Santa

Well, I was really worried about how pictures with Santa were going to go, but I was completely wrong. She waited in line for OVER an hour, and talked about Santa the whole time. When she was next, I had to restrain her from running to him and ruining another family's picture. She ran up to him and "gave Santa big hugs". She was adorable...I loved it. It made all of that time sitting in line worth it. Here are our pictures!

We had Christmas at our house this past weekend with Jeff's side of the family. It was wonderful and I am now looking forward to Christmas with my family this weekend in Abilene!

Christmas?

It is already the Christmas season? Where did the time go? I noticed that I hadn't even posted about Halloween so here is a brief rundown of how it went. Madelynn LOVED it. We went from house to house, she would knock on doors, say "Trick or Treat" and then say a quiet "Thank You" as we left. When asked if she wanted to go home, she would say "More candy!" She was a good sport. We finally made her go home when she did not want to walk anymore and wanted to be carried from house to house. Grandma made her CUTE 50's skirt, thanks Grandma C!!!

On to Christmas...we decorated for Christmas today and there were a few things that I wanted to document before I forgot.

1. Madelynn was so excited when I got out the Christmas tree. She asked if she could help, and when I told her yes she walked around the living room moving my carefully sorted piles of branches into one big pile repeating over and over " I LOVE to help mommy".

2. When I plugged in the lights and began putting them on the tree, Madelynn got really quiet and whispered in a voice full of awe, "WOW..."

3. She spent all evening playing with ornaments and nutcrackers, she got especially excited when she found a Christmas rubber duck in one of the boxes. She took it out and exclaimed "Christmas duck!!! Thank you mommy!!"

4. She thought the red shiny balls on the tree looked like apples. She thought she was really funny when she would pretend to eat them.

5. Each year I buy her a special ornament from Hallmark that has to do with something she likes. This past year I bought her a puppy ornament. When I got it out, I told her it was hers and showed it to her. When I put it on the tree, she cried and told me "No mommy! My puppy!"

So far, Madelynn is really impressed with all things Christmas. She points out Santa everywhere, and loves to see snow, Christmas trees, and Christmas lights. Lets see how excited she is, when I take her to get her picture made with Santa....I am going to guess...not as thrilled. :-)

For Pepa

Hi Pepa! We went to the Pumpkin Patch today, and thought you would enjoy this picture. Madelynn loved the "tractor"!

Gym Time!

Still loving her gym class! We moved her up to the 2-2 1/2 yr old class now, and she is having a blast! Here are some funny pictures of her having a good time.

First Dance Class!

Madelynn and I started a "Mommy and Me" Dance Class last week at the studio. It is a really cute class, and a lot of fun. Madelynn (being the independent 2 yr old she is) decided early on though that she didn't like following directions. She wanted to do what SHE wanted to do. She is one of the younger ones in the class, and wants to run around and "dance" her own way. This week was a lot better than last week, and hopefully she will get better each week. I think she looks super cute in her dance stuff!

Happy Birthday Madelynn!

Madelynn had a GREAT birthday party with lots of family and friends. We cannot believe that our sweet munchkin is already 2 and each day she amazes us with the things she knows and learns. Her favorite part of the Birthday Party was everyone singing "happy birthday" to her. She and I had been practicing the song and how to blow out the candles for weeks, so she thought that was really special to hear everyone singing to her. She was not too impressed with opening presents. She wanted to open one...then play with it. She loved each present, but then did not want to move on to the next one. For the food, we barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, made corn casserole and baked beans, veggies and dip, salsa and yummy watermelon salsa, my dad carved out a watermelon fruit basket, and I made tea, watermelon tea, and watermelon lemonade to drink. We had over 30 people in our house but luckily between the kids running around and a couple of extra tables set up, we had plenty of places for everyone to hang out. Here are some pictures from the party!

This is Madelynn when we were singing her "Happy Birthday". She has the BIGGEST smile on her face. She was so excited.

Opening up her picnic set from Grandma C

This is Madelynn's Happy Birthday sign. It is hard to see on here, but each picture is a picture of Madelynn with a letter spelling "Happy Birthday" that were all taken around my Pepa's house. My brother in law black and whited all of the pictures for me except for the red letters. It turned out great, and now I have a neat thing to put in her scrapbook.

Some of the cupcakes! They were Bumble Bees, Ladybugs, and ANTS!

Opening up more presents!

With her Grandma! Love this picture.

The whole table set up. I had a bit of a cake disaster the weekend before when I was making the cake as a "test run" for her picture session. SO...I did not make the cake this year. I did make all of the cupcakes though! (With the help of my friend Michelle)

2 Year Pictures

We took Madelynn to get her 2 year pictures done (as well as some family pics) with the same photographer who has done our maternity pictures, and Madelynn's Newborn and 1 Year Pics. She posted one for me to preview on her facebook, and here it is! I am so excited to see the rest!

4th of July

4th of July!

I know this was a long time ago, but I am trying to catch up on my blogging! Madelynn, Jeff, and I went to Little Elm Park by Lewisville Lake and watched fireworks. It was a good show for such a small town! I packed up tons of fruit and Madelynn sat there the whole time and ate it. She stared at the fireworks and kept pointing at them. She thought they were pretty cool.

Abilene

We had so much fun visiting Pepa in Abilene!

This is Madelynn making a "pizza"...we thought that was pretty inventive of her.

Sharing some grapes with Pepa.

Playing "Thomas and Percy"!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

I have been hard at work the past month working on Joseph! We had so much fun, and it was an amazing show! If you don't know the story, it is about Joseph and his 11 jealous brothers in the Old Testament. However, it is done in a hilarious/entertaining way and includes all sorts of music from 50's to a Hoedown. Seen below is "Pharaoh's Girls" with Pharaoh (who is a Broadway actor from New York...and also the director's brother), and all of the dancers in our "Bible attire" before the show.

Family Reunion

I realize that I am REALLY far behind on my blog posts, but I will try to catch up here in the next couple of weeks. The pictures below are from the Centilli Family Reunion we went to in June. Madelynn and I went with "Pop" (my dad) and had a fun trip with just the 3 of us. We stayed in a hotel in downtown San Antonio so we got to enjoy the Riverwalk along with the Reunion. Madelynn had a good time at the Reunion, but did not like not being able to go into the RIVER! She would have jumped right in had we allowed her to. It was a fun weekend, and I am glad we got to go!!

At this point, I think Madelynn had drenched herself with water bottles. She loved this pink princess chair, and at one point one of her Uncles sat in it and she was NOT happy about it.

The hotel had a nice pool, and Madelynn was ready to go "Simmin".

Hanging out with "Pop"

Exploring the kitchen at the Reunion site.

After a long day, a little Barney always helps. (This is how mommy got a little time to play Bunco with the family!)

Playdate

A few weeks ago, Madelynn had a playdate with her best friend Gracelynn. They had SO much fun. (Their dads and their moms had a lot of fun too!) We had a few "sharing" issues, but other than that they loved each other.

This is them riding to the pool together.

Trying to learn how to float with dad.

Playing with toys...we had two of this one so everything was great!

Eating dinner at Babes

Sweet Girls!

Summer is Here Already??

Memorial Day Weekend was spent just like any other weekend except we got to go to the pool for the first time! We went to the main pool in our neighborhood which has a cute baby pool/splash park, and Madelynn had such a great time. So great in fact, that she cried and cried when it was time to leave. SO...daddy let her play at the park for a little while. But then, when we left the park she cried so she got...well you will see in the last picture. :-)

Ready to go!!

Loves to splash!

Playing on the turtle in the splash park

Swinging at the park

Spoiled Rotten...ice cream.

Spring!

I really wanted to take Madelynn's pictures in the beautiful bluebonnets this year, but when we went out looking for some...we were too late. SO I settled for this beautiful field of buttercups. I wish it had been a prettier day outside, but I am happy with what I got.

Mothers Day!!

Almost a year and 8 months ago, I become a mother. It is the most challenging and rewarding task I have ever been blessed with. There is nothing better. Happy Mothers Day to me. Thank you Madelynn for being a wonderful child. :-)

I LOVE Mothers Day. I think it is a wonderful day where we get to celebrate wonderful people! I personally think I have the most wonderful mother in the world. She does so much for me and my sisters, and I am so grateful. I am very blessed to have amazing grandmothers, and a wonderful mother in law and grandma in law. Happy Mothers Day to my sister who is an amazing mother to 5 amazing kids, and Happy Mothers Day to my sister in law who should be giving birth to Baby Nate any day now!!!