Visiting Mimi and Pop Pop

After we spent a little over a week in Phoenix, we boarded a flight to Jacksonville, FL. This was the first time Madilyn or I have ever been out that way. Like a true seasoned traveler, she handled it all wonderfully. She was an angel on both flights, and for the most part, was very well behaved during our time there. She fought her naps a bit, but what kid wants to nap when there's so much fun to be had???

Mimi and Pop Pop hosted a family gathering for many people to meet Madi for the first time. The show was scheduled to start around 230, but Madilyn didn't wake up from her nap for a solid hour after that! Despite her room being near all the action and the doorbell ringing, she was OUT! Once she finally woke up she was sure to charm everyone.

Playing in the backyard shortly after our arrival. She loves to play outside!

The pretend deer outside. She didn't know what sound a deer makes so she kept going over to it and saying, "baaaaaa" :)

Little family shot on our way to the beach after dinner one evening in St. Augustine.

Playing in the water with Daddy.

Madilyn, Pop Pop, and Mimi.

Four Generations

The title pretty much says it all :)

Fit for a Princess

Just wanted to share some pictures from Madilyn's birthday party. I think everyone had fun! Poor girl refused to nap that Saturday (of all days!) so she was pretty sleepy, but she's a trooper :)

Madilyn's favorite place to be while we were back home was on the trampoline. This girl would jump and jump for hours. She sure slept well after all that jumping though!

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

YUM!!!!

Madilyn and Elmo shared the present opening duties. He was more than happy to lend a paw.

After all ger gifts were open, she got right to work feeding her new babies :)

TWO Years Old

Where does the time go? Was it really two years ago today I was in the hospital recovering from labor and delivery.....holding the most precious gift we've ever been blessed with? Time sure flies. At 11:05 today, Madilyn officially became our TWO year old!

To celebrate such a momentous occasion, we started the day off exactly how Madi requested- with "breakfast cupcakes" of course! Some of you may recognize them as doughnuts, but I am rather fond of breakfast cupcakes myself.


After breakfast we stropped by Jamba Juice for some yummy smoothies en route to the zoo. Boy oh boy did Madilyn have fun.We went with Grandma and Grandpa Merritt, Megan, and Uncle Cole. She only stayed in her stroller long enough to get to the first exhibit. After that, she walked the rest of the way. I couldn't believe how far she walked all on her own.

Of course, the trip simply wouldn't be complete without a ride on Dale the camel. One look at the other kiddos riding this big guy and Madi wanted to join right in. Since Daddy was a bit turned off by the camel and pregnant mamas aren't supposed to go camel riding, her Godmommy graciously offered.

After the zoo we stopped and grabbed some lunch and now we're all headed down for naps. What a wonderful and busy day!

Happy Easter

John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Cow Park

Today we took Madilyn to a fun little park here known as the "cow park". This isn't the real name for it of course, but the kids call it this because of the cow figures in the middle of the playground. For those of you who may not know, Madilyn is obsessed with cows. She looks for them all over and gets all crazy and excited when she sees them. This was the PERFECT outing and she had a great time!

Clip from tonight!

What is everyone up to?

I haven't updated in a while, mostly because there hasn't been too much to report. Our weeks have been pretty routine; which has been awesome for Missy. She's still attending MDO on Mondays and Thursdays from 9-230 and loving every minute of it. She sees me getting her stuff ready for the day and is so excited to go to school that I have to beg her to eat some breakfast first!!! I'm glad she is so happy, thriving, and LOVING the challenge.

Today Madi has a birthday party to attend for one of her girlfriends, and then we're going to Wichita Falls for the afternoon/evening. Matt actually asked if we could go do a bit of shopping....surprise!

On the 17th we (Madilyn and I) are making our way to Denver for a week to visit and play in the snow. We'll be back on the 24th, but Matt will be away until the 2nd or 3rd of April. He has a course he has to take in MI, so he'll be gone from 21 March until early April. March is just going to fly by!

So, what has everyone else been up to? Those of you who don't blog, leave a comment and let me know what is new in your lives. We'd love to hear :)

Wichita Falls

Today we decided to head on down south to Texas for a little family fun (and shopping!). Our first stop was Kids Hair Safari for Madilyn's very FIRST haircut!!!! She was sooooo good. I thought she might be afraif of the clippers, etc, but she was a real champ. They every had super cool seats for the kiddos and everything.  As you can see, she had quite the mop of hair in need of some serious attention:

In the middle of her haircut:

All done! What a sweetie :)

Next stop was Hobby Lobby. BUT, we were hungry so we stopped on by IHOP for a bite to eat along the way. Here's Madi enjoying the candy bracelet she picked out of the prize bucket at the Salon. She kept looking at me and shouting "mmmmmm, Mommy, NUMMY!!!!!"

Then we went to Best Buy (can't bring Daddy along to the city and not go to Best Buy!), the mall, and out to dinner at Olive Garden; yum! Madilyn saw the camera while we were at dinner and immediately posed with Matt. She's such a little ham!

Madilyn Picasso

It seems we've got a budding artist on our hands these days. The sight of crayons, markers, paints, or anything similar make Madilyn go crazy. This girl LOVES to color.

I have her art table sitting in the kitchen so I can let her color while I'm cooking dinner, but every so often I have to take my eye off here for a moment to grab something out of the fridge, etc...

Well, I think Madilyn has finally had enough of all the "white" in our home. The other day while I was cooking, she decided to add a little color to our home:

Don't worry, they're very washable crayons and everything has since been cleaned up. I just had to snap a few pictures first. I knew it would happen eventually!