Christmas 2008

We had a phenomenal Christmas 2008. We actually had a pretty drama-free holiday and it was quite enjoyable!

I'll try to chronicle our season in a condensed form for you...

Yup, mass chaos as we got together with my Dad's side of the family for a gift exchange on the 14th...












Jenn, Mady and I tried our hand at putting together a ginger bread house. Apparently, they are supposed to be a family memory building exercise. I remember building up steam as the silly thing wouldn't stay together. We laughed about it, and ended up eating all the candy till we were sick to our stomach and threw it away...Mady had a ball!


























The Sunday before Christmas, Mady and I were both in the Christmas drama during both services at our church. I was a military commander returning home (in a big Christmas card). I arrived home and Mady was supposed to run to me and give me a big hug and say "Daddy!" She did really well the 2nd service (the musical conductor said that Mady stole the show). The first service, didn't go as well, as she had to be carried out by "mom." I think she had a touch of stage fright that she had to overcome...























And then we were off to my folks house down in Charleston for a great Christmas Eve. We had such a good time hanging out and enjoying ourselves with my mom, dad, grandma and JJ (their boxer).

My mom made us this amazing quilt! The original picture was taken on our vacation down at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. We love it!


We had a nice little gift exchange, and then we tried a new tradition, FONDUE for dinner! I think everyone really enjoyed it, except Grandma kept dropping her pieces of food into the cheese sauce. We left around 7:30 pm and headed back home. Here a few pictures from the day...

Mady and my dad tickling each other...

Mady and Jenn taking a nap during the movie...

Fondue and throwing paper!

Christmas Day morning, we have a tradition of opening the gifts for just us. And then mid morning, Jenn's family comes up for a big gift exchange. Usually in the afternoon, Jenn's extended family comes over for more gifts. It's a big day, with minimal naps for the kiddos, but there's good food had by all and it's a fun memory making experience.

Here is Jenn and Mady seeing the fully lit tree and all of my gifts for the first time that have been hidden up to this point. Oh, and Mady getting a truck. She loves any kind of truck (dump truck, tractor, firetruck etc...)




















Below is Mady learning the power of money (yup they're real) and Mady apparently loves jumping on the big pile of wrapping paper after everything is unwrapped, and notice that she abandoned the dump truck for the true love of her life...baby dolls. Maybe we'll get a boy when we have twins...

















Jenn's family (mom, dad and brother) came over about 11. Mady's big gift was a huge kitchen set that Jenn's dad and I put together down in the basement. Of course, any good kitchen has to have all the fixins. Here's Jenn's mom and Mady opening the first of many "accessories." The other picture is Jenn's dad and I putting together this monster. It took us about 2 hours to get it together (the packaging said it would take 3 hours...ha!)













The extended family came over about 2:00 pm for yet another gift exchange. By the time everyone was gone in the evening, we were all pretty wore out. Jenn and I both fell asleep during our annual viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Day night. We had such a good Christmas. Thank you to everyone who made it so memorable!

In the days following Christmas, Mady thoroughly enjoys playing with playdo and watching the birds and squirrels in our new feeder...

Best Birthdy Gift - Period.

Da Bears!!!

My lovely wife got me pretty much the best birthday gift a guy could ever dream of...Bears tickets. We went with some friends of ours, Paul and Nicole. We left Champaign about 1pm after our babysitter showed up. We got in to Soldier Field about 3:30 or 4:00. After dropping $45 for parking, we pulled in to our slot to do some serious tailgating.

Here is Jenn and Nicole. Yes, it was very cold. We all wore many layers and coveralls. As did the ridiculous amount of people that joined us for brats, chili and all the fixins...

We hung out with all these people that gradually got more drunk as the afternoon wore on, but we kinda expected it...
We all ate like kings off of Paul's portable gas grill that he brought. We headed in around 5:30. It was about 2 hours before game time, but Paul and I both like to get in to parks early so that we aren't rushing around. This also gave us ample opportunity to walk around and see the sights of the stadium that they updated a couple of years back. I was able to sneak down close to the field and enjoy the sights and sounds...

The following picture was actually pretty meaningful to me. This was the first time that I had seen the field in person. I've grown up watching the Bears with my family. As early as I can remember, they've been on the tube, especially the '85 Super Bowl team. I was quite overwhelmed being this close to the field for the first time, it was almost surreal...

I walked over and was able to see the NFL network preparing and getting things ready for their show (Deion Sanders, Warren Sapp among others are the commentators...

After I was kicked out of the area by a disgruntled employee, we walked over and Jenn got me a Bears hat. Paul and I hoped to get some autographs, so we convinced a security guard to let us go down to the tunnel where the team comes out. We were able to be down there for about 15 minutes with all the other consumed fans...
Probably one of the coolest things that happened the whole night was right after this picture was taken, Robbie Gould, the Bears kicker came running out. We yelled at him, "Robbie, Robbie!" But all he did was turn around, take off his wrist bands and throw them up to the crowd. One hit Paul in the chest, but a little kid grabbed it. The other one landed right in front of me. I was able to snag it. It was a nice keep sake. Especially since Robbie kicked the tying field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime and then kicked the game winning field goal to beat a solid Saints team. Quite a night for him too!

We grabbed a few more pictures before heading up to our seats. They were high up, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves...


Paul and Nicole and Us
The team storming out of the tunnel...

Our seats...they were a great bird's eye view...and very cold...the wind chill got ya pretty good if you weren't prepared...
Lots of "Ta Da!" as they come out of the tunnel...
Notice the ice on the ground behind us...and the snow...this is called FUN! Paul and I figured that if everyone in the stadium bought one drink, they would make about half a million bucks. We bought about 10 hot chocolates just between us...and some guys in front of us easily consumed 4 beers each...

Robbie Gould is congratulated by Greg Olsen after booting a 35-yard field goal in overtime to beat the Saints 27-24 Thursday night.

It was a solid win for the Bears, and it kept them in the playoff hunt. We left the stadium around 10:45 pm, got to our vehicle and had surprisingly very little trouble getting out of the area. We headed to the Marriott for the night (I had points saved up so we got a free room). Woke up the next morning, went shopping for a few hours and then headed home in the afternoon. What a great time. Thanks Babe! I love you!

Do you have a hiding place?

A few days ago, Daddy and Mady decided they wanted to eat some celery with peanut butter. Daddy fixed her a stalk and she started gnawing on it. After a bit, I noticed that she didn't have the piece of celery anymore but I didn't think too much about it. She's pretty anal about putting trash and food that she doesn't want anymore in the garbage can (I'm not complaining!) so I just assumed that she didn't want it anymore and had thrown it away.

After her nap, I was doing some work on the computer and she was playing with her legos. I wasn't paying too much attention to her until I heard some random crunching coming from her direction. I looked over and the little squirt was eating a piece of celery with peanut butter. I asked her where she had gotten it and she said "pan" and showed me a pan on our bakers rack. Apparently she had decided before her nap that she didn't want the celery anymore so she opened the lid on the pan and stuck it in there for a snack for later!!!

I should have known.. every since she was able to walk I have found various things "hiding" in that particular pan..... shoes, socks, snacks, toys, etc. I guess I should keep an eye on that spot more often....

Madalyn's Very First Christmas Musical.

On Sunday evening, my daughter starred in her very first Christmas musical at church. And of course I think she did beautifully! It was a really good production and all of the kids did a great job. Mady was in the youngest group. Their job was to walk up onto the stage, bells in hand, and "sing" Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Then they sat with parents while the "big" kids finished the production. I have to believe that Madalyn was the youngest child in her group. About half of her group sang and rang their bells. The other half just rang their bells! Mady - well, she just stood there.. not ringing her bell or singing... And for goodness sakes she was stinkin' adorable!

The day before the play, Daddy took her to her practice at the church. Apparently when it was her group's turn on stage, she froze and just stared, wide eyed. When they got home, Daddy worked with her on how to ring her bell. She already knew how to sing Jingle Bells - we'd been working on that for a couple of weeks. Daddy taught her to ring her bell and where to put her feet up on stage. Apparently the musical director told the little kids to put their feet on a certain line up on stage. Mady and Daddy would practice at home. He would say "ok Mady, where do your feet go?" She would proudly line her little toes on the edge of our red rug in the living room. She knew exactly how to put her feet on the line and how to ring her bell.

On the way to the musical, we again reinforced the fact that she should ring her bell. She would follow us up with a big, proud "yeah!" I was a little nervous how she would react with me being there so when she walked in and up to the stage I hit myself behind some other people. I envisioned her yelling "mommy" and taking off for me. But just the opposite happened. She looked right at me, smiled, and kept on walking! Up on stage she went....

Then on comes the music and the kids start singing and ringing their bells.. well, all except Mady. She stood there looking at the audience, looking at the other kids around her, and every so often glancing down to make sure her toes were still on the line! By golly, if anything else stuck, she made sure she had her toes on that line! During Away In A Manger, the kids had learned hand motions to go with the first verse. Mady did do one arm motion so I was super proud. It was really cute to watch her up on stage and to see how she would react. I think it's every parents secret exciting dream - to see their child up on stage in the church Christmas Musical. I was so excited and so proud - even though she was just standing there. It's almost like she was "growing up" right in front of me. She did a great job and I definitely have some treasured memories.

Now days after the event, I have to tell of her funny stories. She's obsessed with the song "Jingle Bells." I don't care if it's Jingle Bell Rock or the old original Jingle Bells - she loves it! She could be sitting in her room playing with something and when Jingle Bells comes on the radio she makes a mad dash for the dining room and starts singing - yep, singing the entire chorus! It's so stinkin' cute every time she does it (which is alot because we leave Christmas music playing on the radio all day long). She also has a new found appreciation for Away In a Manger. I mentioned earlier that they had motions for that song in their musical. The day after, we were here at home and that song came on. That little scoot did all the motions that they had learned for the first verse. She must have just been nervous up on stage. Now, every time she hears that song she says "Baby Jesus" and starts in with her motions. It's adorable!

I love memories like this. I love my little girl! Thanks for being so cute and for making Mommy and Daddy so proud!

My sad story about sunglasses

A little less than a year ago I decided to take the plunge and buy prescription sunglasses. Ever since the birth of Madalyn, I started to wear my glasses every day instead of my contacts. I guess it's just easier. Anyway, I went to Lenscrafters, picked out a cool pair of Ralph Lauren glasses and purchased them.

Back in October when we were getting ready to go to Indy, I realized that I couldn't find my sunglasses. I just thought they were in another purse of mine (i switch purses frequently) and I didn't worry too much about it. When we got back from Indy I searched and searched and searched... Nothing! I couldn't find them anywhere! Now, Mark has prescription sunglasses and he wears his everywhere - in and outside of buildings. I never wore mine inside. Whenever we would get to where we were going I would switch my sunglasses back out for my normal glasses and put them in the case in the seat of the car... until I came back out to drive away again. So, I was baffled by the fact that I had lost my very expensive prescription sunglasses.

I waited a few weeks for them to turn up - nothing. I called a few places to see if they had, by chance, fallen out of the car or my bag - nothing. Shoot! We went to Texas for Thanksgiving and I was miserable with no sunglasses.

We went tonight out to Lenscrafters to see what a new pair would cost me. I found a really cute pair of Ralph Laurens and took them up to the nice lady. After some figuring here's what she came up with. They would be $217.00 tonight if I purchased them but if I waited until Jan 27th the price would drop to $112! That's a no brainer. Apparently my insurance coverage restarts in January and would allow me another pair of glasses (we can get one per year!). Sweet! I've waited this long I can surely wait another month! The ever better part is that they can order the frames that I had before if I want them. Now I have to decide which ones look better :)

Our Thanksgiving Vacation

This post is long overdue but I finally got around to finishing it....

Last week we decided to travel to Fort Worth, Texas for Thanksgiving. We stayed with Mark's aunt and uncle and their kids and we had a wonderful time! It helped that the weather was around 75 degrees! Nice! Here's a little bit about the trip broken down into days:

Monday: We left at 4:45 am and stopped in Tuscola to drop Mark's car off at a friends house to get worked on while we were gone. Then we left for the long day of traveling. We stopped around 9:30 for breakfast. Mady was up the first hour of the trip but then fell asleep for about 2 hours. We learned that after a certain point in southern illinois things just kind of go extinct. We had to wait about 45 minutes just to find a McDonalds to eat. The drive down was pretty good. Mady did well and slept for about 2 hours in the afternoon. We stopped for dinner outside of Dallas at a place called "Soulman's BBQ." It definitley looked ghetto but it was absolutely amazing! Mark was in heaven! We hit some traffic around Dallas and got in to John & Keli's house at about 7:30 that evening. Mady had fallen asleep about 15 minutes outside of our destination but woke up quickly once she met her cousins. We chatted for a few minutes and then headed to bed. Loooong day!

Tuesday: We got up and lounged around until about noon just talking and hanging out. Mady got to play with her cousins and all the toys. She especially liked making bracelets with her cousin, Katie. All we heard all week was "bracelets, bracelets." At one point in the morning Madalyn actually fell asleep in my lap while she was sitting with me which is extremely unusual. I guess it was taking her a while to catch up from the long day on Monday. After her afternoon nap we headed down to downtown Fort Worth where we visited the stockyards. It was really neat. There were a bunch of little stores along the streets and there were even "cowboys" on horses riding along the streets. Mady wouldn't pet the horses though. At 4pm every day there is a cattle drive down the road so that was the highlight of the trip for Mady. The cowboys herded the huge longhorn cattle down the road in front of all the people. It was like a big cow parade. Mady was yelling "hi cows" the whole time and definitley enjoying herself. Daddy let her sit on one of the cows named "Big Jake" and she loved that. I was surprised that she sat on this huge cow but wouldn't pet the little horse. Oh well. After walking around for a while we decided to hit one of the Mexican restaurants in town. So good! I had been craving tacos so it was perfect! It was a good day!

Wednesday:
We relaxed in the morning and gave the kids naps and then Mark's aunt and her son came in the afternoon. Mark's grandma was scheduled to come also but was unable to due to a nasty cold. After they arrived, we spent some time catching up while the kids played in the back yard! Yep, it was still 75 degrees and sunny. Madalyn loved playing on the HUGE swingset with all of her cousins. We then decided to go to a place called Central Market in Fort Worth. It's an amazing grocery story everything you could imagine. A lot of it is fresh and organic. www.centralmarket.com They have a restaurant in the side of it that we had dinner at. The food was amazing. Afterwards, the kids went outside of the restaurant and played on the attached playground while Mark's Aunt Chris and I went to walk through the store. It was so neat to see everything they had. We had fun walking up and down the aisles looking at some of the more expensive things and laughing at the prices. I did buy a few things :) Across the street from Central Market was a big U shaped formation of various stores. We drove through as every tree and every light pole was decorated with a ton of Christmas lights. It was beautiful. Madalyn got a big kick out of the lights! We then rented movies and went home and watched The Bucket List.

Thursday:
Happy Thanksgiving! Mark actually let me sleep in and it was glorious! After I got up we watched the parade with the family and then Chris and her son came over. We hung around and chatted all day and had a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner! It was soooo good! I could've eaten a ton more than I did! We pretty much crashed after that watching the A&M football game! I think Mark and I even went to bed early as we were so tired! Oh, we also said our goodbyes to Aunt Keli and the kids as we were planning to leave extremely early the next morning! It was so sad to leave. We had a great time and really enjoyed seeing everyone.

Friday:
We left the house by 4:45am and were home a little after 7pm. I drove most of the way home. It's funny - I realized that if I was driving then Mady would pretty much stay quiet in the back seat as if not to bother dad. If Mark was driving and she saw that I was "available" she'd would talk, ask for books, want me to play with her, etc. So, I much preferred to drive. And it was great. If she wasn't sleeping then she was just sitting in her seat looking out the window. She did great on both the trip down and the trip back. I was so proud of her! It was also funny as we were driving through Fort Worth and Dallas to see all of the people standing in lines at the major stores for Black Friday Sales. It kind of made me want to be there but that was only for a split second!!!!

Thanks to our family in Texas for letting us visit! We had a wonderful time! Hopefully we'll be able to do it again soon!!!

The Sweetest Thing...

is when my little baby girl rolls over as we lay in Mommy's bed and reaches out to grab my thumb and falls asleep holding onto my thumb.

Thursday morning Madalyn was doing fine until about 10:30. She grabbed her bunny, Mrs. Bunns, and walked over to me and said "Night, Night." Anyone that knows Mady knows that she never asks to be put down unless something is wrong. I picked her up and held her for a bit and before I knew it she was sound asleep. I let her sleep for about 5 minutes before I tried to wake her up. I wanted her to have lunch before her real nap. I tried everything and she wouldn't wake up at all. I eventually sat her up on my knee - she asked for her bunny, put her thumb in her mouth, and fell over forward sound asleep. I made her some lunch and got her to wake up but she wouldn't eat a thing. I finally put her down for her nap.

About 2 hours into her nap she woke up yelling "mommy, pee pee." I went in and realized that she had peed through her diaper and her clothes and her bed were wet (this same thing happened first thing this morning so this was clothes change #2). I got her changed and realized that she was burning up. It was 2pm at this point. I held her until 7pm that night. She was just sitting on my lap drifting in and out of sleep all day. She had a blank stare to which so I definitely knew she wasn't feeling well. At one point I heard her stomach rumble and the next thing I know I'm getting puked one. We ran to the bathroom and she finished the job in the toilet (this caused change of clothes #3!) Poor thing - i felt so bad for her.

I let her sleep in my bed for the evening as Daddy was out of town for work. I layed her down and reminded her that "mommy is right next to you if you need anything. Just let me know." This is when she rolled over, grabbed my hand, and fell asleep. It was absolutely one of the sweetest things I've ever experienced. There's something about my little girl letting me know that she trusts me and loves me. I can't even explain it with words. I'll never forget that moment!

When we woke up the next morning her fever was gone and she was acting normal and asking for food. It just must have been a weird 24 hour flu bug. Praise God I'm not sick and she's feeling better. It could have been so much worse!

Cheap Gas

This morning we saw gas at the Meijer in Urbana for $1.49 a gallon! Wow! We had seen it for $1.49 a gallon over Thanksgiving week in Missouri and Mark was actually mad because he didn't get it then. Then we get home and it's $1.49 here!!!!

We filled up our SUV for .... drum roll please.... $28.00!!! Yep, that's right! $28.00!

The most we have ever paid to fill the SUV (when gas was the highest) was $86.00. I'm super glad that the price has gone down... $28.00 sounds so much better!!!!

2 year appointment

This morning was Madalyn's 2 year old well baby appointment. I made Mark go along with me to take her as I hate being there when she gets shots. I put some goldfish crackers in a bag along with a cup of milk for the post-shots crying fiasco. However, to my surprise she did wonderful.

The doctor went through his different tests. I was sure she would get agitated when he checked her ears and when he checked her mouth but nothing. She just sat there on my lap watching his every move. Then it was time for her flu shot. She was sitting on my lap and I was trying to joke around and make things light-hearted. The nurse wiped her leg with the alcohol wipe (which Mady thought was hilarious) and then she stuck the shot in her leg. Mady didn't even flinch. No tears. No crying fit. Nothing. Just a smile and a comment about her new "bue" (blue) band-aid. So, we made a big deal of telling her how proud we were of her and how she did a great job! She's talked about her "owie" every since we got home and has insisted on wearing no pants so that she can show off her "bue" band-aid.

I was very excited that there wasn't a scene in the Dr's office! No more shots for a while and hopefully she'll do just as good next time!!!

By the way, I should have learned my lesson by now to take a least one diaper and some wipes whenever we go anywhere. I didn't think she would actually poop her pants while we were in the waiting room!!! Good thing the nurses have extra diapers! ha!

Cookie!

Jenn was gone this afternoon at an Usborne Books show (she's a consultant) so Mady and I hung around the house. I put her down about 12:30. She slept till 2. Woke up with a stinky diaper. I changed her and she slept till a little after 4. She woke up and we watched football and played in the basement.
She started to get a little restless, and she climbed the stairs. About 5 minutes later, I hear this "whack!" that sounded like it came from the kitchen. I waited another 2-3 minutes and I didn't hear any sounds trickling downstairs, which is never a good sign.
I went upstairs to see my daughter sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, with 1/2 eaten pieces of fudge all around her. (she had pulled the tin off the counter)
I was like "Mady, you don't eat fudge!" And her response was to yell "COOKIE" back at me. "No, it's not a cookie. It's a pound of fudge, and you're going to get sick!"
Well, she didn't get sick, but she did have a tasty snack.