Rockstar Mom Day with only a little poo.

Today I was the mom that I wanted to be last semester when I was overloaded with the tail-end of grad school. I ran my errands and picked the kids up early for a surprise. My mom did that sometimes - once, she checked my sister and I out of school early to go to the movies - I thought she was a rock star... So, even though it was only checking them out of 4 year old preschool and mother's morning out 15 minutes early, I took them to craft day at their favorite toy store and then lunch at JB's fav, "the place with the purple couches" (Sweet Peppers), and finished it off with a quick stop at the "castle park."

One of my favorite moments of the outing was JB telling me she would never go across the super-scary swinging bridge. I told her that I bet Beckham would... So she goes to get him, tells him she wants to show him something really really cool, and he runs over to it and scoots on his bum across it. She follows right behind him.

I thought it was sweet.

After the swinging bridge, we went into the little church part of the castle park. I started noticing a strange stink, but I chalked it up to my super-hero-strength pregnancy sense of smell. We left and went to  the swings.

That's when I noticed it. All over the back of JB's dress. You know where this is going. It was big messy poo. Not any of ours... Oh it was so gross. I took them back to the car and gave JB one of my shirts that I had on. The most stressful part for her was that someone in the abandoned parking lot would see her from miles away. It took some serious clothes-changing strategizing talent to get the poo dress off, new shirt on while not getting in the car but keeping completely covered the entire time. She giggled all the way home.

The afternoon was filled with playtime in the yard with friends and cousins.

And mudpies :)

Somewhere beyond the sea...

Two weeks ago, the Maddens decided to try out our sea legs, and go cruisin' with grandparents, great grandparents, both aunts, a brother-in-law, and our favorite twin cousins. We went on the Oasis of the Seas, and let me just say, this ship is RIDICULOUS.

Our first stop was Nassau, Bahamas, where we went and walked around Atlantis. 

Atlantis from the dock at Nassau

Jane Bradley playing on these cute benches outside of an ice cream shop

Jane Bradley and aunt JayJay

Jane Bradley gets a hair braid

We also went to Megan's Bay in St. Thomas, where we thought the kids would have an awesome day at one of the top beaches in the world. Not so much.

On the way to the beach, Jane Bradley had a minor freak-out because there were no seat belts in the island jeep; she wasn't in a child-safety seat; and there were no windows or full doors. She sat in Janie's lap, and we were in one of those island taxis, but she couldn't get over it. She kept looking out the window for police coming to get us, and Beckham thought it was awesome.

There aren't so many photos because as soon as we got there, Beckham unleashed a newfound phobia of sand. During the 2 year old panic attack, the wind picks up and we all get fully sand-blasted. Back to the boat...

The perfect beach prior to crazy cold sand storm

The first couple of minutes before Beckham's freak out

Not our ship, but one of the awesome views on the ride back to our boat

St. Thomas greeting committee

The days at sea were jam-packed with activities and good food. 

Sisters at dinner 

Jane Bradley and our waiter, Michael

Right outside our room on the boardwalk were a carousel, boats, cars, and trucks to play in. 

The free carousel outside our hallway on the boardwalk - JB had just gotten her face painted.

Pretend boat rides with JayJay

Pretending to drive grandaddy around the deck

Dreamworks characters were also on board, and Jane Bradley gave hugs - Beckham preferred to avoid the unnaturally large penguins and green ogre women.

Madagascar penguins

Fiona during Breakfast with the Characters

Crazy-fun kiddie pool complete with a lazy river

Brad takes on the Flow-rider - he did great! He even stayed on long enough to do a few tricks!

Jane Bradley at the cupcake decorating class at the cupcake shop on board -
 in the process of creating a cupcake monkey

surprise towel animals in our cabin compliments of the room steward

My favorite part of the trip was the visit to St. Maarten. We were walking down the street shopping when we happened upon this fabulous hotel - The Holland House Beach Hotel. It was the stuff of travel magazines. It goes on my list of future 2nd honeymoon locations for sure!

The super-modern lounge deck right off the open-air lobby

The view from the street that lured us in

We ate lunch at the restaurant in the back of this shot

We had a trip that we will never forget!

Adventure on a random Tuesday

We returned from a family cruise vacation this weekend, and now I need a vacation. It was super SUPER fun, and the kids soaked up every minute of fun in each day.

Monday meant back to school, and by Monday afternoon the thing that I get hypochondriacal about when flying on a plane with people I don't know, breathing their same air over and over again for hours during the sick-season part of the year - that thing happened.

Both kids were sick. Thankfully, the symptoms were minimal, and both seemed to be strangely peppy and well by dinner. Me- still paranoid - let them both stay home on Tuesday.


I was reading Cup of Jo, all about how her dad used to make normal things fun. Instead of asking them to run errands, he would invite them to join him on an Adventure. Well, because all Internet parenting advice is super-solid... I decided to try it. Beckham gave it 2 enthusiastic thumbs up - he was all systems go for a "Benture" (whatever he thought that was). Jane Bradley - not so much. The next few minutes consisted of her adamantly INSISTING that this was NOT an adventure. We are NOT going on an adventure. Adventures have boats or planes or jungles or anything but our car. We CANNOT go on an adventure in our car... Sorry, Acura. You had no idea you were so low on the totem pole...


Adventure stop #1: The Madison Library - kids got new books, Beckham checked out his first ever, and  we stayed for Reading Time, which we'd never done before. There were puppet shows and fun kid dances - JB started to consider that possibility that this stop was sort of adventure-like. Beckham loved the "manimal" puppets.


Adventure stop #2: McDonalds - here is where it gets good. While we ate our lunch, Jane Bradley and I talked about one of her big fears.... Here it is.

Not the whole thing. But the top bridge that looks like a tube made out of old seat belts. She thinks it is too wobbly, and the holes freak her out. I gave her my best Obama speech, and I told her that the new motto for big scary things is, "Yes, I can." Well, she crawled up to the top; sat there for a minute; and just when Beckham nudged her out of the way to crawl through it himself, she decided to follow him in. She still gives him credit for helping her through the scary part.

Also at McDonald's: Another exciting milestone (I may need to start carrying Kleenex to McD's)

This, being the huge, super-big deal that it was, in addition to the fact that I was still trying to convince them that I could pull an adventure out of my hat sent us to


Adventure Stop #3: The new create your own cupcake stand at the Big Kroger.

It was pretty fun for a random Tuesday adventure. These are the things I don't want to forget, and that's why I started this blog. I would love your comments!