Monday, December 31, 2007

Christmas #2, Trip to NC and the Biltmore

We have returned! After a 9 day trip, we finally made it home yesterday afternoon and are appreciating all that "home" has to offer! (one example - we both sunk into bed last night and just smiled - the wonders of your "own" bed! Madigan took a 3 hour nap in her crib yesterday and today, so I think she feels the same way!) But, we had a WONDERFUL trip and were so glad to spend some quality time with both sides of our family. We traveled first to North Carolina and spent 6 days with Ted's mom, dad, and sister. Then, we headed home and made a stop in Jackson, TN to spend the weekend with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and nieces. My goal for this entry is to post pictures and stories from our time in North Carolina (aka - "Christmas #2") and then sometime later I'll get up the stuff from our time with the Marrows (which will probably be creatively named "Christmas #3"). So, here's a trip recap...
We left Friday night after work and stopped in Lebanon, TN for the night. Then, we arrived in Raleigh around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon, just in time for the annual (and extremely fun) Bowsman Family Christmas Party. For those of you who attended our Christmas party, this party was the inspiration for us starting the N. Little Rock version :). We ate, had the White Elephant gift exchange, and enjoyed catching up with friends we don't get to see very often. As you can see, Madigan had no trouble finding her place in the center of the group!
Here's a group picture. Unfortunately, we forgot to take it before a few people had left, but here's most of the group.Sunday we went to church and just hung out most of the day. Monday, Aunt Kate took Madigan shopping, so Ted and I had a little time to run around town alone. It was really nice to shop without checking to see what Madigan was reaching for or encouraging the use of a "quiet voice" (although Ted did get a little loud a couple of times)! The only problem was that we kept going to the same stores that Kate and Madigan were at and having to hide from them! I literally dove behind a clothes rack at one point. I felt a little guilty for hiding from my kid :), but they had a great time without us. That evening, we spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Kate's house and ate a wonderful dinner.Then, we opened presents from Ted's Aunt Shirley. Madigan got a doll and bottle which she LOVED. All we heard for the next five minutes was "baby, baby, baby".
She also got some Princess slippers and a pink tutu. Why is everyone out to make her a girly girl?!! But, she loved them (of course!) and had a lot of fun being a ballerina in her tutu. Here's a video of her grace and coordination (inherited from her mother?!).
Click here to see our Ballerina
Then, we spent Christmas day at Grandi and Gramps house (Ted's parents). Madigan got to play Santa and hand out all of the presents. And then... she helped unwrap all of the presents (although no one seemed to mind!) She got some wonderful new toys and clothes. I think she's decided this Christmas thing is pretty neat!
The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday we just hung out most of the time. Can you tell that Madigan had fun?! Every time we turned around, someone had a new "toy" for her to play with!
A Mickey Mouse tricycle
Bubbles!
A blow-up Santa the size of MadiganA Thomas the Tank Engine tent
(we weren't sure Gramps was going to be able to get out!)
Then, Ted and I got a special treat on Wednesday night. We got to go out for a belated Anniversary celebration... just the two of us!! We went to Carrabas and had a great time. When we returned, Madigan and Aunt Kate had a little surprise for us. Yes, those are Madigan's toenails...and yes, they are pink. She LOVES to stare at them! Thanks Aunt Kate!
On Thursday, we all drove to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore mansion. Wow - what a place! It was absolutely beautiful, but I have to admit that my favorite part was the basement where there was a bowling alley and indoor pool! Here are some pictures:Whew... you tired yet? We were but so glad we got to do all of this with the Bowsmans. Thanks Grandi, Gramps and Aunt Kate for a GREAT time!! We love you!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Christmas #1 and other things

Yes that's right - Christmas number ONE. In other words, there will be more to come after Christmas time with the grandparents :). But, Ted and I thought Madigan should have at least a couple of presents from her parents (since all we gave her for her birthday was some pajamas!) So, we let her open our presents on Thursday night. Here are some of the pics:
She got a Backyardigans sing-along boom-box and a silly songs CD (both bought with the LONG trip in mind!) She really liked them... but preferred the bow over them both!A few other things that I've just been late on getting posted...
We had a WONDERFUL time at Christmas party last Saturday. We had a special visitor all the way from the North Pole - Santa Claus! Unfortunately, Madigan decided that she was going to be scared of Santa that night, so we didn't get very good picture (even with Mommy holding her).However, she LOVED the present that he left with her... (what is it with other people giving her suckers?!!)Thanks to everyone who came and helped make it a great party!
One last thing - we had several small visitors at our house last week. The Noel and Thornhill kiddos came to stay with us for a few hours one night. Ted somehow got roped into reading a story and this is the picture I was able to capture. How cute is this? It was a long book, so only three of the six hung with him until the end, but they all thought he was a pretty good storyteller (although one of the older ones caught him trying to skip a part...he didn't count on them being able to read along!)
Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Picture with Santa

We had a really fun, really busy weekend! We celebrated our 5th anniversary, enjoyed Abigail Huff's 1st birthday party, and hosted our 5th annual Christmas party (with almost 50 people). Whew... I'm tired! I'm going to do my best to post more about each of those later (and some fun pictures from the party), but for now I just wanted to get up Madigan's picture with Santa for 2007. This was taken last weekend at "Christmas Lane" hosted by a local church (it was pretty incredible - free food, pony rides, train rides, pictures with Santa, shows, etc). I wasn't sure how she would do with Santa this year (she has a bit of stranger anxiety these days), but she went right up and sat with him. No smile, but we're not going to be picky!
Hope you all had a great weekend!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Sneak Peeks

Since Christmas is now less than TWO weeks away (can you believe it?!), we thought we should probably get started taking Madigan's pictures for our Christmas cards! So, I got her all dressed up in one of her Christmas dresses and after getting her approval...
we started the photo shoot. I've learned from experience that the best pictures of Madigan come when she's doing what she wants to do and I just happen to "catch" the smile. So, I let her play with some of the Christmas decorations that up until now have been "off limits". She had a pretty good time. Here are some of my favorites:

And then, of course, there were also just some funny ones. Check out how she's sitting in this one... (not very lady-like, but pretty comfortable!) And, check out the expression in these :). I was smiling really big and saying "smile, Madigan". This is what I got... (I hope that's not what I looked like!)All in all, it was a good photo session and I think we got the pictures we needed for the cards. So for now, from Madigan and her parents, "happy holiday y'all".

Saturday, December 08, 2007

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Growing up, we always had a "real" Christmas tree. And while I can definitely see the benefit of artificial trees, I just can't manage to give up on the real trees. I love the look of them (holes and all) and especially the smell that a Christmas tree brings to the house. Most of all, I love picking out the Christmas tree. And, this year, I was even more excited because Madigan would get to take part in the Christmas tree experience. (Last year she was 3 months old and never left the comfort of the car seat in the nice, warm car when we went to buy a tree!). So, we decided Friday after we got home from work that the time had come. However, Madigan was a bit confused. We kept saying, "Come on! Let's go get a Christmas tree!" and she'd give us a funny look and then disappear into the living room. Finally, she brought this in and we understood - we already had a tree!
However, we convinced her this Christmas tree would be even better (and bigger!). So we loaded up and headed out. As you can see, her excitement started to grow...
Once we arrived, she decided that maybe she WAS going to enjoy this. Look at all of these trees, Mom!
And finally, we found just the right one.
Madigan was quite pleased with the selection. In fact, she refused to get off of the trailer until Dad went and paid for it. I think she was guarding her turf!So, we got it home and started the decorating. The extra hands definitely made it more challenging than last year, but we had a lot of fun!Man, this Christmas decorating is EXHAUSTING!
But, we got it done and I'm happy to say that as of now (more than 24 hours later), the tree continues to stand with only minimal damage to some of the lower branches.
Now, on a different note...
Why is it that we find it so funny to get other people's kids to do things we'd never encourage our own kids to do? I know I had a blast slipping my friend's kids chocolate cake when they were barely toddling around. And, I've bought many noisy toys for my nieces that personally drive me crazy (many of which, unfortunately, are gradually finding their way to Madigan - didn't think about that!). I say all of this to tell you what Aunt Kate (who actually works with kids everyday) sent to Madigan today. Madigan opened up a package to her that had a neat book and a cute reindeer purse in it. Then, she opened up the purse to find...a ring pop. Somehow, Madigan seemed to know what this was and started begging to open it. I was able to divert her attention for a while, but eventually, it was just easier to cave. And sure enough, she knew exactly what it was and what to do with it. So, here are some pictures of what followed...

Needless to say, she loved it. Thanks, Aunt Kate!!!!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

See the resemblance?

She's looked like him since Day 1, but this is getting ridiculous... :)


I don't have too much to update on right now, but thought I'd post these pictures to hopefully give you a laugh! Aunt Lexie took these when she and Justin came to visit a couple of months ago. Thanks for the use of your glasses, Lexus!

Friday, November 30, 2007

Madigan's Grandparents

Madi's grandparents recently got together for the first time in a while. This is the video from their time together.

Click Here

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Over already?!!

And just like that, Thanksgiving break is over! Now if only we had a week to recover... :) We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving holiday and enjoyed spending time with our family. I'm not sure we'll ever be able to straighten Madigan out from all of the spoiling she received, but we're going to give it a try! I'll try to give you a run-down of our week.
Since we were both able to get the whole week off, we decided it was time to again take the "Tour of Texas" (aka, visiting my family - which means going most of the way across the great state of Texas). We started out on Saturday and went as far as the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex where we stayed the night with Aunt Lexie and Uncle Justin. That evening, the Chism family (some of our friends from Harding) came over and we played games and had fondue (you know, everything does taste better dipped in cheese and chocolate :) ). It was great to see them and our Madi fell in love with the other Maddie (their 6 month old daughter, Madelyn - she is SO cute!!!) On Sunday, we went to church with all of them in Krum and got to see some other friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. It was a lot of fun - the only bad part was that the visit was really short!!
After church on Sunday, we headed out west to where the land is flat and the wind always blows. We arrived in Levelland (30 miles west of Lubbock) around 7 that night and got to spend the next few days with Granddad and the West Texas Marrow bunch. Here are a few pictures from our stay there.
Madigan really bonded with her Great-Granddad. They picked pecans together, played hide and seek between two rooms and played ball together. However, Madigan's favorite game by far consisted of her holding onto Granddad's walker while he "shook" her up. It was hysterical! We have a video of it that I'll try to post in the next few days (once Ted shows me how to do that!)
Madigan also got to see some of her great aunts, great uncles, and 2nd and 3rd cousins. Needless to say, she enjoyed the attention!
Also while we were in Levelland, we visited a really neat park. It looked like a castle. There was a special part for the "little" kids that Madigan really enjoyed. I'll try to post a video of her swinging in the next few days (it's complete with some really "girly" squeals...)
One last picture from Levelland. This won't have much meaning for most of you, but it's really special for me. My grandparents have had this chair as long as I can remember and my cousins and I spent many hours in it playing "Santa Claus" (one of my older cousins got to be Santa and ask "Ho ho ho! What do you want for Christmas little girl?" and the rest of us got to make up extravagant gift ideas that we knew better than to ask our parents for.) Silly game, but still brings back good memories of being at Grandma and Granddad's. Anyway, here's Madigan having a good time in that chair (and note how well she matches, Mom!)
But, the trip had to go on! On Wednesday morning, we packed up and headed to Graham to spend Thanksgiving at Mema and Papa's. We went to church in Throckmorton on Wednesday night where Uncle Greg preaches and then spent the day with all of the family (the whole Melton crew and my parents) on Thursday. Madigan sure loved her Mema's turkey and dressing, but couldn't understand why the rest of the day all of the grown ups laid around looking miserable. Is there such a thing as too much food?! We did have a special treat on Thanksgiving day - it snowed!! Madigan wasn't sure about the wet, white stuff hitting her face, but enjoyed being outside!
Make sure you note the difference in the clothes we were wearing from the last pictures to these. The temperatures fell from 75 degrees to 32 degrees in a little over 24 hours! We didn't take as many pictures at Mema and Papa's because Gee Gee, Pa, Papa, and Aunt D'Anne were also snapping pictures! But, we'll get some of theirs and post more later. Here's one more special picture though. While were were in Graham, we pulled the toys out from the closet - these were toys that the grandkids (my brother, me and my two cousins) grew up playing with. Included in the toys were a bunch of books that I have memories of Mema spending hours reading to me. Some things don't change...they just get passed on to someone new :)
On Friday, we went to the Walmart in Graham and did a little bit of Christmas shopping (that's as brave as we get on Black Friday!!) Then, we had a wonderful lunch at Uncle Greg and Aunt D'Anne's and then headed east. We made it to Tyler in the early evening and had a great dinner with Auntie (my great-aunt). After dinner, we went back to Auntie's house where Madigan decided that there was no question about it - Auntie had the coolest house she'd ever seen. Especially with all of the (very breakable) glass figurines, jewelry boxes and music boxes. I was worn out by the time we left from being a human barrier between her and anything that had the potential of breaking:). But, we really enjoyed spending some time with Auntie. We left her house after a while and drove 45 more miles until we (FINALLY) arrived at my parents house where we spent the remainder of the weekend. And, as always, Madigan had a blast! She got to ride in a wagon INSIDE the house, eat cookies right before bedtime, and play with toys in stores that we had no intention of buying (none of which would ever have been allowed when we were kids). Plus, she got to ride in the trailer behind Gee Gee's new "yard bug" (is this the start of the "pageant wave"? )Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold the whole time we were there, so the riding was confined to around the porch. But, she's already looking forward to going back in the spring and riding all around Gee Gee and Pa's land!
Again, we took less pictures here because Pa and Gee Gee had their cameras going full-force! We'll have to get their pictures and will post those later. Anyway, we did some shopping, sat by the fire, ate too much (again) and then went to church with them on Sunday. After lunch, we headed home and arrived safely around 6:30 Sunday night. We were pretty exhausted, but so glad we got to make the trip and see everyone. We're so thankful for our families and what they mean to us. We are constantly reminded how blessed we are to have such amazing people in our lives.
So, that was our week! I'll leave you with one last picture that makes me smile every time I see it. Ted was out of town for most of the week before we left and Madi really missed her Daddy. So, it was even more exciting to her that he was with us the WHOLE week of Thanksgiving (as you can tell from this picture!)