I want Fabulous!!!

If you read the title of this blog and thought, "Man, Allison sure has gotten demanding" you are obviously not up on your High School Musical knowledge. Thanks to a 4 and 6 year old, I can now say that I am (whether that's a good or bad thing, I've not decided!). This past weekend, my brother Matt, sister-in-law Susie, and nieces Avery and Ella came for a visit and all of us girls went to see High School Musical on Ice at the Alltel Arena. It was fabulous!!
(and for those of you still confused - "Fabulous" is one of the songs off of High School Musical 2)

Here's a picture of the girls before the show:Avery

Madigan

Ella (she takes after her father)

I wasn't sure how Madigan would do at this, but figured as long as she was "free" (under 2 years), we'd give it a try. She had just started to get a little restless in her seat when the show started. All restlessness ended and she was glued to the show for the entire first half! Here are a few pics I got just to show you our view.

After the first half, we had a 15 minute intermission, so we went up and got some "treats". So, the second half Madigan had to split her attention between the show, her popcorn, and an icee. She managed pretty well!
She also loved watching her cousins sing along to the music - can you tell they've heard these songs before?



We had a WONDERFUL time and after the show, Madigan kept begging for "more music ice, more music ice"!

Here's a picture of Madigan wearing Avery's souvenir from the show! Can you tell she enjoyed herself? Of course, that's not the only fun we had this weekend. Here's Madigan showing her cousins around Dora's house (or "Doa's house").
The also had a blast playing the piano...
Madigan enjoyed playing the piano, Avery took care of the singing and Ella handled the dancing :)

They also had fun playing outside on the new toys.
Needless to say, Madigan was VERY sad to see her cousins leave (and Uncle Matt and Aunt Susie too!)
Thanks for coming to see us!!!!

The Hangover

Before I get any calls from upset grandparents, let me clarify. The hangover I'm talking about has nothing to do with drunkenness. It actually has to do with the belly hanging over the pants. And no, I'm not referring to mine, thank you very much. Amazingly, I'm referring to Madigan's new "big" belly.
This might not seem like much to some of you, but for us, it's pretty significant. For those of you who don't know, Madigan was pretty small when she was born (5 lb, 13 oz). Then, due to some feeding roadblocks and an inexperienced Mommy, she lost down to 4 lb, 10 oz by her first check up. To put it mildly, we were very worried. Thankfully, she started to grow at a good rate after that, but most of the growing was taking place in her length rather than weight. Even at her 9 month checkup, she was in the 20th %ile in weight and 99th %ile in length! No matter how much she ate (which was A LOT), each checkup she remained relatively low in weight. Until... at her 18 month appointment, she measured in the 90th %ile in length and ... (drumroll) the 75 %ILE in weight!! Our skinny girl finally had some weight on her! (and occasionally, it shows...)
So, that's one worry we get to check off the Parent's List of Worries - at least for now :). We thank God for taking good care of her even when we didn't know what to do.
Just wanted to share why I love seeing her belly! Hope you enjoyed a peek too!

Parenting 101

The school district I work for offers a parent training class every year and for the past four years, I've had the opportunity to help in this class. The first few years I worked primarily with the kids whose parents were taking the class, but the last two years I co-lead some of the lessons for the parents (mainly those dealing with "school issues"). This year it was particularly interesting to sit in and hear ALL of the lessons and the comments, questions, and feedback from the parents. And, while I gathered a lot of information that I know will be beneficial in raising Madigan, I also came to another realization listening to these parent's experiences. Even the BEST parenting course does not have all of the answers and sometimes the answers they do have don't translate well into reality. Therefore, parents are left with good principles but must "wing it" when those fall short. I say all of this to tell you about our "experience" today.

Scenario 1

You have two toddlers each in their seats right in the middle of lunch and the tornado siren goes off. What do you do?

"Textbook Answer" - Quickly remove the toddlers from their seats and settle them into a safe location. Explain to them that lunch will resume when all tornadic activity has cleared from the area.

What actually happened - We simply moved lunch into the bathroom. Lunch "to go" anyone?

Scenario 2

The two toddlers have now finished lunch but need to be somewhat contained because the tornado siren is STILL going off and according to the local news station, you'll be under a tornado warning for at least 20 more minutes. What do you do?

"Textbook Answer" - Close the door and encourage the toddlers to sit quietly in the designated area. Provide praise when they comply with your directions.

What actually happened - I dried out the tub with a towel, threw in a down comforter, dumped out the tub toys, and let them take a "bath" (minus the water, of course).

Jenna - "Madigan, I think your mom is crazy... "Maybe, but can you tell they had fun?

I can definitely say it wasn't anything I ever thought I'd need to prepare for, but the girls were wonderful and had quite a good time too. And thankfully, God watched out for us yet again in this "tornado season" and the storm passed us by with no damage.



And...
This really had nothing to do with the severe weather in our area, but it actually happened last night and I thought it fit in good with the parenting post.

Question: What do you get when you ask your 19 month old what she wants to wear to church?

Answer:

Another Great Weekend

This past weekend, we had another wonderful visit - this time from Aunt Kate! She flew in on Thursday afternoon and Madigan was SO excited to see her! All the way home from the airport, Madigan just stared at her and smiled. :) And, she became an even bigger fan when Kate pulled out some "goodies" she had brought Madigan. She had a Princess box full of treats - some adorable outfits, cute shoes, and a baby from Honduras. Madigan was in love!

Kate also brought Madigan two bows for her hair.
Unfortunately, those did not last too long :) Maybe next time she won't notice when we stick them in!
On Friday Madigan got to spend the whole day with Aunt Kate while Mommy and Daddy went to work. I didn't actually get any pictures of their day, but needless to say, they had fun!
On Saturday, we went to some garage sales, ate lunch, and then Kate and I went to work out. When we got back, we had some fun in the beautiful 75* weather. Kate and Madigan picked some "flowers" (aka weeds) and Kate showed her how to put them behind her ear. They even talked Daddy into joining in the fun...
Later that night, we ate dinner and had some fun. Here's a video I captured of Madigan being crazy... (just a little background - Ted had thrown a blanket over her and instead of being upset, she cracked up and asked for "more". This was about 10 minutes after that...)

Speaking of crazy - is that Aunt Kate in the Darth Vader mask? Madigan thought it was pretty cool.
On Sunday, we went to church and ate lunch. This is one of the dresses that Aunt Kate bought Madigan - unfortunately Madi had already removed her tights and shoes...After Madigan's nap, she got to go with Ted to take Kate back to the airport. After they got home, I asked her about taking Kate and all she wanted to tell me was that she had seen TWO airplanes! Since then, however, she has asked for Kate MANY times in the last 4 days. I made the mistake one time of telling her that Kate had to go home and go back to work. So now she thinks that she'll be showing up one evening after work like Mommy and Daddy do!
Thanks Aunt Kate for a wonderful visit!!

On a different note, we found a wonderful treasure at a garage sale on Saturday. We had been looking for some "outdoor" toys for the backyard and found this...It's the perfect size for Madigan. She loves the slide and is really getting the hang of the steps.
So much exploring to do...We also found this seesaw which Madigan has decided is a "boat". Obviously, she likes it all and now our only trouble is trying to get her to come back inside when it gets dark!
And last but not least, I couldn't resist posting this picture. This is what her hair looked like when she woke up from a nap on Sunday. Talk about having a "Bad Hair Day".

Where does she get this stuff?

I've always heard that a toddler's vocabulary blossoms around 18-20 months, but it's still amazing to me how much Madigan can say these days. We were so excited when she started saying those first few words. Now she says at least two or three new things each day that leave me saying, "where did she learn that?" I'd like to say I'm responsible for imparting all of this knowledge to her, but I think we have to give some credit to her bible class teachers, Ms. Laura, the "big" kids at our church, the grandparents, and of course, Dora. (Because I guarantee I didn't teach her to say "abra" when she wants to open something!)
Anyway, here are a few things that have come out of her mouth lately that I thought I'd share...
1. We couldn't find the remote a few days ago. Madigan and I were searching the living room for it and she kept saying "mote? mote?". I said (jokingly) "Daddy must have lost it". She suddenly got a very concerned look on her face and said, "why Daddy? Why?" :)

2. Her new favorite "song":


3. And by far, our favorite - we were watching American Idol last night and Dolly Parton was the "guest". Madigan watched for a minute and I asked her who she was watching. Here's her response:

Yes, she thought that was Barbie :)
And I'm sure the fun is only starting!!!

On another note - check out this hair do!! That's right. Her hair is finally long enough to pull up...somewhat :)The curls in the back
She's passed up her Daddy in hair growth, so we're excited.
Have a great week!

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!