Today is a lazy day.  Yesterday I cleaned my house from top to bottom for small group and today it is nasty, dark and raining outside.  So we're just hanging out here at the house.  I have to make a Wal-Mart run this afternoon and we're going out to eat tonight, but other than that, I don't have much to do today other than play with the kids.  I want to do Pilates when the kids go to bed this afternoon.  It's been a while! 

Yesterday Madelyn decided that she did not want to crawl anymore!  She has been walking everywhere since yesterday morning.  It's crazy.  When did my baby girl turn into a toddler?

She is talking all the time now and has developed the art of throwing a temper tantrum.  Yes, indeed.  I'll have to get that on video too.  She throws herself on the floor hollering and kicks her feet.  It's quite a site to see!

Silly girl!

Parker's doing good.  He just got some new "Buzz-Buzz" shoes (Buzz Lightyear) and wears them constantly.  He slept in them the first day he got them.  They light up when he walks and he thinks they're super-cool!

He doesn't always get them on quite right, but he can do it all by himself!

Well,  Maddie's going nuts so I need to get off here.  Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Madelyn Grace!

This past year has been so full of joy and laughter because you have been here.  You're sweet, sweet personality and precious dimpled smile has been such a blessing.  I can't believe a year has gone by so quickly.  I wish I had had more time just to sit and watch you grow, but the days have passed in a blink. 

I love the little curls you get in the back when you get sweaty or wake up from a nap.  And I love your dimples and how your smile takes up your whole face!  You nod "yes" and "no" now and wave bye-bye.  You say "mama," "daddy," "all done," "uh oh," and "thank you," (although that one is hard to understand! 

You growl and make animal noises.  I love listening to you in your crib in the mornings because you will sit for half an hour and "talk" to your animals and baby dolls.  You say, "Ah! Oooohhh" whenever you see any baby dolls or animals.  You love them.  Whenever you are upset, you pucker up your little lips, look at me so tragicly (sp?) and say, "oooooo."  You can be quite the little drama queen.  You definitely let us or your brother know when you don't like something! 

You are into everything all the time and are quite a climber!  You will climb up and over anything you can possibly hook your little toes onto.  You keep me so busy, but I love it.

Maddie, I love how you are such a cuddler.  I just discovered recently that you need some "cuddle time" when you first wake up from your nap in the afternoons.  You want mommy just to sit and hold you for a little while.  It's good for me to do that, because I get so busy I forget sometimes to treasure the "little moments."  Just recently I started reading you books right before you go to bed and you get so excited!  You don't get mommy to yourself very often. 

You took your first steps two weeks ago!  And I missed it.  But you were happy to take some more when I got home.  You haven't walked much since then, but I know you'll be off and running before we know it.

Madelyn-you are such a sweet addition to our family.  I cannot imagine life without you and I hope that this year is as much fun as the past year has been.  I am so excited that I have my little girl and I can't wait for years of princess parties, painting nails and shopping together!

I love you precious girl.

Mommy.

 I love the stages my kids are in right now.  Every stage is fun in some way or another, but they are both so much fun right now.  Maddie took her first steps last Sunday!  I wasn't here , I was working the nursery at church and Randy was home w/ the kids (who were both sick w/ nasty colds), he texted me and said, "Maddie just took 5 steps with no help."  I couldn't believe I missed it.  But she took steps for me when I got home.  I need to get a video of her walking, but she will only take a step or two at a time because she gets so excited she just throws herself forward!  LOL. 

Parker is really into getting dressed all by himself right now.  He says, "No, mommy, do it by me."  (aka-"do it by myself") and he does really well!  I have to control myself because I want to "fix" it all and straighten his pants up and untuck his shirt from his underwear.  He's completely potty-trained now.  I'm so glad that stage is over!  I thought he'd never be out of diapers!  He is going through a HUGE jealous phase right now.  It's been better this week, but I guess it's because Madelyn is so much fun right now and everybody interacts w/ her more and she takes his toys, etc.  But he started this "hold me, hold me" stage a few weeks ago.  Wanting us to hold him all the time, especially when he's tired or hurt.  He does whatever she does...crawling, baby babble, sucking on toys, whatever.  I try to tell him that he's a big kid and he doesn't need to act like a baby, and make a big deal out of the "big kid" things he can do that Maddie can't do.  But to no avail.  It's driving me crazy.  I know it's just a phase and it will pass.  Thank goodness!  

The other night, I was going through the kids winter clothes, trying to figure out what they needed for this year.  Parker pulled this dress out of the box, put it on, and was wondering around the house saying, "See mommy, daddy?  My pretty!"  *sigh* His father needs to take him fishing or play some football.  That's that jealousy popping up again!  Anything to be like Maddie Grace.

We've been running errands every day this week to get ready for Madelyn's big one year party!!  I found some cute "1st Birthday Girl" plates that have butterflies and flowers on them, so that's the theme.  Anyway, we've had to go somewhere every day and it has worn the kids out.  Yesterday, five minutes after we left the house, Parker said, "Mommy, go home, go home and go night-night."  I said, "Oh, buddy, we have to go to the store and then we'll go home.  Are you tired?"  He said, "Yea, my tired, go home and go night-night."  Bless his little heart.

We had a good Labor Day weekend.  It was pretty low-key, but Monday we got up and drove a few hours to a State Park and went hiking w/ my family.  Bethany came up from school so that was fun.  I don't think I got any pictures, because honestly, the trails weren't all that pretty.  Just lots of trees.  I've been to much prettier parks in Arkansas.  The views from the road were spectacular, but the trails were just in the middle of the woods.  We had a good time though.  Below is the only picture I took.  Apparently, this is the highest point in Arkansas.  And that was it.  No view, just a big sign in the middle of a clearing on the trail.  Very underwhelming.  But we took a picture anyway, dang it!

I'm so incredibly ready for fall weather.  Last spring and fall when it was nice outside I met some moms at the park and we walked the trails around it and let the kids play on the playground about once a week.  So I'm ready to start that up again.  It's still too hot right now.  I love to walk though....that's what really helped me lose my weight from Madelyn.  And it's nice for the kids to get out.

We stripped all of the wallpaper off the walls in our kitchen and painted.  We weren't planning on doing it, but Maddie helped us out a bit!  She pulled a huge piece off the wall one night, so we had to decide if we were goin to just tape it on the wall or go ahead and get rid of it.  I like it now.  It's pretty.  It was a lot of work though!  It took us about a week, especially b/c we couldn't work on it much when the kids were up, Maddie was into everything.  Here is the finished product:

The color looks a little more green in the pics than it actually is.  It's a really pretty caramel color.

Eventually we will get window treatments to go in the bay window and above the sink.  I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I found this beautiful clock and candle holders the other day to put on the mantle.  The french cafe pics in the kitchen used to be there.

Man, I feel like my posts are so boring and predictable right now.  Everything is just so unventful at this point in my life.  Which is good I guess.  It just doesn't give me much to post about except the kids!  Hopefully I can make my posts more interesting in the future!  Have a good weekend to the faithful few who stay caught up with me!