Summer 2009

Tomorrow is Labor Day, which is supposed to be the end of summer. So, I'll make up for the past few months with a quick summer update. We didn't have any big trips or adventures, but had a really great summer.

In June, the family went to Galveston one weekend. Madeline had a fabulous time playing in the sand and jumping over waves.

We also went to my family reunion in the hill country, and got to watch my dear cousin Shaun get married. It was awesome to get to see the whole family. M had a great time swimming and playing with her cousins, Nati and Claire. I didn't take any pictures (i know kind of unbelievable, but true. For really great pictures, Julia's picasa page has tons. http://picasaweb.google.com/JuliaKateOldham/HardwickFamilyReunion2009# )

In July, Madeline went on a solo trip to Austin and Midlothian. She had a wonderful time just hanging out, and on many adventures.

The rest of the summer we have just been enjoying the neighborhood swimming pools, and getting ready for the new baby. Madeline got a slip n slide and a sprinkler toy for her birthday that have both been used extensively. Here are fun pictures from Summer 2009.

More pictures are on our shutterfly account.

We're back....

Sorry for the very long blog hiatus. I will try to be better. I promise blog posts in the upcoming week.

Cupcakes

The other day Madeline and I decided we would make cupcakes. Madeline loves to help with cooking. She is good about just sitting and watching, but really enjoys helping out whenever she can. I decided that she could help ice some of the cupcakes. How hard could that be, and they were just for fun cupcakes, it didn't matter if she ruined a few. Let's just say, she needs some work on her technique. Her approach to icing cupcake is to repeatedly stab the cupcake and generally create a mess. It was very funny to watch, and she seemed to have a really wonderful time.

Toddler's First Haircut

I realize Madeline, being almost 3, is really old to be getting her first haircut, but last Saturday was her first haircut. My friend, Rebecca, gave me a great tip on a wonderful stylist. Madeline was an angel the whole time. Now she has adorable shoulder length hair. My only problem is I just realized she has the exact haircut I was planning on getting....

When I told Madeline it was time to go, she came out of her room with EVERY purse on her arm.

The hair dresser asked if Madeline wanted to sit in my lap or by herself. Without pause, Madeline announced she could sit by herself. I was so proud of her.

Smiling Madeline getting her haircut.

Madeline poses for a picture with her new haircut outside.

I told Madeline to turn around to take a picture, and this is what I get. So cheeky!

Sunday Funday

M has been amazing the past few weekends. She has been very well behaved and we have been so busy, and not had much Madeline time. We told her last weekend we would have a special day for her. Saturday was rainy, and I had to work, so we had Sunday Funday. We went downtown to Discovery Green Park then went to Downtown Aquarium to look at the fish. It was a wonderful day with lots of smiles.

We ate at this cute little cafe on a pond. M hardly ate anything she was too excited about the getting to play!

Kids could play in all of the fountains.

They have this fabulous net that woks similar to a trampoline.

Ths is also a fountain that just sprays a fine mist from above. M wanted Daddy to join her. I think they both had a fun time. She got SO wet!

After the park, we went to the Downtown Aquarium and M saw some HUGE fish, sharks, sting rays, eels, and even a turtle.

M stopped to pause with a giant fish!

Earth Day

Madeline's teacher is so awesome and such a hippie! This was her week to shine, and she did not let us down. All the kids were supposed to bring in recycled material for arts and crafts and a plain white shirt. When I went to pick her up today the whole room was decorated in their arts and crafts projects using cereal boxes, egg cartons, yogurt containers, and such. But best of all, every kid was wearing a very cool tie dye shirt!

M is in an anti-picture phase, so all i can get are candids. This was the best pic I could get of her shirt. Isn't it so cute!

Easter eggs are yummy!

Today Madeline RAN into the living room screaming "Nelson is eating my egg!!! My yellow egg. NOOOO!" I went into the kitchen expecting to see Nelson had eaten some candy, instead I find Nelson going to town on a yellow hard boiled egg. As I was trying to salvage what was left of the egg, Nelson hid under the kitchen the table and ate the whole egg, even the shell! Madeline was crying the whole time, and I could not stop laughing.

Easter

We had a fun Easter. It was POURING down rain so the Easter Bunny hid eggs inside. She had fun either way and got lots of candy. Now we're doling out one piece a day, which means she should have plenty until Halloween. Andy had to go to work in the afternoon, so Madeline and I stayed around the house. We dyed Easter eggs, took lots of walks, and played a lot. Here are a few pictures of M finding Easter Eggs and dying eggs.

M hunts easter eggs inside

Nelson really wants one of those eggs!

M takes down a chocolate bunny.

Madeline had lots of fun dying eggs, but would not even consider doing anything but one color per egg.

My organizer

Madeline is quite the organizer. I really think she's always been like that, and I'm pretty sure her Montessori education only reinforces it. Last week I had all of the coasters out in preparation for company, and M carefully lined them up around the coffee table. Friday, I got home from work and this is what Madeline had taken on this morning after I left for work. Thanks M, I've always wanted my shoes arranged in a perfect semi-circle....

2 years

Happy Anniversary Andy. I love you.

Aspirations

Madeline has become very anti-holding hands while crossing the street. This is our conversation as we took a walk today.

Madeline - Mom, I don't need to hold your hand. I'm an adult.
Me - Ok, M, if you're an adult, I guess you have a job.
Madeline - I do mom, I go to work every day.
Me - Oh really, well what do you do Madeline?
Madeline - I chew bubblegum.

Ok, in Madeline's grown up fantasy world, she chews bubblegum as a job. That sounds fun.

Photographer

We try as often as possible to take pictures of Madeline. Lately though she has been very insistent that she is the one behind the lens. Fifty percent of the time she forgets to turn the camera around, so she takes an extreme close-up of her face. The remaining half of the time, she is lucky to have an actual subject in her pictures.

In this picture, she actually thought she was taking a picture of her doll on the chair. The camera was pointed the wrong way.

There is the doll!

Sometimes you have to lean to get into the frame

Dare Devil

Madeline decided she had absolutely no fears the other day at the park. She did give me a bit of a heart attack. She decided, without warning me, that she was big enough to go down the giant slide. I tried it, and it is scary! I guess she did not inherit mom's scared of everything gene. On one hand, that means that I'll be extra worried, but I'm glad she won't be the only 10 year old at the pool terrified of doing a back flip.

This is Andy standing next to the slide

This is Madeline arriving at the bottom.

Morning Time

I don't think anyone actually likes getting up in the morning. Nothing is more unmotivating though, than walking past your bed when all you want to do is crawl back in and see this.....

I never thought it was possible to envy a dog as much as I envy Nelson every single morning!

Our trip to the zoo

This post has been sitting in drafts for awhile....


We took our first trip to the Houston zoo. Madeline was so excited to go, and could not stop talking about seeing all of the animals. When we got there, we started with the fish, and she was hooked. She did not want to leave at all. We had to practically drag her out of the aquarium. Then she got stuck on the ground hogs, then the giraffes, then the elephants, and so on. Most of out trip was spent trying to talk up the next animal. She loved every minute of it though. Here are some cute pics.

There is the cool clear tunnel through one of the aquariums.

Madeline and Daddy checking out the animals

In her love for giraffes she wanted to ride on our shoulders so she would be very tall.

Madeline LOVED the monkeys

It was kind of insane that prairie dogs are in the zoo, considering they are at every intersection in Lubbock. The exhibit was cute though, and M got to pretend she was a prairie dog.

M was in LOVE with the giraffes that day


She is brushing a goat in the petting zoo.


M's "Thank You!" hug

Show and Tell

Madeline has show and tell every Friday. Usually she just brings a book, sometimes a picture of something she did during the week or weekend. This week Madeline wants to bring Nelson. A few months ago she took pictures of Nelson to school, but this month, she is adamant that Nelson George Bartlett come to school with her. I’m not sure how we’re going to dodge this bullet. 2 more days to figure that out.

OKLAHOMA!

We went to Oklahoma this past weekend with Julia and Zac. Zac's family has a working ranch with lots of cows and horses. It was very fun but extremely cold. I was secretly a little excited about the opportunity to touch a cow, but they are quite skiddish, so that didn't happen. Madeline did get her big wish though. The whole week prior to the trip we talked about her getting to ride Dollar, Zac's horse. Dollar is 27 years old, and very very tame. Madeline was so excited. Prior to the trip I also took the time to sing "Oklahoma" to her several times. She didn't have it all down, but did sing "H-O-M-A Oklahoma!" all day. It was really cute.

Our two favourite Madeline quotes of the weekend were:

1. She saw a Hannah Montana hat at Wal-Mart and announced, "Hannah Montana is yucky! I like Hannah Texas!"

2. Andy asked her if she was a cowgirl and she replied back very sincerely, "No Daddy, I'm not a cowgirl silly goose! I'm a Dollar the Horsie Girl!"

Little Miss Mix - A - Lot

Madeline loves to sing. She once sang the entire 2 1/2 hour drive to Austin. Right now her favourite song is "The Farmer and The Dale". Since she's still young and still working hard to memorize all of the things around her, somethings get mixed up. So most of her songs aren't perfect. Lately though, her songs have started to become intertwined. It first started when she would sing her ABC's. About half of the time once she got to "P - Q - R" she somehow morphed into "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". Her other mixed up song goes "Old Mac Donald had a farm and Bingo was his name - o". Today she sang "Rock a bye babe, in the treetop. Mommy's gonna buy you a mockingbird." Who knows maybe she has a dj career ahead of her.

Madeline's Phobias

I have read that it is perfectly normal for 2 year olds to be terrified of things that are relatively harmless. Madeline has decided to take this to the extreme. For over a year, Madeline has been deathly afraid of cats. She loves fictional cats and actually almost threw a temper tantrum in toys r us this weekend when I refused to buy her a pair of Hello Kitty flip flops. Real cats though, are another story. Part of our nightly ritual includes checking under the bed and inside the closet for any cats that might have snuck in her room. When I told her that Santa would come in our house on Christmas Eve through the chimney to give her presents, she looked at me with huge eyes and told me she didn't want cats to come through her chimney. We are not cat people, but are constantly telling her how wonderful cats are. She has yet to be swayed.

This week, we discovered a new phobia. Madeline is terrified of the wind. She hates it. She is actually scared that the wind is going to blow her away. This weekend she melted down because Andy let Nelson go outside to use the bathroom, and it was windy. She stood at the backdoor watching him the whole time. When it's windy, which it has been for the past week, she cries, she whimpers, and her cute little brow furrows like she has just heard the most dreadful news. It's sad to see her so scared, but so hard not to laugh. I guess it's good we live in Katy, and not Lubbock, I really don't know what she would do there!

Granny Panties

Since Madeline started wearing panties in October, she has only been interested in the print designs. The panties I bought had 2 pairs with flowers, one solid pink, one solid purple, and one solid white. She will reluctantly wear the solid pink or purple if the flower panties are dirty, but has refused the white ones. Recently she has started wearing the white. I asked her why she liked her white panties now, and she gave me her look of exasperation that I would even have to ask and said “mommy, grandma wears white panties!”

Happy Birthday Breck!

Breck,
Madeline wanted me to buy cupcakes for your birthday today. I told her we have to wait until you come visit. :) Hope you have a great day!

Dance Lessons from Madeline

I hate having a perfectly quiet house. I like having music or the TV on just for background noise. Usually I turn the TV on one of the music channels just to have something on in the background. This weekend Madeline and I were working on a puzzle on the coffee table and I started moving to the music. Madeline told me “That’s not how you dance Mommy!”. I asked her what appropriate dancing was, and she said “Mommy, you just move your dress like this”. And she started swaying her hips. I pointed out that I wasn’t wearing a dress, so she said “Mommy, just move your bum. “Ok, Madeline I’ll just move my bum” To which Madeline replied “And your gina Mommy, move your gina too!”

Enabler

I am an enabler. Actually, I think I'm quite strong, but I've always had a soft spot for sleeping. Madeline didn't sleep through the night until she was almost 9 months old. She would wake up in the middle of the night, and I fed her, so she woke up every night for her 2 am snack. Then for about a year and a half, we were really strong, and she slept very well. Sometime around her 2nd birthday we started staying in Madeline's room until she fell asleep. For 7 months we said it was just a temporary thing, that we would stop. Finally we decided enough is enough, so now I'm listening to my sweet angel cry her eyes out, praying she cries herself to sleep quickly.

Timeout!

Madeline loves her baby dolls. She has been in love with all of them for a few months. For awhile she just had 2, a cabbage patch, and a baby doll her Granna gave her. They were named "Baby Doll" and "Baby", respectively. She then took over a doll that was my sister's when she was younger (I'm pretty sure its a jazzersize doll, based on its clothes). That one is also named "Baby Doll". We would try to suggest an actual name for them, but she would just roll her eyes, and say, "No Mommy, that's silly!". Finally about a month ago, the idea made sense to her, and when my sister suggested she name a new doll after a family friend. Now we have "Baby Katie". This Christmas she received her first two Barbies (both named Barbie), and "Sophie", a cute little Pottery Barn Kid doll. All of her dolls are naked, and get their diapers changed frequently, even Barbie, which is really kind of weird to watch. Today, I walked into the game room, and all of her dolls were in separate corners. Madeline was standing in the middle of them all telling them, "That was very bad. Hitting is not nice. No ma'am. You need to go to time out!" It was so cute!

Life Lessons

I have learned that as many lessons I try and teach Madeline, she never stops teaching me new things. Today I was putting away all of the Christmas decorations, and trying my hardest to bait Madeline with any distraction I could think of so I could put everything away. I finally conceded to let Madeline watch as she drank her milk. As I was putting away the nativity scene my grandmother gave me, I had just finished putting Mary and Joseph in the box and reached for Jesus when Madeline yelled "Wait Mommy" as she began reaching for Jesus. I started telling her to be careful and to give Jesus back to me, when she put Jesus up to her mouth and gave Him a big kiss and said, "I love you Baby Jesus, Happy Birthday, Good night." And then she gently put Jesus in the box. It was so sweet, and such a perfect reminder of what Christmas is all about.

No Longhorns!

I don't hate the Longhorns, and I do cheer for them sometimes, just not always. My family however are all huge longhorn fans. So Madeline was bound to learn about them early in life, and I was not surprised when we left her with my parents for a weekend in September that she came back saying "Hook em Horns" and randomly yelling out "Go Texas!". I really didn't mind, it was cute. But, as November approached, I worked my magic. :) I could NOT have Madeline cheering for UT on November 1st when Texas Tech played their biggest game. So we worked on "Go Red Raiders!" and "Guns up Red Raiders" and "Go Texas TECH". But she still liked hook em horns, so I taught her "No Hook em Horns!" and "Hook em horns are yucky!" (I think that's very harmless jeering for a 2 year old). After Texas Tech beat UT, I have been very neutral with UT. But Madeline learned her jeer, and has no intention of quitting. Today, the Fiesta bowl was on TV and Madeline proudly looked at me and said, "Look, Mommy, those are hook em horns. Those are yucky!" I know chances are she'll end up at UT, but I'm still holding out for a more neutral school, like Harvard or Columbia.

New Year's Resolution

After much peer pressure from my sister, I've decided to be a better online mother. So this is my blog. I will try to keep it updated, but I make no promises. I consider myself fairly ambitious, but am really not always the best at following through. I started a stocking for Madeline shortly after she was born in 2006. Christmas 2008, the stocking is still about 3/4complete. I am bound and determined to finish it in time for Christmas 2009. I figure it's just in time for her to start remembering..... I'm not much one for resolutions (I never manage to stick with them for longer than a month), but this year my resolution is to follow through. I will finish Madeline's stocking, and I will be a good poster (hopefully).