MadJimEJoe Matz

New Hair Cut!

2009-06-18T16:49:00.001-04:00

Out at Sally's having a great time! I decided to get my hair cut while here. Like?

Message from Management

2008-11-07T21:06:00.001-05:00

Please enjoy the photos. I figure I have bought myself a 385 day vacation until my next post . . . Right Dad?

Ethan as Captain Hook

2008-11-07T21:03:00.002-05:00

Ethan had a pirate theme party this year for his birthday, so the pirate costume was a must.
Ethan with his friend Tobe.

Joseph / Avatar Ang in Kuzon Fire bender Disguise

2008-11-07T21:00:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately,this is the only picture we have of Joseph as Ang/Kuzon.

Zuko (Avatar Villian) James

2008-11-07T20:51:00.006-05:00

James was a character from the cartoon Avatar that Last Air Bender. All of my boys are into it. He originally had a scar around his eye, but his eye kept tearing up and washing away the makeup (I mean manly powder stuff to get James more in character.)

As if James needed help getting into character. Jared said he didn't step out of character once during the Elementary school parade.

Hours after the candy raid and James wanted to pose for some picutres.

This is my favorite.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

2008-11-07T20:43:00.003-05:00

Maddie was really excited for Halloween this year. She was Mary had a Little Lamb, but if you asked her it was just Mary Lamb. She would yell out "I'm not little, I'm Mary Lamb."

This is the post candy, Momma's got the camera and I'm gonna pose picture.

James and Joseph

2007-10-16T18:01:00.001-04:00

These are not the best pictures, but BEGGARS (words not used lightly) can't be choosers.

Sucker for a "Cute" Photo

2007-10-16T17:56:00.000-04:00

I just love these pictures.

Happy Birthday Ethan

2007-10-16T17:44:00.001-04:00

Ethan turned 4 on October 1st. I went to his school and did the birthday thing there. For all of you who have been complaining about the lack of posts on this sight, he is the one wearing the crown (in case you forgot what he looks like).

Ethan got to dance, sing and be the king for a day. He loved every minute of it.

This is one happy kid!!!

Using Utensils

2007-10-16T17:35:00.000-04:00

The last time Grandma Sani and PaPop we out to visit us, Grandma spent every morning teaching Madison to use a spoon. I just wanted to show her progress.

Yes we are so proud. She has retained her knowledge of how to hold the spoon, if only she'd actually use it.

We're Back

2007-03-25T22:54:00.000-04:00

Madison loved her birthday cake. She was excited when we put the whole cake in front of her to dig into. Here is the progression of the evening of March 19th , 2007.
Maddie is smacking her lips.
The first big bite.
This is good stuff and it's all mine.
"If I'd known I'd get a cake to myself, I would have turned 1 a long time ago."
Maddie left us with only crumbs to fight over.

The Crayola Factory

We had a great time going out to visit Jared's sister in Penn. There is a Crayola factory nearby that we went to. The kid's had so much fun . The factory is crowded with all kinds of crafts and there is a museum also about the canal systems in the area.

Bad Hair Day and Good Hair Day

Maddie has so many looks to her. These are two of my most recent favorites. Some mornings it looks like Maddie just came out of the dryer instead of her crib. Other days the hair behaves and she looks like Boo.

2006-10-30T10:03:00.000-05:00

Trip To Florida 2006

2006-10-30T09:47:00.000-05:00

Here's Maddi with her first pair of Mickey Ears. They only stayed on for a few minutes, but at least we go one picture to remember them. We were all excited to go to the Magic Kingdom.

Joseph wouldn't go on too many rides that we had hoped he'd enjoy because he is older. He did love the Dumbo and the gentler rides.

Jared had to take the boys on the Tea Cups. We hit every ride in the park at least once. Many (like Buzz Lightyear) we went on many times. The weather was great and the crowds were not overwhelming.

One of our new traditions is to go to Disne for the Mickey's not so Scary Halloween Party. We love getting the kids dressed up. Madison went as a blue fairy, but everyone kept calling her Cinderella so we went with it.

Here is our Jedi waiting to get on the boat that took us over to the Magic Kingdom. Star Wars was big with the childs this year.

I couldn't find a Jenga Fett costume. I glad too, because they all wanted to be Jenga. They settled for a Jedi Knight, Yoda, and Darth Vader. I tried to get a Leia costume for Maddi, but she made a cuter fairy.
Here we are all together in Mickey's House.
Joseph and James played with the pumpkins outside of Minnie's house.

We finally found Mickey and stopped him for a picture.
This was just as our night began. The boys were pumped to get candy and see all the characters. We must have collected 30lbs of candy this year. I'm rounding down on the poundage. We had to get a new bag just to get it home. At least, I don't have to buy any candy new for Halloween.
The Party ended just after Midnight. The boys were out before we left the parking Lot.
Grandpa enjoyed swimming with the boys. They wore him out jumping in and out of the pool. Grandpa was happy to catch every jump.
Grandpa, also, took the time to teach Joseph some swimming strokes. Joseph is excited that he can now tread water.
More Jumps.
It was a great trip. We hit all the Disney parks and the Halloween party. We, also, went out to the Kennedy Space Center to see them launch a Rocket at night. It was a week full of great memories.

Madison's Mama

2006-10-29T17:27:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that this child is mine? We may have to take a DNA test to prove it, but she is my little girl from the light brown hair down to those big blue eyes. Don't get me started on the skin color contrast. I'm the one she looks for when she's hungry and the one she crys for when she's sad. I'm Madison's Mama.

A Day at the Beach

2006-09-03T16:16:00.000-04:00

Bury Grandma and she'll have to stay.
Grandma Nali came back from her mission to be with Great Grandpa Chic while he was in the hospital. He gave us quite a scare. Once his health stablized a bit, we went to the beach with Grandma Nali to enjoy one more day together with the grandkids before she had to go back to Georgia to be with Big Pop.

The waves were playful. Here's Joseph's reaction to the awesome surf.

Everyone waited a few moments before taking the plung into the water. There they viewed the chilly water creep up the shore and tickle their toes, daring them to enter.

A few of us finally gave in and let the ocean greet us with it's icy fingers.

Ethan played it safe at first and seemed to play tag with the waves. He'd run after them as they pushed back and then would turn and run as they returned to the shore.

He let Katie, Jared's cousin and our favorite babysitter, take him in to explore.

James didn't want anything to do with the ocean. He stood as far back as he could and still see the waves as they hit the shore.

Grandma Nali tried to get him closer to enjoy the water like the other kids. James would finally come in after the kids discovered jellyfish being washed up on the shore.

Here is a jellyfish that the kids caught. These weren't stinging. The kids were catching them by the bucket load. They created their own Jellyfish bay by digging a hole and filling it with water, and tossing all their jellyfish together. They caught a few titty bitty crabs, but nothing to bigger than a half dollar. We went on the broadwalk afterwards and ate and did some rides. What a great day.

Ethan Singing Twinkle, Twinkle little Star

2006-08-15T08:57:00.000-04:00

Scripture Power

2006-08-10T16:48:00.000-04:00

Joseph wanted to sing a song to post. I hope you enjoy it.

It's a Jungle in Here

2006-08-09T09:55:00.000-04:00

Here is James of the Jungle,

Ethan the Man Eater,

And Madison The Meek.

Jared gave a lesson on Daniel and the Lions den for family home evening. We decided to act it out so the boys would understand the story better. The kids loved getting the halloween makeup out and transforming into fierce lions. You knew we had a bunch of monkeys. We had tigers last week and lions this week. I wonder what next week holds for our family zoo. (Joseph was Daniel, but didn't want to be in the picture).

Maddie Girl Laugh

2006-08-06T21:23:00.000-04:00

This is the cloest thing to a real good toothless grin that I have been able to photograph.

Maddie is so fascinated by the camera its hard to get her to smile on camera,

but you can listen to her laugh by clicking on the button below.

Tiger Boy Hybrids

2006-08-06T20:57:00.000-04:00

What can I say, it was raining outside and the boys were bored. Ethan was growling at me while I was trying to put on my makeup. I picked up my eyeliner and went to work making the two cutest tiger boy hybrids ever. I think James got in to it even more than Ethan did.

What does a tiger say? Just click on the button below and Listen.

Pucker Up

2006-08-04T18:51:00.000-04:00

It's been requested that I put this picture up on my blog. I got two separate shots of Madison's Pucker Face. I hope you enjoy laughing at our adorable, little, fish lipped child.

Fourth Of July

2006-07-20T13:47:00.000-04:00

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

Really it was the Skydiving team that jumped just above our heads.

UNO time while we wait for the fireworks.

Going to Hill Cumorah

2006-07-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

Jared and I took the boys and Madison Camping this past weekend with Jared's sister Cami and her family. Maddie was crying a bit so Jared took her while Cami and I prepared dinner. When he came back with her she was sporting this new hairdo.

Here's Ethan just hanging out at Niagara Falls. He climbs anything and everything. He loved the mist of the falls. All the boys loved getting soaked by the falling drops of mist. I love this picture because it looks like Ethan climbed the fence at the falls and is about to fall in (yes, just like in Superman), but truly, Jared and I aren't that bad at parenting. If you look closely you can see the top of a tree.

This picture was taken from an observation area above another observation area that was closer to the falls. If he fell it wouldn't have been more than 3 feet.

The Falls are amazing. We enjoyed going on the Maid of the Mist boat ride and another great attaction called the Cave of Winds. The Latter gets you close to the falls on foot.

The Hill Cumorh Pagent was great this year. Ethan is throughly convinced that the ship that Nephi built to come to the promised land was indeed a Pirate ship. James was scared when the destruction took place just before the coimg of Christ to the Americas. He was screaming until Christ appeared and restored peace.

We walked around at the pagent and found many characters walking around. We were about to head back to our seats when lo and behold we saw Joseph Smith. Our Joseph was so excited. He kept saying "I'm Joseph too! I was named after you." Joseph has wanted to read the Doctrine and Covenants since.

It was a great trip. Aunt Cami, Uncle Dom and their two girls, Kristen and Amanda, helped us out so much. I don't know that we would have made it through the weekend without them. Hope you enjoyed the insights into our trip.

Joseph's Climbing the Walls

2006-07-08T20:08:00.000-04:00

Joseph chose to have his 7th Birthday party at a place called The Gravity Vault. It's a rock climbing place that is amazing. Joe has been there a few times with Jared. He took to it right away. I guess he go sick of climbing our walls (literally). He's pretty good. I was amazed at how fast he moves up the walls.
Jared trained to be able to spot joseph on his climbs. Joe is usually nervous to try something like this. It's great watching the two of them enjoying this together.

2006-06-23T15:19:00.000-04:00

I told Ethan what we were having for dinner. He said "I don't like that." I tried to explain that's what was made and that's what we were going to eat. He proceeded to grab the two closest plates and cover his ears. I'm sure glad I hadn't served up the food yet.

James is normally our quiet little guy, but every once in a while he gets goofy. He let me catch this face on camera!

Joseph really loves his sister. He talks to her and sings songs to make her happy. Maddie loves her brothers. Ethan scares her alittle, but that's only because he thinks he has to smother her to show her how much he loves her.
Maddie is growing in Leaps and bounds. She is 13 lbs. 12oz and 25 5/8 inches.