Maddy reads!

Maddy has been working hard on her reading this month. Here's a quick video of how she is progressing.

Sorry it's a bit sideways. She's still cute though.

The Sassy police

We had a Halloween party at church yesterday. It was a lot of fun. Sadly, my phone died in the middle of it, so I didn't get many pics. Here's a few I did get though.

Scott and Carolyn and the kids helped us decorate the night before.

The night of the party, there were some great costumes! Carolyn's was my favorite. She went as Kiki, the witch from Kiki's Delivery Service.

Here's the original. I thought Carolyn did a great job!

And, of course, Officer Maddy looked great!

The best part though is that Maddy was up this morning playing with her walkie talkie and "taking calls" from people needing assistance. Mostly it was just Benjamin Bunny, but if a real emergency had happened, Maddy would have been ready.

Maddy gets a package

Just a quick pic today of a very happy girl who got a package in the mail. Ash set it up perfectly too! He came in the house with a box and said, "Well, it's not for me."

Then to me, he said, "It's not for you. So that means it's for..."

"Maddy?" I supplied.

Maddy practically leaped out of her seat. She tossed her video game controller aside and launched across the floor.

She was thrilled!

 And shared her treats with everyone!

Maddy Marching

Maddy's Girl Scout troop marched in the Homecoming Parade tonight. Maddy has been looking forward to marching in the parade for the last week. I could not imagine why. To me it just sounded like a lot of walking, but in Maddy's mind it was a magical experience that involved candy.

I half expected that I would end up having to carry Maddy through the parade, but I was wrong. Their leader had decorated a wagon for their troop and filled it with candy for the girls to throw and those girls threw candy like anything. They even occasionally had to be reminded to throw it gently. It was hilarious watching Maddy scamper from one side of the street to the other, tossing candy at everyone she could see. It didn't matter if you were old or young or not even watching the parade. Maddy would throw candy at you. Here's a few pictures that I took.

Maddy's leaders are brilliant. At the end of the parade, each girl received a bag with their own candy and a patch. Maddy was the happiest girl ever!

Looking so big

Maddy is growing like crazy. Today her and mom came to meet me with the dog when I was walking home from work. She just came up looking so big in her shorts and tennis shoes, hauling the crazy dog along... or being hauled by the crazy dog depending on if another dog was walking by or not.

I would just like to point out that I made the shorts that she is wearing!! She is so sassy!

The Scouts

I managed to get a picture of the all three kids in their scouting uniforms today. They are all so cute and excited about what they are doing! Well, OK, Maddy looks less than thrilled, but that is because Leif is walking around behind the three of them and she is trying to see what he is doing.

She and Leif get along really well. It still makes me nervous to see her pick him up and haul him around though. He is getting so big!

It's so nice having some of the cousins close by!

An Afternoon with Maddy

It's been a nice day. Maddy and I got to do one of our favorite things today... go to a museum! We went to the Freeport Art Museum and had a nice walk around.

Ash found a picture from 2.5 years ago when we did much the same. She is so cute.

Then she made some apple pie tonight.

Best day ever.

A wiggly speech

Tomorrow is Retoric Club in the coop and Maddy has another speech prepared.

She read the speech about 5 times before I video taped this one. This was the worst recording ever of her speech. If she wasn't so darn cute I wouldn't even post it. She is not even saying the whole speech and she is moving all over the place.

She re-did the speech right after this and did it beautifully. She stood still and read every word on her card. Sadly, I forgot to hit the record button for that speech.

Oh well, there will be plenty more speeches this year.

Children of the Corn

Mom, Carolyn, and I took the kids to a little corn maze on the outside of town tonight. It is not so much a corn maze as it is a path through a corn field, but the kids have a good time at it every year. There's little decorations up along the path and they have randomly placed dummies throughout the maze for the kids to look at. Plus, they have their whole yard decorated with lots of stuff!

The first thing we did was put the kids in jail. Best part of the day.

While we were going through the maze, I made the kids slow up for a pic. They were not thrilled with me. Except for Sven. I love Sven.

All in all, it was a nice time and good to get out and run a bit on an otherwise rainy day.