Maddie – Page 4 – ANDI HAYS

Train Ride

Posted on August 18, 2014August 15, 2014 by Andi

Back in July (yes, I’m VERY behind in blog posts), Maddie had been asking a lot about trains. So we decided to take her on a light rail ride downtown. Maddie loved every minute of it!

Here are the girls waiting for the train to come.

Here is Maddie watching for the train.

Dannie and I sitting on the train.

And Maddie…happy as can be sitting with dad, looking at everything from her window!

When we got downtown, we walked around a little bit and then had dinner at Panera. Then wandered back to the train to go back home. It was a fun adventure and Maddie talked about it for days. It was a cheap little trip to make a 3 year old happy for days!

Dancing Queen

Posted on July 3, 2014July 3, 2014 by Andi

For the last couple months or so, Maddie has been asking (and asking and asking) if she can take a “bannerina” (ballerina) class. So I found a local place that had some summer sessions and signed her up. To say she was excited would be an understatement.

Here are a few pictures. The parents can only watch through a window that has a sheer curtain on it, so I apologize for the quality of the pictures. (She’s wearing a purple leotard in all the pictures.)

This dance studio has a nice play area for siblings during dance class. The first night we were there, Dannie played in it. Now she would prefer to sit next to me, watch Maddie and be silly.

After her first night of dance class, we came home to dinner on the table and Daddy brought a treat home. He brought ice cream and toppings. It wasn’t just her first day of dance, she also started a sports class the same day (which I will blog about soon), Chuck got her a treat for trying two new things that day. She was pretty excited!

Dannie was quite happy to enjoy Maddie’s treat, too. (And let’s be honest, I was the most excited of all when I saw Chuck got me Butterfinger ice cream!)

Maddie has continued to like dance class. She’s gone for three weeks and has one more class this session. Then two weeks off and another four weeks. If she is still interested, I’ll sign her up for fall. But we will play it by ear. As long as she is having fun and wants to go, I’ll keep signing her up. I think she would be just adorable all dolled up for a recital!!!

Knot Genie

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Andi

Maddie has really long hair. And I haven’t had the heart to cut it yet, so she still has some baby curls. This long hair can get quite tangled and she is very sensitive when I am trying to brush her hair. So I found a deal on a Knot Genie hairbrush. When I first bought it, I’ll admit I was a little skeptical about how well it would work.

After trying it out on Maddie and not hearing any complaints and getting nice, smooth, un-tangled hair, I was sold. I use it with some detangling spray after baths as well as just on her dry hair. She doesn’t complain that it hurts and I’m happy I can get a brush through her hair without many complaints.

I did buy one from Target as well, so I could have one upstairs and one downstairs. I don’t remember the brand of it, but it works well, too.

Maddie does like to use it herself, too. She’s still a little young to do a very good job of brushing, but she is happy to try. Dannie likes trying to brush her hair with it, too.

Overall, If your daughter has long hair, a sensitive head, or you’re just tired of struggling with her to brush her hair, I highly recommend giving this brush a try. I have no promises you’ll get the same results as I do, but it has worked for me.

All of the opinions are my own and this was not a sponsored post.

Kid Toilet Seat

Posted on May 8, 2014May 8, 2014 by Andi

Back when we decided to seriously start potty training Maddie, we decided to get this toilet seat for our bathroom on the main floor.

I loved that I didn’t have an extra seat to put on the toilet, take off and clean and I never cared much for the potty seats where I had to empty and clean it out all the time. This seemed like the perfect compromise. The training seat has a magnet on the top to hold it up when adults are using the toilet and it easily comes down for kids to use. When you close the lid, it has a no-slam feature so kids won’t slam their fingers. You can also very easily take the whole seat off for cleaning if you need to by twisting the two screws that hold it on.

Overall, I have been extremely happy with the seat. The only downfall in my mind is the tiny pins that hold the training seat on are plastic and not very durable. Maddie broke one of the pins off and we ended up replacing the seat (for free with a warranty return). I still would have preferred not to replace it, but I was happy it was an easy process. We did end up getting another one of these seats for the basement since I plan on that really being the kids’ space. Ideally, I’d love one in the jack-and-jill bathroom upstairs, but for now, one of the removable seats have been serving that purpose.

If you have kids that are potty trained or will be in the future, I recommend looking into these toilet seats. It saves on ease of cleaning up toilet “parts” and teaches kids to use the toilet. I know that being able to go right on the toilet instead of a potty seat helped Maddie’s confidence.

All of the opinions are my own and this was not a sponsored post.

Children’s Museum With Friends

Posted on March 27, 2014April 21, 2020 by Andi

We went the the Children’s Museum back in February with a friend. She was a month away from having her second, so she was happy to let her daughter run off some energy!

While we were waiting for them to get there, the girls played in the lobby. I got this cute video of Maddie pushing Dannie in circles in the stroller. I love the look on Dannie’s face!

Dannie spent a good portion of the morning sucking down water from Maddie’s water bottle.

There was a dinosaur exhibit and all the girls loved it.

We also spent a lot of time playing with bugs in the water.

Dannie found a stool that she pushed around everywhere…

…even into someone’s stroller.

The music/dancing room is another favorite. The girls love to push buttons and dance on the stage.

We had a wonderful time and I am so glad we got to go with some new friends!

Videos!

Posted on March 25, 2014March 24, 2014 by Andi

I have been taking a bunch of videos with my phone lately. So instead of a photo dump, we have a video dump!

One warm day recently, I took the girls outside to play in the snow. Maddie was having fun shoveling the snow and Dannie was freaking out every time she walked near it! At least I didn’t have to worry about her leaving the driveway. Smile

I have a bunch of sensory bins I used to play with Maddie all the time. I usually forget to get them out to play with Dannie, though. One evening we were killing some time before bed, so I brought the bins out. The rice one was their favorite!

The girls love sitting at the little picnic table to eat snacks. Maddie really likes to help Dannie eat.

I had been trying to get a picture of Dannie giving me “the look”. I finally got a video of it where you could tell what she was doing. Chuck took a good one, too, but I haven’t uploaded that one.

Dannie just being Dannie. This was taken a number of weeks ago.

I am sure there are more, but these were the good ones. Happy Tuesday.

Valentine’s Day

Posted on March 20, 2014March 17, 2014 by Andi

We went to a Valentine’s Day playdate and I had Maddie help me make valentines to give to her friends (we also gave some to a few family members and friends, too). She did a great job with her own and with Dannie’s.

For Valentine’s Day this year, we got the girls a couple small gifts.

Dannie wanted to kiss her owl…over and over and over.

Chuck, as usual, picked out some amazing gifts for me. Look….a bouquet of kittens.

He also got some custom-made M&Ms.

I got Chuck a Build-Your-Own Internal Combustion Engine. He thought it was really fun and promptly put it together in his spare time over the next couple days.

It was a great Valentine’s Day this year. We all loved our gifts!

Playing With Gifts

Posted on March 19, 2014March 17, 2014 by Andi

Here are a few pictures of the girls playing with the gifts Maddie got for her birthday.

Maddie’s New Bed

Posted on March 18, 2014March 18, 2014 by Andi

For Maddie’s birthday, we got her a new bed. Her crib was already converted into a toddler bed, but we thought she would enjoy a big girl bed. We got her the KURA bed from IKEA. And she picked out some Doc McStuffins bedding a couple weeks before we got the bed.

Here she is enjoying her new bed! She looks so tiny sitting in it.

Looking at the bed from the door.

Such a big girl.

This is looking up from the bed.

I had these paper balls hanging in her corner. I need to move them slightly, but for now they are cute to look at above the bed.

And Maddie hasn’t forgotten that I said I would paint her room pink. She asked about it just the other day. I guess I should get around to doing that one of these days. Smile

“Reading”

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Andi

Maddie has been really into “reading” books to Dannie. Her favorite books to read are two that we have been reading to Dannie at bedtime since she was just a baby. Maddie now has them memorized and likes to hold to book and “read” to Dannie at bedtime. She’s really good to make sure she even shows Dannie the pictures!

The other day, I couldn’t get over how sweet her “reading” was, so I decided to get it on tape to share. So, here you have it. Maddie “reading” Dannie’s bedtime books.

See….just the sweetest little thing! Oh, and speaking of books, I have a list of some new favorite kid books that I need to write about. I am pretty excited by these, so that will be coming soon.