butt thanks to the kitchen tongs that he squeezed me with.

It's 12:30 and I'm still in my pj's, haven't exercised, fed my kids lunch, and still need to look for the hamster that has been missing since Friday. Luckily, I just sent my mom to the grocery store and had her take the dog to the vet. Eventually, I hope to shower (yea!), pay some bills, take Anna to get a new cell phone, pick up Maddie and then drive her to dance, come home and fix dinner, maybe say hello to the Wii Fit, listen to the hubby's day, pick up Maddie from dance, play with the little ones, and probably help Maddie with homework.

How do you stay at home mothers do this day after day? I so give credit to you all! But, yes it is a good day!