Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We spent the whole week enjoying the company of family, eating great food, celebrating the birth of Jesus, and anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus! Madeline understood the whole concept of Christmas much more this year, which made things all that much more exciting for Mommy and Daddy. We spent Wednesday, December 23rd at Nana’s house. Madeline helped Nana bake and decorate cookies, which was a real treat. Santa even made a surprise visit and dropped off Mickey and Minnie dolls for Madeline at the front door. She sure was excited! Daddy had to work on Christmas Eve so it was nice to get the whole family together that day. Madeline and Mommy spent Christmas Eve with Nana as well. We had a great dinner and opened gifts. On our way home, we made a pit stop at the fire station to visit Daddy and the guys. Madeline swore she saw Santa out the window flying with his reindeer. We had to hurry to get home to leave him cookies and milk and carrots for the reindeer. She put the plate together herself and then we cuddled on the couch and fell asleep watching The Grinch. As soon as Daddy got home the next morning, we rushed downstairs to see if Santa had come. Madeline’s eyes lit up when she saw the presents under the tree. Santa had eaten all the cookies, drank his glass of milk, and the reindeer demolished the carrots. She was thrilled. While she opened her presents, she made little comments like, “Goodness gracious!” and “It’s beeaaauuuutiful!” Mommy and Daddy were tickled pink. After opening all of her gifts, we loaded up and headed to Gamma and Poppy’s house. Madeline had a blast playing with her cousins. We headed home that night and Madeline fell asleep in the car listening to Christmas music. She’s spent the last few days enjoying all of her gifts. Our house looks like a bomb went off, but she is in heaven with all of her new toys. She must have been a very good girl this year because Santa sure took care of her! Merry Christmas everyone!

Holiday Helper

Madeline helped mommy with some of the holiday baking last night. Yum!





No, she’s not having a seizure. It’s just really good!

Santa Came Early!

Santa came early to Nana’s house!



Santa brought Madeline an early Christmas present this year. Check out her sweet new Barbie Jeep! Can anybody say “spoiled”? Yes, she did get to drive it in the house. Ashlynn even got to take a ride. Nana and Poppy sure love this little girl =]

Christmas at Disneyland!

Last week, we took Madeline to Disneyland to check our all of the Christmas decorations at the park. We decided to go at night so Madeline could see all of the lights and the firework show. Nana and Poppy met us there and we had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures from our adventure...

Madeline was so excited when we made it to the front of the park!



Our first ride was Peter Pan’s Flight. Madeline loves reading Peter Pan so we had to hit this ride first! She was thrilled to ride in her very own pirate ship and see Captain Hook.


Here we are before the ride started.

Once we got up here…

...Madeline did this and stayed that way for the remainder of the ride!

We’re pretty sure she is afraid of heights.


For our next ride, we opted for something that stayed on the ground…The Tea Cups!

These were a big hit, as you can see.




Then, we headed over to It’s a Small World, which is absolutely breathtaking at night! Madeline didn’t even mind waiting in line for 45 minutes because there was so much to look at. I am so glad we made it to Disneyland at night so she could see all of the beautiful lights.




Madeline has always loved this ride, but she was especially crazy for all of the Christmas flare added for the holiday season. Here's a little clip of her enjoying the ride...

We had time for just one more ride before the fireworks started.

Madeline wanted to ride the rockets with daddy.

She was scared, of course, because of the whole heights thing, but she had fun nonetheless.




The firework show was awesome. However, by 9:30 our little princess was just about ready to turn into a pumpkin! We started exiting the park about halfway through the show and Madeline was starting to doze on my shoulder. The park was packed and even leaving before the mad rush, it took us about 20 minutes just to get to our car. Madeline was asleep in her car seat before we made it out of the parking structure! It was a great family trip and we can’t wait to head back to the happiest place on earth after the holidays.

Stop Slackin' Mama!!!

I recently realized that I have really been slacking off in the photography department as of late. I don’t think I have taken more than a few pictures since Thanksgiving. I guess we have been busy, but that’s not much of an excuse. Madeline is as cute as ever and cracks us up on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I just haven’t had the gumption to keep my camera on hand to photograph her on a daily basis as I did for the first year of her life. In fact, I think I take more pictures on my camera phone these days than my actual camera (which is a total injustice to our adorable little girl). Here are a few recent pictures of our silly goose (taken on the camera phone, of course) which show a little bit of her ever emerging personality. I know as her mom I am probably a little partial, but I think she is the smartest, funniest, and cutest little girl in the world =] She is nearly 100% potty trained (although we do have the occasional off day), she talks in almost complete sentences (minus the use of helping verbs), dances up a storm, eats like a horse, and sleeps in her own bed through the night. She loves candy canes and everything having to do with Christmas. We recently bought her a manger and she carries baby Jesus with her everywhere. She loves to sing and has a few Christmas songs in her repertoire now (she loves Jingle Bills, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Happy Birthday Baby Jesus). I am making a promise to charge my camera battery and take some decent pictures of my baby starting today. Posts to follow!

Madeline and her sweet little cousin, Ashlynn.

Maddie sure loves babies. She will be a great big sister someday!

Maddie decorated the stairs at grandma's house. She said, "It's perfect!"

Here she is dancing in daddy's work boots. She is a great dancer!

Visiting Santa

We went to Victoria Gardens to do a little Christmas shopping this weekend. When Madeline saw Santa's workshop, she insisted on stopping by to say hello. We waited in line for about 20 minutes and Madeline yelled and waved to Santa the entire time. She even wanted one of his "helpers" to hold her so she could get just a little bit closer before we made it to the front of the line. When it was finally our turn, Madeline walked right up to Santa, hopped in his lap, and started giggling uncontrolably. She was so excited, she could hardly breathe! She didn't say one word, just giggled. She's been talking about Santa since we took down all the fall decorations and put up our Christmas decorations last week. She knows what she wants for Christmas (toys) and has been begging to "go to Santa's house" every day. The entire time we were in line, she talked about how she would hug Santa and tell him that she wanted toys for Christmas. Of course, she choked. She was the cutest thing ever though! Santa thought she was a doll! He gave her a peppermint lollipop and told her she was a very good girl.

When we left she said, "I happy!"

Here's Madeline standing in front of the giant Christmas tree after our yummy dinner at The Yard House.

On our way back to the car, Madeline got to pet this beautiful white horse. It was pulling a carriage just like Cindrella's. She was fascinated! Cinderella is one of her favorite princesses.

Thanksgiving 2009

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Auntie Jennifer's house this year. We sure have a lot to be thankful for and have had many blessings come our way for which we are grateful.

Madeline is thankful for candy =]

After dinner, Madeline played with Nana.

She loves baby Ashlynn.

Look at what a big girl Ashlynn is! She is such a cutie.

Happy Halloween

Getting ready to take Pebbles trick-or-treating for the very first time.

"Mommy and Daddy, I'll lead the way!"

Her first house. All up in the mix with the boys as usual.

"This is great! Let's find another house!"

"Outta my way boys, I want more candy!"

She's got the hang of it now. Little Miss Belle managed to keep up with the boys and trick-or-treat for over an hour! She got lots of candy =]

Here's the whole gang. It was like pulling teeth to get all of these kids to sit down for 10 seconds, so I won't complain that Randy is the only one actually looking at the camera. Rachel and I are taking Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm to get some professional shots in their costumes this week. Hopefully, we will have better luck then!

"No more pictures please!" Madeline just wanted to eat her candy.

The whole family after a long night of Halloween fun!

Oh, and how could I forget...

The Mummy Dogs! These were my most creative creation yet! I also made jack'o lantern cheeseburgers, which I somehow forget to take a picture of, but they were pretty awesome too! The kids loved them =]