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!!!!!

Sorry

My first week of babysitting is almost over. I can say that I'm officially addicted to the old game of Sorry! I haven't played in years!!! The girl that I babysit for brought it over this week and ever since then we've been playing a ton. We also pulled old the ole Uno (or as Mark calls it "yuno") game.... another oldie but goodie! It's fun to play games again that I remember playing as a child. It brings back some fun memories, that's for sure.

Random...

For about 5 or 6 weeks this summer I am babysitting a 9 year old girl from our church. I started on Monday so this is our first week. It has been really good for Mady. Every morning she gets excited when "Lee-na" comes. "Lee-na" (as Mady calls her) brought some little puppies the first day she came and of course Mady loves puppies so they became instant friends! Every where we go they hold hands and Mady loves to sit wherever "Lee-na" sits. Whatever "Lee-na" does, Mady thinks she has to do too! But, overall I think it's been good for Mady to have someone around to play with even if there is such a big age gap! So far this week we've been to the indoor playground at First Christian Church and we've been to Hessel Park to play in the sprinkler things. Today we'll either go to the library or maybe the indoor playground again. I really love the setup at First Christian. It's big and it's not 90+ degrees! We'll see...

A couple of funny things that I wanted to blog about from yesterday:

Ever since I can remember, when Mady would toot, we would giggle about it and make some comment about "whoa what was that?" So now when she toots she giggles about it. Yesterday she was tooting right and left. I asked her, not expecting any response, "What was that" -- to which she replied "bubbles." Later in the evening, Daddy tooted (no, he doesn't know I'm blogging about this!) and I asked Mady "What was that?" I thought earlier just might have been a random fluke. She replied to my question with "bubbles!" Apparently toots are now called bubbles in our house -- which is interesting because she's obsessed with "real" bubbles!!!!

"Lee-na" and I were playing the game Sorry yesterday. We couldn't figure out whose turn it was so I started to backtrack through the cards saying "You, Me, You, Me, You." I ended saying "you" because it was now my turn. Mady pops up from across the room with a very loud and confident "ME!" It was too cute!

For Sale!

Wow, it's been a long time since we've updated this blog. We started giving a commentary on how our vacation was going - that never got finished. I promise I'll blog about it soon. But, when we got back from South Carolina, things turned crazy! Just this past Sunday afternoon (at 2:55pm to be exact) we put our house on the market! Woohoo!

Saturday was a busy day of cleaning up around the house and getting things ready. I mowed the yard and did some work on the inside. Mark painted all the exterior windows, he painted the frame of the front exterior door and cleaned up the yard a little. Sunday was a busy day with graduation parties and church but the "For Sale" sign officially went up that afternoon. I'm such a dork but I wish I could have gotten a picture of the sign being put in our yard. It's so fun. We've bought a house before obviously but we've never been through the selling process. It's just kind of exciting.

Monday, Memorial Day, we got a TON done around here. I weeded and then mulched all of my flower gardens with red mulch and it looks great! Mark put in a new stainless steel kitchen sink (which looks amazing, by the way!) and we put together a new wardrobe/closet thing for our room. We also did a few small projects and even went to a cookout next door at our neighbors house. It was a long day! But, we did have 1 showing today!!!

Tuesday we had another showing. Wednesday I had to be gone from 8:30am until 11:30 am so that a caravan of realtors could walk through. Then we had a showing at 2 (the same couple that came to see it Monday night), we had a company come in and do pictures of the house for a virtual tour online, and then we had another showing at 3:45. So, Mady and I spent most of the day at the park! It was a busy day!!!!

We'll see what this weekend holds for us. Hopefully we'll get some more people through here. Please pray that we would be able to sell our house at a good price! We are trusting Him and His timing!

The best wife for life EVER!

Ok gentlemen, listen up. Here's why my wife is better than yours. Here's what Jenn did yesterday: she scrubbed the laundry room floor with bleach, cleaned the bedroom, ironed all my shirts after doing the laundry and then OFFERED to mow the yard for me (I was scrapping and painting the south side windows). I was like SURE! She mows the yard, and then comes in and cooks BBQ ribs! I fill my face and then I didn't even have to do the dishes (I was working on the sink).

That gentlemen, is an act of love and why my wife is better than yours.