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.

round and round

There is nothing Madison loves more than spinning around. I swear I spend half my day spinning her in my arms or in the office chair. It is a good excuse to get some cuddle time though.

sugar and frosting

Rick decided we needed to make Halloween cookies today. So after finally finding some cooking cutters, we went crazy. Madison liked decorating much more than making the cookies. She did great with the sprinkles and only ate about half the MnMs.

alliance air show in fort worth

Yesterday we spent the day in Fort Worth watching airplanes. We got there about 10:30 or 11 and looked around at all the airplanes, helicopters and even the bounce house. Maddie loved the parachuters and it was very important to see where they landed. We had lunch and did a little more looking. Then Madison and I headed to the car for some quiet time (we watched Beauty and the Beast). Rick hung out inside a little longer, then came out and watch the airplanes from the car. About 3:00 the Blue Angels come on so we watched from the back of the car. Madison was a little scared of the how loud the jets were at first, but she got used them and had fun trying to find them.
Rick and Maddie touring the inside of an airplane.
Madison checking out the gun on the army helicopter.

Parachuter.
Hanging out in the car.


Waiting for the airplanes and running around.

Blue Angels.

corn-i-val and sushi

Friday night at school was the Corn-i-val, so Madison and I met Dad for dinner and then headed to the party. These are Madison getting her costume all ready. With the red hair the Little Mermaid is perfect, and she loves it. She wore it every day this weekend. She had great time at the carnival playing the games and getting treats.

Dinner before. We had some sushi and fried rice. Here is Madison eating sushi! Although it was the sticky rice on the outside of a roll.
Getting her temporary tattoo. We couldn't wash it last night in the bath and she was so upset this morning when it was mostly gone.
Doing the beanbag toss for candy.

Thank you Emaline!

Madison's friend Emaline sent us a new book in the mail. Llama Llama Red Pajama. We had just opened it when Rick took this video. The flower in her hair is from the card that came with the book.
Thank you Emaline (and Carissa)!! We love it and we miss you!

best friends

On Sunday after camping, Madison and Sadie hanging out in the backyard.
Madison laughing at Sadie.

another camping trip

The weekend of the 16th we decided to take one last camping trip before it got to cold. Yes, Rick and I could go camping when it gets a litte cooler, but Madison won't sleep inside her sleeping bag. So Rick and I spend all night covering her with a blanket.
Anyway, we found a place just south of Dallas, about an hour a way, called Cedar Hill State Park. It was a nice camping ground with some trails and a lake. Madison and Sadie both did great sleeping in the tent. We made smores, tried fishing, and Madison played with her Little People campers. Lots of fun.


Smores! Madison was not so sure about the marshmallows, so she mostly ate chocolate...
Ducks at the pond.
Fishing with Dad.
Madison got a little bored with the fishing and decided she needed to take pictures. So she took this picture of Sadie. Not bad!

beautiful day

Here is a photo of the stage at the concert. All in all it was a wonderful night. There were some complaints from others about the acoustics in the new cowboys stadium, but I thought we got lucky because we could hear them well. And of course they always put on a good show. We didn't get home until 1 because of traffic getting on the highway, so we were exhausted the next day at work. Well worth it.

Dancing with the Stars

Monday night while Rick and I were at U2, Madison had dance party with Grandpa. She got all dressed up and had a great time wearing Grandpa out. Thanks so much to G&G for babysitting!

State Fair 2009

My folks had not been to the state fair a years and never to the Texas State Fair. So we took the train (a new thing) to Fair Park to check it out on Saturday. We went to the petting zoo and watched the dog show (tricks and races). Madison rode the boat ride and didn't want to get off. We had some corndogs, checked out big Texas and the trains, did lots of people watchting and then headed back home.

Checking out the trains under Big Tex.
On the train on the way to the Fair Madison showed off her Wonder Women T-shirt.

bedtime

Grandpa took a couple of pics Friday night as we were getting ready for bed. After he took this pic, Madison wanted to look at the picture on the camera. Then she said there were 2 of her.
Madison reading Hike Away to me.

G&G come to visit

We asked my parents to come visit the weekend of October 9th because Rick and I had tickets that Monday for U2. Luckily they were happy to come. These pics are from Friday when they got here. We went right up to the park and took some of the chocolate chip cookies Grandma had brought.

2 1/2 years have flown by...

Two and half years ago yesterday, our little girl decided it was time to come into the world. Its amazing how fast the time goes. Madison has grown so much in the last 30 months, and she is now a little girl more than a baby. 

She loves to sing us songs, mostly solos. Her favorites right now are the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, I'm a Little Teapot, & Ring around the Rosie. She also loves to sing Once upon a dream from Sleeping Beauty and Part of your World from Little Mermaid. She can sing the first 2 lines of both by herself, but needs a little help from Mom after that. But she knows all the words. (I've trained her well :) ). She can finally count to 10 without skipping 5 and is working on counting to 20 at school. She has also learned her name is "Madison Smif" supposed to be Smith, but we are working on that. 

Bolt is her favorite movie right now. Probably because there is a dog, a cat and a hamster. She is my little animal lover just like her Aunt Ashley. And she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (most requested TV show, but she doesn't always get her request...). We also found the Disney website which lets you pick out clothes for your favorite princess or play games with Mickey and Friends. Again she wants to do this very often, but doesn't get to often enough for her taste. 

She talks constantly now. Rick often comments that she doesn't ever seem to stop. She loves books, which makes me very happy. We go to the library all the time for story time and to keep our rotation up and scope out the good books to buy. 

She is doing very well with the potty training. We still have some accidents and some days when she just doesn't seem to want to do it, but for the most part we are getting there. She is almost always dry after nap and overnight too, so we'll have to working on getting rid of diapers for that soon.  We hit a spell where Madison was spending lots of time in the naughty spot. But she seems to be on a good stretch for the moment and has learned to listen to mommy and daddy better. I'm sure we'll hit another bad spell soon. They seem to come and go. 

She is also very particular. Before she can put her clothes on, we have to spread them out for her and we can't accidentally sit on them.  And of course most everything she wants to do by herself, unless she needs help and then she wants help right away. If she has a jacket with a hood, she wants the hood on. She likes to shut the door to her room every morning when we leave. She only wants to eat with certain spoons or drink out of certain cups, and mostly doesn't want a lid. She loves to pour things, we call her our Mad Scientist. She pours water into one cup and then back and then back and then she wants to add some milk. She can also spend hours on walks or in the backyard collecting acorns, berries, rocks and flowers.  Oh and we were driving the other day and she pointed to every kind of tall building and called them castles.

Mostly Madison is just really fun right now. She is constantly moving and talking, and wears us out, but she is so funny. Its wonderful to see her personality, her likes and dislikes (which are constantly changing). I'm sure it will only get better from here, but the last 2 1/2 years sure have been wonderful, amazing, exhausting, thrilling, and definitely worth it!