Happy Birthday Maddy!

It was a long journey to start our family. My timing and the Lord's timing were not in sync. All I ever wanted in life was to be a mom. My dreams finally were realized two and a half years later, just two days before Thanksgiving .Our sweet Madelyn Elizabeth came into the world and she was perfect! All 6 lbs 13 ounces of her, with her red hair! We brought her home from the hospital on Thanksgiving day.

Here are some pictures of Maddy over the years:

It's hard to believe that she is 5 years old today!! What a ride it's been since she came into our lives! She is so smart, and says the funniest things. In fact, I've kept a running log off and on since 2009 of the things she says. As a birthday tribute, I'd like to post some Maddyisms.

MADDYISMS: A collection of Maddy's deepest thoughts over the years:

As we were driving home I told Maddy that I was tired. Her response: “Its okay mommy, when we get home, you can have the night off.”
9/21/2011

Me: Maddy, can you please go play so I can get this finished. Maddy: Why do I ALWAYS have to play? Me: would you rather clean? Maddy: YEAH!! Can I dust?
8/16/2011

I wish I had 16 sisters and 2 brothers. Then my swingset would be REALLY fun!
8/8/2011

Sarah was crying earlier, and Maddy says to me: “aw, look at Sarah! She looks like Lorenzo Snow with that droopy face!” Then Sarah starts to cry even more… So Maddy says: “Well, maybe she looks like John Taylor..”
6/5/2011

Maddy was tickling Ben when I heard her say to him: “yeah that’s right! I’m such a gangster!!”
3/9/2011

“Mom, I vacuumed up the cat food that I spilled. But it’s all still on the floor, because the vacuum isn’t plugged in.”
2/28/2011

Apparently watching Dora and Diego has given Maddy the ability to master a second language. She’s now watching the Mulan bonus features in Spanish…
2/24/2011

"Sometimes, when you're a kid, you get sick and throw up. But that's how you grow!"
2/16/11

I was listening to Maddy sing to Ben this morning. "Hush little baby don't say a word, Maddy's gonna buy you a mocking bird. If that mocking bird don't sing, Maddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring. If that diamond ring don't shy, Maddy's gonna buy you a pork-you-pie. If that pork-you-pie doesn't stay poor, Maddy's gonna buy you a......"
2/11/11

I told Maddy she had to go to time out. Her response? "Care bears don't go to time out!"

Well, the polls are in. I am mean, and she likes Daddy more. Thanks Maddy.
1/10/11

I guess I should examine the content of the movies I show my daughter more closely... Maddy is now refusing to go to college, EVER. I guess the thought of packing up her room and giving away her toys is too devastating. I told her if Andy can do it, she can too... but she said: nope, I'm staying home to play with Daddy.
12/30/10

Maddy asked me if she could eat cookies with me. I told her she could help herself, which through her for a loop, seeing that usually she is limited to one. When she asked me why, I said "Christmas is all about eating cookies!" She looked at me, like I had lost my mind, and said "Christmas is about Jesus' birthday."
12/13/10

Not only does Maddy want 5 laundry baskets for her birthday, she wants a strawberry laundry basket cake, with chocolate frosting.
11/15/10

was listening to Maddy talk on the phone to Uncle Ryan. When he asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said: "Five laundry baskets."
11/08/11


"Mommy, you are a REALLY good mom, but sometimes, you scare baby Jesus."
11/3/10

Maddy proudly shows me her drawing, then says "Look mom! It's a dallying sailor cat!" I had to go look up the word "dallying".... How is it that my 3 year old has a larger vocabulary than I do?
9/24/10

I overheard Maddy in the bathroom this morning singing to herself. (To the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat) 'Wipe, Wipe, Wipe your bum, wipe it all the day!, wipe it good, wipe it good, wipe it all the way!'
9/23/2010

was joking around with Maddy and asked her if she was feeling enraged... She replied, No, I'm feeling Jubilant. So I said, Do you even know what Jubilant means? She looks at me as if to say 'everyone knows what that word means' and said yeah, it means to be REALLY REALLY happy. Thank You PBS
9/9/10

Me: "Maddy, your sister has been asleep FOREVER." Maddy: "Yeah, but she didn't eat an apple, so she's not in an enchanted sleep like Snow White."
7/30/10

Maddy: Mommy, Do you still love me when you're mad? Me: Maddy, I ALWAYS love you. Maddy: Yeah, and you're always mad.
7/26/10

Mom, can we plant some bird seeds so we can grow some birds?"
6/16/10

My beautiful new niece... if my brother waits any longer to name her she'll have to go by the name Maddy picked... "baby Lickie"
5/25/10

"Maddy! Why do you ask me 'why?' after everything I say?" "Oh mom, its just an allergy!"
5/14/10

Maddy: Mommy I LOVE picking flowers from your garden! Me: Yes Maddy, I love when you pull weeds too. Daddy will be happy that there are no more dandelions in the grass...
4/8/10

Maddy: Oh no! I have pen on my foot! I need to go to the dentist so he can clean it!
3/8/10

So we went to Chuck E. Cheese with my brother and his family this weekend... where Maddy got a little I.D. card with her picture on it. On the way home she asked me if she could drive and I told her no because she couldn't reach the pedals. She replied "I'll try really hard!" I then said no because she didn't have a drivers license. She replied "yes! I do! I got one at Chuck E. Cheese!"
3/8/10

While putting the girls to bed Sarah started to cry (No surprise), then Maddy says to me, "Don't worry Mommy, I'll sing her 'The Eye of the Tiger'."
2/24/10

Maddy: Mommy! I just found seeds in my apple! Me: what are you going to do with them? Maddy: I'm going to make more apples! Like many many... three apples
2/10/10

Maddy: "Mom can you please be quiet, I am trying to read my dictionary." Gee, I'm sorry Maddy, I didn't know you could read!
1/22/10

I asked Maddy what she wanted her new baby brother or sister's name to be... she replied "Baby Gomez" Thanks to Aunt Nee Nee and big Uncle Ry Ry for ruining Maddy. We already have baby dolls named "baby walmart" and "Magic Head"... A real live baby Gomez would be icing on the cake!
1/20/10

took Maddy to the party store to see what kind of birthday party she wanted to have...... she picked "Over the Hill" napkins.
10/22/09

Maddy is on role today... As I'm cleaning the bathroom she comes in and says to me: "Mommy, when I am big like you, can I clean?" Girl you can clean right now!!
9/24/09

I took the pens away from Maddy after she tried to draw on the desk. Her response: "But mom! I have nothing to draw on!" She says this as she sits next to not one, but two notepads...
2/24/09

No it's to cold outside we'll burn up!
February 2010

I will plant my apple seeds in the garden and the tree's will grow big and tall... and then they will tickle you.
February 2010

I will Jack you up! (it was cute when she was two, but then she learned how to use it correctly)

I will UH!(cue the pointing of her finger) I will put you in the car! .......(her substitution for "i will jack you up)
2009

Brrr... Its hot!
2009

That's not berry slice!!

Mommy, you can't play with my stamps because they are for little girls. Your hands are too big, so they will fall out because they are for little girl hands.
February 2010

Aunt Neenee: Maddy? Why are you so mean to me? Maddy: So I can say sorry!
February 2010

Aunt Neenee! I will flush you down the potty!! Feb. 2010

No!!! You're not my sister!!! (when Aunt neenee told her to put on her jammies) 2010

I can't go to Conway Mommy. Conway has spiders, and THAT is embarrassing.
March 2010

‎'I can't eat my spaghetti, I DON'T LIKE spaghetti!' 'Since when?' 'Tuesday's and Friday's.'
March 2010



Well, hopefully that made someone laugh. We think she's pretty funny. We are so glad that she is in our family! I wonder what that silly girl will say today!!

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!

A weekend away

We loaded up the kids last weekend and headed off to Columbia to celebrate cousin Grace turning one! The kids had a blast at the park, and Grace was as cute as ever! I can't believe she's already one year old...

We stayed at Uncle Ry Ry's house, and the kids were in heaven playing in the leaves he's got all over the yard! Maddy's been asking me for weeks if we can rake up the leaves so she can jump in them. Every time she asks I have to explain that we have no trees... Thank goodness for Uncle Ryan's yard!

Uncle Stephen helped Sarah get a leaf out of the tree... as if there weren't enough on the ground!

They loved thgowing the leaves in the air

Rolling in the leaves

We have no snow here in the south, so she had to do the next best thing...

Leaf Angel!!

Maddy and Mommy!

Ben liked the leaves okay... he loved the headlights on the van even more. So there aren't many pictures of him playing in the yard. He was too busy checking out the van!

Sarah randomly decided that she was done with the leaves and went to chill with Aunt Naomi and cousin Grace.

Family Picture!!

We had a great time hanging out, and can't wait for Thanksgiving to see them all again!

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween is now a special day in the Passey house. I went from having 8 brothers and sisters to having 10. Reagan and Allie have officially been adopted! I now have 7 brothers and 3 sisters. The oldest being 31 and the youngest is 7! My parents officially have 11 children. They now have as many children as they do grandchildren! To celebrate we went to Cici's Pizza. My grandparents came and we had a great lunch. The kids dressed up too! Maddy got to eat for free for having a costume on (the youngest two are free anyway) We let the kids play in the arcade when they were done eating.

I love this picture of Ben... Joshua was tickling him, and he LOVED it.

Maddy driving the car... Uncle Scott was nice enough to put some quarters in the game for her. She thinks she is now ready to drive our van. Yeah, alright Maddy!


This game wasn't working, but it didn't stop Scott and Ryan from having a great time!




Sarah driving

Benjamin driving!

This is the only game Maddy wanted to play on... I couldn't get her off of it!

Ben was trying so hard to reach the buttons. This boy loves to push buttons!

Sarah wanted to ride the motorcycle... but then she couldn't figure out how to get off. I saw her just sitting like this and couldn't resist snapping a picture.

My silly monkey

After our celebration we headed over to my grandparents house to trick or treat. Ben was so happy to run around outside...

LOVE this boy...

My grandpa wanted a picture with the kids in their costumes. I wish Ben would have cooperated! He just wanted to walk around!
But it's still a cute picture....

Mom look at my candy!!

We headed over to Joseph's parents to trick or treat and then headed home to wait for Daddy! We lit the Jack-o-lanterns and got the kids bundled up for some trick-or-treating with some friends from the ward. They had arranged a hayride to take the kids around the neighborhood. Then Ben had a meltdown of all meltdowns. He couldn't take 2 steps without bursting into tears! I decided 30 minutes before we were supposed to be there that Ben was going to bed. He was in no shape for the night ahead of him. That meant that I had to stay home... Boo!!

But you do what you have to right?

All ready to go! Sarah was NOT happy that I emptied her pumpkin from the Trunk-or-Treat. She was crying and saying that she wanted her candy. She didn't understand what she was about to do... Poor girl. Then she thought Daddy had left without her.



I had originally asked our neighbors to hand out our candy until I got back with Ben. I had assumed that he wouldn't last as long as the girls. This may sound weird, but I've always wanted to hand out candy on Halloween night. We have been married for over 7 years and I have never been able to do it! This is the first year we've lived in a neighborhood!

I sent Joseph off with the girls and put Ben to bed. Then prepared myself for Trick-or-Treaters! I actually really enjoyed seeing all the different costumes. I'm still amazed at how rude a lot of the kids are. I can't stand kids who ring the doorbell repeatedly, then don't even say Thank You when you give them candy!! But on a lighter note- I had multiple people tell me my house was nice, and some tell me that it smelled really good. (Thank you Pumpkin Spice candle!!) But the best part was when this boy who appeared to be about 12 told me that I was pretty. I gave him an extra piece of candy :) I decided that handing out candy on Halloween was good for my self esteem... ;)

Our porch... The lights change color. It made the kids happy.

The kids were out for just over an hour. Joseph decided to bring them home because it started sprinkling and it was cold! They got home just in time too... Not more than 5 minutes later it started to pour!

The girls came home and told me all about their adventures and then checked out their loot.

I helped Maddy sort hers like I used to when I was little. She was so sweet and gave Joseph and I some candy.

Sarah was excited to see all of her candy too. She told me all about how "Daddy talked mean to a ghost so he didn't scare her" (not quite how that happened) but in her eyes Daddy is her hero!

Another Halloween has come and gone. Hopefully next year Ben will be able to enjoy it!

Trunk Or Treat

I missed a few pictures from our pumpkin carving.. So I thought I'd post a few before the Trunk-or-Treat pictures

The girls decided to help their daddy clean the last pumpkin. One spoonful at a time.


I was there too! I have crazy eyes in this picture... It is never a good idea to give me a knife!!





Me and the girls


Shortly after our pumpkin carving we got the kids dressed up in their costumes and headed to our ward Trunk-or-Treat. Really it was a Halloween carnival of sorts. They went ALL out! One of our ward members is a P.E. teacher, and he decided to bring a parachute for the kids to play with. I was SO excited. This was pretty much the only thing I liked about school when I was a kid! I told Joseph as soon as I saw it- "this is the BEST Halloween party I've ever been to."

Maddy thought it was pretty sweet too!

Maddy and her little boyfriend. She LOVES this boy...

About to lift it and go under!

Helping to put it away


They had a chili cook off too. There was some amazing chili! I'm not sure the kids were impressed, but I sure enjoyed it.

Sarah enjoyed the dessert table! She ate cookies and bat brownies... and she had a little cup with jello. The jello had a gummy worm in it. She ate that and then tried to drink her jello. After a few tries she looked at me and said- "mommy, my drink doesn't work. It's broken!"

It was so funny!

Maddy had a few treats too! ...but no dinner. SHOCKER!


After dinner it was back to the fun and games! This one was great- you had to eat the doughnut that was tied to the string without using your hands...

After a few tries the doughnut fell off the string so she had to eat it with her hands... tough break Maddy!

Next we got to go on a hayride! There is a farm next to our church and they were nice enough to let us use their field. This hayride went a bit faster than any hayride I've ever been on! I thought we might fall off! We had a kid "fall off" on our ride... or so we thought. We're thinking now that he jumped! Another was dangling his feet and his shoe came off. It took a while to find in the tall grass!

Took this one myself!

Ben seemed a bit uneasy this hayride...

Family picture!

After the hayride we went in to play a few more games... They had a cake walk, and this cute bean bag toss. Maddy got the bean bag in on her very first try.

Sarah walked up to the cauldrons and plopped the balls in. Ben just ran away with the balls.

They loved it

There was also a haunted maze that was put together outside. My girls loved it, much to my surprise! Maybe because it wasn't so haunted when we discovered it. After the maze we had the Trunk or Treat. The kids got a lot of candy and had a blast. They were so tired after that, so we headed home.

Our friends from our old ward came over after their party so we could play games. We put all the kids to bed and then raided our kids candy to make milk shakes! Best Butterfinger milk shake ever.

And a great end to a great day!