our little dog walker and happy friday!

Happy Friday everyone! I thought we'd post real quick before starting our day. Maddie is doing so many cute things these days and I wanted to make sure I documented them somewhere (where is that baby book anyway...)!

Lately she's been wanting to "walk" Tucker. We hang his leash up on the hook by the door and if its hanging down low enough, she grabs it and pulls it down. She then takes the leash and tries to hook Tucker up to it. Of course, Tucker is pretty wise to her tricks and the two end up walking in circles around eachother... fun for all involved.

here she is with her leash looking for Tuck

there's the victim coming around the corner

couldnt catch him. back to her books

No, she never did catch him... but thats ok. We want him to actually like her after all. We're off to the aquarium again for a "mommy and me" event they're having. Our Little Peaches playgroup is meeting there today. Should be fun!

visiting the fishies

The family took a quick trip to the aquarium on Saturday and Maddie LOVED it. She really loves fish and was definitely into it. She ran from room to room saying and signing "more?" The aquarium is great because they add new fish every few months or so - so even if you go regularly, there are always new things to see. Unfortunately the penguins were on vacation - but they're coming back along with dolphins next year! Can't wait for that. And check out the HUGE manta-ray... she's new!

park fun

We had a few days of really pretty weather last week and took advantage of it by going to our favorite neighborhood park. Its fun to watch her at a park. She goes to the playground twice a day now at school (when its warm enough outside) and I know she does things there that I wouldnt think she would know how to do just by watching the other kids - so she "shows" me all these things when I take her. The biggest thing is climbing and sliding. She does it like a pro - and clearly doesn't need my help.

Here she is mastering one of the little slides.

Yup - I climbed up here myself

THis is the tricky part...

and down I go! no sweat

Im queen of the world!

Hmmm... what next

Maddie loves this little pink buggy

this looks like a good resting spot

But back to basics - she still loves the playhouse. They have a few of them at the park but she likes the yellow one with the pink door the best. Who doesn't really.

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

Wash wash wash

We're very ready for spring here. Some daffodils have bloomed in our neighborhood and they're just very confused. Its gotten cold again this week and its a bummer. We were all cooped up in the house and it stinks! It won't be long now - but it can't come soon enough. We want more park days!

just playin'

Little M is very into little houses, little cars, little playthings in general. These pictures are of her playing with the playhouse her Aunt Laura gave her for Christmas. Its so cute to watch her put the person in the bed or walk them thru the front door. Its just so fun to watch her play. I of course don't want her to grow up any faster than she already is - but I can't wait to see what she does next!

Gotta run- she's putting Tuckers bone in her mouth....

Heart Day Party

I was able to pop into Maddie's class on Friday just in time to catch a little bit of their Valentines Day Party.... and what a party it was! Pink plates, music, yummy snacks and even APPLE JUICE (mommy let this one slide since it was a party after all) !! She even got a few Valentines from her friends AND a fuzzy pink monkey from her teachers! Enjoy the pictures!

nana's birthday trip

We're back home from Nana's birthday trip and I think the weekend was a success! Nana was very surprised to see us and we had a great time with family and friends. It was VERY cold, but we stayed inside as much as possible and bundled up.

Here are a few pictures of the trip. Enjoy!

Maddie and her new baby from Aunt Jen

Maddie at Nana's birthday dinner

Nana feeding her grandaughters

Turns out M really digs chocolate cake

bundled up! ready to go to nana's school!

so this is what you learn in 2nd grade

exploring Nana's room

Nana and her baby

at jen's on friday

watching nana come in

and on saturday... a party for maddie!

chips and dips... yum

cousin cam playing us a ditty

the marshalls and maddie

aunt jen and maddie

maddie feeding her baby water and delta biscoff cookies

We made it home in one piece too. Maddie is still a great little flyer. I think this was her 5th round trip on a plane. Not bad for 17 months old, huh? We were able to snag two open seats on the ride home, which is unheard of these days so M and her baby had their own space. I think the days of her riding on our laps are over. Time to start paying for a ticket for her!

Im already trying to figure out when we can get back there next! We know we'll be back there in July for Aunt Lauras wedding shower and then again in September... but who knows, maybe we can squeeze another trip up there in a few months.

Next stop for us... DISNEY! Mommy is running the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon in just 4 weeks with her friend Steff and Jim and Maddie are coming along for the ride. I know its WAY too early for Maddie to understand any of it - but I love Disney... and running is fun... so we're going! :)

Have a great week Maddiefans!

greetings from the frozen tundra

Greetings from the cold northeast where it's a frigid 10 degrees! Maddie and I are in New England surprising Nana for her birthday. Boy was she surprised when she came home from school and and found us waiting for her in the livingroom. We pulled it off! I of course couldnt say anything on the blog about our big trip because Nana is a regular reader so we had to keep it to ourselves.

I was a little nervous about the plane ride because Maddie is so active and mobile now. I was afraid she wouldnt want to sit still - then fuss and cry when she had to stay seated in my lap... but she did great! She and I squeezed into 3/4 of a seat (because there was a 6 ft 5in. basketball player in the seat next to us) and read the safety manual, the Delta Sky magazine and a few books. We also experiemented with a portable DVD player. It went okay. Maddie is in LOVE with WonderPets. If you've never seen it... its a pretty cute show for little ones. So, I burned a DVD of the show and decided to buy a DVD player instead of having to take my laptop (which is a whole different story- this was my first official trip with no work laptop in tow). I waited til I could sense she was getting a bit antsy before I brought out "Ming Ming" (thats what she calls the show). I brought the soft headphones and put them on her little ears and turned the DVD on. She was amazed... for about 4 minutes. Then she promptly wanted those things off her ears and wanted to open and shut, open and shut the DVD player. We did this again about 15 minutes later and then eventually ended up watching Ming Ming with no headphones an arms length away so she couldn't reach it. All in all I'd say it was about 30 minutes of time we occupied with it. Was it worth the money for the DVD player?? Umm...no, probably not. Let's hope we use it again in the future so I dont feel so guilty for buying it. Im sure it'll come in really handy for our trips up to NC.

I don't have any pictures from our trip yet. What I do have is a bunch of cute pictures of the "snookie" (as Pop-Pops calls her) from Nana and Pop-Pops computer. These are all oldies but goodies - most of which Ive never seen before! Hope you enjoy these til I can get home and download all of the pictures from our trip.

Park by our house

Aww... she looks comfy with Pop-Pops

Showing off her new coat from Nana

August 2008

Sweet girl sleeping on Nana

Maddie and Aunt Jen at Cousin Taylors game

Sailor Baby - June 2008

Hope everyone is keeping warm! It's pretty cold down in Atlanta too... but wow, Im just not used to 10 degrees! Its really great seeing family though and worth the frostbite to be with them. Maddie is having fun with her Nana and Pop-Pops and of course, Aunt Jen and Cousin Tay. Both Jen and Tay are taking tomorrow off so we're excited for a whole day with them. Pictures to come!

baby love, birthday cake and dance lessons

Wow! We had a record low month of posts in January and no complaints! Is readership going down? Usually we get hassled after two days of no posting. I guess the sisters just realized how crazy things have been lately.

January came and went. I cant believe its February already! Here are some pictures of the month.

The family at the "tracks"

Maddie and her baby

She doesn't go anywhere without it these days!


Going to school

Maddie's first pigtails!

Tasting Grandads birthday cake... YUM!

Daddy teaching Maddie to cha-cha-cha!

Let's hope we get to post more this month! Happy February everyone!