Tulip Festival

Every April there is a tulip festival in Woodland. I wanted to go see the flowers and take some cute spring pictures of Madeline in the tulips. Plus, I was going to be one of THOSE moms and send a picture we took in to the tulip festival cutest baby contest (despite Ian's protests).

Well, things didn't go quite as planned. I guess Madeline had different ideas. I even went back another day to try again and had worse luck than the first day. This is pretty much what she did both days...

Besides crying, she was only interested in eating the flowers...


and eating the dirt. She WOULD NOT look at the camera.

Obviously, she wasn't thrilled about getting pictures taken.

Here is a cheesy picture Ian got. The thought blurb in my head for this picture is "Mom. I know you want to get a cute, sweet picture of me with the tulips. Here's your one picture. Take it or leave it. Now get me out of here."


We did luck into a few cute pictures. The last one is my favorite but I think I will send in the next picture.



Easter

Yesterday was Madeline's first Easter. We decided to get her a little basket, mostly just for the photo op. We "hid" it in the middle of the room. It took her several minutes before she even noticed it was there. Here are a few pictures in her Easter dress. She got dressed up even though the rest of us lounged around in our pjs all day.




We got Band Hero this weekend. I like it better than Guitar Hero - mostly because I actually know the songs. Madeline was rocking out on the drums.


We also have another BIG announcement. On April fools day Madeline walked for the first time. No joke. I thought maybe she was playing a trick on us and wouldn't walk again for a while but she has been getting better and better. This is the best video we can get. She has done better but every time the camera comes out she poses for pictures and refuses to walk. This is for you Grandma Payne...


"Do you like Flock of Seagulls?"

Well, I don't know your answer to this titled question, but Madeline's answer is an emphatic YES! This answer is easily derived from two observations; the first is that she is totally into their music. You should see her get down to two of their 80's classics: I Ran and Space Age Love Song. The more solid evidence, however, would be her taking to the hairstyle that did just as much to make the band famous as their music. We submit for your comparison these two awesome heads of hair.

Head One: Our first hairdo is that belonging to Mike Score, and no, I don't know if that is his real last name; however, for the rest of this post he shall be known simply as "the Score". Returning to the purpose of the post, I think that it is pretty obvious which one he is in the picture (would I be blogging about any of the others' hairstyles?) If you are still not sure for any reason, here is a second hint to his identity: he is the one that used to be a hairstylist. Bonus points, however, if you can tell which one is his brother.



Head Two: Our second hairstyle in this head to head comes from Madeline. First, I would like to take a moment to just say that I personally think she rocks this hairstyle better than "the Score" does, but perhaps that is because she is simply cuter. Second, I would also like to point out that Amy and I don't create this hairstyle on purpose, nor do we let her go out like this. This hairdo is a consequence of Amy insisting on putting Madeline's hair in those vertical ponytails that she loves so much (the she here being Amy), and that can be seen in previous posts. So what do all of you think? Legit? Not legit? Too Legit (2 quit)?



Oh Snap! Bonus Head: To be totally honest, when Amy and I started to discuss Madeline's ridiculously cool new hairstyle, the "the Score" comparison was not the first that came to my mind; it was actually a short scene from the movie Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. By raising this comparison, endorsing this movie as its humor doesn't really strike me the way that it did in junior high. Simply put, I just think that the hairstyle is more similar.



All that being said, in the end, I do have to go with Amy in saying the Flock of Seagulls 'do wins. Reason One: A more consistent style. While "the Score" did not always have his hair styled the same, it lasted more than one music video (approximately equal in screen time of the scene where Ace's hair was in the pictured state). There is something to say for longevity, and the willingness to put in the effort to make your hair continually look like this. My second reason is that, as a father, I would much rather have my daughter listen to Flock music than watch either of the Ace Ventura movies. So there you have it, in terms of hair Madeline most closely resembles an 80's Synth/Pop icon and a Jim Carrey character.

Oh yes, and Bonus points to whoever can figure out where the title phrase comes from. Hmm, there are more bonus points in this post than there probably should be in any one post...my apologies.

Madeline's Favorite Things

Madeline is going to be ten months old next month. These are a few of her favorite things...

...walking with her new toy...

...playing the piano...

...climbing the stairs (NOT one of my favorite things)...

...playing in the dishwasher (another activity that is not one of my favorites)...
...going on walks...

...eating bananas...

...but not eggs...

...pigtails (okay, they are really MY favorite - she cries when I put them in)...

...standing by herself AND chewing on Jenga blocks.

In other news, Ian finally cut his hair. This may not seem blog worthy but his hair has been getting VERY long. The last time he cut it was the beginning of September. Here are some awesome pictures so that we could keep long luscious locks in our memories.

Catch-Up

Ian and I have been really bad at posting. In our defense, our internet is really slow which makes it a little frustrating. Anyways, this is a little bit of what we have been up to lately...

Madeline woke up a four o'clock in the morning Christmas morning and she was so happy and talkative. I thought kids weren't excited for Christmas until they were a little older!

Needless to say, we were a little bit less excited.

Madeline was grouchy Christmas morning because she was up half the night.

Ian got the second book in the Joseph Smith Papers series. He was happy.

Footy pajamas are the latest winter fashion. At least in the Moss home.

Emily and I both got Snuggies. I started telling Ian I wanted one as a joke, but then I decided that I really did kind of want one. They are awesome!

Madeline demanded all of the attention. She is a diva already!

Ian and I went to Seattle for the weekend for his birthday (child free!). We went to the Space Needle...

...the Experience Music Project...

...the Science Fiction Museum (not really our thing but it comes with the EMP tickets)...

...and Pike Place Market.


This was the view from our hotel.

We took this picture for Liz and Jason.

Then we came home and had our traditional german chocolate cake for Ian's birthday. He turned 27 years old!

Madeline liked birthday cake too.


Madeline now pulls herself up to the furniture and stands all the time. A couple days ago we she got brave enough to let go and stood by herself for almost ten seconds. She is going to be walking soon I think!

This is her new favorite toy. Her Great Grandma Spears gave it to her. It is a little dog that barks to the tune of Jingle Bells and then wags it's tail. It always makes her happy.

I have been wanting to try to actually do Madeline's hair. Today I was bored before church so I tried pig tails. I think they are so cute! Mom and Abby said they look like devil horns. I don't think so.

I took so many pictures of Madeline this morning. I think she got tired of it...

Here we are together.

Other things that have happened this month that we did not document with pictures...
  • We went to Danielle's wedding.
  • We TRIED to go to Alex's wedding. It happened to be on the one day in the year it snows here. we tried to go anyways and it took us 3 hours to drive about 25 miles. The freeway was a parking lot. Nobody here knows how to drive in the snow. It was very frustrating. Luckily we got to see them before they went back to Utah.
  • We made the annual Moss/Huskey/Black Nativity movie with the usual lack of interest from most people involved. It has to be done though...it's tradition!
  • For New Year's we opened a time capsule we had made with the Huskey family in 1999. I was excited to see what I put in it because I couldn't remember. All I put in was a tag from Old Navy because it was my favorite store. Lame. We also wrote little papers about what we liked, what we wanted our ten year older self to know, etc. I wrote about how much I HATED Woodland and how I didn't want to be here and to never forget my Hillsboro friends. What a brat. Now I am back here. ha.
  • Madeline now has two teeth which she has figured out are nice little weapons.
I guess that is all for now!