I'm a big girl now

With some upcoming trips and the fact that Madison is now fully potty trained, we thought it might be a good time to switch her over to a big bed, or at least take the front off her crib. So the weekend after Thanksgiving we changed the bed on Friday night. She was super excited and has done really great. She gets in bed right after books and sometimes she still tells us she needs to get up to go the bathroom, but she hasn't actually got out of bed and tried to get out of her room yet. We'll see if it lasts. But she loves the new bed. My little girl is getting so big.

roar like a tiger

The weather was so nice the weekend of Thanksgiving that we made a quick trip to the zoo. We can never get enough of the animals at the zoo.
We also got to see Carrie and her son Park that weekend for a quick visit. He is getting so big!

Time to be thankful

For Thanksgiving we made the drive to Wichita. All of my mom's cousins and kids usually get together at our house for a mini-family reunion. Madison got all dressed up in an hand-me-down dress. I think the dress started off as Anna's, then Ali's, and then Vanessa's. We had a great meal and then watched Madison lead Anna (another redhead) around by the hand while all the little girls hid from Spencer the monster. We finally made Maddie lie down for a nap about 2:30. She was so mad she was going to miss out, but she fell asleep before I left the room. Great fun to see everyone!

decorating

The Sunday before Thanksgiving I decided to go ahead and decorate for Christmas. I knew I wouldn't want to the following weekend after driving back from Wichita. So Madison "helped" me put the ornaments up. As you can see she thought they should all go in the exact same spot. I let her help me and then after she want to bed, I finished.


Putting up stockings...
Our Advent calendar house. We didn't start the gifts until Dec 1st, but Madison loved opening and shutting the drawers and doors as soon as I got it out. Now I can only put the treat in it right before she is going to get it out, otherwise she'll open all the doors and find it.

thanksgiving, round one

That same weekend we had our own Thanksgiving in Dallas. Rick made us a turkey dinner, we got dressed up and had a candlelight dinner (easy to do when it gets dark at 5:45ish). Madison loved getting dressed up, but wasn't as crazy about dinner.


Here she is singing Happy Birthday while we wait for dinner to be finished. I think she started singing it because of the candles, but I'm not sure...

swimsuit in november?

The weekend before Thanksgiving was awful warm still in Dallas. Madison had on her a dress over her shirt and leggings, but she decided she wanted to put on her swimsuit. She actually wanted to swim, but I told her she had to put in on over her clothes and no water. She wasn't happy about that, but she loved posing in her swimsuit.

a tight leash

We have been a little light on the photos lately. For the last 10 days Madison has been sick and there hasn't been much to take photos of. She had a low grade fever for about 3 days, then a bad cough and congestion, then her fever came back at 102 and the doc thought she might have a bacterial infection and put her on antibotics. So she finally started feeling like herself yesterday. We mostly hung around the house the last week and half, but Maddie must have decided she wanted to get out of the house, because she found this rope and decided it was Sadie's leash. So she kept trying to walk Sadie. It lasted much longer than this video. Sadie was such a good sport! Although she did try to hide as much as possible.

Dad's photo shoot

These are from 2 weekends ago. Rick was experimenting with his flash. I'm sure he'll make these look better for his blog. But I just loved the expressions are her face. Looks like faces her Dad would make...

kicks

A couple of Fridays ago, Maddie didn't like the outfit I picked out and picked out this dress. Not quite warm enough for the weather, so I made her wear the shirt and tights underneath. (Told you this was a trend) She also picked out the sneakers from her closet. We bought these a couple of weeks ago and they only had a size bigger than Maddie needed. But that didn't seem to bother her. I'm pretty sure she put on a whole different outfit after nap.

in my tummy

The week after Halloween we were explaining to Madison that Aunt Renny and Aunt Sarah both have babies in their tummies. So background, we are in the "I do it" stage, where Madison has to do everything for herself, by herself, and everything we say we do, she says she does too. So of course she has a baby in her tummy too. And yes that is her baby doll inside her shirt.

Always a dress

Madison loves to wear a dress. Even if its not quite sun dress weather. So we have finally trained her that she can wear a dress whenever she wants, but she has to wear it over a shirt and pants or tights. Expect to see this look often from her. 

Miss Madison

The day after Halloween, Madison thought it would be fun to play teacher. So she asked me to help me with her "carpet" (a quilt that we have on the back of the chair. They sit on the carpet at school and the teacher reads to them, so I think that is why she calls it a carpet). So I spread out the quilt and then we had to get out almost all of her stuffed animals so she could read to them. Please forgive the paparazzi on the video. 

happy halloween

Saturday evening we went to a trunk-or treat at a nearby church. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, a cake walk, a ton of carnival games, face painting and a couple of bounce houses. Madison got a ton of candy and even got her face painted. She waited very patiently for her turn at face painting, at least 20 minutes. Then sat perfectly still while they painted the flower. She was so excited about it and wanted to look in the mirror forever. The next morning she was very upset when it was mostly gone.
They only way we could get her to leave the trunk or treat was to tell her we needed to go home and see if there were trick-or-treaters at our house. When we got home, we didn't have much traffic. So Madison and I went next door to Stacy's and Terry's house. Once Stacy gave her some candy, she just walked right in the house. So we chatted for a while and said hi to their pet pig Oscar. And then went back to the house. We decided to try one more house, but then we saw a big group. They had a car pulling a trailer with 15-20 kids. So we followed them around the block and Maddie loved seeing all the kids in their costumes. And of course we got more candy then we need. But better than last year when we couldn't even get her costume on.
Slide at the bounce house.
Face painting.

trick or treat at the arboretum

Saturday morning we decided to get a jump start on trick or treating at the arboretum. They had tables set up at all the storybook houses with folks handing out candy. They also had a big pumpkin patch. It was a little muddy, but we had a beautiful day. Madison was great at saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you." And she loved seeing all the kids in their costumes.

halloween package from Luke

Madison opened her package from Luke Friday morning before Dad left for work. She loved the crown, but wasn't so sure about the pirate mask. She loved it on Rick and I, but she wouldn't wear it. She got a flashing pumpkin necklace that she wore all weekend, the pumpkin full of treats that you see below and the kitty cat purse that she also loves. And we have read the Sesame Street book a thousand times already! Thanks Luke! (and Renny and Brian).

I included this one so you could see her stylish outfit. Maddie still wants to wear her nightgowns to bed, but since it isn't warm enough, we make her wear the warmer PJs underneath. She has this on again tonight...

not striking a pose

After spinning, Rick tried to get Madison to pose for some pics, but she was more interested in running around and chasing Sadie.



Mom trying to teach Madison some poses.