renfro

Collin is 7

2012-02-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

This year Collin wanted a Lego party. There are not any Lego party decorations, beside the star wars Lego which he didn't want, so we made everything from scratch. It turned out to be a pretty fun adventure. He told me everything he wanted and I tried to attempt it. Everything turned out and everyone had a blast.

I still can't believe that he is seven this year. I feel as if my baby is growing way to fast, before I know he will be off to college. He is such a great blessing to have in my life. He teaches us so much. He is a reminder of what is really important in life. I love being his mom. Collin, I love you!

I love how his cake turned out. This was my first time making and actually using fondant. It was so much fun.

I just drew faces onto the cups which really helped tie everything together.

The Lego pops were probablly the hardest to do, but they were a big hit and turned out great.

While we waited for his friends to arrive they each picked a Lego surprise and put it together.

I found this really fun game online. You time each child for 30 seconds and see how many balloons they could pick up. It was really funny to see the balloons scatter and the kids try and pick them all up.

Maddie got creative and used her mouth, probably not the safest thing but it did help her keep her balloons together.

You can't see Collin in the sea of kids but he is there.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

Collin's tooth

2012-02-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I am already posting about a missing tooth. I don't know why I though my kids were to little to loose teeth, but Collin did. He lost his very first tooth. He was eating an apple one day and discovered that his tooth was loose, and after working on it a couple more days out it came (with a little help from Mom). Just another reminder of how fast they grow.

Here it is, such a little thing

Collin's new smile :)

Collin really wanted to keep his tooth so he wrote the tooth fairy a note. In the morning he was excited to see that she left him the tooth, but then a minute later decided that I would like it better and gave it to me, silly boy.

Maddie turned 4!

2012-02-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

MadaLynn had her birthday in October, but here it is four months later. MadaLynn wanted a Tangled party and that it exactly what she got. She was also very excited because we had our cousins here from California. We sure do miss them, and love every chance we get to spend time with them. Anyway, here are some pictures from the party....

She really loved her cake :)

When they first arrived we had them decorate their lanterns

Then they made their crowns

...and what party is complete without a pinata!

But we needed brothers help to break it.

Here she is in her tangled dress that she wanted, she was extra surprised to see pascal.

Sledding

2011-12-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

The best part about living on a hill... sledding in your own back yard.

Utaaahh!!

2011-07-08T22:19:00.000-06:00

We had a family reunion in Utah this year so we made it our vacation as well. Jason couldn't stay the whole time but did get to get in a couple games of golf so he was happy. I am still waiting on pictures from the reunion so unfortunately there are none of that. It was a lot of fun and will post it later.

We wanted Jason to have a vacation so we crammed as many activities that we could while he was still there. We went up to Sundance to where we took some of our engagement pictures and showed the kids around. My parents were able to come and we were so excited they did. We got some good pictures of them with our kids. Also, while we were there we saw Robert Redford, don't laugh he is the first person I have ever seen that has starred in a movie. So I had to get some pictures of him. I think it is pretty funny though because we were telling a few people about it and most of them didn't even know who he was. We felt pretty old! haha.

There was so much snow still up on the mountains, when we left in July most of it was still there.

There he is in the back ground, I think he was doing an interview

This is how Collin felt about the whole thing

We also hiked Bridal Veil Falls. This was Collin and MadaLynns first time and they did great. It was so much fun. Josh and Christy came with us, it was great to have time with them. We miss you guys already. Everything was so green, we miss the green. It was so pretty up there. Next time we want to hike up to Stewart Falls.

He loved it up there

Thank you Josh for keeping Maddie safe.

We went to Park City for the day and did all the typical things you do in Park City, we swam and shopped but we also went on the rides at the resort. It was our first time on the roller coaster, Jason's first time on the zip line, and the kids first time on the alpine slide. We had so much fun. We will be going back next year for sure.

Stephanie

Josh and Christy

Maddie and I

She was so scared she didn't move for the first part of the ride

Stephanie and Natalie

Josh and Jason

I wanted to take the kids and get their pictures done while we were there but due to lack of time I couldn't get an appointment anywhere I wanted. I ended up taking them out one day and taking some pictures of them with my camera. I am happy with them, the only problem is the glare on Maddie's glasses :)

I love this picture, Collin had had and Maddie wanted to cheer him up :)

This picture captures his personality so well (especially the dirty knee)

Classic Maddie

After we took some pictures we stopped by and visited Uncle Steve. On this particular day, he was working on a farm. I know that these are just farm animals but my kids never see these animals where we live. They had a blast running around the farm and getting dirty. Thanks Steve for such a fun time.

He wasn't to sure about actually getting in with them :)

There you have it! Our WHOLE vacation but I am sure that we enjoyed it more :)

MadaLynns Recital

2011-06-06T20:32:00.001-06:00

MadaLynn had her ballet recital this past weekend. It was her first one and I think she did pretty good. We were not allowed to take any pictures or videos during the show so these are from the rehearsal that was right before the show. The show was called, Tea for Two. The 3-year-old class did the flight of the bumble bees. I think it was perfect for the spring show.

She did pretty good during the practice and remembered most of her parts, but during the show she just stood there half way through her part and then started dancing. ha. She was really cute and when I went to pick her up they told me that she didn't want to get off the stage and that she told them she wanted to dance again. We wouldn't of known from the lack of dancing. :)

She had to wear some make up for the performance, look how long her eyelashes are!

Going into position

She is making sure we are still watching.

Nice job, Maddie.

MadaLynn and her partner.

I love this picture of all their wings.

Playing catch-up

2011-05-18T21:50:00.003-06:00

There is so much to catch up on I don't know where to start. I am going to try and go in order so that I don't forget anything.

FEBRUARY:

Collin turned 6! He is getting so big and we are just so proud of him. He had a bowling party this year. Collin loves to bowl on the Wii and though it would be fun to go bowling. He learned very fast that it is a lot harder than the Wii but he still loved every minute of it. He has the best group of friends and really had a great time. We had a blast this year.

The Birthday Boy

Collin's best friend, Aaron

Now, most of you know but for those that don't this is a big day in our house because Jason shares his birthday with Collin. We celebrated Jason's birthday by going to dinner and a movie and we also had family in town so we threw him a birthday party.

The Birthday Guys. Our nephew, Austin, also shares the same birthday.

MARCH:

On March 5, 2011, my little sister passed away suddenly in her sleep. I have debated to blog about this because she was so dear to me. I also do not know how I feel talking about this quite yet, but I think it is good to get it out.

Megan, is my best friend. We are only 2 years apart and have been pretty close our whole lives. Every memory I have from when I was little has my little sister in it. I remember thinking about how our kids would be able to play together like we did. Now I know she is watching them in heaven. Megan was just married on October 28, 2010. I am very grateful for the knowledge that I have. I am very grateful for her husband, Seth, and that he was able to take her to the Temple. I know that we will be together again.

Megan Rebecca Howe Briggs

While we were out for the funeral we were able to see my Grandma. It has been about 6 years since the last time I have seen her. I just love her.

Maddie and her cousin, Lydia. They are only 5 weeks apart.

APRIL:

We had a very relaxing Easter. We started it off by going to church, then coming home and finding what the Easter bunny brought. We boiled some eggs and realized we forgot the vinegar, so this year the kids decorated their eggs with crayons. It was so much fun and they turned out very cute, only I didn't get a picture of it. We then had a little Easter egg hunt. Later that night, we had my brother and his family over for dinner.

This year I was able to look at Easter in a whole knew meaning. I have been told and taught the real meaning of Easter my whole life, but I think because of my sister passing I was able to apply it to my own life and it took on a whole knew meaning. I am very grateful for the sacrifice of our savior and am very glad to have the gospel in my life.

MAY:

This year for Mothers day we were able to have my parents out here. It felt so good to be around my Mom for Mothers day. It has been at least 3 years since I have got to spend a Mothers day with here.

Jason was on top of it this year. He spoiled me rotten. He cleaned, cooked, took care of the kids, and gave me exactly what I wanted. Although, I would have been happy with just the cleaning and taking care of the kids part :). We had a big family get together at our house with my brothers family and my parents. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Collins class put on a Mothers and Fathers day celebration and invited the parents to come and watch. It was one of the cutest things I think I have seen. All of the kids dressed up like their Mom or Dad and had a fashion show and told some of their parents favorite things.

Working the run way!

Collin also graduated from Kindergarten. We are very sad that he will be leaving his teachers. We absolutely love them and will miss them so much. Collin is very excited to be a first grader though.

The Kindergarten classes get together and have a graduation for all of the kindergartners. The teachers really worked hard, and put in a lot of time into this program. I have it all recorded but will only share some of it with you :)

Most of his class

All 5 of the kindergarten classes.

Mrs. Spina

Mrs. Buffalow

We rock, we rock, we rock on!

2010-12-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

Collin's favorite Christmas present this year was his stereo and CDs. He will go in his room, shut the door, blast his music, and dance his little heart out. Ha. I think this is just a preview for what is going to come in his teenage years. So, while it is cute now, I am going to soak it all in because I might not be enjoying it as much in the future ;)

He has really taken an interest in music the last couple of months and will come home from school singing a song (they listen to music on the bus). The other day we were switching radio stations, trying to find something good, and he told me to stop because it was Lady GaGa. Well, we don't really want our 5-year-old listening to Lady GaGa so we have been trying to find other music that Collin likes. Needless to say, all Collin talks about now is Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers, and Selena Gomez. It amazes me at how much he knows in so little time, especially because we don't know a lot about those artist's. He learns it all from his friends and from school.

Anyhow, Collin's favorite CD right now is Camp Rock. Here he is rockin' out to it:

Glasses for a Three Year Old

2010-12-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I noticed that MadaLynn would cross her right eye (only her right eye) when she would focus on something. She was beginning to do it a lot more and people would actually comment on it. Needless to say, while we were at her 3-year-old well child appointment I asked my Pediatrician about. He didn't think twice about it and told us that we needed to see an Pediatric Ophthalmologist.

As soon as the Dr. looked at her he knew what exactly was wrong with MadaLynn's eye. She has a condition called: amblyopia, otherwise known as a lazy eye. It is when one eye becomes weaker than the other, and causes the weak eye not to develop normally. This condition is treatable if caught early enough. MadaLynn's treatment is glasses. The glasses that she needs have bifocals in them, this to teach the eyes to work simultaneously again.

We have been getting a lot of questions from people (some we don't even know) about her glasses. My favorite is: "does she really need those?" I don't know how to answer to this question, because I think that it is a silly question. I don't know why or who would force their child to wear glasses. Other than some questions, people have been pretty good about them. As a mother, I worried that she would be teased about wearing glasses, but the complete opposite has happened. Collin, and some of her close friends are asking if they can wear glasses too.

I think it is the most adorable thing that I have ever seen. She doesn't mind them that much which I am grateful for. It would have made this situation a whole lot harder.

Also, I didn't send out a Christmas card this year. I was too busy, so for those of you who would've cared, here you go:

Merry Christmas from the Renfros!

Photo shoot

2010-12-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

We recently took Collin and Maddie to get some pictures done. I am very happy with the way they turned out. I know that we never post anything else, but lets face it they are way cuter to look at then anything else. Also, I love to look back over the pictures and remember that time in their lives.They grow way too fast.

Halloween

2010-11-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

Halloween was so much fun. We were able to spend it with most of the cousins this year because we were out in UT for my lil' sis wedding. We did miss Dad though, he had to stay home at work.

Collin and Maddie both had a great time. It was nice that Collin had so many people to go with because Maddie was ready to go home after a couple houses. We had a fun time seeing and being able to spend time with family that we don't get a lot of time with.

Collin... Darth Vader

Maddie was a Peacock

Some of the kids eating dinner. Uncle Steve made a really yummy dinner, all the kids LOVED it.

Thanks Steve.

Group picture

The big number 3

2010-10-14T13:42:00.001-06:00

On 10-10-10 Maddie turned three. Maddie had a great birthday and is loving being three. She is very proud to show and tell everyone that she is three. Maddie always use to tell everyone that she was five, just like her brother, but we finally got her to think that being three is better than five.

Maddie loves Tinkerbell and decided that is what kind of party she wanted. We had a fun time decorating wands, playing pin the star on Tinkerbell's wand, and flying on the tramp. I couldn't convince Jason to dress up like Peter pan..... haha.....Just kidding! Maddie had a great time and loved all of her presents. Thank you everyone for coming and for the presents. She got very spoiled and is already asking about her next birthday.

Decorating their wands.

They all had a good time jumping and looked so cute with their wings on.

Playing the game.

Don't blink....

she blew it out so fast we missed it.

Loved opening presents.

They all played the Pretty, Pretty Princess game and did not want to take their jewelery off. TRUE GIRLS!

We love you Maddie and hope you have a great time being three.

Jump your little heart out!

2010-10-03T14:08:00.002-06:00

We got a trampoline a couple of weeks ago for the kids and I am so glad we did. To say that they love it is an understatement. They are jumping as much as possible, Collin even wakes up early to go out and jump before school. This has not been very fun. He has been waking up around 6:30 to go and jump. I have been trying to explain to him that he has PLENTY of time to play before his bus comes. It hasn't worked out very well.
Other than finding my kids up early in the morning jumping on the tramp, we have really enjoyed it. :)

Never in the mood for a picture.

Collin has learned to do a flip. He is getting really good it and is working on a back flip.

Whats so funny?

2010-09-23T13:27:00.000-06:00

The other night Maddie was making Collin laugh. We got the camera out and tried to get her to do it again, but she wouldn't so with a little help from Jason we caught it on camera. I love it!

Sorry it is shaky, we couldn't stop laughing.

Kindergarten

2010-08-17T11:38:00.004-06:00

Collin had his first day of kindergarten today. He was so excited, he couldn't wait for school to start. When we dropped him off today the teacher read this book called: "The Kissing Hand." It is one of the cutest books I have ever heard, I highly recommend it. It is about a raccoon that doesn't want to go to school, his Mom, tells him a secret about giving him a kiss in his hand so that he can always remember her. The raccoon goes to school and when ever he felt lonely he looked at his hand and felt better.
When the teacher was done she told the kids to go five their Moms a kiss in our hands. It was so cute. Then it was time for us to leave, he was fine when I left, and I cried. All the way home. I am pretty sure I will cry again. I love my Collin and am so excited for him. I am going to miss him. I hope you have a great year Collin.

Showing me how excited he is to go to school.

He is getting so big!

Remember Me?

2010-08-12T18:23:00.007-06:00

It has been way too long since I have posted anything. We have been pretty busy around here lately we bought our first home, went on a very long vacation, and are either finishing or starting new semesters with school. I feel like everything we do revolves around our school. I have one more class left and then I will have my associates. All the hard work is starting to be worth it :) Jason, will be taking 5 classes this semester. It is going to be CRAZY! but, I know he can do it.

Anyways... as of late we have been busy getting Collin ready for school. Today we went for his testing and finally met his teacher. I love her already. Collin, is in the class with two of his friends from church which is going to be so much fun. Collin is very excited to start and can not wait until the 17th. I cant believe all the fun things they will be doing. He is going to have a great time. Maddie and I are going to miss him we wont know what to do.

Maddie is doing great, we recently had her hair cut. It was a little bit past her shoulders but it was getting to many split ends and when we went in to get it trimmed, the stylist suggested cutting all the split ends off, she ended up with a very cute A-line cut. It turned out very cute. It is a lot more upkeep though we cant pull it back anymore so we have to do it every day now, which is not fun. She hates getting her hair done. lol

On a random note, the other day I was having Collin and Maddie clean out a bucket for me and when I looked out our window this is what I found. There was about 4 inches of water in there and they decided to go swimming. I don't blame them, we live in NM if they see any water they will play in it. lol

Graduation!!

2010-05-24T18:54:00.005-06:00

I wish that I could say that Jason or I were finally done with school but this graduation's Collins!!
Collin had his preschool graduation today. I think that I was more sad then he was. I cried, and he cant be happier. I don't think that it has clicked yet that he will not have his teacher, Miss Bliss, anymore although he is ready and very excited for kindergarten he might be thinking otherwise when he sees his new teacher in August.Today Collins class had a ceremony for the kids and they were awarded their diplomas. It was so cute to see all of them waiting for their name to be called and watch them with their big smiles receiving it. Afterward, they had cake and ice cream in the classroom and received their portfolios from their work over the year. It was nice to see Collins work and projects throughout the year. He will like to look back at it.
Congratulations Collin!!!

Collin in his cap and gown. He is so cute!!

We are going to miss Shinning Stars and Miss Bliss, we sure do love Miss Bliss.

Collin and Ms. Juliet, the TA.

Receiving his diploma
Talking about how much the kids achieved this year.
CAKE time!
Collin and his school buddies, he is really going to miss his friends

On another note, Collins class was in the Newspaper. They made a mural of the mountain and then dedicated it to Shinning Stars. They used tile, that they broke with hammers, and colored rocks for the mural. The mural is of the Sandia Mountains.

Explora

2010-04-20T18:47:00.004-06:00

Today Collins school had a field trip in Santa Fe. We couldn't make it which made Collin really disappointed. So, I took them up to Explora. This was where his last field trip was so he remembered going with his school and I think it made him feel better.
We took Collins friend Tanner with us and they had so much fun.

Maddie counting her marbles :)

just because...

2010-04-20T18:36:00.003-06:00

i LOVE them!

Easter!!

2010-04-07T22:06:00.006-06:00

I love this time of the year! We are able to get out of the house more and the sun is always shinning. We love being outside it makes everyone so much happier.

We had a fun Easter. It was very relaxing. No one had school or work to worry about. It was really nice to be together as a family for those couple of days. We are very busy and sometimes we forget how important it is to just be together.We thought it was very special to have Easter over conference weekend. We went to the temple on Friday and someone in the session reminded everyone that that day (April 3) was the day that Christ was resurrected. There was such a great spirit there, we had a really great time.Conference was great. I loved all the talks and cannot wait to read them again in the Ensign.

Collin and Maddie had such a fun time, they found their baskets waiting for them when they woke up. They loved them. Collin told us that he heard the Easter bunny while he was sleeping. :) We decorated the eggs then had a Easter egg hunt out back during the break between conference. They had so much fun.!

Not Fully awake yet, but so excited!

Dying Easter Eggs

Egg Hunt!

She was so excited to find eggs she was picking everything up that was colorful... this was trash :)

Read Across America Day!!

2010-03-04T21:49:00.009-07:00

This past Tuesday was read across America day, for Dr. Seusses Birthday, and Collins school had the kids make a hat resembling their favorite book. Collin loves this Shark book, so he made this shark hat. He had fun with it.

Collin being a shark

February

2010-02-19T12:51:00.008-07:00

This month has been crazy busy for us. Jason and Collins birthdays were on the seventh. I had finals due on the ninth, and then Jasons family came out on the tenth. I wish i could say that that is it but it's not. I wont go into detail though.

Anyway, Ill start with the birthday party for Collin. He decided that he would like a superhero party. It was all centered around any superhero i could find to decorate with. Which is harder than you think. Most of it is just superman. On to the point, we had the kids decorate capes and then they played pin the "S" on superman. Next, we went out back and they learned how to shoot spider webs like spiderman. We bought some silly string for them to use. They were shooting the villains from spiderman and then, somehow, they ended up shooting Jason with the silly string instead. He deserved it. :) Next, we went to batmans cave (a soccer goal) and they kicked the bad guys out. It was a really fun party. When it was over we were glad everything was still standing. Ten, five year old boys can be a little hectic.

Chasing Jason

Joseph didn't want to kick them he wanted to shoot the villains, he said it would work better :)

Boys have their egos from such a young age, they wanted to see who was the fastest hero

Collins good friends from school; Angelo and Wesley

For Jason, I took him out to dinner and then we did some shopping. He wanted work out equipment, it was harder than you think to find decent equipment. We did and he has not found time to use it yet. I said we were busy.
I also think that we are a little boring. I don't know what it is but when you have kids their birthdays are always so much more exciting!

When the Renfros came out we went out and celebrated all of the February birthday, and had some cheese cake. The birthdays we celebrated were: Stephanies on the fifth, Jason and Collins on the seventh, Kevins on the twelfth, and mine on the twenty third. That is not all the birthdays we have in February just the ones that were out in NM. Oh, and Kevin is on his Mission but we still blew his candle out. :) We missed ya Kev.

We each blew out our own candle

We had a lot of fun visiting with the Renfros, it is always nice to see family. Its even better when they come out here. Thanks for coming and everything else you did for us. We are trying to talk them in to coming back in Oct. for the balloon festival. We'll see.

Aunt Steph is so nice to sit and watch Collin play with his hot wheels

Maddie loves to climb

On a totally random note, Maddie got in here first fight. With the ground. And lost. Poor thing has to sport this nasty scrape for a couple of days.

Best Friends

2010-01-28T21:38:00.002-07:00

Maddie Loves her Cousin Amberly!

Blankies

2010-01-12T14:07:00.005-07:00

We having been cleaning out our baby things and we came across Maddies crib bedding. Maddie has been in a bed now for a while, but when she saw her old blanket and heard her mobile music she broke into tears. It was so sad, I had no idea what she was so upset about. So, I asked her and she said in a sad little voice: "keep it". I asked her if she missed her baby blankets and she said yes.

She has been dragging her blanket around where ever she goes and every once in a while I will hear her wind up the music and when i find her she is laying on her blanket and listening to the music.
Its going to be very hard to get these away from her.

Christmas

2009-12-29T19:05:00.009-07:00

We had a great Christmas this year! Collin was so much fun, Maddie knows who Santa is but doesn't really get the concept of Christmas yet.
We had very good food and made so many Christmas treats. Collin decorated his first gingerbread house all by him self this year. He was so proud but, unfortunately we didn't get any pictures because the next morning Maddie accidentally knocked it off of the counter. Collin was pretty upset but got over it quickly.
We took the kids to see Santa this year but didn't get any pictures because we didn't feel like paying thirty dollars to get a 8x10. (ridiculous) They both were so excited to see him. Maddie ran up and hugged his leg, the Santa told us that she is the only two year old to give him a hug most of them just cry :) They both asked for bikes, and sure enough that is what they got. They love them and ride them everyday... we don't have snow here.
This year for Christmas we went over to my brother, Mike, house. We had a lot of fun with his family and had a really yummy dinner. I believe that Christmas time is meant to be spent with family. I think it brings everyone closer. We are so grateful to live close enough to my brother and his family.
We think that Christmas is more fun with kids. Collin and Maddie made us laugh so mush this Christmas season we cant wait 'till next year.
We hope you all had a great holiday season!

It is tradition in our house that we have Christmas pj's, so every Christmas eve we let them open up their Christmas pj's and then we do our little Christmas program.

Jason reading some Christmas stories to them.

Collin opening his devastator present. He is obsessed with Transformers and was wanting this toy for months. Thanks G&G Renfro. If you cant tell he loves it :)

Maddie still trying to wake up.

Collins Transformer bike.

Maddie got this little highchair for her dolls and she loves it. She plays with it everyday. One day i found her in it eating. Thanks G&P Howe. (if your wondering she is potty training that is why she is not wearing pants)

Collin playing with his toys.

Riding their bikes.

Christmas clothes for Sunday.

Collin is sick of pictures this is the best one we got of him in his Sunday best.

Put a camera in front of this girl and she will pose. I love this picture.

Merry Christmas!

Redneck Christmas!

2009-12-15T10:17:00.004-07:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season.....

Thankful

2009-11-25T11:16:00.002-07:00

We want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.
I am very grateful for my family. I get to wake up to the best husband ever. He is very hard working and would do anything for us.
I also get the privilege to be the mother of two wonderful kids. Everyday i find myself loving them even more.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T15:14:00.007-07:00

Collins Pumpkin he did all by him self

Last week we went and picked our pumpkins out then we came home and let the kids decorate cookies.

Maddie liked eating it more then decorating it :)

Collins ghost

They wanted a taste

Maddie turned 2!!

2009-10-18T19:48:00.007-06:00

Maddie's birthday was Oct. 10. I don't think she knows what a birthday is yet, but she knew it was her day and that she could do anything. We had family in town for my brothers baby blessing so we had a fun little party with family up at a park. She had so much fun with her cousins. Lydia, is only five weeks behind Maddie and Amberly, is six months older then Maddie. They sure had fun together, but you can imagine the drama with those three little girls. Ha.
Maddie is growing up so fast i feel like i should still be carrying her around in my arms not chasing after her. Maddie has her Dads personality. We are also told that she is exactly like Jason was when he was little... BUSY! I love it. Our kids are total opposites and i love every part of them. Maddie is talking none stop, she loves her dolls, her brother, and her dog. Maddie is all girl, loves to wear dresses, dress up, and loves to still shoes and wear them if she sees them left out. She loves to sing, dance, color, saying the pray, and making hand shadows on the wall with her dad.
Maddie went to the doctor for her two year check up and weighs in at 21.3 pounds and 34 in. She is just a little thing but can totally hold her own. We love you Maddie!

Photo shoot

2009-10-03T22:36:00.007-06:00

I took Collin and Maddie in for their pictures. It tool a lot of work with trying to find something that they could both wear, getting them ready, trying to get them both to look at the camera while smiling but well worth it. They turned out great i couldn't be happier. I love them.

Maddie would not get out of this chair we finally had to just take the picture with her in it.

Collin was so excited to stand on this ladder

Little girls and their dolls

2009-09-02T14:59:00.005-06:00

Now that Collin is in school, Maddie has become so lonely. She has become attached to these to baby dolls of hers. She does everything with them, she changes their diapers, feeds them, and even tries to take them in the bath with her. :) The other day i caught her reading to them. I love her so much and love her sweet personality. She is going to be a good little mommy some day.

Off to school

2009-08-20T19:56:00.005-06:00

The day has come! Collin has started preschool. I love the preschool he is going to. They do so much for the kids. His teacher, Miss Bliss, came to our house the other day to introduce herself and to get to know Collin a little better. It helped Collin out so much and was excited to go to class today.

Collin's class pet

It has been fun to watch him get ready for school and to take him. Maddie is Collins little shadow and had a harder time then i did to actually leave him there. She put on her back pack and wanted to stand in the pictures with him.

In front of his school

Collin's Class Room

DeAr DaDdY

2009-08-02T22:58:00.003-06:00

We mIsS yOu So MuCh! wE CaNt WaIt tO SeE yOu. HuGs & kIsSeS. wE LoVe YoU!

Happy Fourth!!!

2009-07-06T12:58:00.007-06:00

The fourth is my favorite holiday. Every year i soak it up as much as possible and drag my family along to. Jason being the best husband ever goes along with me. I love you babe. :)
We had so much fun, we took the kids to see the movie: Monsters vs. Aliens it was alright i am glad we only paid a dollar to go see it though. Then we came home and had a BBQ, did our own little fire work show then we went over to watch the city fireworks. While we were there waiting it decided to rain on us. It wasn't just a little shower it was a huge thunder storm. Everyone ran under one little Pavilion they had at the park and was huddle up together. Luckily we had our blanket because it was a bad storm the wind was making it blow sideways and everyone was drenching wet but the smart ones who put there blankets over them. Because i LOVE fireworks so much we waited for it to stop and when it was done the sun came out and was really nice the rest of the night. There was the most amazing rainbows after it stopped raining. There was a double rainbow and one of them was a full rainbow. Gorgeous.
I am glad we stayed because the fireworks were great. Maddie didn't know what to think of them. She did alright with the ones we did our selves but i think the noise scared her. She would cry then look at the firework and say: "pretty" or "ahhh" then when another one would go off she would cry again. haha... silly girl.
All in all we had a great day and can not wait until next year.

These pictures are not in any order because i couldn't move them around.

The best picture we could get of the fireworks

Maddie and Mommy

We had Collin take a picture of us and it turned out pretty good for a four year old

We had to take a picture of the flag

The rainbow, if you look really close you can kind of see the second. It was just starting to come out

Collin and some neighbor kids playing with the smoke bombs

Collins favorite were his tanks he picked out

Pretty Maddie

Playing with fireworks

Maddie has a kitchen that she loves, and she made us lunch that she was very proud of

Collin and Maddie

Love them...

2009-07-01T21:00:00.003-06:00

We were getting ready to leave and when i went out to the car i found this:

Maddie is in Collins seat and Collin thinks he is big enough to sit in the front. I just love my kids.

Oregon

2009-06-30T13:20:00.008-06:00

We went to a family reunion for Jason's Moms side of the family in Redmond, Oregon. It is so pretty there, everything is green. We would love to move there one day. Jason had not seen them for over ten years, and for the kids and I it was our first time meeting most of them. We had so much fun everyday we did something different. I didn't get a lot of pictures because we had to much fun. We went rock climbing, hiking, biking, swimming, river rafting, and while we were there we saw Transformers 2. It was a very good movie i would recommend it to anyone. We loved everyone and didn't want to come home. We are already planning to go back.

Collin and Maddie had so much fun with their cousins. Collin loved Sabrina and thought she was the cutest little girl. He also liked his boy cousins Conner and Brandon but i didn't get a picture of them.
Thanks for the fun time Grandma and Grandpa K and Grandma and Grandpa Renfro!

Disney Land

2009-06-15T10:41:00.006-06:00

We are home but not for long. This summer is filled with fun vacations and we are excited for them all. This Saturday we are flying out to Oregon for another family reunion. Then we are going out to Utah, and maybe Las Vegas in August. Busy, busy, busy...
The kids and I have in been in California for almost three weeks, we picked Jason up on Saturday and drove down to Disney Land and met Jason's family there. We also went down to Magic Mountain one of the days we were there, it was a blast. The rides were so fun and little scary.
Collin and Maddie had so much fun in Disney Land. Collin could go on most of the rides and being the best parents we dragged him on some rides he didn't really want to go on. Those ones he ended up crying on, but not for long he was a really brave boy. We love Disney and cant wait to go back.

San Diego

2009-06-09T11:00:00.006-06:00

We recently went to the Howe family reunion in San Diego, we had a blast. We had so much fun that we didn't want to leave or have anyone leave. We did so much down there that time just flew by.

We went to Sea World one day and loved all the show but thought that it wasn't worth the money to go again (it was the same price as Disney land almost). They had this place there were it was dedicated to kids they had little kiddie rides and a huge play ground.

I'm just going to warn you now there are a lot of pictures!

The Dolphin show!

The Shamu Show!

Collin's favorite was the sharks.Collin on a ride

Maddie had fun on the play ground

We also went to a little town called Old Town. It is one of the first establishments in San Diego. They had some cute little shops and they had restored the town so it looks exactly like it did back then. It was fun.

14 dollars well spent

2009-05-12T15:21:00.003-06:00

It has been in the high eighties here and we are dying of heat but would rather have the heat then the cold. I got this pool a little while ago because it is hard to find plastic pools like this out here and you need them because of the rocks. (we went threw three last year) We have been spending most of our time in the pool lately and it has been so fun and refreshing. The kids love it and i am trying to work on my tan for when we go to California in a couple weeks.

In need of some advice

2009-05-07T12:11:00.002-06:00

Alright i know this sounds really weird but does any one know how to get glue off of a fridge? I have tried everything from bleach to fingernail polish remover. Nothing is working. I want to try to scrape it off but i don't know if that will just scratch it.
Also, does anyone know how to get bubbles out of the carpet (a whole bottle was spilt) i will wash it but it just foams up like crazy then i think i have it all but when it dries it turns hard and crusty. I have repeated it three times now and it turns out the same way every time.
I will try anything, just let me know.

My little Man...

2009-04-23T12:37:00.004-06:00

Collin is growing up so fast he is turning into this young boy and not my baby anymore. I know that he is four but i still think of him as my baby, mainly because i don't know where the time went. Collin learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. It took him about fifteen minutes and he got it down. He loves to ride with out his training wheels on and is excited to finally go on a ride with his dad.

He also started soccer a couple weeks ago. The first time he cried the whole time but the last fifteen minutes or so. I thought it was going to be hard to get him to go again but he went and loves everything about it and he really likes his coach, coach Ray. The other day he even told me that he had a girlfriend from his soccer class. (I almost fell over) He told me that she was very nice and that he likes her butterfly shirt. What am i going to do with him. Collin you are such a fun little boy and we love you very much.

Can you find him in there?

Eighteen Months!

2009-04-16T20:55:00.002-06:00

MadaLynn turned eighteen months on the tenth. I cant believe how fast time has gone by. She is such a happy little girl who loves her family. Her stats are: Weight:18lbs 10oz and height: 31& 1/2 in. She is a busy little thing who likes to follow her brother around everywhere. She is talking a lot more and is starting to sing along with the ABC's and Old Mac Donald along with a few others. She is very smart and learns very fast. We just love her. Here are her eighteen month pictures.

HaPpY eAsTeR!!!

2009-04-13T13:09:00.004-06:00

We had such a fun Easter and hope everyone else did as well. They both had fun going on the Easter egg hunts. Maddie was happy with the first one she found so Collin was in heaven with all the eggs he found. Collin is so funny, when he woke up the day of the Easter egg hunt he came in my room with his Rifle and asked if he could take his gun on the hunt. Ha ha, i had to explain to him that we were just going to look for Easter eggs.

He hates getting his picture taken so this is what he does

Stuffing her mouth

I had to throw this in here because they both look so silly, i love both of their faces

New Paint Job!

2009-04-07T13:24:00.005-06:00

We have had this dresser just sitting in our garage for almost a year now. Ii wanted to throw it out but Jason holds on to everything. Thank goodness because Maddie's closet started getting smaller. I saw this "crackle" paint job done on some furniture and wanted to try it out. I am so glad i did it turned out really cute and the best part is Maddie has room again.

Before

After

We put on new handles, they look so much better. You can also see the crackle better in this picture.

Maddie's closet wasn't full of just clothes she has her toys in there to, but you can see what really takes up most of the room. :D

Maddie likes to read her books in her closet. Here is Collin reading her a book.

Maddies new hair style!

2009-03-30T12:13:00.004-06:00

I know that if she was older she would probably hate me for posting these but i couldn't resist they are so cute.

Lets go fly a kite...

2009-03-17T12:48:00.005-06:00

It has been the perfect kite weather here lately which is a lot of fun for Collin. This is the first time he was interested in actually flying his kite usually his just plays or rides his bike. It was pretty high up in the air which was awesome to see.

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-03-04T12:45:00.006-07:00

I know this is really late, (my birthday was Feb. 23) but i wanted to thank everyone for such a great birthday. Jason stayed home from worked and let me sleep in then brought me breakfast in bed. We then went out and did some shopping and had lunch. Later that night we had a little party at our house and had my favorite, cheesecake. Thank you again everyone for the gifts and phone calls. Jason i love you and thank you for caring so much about me.

Just a little randomness

2009-02-22T18:47:00.003-07:00

I have been teaching Collin to write his ABC's and his name. He did this the other day, i am so proud of him. The first line i did and the second he connected the dots. The rest he did all by him self.

My mom sent Maddie these shoes. She loves them so much she wont take them off. (don't mind her messiness she just woke up from a nap and was in the middle of a bite) :D

I was tagged

2009-02-19T12:48:00.005-07:00

I have two tags to do,

The first one is i think a valentines or a husband tag I'm not sure i just thought it was cute:

What is your hubby's name? Jason, but i usually call him Jase, Babe, or Daddy.
How long have you been together? We have been married for four years this year will be five
How long did you date? It was pretty close to three years
Who said I love you first? Jason, it kinda freaked me out... ha ha
Who is taller? Jason
Who is smarter? We get into fights about this all the time, we both think we are smarter but i think we know different stuff so we even each other out.
Who does the laundry? I do most of the time but Jason is great to help out
Who does the dishes? Well i do but Jason loves to cook and when he uses every dish we own i will sometimes make him do them.
Who cleans the house? I do
Who sleeps on the right? Jason
Who pays the bills? We both do
Who mows the lawn? Well if we had grass to mow i am sure Jason would he loves to do yard work especially when your yard is rocks ;)
Who cooks dinner? We both do
Who drives when you are together? Jason does most of the time
Who is more stubborn? Me
Who kissed who first? Jason kissed me
Who asked who out first? Jason
Who proposed? Jason
Who has more siblings? I do... 2 brothers and 3 sisters
Who wears the pants? I would like to think i do, but i think that Jason wants me to think that

Next tag, Baby tag:

1- Where were you when you first found out you were pregnant? I was in our apartment in Salt Lake
2- Who was with you?
Jason was in the other room, it was his birthday and we just came home from dinner
3- How did you find out that you were pregnant?
Home prego test.
4- What was your first reaction to finding out you were pregnant?
I was excited we just started trying. I get pregnant so easy, Jason and i always joke that if we look at each other wrong we will end up pregnant. :)
6- Who was the first person you told? Jason, then i think it was Yersa and Delynn because they were at my house for Collins party. Then we told our families.
7-Did you plan to get pregnant? Yes
8-Was everybody happy for you? I hope so
9- Did you go out and celebrate? I don't remember
10- Did you want to find out the sex? Yes
11- What was the sex? Girl
12-Did anyone throw you a baby shower? Yes
13- If yes, who? My Mom and Mother in law
14- Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you just knew you weren't going to put on your baby?
Yes of course doesn't everyone.
15- How much weight did you gain? I gained about 25 pounds
16- Did you lose all of the weight that you gained?
Yes.
17- Did you get a lot of stretch marks?
I guess I was pretty lucky because I did not get any!
18- What did you crave the most? I don't remember craving anything but i can tell you what i didn't want to eat
19- Did you crave anything crazy? No
20- Who or what got on your nerves the most? We lived in an apartment then and we had two wild little boys that lived by us, that i also babysat. I would say they did.
21- Were you married at the time? Yes
22- Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? My doctor was concerned because Maddie did not look like she was growing very good.
23- Where were you when you went into labor? I was induced at the Hospital
24- Did your water break? No
25- Who drove you to the hospital? Jason
26- Did you go early or late? 1 week early
27- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth? Jason
28- Was it video taped? No
29- Did you have any drugs for the pain? I had an epidural
30-Did you go Natural or have a c-section? Natural
31- What was your first reaction after giving birth? I wanted to make sure she could breath fine after they told me she was i was just so happy.
32- How big was the baby(s)? Maddie weighed 6lbs 3oz.
33- Did your Husband cry? No, i don't think so
34- What did you name the baby(s)? MadaLynn Marie
37- Did the baby(s) have any complications? Nope!
38- How old is your baby today? Maddie is 16 months
39- When is the next one(s) coming? If it were up to me i would be done. Jason wants one more so if we do have another one it wont be for a long time.
40-If you could, would you do it all over again? Yes of course

Happy Birthday!

2009-02-11T12:52:00.003-07:00

Its that time a year again. Collin and Jason both had their birthday on the seventh. Collin celebrated his with a party, and Jason had a nice birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday Jason and Collin, love you guys.

I guess Collin needed a little extra help :)

Jason made this cool cupcake cake for Collin. It turned out so awesome.

Little Kicker

2009-01-29T08:35:00.003-07:00

For Collins Birthday we signed him up for soccer and swimming. He doesn't know yet, we are going to tell him on his birthday which is Feb. 7th. He has been wanting to play soccer for a while now, he keeps on telling us before he starts he needs cleats so he can run fast. I think we will get him some cleats to. (anybody know of good place?) The class is called Little Kickers. He cant officially be on a team until he is five, so this class teaches him how to play soccer and at the end of the lessons he will play in a game. I think he will love it.

For his swimming class... he can kind of swim by him self but i think a little extra training will be beneficial. He is so funny ever sense he was little (seven months old) he has loved the water. It kinda scares me because he swims under water and holds his breath which seems like forever but he comes up with a big smile on his face. Don't worry he is not in the water by him self we are always with him. I think this class will really help him learn the basics of swimming. :)

And it begins...

2009-01-13T18:10:00.003-07:00

I have been dreading the day ever sense MadaLynn was born when she would talk back to me. But i never thought it would come this early. Before i tell this story I do have to say that Maddie is one of the sweetest little girls you will meet but she has a temper, i am not trying to portray her as a mean little one. So, the other day she wanted her drink and she is in the habit of going eh, eh, eh when ever she wants something and is not saying the word well i was telling her to say "drink please", and she looked right at me and said "shhhh". I didn't know whether to laugh or what. I know she wasn't really being rude or talking back but i don't know how to tell a one year old that we don't do that. Haha. Oh Maddie what would we do without you? :)

Christmas!!!

2008-12-30T13:34:00.005-07:00

We had such a great Christmas and hope everyone else did to. We stayed home this year then went over to my sisters that night and made ginger bread houses. It was a blast.

Collin was so excited this year, it was fun having all the excitement in our house. While he was at church he received a key. The key was just an old skeleton key, but it was suppose to let Santa in our house because we don't have a chimney. It was such a cute idea and it made Collin so happy that Santa could come in our home to drop off presents. When Collin was opening the presents he kept on saying: "Santa is so nice, mom" it was the cutest thing ever.

Maddie liked her presents to, i know she didn't understand but she still had fun. Her favorite present is a water baby doll that Collin gave to her. She likes it so much because she can take it in the bath with her. She wont let it out of her sight, she even wants to sleep with it.

Snow

2008-12-18T14:47:00.009-07:00

It snowed a couple inches a couple days ago. The kids had fun playing in it. Collin was so excited he didn't even eat breakfast before he went out and played. Maddie didn't really know what to think at first she didn't want me to put her down but eventually got use to it. I would have to say she didn't like it, when i tried to make her sit down on her bum she started whining for me to out her back on her feet. She only lasted about 10 Min's. outside. Collin loved it he finally got cold close to lunch time and came in. The snow didn't stay for long it was mostly all gone by 4 in the afternoon but i like it that way. I find the older i get the less i like the snow.

This is such a classic Collin look, he does it when he is doing something he shouldn't.

I love this picture my kids are so sweet. This is after they played in the snow.

Also, on one of my friends blogs she had done her little girls hair in pig tails. It looked really cute, and i wanted to see if Maddie's could do it. I didn't think it would be long enough but after slick'in her hair down and maybe a whole bottle of hair spray i got it to work. This is how it turned out:

I think it turned out really cute. It makes her look so old it kinda makes me sad.

Oh, Christmas Tree

2008-12-10T22:58:00.002-07:00

We (i really mean myself) put up our tree last Saturday and i am pretty proud of how it turned out. I just have to share it with ya all.

Just some fun!

2008-12-10T22:35:00.005-07:00

While we were in Utah we took Collin, Maddie, an some of their cousin's to the dinosaur museum at thanksgiving point. They had a blast It was so fun to be around family. They both had fun with their cousins.

Michael, baby Zayne, Chloe, Maddie, Mary, and Collin

This is one of my favorites, i love Michaels face.

Collin and Chloe had a lot of fun together, Collin wont stop talking about her. :)

Maddie and her cousin Lydia with their favoriet person, Grammy.

2008-12-01T21:42:00.002-07:00

8's tag
8 TV Shows I love to watch: We don't have cable, so we buy the seasons or watch it on the Internet.

1. Greys Anatomy
2. Desperate House Wives
3. Brothers and Sisters
4. House
5. I don't really watch anything else.
6. Nothing...
7. Any suggestions???
8. Jason would know he knows me better then i do.

8 Things that Happened Today:

1. Cleaned my house. We just got home from vacation. Jason was here alone for two weeks. It was clean but it needed a good deep clean.
2. Unpacked
3. Cooked
4. Put up Christmas Lights
5. Paid Bills
6. Went to the Post Office
7. I started school in Nov., so i did some homework and had a class tonight
8. Talked on the phone to my sister's and dad.

8 Favorite Places to Eat:

1. PF Chang's, I LOVE the lettuce wraps I could eat them every day.
2. Cafe Rio
3. Goodwood
4. Kneaders
5. AppleBees
6. Sweet Tomato's
7. Anything Jason cooks, he is a great cook
8. Taco Amigo

8 Adventurous Things We're Looking Forward To:

1. Christmas Shopping
2. Two Family Reunions in July
3. Going to Disney Land next spring with Jason's Family
4. Christmas
5. New Years Eve
6. Graduating from School
7. Jason says camping, but the older i get the less exciting it sounds
8. Collins birthday in February

8 Things on my Wish list

1. Be done with School
2. Jason to be done with school
3. To always have my family be Happy and Healthy
4. A house
5. A new Audi
6. A new Wardrobe
7. Jason to always have a job
8. My kids to do good in school

8 People to tag:
Anyone who wants to do it. Its a fun one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T12:17:00.003-07:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We sure did, we had a blast with our families. It was nice to be with them on the Holiday. We tried to wake up early and go shopping for black Friday but apparently we all needed our sleep. :) We did go out around 8:30 and found some pretty good deals. I am so excited for Christmas this year. I know what I am going to get everyone but Jason. He is the hardest person to shop for. I might just do what he does and let him buy his own presents. Haha.
We hope everyone has Happy Holidays.

Halloween and Leaves!

2008-11-15T21:35:00.017-07:00

Halloween was so much fun. Collin was Batman, he doesn't sit still for pictures so this is the only one we could get. Maddie was a princess. We went to a pumpkin patch on Halloween, it was really fun. You could walk through and pick your own pumpkin, then you could go through a corn maze. We didn't go through the maze Collin thought it was a little scary. :) Then we went to Santa Fe and stayed the night.

Collins Pumpkin

Maddie liked them all.

They had this fun sandbox full of corn. The kids loved it. I did to, i would put one in my backyard
We went back to Utah with my parents for Thanksgiving. Jason has to stay and work until the 21st. We really miss him. I tool these pictures a couple days after we got here. It was so much fun to play in the Leaves. Maddie wasn't to sure of them. She had fun playing on the fence.

2008-10-22T13:30:00.001-06:00

After coming home from one of his friends house, Collin told me he was tired. (He tells me this only once in a while but he will never lay down and take a nap) I didn't think anything of it, so i started fixing lunch and when i told Collin to come eat i found him fast asleep. I love these pictures.

Maddies 1st Birthday!

2008-10-11T20:14:00.003-06:00

Maddie is finally one. I cant believe it. The time has gone by so fast. Things have really changed in the past year, we are so glad she has been apart of that.
For Maddie's Birthday we had a little family birthday party. It was allot of fun. She got so many gifts. (thank you everyone) She is such a joy to be around. Maddie has a great personality. She is always smiling and in a good mood. She says a total of seven words. She loves to play patty cake, and peek a boo. She also loves to dance. She is very active ahes not walking yet but i think she will soon. She will take a couple of steps. She loves baby dolls, puppies, her daddy and Mommy, and of course her big brother Collin. We love you Maddie.

See if you can beat the Computer!

2008-10-08T19:52:00.001-06:00

wmode="transparent" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" >

The Ballon Fiesta is Here!

2008-10-04T10:12:00.008-06:00

Today was the first day of the fiesta. It was amazing! We woke up and drove down the street a little bit and saw all of the BALLOONS. It was so great. We are going to go to the "shapes" one on Thursday morning. It should be really neat.We have been waiting for the Fiesta ever sense we moved here. We are so excited.

There were hundreds :)

This is my Favorite Picture

Collin Loved them

If you look close the black one is actually Dark Vader

They were everywhere, it was cool to look up and see them

This is the Ladybug

Hair!!!

2008-09-26T12:30:00.002-06:00

The last week or two i have been really frustrated with my hair. It needed to have the roots highlighted again. But, I am very picky about who does my hair. The last time i had it done, i was not very happy with it. So i decided i would just go brown, it is close to my natural color only a Little bit darker. It turned out very good, i love it.

I don't like to post pictures of just my self, especially close ups. But i was really happy with the way it turned out. :)

Before

After

Where does he come up with this stuff?

2008-09-13T12:50:00.005-06:00

Yesterday i was getting ready when all of the sudden i hear Collin come running into my room yelling: "MOM, Maddie made a big mess. You need to wash her hands. Come on mom, come wash her hands." Well i knew i left Maddie in her high chair after her breakfast playing with some spoons. So i didn't think anything of it. I told Collin to go play.
So after i was done getting ready i went in to get Maddie. And i saw that her high chair had been pushed all the way in the other room. I walked over and saw that there was a spill on the carpet. As i stood there a little confused, I realized this is what Collin had been talking about. Only Collin was the one who spilled his strawberry milk and he was trying to blame it on Maddie. (what are little sisters for?) So i had to ask Collin what happen.
Natalie: "What happened?"

Collin: "Maddie spilled her drink."

Natalie: "But she didn't have a drink. How did she get over here?"

Collin: "A truck pushed her."

Natalie: "Who was driving the truck?"

Collin: "A Fish"

Natalie: "Collin a truck cant fit in our house, and fish cant drive. Did you spill your milk?"

Collin: "Oh yeah i spilled it."

HAHA, this little guy makes me laugh so hard. I don't know where he comes up with stuff. I would love to get in his head.

Later while we were cleaning up the milk, he starts yelling: "TREASURE, MOM, I FOUND TREASURE." He had found a little bead from Maddie's bracelet that she broke. I thought i picked up all the beads but apparently there was one left. :) Collin really loves to find little things that are sparkly. He thinks there are all treasure. My dad took him on a treasure hunt once and now that is what he thinks they are. It is quite funny.

Collin what would we do with out you? We love you so much, you bring allot of laughter into our home.

She probably had a fun ride :)

The little stinker

Strawberry Milk, you would think it would be easy to clean up

Collins Treasure

Random moments at the Renfros

2008-09-10T17:39:00.006-06:00

I took these pictures of Maddie the other day and realized i had some similar ones i took of Collin while he was close to this age. I cant decide if they look alike or not. Obviously there are some similarities, but i don't know. Collin loved this horse when he was little and now Maddie loves it. She likes to pull the hair out but if it keeps her entertained while i can shower then i don't mind at all. :)

Also, the other night while Jason was doing his homework Collin comes in with his notebook and pen. He wanted to do his homework to. I love how he wants to be just like his dad.

Were going Private

2008-08-29T11:14:00.005-06:00

We feel like it is time to go private. If you would still like to look at our blog, all you have to do is leave your email or email it to: nataliehowe75@hotmail.com and i will add you.
FYI, if you don't have a blog, and you still like to look (mostly our parents) you just have to give me your email and you can still have access :)

Collins first day of School!

2008-08-28T11:07:00.004-06:00

Collin started his play-school yesterday. It is pre-school and a play group. It was so much fun. There are four kids in the group. Each week we take a turn at a different house. This week was at our house. They had so much fun together. They painted, danced, did some ABC's, and played very well with each other. (thankfully) I am so excited for Collin, he is growing up so fast and i love each new staged of life it brings. I really think it is good for him socially and as far as learning goes also. His friends are Kason, Caleb, and Joseph (hes not in the pictures he got there late).
Sorry about some of the pictures getting three kids to look and hold still long enough is tough :)

My Cute Little Boy!

2008-08-24T18:23:00.004-06:00

The other day Collin received a Power Ranger from his Grandma. Later that day we were in the kitchen eating dinner, and he was showing Jason his new toy. Well Maddie had been done for some time and was getting fussy. She wanted to get out of her high chair. So Collin turns to her and said, "Don't cry Baby, Grandma will get you a Pink Power Ranger." HA HA
I really think this made his day. He had one before but one of the arms went down the bath tub drain. Grandma knew just what to do.
Collin cracks me up lately. He says the funniest things.......... I just hope he knows that every toy that gets damaged wont be replaced. :)

Teething.......Ughhh

2008-08-06T11:14:00.002-06:00

Maddie Finally got her first tooth yesterday. It has not been easy on her. She has a fever of almost 101, a runny nose, diarrhea, and she won't eat anything. I feel so bad for her. I tried to give her some baby orajel but she hated it. I put it on and after a couple seconds she started grabbing her mouth and screaming. After the numbing started to work she got better mainly because i think it helped her. I don't think i will give it to her again just because she doesn't like it. She wants to be held all the time which i don't mind but, Collin wants to play with me to.
Collin got his first tooth when he was one and it was so easy no fever, no pain. they came in two at a time and it didn't even effect him. So this is a first for me i don't know how to help her. Are there any tricks that i don't know about?

How can you get mad at this face?

2008-07-23T21:24:00.004-06:00

Today while i was folding the laundry i noticed that it was extremely quite. Maddie was asleep and Collin was suppose to be eating lunch. Well when i went to look for him i found him hiding behind his chair. I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was playing hide and seek. (He does this often, its his favorite game but usually with other people) So i didn't think anything of it. Well when i went in to put his clothes away i noticed his WALL! He had took his crayons and colored all over the wall. I was so mad. So i yelled for Collin to come in his room, and when he came in he knew he was in big trouble. He ran right in, hugged my leg and said "I love you mom, I sorry." Well i couldn't get mad at him after that. He knows just what to say.

Happy Fourth!!!

2008-07-11T17:39:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone had a great fourth. The fourth of July is my favorite holiday. So i was very excited this year being in a new place. I wanted to see how they celebrated out here.In the morning we went to our ward breakfast. It was good. We got to see all our friends and had a great time. After the breakfast we came home so Maddie could take her nap. She was up early cookin with Jason. (We had to cook the hash browns for the breakfast) Then we headed up to the mountains. It was so GREEN we really liked being up there. We had a picnic then let the kids play in the water. It was so relaxing we put our camping chairs in the water and put our feet in. It was so much fun. Collin loved it until he did a face plant into the water, then he was more cautious of where he walked. :) Maddie loved it she wanted to jump right in and play with the rest of the kids.When we were done we came home, ate dinner and got ready to go watch the fire works. Rio Rancho does a huge fire work show. So we went to a local park near by. They had some huge blowup slide toys for Collin to play on. He had a lot of fun playing on those. Then we went and watched the fire works. We had a really good spot. They were right over us. They were so big. Collin wanted to catch one so bad. He told us he wanted to keep it in his pocket so he could take it home. Ha ha. Christian (my sisters little boy) wanted to set a fire work off so bad. He told us that he wanted to send one up so that Jesus could see. Ha ha. He is so funny. We love you Christian.We had a really good fourth. I hope you all did to. Cant wait until next year. :)

A fun day at the Zoo

2008-06-30T22:22:00.002-06:00

We went to the zoo and a concert last Friday. The concert was in the zoo, in there Bio Park. It was fun. We went with my sister Kati and her kids. Jason and Pat meet us there with dinner so we ended up staying for the concert. Her name was Adrienne Young. She sings country. She was actually really good. I would buy her CD. It was really cool to walk around the zoo at night. All the animals are alive. Especially the big cats. You could hear them growling at each other. I think that they should keep the zoo open longer so people can see some exciting animals. It was really fun and we are defiantly going back :)

Our little Madalynn is eight months

2008-06-10T11:27:00.001-06:00

Maddie turned eight months today! She has changed mine and Jason's lives. We are so grateful for her and love every minute with her. We cant imagine what it would be like if she wasn't here. Maddie is so active. She loves to be moving and playing with something. I think she gets that from her brother. She wants to get up go just like Collin. She is not crawling, Maddie is just happy having someone carry her. But i think she will be happy when she is mobile. Maddie loves to talk. Her favorite word is "Dada". She says it all the time. Especially at church when every one is singing. Then it gets quite and you can still hear this cute little voice "Dada Dada". It is very cute but very loud. She also says "Hi", "Ba Ba", and i think she just learned no. I don't know but she sees Collin and will start saying it. Ha ha. Good thing he doesn't really listen to her. Some things Maddie loves are: Food, Dancing (so cute),Swinging at the park, Dolls, Other babies, Collin, Dad, and Mom.
She is growing so fast, we love her so much.

So EXCITED!

2008-06-07T10:22:00.002-06:00

I recently found the first chapter to the fourth book in the twilight series, Breaking Dawn online. (don't read it if you like surprise, it is a spoiler) I didn't want to go buy the special edition version of eclipse which has the first chapter in it. I already have the third book. If i couldn't find it online i was tempted to go to Barnes and Noble and read it. (I know what you are thinking... I just really like the books and am dying to find out what happens) All i have to say is i can not wait until Aug. 2. I think this is going to be my favorite out of all of them. If you have the chance to read it do i know you will like it. I don't really know what the Preface is talking about? Or who it is talking about. I just hope it ends good. I am a total Edward fan so i am hoping she stays with him.

Some fun in the Sun!!!

2008-05-22T11:09:00.002-06:00

We got Collin this pool this week because it has been so hot out here. He loves it he is in it almost everyday. The other day we invited Liz, Austin, and Amberly over to come swimming with us. It was so much fun. Maddie didn't really know what to think of it at first, but then really enjoyed it until some one would splash her in the face. I think that we are going to have to get a little pool for the girls to play in. Amberly was quite daring though, she would try to climb up the slide so she could go down it. She would always fall in but loved trying. Collin and Austin had no fear at all. They would try going down on their feet. It was really fun watching them play.

By the way the boxes you see are just there so the rocks will not pop the pool. We don't really have boxes just laying around our yard. (Well we do but we are waiting until trash day to put them in the recycling can. It is just so full from the move. But usually we don't have them. They did come in handy!)

A place to call home!

2008-05-19T21:40:00.004-06:00

Sorry for all the pictures, we just want family to see our house :)

Home Sweet Home

2008-05-19T20:40:00.003-06:00

Okay i finally have my house clean and almost everything out of the boxes to actually take some pictures and post them.

We moved in on May 9Th. It was crazy trying to find a place to live in a week. I don't know how i did it but we are here and we love our new home. We were really blessed. We have so much room an are loving it. We have a fenced back yard so Collin can play outside. There is not a lot of water here so a lot of the yards are rocks. It takes some time to get use to. It is a weird how you cant walk out back in your bare feet. We really want to put some grass in but we need to wait until we buy. It is different but we are getting use to everything out here and are learning to appreciate it. We have a lot of lizards in our backyard. I would rather have lizards then snakes though. The first Sunday we were here a lizard crawled right in our home through our garage door and right into our family room. Jason caught it and put it back outside. It was really pretty funny. Well my favorite thing right now are the sunsets. They have the most beautiful sunsets here. There are not a lot of mountains here so you can look for forever. The sky is full of clouds. Witch makes the best sunsets i have ever seen. I wish i could take a picture but by the time i finish what i am doing and grab my camera it is gone. We really love it here. Jason loves his job. We enjoy being by our family again. Collin loves having his own room again (so do we) and having his cousin Austin around again. Maddie doesn't really know the difference, but she is sleeping so much better in her own room. Everyone is doing so good. We miss all of you so much. We hope to see you soon.

Girls Night

2008-05-17T12:18:00.004-06:00

Maddie and I had are very first girls night. Jason took Collin camping for our wards daddy and sons camp out. So we had fun painting our nails and eating cookies (well i ate cookies) and going to sleep early. I know it doesn't sound very fun but we have been busy lately so i haven't really had time to spend time alone with with Maddie. It was just what we needed. It was really nice to actually do real girl things. When Collin is here we cant exactly paint our nails because he wants to do it to. So for Jason's sake i have to do "manly things" around Collin so he doesn't act like a sissy (as Jason puts it). But believe me he might want to paint his toes every once in a while but he is total boy. So it was nice to have time with Maddie, and actually get a good nights rest.