I took Maddie to a local lake yesterday. I was a little weary that she wouldn’t like it because she doesn’t like splash pads and can be hit or miss at the pool. But she LOVED it! I am definitely going back. Here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone while we were there. My mom and one of my brother’s also came by the lake while we were there and had some lunch and played in the... Read More Read More ...

Miss Maddie is growing up so quickly. She changes so much every day. We were discussing all the words she says now and realized I should make an updated list of all the things she says like I did when she was 15 Months Old. So here you have it. *Words (21): dance (dee dee), shoes (shoo), cup (pa), water (wa wa), bottle (ba ba), hat (ha), please (eeee, while signing please), yellow (le low), key (eee), ha, hey, yeah, help... Read More Read More ...

We took a trip to Omaha recently for Chuck’s cousin’s wedding. She is so sweet and came all the way to Florida for our wedding, so we knew we wanted to make the trip to see her tie the knot! Here’s a picture of the happy couple! (Which I took from her Facebook page.) At the wedding, We got a picture with the three of us and Chuck’s sister and her daughter, Amira. Before dinner, all three of the great-granddaughters... Read More Read More ...

Before I post some more recent pictures, I wanted to make sure I posted ones leftover from June first. So here you have it. MmmMuffins! MmmmmHummus! Such a big girl. She went to get some snacks out of the pantry and went back to eat them on the couch. Stay away from my goldfish, Mom! That isn’t how you use the Sit & Spin, Maddie. Much better! Maddie likes to sit on her balls and bounce. Here is a link... Read More Read More ...

Saturday morning I met a few of my best friends for breakfast. Two of them are also pregnant with their second kids. The one in the pink is Trisha and she is having a little boy a week after our girl is due. And the one in the middle is Brooke and she is due with her second girl in August! My wonderful friend, Hillary, took the picture. She is the one Maddie and I went to Sea Life with.... Read More Read More ...

Friday morning, Chuck and I went in to have my 20 week ultrasound. We asked the ultrasound woman not to tell us because we wanted her to write it in an envelope to find out later. Which she very kindly did! I got a text message that Chuck’s mom had a gift for Maddie so we had to swing by his sister, Paige’s house (which is really close to the doctor’s office) to pick it up. Little did I know,... Read More Read More ...

Maddie and I went to Sea Life at the Mall of America to meet my friend Hillary. My mom came with us, too. Maddie had a great time making a fish face at all the fish there!   ...

The pillow that Chuck’s mom made for us has been a huge hit. Maddie plays on it all the time. I like to lay on it. Chuck and Maddie spend a lot of time wrestling on it. Needless to say, it has been a great addition to our living room.   Today while we were playing, Maddie learned how to do somersaults on the pillow. We took a number of videos and Chuck put them all together into one long... Read More Read More ...

A few weeks ago, we met our friends Trisha and Chelsea at the Minnesota Zoo. The girls just love hanging out together. Maddie was showing Chelsea how to go through the bamboo door. Now you see her. Now you don’t! Can you see this goofy face Maddie makes? What a strange one! And this silly pig was sleeping in his trough! ...

Along with the other little goodies I have gotten Maddie recently (Ball Toy and Slide), I also got her a table and chairs. I found this at a garage sale. It took Maddie a little while to figure it out (it was a little tall for her), but once she figured it out, there was no stopping her. She uses it every day. She either pushes it around the house or uses it to stack toys she is playing with.... Read More Read More ...

A friend of mine and I took our kids to the Mall of America. She has two little girls and the youngest one is just 3 weeks older than Maddie. The older one loves Maddie and was such a good helper with her. Look at how cute they are shopping! And here are the girls getting ready for lunch! They are so cute together! ...

A friend of mine got a slide for her daughter and it got my wheels turning and ready to start searching CraigsList for one. I found one and Maddie LOVES it! ...

The Kitchen House was the most recent book we read for my book club. Here’s a summary of the book. When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen... Read More Read More ...

Yesterday I was 18 weeks along with Baby #2. I called Maddie “Thumper” when I was pregnant with her because she was such an active little thing. Well, it turns out, Baby #2 is no different. For a couple weeks now, I have felt some sporadic kicks and movements. Yesterday morning, though, I was laying on my back before I got out of bed in the morning and Baby #2 was kicking so hard I saw my stomach move! It... Read More Read More ...

After lots of research and looking in person, we bought a new stroller for when Baby #2 gets here. We purchased this beauty. A friend of mine has one and she loves it. I know when I said it was for Baby #2, you probably assumed that it holds two kids. OH IT DOES! Look at what this bad boy can do! Yeah. How sweet is that?! I wanted it in black, so I have to wait until they get... Read More Read More ...

A friend was having a garage sale, so Maddie and I meandered over to see what they had. One of the things I bought was this ball toy. It has four balls and when you hit a button, air shoots the balls up. It’s pretty amusing to watch Maddie with it. Here are a few outtakes of her playing with it. She was trying to figure out how it worked. Then tried to get one of the balls. I love... Read More Read More ...

I have been dying to switch Maddie into her new room. We decided to move her because the room we are moving her to is above the garage and has two outside walls. So it is colder in the winter. Something Maddie can handle just fine, but not the best for a newborn. I did a little post about moving all the junk out of the new room a while back. After finally moving everything out, Chuck and I did... Read More Read More ...

A friend of mine has raved about Teavana, so the other day I was in the store getting a gift for someone and I thought I would try out some things. I’ve never found a tea I like, but I would like to like it. I tasted a sweet tea they had as a sample and I was sold! So I went home and made a cup. It was awful! There’s no getting around that. So I started asking my... Read More Read More ...

I have a number of pictures that don’t really need their own post, but I wanted to make sure I got them on here some day. So here’s a bunch of random photos for your enjoyment. Maddie has been getting teeth for what seems like months. She loves ice cubes. She likes to hold on to them, eat them, play with them in a cup.she especially likes them when it’s warm outside. I recently bought Maddie a water table off... Read More Read More ...

Some days your toddler will yell at you about everything. Some days your toddler won’t want to eat lunch. And some days the only way to get your toddler to eat lunch is to give in and let them hold their doll so they will at least eat strawberries for lunch. And the Cabbage Patch Kid was mine. Her name is (amusingly) “Maddie Jeanie.” ...