End of Summer...

It is so hard to believe that next week it is back to school and summer vacation is over :( I feel like I am going back from maternity leave again and very sad to leave Madelyn. However, we are very thankful for the wonderful summer we had and all the fun things we got to do.

Last week Madelyn and I took our last summer trip and headed to Florida. We met Dad and Dorice at their condo on Indian Rocks beach. To make it even better my best friend Kara got to come down for most of the week. The joys of being teachers :) The week was absolutely perfect (other than missing Derek)! We got a lot of beach/pool time, relaxation and delicious seafood. Madelyn again was perfect on the trip down. Just like last time, many passengers on the plane couldn't believe how well behaved she was.

Madelyn is talking like crazy. I think everyday she has a new word she can say. Her most recent words are "wa-wa" (water, she got a lot of use of this one is Florida as she was obsessed with the pool and beach), on, off, up, dog, duck, cheese, ba-oon (balloon), book, no, and melmo or mo (elmo). Last month we gradually stopped her bottles and now she is drinking her whole milk only out of a sippy cup. I actually think this was harder on me than her. She also got her first training toothbrush and we have started teaching her to brush her teeth before bed. I think she just likes chewing on the toothbrush and eating the toothpaste most:) She has also associated reading a book to bedtime and insists on pointing to the "book" before we turn her music on.  She can now point and show you her nose, ears, teeth and toes are. We are working on eyes and belly.

This week I am busy getting my classroom ready, all Madelyn's things together to take to her sitter and trying to enjoy our last week off.

Lunch date with dada
before we left for FL

Loves the wa-wa/pool!

Out for dinner in FL

Cutest little beach girl

Playing in the sand with Kara

Loves the beach!

Clearwater Aquarium, watching the stingrays with Grandpa

Mesmerized by the fish!

Waiting for the dolphin show!

Watching Nicholas the Dolphin do so many tricks!

Someone wasn't going to let us have happy hour without her!

Morning walk on the beach

Out for lunch and checking out the shops at St. John's Pass boardwalk :)

Our view each night

With Grandma and Grandpa at dinner our last night in FL

Someone was SO excited to see dada when we got home, even napped with him :)

Summer Trips

On June 25th Madelyn and I left to fly to Iowa. I had flown with Madelyn before but she was only 5 months old. This round with a walking toddler was a whole new game. To make it more stressful  we missed our first flight from Charlotte and then our flight from Chicago to Moline was cancelled. Thanks to my great friend Kara, who lives in Chicago, she picked us up and drove us home. Though we had a rough trip home, Madelyn was so well behaved on the whole trip. Since I am on summer break we were able spend 12 days home and Derek flew in a week later to spend the end of the trip with us. We were very busy while home; going to the zoo, shopping, swimming in Aunt Sue's pool,  spending time at the park and lots of good quality time with family and friends. The end of the trip we were able to be a part of Dad and Dorice's wedding. We were very excited to celebrate this day with them. It was very hard to leave and even though it was a longer time home it never seems long enough!
When we left Iowa  (a much easier flight with Derek with us this round) we landed in Charlotte at 5:30pm and by 8:00pm that night we were back off to drive to Holden Beach to meet Derek's family. It was wonderful to spend time at the beach and relax with family. It was so fun to see how much Madelyn loved the ocean. We took a blow up pool to put on the beach for her to play in which worked great but her favorite was when we would walk her down to the water. Only Madelyn would put a big gulp of saltwater in her mouth and say "Mmmm"!

Though we are so sad our trips are over it was definitely a little to long for Madelyn to be away from home. By the end she was very clingy, wasn't sleeping through the night and ready to get home. The day we got back home she walked around from room to room and squealed. She was so happy to be back to her house. Derek and I of course were the opposite and miss spending the time with family!

Madelyn has become a talking machine and some of her newer words are; ball, B (for cousin Beckett, which she calls any little blonde hair boy), up, dog (finally saying dog instead of calling all dogs Bo), and woof. Her favorites are still saying hi and hello! She is continuing to be a great eater but we have noticed her taste buds are starting to change and she is getting a little more picky. We also think she is getting her 1 year molars. She constantly has her hands in her mouth and even has had a low fever. Hopefully they cut through soon, nothing worse than knowing your baby is in pain:(

Here are LOTS of pictures from our trips!

Iowa Pictures:

Shopping and Lunch with Kara

Fun day at the zoo with Aunt Natalia, Beckett, Nana, Aunt Sue and Aunt Elly

Feeding the Giraffe's, someone isn't so sure of them:)

Yummy cupcakes in the park with Aunt Sue, Aunt Katty and Nana after feeding the duck's

With Nana and Papa at Aunt Sue's 4th of July party

4th of July

B and Mads in their 4th of July swim suits!

This girl loves the pool like her Mama!

Dad and Dorice's wedding :)

At the reception for Dad and Dorice

Beach Pictures:

Loved going to the water with Daddy!

 =

Family picture on the beach!

Loved wearing Nanny's beach hat :) 

With Aunt Gracie, two beach beauties!

Tate and Madelyn, such cuties!

Great picture with Uncle Bimi and Tate :)

Birthday Parties!

Sorry in the delay on posts. Last weekend we got back after spending almost 2 weeks in Iowa and a week at the Beach! Therefore, we took a break from the blog! It also means we have lots we wanted to post about so I decided to take it one at a time. This post I wanted to show pictures from Madelyn's birthday parties. That is right we all know how much of a diva Madelyn is so the girl didn't have just one but TWO birthday parties:) We had one in Charlotte with family and friends and then thanks to her Nana she had another one in Iowa with friends and family there.

On June 23rd we had a cookout at our house and are so thankful to our friends and family who came to celebrate with us! It was a long day for Madelyn between playing, opening presents and cake she was exhausted by the end of the party!

Here are some pictures from her Charlotte party: As you can see we had a few outfit changes due to lots of spilling :) Luckily Madelyn had a few options!

Party girl all ready!

Hard to believe our baby girl is 1!!

Sure we can get a picture with all 5 kids, we have bubbles and balloons to distract, HAHAHA

With Nanny and Poppy at my party!

Exhausted and not wanting this cake and song, lol! 

Hmm, maybe this isn't so bad

Wow, this is tasty!

You mean this is all for me???

For a rough start someone ended up really enjoying their cake!

Opening gifts from Ashley and Phil,  one of many favorites

The next week we flew out to Iowa and Madelyn had another birthday party on June 28th at her Nana's house! Just as the first one it was perfect, filled with friends and family. We again were so thankful to have everyone there to celebrate with us and Madelyn was beyond spoiled!! 

Nana did such a good job getting everything beautiful!

Aunt Natalia and Elly before the party!

The AWESOME cakes!

Madelyn's favorite part of the whole party, playing with balloons with Beckett!

Eating my cake with Nana

Getting pretty good at this smashing cake thing!

Opening all my gifts!!

With Grandpa at the party!