Smokes

My dad and brother have asthma. Lance had asthma as a kid. Lance's sister Jamie and his dad have notoriously weak lungs when it comes to broncitis. Rachel had asthma when she was a baby and now Jackson has asthma. He has to have nebulizer treatments twice a day and sometimes 8 times a day when he gets a cold. We call the breathing treatments "smokes" or "smokies" because when the nebulized air comes out the end of the tube it looks like smoke. I can see why people look at me wierd when I tell my 2 year old "Hey, Jackson, let's go get your smokes." Normally he freaks out when you try and use the mask on him but this time he thought it was cool and left it on, so I snapped a picture.

The J-Man's 2nd

My last baby turned 2 today. In the past few weeks he seems like he has grown so much. We all think he has been the cutest baby ever and we are sad that he is leaving babyhood behind. Here are some of the reasons why we love our 2 year old:
He has started trying to put sentences together.
He has huge, over the top tantrums that are pretty funny if you are in the right mood.
He gives big hugs and kisses on command.
He thinks ALL animals say "MOO."
The girls' new school is across the street from a park and he actually thinks they play there all day long. He constantly asks me "Allie, park?" "Rachie, park?"
He makes the funniest faces. If he thinks I'm not paying enough attention to him, he will say MOMMY! When I look over at him, he is making a funny face.
He loves his daddy. The first word out of his mouth in the morning is "Daddy?"
Allie has a Sleeping Beauty action figure that he calls "Honey." He knows the names of all the other princesses like Cinderella and Snow White. His sisters have tried to teach him her name but he insists on calling her Honey.
He is OBSESSED with Caillou, who is a 4 year old and still bald Canadian pre-school cartoon. He will watch that show all day long if I let him. It is literally the only way to get him to sit still.

That darn dimple. When he flashes it, it can melt your heart.

I think it's safe to say that Jackson Ross has been a giant blessing to our family. We all adore him.

House?????

We finally did it. We have been married for 10 years. We have lived in Los Angeles and been apartment dwellers for all ten of those years. We watched ALL of our siblings get married and purchase houses while we were priced out of the market. For people with the Stubblefield/Madsen luck combined (a lethal combo, trust me) it took a global financial crisis to get us into a house, but we finally made it. Home prices in Santa Clarita, a suburb of Los Angeles, were finally low enough for us to be able to afford to purchase a home. If you notice my choice of words, I didn't say that the home prices were low, just that they were low ENOUGH for us to get into the market. We have quit our apartment managing gig and moved to the 'burbs.
The past two weeks in our new home have been the freeest of my married life. For the first time, I don't have a paying job. When the phone or doorbell rings, I know that there is an excellent chance that I will actually want to see or talk to the person at the other end. The only people I have to answer to are Rachel, Allie and Jackson, my new bosses.
Every time I pull into a store, I find a parking space that is actually close to the store. I haven't been in a traffic jam once in two weeks. It seems like everyone who lives in this valley is friendly (seriously, everyone standing behind a cash register says "have a wonderful day" when you are finished with your transaction.) People talk to you, smile at you and say "Hi" for no reason. I feel like I am in culture shock.
About 10 times every day Jackson looks at me, puts his little hands in the air in a gesture of questioning and says "Mommy, house?" I then say "Yes, Jackson, this is our new house." Jackson then claps his hands together and shouts "Hooray New House!!" I wholeheartedly agree with Jackson HOORAY NEW HOUSE!

Christmas 2009

Santa came through again. I wasn't sure if he would come due to some last minute naughtiness on the part of the kids, but no lumps of coal were delivered and there were plenty of packages left under our tree. After we opened our presents and ate a big breakfast, we started the big push to move as much stuff to our new house as possible. It was a wild and crazy day.

Last Sunday at Greenfield

We decided to stay at Greenfield until after Christmas. I posed the kids in front of our last Greenfield Christmas Tree in their Christmas outfits. I remember when we put Rachel in front of our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree when she was a newborn baby. Time flies.

LGHTS!!!!!!!!

We went to see the lights at the Los Angeles Temple as we do every year. The kids love running around and seeing all the beautiful lights. They don't put up as many lights as they do at Temple Square in SLC, however all the times I remember going to see the light at Temple Square, it has been so cold that all you want to do is get back inside. So, we are happy to trade a few (million) lights so that we can walk around in light jackets and enjoy the ones we have here. Jackson kept screaming "LIGHTS!!!!" the whole time we were there. He gets so excited.