It's December!

It's been a busy December so far.  This Sunday we were lucky enough to have church canceled because of ice.  It was nice to have a day not to go any where and just hang out and get caught up around the house.  The Sunday before we took some pictures of the kids before church.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend. Scott designed this turkey centerpiece.
We went and cut down a Christmas Tree, we did it last year for the first time with the kids. Growing up, I had done it with my family until I was a teenager and then my mom bought artificial trees. The kids loved going even though it was freezing outside.
Claire had a project to do for school. We had to decorate a gingerbread person. Here's how it turned out.

Nile's Baptism

Nile was baptized on Thanksgiving Day in St. Louis. He was able to have his great-grandparents there and both sets of his grandparents, some great-aunts and uncles and aunts and uncles there. Nile's uncle Marc gave the talk on baptism and then Claire, Nile, and Brent sang "I am Trying to be like Jesus." It was too cute. Then Nile's Papa gave another talk. Nile was so excited to be baptized and have his family there to watch him.

Happy Birthday Brent!

Brent had a busy day for his 2nd birthday. We started out at the ice rink watching Nile play hockey then we went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead to rake leaves for National Family Volunteer Day. We then went to watch Nile play in his last flag football game of the season. We had some friends over for cake. Scott took Brent into DQ to pick out a cake and out of all the cakes he picked a Kansas Jayhawk cake.

Happy Birthday Nile!!

Nile turned eight last week. Nile woke up in the morning and his grandparents were there to celebrate his birthday breakfast with him. Nile's grandma made him a hockey quilt which is so soft and comfy. The had stopped by on their way to Denver to watch a couple of BYU hockey games. When I was growing up and it was our birthday we could choose to have either a birthday party or a shopping spree. So we have the same tradition with my kids. Nile opted for the shopping spree because he wanted a gaming system but I said he could have a few friends over to play football and watch a movie. He told my mom he got everything that he could have ever wanted from his friends and the shopping spree. He is going to get baptized in St. Louis on Thanksgiving day. He is getting excited for that to happen. The day after his birthday party he had a hockey game and football game.
Brent likes to wear a mouth guard because Nile wears one for football and hockey. So I bought him his own mouth guard and cut it down to his size. He cracks us up. He thinks he is one of the big kids. He gets the football and then tells Nile to tackle him.

Garth Brooks Concert in KC

Scott and I went to the Garth Brooks concert last night in Kansas City. It was his first concert in nine years. We had a great time. The concert started with Trisha. She sang for about a half hour. Then Garth set the stage for his performance and sang for over 2 hours with 2 encores. He went through 20 of his hits and his new song. We had so much fun. Garth is a great entertainer. At the second encore, he came out with his guitar and sang some songs from his idols. He sang some James Taylor and he ended with Don McLean's "American Pie." The friends I went with could not believe that Scott and I knew all the words. I told them it was my family's Christmas Carol that we sing it almost every year at Christmas time.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. On Tuesday night, Scott carved pumpkins with the kids. They had a fun time deciding what kind of pumpkins they wanted. Claire wanted a one eyed alien, Brent wanted Mickey Mouse, and Nile wanted a pirate. They turned out pretty cool. Then on Halloween, we had some friends over for a spooky dinner. Then Scott took the kids trick-or-treating this year while I handed out candy. The kids had a great time. They were exhausted when they got home, Scott took them out for about 2 hours.

Disney World Trip

We had a great time at Disney World. The kids were great on the plane. Brent slept the whole way to Orlando. Nile and Claire watched a movie and loved looking out the window. The first day we went to Magic Kingdom and rode lots of rides and the kids got lots of autographs from their favorite characters. They loved watching the parade and seeing all their favorite characters. Nile loved Space Mountain and was able to ride that a few times with Scott while I took Brent and Claire on some other rides. We went to Epcot that evening so Nile and Scott could ride some rides there. The next day we went to the Animal Kingdom and had breakfast with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. We all went on the safari and then Scott and Nile rode the Mount Everest ride a couple of times. That was Nile's all time favorite ride. We then went to MGM Studios and I took Nile and Claire on the Tower of Terror. Claire loved it. We went to a class about learning how to draw Donald Duck. Someone on the shuttle back to the hotel saw Nile's picture and asked if she could have it. Her mom said they were going to frame it and hang it in her room. The next day we went to MGM again and then we went to Magic Kingdom. Claire had her big make over at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and then we had dinner with Cinderella. Claire loved it!! We then went trick or treating through out the park and watched a fireworks show and another parade. The next morning we left to come back to Kansas CIty. We were catching up on sleep all week long. I finally feel back to normal.

Scott's Birthday Week

We have had a busy week since the ER. Scott's parents came in town the first weekend in October. They went to a cub scout activity with Nile that Saturday. They went on a train ride. The theme for scouts in September had been trains. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Mi Ranchito, to celebrate Scott's birthday. On Scott's real birthday, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner since cheesecake is his favorite and then we went to go see Momma Mia! It was an interesting musical. The music was fun. This week we are getting ready to head to Disney World on Thursday night. Scott is in Orlando for business meetings so we thought it would be fun to join him and take the kids to Disney World. Thursday night I get to fly with kids and meet him there. Hopefully, the kids will be good on the plane. It should be interesting. Here are a few pictures from the past week.

A Visit to the ER

Yesterday, I was busy getting ready for Scott's parent's to come in town by cleaning my house. I received a phone call from the school saying that I needed to come and get Nile right away, he had cut his had and the nurse thought he needed stitches. So as soon as I was off the phone, I told Scott to come upstairs(he works from home in the basement when he is not traveling) and get ready because we had to pick Nile up from school and take him to get stitches. Nile had been cutting a word search out and cut his left index finger. He cut a horseshoe shape at the tip of his finger. The nurse could not get it to stop bleeding. We took him to the Children's Hospital ER and he received two stitches. He has to wear a metal thing on his finger and keep it taped up for a few days. This meant no hockey or flag football this weekend. We tried to talk the doctor into letting him play hockey and she didn't think that was a good idea. His stitches will be in until next Friday. He is hoping that he will be able to play flag football by next weekend. He is such an active kid it is going to be a rough few days. He has already tried to play catch with Brent. After spending a couple of hours at the hosptial, Scott and I were able to come home and clean the house for his parents.

Pumpkin Quilt

Last night was the second late night of an enrichment quiliting project. I was able to finish. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Peer Pressure

We have given in to peer pressure, we finally have a blog. Scott decided to post some pictures up the other day and I am just now getting to making a post. Our children have been keeping us busy with all their activities this past weekend. Nile had his last fall baseball game and a flag football game. Nile is in the second grade and Claire is in preschool. Brent is mommy's helper. We had the primary program on Sunday and Nile and Claire both memorized their parts and did a great job singing. Here is a picture from Sunday.

The Maddox Family