Fireplace Smores

Tonight it was cold so we built a fire. After we built the fire we decided to make smores in the fireplace. Maddy loved them!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! When Maddy woke up this morning I told her Santa had been to our house and he had left her a present. We walked down stairs to see her new kitchen. She loved it and even wanted to put on the apron and chef's hat that was with it. We had a to be at my parents at 8 so we let her go through her stocking and left her presents from us until later.


How rottne are you when Santa visits you at your own house and at Mima's too! Maddy enjoyed opening all her presents from her cousins and from our family in Canada. She got a lot of great toys and lots of cute clothes. Around 11 we dressed Maddy and headed off to visit my Grandma Helen for a bit before heading to Brian's dad's.

Maddy had fun at Grandpa Roger and Grandma Deb-a-Deb's. She palyed with white puppy (Casper). When it was time to eat she wasn't interested and was wanting to take a nap. I got her to fall alseep in my arms and she got an hour of rest before we had to move on.

We headed home to meet Granma Katie, Papa Bob and Grandma Sax for more presents. We also let her open her presents from us. She was wearing out on opening her own presents. If you started to open it for her she waould remeber she liked it and take over. Brian and I got her a dress up trunk and I must say she makes a pretty cute Princess. Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! We started the night off with dinner at my parents house to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Maddy had fun playing with her cousins and gearing up for the excitement to follow.




After "Happy Dirthday Papa Steve" we headed over to the Eckert's for Christmas Eve. Maddy had a blast playing with all of Ella and Theo's toys. Maddy and Audrey enjoyed hiding in a Dora tent. Maddy was also excited to see "Treyboy" too!




While the littler cousins were playing and the grownups were talking, the older cousins were listening carefully for Santa. We are so lucky that Santa and Mrs. Claus make an appearance for us every year. It is hard to believe that only 7 years ago there were no great grandchildren and now there is 11. Santa and Mrs. Claus always remark at how much the family has grown each year. I find it hard to believe that Maddy was one of the babies on Santa's lap last year.

As you may recall from an earlier post, Maddy is not a big fan of Santa this year. She was very excited at first when he pulled her present out of the bag and called her up. When she realized that she actually had to get close to him she changed her tune and started to cry. Thank goodness for sweet Mrs. Claus who got Maddy settled down and helped her open her present. After she got down she whispered "Thank you Santa". It was SO sweet and I know he didn't hear her but it was from the heart. Maddy spent the rest of the night running with her cousins and opening presents from her Aunts and uncles. Around 9pm we changed into PJ's and headed home. It is such a joy to see my daughter loving the excitement and fun of Christmas the same way that Brian and I did as children.

Holiday Playgroup

Today Daddy took Mad to the Holiday Playgroup at school. There is always lots of fun things to do and lots of toys to play with. Maddy likes taking the foam blocks and using them as binoculars.

Luckily for me playgroup is just down the hall from my classroom so I got to sneak down during my plan and play for awhile too. Maddy liked playing with the shaving cream snow but kept sending most of it onto the floor.

The snack at playgroup was a Christmas Tree made out of a sugar cone that they covered with green icing and then added M&M's for ornaments. Well if you know Maddy, the M&M's never made it to the tree and the "tree" was dipped in the icing and then licked off.

Wild Lights

We had so much fun taking Maddy to Boo at the Zoo that we decided to brave the cold and check out Wild Lights at the Zoo. We were completely prepared to freeze and brought multiple layers of clothes only to be pleasantly surprised that in the Zoo the wind is pretty much gone!

The Zoo of course did an amazing display and Maddy enjoyed riding in her wagon looking at all the lights.



Call Mom a sucker but this glow wand was really neat and Maddy loved it. I was a little concerned about her blinding herself by holding it right against her eye!

Gingerbread land was so cute! Maddy went right up to the fence and watched for a long time.

These frogs jumped up onto the tree and sang Jingle Bells (in croaks of course). We watched this a bunch of times and Maddy was still watching backwards as we walked away. If you have never made it to see the lights we suggest a trip!

A Baker's Girl

 

Tonight Maddy, Daddy and I made a birthday cake for Mima. Maddy was a big help and poured the ingredients in and turned on the Kitchen Aid. She even got to lick the beaters! She LOVED that and kept asking for more pudding.

Oh Christmas Tree

We decided to go back to a real Christmas tree this year. After having breakfast with Santa we picked out a tree that we thought looked good. Maddy loved her "mismas" and enjoyed helping us hang the ornaments. The cats have been pretty good about leaving it alone and Maddy loves when we plug in the lights.

21 months old

Our little girl turned 21 months old today! She is continuing to talk up a storm and is starting to amaze us with some of the information she has to share. I was getting her dressed the other morning and she said "I naked Mommy". As soon as I put her shirt on she said "I not naked anymore"! The other night while driving she saw the moon "See the moon it's far away in sky". She is also starting to really have a memory. The last time we were at Target she saw this singing Snoopy that she played with. The next time her and Brian pulled into the parking lot she yelled "I go to the Snoopy store?". IGA is referred to as the banana store and when we walked into Build a Bear she asked "I have a heart?", the last time she was in a Build a Bear was October!
Maddy came down with her second case of strep throat this month. When she started running a fever and acting crabby I was so afraid it was her ears again. Doc looked in both and said they looked good. He barely had her mouth opened when he said "throat". Unfortunately she looks like she is going to have the same bad luck with strep that I have!
Maddy is enjoying all the Christmas around us. She loves her Christmas (which is our tree) and likes us to turn on the lights. She has been very good about the presents underneath. She does cry "no my Christmas" when we vacuum up the dropped needles. I'm not sure if she thinks the whole tree is going or what.
Maddy is getting to be a pro at her big girl cup but jumping might take awhile. She is growing fast and it won't be long before I am forced to refer to her by years of age instead of months which makes my heart a little sad. Our lives have been so wonderful since Maddy came into our lives. We look forward to watching her learn new things and grow but maybe just a little bit slower.

Breakfast with Santa

This morning Maddy, Brian and I met Stacie and Logan,Grandma Katie, Mima, Papa Steve, the McCartys, the Niemeyers and Lindauers for breakfast with Santa at Eckert's. We all enjoyed the delicious buffet and Maddy watched Santa as he walked around the restaurant.

After we filled our bellies we rode the train over to the Garden Center for crafts and Pictures with Santa. Logan and Maddy saw the big truck and wanted to sit by it. Daddy threw Logan's arm around Maddy and they actually stayed that way for along time. They are so cute I can hardly stand it.


Ok, call me a bad mother but I think all parents have at least one Santa picture that looks like this. If you can't tell Maddy does NOT care for Santa and could not wait for me to save her.

After the trauma of Santa we headed out to do some crafts and get Maddy's arm painted (she has to be able to see it). She had lots of fum just running around and around the hay bales set out for story time.

It was getting late and we still had to pick put a tree so we hit our last spot, COOKIES! Maddy liked making her cookie but liked eating it even more!

A Visit From St. Nick

When we awoke this morning we noticed that St. Nick had stopped by our house last night! He left Maddy a "This is Serious Ming Ming" and a new Dora book. Maddy could hardly wait to get Ming Ming open so she could sing the whole Wonder Pets song and fly with her cape flapping.


We have all had multiple chances to read the It's Sharing Day Dora book too!

Cookies With Santa

Let me start this post by saying that Maddy and I are so blessed to have Brian. I don't know a whole lot of other dads that would volunteer to take their child to a playgroup that you know is going to be filled with stay at home moms! Mommy couldn't take another day because of Maddy's recent illness so Daddy stepped up and took Maddy to the Cookies with Santa playgroup. They had a lot of fun playing with play-doh, making a sticker gift bag, stamping a Christmas card, making an ornament and a cute reindeer candy dish (the antlers are her hands traced on brown paper).

They had a couple of cookies and got to play with some of Maddy's playgroup friends. You will notice there are no pictures of Maddy and Santa. She got close enough to him to grab her candy cane and run. When the room started to clear out she kept playing but was keeping her eye on that guy!