Great grandma's home!!

My grandma, Maddie's great grandma, is a snowbird who spends most of the winter in Florida. We miss her when she is gone and are so happy that she's home! She came to visit today and Maddie had a lot of fun!

She loves swinging!

Great-grandma and Tia

Making silly faces while we wait for our food at Chuy's.

What else did we do this week?

Visited our per to talk about our BM issues. 

Just waitin' 

Practicing flashcards

Maddie did a craft with daddy. They put a little potted plant together; here, she is stirring the soil.

We dyed Easter eggs!

I picked Maddie up one afternoon from school and she looked like she was coming home from battle. You know it's a good day when even your tummy has paint on it!

Can you keep up with Madeline?

This weekend was typical Kentucky weather; GORGEOUS on Saturday and snowy on Sunday. Seriously, it's no wonder all of our allergies are out of whack!!

Madeline, per her usual, had a very busy, very active weekend!

Swinging on the big girl swing all by herself! 

Making her own fashion statement. Watch out Giselle! 

Enjoying the sun at the Summit playground!

Having dinner at the Fish Market with grandpa.  

 At church with daddy. Maddie thinks it's so cool that she and daddy both have raincoats. She refused to take it off for most of the morning. 

We took a trip to Costco and enjoyed all of the samples! They actually had a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich sample that Madeline refused to share. We had been sharing everything else but she told me that "mommy GET HER OWN" when she had her first bite of the ice cream sandwich. 

Afterwards, she told me she wanted more. I explained that these were just samples and we only get one. For the next 30 minutes she kept saying, "I want more samples!!!" 

Even though Madeline has a lot of books, we have read all of them many times. She knows most of the words and now likes to read them to us!

Hudson came over and he and Madeline played and played!

This picture cracks me up. Madeline loves Kyle and kept wanting him to hold her. Doesn't he look like he's ready for two?!

Judi's visit

Madeline has had a very special week visiting with her cousins and Aunt Judi.

On Tuesday, she got picked up from daycare early and got to go to Build a Bear. 

On Wednesday, she got to make and decorate cookies!

Maddie really likes baby Quinn. She likes helping her with bottle and she asks a lot of questions about her. The other night she asked me if she could hold the baby. 

 Kind of a funny face, but I like this picture. She looks SO BIG here!!

Maddie has an issue with going #2. To avoid TMI here, it's something we've been dealing with since she was a newborn. And, every time I think we have it under control, we have another bad week. I've talked with her pediatrician (again!) and we have a new plan we're trying. We're really hoping this works!! She really is a happy little child, but whenever we have these BM issues, she has a lot of pain and is pretty miserable. Her teacher texted me the other day that Maddie was having a really great day and was taking a nice nap. Is this not the sweetest thing?

And finally, a great picture of Maddie and Aunt Judi. So happy you have come to visit!! 

Beautiful weather!!

On Friday, tia came over to play. She read Madeline her bedtime stories.

On Saturday, Chris and I went to a gorgeous wedding for one of his co-workers. Madeline went with Nana, Grandpa, Laura, Cory, Dane and Quinn to the zoo. She had a great time!

Sunday, Judi came! We had a great dinner and got to visit a bit before bed. Madeline just loves playing with Dane!

 They actually had a lot of fun taking a bath together. I kept asking them to smile at me; Dane refused to look and Madeline gave me this face. She reserves that face for me when I have the camera pointed at her too much. Whoops. 

When blueberries attack!

Well, the snow foiled our plans. Aunt Judi's flight got cancelled because of all of the bad weather Baltimore (her connecting point) got. She comes in tomorrow and we're ready for her visit!!

In the meantime, we had one wild night. On Thursday, Chris, Madeline and I ate together and everything was normal.  Maddie had a peanut butter sandwich, strawberries and blueberries.  She ate great and went to bed like normal. A little bit later, she woke up SCREAMING. I ran up the steps (this is very unlike her) and into her room. I put my hand in her crib to get her...and it went right into vomit. EEEE. After we turned on the light, I realized it was straight up purple vomit.  We got her cleaned off, changed, stripped her bed sheets and I let her lay with me in the guest room. Then she did it again. And, again. And...well, you get the point. She was sick all night long. At 4, she rolled over and fell asleep and at 6, she popped up and started singing. Yes, singing. "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops..." And then she was happy and normal the rest of the day. I have NO idea what happened; not sure if something she ate upset her stomach or if it was just a quick bug. It was bizarre, and I'm so glad it's over.

Here she is, just a few hours into the morning coloring. With her backpack on. Totally normal.

This morning, I did the 5K with my friends from work.  It's always fun to do the races. Chris and I are pushing Maddie in a 5K at the end of the month; maybe one day she'll be running them with us!

Thousands of others joined us.

Our next big house project! And, shaving cream fun!

Next up for my handy-man husband: finishing our basement. Right now, our basement looks like this.

This weekend Chris installed the doors (five) which was a large project in itself. You can see the base boards on the floor and the stone for the bar as well. At this stage of the (very early!) game, Chris says he is going to do all of the trim work, all of the painting, building the bar and the built-ins, laying the floor, etc by himself (well, with some help from our dads!). And, he says he's going to do in 4 months. Ambitious man that I have!  In the meantime, I have a long list of contractors in my phone if he gets worn out!

I have no idea why but I had a memory of me playing with shaving cream as a child and loving it. I bought some the other day for Madeline who looked at it and shouted "SHAVING CREAM!" Evidently, she plays with it at school and loves it!

When I was growing up, I was such a bookworm. Instead of toys, I would spend my birthday money on books. I know what you're thinking: "kind of geeky." But I'm ok with it. Anyways, I've REALLY been hoping Maddie would be a reader. We read to her every night and she seems to enjoy it. Depending on the time, we can read up to 6 books.

We have a special guest coming in town tomorrow--Aunt Judi from Cape Cod. We are very excited to see her and Madeline keeps saying, "I want to see my Judi." Can't wait!

One Year Tornado Anniversary

It's been one year since the Henryville tornado swept through the town my aunt and uncle live in. They lost their house and have spent the last year recovering and rebuilding. Today, on the one year anniversary, they celebrated a housewarming party at their new house. They built the same house, on the same lot, but it is still so different. All of the trees that gave them privacy are gone and so much of the town is still in need of work. It was great to visit with family, but bittersweet as well.

My sister and I on the brand new front porch.

A new Dunkin' Donuts opened close to us and we were so excited! DD's is all over the Cape and one of the first things we eat when we go to Massachusetts on vacation. We made Maddie eat a bagel before she got half of a munkin. YUM!!

 The first bite: so good!!

 Messy messy.

Madeline spends a lot of hours at daycare, and because of this, she is pretty cuddly when I pick her up. I've learned to cook dinner while holding and talking to her. Now that is she older, I can give her some tasks to help me.

 Helping me make some fat free pudding pops (a Pinterest recipe that I'm REALLY hoping taste like the ones they used to make years ago.)

I have a confession. I eat raw cookie dough. Like, I seriously eat it by the spoonful. I have since I was 3. I don't let Maddie do it though, because of all risks with raw egg. Since she's seen me take many a swipe though, she always like to do that as well with egg-less mixes.

The other night, I asked her to stir the milk into the muffin mix while I prepared the fish.

 I turned around and caught her red-handed!

Like mother, like daughter, I guess!

Finally, a funny picture from school this week. I picked Madeline up and her and her BFF, Stella, looked like little bandits. They were coloring each other with black marker while Ms. Kelsy was helping someone go potty. Fortunately, it washed off SUPER easy. Never a dull moment with this one!