the girly guide to oral hygiene

before little ladies go to church they brush their teeth.

they always use toothpaste.

and make sure to get every last tooth.

after rinsing they are good to go

but not with out re-inserting the precious pacifier.

tea party of love

yesterday cole and ali attended the cutest tea party ever.
complete with mini cheese balls rolled in pistachios, chocolate covered strawberries, mini cupcakes, pink punch, and other yummy appetizers.

how cute is this?
the girls were all decked out princess style, as instructed by the the most darling invitations ever (you are so cute Katie).

after eating their fill, the kiddo's retired upstairs for some old fashioned, entertain themselves, fun

which was ali's cue to dig in and scavenge left overs.

she was so happy to have the run of the table...

so happy in fact that she ended up on top of it...

and boy did she love that!

and then all that sugar and the rush that it had caused came crashing down...
(and yes, that is a candy bracelet she has protruding from her mouth)

it was such a fun way to celebrate the holiday of love. kids were happy. mommy's were happy.
a big thank you to katie for this perfect afternoon.

see cole climb

this is the tree in my parents front yard.

this is my way-more-adventurous-than-I-will-ever-be son in the tree.

and this is the man who is the the reason my son is more adventurous than I will ever be.

and not pictured: the half proud, have panic stricken mother trying to be brave as her boys.

tide pool tenderness

while at my parents place for the holidays justin and I took full advantage of the babysitting offered and went on several dates.

we saw movies, ate out, and one day my mom kicked us out for the whole day! Justin investigated and found some fun places we had yet to visit in our adventures there. he took me to the tide pools. that last time I was there was on a 4th grade field trip...this was way better than 4th grade! I mean c'mon I was there with this!
(insert arrow to incredibly cute fella in picture below)

we had such a good time just being together

to quote my journal which is ridiculously littered with years of detail about this..."I sure love this kid"

a Maddux family Christmas

Although Christmas is always a very busy season we did find time to fit a lot in around here...

like make a gingerbread house

and sugar cookies

experience the weakest snow fall ever... (and eat it)

and play in it

get and set up our tree, ummm I can still smell it when I see this

and decorate it...which Justin miraculously let me decorate my way this year
(have I mentioned how much I love Tai Pan?)

fill Santa in on the list

drive to grandma and grandpa's house and wake up Christmas morning to the spoils of a very kind Santa

Cole got right to work

assembling the thing his little heart most desired...a mickey mouse club house

while ali was content to chill

give Santa some action

show off the tu tu my cousin made for her

and take it all in

while posing for pictures that are so ali it's not even funny

and where was Justin? oh he was enjoying the gift that keeps on giving...
(thank you to all family members who made this possible)

and giving...this is how he could be found for a large portion of our trip

but he was not the only one at least

but I have to give him credit he made plenty of time to spoil and love us

both will gifts like the amazing chi that has changed my hair's life forever, and with tender unforgettable memories.

it was a great Christmas and we loved every minute. Especially those moments that make you think and remember what this season is all about.

bob the tesimony builder

while I am please to admit that I finally abandoned all hope of finding our camera cord to upload pictures, and ordered a new one, it will not be here for a few days. so, to assure all of you that we are indeed alive and well, I stole this picture off of my friend Lenae's blog.

could we be any cuter?

this was our primary teacher training. I love serving with these ladies. it has definitely helped with the move to have such wonderful people who are forced to be my friends! our presidency came up with the theme "tools, treats, and training". it was a complete event filled with food, creative decor, and a skit (girls after my own heart). we had fun and we are pretty sure our teachers found our insanity entertaining enough to get them to show up for the next meeting!

so, prepare for a bit of blog barfing when the camera cord arrives. between christmas, our anniversary, and our every day happenings, there is a ton to chat about!

post #100...and my #1 man

ok, first of all, 100 posts...who would have believed after a very apprehensive me was forced into this by a very persuasive lindsey and wendy that a post 100 would ever have come? aren't you proud girls?

now onto the subject of this post...

yesterday was my amazing husband's birthday.

is there any wonder I was smitten after moments of knowing this man?

(if you know justin well you know he will want to kill me right about now when he reads this...sorry mr. humble, this ones all about you!)

let's start with how fabulously you handle my outrageousness. you are the yin to my yang. you make me laugh constantly, and you always make me calm when I freak...or try to anyway, valiant effort. I love being married to such an intelligent, strong, humble, thoughtful, hilarious man. (at this point I could go on and on, but I will spare you from too much public gooshyness.) in short you make me happy justin.

I know huh? awwww

now let's move on to the way you love our children. this little miss has you right where she wants you and I love every minute of it. from day one ali has been daddy's darling, and she eats it all up! you love her and would protect her from anything. I love watching you melt when she is sweet and smirk when she's naughty and crack up when she's entertaining us. she love's you sweetie, because she knows you love her.

and cole, oh how this boy idolizes you. he wants to do anything he can to please dad. you are such an example to him. he loves anything you say you like, and treasures his daddy hang out time. I love when I catch you two hanging out in the playroom, or hear you tell him all about what you liked at his age and then see him cherishing those things when you aren't even watching...just cause dad liked them. he will be huge like his dad for sure, and hopefully he will be like you in so many other ways as he grows into a man.

you carefully and quietly lead our family daily. your talents and abilities are incredible to me. you know so much about so much. you are the most intelligent man. you give us so much constantly...

I hope for your birthday we were able to give a little back to you.

love you Just, happy birthday.