Christmas with Grampa Dave

The day after Christmas we went to Grampa Dave's house in Galena. Opening presents with Grampa Dave and Maureen.

Maddy's new house!

Maddy has become a very good helper! Passing out and helping open presents has been her favorite this Christmas!

McCabe Christmas

Christmas supper was at Great-Grandma and Grandpa McCabe's house. Looking at pictures with Maureen and Grampa Dave.

Great-Grandma and Grandpa McCabe

My Godmother and Aunt Angie

Aunt Amy and Cousin Emily

Kliebenstein Christmas

We visited Great-Grandma Kliebenstein for Christmas Day lunch. Maddy loves being read to!

Playing with third cousins Ian (above) and Kalah (below).

Christmas Morning

Maddy found a bus, tractor, and car under the tree from Santa!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve by opening presents at our house and going to church with Grammy Mary and Nana Mary.

Casey Christmas

On Sunday we were at Nick's Aunt Linda and Uncle Ken's for the Casey Christmas.

Playing with Grandpa Donnie (above) and third-cousin Lukas (below).

Opening present from Great-Grandma and Grandpa Casey--the Corn Popper she picked out when we visited Farm and Fleet--what a classic!

All tired out from the Christmas fun--with more to come!

VanAcker Christmas

On Saturday we were at Nick's Aunt Gigi's in Whitewater for the VanAcker Christmas.

Maddy with Great-Grandpa VanAcker (notice the pickle in her hand--that was number four).

Helping Daddy open his present--much better at this than last year!
Pooh telephone from Daddy's cousin Andrea--very fun!

Playing the piano with Nana Mary (above) and Auntie Katie (below). She has a true talent!

Visiting Santa

Madelyn visited Santa this year at the grocery store.

But it went much differently than last year.

See photos for proof--they are a little grainy because they were scanned in.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

Kisses!

Madelyn was eating breakfast and I turned the camera screen so she could see herself. She couldn't stop kissing the "baby." She really loves herself!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble, Gobble!

Go Beavers!

The Reedsburg Beavers football team is headed to State for the first time in school history!

Obama Bales

Here are the famous Kliebenstein hay bales.

Long Weekend

We enjoyed the long four day weekend by visiting family. On Thursday we visited Grampa Dave in Galena. On Friday we visited Grampa Donnie in the morning and then went to Great-Grandma K's in the afternoon. It was a lot of time in the car, but Maddy enjoyed showing off her costume and getting a few treats.

Our little ladybug.

Visiting Grampa Donnie's pony, Peanut.

Four generations--Great-Grandma K, Grammy Mary, Mama, and Madelyn (the oldest and youngest are waving at the camera).

Pumpkin Carving

We finally got around to carving a pumpkin for Madelyn on Halloween morning during breakfast! So while Maddy ate her waffles, Nick carved away. I thought it kind of ended up looking like John McCain. Oops!

Happy Halloween!

Two Grandma Marys

Madelyn is so blessed--she has two Grandma Marys who love her so very much. This week Patty, Maddy's daycare provider--who she loves too, has been on vacation. So, as always the two Grandmas have saved the day! Grammy Mary always stays with her on Wednesdays! And Nana Mary comes whenever we need her! And I guess you could say that Nick and I are blessed as well! So, thanks Grammy and Nana for always being here and loving Madelyn so much!

Finished Basement

The basement is finished! After many hours of framing, drywalling, taping, sanding, texturing, painting, carpeting, and putting the ceiling in--it is finished! Nick did all of that himself--I helped a little with taping and painting. We had the plumbing hired and Nick's brother Jeremiah did the electrical work. It feels great to have it done--and Madelyn loves her new play area. It's like having a whole new house! The one issue is the bugs--Maddy points and says, "bug." So here are some after pictures--I should have taken before pictures--but just imagine any unfinished basement and that's what it looked like. Madelyn's playroom--check her out cooking up a storm in her kitchen! The bedroom--or "tractor" room--decorated by Nick.The family room.The bathroom.

Hi Daddy!

Maddy just wanted to say,

"Hi Daddy! I Love You!"(Nick is at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this week--

and we miss him very much!)

Raking Leaves

We were outside playing the other day and decided to rake some leaves. But Madelyn had a different idea...shoveling the leaves! She went running for her little plastic shovel when she saw us raking. I guess maybe she thinks it will be another winter of a lot of snow and she needs to practice. We put some leaves at the bottom of her slide...but she wasn't too crazy about sliding into them. She said "ucky."

Madison Visit

We spent Friday night in Madison at a hotel. It was a nice little getaway. We enjoyed the pool, did some shopping, and went to Olbrich Gardens on Saturday morning.