Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well... we had a great Christmas, although we are very anxious to be home at this point. Christmas Eve was spent at the apartment where Daddy made a delicious ham. We also attended the Christmas Eve service at church and got to sing lots of Christmas carols. Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let me join in with the candles though. We had a "family" get-together at the Flory's on Christmas Day and enjoyed some good food and good friends. All the snow has melted and now we just have been getting a lil rain with a daily frost. We moved on to the base on Wed. last week so nothing really feels like home anymore.

Walking home Christmas Eve...it was so foggy!

"Look what I found! Can I open it?"

Present from the Flory's.

My handsome Daddy
(of course we did Christmas crackers and all wore the crowns!)

To top it all off, I am sick. Yep, all these months of being relatively healthy and now I have a yucky, boogery faucet of a nose with a fever to top it all off. Mommy says she new something was up, but couldn't confirm if it was all the chaos or sickness until I woke with the fever last night. Saw the Doctor (my new word of the day) this morning to be reassured it was nothing more. He gave us some stuff to help with all nose business, but in the end it just has to run its course.

Tonight we have dinner with everyone Daddy works with as a going away (if I even feel up to going). No plans as of yet for New Year's Eve, but we are sure we'll end up somewhere for at least a little bit of it.

Unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy forgot our camera at the Flory's on Christmas. Since they live 30 minutes from us, we haven't seen them again. Mommy said we might run to get it after my nap so we can take pictures of Daddy tonight so hopefully there will be more to this post by tomorrow!

**UPDATE: Madelyn had a very rough couple of nights, making for a very tired and crabby little girl during the day. We seem to be getting it slightly under control, however, not being in your own bed and wondering where you house went may not be helping. Although we didn't make it to Shaye's dinner, he had a nice time and got some lovely departing gifts. Enjoy the pictures and videos.

Wishing you all an amazing week.
Love to everyone,
Madelyn et. al.

Video: A little of the Christmas action.

Last day in the house. Very sad little girl, but not because we were leaving...
Never has not having our "sleep aides" been an issue until you get a tired girl with no bed and she sees them swishing around!

I saw my blanket (my duck and bunny are in there too).
Why would Mommy wash them ALL at once!

Scotland, Snow, & Santa- Oh my!

Playing outside in my first proper snow storm!

Busy busy post this week. So much to share! We could have put TONS more photos because Alicia got a fancy new camera and is sharing all hers with us too, but I think you'll like what you see :)

We drove through the Lake District in North Western England en-route to Scotland. There are many lakes here, but Lake Windermere is the largest natural lake in England and we stopped here for some photos. I had so much fun chasing all the ducks and pigeons, I really didn't want to get back in the car!

Mommy's favorite picture of the lake.

Our week was very eventful in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland! We had so much fun seeing new sights with our friends Clint and Alicia. It even started to snow our last couple days there. Big, fluffy, beautiful flakes that we all admired from our 6th floor apartment. This place provided an amazing view of the city outside, but you'll have to ask the boys what they thought about carrying all our stuff up all those stairs (and we drove so everyone packed a bit extra)!!

Edinburgh Castle... our apt. was just down the street
(which worked out nicely when I'd had enough and was due for a long nap!)

Castle view from the Royal Park.

Castle view toward the bay over the city.

The city was so beautiful at night. They even had a Christmas Fayre going on where we got to sample some yummy food and buy a few nice things!

The city was built in a stair-step fashion so everywhere you went, you had a great view!

Daddy and Uncle Clint went on a Whiskey Experience tour. They got to learn about how it is made in Scotland and sample a few different kinds. They also saw the world's largest collection of Scotch Whiskey. They appeared to have enjoyed themselves!

Our last day there brought beautiful big snowflakes. The morning we left Mommy took a couple pictures of the view outside her and Daddy's bedroom window.

St. Giles Cathedral and it's courtyard (below)

We got snow in England while we were away also and it is even sticking around. Our route home took us through York England. Although it was much too cold to explore the city as much as we would have liked; we got some nice photos and a some yummy soup and sandwiches before finishing our journey home. Plus I got to walk around in the snow! (Alicia took a nice family photo that I'll have to get Mommy to look for...)

With the highs this week at 30 (very very unusual here) we think little melting will occur and we may even see a white Christmas - Unheard of! Nicely enough, all the snow is bringing blue skies and bright sunshine. Below enjoy a video of Daddy teaching me what to do with snow (good thing Daisy left weeks ago!)

Finally, I want to share my Santa experience(s) this year. Mommy was only going to share the first, but Daddy really liked the second and thought you should see both.

1st encounter (above) 2nd (below)

And last news from just today...
I spent my last playdate with Ms. Maureen. I have so much fun with her, Mommy hopes to find just as great of a daycare in Texas. Also, although it is not yet official, Mommy got a job! She had an interview on the phone tonight and things went VERY well!

This last video is on the way home from Maureen's. Although Mommy really wanted me to wait 5 more minutes until we got home... I REALLY needed sleep!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Shaye, Jody, Madelyn, and Daisy

P.S. Mommy says that you all are getting New Year's Cards...heck, you may actually see us before they arrive!

Off to Scotland!

So lady like...

Mommy says we have to post today because we are leaving bright and early for a trip to Scotland with my Auntie Alicia and Uncle Clint. We will be gone for the week and have lots to share with next week's post! Uncle Clint is getting ready to deploy for 6 months to Afghanistan and with us moving soon, we decided it would be a good "last trip" of our tour here.

I think Hungry Jack is...

Finger lickin',

Bowl lickin' Good!

This week, I got to spend a lot of time with Ms. Maureen. I really think I'm going to miss our play dates. Monday, Mommy worked on education. Tuesday, I played while Mommy went to London to pick up friends from the airport. And yesterday, I got to play for 8 whole hours with Sophia and Dylan while Mommy, Daddy, and all their friends (10 of them total) went to London to watch Wicked! For those that don't know, it is a musical telling the story of the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch's side. All this time with Maureen is helping me get a little more flexible with where I am able to sleep (I have to be in my push-chair, but at least I sleep!)

The group... Daddy was taking the picture.

Hope you are all well & love until next time!
Madelyn et. al.

PS. I finally got a picture with Santa! Interesting man. Hope to share soon (waiting to get the pic emailed to us!)

Tis the Season

"Uh oh" (I am really good at saying that now!

This is my birthday plate.
All my friends at my party wrote messages on it after I painted my hand. Cool huh!

I got to help decorate a Christmas Tree last night! I had such a great time putting ornaments on the tree, and taking them off, putting them on, taking them off.... We helped Clint and Alicia after they invited us over. First we visited a Farm Shop with yummy foods (cheese) and wine (but they wouldn't let me try it), then we ordered Indian food and "decked the halls!"

I helped...

Vacuum the fake needles w/ Alicia.

Untangle the beads w/ Daddy.

Decorate with Garland.

And tie a bow on top with Uncle Clint!

This hat was also fun:

Other events this week involved a big truck taking all our stuff, well, most of it anyway. I got to spend a day and half at Ms. Maureen's continually coming home to a new decor. The first night I was okay (because I was SO tired) and then at 12:30 I woke up TERRIFIED of all brown boxes towering in my room. It took a lot for Mommy and Daddy to assure me I was okay. Finally, after a inspection of the situation [with all the lights on], a bit of a snack and some play time, I was ready to go back to bed. Subsequent nights have been a lot better and no problems with anything anymore. In fact, I rather like all the room I have to run... and dance (check out my video!) Mommy and Daddy even enjoy not having a t.v. right now. We play a lot and they go to bed earlier :)

We tried to hunt down Santa this weekend. We found him, but he was just walking around passing out candy canes. I got to check him out, but Mommy says I still need to take a picture with him. He seems.... OK.... Guess I should think of what I want to ask him for?!

Video: Dancing to one of my favorite songs. It always gets me moving!

See you all next week.
Stateside in 29 days!
Madelyn, Shaye, & Jody

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playing with Sophia's pony during church.

Another eventful week around here... First we hope you all had a great Turkey Day with friends and family. We had a big meal over at the Johnson's who so graciously hosted this year. 13 adults + 3 kids = a great day! It included some Wii, entertainment from us kids, and just good 'ol fashion conversation. Oh, Wednesday night we went to a Thanksgiving ceremony at the Ely Cathedral (amazing church) where some of our friends sang (Ms. Alicia, Erica, and Jackie). It was nice and I was such a good girl!

Mommy and Daddy at Ely Cathedral (back of it)
When they first got here... Jan. 2007!

The rest of the week involved packing and sorting - yep, they are still at it!! Mommy and Daddy have successfully gotten rid of most of the things they wanted and are now just trying to get everything we don't want the movers to take into one room (so there are no mistakes). I'm not really quite sure what is going on. I really hope this means something good is going to happen. I still look for Daisy by the back door when I hear her name... Although I did get to see her on the web cam this weekend! She is now in SD with Nana and Papa and Hucky!!

I love Misty and Julian...
but really didn't want my picture taken!

We also had to (sadly) say goodbye to Ms. Misty and Mr. Julian. They were such good friends and Mommy is so glad she got to meet Misty through work. We were lucky enough to hang out several times this week. We are really going to miss these two, but they promised I could come and visit them in California... plus, Julian is from New Mexico so maybe we can even get them to pop over to Texas some day!!

Misty is so much fun!!!

Hope you all have a great December! This week's video is kinda long, but I am eating by myself - I am such a big girl! Other things I do myself... I LOVE throwing things away - even my own nappies! I am talking like crazy, especially in the morning. I try to repeat almost everything Mommy and Daddy say and when I stop for a second and concentrate on Mommy's mouth, I'm almost perfect at it. I do not like to do anything I don't want to do... this means I am getting good at throwing tantrums - arch back, yelling, crying - quite the show. I take off my shoes and socks at every possible interval (** Mommy note - plan and extra time to get out of the car once destination is reached), and I would much rather be NAKED than anything else!

xoxo,
Madelyn