The birthday cake.

My brother isn't really a cake person and doesn't care if he gets one on his birthday. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted his answer "I don't want a cake" was completely unacceptable to his five year old nephew. Tyler insisted Clif tell him what kind of cake he wanted, so Clif jokingly told him he wanted a Ninja Turtle cake. Tyler couldn't wait to go to the store and get what we needed for the cake. He 'whispered' the plans for the cake to everyone at lunch (with Clif in the room). After baking and icing the cake I put Tyler in charge of making the turtles. As you can see he took his job very seriously...





Tyler's masterpiece!



Leading Clif into the kitchen to his 'surprise' cake!

SURPRISE!



Singing to their uncle.

Old people need help blowing out their candles!

Tyler explaining which turtle is which.

Happy Birthday Clif!

My big brother turned 33 today! So glad we could be here to celebrate with him! We love you Clif!

5x7 Folded Card

Birthday Sketch Birthday Card

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Tough Mudder

Back in June I got an invitation on facebook to join a group that was forming to run a race called Tough Mudder. I use to love playing in the mud as a kid and I've always been pretty athletic, so it didn't take me long to decide to sign up. I never thought Matt would agree to sign up with me, but to my utter shock he did! Matt hates to run. He is the only person I know who was on the track team all 4 years in high school and never ran in a single race (he was a field events kind of guy). So when he said yes to running a 12 mile obstacle course with me I was pleasantly surprised. That's right I said a 12 mile obstacle course that included wading through freezing cold water, scaling 12 foot high walls, climbing over more hay bails than I could count, jumping off a 15 foot high platform, getting shocked by 10,000 volts and running, wading and crawling through tons of mud. There were 28 obstacles throughout the course. By the time we crossed the finish line I was dirty, bruised, and blistered on both feet, but the sense of accomplishment I felt was overwhelming. I love that Matt and I did this together! Call us crazy, but we're already planning on doing it again next year!







This was the second obstacle called the Chernobyl Jacuzzi. They dumped 100 bags of ice in every 30 minutes, yeah it was cold! The board in the middle forced you to go all the way under.

That's me in the black getting out!

Matt and I are next to the tall guy in the orange shirt. We just got done swimming under those black barrels behind us.







We got to run through these tires...

...and climb up and over this cargo net...

...and across this cargo net...

...and pull ourselves across this rope...

...and crawl under this net through the mud...

...and crawl under this barb wire.

Did I mention there was some mud?

Matt made it all the way across the monkey bars, I didn't!









This obstacle showed up twice on the course.

I did make it all the way across the wobbly balance beam!



Electro shock therapy was the last obstacle of the race. See those yellow wires? They were all live!



The obstacle I was most proud to get through was called Mount Everest, copy and paste the following to see pictures! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150592404079848.479452.793659847&type=1

Now that she is a big one year old...

...life has gotten a lot more interesting! The older Madison gets the more I see the differences between boys and girls. She has been my most content child so far, people are always commenting on how quiet and mellow she is. She really is a very good baby, I can't complain! She does have a little attitude though, just try taking something away from her or telling her no and boy will she let you have it! She has the fakest cry I have ever heard! Daddy gets her fake cry the most and you should see the water works that start when he doesn't give in to her! Here is what's going on in Madison's world at one:

*She now weighs 20 lbs and is 29 in long, putting her in the 50% for both height and weight. It only took her a year to catch up to half the kids her age! She was super brave when she got her shot and didn't cry at all. Riley was quite impressed with his little sister!

*She now has 5 teeth, 3 on top and 2 on the bottom.

*She loves to stand and is no longer content to sit. This makes bath time extra fun as we try to keep her from smacking her chin on the side of the tub! Add bubbles and it gets even more interesting! She can stand on her own as long as she doesn't realize she's doing it, once she notices she panics and sits down.

*Along with crawling she has added walking along the furniture and going up stairs to her resume. How did we learn she could crawl up the stairs? One night I was making dinner and the kids were playing in the living room when Tyler yells, "Mommy come see what Madison can do!" I told him he'd have to wait a minute and he replied, "You have to see Madison climbing the stairs!" She was on the fourth stair, the little stinker! I guess it's time to put the baby gate back up!

*She loves to play peek-a-boo! It's become her way of letting us know she's done eating. The minute she starts playing you know you're not getting another bite in her mouth!

*She talks and sings all the time, but as far as actual words go her vocabulary only consists of mama, dada and hi. Hi was her first word! She waves as she says it, it's so cute! To be completely honest mama seems to have dropped off the list of words she knows, so sad. We hear hi and dada just about every day though.

*She thinks Tyler is hilarous! She has the funniest laugh, it sounds like a machine gun. I'll have to post a video of it.

*As much as I try to put them on her, she is not a fan of headbands or bows. Some days I'll get lucky and they last a couple of hours, but those days are few and far between!

She really is such a joy to have in our family! We love our little girl!

A little preview from our Christmas card photo shoot.

"What do you mean we're not done?"

Hanging out with her best friend, Annabelle.

Her poor brothers can't keep anything away from her now!