Jamba Craze

Because a Jamba can be a full meal or just a snack, it's good for all ages, and because smoothies are something we are ALWAYS grateful for:

Buy One Get One Jamaba Juice, expires August 9. Print coupon at this link!

http://www.summerblissisback.com/bogo_print.php

The MAN-date

Question: What does a Daddy do when he's promised the boys all week long that they could go for a train ride on Saturday, and when they get there, the trains are broken down?

Answer: You take them to the FIRE STATION for a private and up close tour! They had so much fun on their Daddy-date today while I was at a GIRLS ONLY brunch with Steve's family!

Way to be the coolest Dad ever!

Too cute to miss

This happened in May, but it was too cute to miss.

We went back to this zoo today, and Carter immediately winded his way along the path (ignoring the animals) until he found the stage and again, did a 100% reenactment.

3 thoughts from my brain

The next three posts are just random thoughts I've had this morning...

10 points if you can identify whose blog I got the title idea from (she's on my blog list; and yes...you, yeah you, you can win the 10 points too by identifying yourself!)

Accessorize

Do you ever do/buy something just for the accessories? I've been known to do this in the past. Observe:

• It started when I was little and picked out cereal based on what prize was inside...Buying based on the accessory.
• In failed attempts to find a belt for a 12-18 month old, I finally bought a pair of jeans that came WITH a belt, just for BELT...Purchased for the accessory.
• In college I was victim to signing up for a new credit card, just so I could get a new pair of sunglasses...Contracts for the accessory. (If you went to BYU, you should know the exact corner that I'm talking about where you sign up...and you know you did it too.)
• When I was pregnant with Carter, I had mild cravings for ketchup, so I would have hot dogs and french fries...Eating only for the accessory.
• I watch some friends do this all the time...buying dresses for their little girls just to match the bow they already made...Shopping to match an accessory. Ha! Your secret is out!
• And at last, I just dished up a bowl of ice cream that I didn't even want just because I wanted some hot fudge...again, eating only for the accessory.

Well, Elizabeth Taylor or Ralph Lauren would be proud that I'm taking accessorizing into my everyday application. Admit it, you've done it too.

Work in progress

We are all a work in progress, aren't we? Every day we're trying to be better at something, learning and developing character traits to make us better people.

One day I'll learn to keep my composure when pulled over by a cop. Today was not that day. I was good until he took my license back to the car; then the tears came. Of course, when he came back with just a warning, he also asked if I was OK. I was tempted to ask him for a police escort to the hospital, just for fun, but decided against it. At least I could still blame it on the baby inside!

Pregnancy Oversight...

As the rest of me gets bigger, my arms fail to grow longer, thus, resulting in even more Unreachable spots in my back, doomed to be the "unscratchable itch".

Black is the New White

No, literally...I just finished painting and my white front door is now black. Give me a cranberry wreath and I think Martha Stewart will be knocking at my door for her next shoot.

Oops, my "h" key is also now black; I suppose I should have washed the paint off my hands before telling you of my adventures. Gotta go.

Tribute to Daddy

So that you can now rest at night and no longer lay awake wondering, "How do the Maduras celebrate Father's Day", I will finally put your mind at ease. Yes, we celebrated Father's day like the rest of you back in June, but now I finally decide to prove it!

We had an AWESOME fathers day, treating Steve like the King of our home that he is! It started with homemade decorations the day before:

..which turned into 2 gigantic "WHY WE LOVE DADDY" signs (his favorite post was that "he treats strangers--and insects--with kindness" My thought: Really Steve, just KILL the spider!) AND our homemade tie for him to wear to church:

It has the kids hand prints, and an originally cheesy slogan that says "There is no TIE for best dad...You win hands down!" Where did I get my humor...any Hicken care to respond?

...

After church we set off for a family picnic and heard a bell concert in a park

Of course, what's a family picnic without Frisbee:

And teaching a 3-year-old how to roll down a hill:

(Carter REALLY IS SMILING and ENJOYING this!)

But the greatest of all (and why we have Dads to stand in for squeamish Moms) was finding a frog:

Then we enjoyed a family walk along the river.

Of course, I wasn't going to let Steve have ALL the photo opps fun!

And in the end, we all agreed it was a WONDERFUL day, and while some must push and some must pull, we eventually made it home.

For 20 points...

Who lives at "Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane"...you might get a clue if you say it with a British Accent...

...sorry, this has just been going through my head for the past hour so I thought I'd put up some trivia...I'll do a real post sometime.

My first thought this morning...

I never knew a Queen bed could be so big when it doesn't bow and bend into the middle.

Then I learned today is FREE SLURPEE DAY at 7-11, and although I probably have never had one in my life, somehow the idea of FREE excites me.

Just Do It!

"Just Do It" exclaims Nike to the avid athlete.

"Just Do It" motivates President Kimball to the world.

"Just Do It" plead my mother when I'd protest and complain to clean my room.

As it turns out, they were all on to something: It actually feels liberating to JUST DO IT and stop procrastinating! This is what Steve and I discovered this week. We finally broke through our indecisive walls and:

• Chose a baby name for our new girl! Hopefully this means she won't have white out on her birth certificate (Exhibit Carter) or come home from the hospital without a name (Exhibit Addison)--Don't expect me to tell you the name...I'm not THAT committal yet!


• Decorated the boy's room (well, we're still painting, but we've started and can't go back now)


• Bought a new bed for ourselves (we've been moanin' and groanin' about it for YEARS)

So, Just DO it!! Doing SOMETHING feels a whole lot better than doing NOTHING!

Carter's Happimony

In an attempt to respect Carter's urgent requests during sacrament meeting today to bear his testimony from the pulpit,  I took him to the primary room so he could try it out from that microphone.  It was a good call, since even with a room of empty chairs he initially was too shy to say anything  ("No, Mom, you say it")--most likely what would have happened if he had gone up in front of the whole congregation.  But after he heard me do it, then I gave him free reign, and this is how it went:

Carter: "I am a child of God,  and he sent me here to my family. He wants me to be happy."

This is going surprisingly well, I thought.  Why didn't I just let him go up?  And then this is what followed, at a less reverent and more excited tone:

Carter:  "So that's why Daddy bought me a Slip 'n Slide and we are going home and putting on our swimsuits and sunscreen and playing on it" (despite all our attempts to explain why we won't do that on Sunday)  

He then went on to talk about what a fun weekend we had:  "And we went to the fireworks with Grandma Mosolino and it was so much fun and..."  on and on about our fun Fourth weekend.  But, he did close it appropriately, even with an Amen.   At least he knows that Heavenly Father wants him to be happy!

Sharpen your #2 pencil

Remember those ratio questions on all the standardized testing?  Well, here's one for you:

Kerri is to JoAnns, as Steve is to:

Formulate your guess.... got it?  Read on:

Menards!!! This weekend we both took some individual free time to run some errands, and secretly enjoyed wandering aimlessly around these two stores, WISHING we had the talents to use these stores more.