We're still here....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

'Patting' Daisy to sleep.

No excuses. I feel like crap and therefore I sit, sleep, and puke when I am home :) Although I doubt 'morning' sickness will end, I am feeling a little bit more in control (or maybe just getting used to it) so keep your fingers crossed!

Random (see below)

Our little one is quite mischievous. She is always coming up with the funniest things to say or craziest antics. She is good at manipulating bed time and asks for EVERYTHING in order to go to sleep. She has been sleeping with her doll stroller by her bed, well, since she got it I suppose. During nap the other day she somehow managed to pull it up over her crib and was sitting there playing. I was certainly amazed and laughing hysterically!

Oh, baby is good. Check up last week with a healthy heartbeat of 160bpm. Maddy continually and pretty consistently states it is a girl. She is quite funny with her wanting to talk to the baby. She also occasionally decides she also has a baby in her tummy :)

At the zoo.

While there, we saw Caileigh and Auntie M - Neighbors.

BIG NEWS for our Madelyn! She is officially and almost completely potty trained. Last week's snow storm did a world of good when we got stuck in the house for 4 days and hand nothing but time on our hands. Maddy has been working toward this moment and just needed the opportunity to perfect it. She has been wearing big girl panties with little to no accidents. This last week was her first week at school as a "big girl" and she has not had an accident in a good 5 days now! We are so excited! We have even been making trips in public and she handles herself well telling me when she needs to go (sometimes I think it is the novelty of seeing a new bathroom, but hey, we are definitely learning!) ** So proud!

The snow. Digging up the water shut-off 'just in case'

So I mentioned the storm...
Two weeks ago, we had a thunder/ lightning, LOTS of rain, hail, sleet, snow blizzard that ended with 3 below freezing days and a (almost) complete closure of all of town. We had about 4 inches of ice on the roads with maybe 5-6 inches of snow. Even base was closed so we got to enjoy 4 full days of family. This did get a little long not being able to get out though. We also had a house that is not built for SD weather when our heater couldn't keep up and the cold water pipes on all the outside walls froze, luckily we managed to get through it! :)

Luckily, we have great neighbors. Caileigh used to be in Maddy's class at school, but she recently turned 3 and graduated to the 'preschool'. Well, the girls have been missing each other and we spent every day sending them to opposite houses (even both in the same day) to keep these toddlers entertained. I know we were definitely grateful and Maddy and Caileigh have truly gained a bond that won't be ending soon. Actually, I just had to wrestle her away from there tonight!

Best Friends.

Divas.
Pillows :)

Helping Daddy rip out the laminate (more to come on that)

Love to you all! xoxoxo

It's coming....

I know you are waiting.... I promise something soon!!

Yes, Jess - sledding pictures too!

Big News!

Have you been missing my smiling face? Well a LOT has happened in the past month and we will probably take days catching you up....

First things first... I AM GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!!! Mommy has said I will have to learn to share. August 5th is the magic date and we are all so very excited! That brings us to part of the delay in posting. Mommy has been super sick and we are all hoping that ends soon.

Diva girl.

We also spent 2 weeks in South Dakota with lots of family fun and snow and sledding! Those are some great pictures to come!!

Finally, Mommy got a fancy new camera. She loves it but it is taking a bit to figure out and she is still getting all the pictures loaded/ sorted from the past few weeks. Unfortunately, this means you will have to wait a bit longer, but she promises to work more on it tomorrow so stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, we had a very nice Thanksgiving today. It was a bit colder and more mellow than we had planned, but nice. We originally invited several families over - and only one made it. We've had a stomach bug going around in Abilene for nearly a month now and it hit Maddy a good 4 weeks ago, however, it struck two of our star families this week and so our party got smaller.
Todd is also visiting (friend we met in England, lives in Montana, visiting family in TX) and he brought his Uncle and Grandma up to eat with us so our party got a little bigger again!
It's nice to share today with old friends and new!

Where in the World.... is Maddy?

I got super excited about the prospect of renting a bounce-house for Maddy's birthday and we never quite pulled it off. So... I decided we needed one to entertain the 7 kids that would be at our house today! Well, as those 7 turned into 2 (and a 5-month old), the house didn't get as much use as I thought. Oh well, If you could see Maddy's reaction to this montrous castle in our backyard - you'd know it was well worth it! We also played with the neighbors yesterday in it and may have to have some kids over tomorrow before we return it Saturday morning.

Jumping with Aiden.

Luckily, the weather took a slight detour and our expected 30's became more of an upper 40's, low 50's today. Now I know it is much colder for most of you, but after a week of nearly 80, we were not quite ready for this chill! It sounds like we are coming back up a little, but I may safely say we are done with the 80's for this year? Who knows... I've never spent a Fall/ Winter here before!

Well, we hope you all had a marvelous/ thankful/ blessed day. Our love to you all until next time! x

As promised from almost two weeks ago... all those great videos I have :)
Maddy helping the boys with the shower:

Riding Rody:

Birthday cupcakes: Please note the adorable shirt that she also wore today: "Everyone is Thankful for ME!" :)

Kitchen play. I love how her imagination continues to grow. She continues to come up with new things to make us (and insists we eat) every day. And she always remembers to serve us our coffee :)