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!