A Lot of Happenings

It's been less than a week since I blogged, but we have had a LOT to write about. So, settle back and grab some popcorn - this will probably be a long blog. :)

Spoiled Rotten - Part 2

Grandi and Gramps (Ted's parents) arrived on Thursday afternoon and were able to stay until Sunday afternoon. Madigan LOVED it! Along with a lot of attention, she also received some more Easter "treats". They gave her a bunny purse, a book, some adorable outfits, and Grandi's favorite - lots of shoes! Madigan kept reaching in the bag and excitedly screaming "more shoes!". One pair of "shoes" was actually a really cute pair of frog rain boots that came with a matching rain coat. At first Madigan only wanted to put them on Daddy's feet. However, the next morning, the first thing she said was "boots"! So, we put them on with her pajamas. Nice outfit, huh?!We got to do some extra celebrating this trip. Grandi's birthday was on Friday! We went to Chili's for dinner and topped off a great dinner with a Molten Lava Cake (yum!). That was just "okay" in Madigan's opinion - the real fun didn't start until Grandi got to open her present. Here's Madigan giving her a card:
The only problem - the card had Dora and Boots on it. So, after it was opened, Madigan claimed it for herself again..."Whatcha got there, Grandi?"All in all, it was a rockin' good time for all :)However, I have my suspicions that what was in the gift basket was NOT Grandi's favorite birthday present. I think it was the moments spent doing this...
And as always, Grandi and Madigan spent quite a bit of time bonding over their books...
Before you start feeling sorry for Gramps, let me assure you that he got plenty of Madigan time as well. Here they are having fun in the sandbox.And here they are playing with some fun Easter toys while watching some basketball (it was March Madness, you know!)I would try to explain why Madigan has no clothes on, but I don't know. This is what happens when I go to work for half a day! (Trust me though, Madigan had no complaints!)And here's Madigan reading her Bible to Gramps. "God made Me!"Also while they were here, Gramps captured this video of Madigan and Jenna that was too good not to post! Note the difference in their "dancing" styles


As always, we had a wonderful visit and are so glad Grandi and Gramps got to come see us. Thanks for everything!

Daffodil Festival

Also while Ted's parents were here, we went to see the annual "Daffodil Festival" at Wye Mountain (about 30 miles west of us). It was beautiful! There are 7 acres of nothing but daffodils - perfect for spring pictures!

Madigan was much more interested in being Miss Independent and running around freely than sitting for pictures, but we managed to get these few family pics...
Madigan liked the flowers, but by far, her favorite part of the trip was an old tree that made a perfect "chair". Check out her hair in this picture :) Did I mention the wind was blowing a lot?!

Easter Sunday

I was excited to see how Madigan would do this Easter. Last year, she was too young to get into the egg hunts or even eat any of the candy (she's a pro at that now). We had the Easter dress and shoes (thanks GeeGee) and Daddy had bought her and Easter basket, so we were ready to roll! Our church's "Bible Hour" hosts an Easter egg hunt and Madigan quickly picked up on what she needed to do. Here are some of the pics :

Ready, Set... GO!

"Can I get some help here?!""I found another one!""Did you know there's candy inside the eggs?! What a great holiday!"

"Come on Jenna - you don't want to miss out on this!"Here's a video of the fun

Once again, she wasn't in the mood for family pictures, so we just snapped them where we could!
Visiting the Cousins

Madigan and I made a quick trip to Tennessee to see my brother's family. We were able to take Ella (my 4 year old niece) out for lunch on Monday and eat lunch with Avery (my 6 year old niece) at her school on Tuesday. Of course, the first thing Madigan wanted to do was drive the Jeep!

The girls tried to figure out ways all three of them could ride at once - Ella across the hood...Avery hanging onto the back...Madigan also had fun with some of their other toys. She wasn't too sure what to do with this, but she thought she'd give it a try.Sidewalk chalk is fun wherever you are!
Here's a video of Madigan drawing her ABC. No, that's not a typo - I really mean her ABC and not her ABCs because the only letters she knows are A, B, and C. She used to say A-B-C-C-C-C... Now she's decided just to repeat A-B-C-A-B-C... Either way, it's pretty funny!


And yet, with all of those toys, this was by far Madigan's favorite part...
She went up and down and up and down and... you get the picture.
Madigan also decided that after a day of running from and fussing everytime their dog would come in the room, Murphy actually made a good friend. On Tuesday, she followed him around petting him and saying "Hey Dawwwwwg"
Thanks to Matt, Susie, Avery and Ella for letting us come visit. We had a wonderful time!!

Baby Fun

Last but not least, I wanted to post a couple of pictures of Madigan and her friend Cooper (or Curper as she says). Cooper came to stay with us for a few hours last night and Madigan had a blast.

I kept telling her to only bring him BIG toys, so she'd find something from her box, hold it up to get approval, and then give it to him. At one point, he had quite a bit around him so I told her that he probably had enough. She looked up and seemed to be thinking for a minute and then said "Bible", disappeared and returned with one of her baby bibles for him. Apparently she thought there was something he needed to read!
Thanks Justin and Emily for sharing Baby Cooper with us!

Spoiled Rotten (Part 1)

Yes, that's right. We had another grandparent visit last weekend. And to make the "spoiled" factor worse, more grandparents are coming to visit this weekend (followed by two aunts, an uncle and some cousins over the next month). I'm not sure we'll ever straighten Madigan out from all of this spoiling!
GeeGee (my mom) got to come visit this past weekend. (Unfortunately, Pa had to work :( ). She got here in time for dinner on Friday night and brought with her an Easter basket. Have you ever seen so many goodies?!Madigan hadn't. I think it's bigger than her. She LOVED it!!! Especially the candy...But, the fun did not end there. On Saturday, we went out and did what GeeGee and Madigan love to do the most (and Mommy just barely tolerates) - we SHOPPED!! GeeGee wanted to buy Madigan an Easter dress, so we went to Kohl's and found an adorable pink polka dot dress (I'll be sure to take pics on Sunday and post them soon). Then, we continued shopping and somehow Madigan made it home with THREE new toys. She wasn't sure what to think. Mom said she kept picking out things and then a few minutes later putting them back on the shelf. I told her that's because that's all we let her do when we go to stores! One new toy was a baby that goes to sleep when you feed her her bottle. Madigan and GeeGee had lots of fun playing with the baby. I thought this video was too cute not to post (so I'm going against GeeGee's wishes!!)

Madigan also got a new Backyardigans toy that sings Ted's favorite song (I'm being extremely sarcastic) and a Diego bath toy. As you can see, she had a blast with them.And yet, the fun STILL wasn't over. On Sunday, Ted and I had a meeting at church, so GeeGee picked up some lunch and brought Madigan home. Instead of doing the normal "sit in your seat and eat at the table" lunch, GeeGee let her have a picnic in the living room! She got to eat, play, eat some more, etc. Man, GeeGee is so much cooler than Mommy.And to add to her coolness, GeeGee didn't make her drink that nasty milk or juice. Nope, GeeGee gave her SPRITE to drink. Now every time she sees a drink with a straw, she says "Madi's juice". Nice...Can you tell we had a fun weekend?!!Not only that, but while GeeGee was here, she and I went to the gym to work out. It was a lot of fun. Also, she cleaned my pantry and refrigerator - I PROMISE I didn't ask her to. She just does things like that! :) Thanks GeeGee for a wonderful visit!!!

I also thought I would post some pictures of Madigan's latest hobby. She constantly asks to color and loves her crayons and paper. One day, however, she decided she'd handle things herself and this is what I found...
That's my work planner and a pencil. Not the optimal place to "color", but I have to admit, it makes me smile to find her artwork in my planner on my busy workdays. :)

It's Back!!!

Spring, that is! We're back to having afternoons in the 70s and are enjoying opening up the house and letting fresh air in! Madigan has especially enjoyed getting outside and not having to hear "it's time to go in - it's too cold and we don't want you to get sick..." Yesterday, I took the girls out after their naps to swing. They enjoyed swinging together on the porch swing...

But also loved swinging by themselves on the tree swing (it goes a lot higher!)
Here are a few videos of the fun: (sorry for the quality - it's difficult to film and swing at the same time!)



We also broke out the sidewalk chalk. As you can see, they thought that was pretty cool.
I was drawing something on the sidewalk with Jenna and realized Madigan had gotten kind of quiet (which is usually a reason for concern). I turned around to find her...reading her Bible. That's what I get for being suspicious of my own child :).

We even dug out the spring/summer tub of clothes. Madigan loves the "new clothes (especially the shirts with DORA on them!) She also likes that I'm letting her run around the house without shoes on.
So who knows if the spring weather will hold out, but we're going to enjoy it while we can!!
Hope you're having a wonderful day!

Snow Day... Part Deux

What a great week - two of my three "work days" turned into SNOW days!! Leave it to Arkansas weather to wait until the first week in March to dump out the snow. After our snow day on Tuesday, the weather turned pretty again and was in the 50s on Wednesday and Thursday. But on Friday, we woke up to school closings and a lot of... nothing. The temperature was above freezing (36 degrees) and nothing was falling from the sky, but all of the area schools were closed. Why? Apparently just in anticipation of the snow! However, the temperature continued to drop and by 10:00 the snow was coming down pretty good, so I for one was glad not to be stuck in a school with a bunch of hyper kids. We got about 3 inches of snow (northern parts of the state got about 15 inches!) and again we had a blast (and this time, Daddy even got to join us!)Madigan started to get a little braver in touching the snow (at least with her gloves on!)

And having Daddy home added a new factor to playing in the snow. He introduced her to... snowballs!

She thought they were pretty fun to hold and throw, but was not so impressed when they hit her. (Note: when she says "nos", that's "snow, not "no")

Here's a video of her "running" in the snow... :)

After all of that fun, there was only one way to relax - Daddy, the recliner, and a bag of corn chips!
And just for fun - here's a random video. I know I already posted one of Madigan reading, but this one cracked me up. She had been reading for over 10 minutes before I even started filming... (I think we've got ourselves a talker!)

Enjoy your weekend!

And Just Like That...

Spring is gone. Or at least, delayed for a short time!
That's right - our 70+ degree weather from Saturday and Sunday turned into a Snow Day for Tuesday! Crazy, huh? Actually, we went from 62 degrees yesterday morning to 33 degrees by the time I got home at 9:00 last night. And then the snow started! However, when we woke up this morning, my school district wasn't closed (because it was 34 degrees and the snow wasn't sticking), so we went on with the normal morning routine. But, since snow has been very scarce this winter, we had to get some pics! (Make sure you note the poor baby in her swimsuit - not really dressed appropriately!)
Madigan liked how the snow looked...She was okay with how it felt on her hand...But she was less than thrilled with how it felt when the cold wind blew the snow on her face!!

Unfortunately, I had to finish getting ready for work, so we headed back inside. I even dressed Madigan in her snowman shirt in support of the weather.We were about 15 minutes from leaving the house when my friend (who watches Madigan on Tuesdays) called with the good news. They had posted that my school district was CLOSED!!! Which means... SNOW DAY!! So, we decided to do it right.

Snow boots (thanks Grandi!)

Gloves

Hat and coat

Now she's ready to hit the slopes!

We even made a snowman. Well... sort of. We had very limited time (because it was really cold) and limited supplies (because we don't typically keep charcoal and buttons around for snowman-making). So, we made a very small snowman's upper body and then added the baby carrot nose and twigs for the arms. For the eyes and mouth, we used what was readily accessible - baby M&Ms! (Note: in case you ever wondered, chocolate DOES melt in snow). Finally, we added the hat and scarf, which were Madigan's. So instead of a big snowman, we made a little SnowGirl!

Madigan liked the snowgirl, but was much more interested in the candy on her face...

Now, we have a very hot pot of tomato juice noodles (Madigan and Mommy's favorite meal) on the stove and are about to enjoy our lunch and a long winter's nap (at least for one of us... or maybe both of us!) What a great snow day (and it's not even noon!) Hope you're having a great day too!
Sidenote - Our apologies to Daddy who didn't get the day off work and has to read this. We really wish you were here with us!

A Night on the Town

No, Ted and I didn't have a date. This was MADIGAN'S night on the town - or at least that's what she dressed for. :) Some of Ted's friend's from work had a wedding shower at a local catfish restaurant on Friday night, so I dressed Madigan in her blue jeans, a cute shirt and her brown shoes. Apparently, that wasn't enough accessorizing for my kid. Soon, she came in with a strand of red beads. No big deal - the red even matched so I knew GeeGee would be proud. A few minutes later, she disappeared again and came in with a shiny Cubs cap and asked me to put it on so I did. Harmless enough - I'm sure she'll just take it off. The next time she came in, she looked like this...Yes, that's a shiny, pink "purse" to go with the outfit and the Backyardigan, Pablo (who apparently goes with any outfit). But wait - we're not done. That's right - we can't leave without the cell phone.

"Hold on Mom and Dad, I need to call my peeps before we leave."I ask again - where did I go wrong?!

Thankfully, she agreed to take off the hat and beads before going in the restaurant, but the cell phone and purse were a must. Nonetheless, we had a great time and Madigan got lots of attention!
Also this weekend, we've witnessed the coming of SPRING!! The weather was in the 70s and we were able to open up the windows and pull out the shades...Madigan had fun playing outside without having to "bundle up". (These pics were actually taken on Thursday when it was still a little cool. But Saturday, we had the short-sleeved shirts on.)
Also, we got the piano tuned last week, so Daddy and Madigan have been having fun playing some tunes (Mommy's "playing" is putting a roll in the player piano!)After all of that excitement, it was time to crash...
Have a great week!