Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Memorial Day weekend was very memorable.  There was a downpour on Friday, therefore the weekend was just hot and sticky!  With temperatures over 95 each day it was best to find really "cool" things to do.  Saturday morning Jeff worked so Madison followed me around asking every few minutes, "Is it time to see Emma yet?"  Saturday afternoon we were going to see Emma for her 3rd birthday party!  Madison just couldn't wait.   

Emma waiting to dig into her Dora Cupcake Cake

The girls licking the icing off the decorations

We finished having a picnic, opening presents and having cake and made our way back to Emma's house so that her dog, Dakota, could be part of the fun.  She was so excited to see everyone and did really well with the girls. Emma's playroom was full of all kinds of new toys and she couldn't wait to show them ALL to Madison.  Before long, everyone, including the parents, was getting tired.  It was time to give kisses and get on our way.

Dakota giving Madison her a kiss goodbye!

Sunday was a little less fun and more serious.  Madison had us up most of the night in pain and not being able to get comfortable.  She had not felt 100% the night before and it was worse Sat night.  She kept complaining of it hurting when she pee'd.  Luckily our pediatrician has Sunday hours and we were able to get her in to find she had a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection).  No fun if you've ever had one.  Our little girl was a champ though.  The first time she's ever pee'd in a cup!!!  You can get a three year old do to just about anything if you tell her there's a milkshake for her if she does a good job!!!  Of course, the rest of the day she wanted to pee in a cup!!!  The rest of the day was spent relaxing and trying to keep cool.  That afternoon Lisa invited us over for a cook out.  This gave the girls time to run, run, run.  Allie and Madison are doing so good together.  It was nice to be able to have some adult time.  They just played and played until it was time to peel them away from each other.

Retail is a horrible beast!  Monday morning, Jeff had to be back at work.  This gave me plenty of time to play with Ms. Lace.  She had gotten plenty of sleep the night before so we were go, go, go all morning.  That afternoon we were invited to the pool with Lisa, Allie and Jeff.  It was hard to believe but those girls played for three hours in the pool!  Needless to say, when we got home, Madison didn't want to do anything but take   a nap.  She was out before even eating dinner!

Madison having a snack at the pool

It was back to work and school on Tuesday.  Madison is feeling so much better and lets everyone know!  Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend as well.

Starting Summer 2011

Temperatures got very close and probably over 90 degrees this weekend.  Saturday Jeff had to work for a bit so that gave Madison and me time to do a bit of shopping and have some girl time!  We made a few stops including the library to pick up quite a few new books to read.  She did such a great job on our day out.  The rest of the day was kept staying cool and reading her new books.

Sunday she was out early.  Wanting to take her "dog" for a walk we went outside and went for a walk.  Then we were outside most of the morning playing in her water table, driving her car, etc.  She played hard all morning and when it was time for a nap she didn't fight it!  That never happens!!! :-)  After waking from her nap, she was quick to remind me that I was going to paint her nails, which we did.  And then it was time to change into her bathing suit and go play with Allie!!!

The girls enjoyed a bit of ice cream and some fun in the sun...

Bathing beauty

Bathing goofball!

Two goofballs!!!

Two friends kicking in the pool

Turtle Fest

I'm going to start this week out by just saying, "Our little girl really loves her banana milkshakes."

Saturday we met Emma and her mom and dad at a local park for Turtle Fest.  We got there early to beat the rush.  Since we were so early, we had time to walk around the lake and check out the wildlife.  Well, it was more just keeping an eye on the girls to make sure they didn't go in the water or off the beaten path!  They really had a nice time.  I think they enjoyed the walk more than the actual events.  The girls did like the stickers that were being handed out and liked checking out the turtles and snakes on display.  

The girls had so much fun on Saturday but we had to cut it short since it was clearly nap time.  Such a good time in fact, we did it again on Sunday morning for a few hours.  The girls played so hard and again, nap time rolled around and it was time to go their separate ways.  

Before leaving the Turtle Fest

Madison woke up from her nap and then got to spend time with her other Bestie Allie!  Lisa had taken a picture of them last week and they are just too cute!

Mother's Day 2011

It was more like Mother's Weekend!  Although I had to work on Saturday for just a little bit, I was still able to enjoy in a few of the events via email/text msging.  Miss Lace and Daddy went to Home Depot for the Kids Workshop where she built a cute Tulip Planter.   She took the cutest picture when she was finished and her Jeff sent it to me via text.  She is such a little cutie! 

That afternoon after I got home we spent some time out in the yard doing some weeding and cutting the grass.  She wasn't too keen on it but she stuck it out.  That evening we spent some time over at Allie's playing.  Madison played and played and played.  Jeff was making a cassserole that needed to sit overnight and Madison was helping.  This picture shows how hard she played...

"Really Dad, I'm tired and want to go to bed."

The day before when we were outside we found a turtle.  I had moved him to another flowerbed since I was using the lawnmower in the area where I found him.  Guess he decided he wanted to go back where I found him.  He was making his way back across the lawn so Madison and I went down to talk to him.

There was a nice breakfast served and then it was time to work it all off so we went for a walk.  Since we hadn't done letterboxing in a while we found a few new boxes in a new area.  Madison didn't seem to feel 100% and wanted to be carried while we walked. That silly girl!  

The walk was good but the letterboxing was unsuccessful since we only found one box of the four hidden.  It was time to fill our bellies again.  We took Madison to have lunch at the Mellow Mushroom for pizza.  I'll have to see if I can get the video downloaded of the conversation she and I had about having pizza. 

When we got home she surprised me with the planter she made for me the day before.  She was so very proud!  And it was so beautiful! 

What a perfect Mother's Day!!!

Pampering by Madison

Mother's Day started early this week.  The daycare had a Pamper Your Mom Time set aside at school.  I took a break from "changing peoples lives" to be pampered by my little girl!  

It started with a little lotion on our hands.

There was some back rubbing that took place but Madison wasn't really into that.  Then came the time for Madison to do my hair.  We've done this many times at home so she knew what she was doing.  She really liked combing my hair out. 

The children had been working all week on a small musical number.  For some reason Madison just wasn't feeling it and decided to just walk away.  But then we got to share in a little snack and all was better.

The time spent with her was short but it was so much fun and I'm so very glad I made that time to spend with my little one today.  She seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.  Can't wait to do it again!!!

 It was a WONDERFUL break in my day!

I LOVE YOU SQUIRT!!!

Strawberry Season Starts Summer Surprises!

Enough said!!!

Honestly, strawberry season started a couple of weeks ago and today was the first chance we were able to get to the field.  Classic southern style, we had scheduled a day out with Emna, her mom and dad.  We had planned on meeting at the field at 10am and it didn't open until NOON!  UGH!  In order to pass the time, we took the girls to the local park and let them run, run, run.  Once again the girls played wonderfully and had such a great time.  The squirrel that kept checking them out was the highlight of their time at the park.  It appeared the squirrel was looking for something to snack on and he didn't realize the girls were NOT what he was looking for!
The time finally came when it was time to get the girls back in the car and head to the strawberry field.  The girls played so hard at the park I was afraid Madison was going to fall asleep (it was just a short time before her normal naptime!).  I then realized that she was very excited to get out there and pick her share of strawberries.

The first bite of the season

Y-U-M!!!

Tasty!!!!

 Miss Lace loved having Emma there. She and Emma kept comparing the strawberries they were picking...or should I say eating!

Emma and Madison snacking

With two buckets full of strawberries it was time to head back to our house for burgers and dogs.  But had to stop and take just a few more pictures before heading off.

I still have room for more!

This is my silly face

Emma and Madison had a really WONDERFUL day together (six hours of nonstop play!).  Liz had to carry Emma out kicking and screaming, literally!

Well...off to bed.  It's Monday tomorrow and we have to get ourselves psyched up.  Love to all!!  

Easter 2011, Part Two

Jeff and I were loving the darkening shades at Andy's hotel.  They gave us time to catch up on our sleep since our little girl didn't realize the sun had come up and she was still sleeping :-)  We don't get that at home.  As soon as the sun is up, so is Madison. 

There was a little rain in the forecast for Saturday.  Trains and orangutans were on the list and the rain wasn't going to slow us down.  Two trains is what we needed to get us to the zoo and Madison was growing impatient that it was taking so long for the trains to come.

Make the trains come faster daddy!

We weren't the only ones that decided today would be a good day to go to the zoo.  They were very busy very early.  Luckily Madison is small and she is able to squeeze in most places to see what she wanted to see.  This was the first time we had been to a zoo where there were animals we had only read about in books.  She was blown away by the size of the elephants and thought they were incredible.

In the Asian rainforest, Madison spied a small cat...her response to that was, "Please may I have one, Mommy."

The meerkats kept her busy as she tried to follow one from one end of the window display to the next and then back again.

Madison started falling asleep.  She was getting tired keeping track of all the animals.  Just as we were getting ready to leave, we decided to stop by to see if there were some animals to pet at the BarnYard.  Thank goodness there was a black and white cow for her to touch.  Do you think she thought that was pretty cool?

And then she finally caved in.  She hung in there for as long as she could.  It was starting to get WAY too crowded for the three of us and our tummy's were telling us it was time to leave too.

We had a quick bite to eat on our way back to the Metro.  Hit two trains and then back to the hotel for a quick clean up and then it was time for dinner with Uncle Gregg and Andy.

Andy and Cooper

 Uncle Gregg had made a fabulous Easter Basket for Madison.    We had such a nice time that we hated it was so late and it was time to go home.  This is just before leaving when Andy and Madison were playing a game on my phone.

Easter weekend was so nice.  Thanks to all who fed us and gave us a place to stay!!!
 The weekend was fabulous!!!