Spit Happens

I'm not sure if it was all the spitting talk or all the toothpaste talk-- But last night and this morning we had two successful attempts at using the Colgate Strawberry Mint "spitting" toothpaste. Both brushing sessions ended with high fives and big smiles.

Success!

Spitting Toothpaste Dilema

Madie has always been one of those kids that didn't mind brushing her teeth. I guess it is kind of like taking a bath and going to the bathroom. You do it everyday, you HAVE to do it, so you might as well just do it without any complaints and she does. Recently, I have been talking with Madie about how she is getting older and that it is about time for her to start using "big girl/spitting toothpaste"--the kind of toothpaste that you do not swallow--when discussing this she becomes very emotional and begs to continue to use the "baby toothpaste"--the kind you DO swallow. She has always been very particular about the flavor of toothpaste she uses. She definitely has her likes and dislikes when it comes to flavors so I thought that I would find the flavor of her favorite chewing gum (Orbit Strawberry Mint) and see if she would be interested.

Negative....no interest. As in big elephant tears I don't want to use that no interest. I'm not sure if it is the taste of the toothpaste or the spitting part that bothers her but she wants no part of it. I guess for now we will just keep trying and hope for the best. Maybe by the stime she starts to school we will have moved on to spitting toothpaste. But for now, during teeth brushing time, my Baby wants to stay a baby and I guess that's okay with me.

Wordless Wednesday....I'm A Proud Aunt!

Two Santa Visits....Two Different Responses..

A few weeks ago we went to the Mall while visiting Nana. Madie saw Santa and decided she was going to walk up to him and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She didn't have on a holiday outfit so I decided that I would just take a few pictures with my camera instead of buying one of the $14.99 4X6 pictures since I knew she would have a chance to see Santa again.

The pictures turned out really cute. She is smiling and in a very deep conversation with Santa about being a good girl and listening to her parents and telling him that she would like a toy kitchen. I was so proud of her and she couldn't stop talking about her visit with Santa.

Santa visit #2:

Milk and Cookies with Santa. This visit had been planned for weeks. Something a little more memorable (oh it was memorable alright) and intimate with Santa. He read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to the kids and then took special time with each of them to listen to what they wanted for Christmas and have his picture taken with him.

The cookies and milk part went very well. Notice the big smile on Madie's face.

The sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what she wanted for Christmas did not go as well. I'm not sure what she is praying for in the picture below...but I can probably guess it was to get her out of there.

Merry Christmas!

Simple Math

Wearing your ruby red slippers to breakfast

+

Wet floor at McDonald's

=

A big busted chin!

Luckily, Madie is okay and she says it only hurts when you touch it~ Ouch!

A Happy Belly And The Letter J

Today was Madie's first day back to MDO (Mother's Day Out) since before the Thanksgiving break. She has learned to wink (see my last wordless Wednesday for a look) and is very proud of herself. She couldn't wait to go to school and show her teachers her new trick. On the way to MDO she said, "Momma, my belly is happy." I thought to myself, oh she is so excited about going to school and that makes my heart smile! And then she said, "yes, I get to see Tony!" I'm a little concerned that at the age of 3, seeing a boy can make her belly happy. I'm hoping that the two statements were totally random and separate thoughts. If not, I'm in big trouble!

The ride home proved to be just as conversational. I asked Madie about her day, eager to see what she had learned, what she had made and all of the happenings of the day. When I asked her what she learned about she said, "I learned about jellybeans and my friend Jonathon." Apparently, today they learned about the letter J.

Wordless Wednesday = First Winky Face

Oh What A Night....

Last Thursday, I experienced something I had never done before. I went to a Midnight Release of a movie. I have been awaiting the release of New Moon since this time last year and had already decided I was not going to miss out on being at the premiere. I went with a great group of ladies that all share my fondness for the Twilight Saga. We enjoyed dinner and a double dose of our most beloved vampire. We went to a showing of Twilight at 9pm and then the premiere of New Moon at 12:01am. Let me just tell you that it did not disappoint. I have always been Team Edward~ But during the movie I caught myself forgetting about the vampires and loving the wolves. I loved it... and I will be going to see it again!

This movie was much more sophisticated that the first. The graphics was better, the acting was better, the makeup and hair...not so much. But hey, 2 out of 3's not bad. I wish that the movies were like the books so that when you finished with one you could just pick up another. Stephanie Meyer, thank you for unleashing my love for reading and sharing your dreams and fantasy world!

Is It November Or December?

The month of November has FLOWN by for me. I honestly don't know where it has gone. Here it is the week of Thanksgiving and I can hardly believe it. I hate to admit it, but yes...I am one of those people who caved in to what some have called "Premature Decorating." It wasn't without careful planning though. I didn't want to skip Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas. It seems though, that retail stores would love for you to do so--they had their trees and decorations up the day after Halloween. It's just that this month has been so busy and I knew that hubby would be hitting the woods for hunting season and it would also be the premiere of my most anticipated movie ever. So, in knowing this, I decided to go ahead and put up our trees. Yes I said trees....we have 3 this year. 4 if you count the small one in Madie's bathroom. I did however, restrain myself from decorating the front of the house with wreaths and still have my "fall" wreath on the door--so if you don't come inside or see all the Christmas lights from the window at night you would never know :).

So now, the upside to my "premature decorating" is that hubby gets to spend most of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the woods and I get to go to the movies.

My Month In Pictures

Wow! It has been over a month since my last post. I didn't intentionally go on a "blogging hiatus" but the time somehow slipped away from me and here I am, one month gone and no blogging. Since it has been so long and the holiday's are among us, I thought that I would sum up the Halloween Holiday with one post and provide pictures to illustrate all the fun we had. Before Madie was born, Halloween was just another holiday. We rarely dressed up or even participated. But Madie LOVES Halloween and will even ask strangers what they are going to be for Halloween. This year we all went with the Wizard of Oz theme. Both sets of grandparents and some really close friends of ours came over to enjoy all the fun and go trick or treating in the neighborhood.

So, here goes most of the month of October in pictures.

Madie made a great Dorothy. She likes to dress up in this dress all the time around the house. She was most proud of her "hair tails" and her little dog Toto.

Here's Madie and her "good buddy" J posing for a picture. J is dressed as General Manager and owner of his own mowing company. Too cute!

As I said, Halloween has become a family affair. Pictured from left to right: The Wicked Witch (Nana), Glenda the Good With (Me), The Scarecrow (Hubby), Dorothy (Madie) and the Tin man (Paw-paw)

Everyone joined in on the fun. Pictured from left to right: The Scarecrow (Hubby), Daddy Warbucks by default (Pawpaw B), The Cowardly Lion (Maw Maw C), and Dorothy (Madie)

We picked the coldest, wettest and muddiest day of the year to go to the Pumpkin Patch. But that didn't stop Madie from horse'n around.

Nana joined us at the Pumpkin Patch. They wanted to show off the pumpkin they found.

Now, maybe it won't be so hard to play catch up and I'll be able to keep up with my blogging during these days when I couldn't tell you where all my time goes.

Hanging At The Hollow

A few weeks ago we made our annual trip to Homestead Hollow. We've been anxiously awaiting the event and Madie kept a close eye to determine when the fall foliage would arrive. She knows that when the leaves begin to change colors that it is time to go to Homestead Hollow and go to the Pumpkin Patch. This year Nana and Paw-paw met us to enjoy the fun. It rained on us on the way there but by the time we got there the rain had ended and we were ready to enjoy the day. This year I noticed how "grown up" Madie has become. She wanted to do everything by herself. My little girl is growing up~

Madie riding on the horse and buggy ride. She was waving at me and then she looked at the lady to the left and said, "that's my mom!"

Madie rode the ponies two times. Her horses names were Teathen (part Tinkerbell part heathen) and 38 Special. She really enjoyed pretending to be a cowgirl.

Up, Up and AWAY....I was surprised how high she got. She laughed the whole time.

One Fall Festival down...Pumpkin Patch to go.

Happy Fall!

Finding Friends

I've been trying to get the house decorated for fall. I love this time of year when the heat of Summer says good-bye and the cool crisp air of Fall arrives. Needless to say, this little guy has been saved from the outdoors this year. He usually resides on our front porch but Madie has other plans for him. She has decided that he is the perfect playmate.

Madie and her new friend Mr. Scarecrow...If he only had a brain.

Dress Up

Madie LOVES to dress up. On any given day that we are at home, you can bet that she has on some type of dress up clothing. Sometimes it is mix and match, sometimes it is just shoes or just a dress or maybe just a crown. And sometimes it is just her boa that sheds feathers ALL over the house. I encourage her creativity and love to see her imagination at work. And although, this is extremely cute, ....it is not so cute before 7am.

My Tiny Dancer

Yesterday was Madie's first dance class. I enrolled her in a Ballet & Fairytales class at the local YMCA. I wanted to make sure that she enjoyed dance before I spent the money on expensive dance studios. Two of her friends from MDO are also in the class and they looked adorable in their little tutu's.

Well....she loved her first class and she has not stopped talking about it!

At dinner last night we were talking about what she learned. She told me that she learned to flap her legs like a butterfly, that they played hop scotch and that she learned to tirsty. I didn't quiet know what she meant. I didn't know if she needed a drink or if she was talking about a new dance position. I'm not a dance expert but I do know a few dance terms. When I asked her to show me, she bowed with one leg back and her arms stretched out and said, "tirsty." I couldn't help but laugh, she was saying curtsy. How cute and adorable. I'm so happy she loved it and can't wait to see what all she learns this year in dance class.

My Little Ballerina

Wordless Wednesday~My Little Fashionista

1st Day Of Mom's Day Out 2009

1st Day of school check list:

Cute outfit.....check.

New backpack.....check.

New lunchbox.....check.

Hairbow.....check.

Big smiles.....check.

No tears.....check.

Great 1st day.....check!!!!!!

Back To School~1st Annual Tea Party

Last Friday, Madie and her friends enjoyed their 1st Annual Back To School (Mom's Day Out) Tea Party. They enjoyed pink lemonade, PB&J sandwiches, petite fors, cheese & crackers, cheese and lemons straws and fruit. They were all dressed up in their dressy dresses and after having to pose for all the mom's to take a bazillion pictures, I think they had a wonderful time. They even decorated a picture frame to put one of their pictures from the tea party in as a keep sake.

The Tea Party Girls

Madie enjoying some pink lemonade.

The girls enjoying their lunch.

Showing off their picture frames.

So much fun!!! We can hardly wait until next year!

Donkey's and Goats and Peacocks OH MY!

This weekend Madie and I went for a visit to Nana and Paw-paw's. After breakfast Saturday morning we headed to a flower nursery that is located on a farm. They also have animals that you can pet and feed. There are donkey's, goats, peacocks, cats and kittens, rabbits, sheep, cows, dogs, pigs, chickens, roosters, chinchillas, ducks and I'm sure there were more livestock there that I can't remember. It is just a fun place to go and see all of the animals.

As soon as we got there Madie reached out to pet the peacock and got pecked. I felt so bad for her. She learned very quickly to ask before you stick your fingers in an animals cage.

Here is Madie petting a sweet rabbit. The owners of the nursery were so nice and took time out to show us all of the animals. This is Mrs. Garrett holding the rabbit so Madie can pet it.

Madie holding a chinchilla. They are sooooo soft.

Madie petting Daisy and Ivan, her new donkey friends.

Madie posing for a picture with Daisy and Ivan. I swear it looks like they are smiling too.

The BIG pig Sally....I don't think she moves around very much.

Madie petting her new friend Melody the goat. Everytime we would walk away she would say, "Come Baaaaaack!"

What a great day! (Other than Madie's peacock peck and running into an ant bed while trying to see a baby calf.) We can't wait to go back soon and see all of our farm friends.

Back To Blogging

In an attempt to catch up from my blogging hiatus, I am going to try and recap the last few weeks in one blog post. I have been so distracted. Between my reading, my Facebook addiction(thank goodness I don't Twitter), Netflix and going about our daily routine I haven't made the time to keep up with my blog so I hope I can recap and get myself caught up.

The past few weeks have flown by. The summer is almost over and I look around and can't find where it went. We have been on the go go go and enjoyed every minute of it. Our days have been filled with Museum trips, boat rides, play dates, Christmas in July, Alabama Adventure, Barons games, birthday parties, Oak Mountain visits, Pump It up, visiting family and friends, outings at the McWane Center, Botanical Gardens and just playing inside or out.

I am so grateful for my beautiful little girl and the time I get to devote to her and the time I get to spend with her. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Wordless Wednesday--Sold Out Crowd

Wordless Wednesday...In My Not So Wordless World

Happiness is......

Flying!

I'm On A BOAT!!!

We finally got around to taking Madie on her first boat ride. It's hard to make time to just go for a "ride" when hubby loves to fish as much as her does, but we cleared his fishing calendar and spent the day on the boat. It was SO much fun! I think we may have created a boating monster. We've been 2 times in the past week and we stayed on the water ALL day. I know her daddy is so proud. Thanks to Nana and Paw-paw for joining us and sharing the day.

I'm on a boat!

Look at that sweet face!

Having fun!

Madie and her daddy~

Vacation Baby!

For the past several years we have taken our family vacation during mine and hubby’s anniversary week. We usually go to Gulf Shores and stay at a great condo with a zero entry pool ( a MUST have with a small child—it is wonderful because you don’t have to be with them every second they are in the water…only every other second). This year I guess I waited too late to book our reservations because everything at our favorite place to stay was booked. Luckily, we have some very close friends with a condo in Panama City Beach, FL and they were nice enough to help us get a reservation at the property where they condo and it had everything we could have wished for and more.

The pool was awesome!

The view was spectacular!

The night before we left for the beach I got a stomach virus and was up ALL night. I couldn't tell you the last time I had been sick and the night before we leave….well let’s just say I lost 8 lbs. in about 6 hours. I tried to sleep the whole way down to the beach in hopes that when I woke up I would feel better. If anyone is wondering it takes approximately 1 showing of the Sound of Music, a 1 ½ hour nap and about 30 minutes to get to Panama City. ..just in case you were wondering. Madie ended up with the stomach virus Sunday night and Monday. She was such a trooper. She was a much better patient than her mommy was.

While we were at the beach we celebrated Father’s Day~Thanks hubby for being the wonderful father you are. And we also celebrated 9 years of wedded bliss~Thank you hubby for 9 wonderful years…I’m looking forward to 100 more!

Happy Father's Day!

Last year when we were at the beach Madie hated the sand. She didn’t want to touch it, stand in it or be anywhere around it. This year she loved it. I had so much fun watching her and hubby play in the sand. I am not a big fan of the sand….I like walking in it and standing next to the shore, but I don’t want to sit in it, get it under my finger nails or get it in places that sand should not be. It was great to watch Madie have so much fun.

Fun in the sun!

Building a sand castle with daddy.

We had a great time at the Treasure Ship.

Madie taking a break from swimming and enjoying a sucker.

Funny things that happened on vacation:

Madie thought the plane that flew by with the banners attached said, “Madie is at the beach!”

While out eating our waiter asked Madie if she was on vacation. She replied, “PCB Baby!” Thanks for that one hubby!

Do you know how fast Madie can knock down a sand castle? As fast as hubby can build them…Smile!

At the Treasure Ship restaurant a pirate told Madie he was going to make her a pink balloon poodle...Madie saud, "I don't need a pink one, but I'll take a blue one." My baby knows what she wants.

At the souvenir store Madie pickes a stuffed chinchilla as her souvenir prize...what?!? Really !?! And...it was $9. She hasn't played with it since we've been home.

Madie telling her daddy that she needs a smoothie with cherrie in it to make her feel cooler. They were very refreshing~

What a great week! None of us wanted to come home. We are so blessed to have each other and create such special memories. I can't wait until next year!