Weddings...

The past two weekends we have been busy celebrating weddings of two good friends. Two weekends ago all of my family was in town to celebrate the beautiful wedding of Ashley and Phil. The wedding was perfect and so much fun to have everyone here. It was nice to get time out knowing we were leaving Madelyn with some of the best babysitters possible. Thank you Aunt Sue who stayed and spoiled Madelyn on Friday so Derek and I could go to rehearsal dinner and thank you to MaryAnn on Saturday. Madelyn loved having her Nanny here to spend the night with :) Derek and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend of being with some of our closest friends and family. However, we paid for it the week after. Apparently being parents has aged us and our ability to stay out late and go off little sleep.  As always the weekend flew by and it was hard to see everyone leave!

This past weekend we headed to Gatlinburg, TN to celebrate the wedding of Derek's good friend Darren that he has known since 6th grade.  I had heard a lot about Gatlinburg and most of all heard it had fun shopping :) We took Madelyn with us since we didn't get to spend much time with her the weekend before and wanting to spend my birthday with all of us together. The wedding was beautiful and it was really nice to catch up with friends that we just don't seem to get to see often enough.

After, these two crazy weekends we are beyond excited for a weekend at home this coming weekend to relax and play catch up.

As today is May 1st it is almost impossible to believe that next month we will be celebrating Madelyn's 1st birthday, yikes!!! She has developed such a personality that makes us smile and laugh everyday. Here are her recent developments.

Words she currently says:

• Mama, Dada, 
• BO (still her #1 word) 
• Go (anyone that comes to our house knows we have to yell at Bo to go to the bathoom when we let him out, so now she stands at the door and says GO, lol)
• Bye-Bye
• Car
• Teeth (and will point at your teeth, we think she is going to be a dentist because she LOVES teeth!

Her favorite activities:

• opening and closing doors (by far her favorite activity)
• chasing Bo (goes on for awhile since everytime she gets to him he isn't about it and moves to a new spot)
• will clap and play patty-cake with you
• Getting into anything she shouldn't be in (she has become very observant and learns quick. For example this morning she watched Derek step on the lever to open the trash can lid in the kitchen and this afternoon she was all into that and opening it)
• Mimicking what we say ( especially weird noises and fake coughing)
• giving kisses

She is standing for long periods of time and is trying to figure out how to step and keep her balance. No walking yet though. She has become an eating machine. Thankfully, she is not a picky eater at all anymore. She does a really good job during meals using her baby sign for "more" to let us know how much she wants. She has become a big fan of scrambled eggs!

Here are some pictures and videos...

The Bridal Party at rehearsal 

Family picture at rehearsal dinner, minus Dad, Dorice and Aunt Sue :(

With El :)

With the beautiful bride getting hair and make-up

Ashley and Phil's Wedding 4-20-13

Opening all my gifts Aunt Katty brought with, including my new fedora hat!!

THANK YOU AUNT KATTY!!!!

An ice cream-aholic!

Busy, Busy..

April is definitely a busy month for us with a lot of fun things going on. This weekend Kimberly and I hosted a bridal shower for Ashley. The shower went great and was beautiful weather. Ashley's wedding is this coming weekend.  Good friends weddings are always fun but when someone has been a friend since the day you were born and is like family, it is even more exciting. This week I have 11 famiy members coming into town for their wedding and we are SO excited. Derek said the excitement of this week reminds him of our wedding, haha!

Today Madelyn went out on her first boat ride on Lake Wiley.  Madelyn absolutely loved it. We included some photos and video of the trip. I think Madelyn will be wanting many more trips out on the lake.

This past week Madelyn has been trying to stand on her own a lot. She will hold on to stand up and the slowly let go to stand and try and balance. She also started walking while using a toy she can push and help her. We are thinking walking is coming soon. As of right now the words she can say are; Mama, Dada, Bo, and car. Most of her day she is yelling Bo. However, any dog is now called Bo, lol! I guess we need to start working on dog!

Here are a few pictures from the past week (sorry for the short post, with family coming you now that means lots of cleaning so I need to make the most of my time while Madelyn is sleeping, haha)

Helping Dad with the yard work 

9 Months 3/18/13

Dad decide to let me have fun and feed myself

Beautiful bride to-be at the shower

Madelyn playing with Lily & Gracie at the shower (hard to believe they were Maddie's age when I watched them)

Hanging out with Kimberly 

Madelyn got Derek's phone with Pandora playing and apparently is ready to trade in the baby phone for an iPhone! LOL

Easter

Finally Spring is here and we have been able to get out and enjoy some nice weather! Last week my best friend Kara came to visit over her Spring Break. We loved having her here and Madelyn was spoiled rotten by her. We only wish she lived closer. It was really hard to see her leave:(

This past weekend we headed to Virginia to spend the Easter weekend with Derek's family. Though it was a quick trip we loved getting to see everyone. Of course the weather didn't cooperate on Easter and was rainy but Madelyn still had a great first Easter. She was so well behaved at church and loved her easter basket and eggs.

This week I am off for our Spring Break. The week is filled with getting stuff done around the house, spending lots of snuggle time with Madelyn and lunch dates with Derek. It is making me VERY excited for summer to get to spend more time with Madelyn.

As for Mads lastest updates; she is standing and pulling up on everything. She will walk with you when you hold her hands. I am sure we will be walking before we know it. She also has learned to give kisses. It is a slobbery kiss but well worth the slober :) Her favorite thing right now is Bo and says Bo (or "Bah" as she says it) non-stop. Most mornings it is the first thing she yells. She eats all foods and has become a really good eater.

Here are a some pictures from the last 2 weeks!

Out to lunch!

My new toy vacuum from Kara, I helped Dad clean the carpets
(one of the MANY things she bought me)

I love the lines on the carpets just like my OCD Mama!

Before church on Easter

Family picture on Easter

Look who found their Easter basket!

Tate found a flower for Madelyn :)

Exhausted on the the way home from VA!

Love reading with Daddy

Don't worry Mom, I'll let Bo in!