Thanksgiving Visit

We started out last Saturday night and went to see the lighting on the square with the grandparents. Madilynn got to ride the pony, his name was "Buttons".

Where's Madilynn? - she's watching the parade!

Madilynn playing outside at Granny's house, she picked Granny's dahlia, so beautiful!

Michael and I got to have a date night on Sunday. We went to eat (Abuelo's of course) and then to see the movie The Blind Side (it was so good!)

Good Morning with Nana!

On Monday we celebrated Granny's 50th Birthday!!

Madilynn sang Happy Birthday and then helped blow out the candles.

Madilynn's motivations for using the potty are a mini chocolate and getting to wear her princess dress, and guess what Mommy forgot to bring to Arkansas...the dress. So, we improvised and I dug out my first dance recital outfit (I was 5) for her to wear, she had so much fun dancing around in it.

Then after wearing it for a couple of days, she decided she wanted to try a different dress and Nana got a dress out that was hers when she was a little girl and Madilynn enjoyed dancing around in it as well. Such a big girl!!

Thanksgiving Day...

at Mama's house

at Granny and Pepaw's house...

Guess I should have taken pictures of all the yummy food we made and ate!! Ha

Update in Pictures...

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks:

Can you tell those eyes are blue?

We've been hanging out at home a lot lately working on getting Elizabeth's schedule/routine straight (Eat, Wake, Sleep). We are finally seeing the payoff - she has been sleeping through the night all this week (9:30pm - 5:30am) YEAH!!

Not to mention all the time we've been spending going through stuff, organizing, and getting stuff together to give away...we're moving remember...and the days are FLYING by!!

AND, for the past week Madilynn and I have been fighting a cold or something (who knows, but we all have had both flu shots this year).

Granny came to visit us last weekend

Michael is finishing up at work/school. He says he feels so wierd not having papers to write all the time! ha

We are enjoying our extra time spent with Daddy!

Well we're gearing up and getting packed to visit family for THANKSGIVING we are so excited!

Life is good, and we have so many reasons to be THANKFUL!!!

Beautiful Day!

Elizabeth all dressed up for church!
Yesterday was a beautiful day (today is too!) and we wanted to get out and enjoy it, so after church we went over to Ledges State Park and walked one of the trails. Madilynn really enjoyed it, she pointed everything out to us and kept us moving.

You can see the Des Moines River in the background

We were out there for just an hour, but it was so refreshing! We even worked up a sweat!

Elizabeth enjoyed herself too...

Beautiful view of the river

We were so glad to get the opportunity to visit the park again before we move!

Elizabeth "playing"

I was able to catch a video this week of Elizabeth "playing" with her toys and talking to them, so cute I had to share...

Doctor Visits

This past week we had several doctor appointments. Madilynn had her first trip to the dentist on Wednesday. He counted her teeth and looked them over and said they looked great! Madilynn got a new toothbrush and toothpaste she was so excited, and she did great!

Then Friday, Madilynn had her 3 yr. check up, she weighs 32lbs. and is 39in. tall! Such a big girl! At three years old they checked her blood pressure with a blood pressure cuff and then did a hearing and vision test (I guess she's officially a little kid now, not a toddler)!

Elizabeth had her two month appt. she weighs 11lbs. 13oz. and is 23 and a 1/2 in. long! She is doing great! We're still working on the sleeping through the night though...

Then we went and got our H1N1 vaccines, we were all able to get them (except Elizabeth) since she's under 6 mo. old.
Here's some pictures of Elizabeth this week

Elizabeth goes to Arkansas!

Well, Elizabeth has had her first visit to Arkansas (that's so weird!). We went down last weekend after Michael's defense and we (the girls) got to stay all week. Daddy had to go back to Iowa to work :( Anyways, we spent Saturday loading up all our stuff from storage to move to Iowa (so it can be moved to Utah!), then hanging out Saturday night with family to celebrate Michael finishing school!

Sorry about those red eyes, I got them the best I could!

There was lots of visiting to be had all week long, lots of extended family got to meet Elizabeth for the first time! It was lots of fun, and Elizabeth got lots of love! (Even a little spoiling!)

On Tuesday night we went to watch my cousin Brianna's basketball scrimmage

We were obviously paying lots of attention to the game...Mama got Elizabeth smiling so big!

Elizabeth actually really enjoyed sitting and watching them play, we were sitting right on the front row, I guess that helped having the action right in front of her.

Madilynn and Madison with Brianna afterwards

While we were there Elizabeth turned TWO MONTHS old!! It's hard to believe! She really started smiling so much more and really loves talking she says, "agooo". A couple of nights she even slept from 11pm to 5:30am, I was so excited! That is no longer though we are now back to getting up at 3:00am and then 6:30am. I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through the night soon!! So here we are at the park enjoying the one day of beautiful weather!

That night we visited with my cousin Lyndsi and family. Elizabeth and Gabriel got to meet for the first time! They really liked watching each other. And if Elizabeth cried, then Gabriel cried too, so funny!

This past Saturday Daddy Gene and Ladonna came to visit, here's Daddy Gene meeting his third great-grandchild Elizabeth for the first time!

Ladonna and Elizabeth

Daddy Gene with the other two greats!

Elizabeth lovin on Nana

Ashlee and Elizabeth

Wow! What a big week we had, so busy with two little ones!! So glad to get to see everyone!

Now we are getting settled back at home.