Colton's Blessing Weekend

This past Sunday we had our precious Colton Edward Maseda blessed at church, and to celebrate the grand occasion, my family came for the weekend. My mom, her husband (Otis), my grandmama, my sister, my brother, and my sister-in-law all got to our house on Saturday. We shopped, played games, watched Brooke and Emma dance for us, and went out to eat. We enjoyed spending time as a family, and most importantly, celebrating Colton's sweet life! I already can't imagine life without our adorable little boy!

Here are pictures taken this weekend:

(I snagged most of the pictures from Elizabeth, my sister, and Amanda, my sister-in-law; I was a little too crazy to get a lot of pictures)

Here also is a little sampling of Emma and Brooke's dancing:

(You might just want to turn the music off at the bottom before watching.)

Smart Boy

Braden is wise beyond his years. Yesterday as I was taking him to school, he informed me that he didn't know how to hold a real baby. The conversation went something like this:

B: "Mama, I don't know how to hold a real baby. Can you teach me how to hold a real baby?"

M (for mama or me): "Yes, I can teach you how to hold a real baby."

B: "I need to learn how to hold a real baby, because one day I am going to have a wife. The baby will cry (assuming he is referring to their baby), and she will want me to go get him."

M: "Yes, she will need your help."

B: "I'm going to do whatever my wife asks me to do, because if I don't, she will get mad at me."

Is that a smart boy or what?!!!!!!!

Emma's 2nd Birthday Party

Here are pictures from Emma's family birthday party.

Since Brooke wanted a family party this year, we decided that was a good idea for everyone. In some ways, a family party is better, okay, in A LOT of ways! One, a lot less stress for everyone involved, two you don't have to clean your house from top to bottom before and after the party, and third, and most importantly, the party truly is about the birthday girl or boy; you don't worry about if all the guests are going to enjoy themselves, because the birthday girl or boy has picked the activities. Having said that, we had a family party for Emma this year consisting of a purple smiley face cake, hot dogs, chips, soda, ice cream, present opening, and A LOT of dancing (one of Emma's favorite activities)! Emma loved it, which to me means it was a success!

Heart of Gold

Do you see this little girl? This little girl may have a lot of spice (believe me, I KNOW), but she also has a lot of sugar!

On Sunday at church, they announced that there's going to be a food drive for those that are less fortunate. Brooke was ecstatic to say the least! When church was over, she immediately ran to me to tell me her plan. What was the plan my little princess cooked up? She decided that she was going to do jobs around the house to earn money: not to buy a barbie, not to buy bubbles, not to buy a new game, not to buy a book, not to buy candy, and not to buy a doll; she in fact wants to earn money to buy food. Her words to me, "Mama, I want to do jobs and make money to buy food for the poor people, because they need food too!" How could I possibly say no to that?! So, today that is exactly what we are going to do. First on the list, making my bed, next on the list, helping me clean my room (she'll make big bucks for that one). Needless to say, Brooke has made me proud to call her daughter; she truly does have a

Heart of Gold!

Murphy's Law

After tonight, I would like to tell Murphy what he can do with his law! I would especially focus on his law regarding things going wrong if they can, in particularly in reference to a newly turned two year old residing in my home.

Looks innocent enough, right?

Don't forget, looks can be deceiving!

This little girl knows how to take full advantage of a moment of weakness; if I am occupied with Colton, she springs into action. Her covert operations today consisted of writing on the wall with a crayon, writing on Colton's quilt with a black wipe marker, and the pièce de résistance, pulling her poopy diaper off, leaving evidence of her little present all over the carpet, and then placing the aforementioned diaper in Braden's trash can, along with the remains of the present (Isn't she thoughtful?!). I'm thinking that maybe some rope might be in order; she can't destroy if she is tied to a chair, because I sure haven't mastered the art of nursing and running after a destructive two year old, at least not at the same time! My first order of business though, is to find Mr. Murphy and tell him what he can do with his LAW!

I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it! My sweet little baby turned two yesterday. It seems like it was only yesterday that I brought Emma home from the hospital. I remember staring down at her sweet angelic face, kissing her precious toes, and wondering what her little personality would be like. Unbeknownst to me, her personality evolved into anything but little! Emma is a force to be reckoned with! She is a spitfire, filled with love, attitude, and sass, and how could I forget her temper?!!! I can't help but love her; I love her big blue eyes, her sweet blond curls, her beautiful, yet impish, smile, her soft little voice, her infectious giggle, her soft chubby cheeks, and her zest for life! My life hasn't quite been the same since Emma joined our growing brood, and I wouldn't have it any other way! Sometimes just looking at her makes me smile!

I love you little girl!!!!!!!!!

A Few More Pictures of Our Latest Miracle

Here are just a few pictures I took of Colton last night, while he was actually awake. I look at him and can't believe he is only one month old! He is definitely my biggest baby to date!

Heavyweight Champion

The Heavyweight Champion

of the Maseda Family,

weighing in at a grand total of 12 lbs.

at the mere age of one month is....

Colton Edward Maseda.

A Force to be Reckoned With

Oh, how I love and adore this little hurricane, this little whirlwind, this little imp, this little spitfire, this little epitome of cuteness! One minute I want to kiss her all over her sweet, little, sneaky face, and the next I want to hang her out to dry. She makes me laugh, smile, scream, and want to pull my hair out! Emma takes on life with everything she has; she is constant entertainment for everyone around her, and not many are able to escape her charm! Do you wonder why I feel this way? Why do we love our little Emma so much? Here are some pictures I have taken of our sweet Emma the last few days, and I think they tell the story better than I could.

Don't you love her now too?!!!!

Well Worth It!

Here are pictures of our little ball player.

I think it is safe to say, that Braden loves baseball! For one, we don't have to bribe him to play! This is Braden's first year playing baseball, but I think he is doing great so far! We wanted to sign him up for t-ball, but here they do t-ball at 3 and 4 and mighty minis at 5 and 6. I guess baseball is serious business here; in fact, last Saturday Braden and his team had batting cage practice. Saturday night we as a family went to his practice; Brooke, Rich, and I watched, while Emma ran around like a crazy woman (typical Emma). It was so much fun watching him, walking up to bat, trying his hardest, watching the coach come over and give him tips, and watching the look of pride every time he hit the ball. I especially liked watching him run to first, but I think my favorite part of practice was at the end, observing he and all the other boys on his team run the bases. I think Braden likes being one of the boys, and I like the look of joy and pride on his face as he gets a little better every practice. It is more than worth the sacrifice when I see that smile come across his face!

Cowboy Princess Hits the Town

About twenty minutes ago this little creation left my house to go out on the town with her daddy. Look, here are the pair of them now.

Brooke, with Braden's help, carefully selected just the right outfit (her Cinderella dress), applied some nail polish, a little make-up (the play kind of course), and to pull the outfit together, she placed a tiara on her head and pink cowboy boots (courtesy of Zoe Wright) on her feet. What better time to go all out than date night with Daddy?!!!!!

Strong Families Don't Just Happen

As you may or may not know, I usually stay out of church, and most busy places, for about four weeks after I have a baby. Due to this fact, I usually have to have my own little church service at home by myself, which for me includes,

drum roll please..............

TA DA

BYUTV,

which is one of my great loves.

I don't know if I would love it so much if I watched it the conventional way, because then I would be a slave to their schedule; I prefer to go to www.byutv.org, read the program schedule, and select what I want to watch, what I am in the mood for at the time.

Well, the second Sunday I was home, I decided I was in the mood for a little Family Under Fire. Linda and Richard Eyre were talking about Family being the basic unit of society and how we can have successful families. If you haven't ever heard of Linda and Richard Eyre, let me just tell you, they are great! They have written several books, but my all time favorite so far is:

and I am currently reading this:

so we will see.

Anyway, their talk consisted of several fantastic points and ideas, so I just had to share. Basically Richard Eyre held up one hand, and then held his other hand over that hand (like a roof). He said there were five things you could do to have a successful family, and all of them needed to have prayer included (hence, the hand a.k.a. roof represented prayer). He and his wife Linda discussed each of the five things, this is when I really started feverishly taking notes.

1. Husband and Wife meet together

*We of course know that we all need to keep courting, but they were talking about a specific meeting. They suggested meeting once a month with your spouse to have a five facet review about each of your children. You sit down and discuss how each child is doing: mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and socially. During this meeting, you and your spouse, discuss each child and each facet, taking notes, and addressing any problems and coming up with opportunities for your child or children. (I was so excited about this one, I have already made a table/spreadsheet on the computer for the Maseda Cutie Five Facet Review.)

2. Meet together as a family

*This does include Family Home Evening, Family Council, eating together, etc., but they also suggested meeting together the first Sunday in your home and having a little mini testimony meeting with just your kids.

3. One on One Time

* Make time for each of your children. They suggested another idea along with this; they talked about how when their children were about 8 or 9, they each received a special journal. In this journal, they encouraged the children to write down decisions they could make right then about their future: never to drink, never to smoke, get an education, etc., and they challenged their children to decide then how they would react in the future if faced with those specific challenges; if they decide when they are young, there will be no question when they are older.

4. Family Infrastructure

A) Family Laws (Simple Rules & Consequences, positive and negative for following and breaking the family laws)

B) Traditions (For holidays, birthdays, everyday, etc.)

C) Family Responsibility System (deciding how each family member is going to contribute)

5. Focusing on One Thing at a Time (teaching one thing or improving in one area as a family)

*ex: teaching values (http://www.valuesparenting.com/)

So what do you think? Do you LOVE the ideas as much as I do?!!! Since listening to the talk, I have started thinking more about a plan, a way to make my vision for my family and my children come to pass. Listening to the talk made me realize that what Rich and I have been doing was good, but not good enough; the cuties are getting older, Braden is going to be 6 soon, and we need to have a more structured plan. This past Monday I talked to the cuties about Canadian Geese, and what we can learn from them (from my fav. book-see above); I told them we as a family were like Canadian Geese, and that we were stronger when we loved each other, supported each other, and stayed committed to our family. Then we discussed laws, and we came up with a simple list of laws: do your part, respect each other and their belongings, no stinkin' thinking (Rich contributed that beaut), obey your parents, and show love to each other. I can't tell you what a difference it has made so far. I am soooooooooooo glad that I listened to that talk; it truly inspired me! Strong families don't just happen, so I better get to work!

I am the CEO of the Maseda Family Corporation, and we are in the business of having a happy, healthy, and loving family!

Little Mama

Brooke absolutely ADORES her little brother! I think the feeling so far is mutual; whenever I need someone to calm Colton down for me, while I am running around like a chicken with their head cut off, Brooke is the one I call! She sings to him, talks to him, and lets him know everything is going to be okay. Brooke also, at least once a day, says, "Mama, my brother is sooooooo cute; I love him!"

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Tuesday night we went to Braden's school to watch him perform. All of the kindergartners put on a show for the parents, each class dressed up and sang Nursery Rhyme songs (imagine the Nursery Rhymes made into rock and roll songs-loved them!).

Here are some pictures from the night; sorry they are not better, but we were all squeezed into a row (and Emma and Brooke were fighting for lap time, and Colton wanted no part of staying in his car seat):

Braden and Mrs. Martha- the para in his classroom; I forgot to get a picture of Braden and his teacher.

We swung by Burger King on the way home to get a milkshake for Braden. We attempted to stop by McDonald's, but the line was too long, we had a hungry, screaming baby to contend with, and a four year old who announced quite loudly that she needed to GO to the bathroom!

Never a Dull Day

Does anyone notice something a little different about Braden?

Yes, you are correct; he does have a huge goose egg on his forehead. Yesterday morning I got a phone call from Braden's school letting me know he had fallen at recess; it seems he hit his head on a bar. Initially, I decided to leave Braden at school, because it sounded like he would be okay; then about 15 minutes later, I received another call letting me know that Braden felt like throwing up. So, I called LaNae, asked if she would be willing to ride with me (in order to not have to get all of the cuties out of the van), went to pick LaNae up, picked Braden up from school, took LaNae back home, took the cuties home, fed them all lunch, put them down for naps, and sat down for a minute of peace, thinking, 'Never a Dull Day!'

What to do, oh what to do?

Often on Sundays, the question is: what to do, oh what to do? You've been to church, come home, and eaten lunch; now what to do with the rest of the day becomes the question. We believe that Sunday is a sabbath day, so we don't go out to eat, shop, play sports, etc. on Sunday; with children it is often hard to find activities that allow us to spend time together, keep them occupied, and keep the spirit of the day in some way. Well, this past Sunday, Rich had a brilliant and fun idea; he and the cuties built a huge tent in the living room a.k.a. den a.k.a. family room. They strategically built the tent to include our entertainment armoire, so after they built the tent, they climbed in, popped in a movie, Liken the Scriptures David and Goliath (awesome DVD by the way), and then drifted off to dreamland after the movie (at least Rich and Braden did).

What was even better about Rich's idea, is that it kept the oldest three occupied, allowing Colton and I to get a long and glorious nap; you just have to love Rich and his brilliant ideas!

How They Measure Up

This morning at breakfast I kept looking at Emma, thinking how tall she is getting; this led to me asking Rich to measure Emma and all the other cuties.

How did they measure up?

Let's see.

Braden is 45 inches tall at five years old.

Brooke is 40 inches tall at four years old.

Emma is 34 inches tall at almost two years old (only 16 more days to go).


Colton (at least according to the nurse) is 22 1/2 inches tall at three weeks old.

My Crazy Girl

Here is a video my mom took of Emma being her normal, unpredictable, crazy self; I just wish we could have caught her a few minutes before this video, because she was pulling out all the stops.

Disclaimer: Any toys, things in disarray, or random clutter is merely a figment of your imagination.

(work with me people, I just had a baby three weeks ago)

The Battle Rages On

Every day on the way to take Braden to school, my van turns into a war zone!

The first opponent makes his first move, shining full blast into the van, directly into his intended victim's eyes; the second opponent acknowledges the first attempt at victory by her opponent, and lets out a devil cry, as to say,

"It's on BABY!!!"

So the battle rages on between

the Sun

and the queen of Sugar and Spice, a.k.a. Emma.

The Sun shines, Emma screams, "No!" The Sun is undeterred by her mere shouts and demands; he shines again, and again we hear the devil cry! While many shudder and cower at the sound of this cry, the Sun doesn't even flinch; he is a courageous fighter and is well skilled in the art. He has come to win, and win he will! He again shines a ray directly into Emma's eye, leaving her covering her eyes and screaming, "STOP THAT!" The sun merely chuckles at her meager demands! This battle continues to rage between the two (much to the chagrin of her mama and all the occupants of the van), but Emma is no match for the Sun and his skill! While she does have the attitude, it is not enough to help her come out the victor! Again, the Sun reigns supreme, but don't worry; Emma will be back to fight tomorrow! She is now at home plotting her counter attack, and next time she will be better prepared!

For next time she goes into battle, she will be well armed; she will have the weapon that the Sun fears, the weapon that makes the Sun shudder, the one weapon that makes the Sun powerless, the one weapon that will prove to be the Sun's undoing,

SUNGLASSES!

Thanks to a $5 bill her grandpa slipped her last week during his visit, she can follow through with her counter attack!

So Sun, we only have one thing to say to you and your courage, to your skills, to your pride,

"BRING IT ON SUCKER!!!!

YOU'RE GOING DOWN!!!!!!"

Colton-Our Little Bruiser

Monday I took Colton for his two week well visit, and I am happy to report that he gained back any weight he lost after birth and then some. Our little bruiser is now up to a grand total of 10 lbs. and 3.5 oz., and we think he gets cuter every day!

Seemingly Insurmountable Hurdles

My first hurdles for the day seemed rather easy, at least at first glance. I had to simply wake the cuties up, feed them breakfast, make sure the oldest two got ready in time, make Braden lunch, dress Emma and Colton, load them up in the van, and drop Braden off at school. Seems doable, right? Yeah, I thought so too, but then I began the day.

I think it began early this morning, as I lay in bed with a two week old infant on one side and a soon to be two year old and a four year old on my other side. Did I forget to mention that the soon to be two year old, who we affectionately call Emma, had a raging fever? As I lay there, I began to wonder: first, how did the girls sneak in without me noticing, two, how can I keep Colton away from Emma all day, so he doesn't get sick, and take care of Emma at the same time, and three, Lord, give me strength! After several minutes of bracing myself for the day and listening to Emma whine (because Brooke was in her personal space),
I finally got up to face the day.

First on the list, breakfast. It started out fairly well, I warmed up pancakes from yesterday for Emma and Braden, got cereal for Brooke and I, and then I did it; I, heaven forbid, put sugar in Brooke's cereal and not the highly desired, often requested honey. Well, you would have thought I committed a cardinal sin; she cried, she whined, and she thrashed around as if she was possessed. I thought, 'you can't be serious; the day just started, and she is already throwing a tantrum. I wonder if there is a world record for how many tantrums you have in one day; I bet Brooke could be a contender for that one. Okay, my ears and I have had enough! She is going to hang out in her room, until she is done; I don't get paid enough to listen to this, oh yeah, I don't get paid.' After placing Brooke, along with her sunny disposition (I'm sure the sarcasm is not wasted on you), I returned to the table to pray and eat with my two calmer children (Colton was getting a little more shut eye in his bouncer). Eventually the princess returned to the table, luckily leaving most of her attitude back in her bedroom, now if I could just get her to leave ALL of it behind!

Once breakfast was over, I set the timer to let Brooke and Braden know how much longer they had to get ready. Of course, today was one of the days I had to practice

A LOT of restraint!

Let me explain, I absolutely love this book:

The problem I have though sometimes is the execution; in order for it to really work, you have to let the consequence be the lesson. Nagging and reminding are to be thrown out the window, which I admit is hard for me to do. Often, today being the perfect example, I have to bite my tongue and walk away. Today as I watched Braden and Brooke both lay on the floor in a ball, when they were supposed to be getting ready, I had to use A LOT of restraint! I bit my tongue and repeated in my mind, 'Let the consequence be the lesson, let the consequence be the lesson. When the timer goes off, simply go to the van; let them learn their lesson by having to run to the van half ready. Let the consequence be the lesson, let the consequence be the lesson.'

But I digress; after feeding Colton again, realizing a shower would not be happening until I got home, and throwing on shoes, we all loaded up in the van and began our trip. Our trip consisted of Colton crying for half the way to Braden's school and Emma whining and screaming the whole time as a result of the sun being in her eyes; yes, fun was had by all (again, the sarcasm slips in).

Now we are back at home, and I am ready to take on the next hurdle; I think? First though I need to put my sweet little sick thing in her bed. How cute is she?!

She fell asleep mid snack, as evidenced by the animal cracker still in her hand.

Moments like these give me the strength for the next hurdle; I just need to do some stretching first!

(starting with some knee bends followed by a LONG prayer)