Maddy's early Fourth of July

So, Maddy decided she was too scared to go see fireworks tonight and instead went to bed early, but she spent some time playing in the yard while Ash grilled and we got a couple videos. Enjoy!

First, here is Maddy hard at work getting dinner ready.


 And here she is digging in her sandbox. She's cute now, but oh the fury when she had to take a shower to wash the sand out of her hair that she had dumped on her head!

The Spooky Old Tree

So Maddy got a set of Berenstain Bear books last night. She got "Bears In The Night", "The Big Honey Hunt", and "The Spooky Old Tree." When she first looked at the covers of the books, she wanted nothing to do with "The Spooky Old Tree." In fact, she covered it with another book so she wouldn't have to see the cover. She would go and check on it every once in a while, but it still made her nervous. Mom chased her around the house reading it to her though and now it's all she wants to read. In fact, in the last half hour she's listened to it five times. And, gone on her own hunt for the Spooky Old Tree.

March photos

Sorry these are getting posted so late. We've been passing laptops around here and I just haven't updated in a while. So here's all the pics so far from March. Think of it as a Maddy smörgåsbord! 

This first one is a little hard to see, but if you look in Maddy's hand you will see some pink yarn. Now if you look down by her feet, you will see that same yarn running across the floor. And, if you look even harder, you will see that that single piece of yarn also loops around the dining room table. This is Maddy on a rampage!

I had been working a few days in a row in this next one and Maddy came tromping up to me wearing my shoes one morning after I got home and told me she was going to work. I would suggest wearing pants before going out though!

 Here, Ash had been playing Fallout and went to the kitchen for a snack. Maddy immediately settled in with his controller and started to run around. She thought it was pretty cool she could make the character move!

 Maddy, daddy, and Mina go to Dr. Miller's office. Maddy did very well at her 3 month check up, except for some minor yelling at the doctor.

 Finger painting. Although, Maddy painting is usually what it turns into.

 We went to the sink to wash hands after fingerpainting, and then the sink became an activity in itself. I thought it was pretty clever of her to figure out you had to plug up the bottom of the funnel to keep the water from running out.

 This was after our last trip to Galena. Maddy feel asleep with a pretzel covered in while chocolate in her hand. Then she woke up and rubbed her face. Being the caring mother I am, I laughed till my sides hurt and took a picture!

 Finally, Maddy just being Maddy and playing with a puzzle!

It's good to be Maddy!

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday ended my "vacation" and this morning I got home at 9:00 AM. Things are back to normal. Maddy came running up to me this morning and proceeded to be very cute. She put on my shoes and told me she was going to work.

Then this afternoon she grabbed Ash's Xbox controller and announced she was going to play his game and proceeded to run his character all around the screen. She was amazed she could move the character and seemed right at home with the controller.

Now we just have to teach her to play Mario.

The last photos of February

These are in no particularly order. Just getting the last of my favorite photos off my camera from this week. We spent the first part of the week walking Sonny Dog in the mornings since dad was away on a business trip. She got pretty good.

Now some pics of her latest fascination. A ball of yarn. See if you can find the pink yarn in the pictures. It is leaving one room, wrapped around our dining room table, coming back in through the living room and she's got the ball in her hand. She also has a scarf on her head and is pretty pleased that she looks like daddy!

Finally, Maddy's tutu. She's been wearing it all morning and "dancing" about the house and just wanted some pictures in it! She also has the yarn again. 

Maddy's week so far

It has been a busy week. After having a great, bouncy time in Michigan, Maddy then had a trip to Monkey Joe's in Rockford. She had a great time and bounced all over the place. She played and played. Then on the way how she relaxed in the sun with a well-earned shake from Steak 'n' Shake.

 Since then, she has played in the snow and helped walk Sonny dog since Poppi is out of town. She has tried to learn to potty train, but so far as had no success. Working on it though. And she has jumped on Aunt Kim's bed and entertained Nan. And just had a very productive week. So she's taking it easy today and just having some fun with her block train and singing the ABC's.

All Aboard!!!

Maddy goes to Michigan

Maddy just got to spend the weekend at her great grandparents house in Michigan. She's been looking forward to it all week. Here she is waiting with her most important piece of luggage.

We stayed at a hotel the first night so that Maddy could go swimming on Saturday. We didn't get to the hotel on Friday till 11:00 pm. Maddy was pretty tired when we got there. 

Maddy had a great time swimming in the morning and then going to her grandparents house. She loved exploring. One of the first things she found was a great big closet! She wasted no time in showing it to mom and grandma. And then proceeded to trap mom and grandma in the closet while she did other things. 

She even got to help grandpa feed the birds. 

Those were some happy, happy squirrels when they found the big pile of seeds. 

Then we built a fort in the living room.

Maddy had a great time! Getting her to go home was probably the worst part. This is Maddy after a crazy tantrum before we left to go home. 

Now all she want to do is go back!

And the sun is not sunny...

... But we can have lots of good fun that is funny.

It's a little long, but I couldn't believe that she was catching bubbles while staying balanced on the blue ball. We may not be able to go out, but we can make our own fun in the house.

How does her garden grow?

A couple of weeks ago I started a little herb garden in an egg carton. And this week, I started seeing a few sprouts in it. The bad part is that Maddy started seeing a few sprouts in it too. Not necessarily a bad thing, but she wants to touch it and play in the dirt and help the garden grow.

 So Maddy and I took an avacado pit that I had been saving and planted it in the mason jar, but she couldn't figure out why it doesn't have any dirt in it, so she kept taking dirt from the egg carton and putting it in the mason jar and I just kept thinking, "Oh my gosh, my little sprouts are toast!"

So now, Maddy and I are going plant hunting. We used a mason jar left over from the luminaries for the pot and Maddy filled it with dirt.

Then we looked around the yard for some plants. Amazingly enough there was some green onions in the front yard that were still green in spite of the weather. I'm hoping they are as hardy as they seem. We had to dig them out of ground that was frozen solid and try to transplant them. We got them in the house though.

And, Maddy got them watered... Now they just have to survive her.

We did take a break from all the planting though to enjoy the beautiful weather. It's got to be in the 50's today. Maddy and dogcycle had some fun playing in the puddles!

After Church

Having lunch after church on Sunday. As you can see, Maddy has confiscated ALL the strawberries and is sitting on top of Mina.

That is because she likes to sit on Mina, hold her by the ears and ride her across the floor by scooting with her. She also just likes to use her for a nice place to sit. I'm kind of glad we don't have a real dog.

Mina did go to church with us today though and in Maddy's Busy bag, she has brushes and a mirror and some clips for hair. So by the end of the meeting, Mina looked very lovely. Mina is really a part of the family.

To the stars!

See the colored blur? That's Maddy.

 

Maddy likes to play in Aunt Kim's bedroom. There are lots of things to do there. She can jump on the bed. She can climb up the plastic totes. She also likes to play in the upstairs bathroom. The best part about the bathroom is the really fun hygiene products. Her favorite is the powder.

Now, do you see what Maddy has in her hand?

 

 Let's get a close up or two and see if it makes it easier to tell...

 That's right! Maddy has her favorite powder and boy is she having fun with it. She got powdered quite a bit. The dog got powdered. Nan and Poppy got powdered. The entire room got powdered. And, wow, did it smell pretty.

Here's just an idea of how much powder was actually in the air in the room.

When I first took this picture, I thought my camera lens must be dirty. Then, after cleaning the lens and getting a few more shots like this, I realized it wasn't the camera. It was the flash picking up all the powder in the air. It was practically snowing in there! And Maddy just kept jumping and shaking it and yelling, "To the stars!" Well, it sure looks like stars in the picture.

Because sometimes a girl needs a break

The last week has been jammed pack with all sorts of fun and craziness. There has been snow fun... and water slide fun... and painting fun. Today, Maddy got up from her nap though and looked at us and said, "I so tired." She then proceeded to curl up under her blanket in the living room. So, we went with it.

 We just rested tonight. We watched "The Real Ghostbusters" and had a picnic in the living room. Now Maddy is pushing her shopping cart around shopping for invisible grapes.

We all need to slow down sometimes and I'm glad we get to do it tonight.

Walking in Galena

Maddy covers her head from the rain and slush of winter.

-Ash

Maddy's Mini-break

It's been cold and gray and snowy for the last few days around here. So after much deliberation tonight we decided that we all needed a change of scenery. We wanted it to be somewhere where we could be warm and have fun. So we took a mini-break to Country Inn and Suites in Galena. We are having a blast...

 And Maddy is once more proving that she has no fear!

Happy Winter Holidays!

Bouncing Monkey

Maddy loves her big blue bouncy ball.

-Ash

Inside, Outside

 I don't care what the Weather Channel says. It did not feel like it was -1 outside today. In fact, the sun was so bright that snow was actually melting off the roofs and off of cars. It was great! And we found out that we have the perfect sledding hill in our backyard... well, perfect for a 3 year old. It's maybe 2 feet high, but that's tall enough for a fun ride down and not too tall for a baby to bring her own sled back up!

 

After some outdoor fun, Maddy came back inside and we painted. Paint with water books are the best! I remember my grandma getting them for me, so I got some for Maddy and she LOVES them! And I love them because she is not covered in paint! And neither is my table!

It's a hair-do miracle

I am so excited. Since it was a beautiful snowy day out, Maddy wanted to go outside. Well, I told Maddy that if she wanted to go outside, she needed a special hair do for the snow, so while she watched Aquabats, I got to braid her hair. She looks so pretty!

Then the fun in the snow began. Maddy learned today that if you have a bucket, you can do some great building.

 

And then some great destroying!