Surprise!

No, the surprise isn't that I'm blogging again. Although that would be a logical guess. This is the busy time of year for me as we wind up the school year. I've realized that if Madigan ever looks back through old blog entries for a chronicle of her life, she's going to be disappointed every time she gets to the month of May. :) BUT, the light is shining at the end of the tunnel since the school year will be over in a week and a half!! So maybe I'll get caught up on blogs soon...or maybe I'll just lay around and do nothing for a while :)
Enough about that though. The real surprise was a weekend of partying for my mom's 50th birthday. Dad and I conspired behind her back for a while and planned a secret trip to Rusk. We arrived on Friday afternoon and that evening met up with my grandparents and great-aunt at a restaurant. My dad picked Mom up from work and brought her there where she was met with a table full of people that she had no idea were coming in for the weekend and a really obnoxious sign that said "Happy Birthday Teri! The Big 5-0!"
The pictures speaks for itself...Even though she was very pleased to see Madigan, we got this look a lot... (for those of you who don't know my mom, this is her look that says "I will get you back for this")
But, once she got over the embarrassment of the whole restaurant knowing she was 50, she started to warm up a bit. It helped when we pulled out some presents. My dad went above and beyond and got her a beautiful grandmother's ring. (I think he knew he'd better get something good so he wouldn't be sleeping on the couch!) You can see she liked it.
That was it. No big deal. And really, was all of that so bad? No, of course not. So why is she looking like this as we pulled up to their house?

Maybe because circling their large wrap-around porch were 50 plus people who had come out to help celebrate with her as she reached the 50 year milestone (aka, torment her)!

Her best friends even met her at the car to welcome her home...with a wheelchair and some black carnations. I mean, what are friends for?A lot of people brought cards and gifts...a few were even nice :)
I actually think she had a good time, although I'm not sure she would admit it. And look who's hanging out in the wings looking all innocent.
Good try Dad, but I think she knows you were involved!
Happy Birthday Mom/GeeGee! We're looking forward to the next surprise birthday party...when you turn 100.

It worked out nicely that we also got to be there for Mother's Day this year. My dad got Mom and I beautiful corsages to wear to church. This was our best attempt to get Madigan to smile normally for a girl's picture.
We did finally get a good family picture!Also on this trip (I think it was a payback to me for surprising her with the party), Gee Gee pulled out her pompoms and megaphone from high school. I'll give you one guess who enjoyed playing with those. Let the corruption begin...Other than that :), it was a great weekend and one we won't soon forget. Thanks to Dad for the planning/plotting and to Mom for not having a nervous breakdown when you discovered 50 people in your house that you didn't know were going to be there! We love you both!

Gee Gee's granddaughter

Last week, Ted was making packages to take to the post office of things he'd sold on Ebay. Madigan was helping. As Ted finished a package in the bedroom, he gave it to Madigan and she moved them into the living room. I came around the corner after a little while and found this...
All of the boxes were lined up and facing the correct way, labels turned so that you could read the names. She was quite proud of herself. Ted thought it was hilarious. I, on the other hand, had all of the characteristics of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder flashing through my head. I'm afraid we've let Gee Gee have a little too much influence on this one...

Our Garden 2009

Last weekend, we finally got around to planting our garden. Madigan was much more excited about it this year than last year. She decided what she wanted to plant and helped us find the plants at the nursery. Then we got home and her evil parents made her take a NAP before going out to plant them. The anticipation was almost too much, but she survived.

Here's the pre-planting pictures. (Plumber Pants Alert!!)

Madigan learned that gardening takes a lot of concentration.
But there's also some room for some fun. :)Thankfully, Daddy gave her a hand with the actual planting. But she decided she could take care of the watering herself.



By far, the coolest part of the experience was finding the worms...


After a long day of gardening, there was only one thing a girl could do. Relax with a big bowl of lime sherbet.
All in all, a great time. We'll keep you posted as to whether or not the plants actually produce any vegetables :)

Get Well, Grandi!

Ted's mom had rotator cuff surgery on Monday morning. She's doing well, but Madigan's been very concerned about Grandi. On Monday night she prayed that Grandi would feel better and that Gramps would take care of her. :) On Tuesday she picked some flowers in the yard and said she wanted to send them to Grandi. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to ship weeds to North Carolina. Tonight she made a video message...



We're praying for you Grandi and hope you feel better very soon!

Easter

And now, the Easter pics...
Grandi bought Madigan a very cute dress and shoes. The coolest part was that it came with a matching dress for her baby! Madigan has been eagerly anticipating when she and "Baby" would get to dress up in their Easter dresses.
I think she looks huge in this picture (Madigan, not the baby). Where did my tiny girl go?!A close up...
Unfortunately, the Spring rains came to visit us on the same day as the Easter bunny. So rather than hunt eggs in a torrential downpour, the church Easter egg hunt was moved into the gym/ministry center. Madigan was in awe of all of the kids and the ridiculous number of eggs just laying around. So she just stood there, staring. Here's Ted trying to encourage her to pick up an egg. She finally got into the spirit and picked up 4 or 5 eggs. Then she said she was done. What?! We assured her it was okay to get more eggs but she refused. Until she saw how her buddy was doing across the room. Yes, that's Jenna claiming her pile of eggs. :)Not one to look away in the face of competition, Madigan picked up some more eggs and even posed for some pictures. Hey, what kind of candy ya got?Even Miss Mandy was there to have some fun. I thought this was a really cute picture of the two of them. All in all, it was a very fun Easter experience. Thanks Grandi and Gramps for the dress and to the Easter bunny for visiting us!

We Love Our Friends

I've got some Easter pics to get up, but Ted's using the camera at work today. I'll get those posted soon. In the meantime, I'll entertain you with some pictures of Madigan with her friends.

This is our newest friend - Baby Will! He is absolutely precious and Madigan is quite smitten with him. We talk about him a lot during the week and are SO excited when we see him at church. I personally think she's just excited to finally have a Prince at small groups...

He wasn't too happy in this picture and Madigan wasn't sure what to do with a crying baby.But it didn't take long for him to get happy again and then they had some very good conversations... And Madigan showed him all of her toys - one by one by one... He was enthralled, as you can see. What a cutie!

Another day, Madigan went to hang out with her older friends (the 3 and 4 year olds) at a Princess Birthday Party!! I had softball practice, so Daddy got to escort her to the party. I found that a little bit amusing :) (although I will add that I was 5 minutes late to practice because we spent nearly 20 minutes looking for the second Sleeping Beauty slipper. I did NOT tell my teammates that.)

Madigan as Sleeping Beauty (sidenote - if anyone tells her this is not a real Sleeping Beauty costume, I will hunt you down...)

Madi's friend that was having the party lives down the street, so she got to ride in her carriage.One of the highlights -they had a "Princess Parade" where each of the princesses were escorted into the room and introduced. (Excuse the last few seconds of this video. Apparently Ted didn't know it was still running.)

Madigan and her buddiesThe Royal Party guests (make sure you note the pirate in the back - that's the poor older brother who had to put up with all of the princesses!)Fortunately I made it for the end of the party and got to enjoy some of the yummy pink cupcakes! Thanks to Avery for inviting us all! What a great party and great friends!!

Grandparents Galore

Finally - the long awaited post!
As mentioned earlier, Madigan got the special treat of getting to spend time with all 4 of her grandparents in one week. Ted's parents came to our house for a visit the weekend before Spring Break. They got here on a Thursday and then flew back home on Monday. Then, Madigan and I went to my parent's house that Thursday and came home on Saturday. So, out of 10 days, Madigan had grandparents spoiling her for 8 of them. That was almost two weeks ago. We're still hearing "well, GeeGee let me do that" , "Pa said I could have that", "Gramps and I did that" and my favorite, "I'm going to call Grandi" when she's not getting her way. :)

Cute picture of Madigan with Grandi and GrampsPosing in front of the flowers with Grandi

A tea party with a glass tea set from Grandi

Make sure Gramps gets some tea...

I actually have a confession. I've gotten really bad about not taking pictures if grandparents are here and using their camera (s). I just figure they'll get all of the good pics and then I'll transfer them to our computer before they leave (the beauty of digital cameras). However, that only works if you remember to transfer their pictures before they leave. I kind of forgot to do that when Grandi and Gramps were here. The last few pictures are the ones they graciously emailed to me. Thank you! I will do better next time...

Onto GeeGee and Pa's house -

Coloring with GeeGee

Cuddling with Pa

Since we won't see my parents before Easter, Mom had Madi's Easter "treats" at the house. Plenty of sugar!
Isn't this a cute bunny? Yeah, I thought so too until Madigan found the "on" button on it's hand. Then it starts to sing, light up, tap it's foot and wiggle it's ears. Still sounds cute? Send me your address and I'll let you "borrow" it for a while. :)Madigan also got to practice hunting Easter eggs while at Pa and Gee Gee's. I don't think she could have done it without the tongue sticking out of her mouth...And the treat inside the eggs was...MONEY? What?! Where was the money in the eggs when I was a kid? She got over $10 in change from hunting eggs for 10 minutes. I'm going to have to talk to the Easter bunny about this. The rest of this is a little unrelated to the post, but did occur on the grandparent's week, so I'm going to include it here. Aunt Kate sent Madigan a light-up Princess shirt and jacket. Very cute.
However, the shirt was made to be form-fitting. So, when Madigan wears it she looks...well, chubby. Mom and I were laughing about this picture and then Mom said there was a picture of me about that age that looked just like her. I guess that means I was chubby. A bit of a blow to the self-esteem, but whatever.
Anyway, after looking through some of the other pictures from GeeGee and Pa's house, I think I've figured out why we're seeing some chubbiness. This is what Madigan had to eat as a bedtime snack...
But don't worry. Madigan is committed to getting herself back in shape. So, she tried out Gee Gee and Pa's Total Gym cycle. You know, it's a lot easier if you lay down while cycling...And if you get tired of cycling, just pretend the Total Gym is a dock and go fishing! That's bound to work off the extra pounds. All in all, we had a wonderful Spring Break week and are thankful to all of the grandparents for the fun, laughs, love, and yes, even spoiling. We love you all and can't wait to do it again!

Happenings

Yes, I planned on getting several posts up this week.
No, I didn't do that.
Before you start shaking your head in disappointment, let me defend myself a little. I did START a post on Wednesday about the week Madigan got to spend with her grandparents (Ted's parents first and then my parents a few days later). However, I was limited on pictures to use because in many of them Madigan was wearing a shirt that I couldn't post. No Uncle Matt, it wasn't inappropriate. It just wasn't time yet. Now that I've got your curiosity peaked, the unveiling...

Okay, Allison. It says "Big". She is pretty big for a 2 year old, but that's not that big of a deal.

Let's try again.Hand still in the way? Hmm... let's try this picture...


Does that say "Big Sister"? But why would Madigan be wearing a Big Sister shirt? She's an only child.

Wait a minute... Could she be trying to tell me something?That's right! Our family of 3 is soon (well, in about 7 months) going to turn into a family of 4!!
Baby #2 is due November 7th and we are VERY excited! Madigan requested a baby brother AND a baby sister, but fortunately the doctor ruled out that possibility on Wednesday. The doctor did say, however, that everything looked good and healthy. I'll be keeping you posted! (and grandparents, I promise to get your post up very soon!)