Sunday, October 27, 2013

October 2013

We still don't know many people here in Birmingham, but fortunately we have kept in close contact with our friends in Florida.  We have also had a TON of visitors....glad we bought a bigger house!!

This month we had visits from G-ma and Nay Nay and Papa (this was after our 2 sets of visitors last month!)  We love all of the visitors and get excited to cook and entertain anyone who wants to come visit us...hint hint. ;)

Maddie is doing so many things it's getting hard to keep up...
  • She is starting to speak in sentences.  She really tries to speak in long sentences, but the middle gets all mumbled.  Usually she's good for 3-4 words.  
  • Will really listen to you and attempt to hold a conversation.  This makes it fun to be home with her.  I don't feel that alone during the day.
  • I made a little fall bucket list and we have been trying to complete the things on there.  So far we have made pumpkin cookies, made pumpkin cheesecake, made pumpkin muffins, drank apple cider (well I did), went to the farm/pumpkin patch....I'm not sure who was more excited about the farm me or Maddie.  I have never been to an actual farm and well here in Alabama there are lots of them!  They had hayrides out to the pumpkin patch, hay bail mazes, a petting zoo, and cotton! It was super exciting and Maddie talked about riding the tractor for weeks! 
  • Maddie is getting to wear lots of jackets and hats!  We had some colder weather in October (highs in the 40s).  The trees have all changed color and our lawn is filled with leaves...it's pretty nice to have our first change of seasons!
  • LOVES Story time and Kindermusik.   We haven't missed a week yet and Maddie gets so excited to go to the library and music class.  She talks all about her "teachers" and the things they do every week.
  • Likes to help me grocery shop.  We go to the grocery store every Thursday after music class and she loves to hold the produce bags and put the fruits/veggies in.  
  • Is so friendly to everyone she meets.  She says hello to just about everyone no matter where we are.  We go down the aisle in the grocery store and she says "hi" to anyone that walks by.
  • Doesn't like it when the cashiers at the store take our stuff to scan it.  We are working on the concept of buying items and then taking them home.  Now she has been telling me, "mommy buy it?"
  • Loves to kick the ball.  She is actually quite good....future soccer player! ;)
  • Still LOVES books and animals!  She will read all day!!
  • Is getting long hair!  Her hair is starting to curl in the back and she occasionally will wear a bow.
  • Loves pretend play, play doh, and arts/crafts.  She will sit for a long time and play "party"...she sets up her animals and gets out the tea set/picnic basket.  Just about everyday we do something with play doh....she runs up to me and tells me it's play doh time!  She loves to color with crayons and markers.... we sit daily at her table and color! 
  • Eats super well with her utensils.  We have even taken her straps off her booster chair, so she is really just sitting in the chair by herself...so big! 
  • Is doing super well with independent play.  She use to want to do everything with me and now she will go into her playroom and make her own decisions about what she wants to play with.  This is super helpful when it's time to prepare for/clean up meals.
We also turned our formal living room into a play room for Maddie.  We are working on some fun ideas to add to it and make it even more exciting!  So far she loves it!


Pictures...

Reading with Nay Nay


Showing off our new wreath!

Playing with pasta and cherrios... working on our fine motor skills!

Tea Party time

Drinking our tea in our new play room!

Dinner Time...she is a very good eater

Horray!

Sunday at the park 

Swings!

Higher daddy

Ummm....I think daddy is a little too big!



Hanging out on the new dining room rug


Taking a walk to see the ducks...I think the ducks were sleeping

Noah protects everyone at the house

Playing in the boxes when we got home from Costco

PB and honey sandwich at the park

Picnic



Sliding on the big jumpy thing at the fall carnival we went to

Maddie brought daddy some babies!

Party Time!

The cookies we made together

Playing soccer after church

Helping daddy with the hammer

Playing with the train set at the toy store....she loves trains (especially Thomas)

Carnival games at the church fall festival

Party Time with daddy


Visiting daddy at work for lunch

Farm

Maddie loves the goats!





Waiting to ride the tractor

with Nay Nay

Sitting on the hay on the back of a tractor...so Alabama of us!


At a real pumpkin patch!

Um....I think that one's too big!

Pumpkins!

Papa is helping Maddie pick a good one

I was so impressed with the pumpkins in the field

Daddy and Papa picking the perfect pumpkin

We found it!

Chickens



Hay Maze



Friday, September 27, 2013

September 2013

The BIG Florida adventure!!  So in case you didn't know, July 2013 was the month to have a baby...there was of course the birth of Prince George and the birth of 4 very cute little Florida babies:  Matthew Cannon (born to Lindsay and Chris), Molly McKeown (born to Caitlin and Jonathan), Ellie Meisner (born to Melanie and Justin), and then sweet little Victoria Magyar (born to Courtney and Philip).  Yes, that's right, four very close friends who all had little bundles of joy within a few weeks of each other!   There was no way I was going to miss seeing all of these babies, so Maddie and I packed our bags and went on our way!  We left on August 29th and came back to B'ham on September 11th!  It was 13 nights, 14 days, 5 houses, and 1,300 miles of pure fun!  We stayed with NayNay and Papa in Niceville for a few nights, Caitlin's in Tampa, Lindsay's house, Kelly's house, and then finally Catherine's house.  It was so great to see everyone and their babies.  Maddie loved "helping" with the babies and still talks constantly about them (especially baby Matthew and baby Sara (Victoria)).  Maddie was great in the car!  We had fun stopping to eat and talking about new places.  She was also really great at everyone's house.  For as many places as we stayed, she was wonderful! She managed some type of nap every day and pretty much stayed on a schedule...this girl can travel.

Thanks to all of my Florida peeps for being such gracious hosts!  We can't wait to come down and do it again....counting down to March 2013 for the Sirmeyer/Hassell wedding and Maddie's first trip to Disney...woot woot!

As soon as we got back to B'ham, we prepared for our first big round of guests!  Aunt Kara, Uncle Chris, Kalia, and Naynay came to stay for 3 nights.  Kalia and Maddie both really enjoyed playing together.  There 7 month age difference is almost unrecognizable.

Two days later we got a visit from our old neighbors Catherine, Vinny, and Jacob (and little sister Bove on the way)!  Maddie absolutely LOVES her friend Jacob and the two were super excited to see each other.  We had so much at the Science Center, eating BBQ, homemade popsicles, and just plain fun!

Besides all of our visiting we also got into a bit of a routine...
  • Maddie started Kindermusik classes on Thursdays.  This is an International music program for infants to age 7 and is taught by independent licensed Kindermusik educators.  We go to class at a church near our house with 9 other little cuties.  Maddie loves to sing and dance each Thursday morning with mom.  We continue our songs, books, and dances at home!
  • Started going to story time at the library every Tuesday.  She loves doing the bean bag rock, reading stories, and eating snacks.  After story time we pick out books to check out, play outside, or play with puzzles in the kids room.  It's a fun outing every Tuesday morning.
  • Loves vanilla ice cream.  Occasionally we head over to an ice cream shop on a Friday or Saturday night and enjoy a scoop of ice cream together!  
  • Copies everything Noah does.  When we go for walks Maddie make sure to sniff the light poles, sit down on the ground, and pretends to pee pee like Noah! 
  • We have started Family Movie Night.  On some Friday nights we get ready for bed early and watch a Mickey Clubhouse episode in our PJs with some popcorn!  Maddie loves Movie Night!
  • Still talks about everyone at dinner, but only certain people get a "chair".  We have 6 chairs at our kitchen table: Mommy's chair, Daddy's chair, NayNay's chair, Kia's chair (Kalia), and Papa's chair. 
  • Still loves animals!  Any animal!!
  • Knows all of her capital alphabet letters.  She points them out everywhere!
  • Knows heart, moon, and star
  • Can count a little past 10 by herself and up to 20 with help
  • Loves reading books and will park her behind in anyone's lap if she gets a story out of it.
Pictures...
Ice Cream Night

Grocery Shopping with the baby

Panera stop in Tallahassee

Helping Lindsay with baby Matthew




Maddie, Courtney, and baby Victoria

Maddie, Courtney, baby Victoria, Lindsay, and baby Matthew


Maddie watching the band





Maddie and baby Ellie




Maddie, Brayden, and Kelly




Maddie and Jonah

Maddie and Jacob playing in the pool with all their clothes on after dinner!

Friendship park

Hanging out with the Oviedo chickens!

Maddie and the babies



More ice cream


Jacob and Maddie.....2040 wedding planned ;)



The Boves


The Harts

yummy B'ham BBQ




Maddie sniffing the light pole




Maddie sitting down like Noah

Hanging out in the backyard

Movie Night!

Petting zoo with daddy