Like Father, Like Daughter

Gary is such a sweet daddy. He bought Madelyn a box of real ice cream cones at the grocery store, so that's what they had for a treat tonight.

Madelyn ended up with a lovely little goatee, which makes her look even more like her dad!

TWO cuties!

Farm Visits

Sarah and Demitri invited us to join them on an exploration of some local farms. She is interested in finding humanely raised livestock for her family's meat consumption. I thought it would be fun for Madelyn to see cows and pigs and chickens on a farm.
And it was.

Madelyn loves all kinds of animals. But having one's giant nostrils flaring centimeters from her face was a little more intimidating than a cartoon in a storybook. She did great, though.

These pictures are all from the first farm we toured. Sarah and I agreed that our visit didn't feel entirely welcome. We found another farm that was not only much more what Sarah was seeking, but also made us feel like they were thrilled to have us poking around. We felt like long-lost friends instead of impositions, as with the first location. 

Out on the Deck

On this lovely spring day, we got out the kiddie pool! I discovered it has a leak, so we may have to save up another $5.99 and buy a new one. This time we brought in Madelyn's Easter eggs. She's continued to enjoy them beyond the Easter festivities, which is kind of cool. In fact, sometimes I do a little egg hunt for Madelyn and her friend Natalia who I babysit. They LOVE it.


After the pool I let Madelyn get out one of the new toys I got at the Pass It On children's consignment sale. This was one of my greatest finds: a set of Care Bears dominoes for I think $1.50. We play dominoes with various family members, and Madelyn always wants to join in. These are heavy just like the real ones, but they feature the adorable Care Bears! So cute.
She was having fun lining them up, although ignoring my attempts to help her understand how to match the same bears together.

This is the best face I could get with my pleas to smile for the camera.

Party Pooper

Gary now works weekends, and I had to work a long Saturday and Sunday event, so Madelyn stayed overnight with Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Dale. They were having a BBQ to celebrate the "maiden voyage" of Dale's new hot dog cart just in time for me to pick her up. But Madelyn had been feeling feverish all morning, and by the time I got there, she was definitely not herself. She actually wanted to snuggle!

When I went to pack up her things so we could head home, I found her like this on the kitchen floor.

She was clinging to her little bag of Doritos, though. She only ate a few, but wanted to hold them in the car and brought them inside when we had to stop somewhere on our way home. Good news is, she was back to 100% normal the very next morning. Strange.

The Basket

Posing with her basket full of Easter eggs, and presents from the Easter Bunny.

In Reindeer jammies. Hm.

I don't know what is so funny, but SO CUTE!

Easter Egg Hunt #2

I set up a little Easter egg hunt at home on Easter morning. We all had a lot of fun. The video is a few clips from the hunt, and includes some funny moments, such as when Madelyn says "Happy Easter Bunny Egg!" and when she doesn't realize there is another present in the couch cushion because it isn't in an egg.

Where are the Easter eggs?

She couldn't wait to eat the chocolate-covered raisins in this one. In the video I ask if they are yummy and she says, "Yeah! Iyike it!"

Here's another one!

Madelyn's traditional "Easter Bunny" zips up inside a stuffed pink egg. So cute.

Hey! There's the last egg! Help please?

Saturday with G&G

I had to lead weight management classes at Curves most of Saturday morning/afternoon, so Grandma Bonnie met me there to pick up Madelyn. She only told me they had a full day with some surprises planned. I got the full report and plenty of photos when they got back!

First a visit to the Easter Bunny for some pictures! Grandpa Dale said he got Madelyn to smile for the camera by saying something about ice cream. Then afterward, Madelyn did not forget that, so they "had" to make a stop at Cold Stone for a little treat.

Next they went to the Woodburn Tulip Festival at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, which I have always wanted to do!

Our little Dutch girl! (She really is)

It seems like these wooden shoes are set up here for do-it-yourself photo-ops, doesn't it? If so, I love that the event and location sign is duct taped on, and the background consists of piles of boxes and somebody's bumper-stickered minivan. Tee hee!

There are acres and acres of tulips. I bet it was so beautiful!

Madelyn got to enjoy a chicken taco.

And ride a horsie tire swing!

How cute.

She preferred the tire horse to the real thing, apparently. Dale said they tried to help Madelyn take a pony ride, but she pushed away from the unfamiliar animals. She loves to look at them, but not quite ready to sit on one yet!

After all that fun and more, she also got to play at McDonald's. What an amazing day! Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Dale are so generous and I know that Madelyn just loves going along on such fun adventures with them.

Correct Bubble-Blowing

Madelyn finally figured out how to blow bubbles without pressing the soap-covered wand to her lips and generally making a sloppy mess of her face (a process which, I might add, does not result in the formation of any bubbles).

See? Lovely!

We are out on the deck wearing sunglasses and piggy slippers because it is a beautiful day! And, well, Madelyn likes to wear stuff like that.

Easter Egg Hunt

My friend Tami held a little Easter egg hunt for our Moms Club. Just a few of us were there, but she had spread probably over 150 eggs on this grassy hill across from her house. Madelyn brought her "Baby Care Bear" who she had coincedentally dressed in Easter-chick socks. I didn't mind that her basket was already half-full of stuffed bear, because I was happy to leave more eggs for the older children.

Madelyn had to climb through some brambly patches to get some eggs...

...and pull some out of tree holes! It was an adventure!

With a full basket, we sat down and waited for the others to finish finding all the eggs.

Madelyn got to eat one piece of candy and put some stickers on her coat. I was very glad that only a few eggs contained candy--the rest were filled with little toys, temp tattoos, and mini play-dohs.

Here is Madelyn back at Tami's house after the hunt with her suddenly nearly-empty basket and socks-wearing Care Bear. The rest of the story is on my Beyond Mommy blog.

Spreading Weeds

Awwww....

The cliche photo of a little girl blowing a dandelion into the wind. At least I didn't make it black and white.

And the cliche photo is not usually followed by a photo of the same little girl spitting furiously because the little "wishers" got on her lips and tongue and she doesn't like it.

Awwww.

Gardener

My dad sent me home with a bunch of raspberry plant offshoots, so I decided to thrash up a patch of our glorious weed forest and plant a garden.

Madelyn got to do some digging in the mud.

We found lots of worms and potato bugs.

New Chickens

We went to visit the baby chickens at my parents' house. Of course Madelyn has no idea that these are different baby chickens, since the others were tragically lost in the great barn fire of '09. Sad. :( So those chicks sure grew up quickly! They are now out in the big coop my dad constructed.

Where are all the chickens?

Madelyn was pointing at the chicken's little feet and saying, "Toes!"

She wanted to hold them.

Jack, Madelyn, Lucy, Bryson's friend Taft, and Bryson

Later Madelyn went with all these kids and Grandma down to the fort they've made in the forest. I didn't get to see it. This was a great day at the grandparents' house, because Madelyn was content to wander off and play with the other kids upstairs or outside, leaving me free to do some work and relax a bit too! I think the great weather helped encourage her to branch out of her usual clinging. Hooray!

Some Videos

ICE KARATE (December 2008)

During the December snowstorm, there was a sheet of thick ice over the base of powder one morning. It was pretty cool.

1, 2, 3, Jeeump! (February 2009)

Is there anything more precious than a little one's unabashed laugh?

ALPHABET (March 2009)

Usually Madelyn plays only the music activity on her laptop, where each blue number she pushes plays a different song. One day I decided to try some of the other activities, but they were mostly still too advanced. However, when I tried this letter recognition activity, I was surprised to discover that she knows all of the letters! This isn't something we've particularly worked on with dedication, so I was pretty excited that she has picked up the alphabet just because it surrounds us. I took this video during the very first time she played this game, so she hasn't memorized the location of any letters. I love how she asks, "Where is Q, Madelyn?" And yes, she is wearing a life vest. A bold fashion statement, indeed.