Spring Break

We had such a fun Spring Break this year! I loved every second that I got to spend with Andrew and Madelyn. I tried to do something fun with them each day. On Sunday we went to the park after church. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Jason was able to go with us too.

Madelyn loved to swing Andrew loved picking up rocks from the little creek

I think I went down the slide with Madelyn about 25 times!

On Monday we had a playdate with our MOPS group at Gymnastic Joe's. It was so much fun and it wore Andrew and Madelyn out! Madelyn is so funny, because she wants to be in the middle of everything. She wanted to jump in the pit with the foam balls and would jump on the trampoline with the bigger kids. She has no fear!

On Tuesday we had another MOPS playdate in the gym at our church. Andrew enjoyed riding his tricycle around and Madelyn had fun riding on the little cars.

Don't know why this is on here twice...

Tuesday night our church had a fundraiser for the Children's ministries at Chuck E Cheese. We had a fun time eating pizza and playing games!

On Wedesday we stayed home and organized closets! I ordered a bunch of new storage bins and we had a lot of boxes. Andrew enjoyed building forts with them. At one point he put all of his Toy Story toys in a box and got in with them. He said they were going to Sunnyside! Hahaha!

Andrew has been wanting a slinky dog and we finally found one on Amazon.

On Thursday we went to Conway to visit Mimi and Grandad. Andrew and Madelyn had fun riding the mule at the store.

Friday mom, Madelyn, and I went shopping and Andrew spent the day with Mere and Don. He helped in their garden and played with the tools in the garage.

Saturday we took the kids to Little Rock to The Wonder Place. It was a lot of fun! There were so many things that Andrew and Madelyn could do. They loved it!

We had a really great time over our Spring Break. It was hard to get back to work yesterday. I was exhausted!

New Shoes!

Yesterday, Jason and I took the kids shopping for spring shoes! Why we went shopping for spring shoes at 8:00pm, I don't know, but we had the store all to ourselves! Madelyn is just tall enough to reach the bottom shelf of shoes and pull them all onto the floor, then she sat down and tried to put them on her feet! It was pretty funny! Andrew climbed up on the bench and was looking at the shoes on the top shelf. He found some star trek tennis shoes that light up and was a little disappointed when I didn't let him get those. Madelyn loved to sit down and try on her shoes. She would stick her foot out and smile and point to her shoes. Then she would just watch her feet as she walked around the shoe store. It was so cute! Andrew had to test his shoes out by running around the store. Just in case you did not get the memo- Andrew is now introducing himself as Buzz Lightyear and demonstrates his space ranger flying skills! It is pretty funny. He walks up to people anywhere we are and will say "Good to meet you. What's your name?" they tell and then ask him what his name is and his response is "My name is Buzz Lightyear. I am a space ranger and I can fly." It is pretty funny!

Here is Miss Madelyn today in her new shoes. She got two pairs (it was buy one get one 50% off at Stride Rite) and she carried the other pair to the car with her. She wanted them both!
This was as Andrew was attempting to make his exit from the store. He said he didn't really want me to take his picture.

So proud of her shoes!

Such a big girl! I couldn't resist those adorable sandals!

I think they fit!

Miss Madelyn at 16 Months

I have not done a post about all the things Madelyn is doing in quite a while, so here goes!

* Is very affectionate- loves to give hugs and kisses!

* Still growls like a dog

* Loves to read books

* Wants to do everything that Andrew is doing...sometimes this works out well, other times not so much!

* Carries around her pink blanket

* Is an excellent sleeper

* Says mama, dada, baba (bottle), Andrew, ball, bow, doll

* Asks "what is this" and points to different things all.the.time

* Goes to her high chair when she is hungry

* Lays down on the floor with her blanket when she is ready for bed

* Likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Andrew

* Has started enjoying keeping a bow in her hair. In the mornings she will go to her bow holder and point to it and say "bow" and then try to put it in her hair!

* Has some wild hair! It is so hard to fix. It looks great after it has been washed and dried, but once she sleeps on it, it gets curly!

* Has a temper. When she does not get what she wants, she will fall to the ground and scream.

* Gets so excited when her daddy comes home from work! She hears the door open and starts running towards it saying "dada, dada" and waves her arms for him to pick her up!

* Loves ride on toys

* Her favorite food is mashed potatoes! She can eat a ton of them!

* When you get the camera out she says "cheese" and smiles really big

* Enjoys playing outside and has finally gotten used to walking in the grass!

* Has the sweetest laugh!

* Jabbers all the time, just like her brother!

* Loves coming to school each day and playing with her friends. She looks at her class picture in her room and points to her friends and attempts to say their names! It is very sweet!

* She is just the most pleasant little girl to be around! We love her very much! I cannot believe how much she has grown up. She is really beginning to look like a little girl and less like a baby.

Found!

I finally found my camera cord. It was sitting on top of my dresser, behind a picture frame. I know I had looked there at least three times! Actually, I didn't find it. Jason did. Here are some pictures from the last month.

Andrew and I making cupcakes for Valentines Day. We intended on giving them out, but we ended up eating them all ourselves!

This is the best part!

Thankfully there are two!

Miss Madelyn watching the snow. I didn't have the right snow gear for her to get out in the snow, so she watched Jason and Andrew play from the window.

We measured 26 inches on our driveway.

Jason cleared a trail for Andrew to walk on.

Madelyn enjoys brushing her teeth!

We were watching the Grammys and Andrew went and got his microphone and guitar. He watched the singers on tv and tried to do what they were doing. Don't worry- we didn't let him see Lady Gaga! Ha!

Andrew and his friends decorating Valentine boxes at school.

Miss Madelyn at her 15 month checkup

Weight: 21 lbs 3.1 ozs- 24%

Height: 28 1/2 inches- 8% (I didn't know there was an 8th percentile!)

Head: 46 inches- 54%

After the snow, the weather dramatically changed and we had 60 degree temps! We've played outside a lot. Andrew has enjoyed pushing Madelyn in his car.

That's about it for us! We've just been enjoying the nice weather after all the snow. Jason and I are sponsors for our church youth retreat this weekend. We are heading to OK to spend the weekend with 23 teenagers. I don't know what we've gotten ourselves into!

LOST!

My camera cord has gone AWOL!! I am about to go crazy. I have pictures from the huge snowstorm, Valentines day, Madelyn walking, etc. But, I can't upload the pictures because I cannot find my camera cord. I have looked everywhere for this thing, but I just cannot find it. I am going to have to buy a new one, I guess. Thankfully, my aunt took some pictures of the kids this weekend while they were visiting Mimi and Grandad. It just blows my mind how big these two are getting! Madelyn is FIFTEEN MONTHS OLD!!! I can't believe it! She is the happiest and sweetest little girl. She is walking everywhere and trying to run after Andrew. Andrew loves her 90% of the time! He is very nice to her, but he does like to tackle her. She can hold her own with him pretty well! They are at such fun ages. Andrew talks all.the.time and says some of the funniest things. I get a good laugh from him multiple times during the day! So, here are a few pictures of how they have grown!

Surgery and Snow Days

We have been buried in the snow around here! It has actually been kind of nice. I have really enjoyed my time at home with the kids, but we are all looking forward to getting back to school. Although, it may be March before we do! There is another winter storm system coming our way this week. Last week-before the snow storm-Andrew had surgery. It was a left hydrocelectomy. He had a lump in his "male parts" and we were referred to a urologist. The urologist made a 2 inch incision in his abdomen (it looks like a tiny version of my c-section scar) and went in and drained the fluid from his "part" and then tied off the area that was causing the fluid to leak. This could have eventually caused a hernia. The procedure was about an hour, but we had to be at the hospital at 7am for pre-op. Andrew said, "I am not sick. I am feeling very much better. We can go home. I don't need any surgeries." I felt pretty sorry for him! He was doing alright once we got there and he was able to watch Mickey Mouse!
After the surgery was over he was FURIOUS! He had an IV in his arm and he did not like that one bit. He wanted it off and he wanted it off right then. They couldn't take it off, because he had to drink some juice and use the bathroom before we could be discharged, and then they would remove it. My mom came up to help (THANK YOU!!!) and she and Jason went downstairs to get us some lunch. Andrew saw it and wanted to eat, but they said he couldn't eat until we got home. So that caused another problem. The kid was starving! They informed us that it could be 5-6pm before we would be discharged, because most little ones refuse to go potty. I told Andrew that the only way we could go home and he could get his IV out was if he would go to the bathroom. He said, "I want to go. I have to potty." We took him to the bathroom and he was successful! He walked out and went to the nurse and said "Will you please take this off of me." She did and we were gone by noon! He is a determined little boy! He also didn't seem one bit fazed by the surgery. He was doing everything they told him not to do- lift things, ride his bike, push things, run, etc. It took all of our energy to keep him still! We are just so glad it went well!

So, after one week of surgery recovery we headed back to school on Monday. Then the big snowstorm came and we spent the rest of the week at home! We have watched the Toy Story Trilogy over and over and over and over and over! We have also watched so much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that I have almost called Toodles to bring me the Mouse-ka-tools when I needed help! Ha! Here are a few pictures from our lazy snow days!

Miss Madelyn and her pig tails! Her hair is growing and she looks so cute with them pulled back!

I've also let her feed herself, because she refuses to eat otherwise! She isn't that bad at it!

They did some cleaning in the kitchen drawers.

Madelyn modeled her cat ears from Mere and Don.

Andrew refused to nap this week. He passed out at dinner one night. Yes, he is wearing a swim shirt!

Andrew enjoyed eating ice-cream in bed while watching Mickey Mouse.

Madelyn even watched Mickey! She found herself a new pillow.

Mickey Mouse is serious stuff!

Andrew played a little dress-up!

We finally got out in the snow today. It was just too cold any other day. He really wanted to build a snowman. He has watched Frosty the Snowman a few times and said, "I am going to build a snowman and it is going to come to life and then I will name him Frosty. He will say Happy Birthday and then I will take him to the North Pole."

Not quite Frosty, but he will do!

Oh, Madelyn has become a full time walker over these snow days!

She really wanted to go and play in the snow, but she has had a runny nose and I wasn't going to chance it! She was content just to watch Andrew play and Jason shovel the driveway through the window!