Flying a Kite and Eggs!

We visited GGK this week and enjoyed the wonderful summer-like weather. Madelyn and Nick flew a kite. We also hid some eggs for Maddy to find. She's practicing for the big egg hunt this weekend!

Waterpark

A few weekends ago we stayed at a hotel. Madelyn enjoyed the small waterpark there. Grammy Mary went with us and we met Uncle Joe and Aunt Michele there for pizza and swimming. It was our mini-spring break before Nick had his hernia surgery last week. We've been enjoying this week off of school, even though we haven't done much with Nick recovering. The weather has been like summer. We're really excited for summer and the baby coming next month!

Thoughts from the Olympics

Madelyn was really into watching the Olympics with us.
Here are a few of her observations:
She wanted to know why the skiers had two snowboards on!
She was very worried that the male figure skaters were wearing girls' shirts.
She loved the female figure skaters' dresses, and hair, and lipstick, and skates.
She says curling is her favorite and hockey is boring.
And she has learned how to hum to the Olympics song...
I guess we watched quite a bit of it!

Big Girl Room

We have moved Madelyn into her new big girl bedroom to get ready for the baby. She loves her room--all purple and pink!

Christmas with Grammy

Maddy was excited about her new Tinkerbell sleeping bag

and accessories she got from Grammy!

Uncle Joe and Aunt Michele

The only picture of the three of us from the holidays!

Christmas with Grampa Dave

McCabe Christmas

She's going to be a wonderful big sister!
Our family with Grandpa McCabe.

Matching hats with Cousin Hayley thanks to Grampa Dave!

Christmas at GGK's House

We enjoyed Christmas dinner with some of the Kliebenstein family at my Grandma's house. Madelyn had so much fun with cousin Lauren! They ate lots of cookies!

Christmas at Our House

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas Eve at home. We went to church, ate a nice supper together, opened presents, and watched Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. Mama fell asleep first. But Maddy and Daddy heard Santa and Rudolph's jingle bells on the roof!Pretty Christmas dress.

Opening presents from Mama and Daddy.

Santa came!

Christmas Eve Snowman

Nick and Maddy took advantage of the wet snow/rain we received on Christmas Eve and made a snowman in the yard. They used the snow paint that Maddy got for Christmas from Nick's cousin Hannah. They had so much fun! By the time we got back from church that night, the paint had run and the snowman was more of a wet, iceman. Oh well, there will be more!

Merry Christmas!

Meeting Baby Sam

Tuesday night we met Liz, Dave, and Sam for supper at Culver's. They are back visiting from Brooklyn, NY, where they now live. It was our first time meeting Sam. It was great seeing them and wish we could have spent more time with them. Madelyn loved Sam!

Casey Christmas

VanAcker Christmas

Christmas with Nana

Baking Cookies

We recently baked Christmas cookies with Grammy. Madelyn enjoyed eating them the best!

Baby Jesus

Madelyn loves our Nativity scene. She loves to look at Baby Jesus with his mommy and daddy. She says the baby in ours is a boy baby, but the one at Grammy's house is a girl baby.

Snow Day!

Madelyn's first snow angel.
Sledding!

"I'm stuck!"

Helping shovel.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Madelyn is very proud of the tree she decorated. She helped with the big one too--which she calls the "big boy." She has hardly touched either one. I guess a bit of pride in your work helps prevent any destruction!

Sesame Street Live

Yesterday, we took Madelyn to see Sesame Street Live in Madison! Nick and I had both gone as children and we were so excited to share this with her, too. She LOVED it--she sang and danced along. She said Big Bird was her favorite.

Visiting Lauren

Last weekend my cousin Deb and her daughter, Lauren were at the Cottage. We joined them there for a lovely, fall afternoon. We took a walk through the woods. The girls had so much fun together. Wish they lived closer!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkins!

Madelyn picked out her pumpkins at Peck's near Spring Green last Sunday.

She was very proud of her choice!

A Few Pictures

Since school has started, I haven't been able to post as much. So here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Madelyn loves being back at daycare with her friends and Nick and I are getting back into the swing of things with school.

Pretending to be Burt from Mary Poppins--

she's even singing "Chim Chim Cher-ee!"

Eating spaghetti!

Roles reversed--putting Mommy to bed!

Cleaning up after the FFA kids toilet-papered our yard! Madelyn was VERY upset--she stood at the window the next morning for quite awhile saying, "Naughty big kids! Big mess, my house!" Then she ran to our bathroom to check that we still had toilet paper--she must have thought they had used ours!