Tuesday...

Tuesday afternoon Madilynn received a present in the mail from Daddy Gene & Ladonna! Here she is opening it...

Sparkly boots! She loves them!!
Showing off her boots and Razorback fan!

Tuesday when Daddy got home from work we headed out (in the rain) to a small town about 20 min. south of where we live. Michael's boss lives out there and invited us out for pizza (and Michael fixed his lawnmower). On our way out we saw a rainbow!

When we got there he had just let the chickens out...they were beautiful

The views from the house

Elizabeth found a dog...

We came home with a dozen fresh eggs and some fresh picked raspberries!

Here's Michael's breakfast on Wednesday morning!

4 year stats...

We had Madilynn's 4 year appt. this morning... she weighs 36 lbs. (50th percentile), and is 41.5 in tall (80th percentile). Still really tall for her age!! She did great at the appt. they checked her eyes and her blood pressure (since she's a big girl now). She even waited so patiently and calmly for the nurse to come back in with the shots. Both of the girls got the flu shot today.

Afterwards we went by and picked up Daddy (he had just finished teaching a class) for lunch at Sonic where Madilynn wanted chocolate milk! After eating and drinking her chocolate milk she was all better!

The girls have been playing really well together lately!

This morning they had been playing in Madilynn's closet and next thing I know, Madilynn comes into the living room with her old diaper bag and Elizabeth following right behind her with hats. Madilynn said they were going to the beach and they had their "screen, swimsuits, and sun hats"! I was like wow- she knows what you need for the beach!! Glad to hear sunscreen was the first thing she mentioned.

A little later Madilynn pulled Elizabeth all around the house on the blanket...Elizabeth loved it and was laughing! A couple of times she fell off and she would holler until Madilynn brought the blanket back over for her to get back on - Madilynn is so strong! (By the way Madilynn thought to do this all on her own - I was just watching, and taking pictures!)

Yesterday afternoon the girls were playing dress up and they came into the living room like this...
so silly!

She's walking everywhere!

Pumpkins!

We picked our first 2 pumpkins on Saturday!!

I have really enjoyed watching our pumpkins grow! I've never grown pumpkins before so it was a new and fun experience. Madilynn has enjoyed it as well and likes to help me find them in the garden and let me know if they're turning orange. Elizabeth has even spotted a couple and pointed them out. Two of our smaller pumpkins were ready to pick...
After taking some cute pictures with the girls (of course), I had to bake one on Sunday.
Cut it in half all by myself!

scooped out all the guts - seeds...

Put them in the pan and baked them for about 45 minutes...

So I could make 2 loaves of pumkin bread! We have loved it!!!

It took half of the pumpkin to make 2 loaves. So half of the pumpkin was about equal to one can of pumpkin - I won't be buying any of that this year!! I have lots more recipes to try, and plenty of pumkins to keep me busy! Not to mention the butternut squash that's about ready to pick too!

Madilynn is FOUR!

Today was a BIG day!! Madilynn turned 4 and she was so excited! She began the day going to preschool, of course (she loves school!). When we got home from picking her up she was surprised with pink and purple balloons, flowers and the cupcakes were baked! Her favorite colors are pink and purple so we went with that for the party. I was able to get the icing made and all the cupcakes iced during nap time, it worked out really well!

After nap with her cupcakes!

I kind of decided what I was going to do as I iced them, but I still think they turned out cute...pink and purple of course. And with the age of the kids they really enjoyed getting to pick a letter they wanted.
When Daddy got home we did a video conference with Nana, Papa, & Ashlee on one laptop and Granny on the other laptop so they could see Madilynn and watch her open her gifts!
Madilynn making faces with Nana, Papa & Ashlee

Opening her first gift

It's the unicorn pillow pet she's been asking for for months...

She got TinkerBell movie and Aladdin movie!

Elizabeth trying to help her out a little...

It's a t-ball set. We took it outside and let her try it out for awhile. The grandparents are watching - see the laptops in the background!

She did a really good job and really enjoyed it! We thought it was so cool that the grandparents got to watch her too!

Party time...we invited two families from church to celebrate with us! Everything all set up...

After enjoying some pizza, breadsticks and fruit it was time for cupcakes!

Madilynn with her cupcake...I promise there are four candles on it, one must be hiding!

a little shy while everyone was singing to her

just after she blew out all the candles, see there are four!

Madilynn wanted the kids to decorate their cupcakes with sprinkles, so I had three different kinds set out for them and they enjoyed piling them on!!

her first bite...so good!

Elizabeth enjoying hers too!

the little table...

Opening her gifts from her friends

so cute

Shortly after opening presents we all headed out to the fun park so the kids could play the softplay (climbing through tunnels with slides).
The kids disappeared in the tunnels, so I couldn't really get pictures. Elizabeth wanted to keep up so bad. She got just inside the entrance and played a little. She also walked around everywhere! Here's the one and only picture I took at the fun park...

Well, I think Madilynn had a great day and a great time with her friends! Can't believe she's really four, she's already counting down till she's 5 and can go to the "different school" (Kindergarten).

Shoes, a Scarecrow and Walking!!

Yesterday morning I heard Elizabeth grunting wanting to get into this chair in the dining room. I helped her get up in it and she immediately sat down in this pose like saying, "I'm so big!"

Yesterday afternoon Elizabeth got quiet so I went to find her. She was in our room pulling shoes out of my closet and working hard to get her foot in them! It took a lot of work and balance, but she got her little foot in the shoe a couple of times...
still working hard

For the past couple of days Madilynn has been talking about scarecrows. I'm not sure why or where she heard it, but our neighbor's do have one in their front yard that she has pointed out to me a couple of times. Anyways I decided we could make one today as our craft since she didn't have school today. We just used construction paper to cut out all the parts, Madilynn drew the face, then glued the pieces to the popsicle stick.
So here's our scarecrow...

Then she decided the scarecrow was a boy and we needed to make a girl one too...

They turned out to be great little puppets. She kept herself busy for a while having them talk back and forth to each other. I'm sure we'll be making more of these!

To celebrate the last day of September and recognize Fall is here! We made a trip to Hobby Lobby this morning. When we walked down the aisle with all of the fall decor both of girls where saying, "wow" and so entertained they loved it (so did I)! I got some fall picks and ribbon. When we got home I got out my plain wreath and got to work during nap time. So, here's my fall wreath! I really like it!

I would say Elizabeth is walking now! Still a little shaky at times...like when Madilynn runs right past her...and she still walks across the living room by way of the coffee table, but she's walking a lot more now!! Here's a little video so you can see her take steps all by herself and then push the car around.

13 Months

Just thought I'd give a little update on what Elizabeth is doing these days. Today she is 13 months old...and paci free! Saturday morning was the last time she had the pacifier, she has done well overall. Some minor fussing at nap/bedtime only sometimes.

Here she is still walking that car everywhere! I think the practice is paying off as she takes 2 and 3 steps all throughout the day. Last night I counted 14 steps across the dining room before reaching for a chair caused her to lose her balance and sit. I think she's almost there!

Laughing with her baby
giving her baby loves

I often find her back in Madilynn's bedroom playing kitchen. I think its her favorite right now.

She puts things in the cabinets closes the door then opens it right back up and takes it out again. I think that's what they call object permanence that she's mastering.

big smiles

she still likes reading books and turning the pages

She says, "Mama" all the time. Sometimes she'll be playing and I'll be in the kitchen and she will say "Mama, mama, mama" and I say "yes ma'am" and look towards her and she'll just peek around the fireplace and smile at me. She tries to say "Madilynn" along with lots of other words and animal sounds. Like we will be reading a book and I'll say "bear" and she repeats "ba".

so sweet

In her Razorback gear for the game Saturday

Tried to get a picture of them together, but Elizabeth wasn't happy as Madilynn was holding on to her...

All ready for church, first tights of the season for both girls!

Sunday afternoon after naps we headed out Logan Canyon and walked a trail by the dam. Very pretty, perfect weather! We were actually a little over dressed...after we finished we saw the temp in the car said 82 degrees!

Here's a video of us trying to get Elizabeth to walk the other night...



Elizabeth blowing kisses...you can see she gets distracted by the camera and smiles big then starts coming after it!

Six Steps

Last night Michael and I decided to work with Elizabeth more on walking and we had her trying to walk back and forth between us...and, she took SIX steps all by herself. She was watching Madilynn and I think she forgot what she was doing and she walked from Michael to the coffee table. Yeah!!

Then, today after lunch we went outside to play. Madilynn rode her bike and I took the little car outside for Elizabeth. Well, she walked that thing all around the driveway until it was time to come in! She's taken about 3 steps on her own here and there today! I think we're getting somewhere, so exciting!!