Go, Go, Go!!!

Those were the words that Madalyn spoke over and over this afternoon.

Mark was headed to Six Flags in Chicago this morning with the college group from our church so Madalyn and I decided to go to my moms house (maw-maw as Mady says). I told her where we were going and she got so excited. But, before we left she had to pack her purse (a new obsession lately - we ALWAYS have to pack her purse and take it with us). Today she decided to put a bracelet in her purse along with a plastic bird (yeah, you read it right!).

We got to my moms house around noon and had lunch. After we finished eating I found my brother ("bubby" as Mady says) and Mady out back in the garage. I knew exactly what they were doing... For Christmas my family bought Mady a 4-wheeler.. yep, that's right.. a REAL, gas powered 4-wheeler. It's a smaller one and it can be adjusted so that it goes about as fast as a crawl but it's definitely a real machine! Mady got to ride it Christmas day for a bit but today was the first day she really got to spend some time on it. She absolutely loved it!!!

Bubby took her most of the time and I even took her once. When I took her, I had problems getting over a small pipe on a little hill in the backyard. I didn't have enough "umph" when I was going up and I got stuck. I hit the gas a little harder than I needed to to get some power and I actually popped a wheely... a small one anyway. I about wet my pants..! My brother found it to be amusing though!

After many circles around the yard with my brother on the little 4 wheeler, my dad pulled out the normal sized one and took her for a ride on that one. She wasn't too sure about it though and when he stopped she definitely wanted down. She ran straight back over to my brother who was sitting on the smaller one and said "please." Apparently she liked that one better.

At one point, she was trying to climb up on the 4 wheeler by herself but couldn't get up. I went to help her but she was reluctant.. My brother went over to sit on it and she bee lined it over to him! It was too cute! She definitely had a good time with my brother!

Here are a few pics from the afternoon:
Riding with "bubby" Riding with Mommy - my face says it all! (click on the picture to see a bigger version) Riding the big dude with "paw-paw"

She definitely had learned the ropes by the end of the day. She knew exactly what cord to pull to start it, she knew what button to push to turn it off and she knew what button to push to make it go. Even though she couldn't make any of them work, she still tired. For a while, every time my brother would put his hand on the throttle she would push his hand away and put her hand there. Apparently she wanted to run the thing by herself!!!
Paw-Paw was looking underneath to see if he could figure out what was rattling. Of course, Madalyn had to help too. I think she actually was the one to fix it in the end... haha!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!

Yesterday we decided to make a trip down to the St. Louis Zoo. Mark has a client down there that he had to call on so we decided to go with him. Mads and I dropped him off at his client and then we drove to walmart. I forgot to bring shoes for Mady (we left at 6am and shoes were the last thing on my mind) so we had to make a pit stop. After we picked Mark up from his appointment we headed to the zoo. We had packed our lunch so we had a quick picnic first then headed in. It was extremely HOT but we all had a great time. We rode the train, the carousel, we went to the Children's zoo ( a new attraction) and the sea lion show. I have to say that Madalyn's favorite part was probably the sea lion show. I have never seen a 20 month old sit that still for that long. She was into those sea lions - clapping and waving at them while they performed. She also, of course, loved seeing the turtles. She has some obsession right now with turtles..?

One of the neat things about the children's zoo section was this slide that they had built inside of the otter tank. Mady went down but stopped about halfway down and just stared at all the otters swimming around her. It was neat to be able to watch her experience new things.

We finished off our day at the zoo with a cherry coke slushie. We all 3 enjoyed it throughly! It was a nice end to a very hot day!

Here are some pics from the afternoon:
Mady and Daddy checkin out the box turtle exhibit. Watching the sea lion show (notice her pink cheeks from being hot!)
The fun sea lion
Mady going down the really neat slide that goes through the otter tank.

Bay-Ball

It's summer time. That means sprinklers, hotdogs and baseball. Good ol' American past times. Especially baseball. I play softball on Monday nights, so Madalyn gets a good dose of live action and the St Louis Cardinals on TV periodically. Evidently, I've been watching quite a bit of the latter and her new favorite word is bay-ball! This morning, I let Jenn sleep in and so I took Mady downstairs to keep the upstairs peaceful for Mom. We were walking down the stairs, and Mady starts saying bay-ball, bay-ball. I put her down and she ran over to Fred (my easy chair) and picked up the remote and said bay-ball. I turned on ESPN. That satisfied her need to watch bay-ball. I love it! Go Cards!

She is her mothers daughter...

Madalyn is a lot like her Daddy (i mean, a lot!) however last night I proudly said "you are your mothers daughter." Daddy got the idea that he would take us out for ice cream. He taught Madalyn how to say the words ice cream and he had her come tell me what we were going to do for the evening. After a few minutes I was able to decipher "eye keem" as being "ice cream!"

We had dinner and then I was ready to go (I absolutely LOVE ice cream and I think I could eat it every day if possible!) I asked Mady "are you ready for ice cream?" and that's where it all began... She started running through the house shrieking "eye keem! eye keem!" and squealing. She was dancing and clapping her hands! She was definitely excited!!!! About as excited as I was! haha.

Mady and I shared some "eye keem" at Baskin Robbins and we both throughly enjoyed it (although I didn't let her have as much as she would've liked!) Daddy doesn't like to eat it as much so that just saves more for his girls!

New Play Set

We were truly blessed when some friends of ours in Cincy asked us the last time we visited if we would like to have their play set. At first Mark was a little hesitant but then I explained how expensive they typically are and he was on board. We just had to find a time to get over there and get it... which we weren't looking forward to with gas prices on the rise!

About a week or so ago, our friends called and he had some extra tickets to the Reds vs. Cardinals game in Cincy - of course, Mark was all over that! So, Mark and a friend of his drove over to Cincy, watched the game, stayed overnight and brought back our play set. It completely filled the back of our SUV and then stuck up a few feet on the top! They said they could only go 67 miles per hour on the way home as it was basically a sail on the roof... plus that equals bad gas mileage!!!

He got it home, put it together, and Madalyn absolutely LOVED it! The squeal she let out when she saw it and the smile she had on her face was priceless! Although we didn't get a good smile in the picture below she was still having a good time (and saying "Cheese" for the camera!)

Thank you, Thank You, Thank You for the swing set and the play house! We love you guys!!!

HAPPY DADDY'S DAY!!!!

At our house this morning it was "Happy Daddy's Day" as that was easier for Mady to say than "Father's." Madalyn was so excited to give Daddy his gift and she was showering him with hugs and kisses! She doesn't realize what today is by any means but any person can definitely tell that she loves her Daddy. I was just telling Mark the other day that she is really starting to hit that point where she wants to be held and loved by Daddy as much as she reaches for Mommy. When kids are younger they tend to go for mom first especially if the moms are at home with them all day every day. Mady now asks for Daddy at least 10 times each day and if she sees anything that belongs to him around the house (i.e. shoes, watch, etc) she's quick to get on a "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" kick. She loves him so much and it's really fun to watch her express that love. I love to see her run across the room to greet him when when he gets home from work.... She waits at the window while he's pulling in the driveway and then once he opens the door she bolts to the kitchen... I love to listen to them praying and talking before bed.... I love to hear her ask in that sweet little voice for "Dad-dee"... I love to watch them play together.... I love to see what she comes out of her bedroom wearing after Daddy dresses her (ha!)... I love to watch them sit outside together when Dad is grilling out... I love to just plain watch them together!

I love it that Mark is such an amazing Dad. I'm so blessed that he loves God, he loves me, and he loves our daughter with such an intensity!

You are amazing, Dad! We love you with all of our hearts! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!

A conversation between Daddy & Daughter

Yesterday morning I asked Madalyn if she would like toast for breakfast, which sounds like "toes" in her vocabulary. She shook her head yes and so I told her to go ask Daddy if he would get her some. I'm in the other room and so I hear him getting out the cinnamon bread and I hear him take it over to the toaster. The whole time he's doing this, he is narrating his every action to Madalyn and explaining all about the toaster and how it turns bread to "toes". Here's the conversation I heard from the other room:

(Side note: Above our toaster is a rack with a lot of our coffee mug collection on it. There were two mugs in the front the their conversation revolved around - one with a baby picture of Madalyn and the other had a puppy on it.)

Mady: "puppy!"
Daddy: "yep, that's a picture of a puppy."
Mady: "baby!"
Daddy: "yep, that's a picture of you when you were a baby."
Mady: "yoooou... "(drawn out)
Daddy: "no, it's not me, it's you."
Mady: (out of nowhere) "That's Me!"

I had to come out from the other room to see if I had really heard her say that. I was so surprised. I never, in a million years, imagined that she would say that! I guess it is true that kids know a lot more than we parents think!!!!!