Fly, Fly, Away

Two firsts happened today in Madison's life.  The first first...She had her picture taken with Santa!  I'd post the picture here but then it would spoil the Christmas cards we will be mailing out later!  We were very surprised as to how well she did.  The anticipation of a screaming child and making a scene was replaced with a sheepish child that got a PICTURE PERFECT shot on the first click of the camera!!!!  The perfect start to a VERY long day. 

Her next first happened later that night when we took our first plane ride as a family of three to Atlanta.  All the talk of plane rides, how it worked and building it up to be fun really paid off in the end.  She did FANTASTIC!  The toys, books, crayons, drinks and all the other things you pack to keep a child busy on the plane weren't needed at all.  She was completely fascinated by the whole idea of being in the air and just talked and took in her surroundings the whole 55 minutes.  What a good little girl!

I guess there were really three firsts since she did take her first "train" ride as well from the terminal to baggage claim.  That was all she talked about over the weekend...BIG plane and choo-choo train.  We arrived safely in Atlanta for the start of a WONDERFUL birthday celebration weekend in Atlanta.

Halloween 2010

It's late and we are all VERY tired from a very active afternoon.  I just wanted to take a minute to share some the pictures we took today.  Madison had such a great time!!!  She didn't stop all night and when she got home she went right up the stairs and into bed.  She was plumb tuckered out!

Drawing on the pumpkin and helping mommy cut

Ahh...nice pumpkin...MY pumpkin!

Finally, I get to put on my monkey suit!!!

Madison had been waiting all day to wear her costume.  When we finally told her it was time, she did three laps around the room with a HUGE smile on her face.  That silly little monkey!!!

Visiting our first house

Madison and Allie

After collecting all the goodies...

These are just a few pictures.  So many pictures were taken but it would take all night to get them loaded.  I will try to get more pictures posted during the week either on the blog or at Picasa Web. 

HaPPy HalLoWeEn tO eVerYoNE!!!

Blowing Bubbles!



Checking out the fish in the early morning.



Ahhh...nap time!















I've tried all summer to get a picture of Madison blowing bubbles.  Every time I remembered to grab the camera she was done and on to her next project.  Well, yesterday was different.  I had the camera BEFORE I gave her the bubbles!  We played for a bit yesterday afternoon.  The weather here has been PERFECT the last few days and we love being able to play outside together.  She had such a great time blowing bubbles...until she was on to the next project :-)

This week she is learning about spiders in school.  After blowing bubbles we went for a walk around the block and wouldn't you know it, there was a BIG spider crossing the street.  She got so excited!  But not as excited, or as interested, as the furry caterpillar that was walking across the street.  What a great way to spend the afternoon!  Playing with my little girl, sharing such great experiences. 



Not the spider we saw on our walk
but one that looks very much like it.
This one is one I took in our front
yard over the summer.


 

Next weekend we are heading to Grandma and Grandpa's and she is so excited to see them and Chloe. See you both real soon! Love Tiff, Jeff and Madison

Shopping and potty

Then came Wednesday.  She couldn't wait to get in the door from daycare before her pants were down and she was sitting on the potty! 

The rest of the week was hit and miss with a tough weekend but the weekend went out with her doing her business on the potty once again!

With all that excitement, who could forget the fun time we had with her playing in the KidZone at the mall!  We've now decided it's time for our little girl to move up to a big bed so we went shopping this weekend to check out what was available.  While cruising the local mall we found a KidZone (really a place for dad and the children to sit while mom is shopping).  At first, Madison didn't want to play, she just wanted to hang out by the entrance.  Then when she realized how much fun she could be having she went CRAZY!  You can tell from the pictures she had such a great time.



Getting ready to jump

The kneel down before the big jump






Air action

And one last time for good measure!

.

Sliding

Running

Playing frog

There was so much for her to do.  Running, climbing, jumping...she loved it!  It wasn't until when the big kids started getting a little carried away before mom and dad decided it was time to go home. The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet.  Have a great week!!!  I hope everyone is getting to enjoy the beautiful autumn weather. 

Prize for a poopy...

Boy what a week!  It started off a bit "normal" but then big things happened.  As most of you know, Madison has been potty training.  The week before she had done so well at daycare with just a couple of accidents and over the weekend we had a tough time.  She continued to do really well in school the first couple of days.  Tueday night, after time and time of "practicing" Madison FINALLY went to the bathroom on the potty!!!!  It was a surprise to her and to me and Jeff.  She was in the tub and it was time to go!  She jumped out of the tub and on to her potty!  There was lots and lots of celebrations going on.  We had been telling Madison that she would be rewarded with ICY's when she finally made it happen.  She couldn't believe what had just happened and we were SO VERY excited.  We had to keep up on our end of the deal even if it was just before bed and she was in the bathtub!  Madison celebrated her big moment with not just one but TWO icy's in the bathtub!!!

Date Day

Jeff had to go into work on Sunday so he had Friday off instead.  To even the playing field, I took Friday off as well.  What do you do when you both have the day off and Madison is in daycare?  You have "Date Day"!!!  And what a beautiful day!  The weather was perfect for a kayak trip down the Neuse River. 

At the drop off point, before entering the water

Jeff must have thought he was taming the rapids!

As you can see...not too many rapids  :-)

Sneaking up behind Jeff!

After a nice lunch to top off the trip it was time to head back to reality...hitting the grocery store and getting our little one out of lock up!  The rest of the weekend was just as fun and the weather just as nice.  We took Madison's pool down and she helped daddy clean it all up.  Since her dad was working on Sunday, we did quick errands and then back home to enjoy the weather even more.

Girls shopping

Lisa, Allie, Madison and I hit the stores early on Saturday morning. Lisa is a sucker for a good sale and we were on a mission to find the girls their Halloween outfits!!!

But first, I want to share a few pictures that Madison took during Grandma and Grandpa's visit last weekend...

Back to shopping...The first stop wasn't successful.  There were cute costumes but just not what we were looking for.  The sharks would have been cute if we had two boys!  We broke things up by taking the girls to Monkey Joe's to get some of their energy out before hitting "the Big Sale!"



Chasing Allie



Going down the slide

Lisa and I were both very surprised that Madison didn't just go crazy but those bouncies were horribly slippery and she just couldn't get her footing.  We didn't get them as played out as we were hoping but I think they still had a really great time.

We hit the BIG SALE and boy did we hit big!  Lisa made out like a bandit and I didn't do too much damage.  Madison had a great time since that is all I heard about on Sunday morning.  She was ready to do it all again!  The best part of the trip was finding the girls their Halloween costumes!!!  Stay tuned for the ultimate in cuteness! 

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend got off to a slow start and went out with a BANG!  What a great weekend!!!  But first I want to share a few potty practicing pictures.

And then you go like this...

Reading makes it go faster 

I Did It!!!

That was earlier in the week.  Mom and Dad got in late on Friday night.  Madison had already gone to bed.  She hadn't felt so great that evening and we were just hoping for her to get through the evening and she did really well.  The next morning she was VERY surprised to see Grandma and Grandpa when she got up.

That morning we had planned on heading to the Life and Science Museum for Madison to check out the Dinosaur Trail.  Little did we know she was starting not too feel so good again.  She was VERY excited in the morning and was go, go, go....then kinda hit a small wall.  There was a little smile here and there but her overall feeling was not so good.

We started in the farmyard.  There were sheep, donkeys, pigs...she wasn't ALL that interested...

See the sheep

We walked the dinosaur trail and checked out the ancient wildlife...

Digging for fossils

Touching the baby dinosaur

She became a bit interested at looking at the dinosaurs but the crash was about to take place and we weren't completely aware of it.

The start of the crash...

She was such a trooper! We continued to through the butterfly house and then started the local wildlife trail.  It wasn't long before she called it quits.  While sitting in the shade and watching the black bears, she called it quits for a few minutes.  A recharge was needed....

And done!!!

She continued her afternoon in the stroller and then it was off to home.  Our poor little girl slept ALL DAY LONG and didn't want to be disturbed...as you can see :-)

Sunday started slow and I was so afraid she wasn't going to make it.  But after a few grits, a little juice and persuasion she was ready to go!!!  We took it easy around the house, playing on the swing and reading books.  She had such a great time with Chloe, Grandma and Grandpa!!

Monday came quickly and she wasn't too anxious to see everyone leave.  She took a few more minutes to spend time with her Grandpa and to play with Chloe.  And then there is always PIZZA!  Nothing tops a great visit like cheese and pepperoni!