BREAKING GROUND!

How can you keep a 3 yr old occupied ALL DAY LONG???  Have a tractor dig a HUGE hole in your backyard!  They came and dug on Thursday of last week.  Mason was ready to swim that night…It will be a LONG few months of “Can we swim yet???”  Mason was so excited to wake up to the sound of the tractor I could hardly get him and Madelyn away from the window…he wanted to go dig with them.  He even went to get his shovel to help!  Needless to say we are so excited and can’t wait to SWIM ALL SUMMER LONG!! 

                                                                Notice baby doll had to watch too!

Can you say HURRY!!!!                            

I love this face!!!

Coming THIS SPRING…

Happy Birthday Precious B

What a wonderful wonderful year we have had with our lil girl!  As the saying goes, “Time Flies When You are Having Fun!”  We had a small get together to celebrate Madelyn and her first year :)  We go to the doctor at the end of January so I will have her yr. stats then.  Here are some of the things our BIG TODDLER is doing:

• Walking (started a 8 months)
• Saying several words: Ba Ba Doll, Daa (dog), up, Mama, Dada, Bi (bite)
• Loves Whole Milk from her sippy cups
• Eats whatever we eat…(never really ate baby food)
• Claps
• Shakes her head NO
• Points at everything she wants
• Loves to carry purses
• Loves to put things in her purse and take them right back out (could do this for a LONG time)
• Loves to play in her bed for a bit before you can get her out
• Seems to gravitate more to men :) Will let Papa and Daddio carry her around and hold her…The grandma’s get a little jealous, but she warms up to them really fast too! 
• LOVES LOVES LOVES her baby doll…sleeps with it…we take it everywhere!
• Fake cries to get what she wants
• Takes 2 naps ranging from 1 hr to 1 1/2 hrs
• Loves to look at pictures…especially the ones I have framed lining our staircase.
• Would EAT ALL DAY LONG if I let her!
• Doesn’t like Peaches
• Tries to do everything her brother does!!!

I know I am probably missing a few…We love her so much and love watching her grow and change DAILY!  Happy Happy Birthday lil Girl…we love you so!!!!

   

We had a wonderful day and Madelyn ate too much sugar that afternoon at her party she DID NOT NAP :)  She was so happy to just roam around the game room carrying her purses and playing with her new toys :)

~UP~

I guess I can mark this down as Madelyn’s first “real” word!  For the last couple of weeks she runs to Mason’s chair, the couch, the ottoman, our arms and moans for us to pick her UP.  So we have been saying UP all the time.  Today was too cute…she came running over to me sitting in the chair and she said UP if a big girl voice…and I picked her up and she rested her sweet lil non hair head on my chest…it was too precious!  Even though Madelyn has her own “sounds” for her baby doll and other fav. toys, and has been saying momma and dada,  I have to count UP as her first real word!

REALLY…can my baby be turning 1 in only 9 short days!!!

Christmas ‘09

This was such an exciting Christmas.  Mason was so excited for Santa to come visit and for Jesus’ birthday!  Madelyn…well last year I was frantically getting ready for her arrival and this year she was all over the place…what a difference 1 yr can make.  I can’t wait to see both my babies next year at Christmas…I love living Christmas through their eyes.  Marcus’ parents came down to celebrate with us before we headed out to Austin to celebrate with my family.  Mason kept saying, “I am too excited for Christmas!”  The only sad part was both my babies were sick with RSV :(

WARNING…Lots of pictures!!

 

Christmas Eve we opened up gifts from DD and Daddio…Madelyn loved pulling Daddio around the house and he was more than happy to follow behind :)

 

SANTA LEFT A LOT OF LOOT!

 

 

By Noon on Christmas we were opening round 3 of gifts in Austin.  Thank you Jenny and Paul for hosting and cooking a WONDERFUL Christmas Dinner!!

 

The Babies…Look at Madden…he has the most beautiful blue eyes…and IS THE HAPPIEST BABY EVER!!!

Playing games…Marcus played Wii Tennis and Mason loved playing Twister with Kylie..notice Madelyn interrupting the game :) She wants to be everywhere Mason and Kylie were.  Sorry for the blurr. 

The family pic…Iove this one Madden is getting Kylie’s headband :)

All I Want For Christmas…

Today Mason and Madelyn went to visit Santa!  The past years Mason wanted NOTHING to do with Santa…this year was different.  I had been talking about going to see him all morning and getting him excited about going.  Only time would tell.  Madelyn, on the other hand usually cries in others arms other than mommy and daddy…so I pretty much “thought” I knew how her visit would go.  So we arrived and before I could even stop the stroller Mason jumped out and was sitting in Santa’s lap already discussing what toys he wanted.  I took Madelyn over crossing my fingers and sat her on his lap.  She was content…not crying…not smiling…just staring at him.  I think it helped that Mason was on his lap with her.  So JUST IN CASE we did not capture the moment at the Mall I took a few pictures of them all dressed up before we headed off.  The picture I did get at the mall was ok…neither of them were smiling… but hey…they weren’t screaming either :) 

All they want for Christmas:

Mason’s List: 

1. Lightening  McQueen Race Track
2. Diego Rescue Pack
3. Texas Tech Football Helmet (every time football is on he asks to have this..)
4. Games
5. Cookies (gets this from his momma…chocolate chip cookies are my weakness ;)
6. Chocolate

Madelyn’s List:

1. Her Two front teeth (they are coming in and would be much happier if they made their appearance BEFORE Christmas :)
2. Baby Doll (she has a specific doll she carries everywhere LOVES it)
3. Busy Zoo Block
4. The Learning Kitchen
5. Glo Worm
6. Activity Table

I have a few more things up my sleeve I think they will love!  I can’t wait. Only 11 days left!!!

Rare Winter Fun!!!

Everyone knows it is not that often you see SNOW in Houston.  All week long on the news they kept saying snow on Friday.  I just brushed it off thinking if it did snow it would be a little flurry that would melt before it even hit the ground.  Well Friday rolled around and we had sleet/water/ice mix all morning.  So I thought that was it.  Then, Mason’s teacher called and said that they were closing school at NOON….ARE YOU KIDDING!!! The roads weren’t icy, slick or snow even on the ground.  CRAZY!  Anyways, we headed Friday to pick Mason up from school and as we were leaving it started to snow a little more.  By the time we picked him up the snow flakes were getting bigger and bigger.  By the time we got home….SNOW WAS EVERYWHERE!  YAY…we were all so excited! Mason thought we were going to go skiing right then and there.  (Only because we are heading to Vail this Feb. for a family trip with my family and have talked about how it SNOWS there and we will get to ski)  So of course we bundled up and headed outside for some snow FUN!  Mason however did not like the snow flakes falling and getting into his eyes so he had to wear his sunglasses :)  What a wonderful Friday Afternoon!  Funny thing…we are looking to put a pool in and we had a meeting with a pool guy that afternoon as it was SNOWING :)

 

Mason had so much fun building a snowman, having a snowball fight and just running around sliding in the snow ;)  Poor Madelyn watched from the window!

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…

Here are a few pics of the decorations around the house.  My challenge this year was to decorate my 12ft. tree I purchased ;)  I still need to get more for the tree…that will come next year!

That is the start to my decorating…:)

Thanksgiving ‘09

This year we stayed put in Houston and Marcus’ parents came up to share Thanksgiving with us and his brother, Monte.  We had a wonderful time.  Lots of FOOD, FOOTBALL, FISHING, and Decorating for Christmas!  Oh yeah…SHOPPING :)  It was fast and furious just like always, but such a wonderful Thanksgiving!  The kids had a great time playing with DD and Daddio and stuffing their bellies…especially with pecan pie! 

Yes…Madelyn ate ALMOST ALL of the plate full above ;)  She is a bottomless pit :)

BOO!

We had a blast this Halloween….even though we were ALL SICK :(  The whole month of October we have only been well for about 1 1/2 weeks…it has been NO FUN!  However, Mason was sooo excited to dress as Dash and sister as Minnie Mouse.  He was ready to fill his pumpkin full with candy.  First, we got dressed headed to Uncle Monte’s house to trick or treat and show off our costumes.  Then we headed to our clubhouse Halloween party.  There they had a magician, pizza, a clown making balloon animals and much more.  It is getting hard to take Madelyn places…she just wants get down and walk everywhere.  She doesn’t like to be held much or in a stroller :(  So we stayed for a bit then headed home around 7 to get ready to go trick or treating.  Mason was sooo excited he loved ringing the door bells and saying "trick or treat” or “Happy Halloween!”  Madelyn did not make it too long after 7…with only 1 nap and not feeling great she was ready for bed EARLY :(  When we were done we poured out all our treats and ate until we were sick :) 

It was too cute…When they were in costume Mason would not let anyone call him or Madelyn by name you had to call them by their dressed up name…Minnie or Dash. 

NYC in a Nutshell…

This past weekend Marcus and I headed out of Friday morning for a weekend of fun, friends and baseball.  Thanks Nanny and Papa and aunt Jenny for taking care of our lil ones while we were gone :) 

 

View from hotel room: (Central Park)

It was such a fast and furious weekend, but we managed to have a blast!!  First, we arrived and went to see our friend, John, to say good luck!  Then we were off to Nike Town to get a few essentials for the cold rainy weather forecasted.  Then off to the game…

We rode the subway to the game…it was a quick trip :)  Yankee stadium was AWESOME!  The fans on the other hand…AWFUL!  They just could not stop talking…PROFANITY to us.  Thank goodness we had officers and security around us since we sat with the players’ families. 

Around the stadium:

 

Warming up and First Pitch:

John pitched good, but unfortunately they lost both games.  On Saturday we went shopping, watched college football and went to Game 2.  Game 2 was much more exciting…it lasted 13 innings and sadly our team lost again Darn that A. Rod for hitting a tying homer!!!  We made it back to the hotel LATE and got just enough sleep to wake up and catch our flight early on Sunday.  We had a great time, but we were ready to pick up our babies!  Hopefully they will win the next several games….if they do….. OFF TO THE WORLD SERIES :)