You've Got a Friend in Me

Every since Maddie was born Zack has loved her. He loves to kiss her and hug her and play with her. When Maddie was a tiny baby and would cry in the car, he would hold her hand. Now when she cries in the car he says, "It's okay honey, we're almost home." The other day Maddie and I were upstairs in Zack's room. Zack and Daddy were down in the basement. I turned the vacuum on. Maddie, who's afraid of everything, starting screaming. From the basement came Zack's loud voice, "Hold on Maddie, I"m coming!" Then he ran up the stairs to be with his sister in her time of need.

"Prepare to Die"

We all know that Zack has been obsessed with spatulas since he was very small. He even got three for Christmas. He used to carry them around and use them to flip toys, books, pancakes, and to stir raw eggs. Well now his spatulas have turned into swords thanks to the movie "Princess Bride" (Which sounds just like "Simbas Pride" when Zack says it). Zack fell in love with the sword fighting scene in this movie and now wants to fight with everyone. The funny part is that he is very serious about his moves and practices how his feet move and everything. While driving to Denver he learned to skip back and watched the sword fighting scene about 10 times before we took the DVD player away (As I type this, he is begging me to sword fight outside). Zack was thrilled to discover a perfect place to "fight" at the Capitol Reef National Park campground. It was a stage surrounded by a rock wall. To his three year old eyes, it looked just like the movie set. He would beg us to go down to it and fight with him. Often he would take his sword fighting stance and proclaim in a sinister voice, "Prepare to die!"

New type of "time out"

We have found a new place for Zack's time out... the carnival. We took Zack to American Fork Steel Days to ride the carnival rides thinking that he would have a good time. As you can see in the video he didn't like it at all. After the first ride we were wondering what we were going to do with all the tickets that we bought because Zack was not going on any more rides. We got him to go in the carousel with Chelsea and Madelynn and then he was OK. After the carousel he was brave enough to ride on the trucks by himself. So now if we tell Zack to do something and he doesn't we threaten to take him to the carnival.

Yesterday the Maddux family went on a hike to Doughnut Falls. At the trail head Zack got to chase the ground squirrels around but he never caught one. Zack was a great hiker and hiked most of the two mile round trip. When we got to the falls all he wanted to do was splash in the water. Maddy was the lucky one and got to ride in the backpack the whole way.

Summer Camping

We took the kids camping a few weeks ago. Zack loved to be outside all the time where he could play in the dirt and ride his bike. The mosquitoes loved him and by the end of our first day he was scratching his head like crazy.


Here are some pictures of Zack camping from two years ago.


And of course some pictures of Maddy too.

Pooh or Poo?

"Chelsea," Chrissom yelled.
"What?" I responded in a really annoyed voice. I was trying to get some laundry in the dryer and I could hear that Chrissom had Zack in the bathroom. The last thing I wanted to do was clean up some poo.
"Zack has some pooh in his underwear, you better come and see," he said coming to get me. I could see that he was trying hard to not laugh. Then I made the connection. Zack has a little Pooh bear that I had just washed and he pulled out of the dryer. He'd put it down his pants and ran to Chrissom holding it in his crotch kind of dancing around and saying, "Pooh, pooh," Chrissom saw Zack dancing and thought he was saying "poo, poo." He rushed him into the bathroom, pulled down his pants and plopped him on the toilet still not making the connection. Zack said, "Pooh in my pants," and pointed to the the Pooh bear only then did Chrissom get that the joke was on him. Chrissom and I laughed really hard about this. We know that Zack is fun loving and likes to tease, but this is a whole new level to his sense of humor.

Farewell to Elmo Underwear

We'd like to pay our respects the the Elmo underwear who are resting peacefully in the sanitary napkin disposal box in the handicap stall of the Lady's restroom in the American Fork Costco. They met their end when involved in a terrible accident between Zack and some really stinky, slimy, yucky poo. We will miss the Elmo underwear and wish to pay respects to the dangerous job they had. They did a valiant job of covering Zack's unmentionables and taking the brunt of his "accidents." Farewell Elmo underwear we hope that you are happy in your new home.

Hot Dogs

Zack just brought me a bag with an empty hot dog wrapper in it. Being quick of mind is a must with Zack so I quickly figured out that he'd put them on the barbeque. When I asked Zack if that was what he'd done, he said "yess" the way he does with that little lisp he has. I went to check and sure enough there were all the hot dogs on the grill. At least he hadn't turned it on. Later when Chrissom asked him about what he'd done Zack said he'd put them on "daddy's barbeque."

Spider Man

For some reason, Zack thinks that spiders are called "Spider Mans." This morning I was trying to get him inside and I asked what he was doing. He was sitting on the grate of the window well looking down. He said, "Spider man." I went and looked down and sure enough there was a spider. He wanted to know what it was doing down there sitting on a plastic toy plate that he'd dropped down there at some other time.

Oh Flip!

Zack is the most coordinated 2 year old that I know. He watched his cousin Wade (who he calls "Wade's House") do flips on the trampoline, so he decided that he could do it too. At first it looked like a dive bomb hand stand but pretty soon the little squirt was flipping right over. Grandmas hold your breath, I know this looks scary but he really can do it, and does it every time he gets on the tramp. Tonight during Family Home Evening we were singing, "If You're Happy and You Know it do a Somersault," well Zack got carried away and tried to do a flip and landed on his head on the living room floor. He forgot he wasn't on the tramp. Ouch.

Zack's Weekly To Do List

Rub lotion somewhere other than my body - check
Give Maddie kisses - check
Dump baby soap on the rug - check
Make sure Maddie has toys to play with in her crib when she's sleeping - check
Steal mommy's keys, wallet, and cell phone to use in my car - check
Throw daily tantrums - check
Throw hourly tantrums - check
Check on Maddie during her nap, possibly climb in her crib with her - check
Practice my flips on the tramp just like "Wade's House" (Wade) - check
Drive my car - check
Put sand in my hair every chance I get - check
Demand candy for breakfast - check
Ask to go to Grandma's house - check
Get excited over Grandma and Grandpa visiting - check
Learn to spit - check
Spit at any kid I see - check
Cry really loud in nursery- check
Undress at church - check
Eat grapefruit every chance I get - check
Play with friends - check
Yell "Happy birthday Grandma Maddux" in Primary - check
Hug Maddie when she's sad - check
Wake Daddy every morning with a big hug - check
Go potty, no accidents - check!
Watch Lion King at least twice a day - Check
Talk about watching Lion King whenever I'm not watching it - check
Take a bath in Daddy's bath - check
Take a shower in Daddy's shower - check
Yell "Hi guys!" at the neighbor kids from my deck - check
Lock myself into the baby swing and yell for Daddy to push me "super high" - check
Put something in the oven - check
Listen to Big Bird in the car - check
Repeat the words "Big Bird" over and over until Mommy plays it in car - check
Use the word "no" whenever I get a chance - check
Jump on everything - check
Chase the dogs with something big in my hands - check
Eat dog food - check
Drink dog water - check
Fall asleep in my own bed - check
Eat a hot dog at Costco - check
Say "Oh my Gosh" - Check
Break something for fun - check
Get my own cups out but still drink from the dog water - check
Watch Lion King again - check

The Pros and Cons of Parenthood

This week I (Chrissom) was going through some old papers and found a hand written paper titled, "Advantages of Not Having Kids (Or Sarcastic Responses to the Question "Why Don't You Have Kids?"). We wrote this while attending an adoption seminar about six months before Zack became part of our family. As we read through the list we laughed hard because we had predicted some of the challenges that we would face as parents. There were 33 items on the list. Here is a list of some of the funnier items. Remember we wrote this before we had two children.

1. Don't have to share your dessert with whiny kids.
2. Can give people with noisy kids dirty looks.
3. Clean house.
4. No sippy cups with rotten milk under the couch.
5. No snotty noses.
6. Can pay attention in church.
7. You can walk around naked and no one ask "what's that?".
8. No squished cheerios in the back seat of the car.
9. Quiet car rides.
10. No Kool-Aid stains on the carpet.
11. You don't step on match box cars in the dark.
12. You get to sleep in.
13. No stinky diapers.
14. Don't have to eat mac and cheese.
15. No 3 AM feedings.
16. Can go to the movies any time.
17. Can watch the movies you want and not kiddie flicks.
18. Gold fish cracker budget... 0 dollars.

If we had to write a list now it would be titled "The Best Things About Having Kids"

Here is a sample list.
1. Watching them get excited about eating an ice cream cone and getting it all over their face.
2. Plenty of exercise chasing them around and keeping them from making messes.
3. Excited smiles first thing in the morning.
4. Someone that is excited to see you when you come home from work.
5. Someone to give you big hugs and say, "I yove you mommy."
6. Watching them learn how to do things for the first time.
7. Hearing them say, "Daddy sing it!" when they want you to sing Old Mac Donald.
8. Taking them to see the animals at Cabellas.
9. Reading Zack that same book every night and when Mommy tries to read the same book he yells, "No, Daddy's!"
10. Having them ask if they can go to bambas (grandma's) house.
11. They get excited about simple things like bubbles.
12. Listening to them talk to themselves during car rides.
13. Holidays like Christmas and Halloween are a lot more fun.
14. Having people tell you that they are the cutest, and knowing that it is true
15. When they say, "Daddy watch this," and then burp.
16. A baby that falls asleep in your arms.
17. They come to you when they get hurt.
18. They cry when you leave them with a baby sitter because they can't bear to be away from you.
19. When you look back at all the messes they made and for some reason you aren't mad but can find it kind of funny.
20. They always do or say things that make you laugh.
21. It is really funny when they yell "Ow my *****(private part)!" in church.
22. Someone who wants to be just like you (at least until they become teenagers).
23. They want you and no one else.
24. Even though you thought you knew, you learn how to love.

"I'm Cooking...Eggs"

Zack's been busy this week getting into things, spreading lotion on the carpet, throwing fits, and making messes. His most outrageous shenanigan was when he decided to cook up a bunch of eggs. Daddy was in the shower, I was rocking Maddie to sleep. I heard the fridge open and then some pans banging. I should have jumped up and ran in the kitchen right then (we are usually literally running to see what Zack is up to), but I didn't. By the time I got to the kitchen, his fun was going full blast. Zack had taken our large frying pan and placed it on the rug. He got himself a spatula (of course) and proceeded to crack each and every egg in the carton. Some of them landed on the floor, most of them in the pan.

As I came around the corner into the kitchen, I saw him stirring a gooey mess of eggs and egg shells just as if he was making scrambled eggs. I calmly asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm cooking eggs," as if it was the most normal thing for him to be doing at that moment. A year ago I might have flipped over this but Chrissom and I have become so used to Zack getting into messes that we aren't surprised by much. Instead of yelling, screaming and putting him in time out this is what happened...
I quickly walked down the hall to ask Chrissom where the camera was. He came to see what was going on and to take pictures. His comment was "at least he didn't do it on the carpet." My comment was "at least he did it on the rug I just washed and the floor I just mopped." Chrissom took a picture and cleaned up the eggs and said, "he used every egg." I said, "I'm not surprised." Chrissom said, "How did he learn how to crack and egg?" I said, "He's seen me do it, he watches everything." Needless to say, Zack was very upset when we took the pan and spatula away from him. He threw a grand fit and declared that he wanted to eat them. Here's the video of it.

Brotherly Love

The Art of Distraction

Zack thinks that if he yells really loud in public he can embarrass us enough to get us to stop doing what ever we're doing to him that he doesn't want us to do. For example we were walking into Costco the other night and Chrissom told Zack that he needed to hold hands in the parking lot. Of course that didn't fit Zack's style of running of way so Chrissom took hold of Zack's wrist. Zack immediately started yelling, "Ow my arms, ow my arms!" as loud as he could.
Later after eating a gourmet meal in the food court, I took Zack to the bathroom because he was showing signs of having to poo. Of course by the time I'd gift wrapped the toilet, sat him on it, and accidentally let the pee hit his pants, he firmly declared that he didn't have to poo just pee. So I took him back to Chrissom so we could finish our delicious meal. Well that didn't fit Zack's style of running away, so I held onto him while trying to feed him his hot dog. He started yelling "I poo, I poo, I poo!" We just laughed.

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

Why walk around with wet pee pee pants when you can just pull them down and keep playing?

A Guide to Zackenese (That's Zack's own language)

"bum bum" = gum gum
"moop" = milk
"mm dishush" = mmm delicious
"bean bunner" = belly button
"daddy's juice" = diet coke
"back minit" = I'll be back in a minute
"dachy" = Chelsea (mommy)
"Zacky pee" = I've peed my pants and want you to change them
"can tane" = candy cane
"I did it!" = I've done something you may or may not like but I'm pretty proud of myself.
"canny" = candy
"budder" = butter
"pa pa" or "pad a pa" = spatula
"pips"= chips
"Poppit pips" = chocolate chips
"bama pitit" = Grandma Pickett
"bama Maddicks" = Grandma Maddux
"mine" = everything in the world revolves around me and therefore must belong to me.
"turch" = church
"nursee" = nursery
"pu boop" = play group
"my this" = This is mine
"bapa Maddicks" = Grandpa Maddux
"Manny" = Maddie
"jews" = shoes
"Uh oh pa da does" = Uh oh spaghetti -ohs
"towder" = shower
"Ca" = Car
"da" = yeah
"yesss!" = yes
"I get it!" = I'm going to answer the phone and talk to the person no matter who they are and I'm not going to let you have the phone. When you finally get the phone from me I'm going to throw a fit the whole time you are talking so that you'll wish that you'd just let me keep it because you won't be able to hear the person over my screaming and jumping up and down anyway. (I think that was the longest sentence I've ever written)