A Walk Down Memory Lane: Fall Exactly Three Years Ago

Exactly three years ago, almost to the day, the Madskaggs took a little hike on the mountain to enjoy the changing fall leaves. Soren was not quite a year old and Dylan was 3 1/2. Looking back it seems like a lifetime ago and just the same it seems like yesterday.
Dylan, such a fun personality, always ready for a conversation, always ready to pose, never afraid to say what's on his mind. This year he had just started Miss Theresa's preschool class. We couldn't have asked for a nicer first teacher. Miss Theresa's nickname around our house was "Mother Theresa" because she was such a kind soul. Back in the day when school was sweet... sigh.
Look at the little forest creature I stumbled upon. Can we keep him??? Soren was, and still is, the sweetest, most cuddly spirit I have ever had the joy of knowing. Looking back at this picture I realize Soren hasn't changed a bit. Oh, he's a little taller and a lot louder ;) But, behind that stare is my same precious boy.

So, I decided to take look back. First, because my friend Sooz (aka bloggy queen) inspired me to do so. Second, because I wanted to see if all this picture fuzziness was me or blogspot

(it's BLOGSPOT!!) and third because many of these older pics. are just sitting on the computer and if I don't put them here, they may never be seen again!

Oh, and forth because I looked three years younger and less sleep deprived.

Countdown to 6 Months!

I really cannot believe it has been almost 6 months since my beautiful baby girl was born. It's amazing to me how fast babies grow and change. Here she is tummy timin' with big brother. I think she's about ready to take off any second!
The boys taught her to wave "bye bye". They get such a kick out of getting her to perform for them.
I love you Soooooooooo much I want to squish you to pieces!
Mommy do you mind? We're a little busy here.
Buds for life!
And the ancient high chair. I thought it was the fanciest highchair around when I bought it seven years ago at Target. Now after browsing the newer models this one seems like it's from the 80's. How fast things change. Makes want to have another baby... almost ;)

Caught Red Handed

One thing I have never been able to hide from this guy is CHOCOLATE. Ever since he was a tiny baby he could sniff it out a mile away. I distinctly remember him trying to pry my mouth open before he could even talk to extract a piece of CHOCOLATE! Here he sits with with evidence all over his sweet face :)
Ah, the boy loves eggs... real eggs. I've tried giving him the fake ones, but no, it has to be real, fresh from the fridge. Whenever I am tied up nursing he'll push a barstool to the fridge and sneak one out. He calls it his "baby" and if he has to set it down at all he'll say "Mama, could you watch this little guy for me?"
Here he is saying "Please can't I keep it Mama???"
Dylan and his best friend the remote. Sometimes he'll try to turn it off real fast if he hears me coming. Other times, like this one, I out-sneaked him ;)

And I SO wish I had a pic. of Miss Aviana the other day with hot pink PEN all over her face and inside of her mouth! Yes, bad mama, gave my baby a PEN to play with, I don't know why, but don't ever do it, those things leak like crazy. Took me two days to get her mouth washed out!

This isn't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mischief going on in this house lately. I think a nice long vacation is in order.

Randomness and Fuzziness

Aviana is 5 months old and on the move. She is doing a little bit of an inch worm/army crawl/roll to get around these days and she is so much HAPPIER. I think I now know why she was so fussy at 3 and 4 months... she was STUCK and this girl likes to GO GO GO :)
Dylan's self portrait. He's been photographing things all over the house and it's so interesting to see what he comes up with. Ah, the world through the eyes of a 6 year old.
Sory EATING... always worth taking a picture of that.
Swinging with Grandpa on the new playset they built.
And here is patio Michael and Grandpa Ran built. The yard is coming together. Goodbye dirt patches :)
Look what else I can do! I love my excersaucer and basically anything that let's me be upright and moving and able to see this wide world.
Dylan's first lose tooth!!!! He's waited so long for this moment. The funny thing is that his big tooth has already grown in behind the baby tooth. Our dentist friend says it's ok, but it completely freaked me out when he told me he had a hard thing in his mouth and it was TOOTH! It was WAY back there, but supposedly will move forward. I certainly hope so.
The Playset! The directions say this should take "two moderately skilled adults 24 hours"... try two highly skilled adults 48-72 hours. Randy was an architect for heavens sake! The kids do love it though and it's definitely worth a few weekends being eaten up building his monster.
I believe Dylan snapped this pic. as I was frantically trying to get everyone out the door in the morning.

And my pics. are still fuzzy. Getting desperate here. I may need a new camera :(