Merry Christmas!

We just got back today from Christmas at Mema and Pepa's. Thankfully this year was a lot less eventful than last year, but still full of fun and family. We drove to Abilene on Friday and stayed for two nights. This morning my Aunt Toni, Mom, and Sisters (both sisters this year!) went on our annual After Christmas Sale Shopping Trip (Bright and early of course!), and then we left this afternoon. Madelynn loved being there with all of the family and cousins, but was glad to get home to her quiet house and where she has all of the toys to herself. We love visiting Mema and Pepa- we can't wait to come back and visit soon.

Ripping open presents!

Opening presents with daddy

Probably my favorite picture of all time...

Playing with Cousin Brady!

Its hard to get two one year olds to smile at the same time!!!

Pictures with the Boogey Man....I mean Santa.

Or at least that is what you would have thought when you heard Madelynn screaming and kicking. She was terrified of Santa. I was very prepared for this, as she does not like strangers. So why would a strange man in a red suit be any different? She screamed, kicked, flailed, and cried. Santa had to duck several times to not get hit, and when told by the photographer to hold Madelynn's hand down (so she wouldn't put it in her mouth) he told the photographer that he was too busy trying to hold her down. HA! All of the pictures had Madelynn screaming and flailing except this one, this must have been one of my crazy mom attempts to make her smile...or even just to stop crying. I sang songs, acted like a crazy person, and tickled to get her to stop and smile (all in the middle of the mall). So here it is...the best one. Not too bad I suppose for the terrible experience that it was. Oh well, maybe next year.

Thanksgiving Break

I was at home all week with Miss Madelynn! We had a great time. I got a lot of stuff done that I don't normally get to do when working, so I felt very accomplished. We started out the week at home all day while I cleaned up and did some organizing. I went to Shara's house one day and hung out with her family. We went to Jeff's Brother's house for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful meal, and then we had Jeff home the rest of the weekend. I went shopping early in the morning on Black Friday. Lots of fun- Can't wait for Christmas!

At Thanksgiving

Playing Dress Up

Even watched a little TV in her dress up clothes...

Can I play too guys?

Cute outfit that Grandma made her!

For me to remember-
Madelynn says "Hi" to EVERYONE, but is shy when they say "Hi" back. She will even sometimes say "Hi, Love!"
She LOVES books. She is constantly bringing us books to read to her. Her favorites right now are a Barney book at Grandma's house and a book about a little yorkie named Precious at home.
She loves to be tickled, and often says "tickle tickle tickle".
Loves dogs and when they bark. Anytime you ask her "What does the puppy say?" She replies with "woof woof woof". She will also "woof" anytime she hears our dog bark outside...or any dog bark for that matter.
She loves to imitate any strange noise that we make. I will sing her weird noise songs and she will try to repeat them. She also makes a very odd pig noise when you ask her to make pig noises.
She has grown really attached to her blankets. Not a particular blanket...just blankets in general. She has these small ones that are just her size that she carries around, and she gets really excited when she finds one laying around the house.
She will eat ANYTHING. Most recently she tried chips and salsa as well as chips and queso, Olive Garden salad, sweet potato waffles, and steak fajitas. She is my girl for sure!!!
Thats all I can think of for now!

Park!

We decided last weekend to take Madelynn to feed the ducks. When we got there, the ducks were on the other side of the pond and would not come over to our side...I guess they weren't hungry. So instead, we took her to the park. We hadn't taken her in a while, but since she can walk now we figured we would give it a shot.

All ready in her wagon with her bread for the ducks!

At the park, she wasn't too sure about the wood chips.

Loves the Swings

Riding along...

Going home from the park with dad.

Sketti!

Madelynn got to try Spaghetti for the first time last night. She LOVED it. She was picking up handfuls of it and trying to shove it in her mouth. Immediately afterward, she was placed in the bathtub. You can't see it in the pictures but there is spaghetti all down her legs and on her feet. This was also the first time she ate dinner with us, and ate exactly what we had. On another note- when I got my camera and came to take pictures, Madelynn said really loud "CHEESE!!". So cute- is she my child or what??

Trick or Treat!

We had so much fun Trick or Treating with Shara's family, Grandma and Grandpa, and Kayla! Madelynn was teething so I don't know how much fun she had...BUT we kept her busy with crackers for most of the time (luckily she doesn't know about candy yet...) Here are some pictures from our fun!

Everyone after coming home-

Everyone (except Logan who had already tuckered out) Trick or Treating

Can we go home yet?

Stealing everyone's candy...

Playing

Dorothys!

Madelynn and Alanna went and got their pictures taken together for Halloween since they had matching costumes thanks to Grandma! Click on or Copy and Paste the link below to go to the Picture People website to see them.

http://www.picturepeople.com/sso/publishconfirm.sso?data=ogHG5fccFJ9fULSHV%2fAhnCsK61XFgdQB5Bua7OnwYny6m0KLZ3CtASthMCvmtAnz

My First Pumpkin Patch

Mommy's First Pumpkin Patch...oh and Madelynn's too. I could not wait to take Madelynn to the pumpkin patch. Now I will admit, it was just one big photo opportunity (she really could have cared a less). I am so glad I took her though. As you can see below I have some really great pictures! Maybe next year she will enjoy it a little more- she did like playing in the hay and riding in the wagon though!!! Copy and Paste this link to see more pictures in my facebook...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2089405&id=118504503&l=8d6e3bea36

My sweet pumpkin at her FIRST Pumpkin Patch.

Walking away...she was supposed to be sitting on the hay bale...

The pumpkin is almost as big as her!

Her favorite part- playing with the hay. She kept picking it up from in front of her and throwing it to the sides of her...almost like she was trying to clean it from in front of her.

Loved riding in the wagon.

For my record keeping purposes-

Madelynn is now saying lots of words and walking more than she is crawling. She is very proud of herself for walking and often will make it to her destination and turn around to clap for herself. She says stinky, thank you, hi, bye bye, baby, mama, dadda, tickle, cookie, good girl, barks like a dog, copies any and all facial expressions and noises, signs "more", sings eeeiiieeeeiiiooooooOOOooo and has really big temper tantrums when you tell her no to something she REALLY wants...(like the remote, my keys, or pressing the power button on the computer). She is super sweet and loves to give hugs and kisses. She is still having a lot of shyness, and gets really upset if she is somewhere different and either mommy or daddy leaves the room. She gets into everything and recently has learned to open the kitchen cabinets...the only thing left to child proof. She is a really good eater. Right now her favorite things are snacks, (mum mums, puffs, and cheerios) yogurt, any fruit, roast beef and cheddar cheese, crackers, and sweets (which she only gets these when she suckers mommy into giving them to her from Mommy's plate!). She will eat almost anything. She has really started wanting to "play" with her toys...not just chew on them. We are loving this stage, and while it definitely keeps us on our toes- we are having a lot of fun with her.

Visiting Mema and Pepa

We love to go visit Mema and Pepa...it doesn't happen as often as we would like, but we love going when we are able. Madelynn had a bit of a rough weekend (lots of tantrums), and I am thinking it was a good mixture of teething and tired- always fun with a one year old. She just started to get comfortable with Mema and Pepa before we had to leave...hopefully next time we can stay longer and she will have more time to get used to them. Silly girl. Here are some pictures from our roadtrip!

Madelynn found that Pepa had a metal belt that felt awfully good on those hurting chompers!

Playing Peek a Boo in the Car on the way home
Where's Madelynn?

Peek a Boo!!!

video

This is my attempt at a video...lets see if it works. This is of Madelynn playing on her new slide she got for her birthday. (There is also a swing). She loves to play on the slide as you will see. I still cannot edit videos...so those will have to wait. BUT this one is cute, and I hope you like it!

Party Animal!

Madelynn had a GREAT time at her party on Sunday. She even opened some of her presents by herself (kind of)... She loved having all of the attention and so many people to play with. Her best friend Gracelynn was there and they even got to play together afterwards while Daddy had some friends over to watch the football game.

As you can see, Madelynn loved the cake.

Opening presents with mommy

Happy Girl with all of her Birthday loot

Before the party in her party gear - thanks to Grandma C for the adorable Birthday outfit!

The birthday table.

If you want to see all of the pictures from her party- copy and paste the link below. You do not need to have a facebook account to view them.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088315&id=118504503&l=df51a73fd8

One Year Already??

One year later, and I am up early again- ready to begin my day. Not sure why, but I can guarantee you that 6:30 is not my normal wake up time. Kind of ironic as that was the time I was supposed to arrive at the hospital. (If you remember the story, I got called several times and told to wait because they didn't have any rooms available. I really went in about 9:30am) Its still amazing to me that I have a baby, much less a one year old, but without a doubt she is the biggest blessing I or Jeff could have ever received. She is sweet, loving, (demanding!), and fun. I absolutely cannot wait to see her grow up, but do not want her to all at the same time. The year has passed so quickly. However, when I was looking back through all of my pictures this morning, I feel that we really cherished every moment and really enjoyed her. I definitely have the pictures to prove it!!!

Madelynn- we love you more than life itself, you make mommy and daddy so happy.
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl.

Words and Pictures

I know I am supposed to be posting videos, but I cannot figure out how to save them OR edit them on my computer. SO until then, I will have to stick with pictures. I have some cute videos to post though as soon as I can figure it out. We haven't been doing anything really exciting lately...just our normal routine, but I wanted to document a few words and happenings. Madelynn is officially saying 3 real words other than the normal baby words. She is saying "Good Girl", "Uh Oh", and "Yep/Yea". I love it! Yesterday we went to Southlake Town Center to take Madelynn's One Year photos with the lady who did our maternity photos as well as Madelynn's Newborn Photos. I was SO excited. At first, she was not cooperative and really cranky, but she quickly warmed up and I am really anxious to see the pictures. At the end of the pictures Madelynn got to eat her "pre birthday cake" and she loved it. However, Daddy and I helped her at the end and it changed into a cake fight....those pictures to come as well...

Playing with her blocks...everywhere...

Sadie doesn't ever sit still long enough for pictures, much less make it into the blog. Here is Sadie.

I took this picture with the video camera...I was able to get THE PICTURE uploaded and saved...

The "Pre Birthday Cake". I made this for the pictures, and am really proud of my cake decorating skills!

Madelynn

Got her first birthday card in the mail today! Thanks Mema and Pepa- Madelynn loved listening to the Pooh Bear song!