Watching Odin for the Day!

Little Odin came over for a visit today while his mom was working. We had a fun day together! I took the kids for a walk and then played outside!

Odin fell to sleep in the stroller and continued to snooze on the back patio

Madeleine chillin' on the patio

Odin decided to push Madeleine around...but M didn't like it!

Madeleine gave Odin tons of hugs and kisses today...not sure how much Odin wanted them though :-)

Working Hard In the Yard!

Jeff has been working HARD getting our yard finished up. He spends every extra minute he can out there and it is looking great! We've planted roses & hydrangeas and will eventually plant raspberries and add a bird bath. Here is a few photos of it so far....

Bye-bye Eleanor

This week was my last week watching Eleanor. This month is also my last month of watching kids at the daycare/preschool at the Church because they break for summer so I am free! I am excited to enjoy our nice weather and do lots of fun stuff with Madeleine.

My friend Amy is all done with her double stroller so she passed it on to me! I love it! It has come in pretty handy already and I love working out with the jogger. On Eleanor's last day, we took a long walk which both girls enjoyed!

Barrel Tasting 2009!

Jeff & I enjoyed a weekend away with our friends Henry & Beth. We headed East of the mountains for a little wine tasting through Yakima Valley. We had such a fun time! Lots of laughs and lots of yummy wine!

The weather was sunny and warm! We probably hit 15 or so wineries over the weekend and really enjoyed ourselves. We sat outside the first day and ate a delicious bbq'd salmon lunch and sipped a bottle of red wine! What could be better?

Beth & Henry having lunch

Cheers!

Henry & Beth are thinking of planting some wine grapes of their own so we stopped to take some photos of the vines. Eastern Washington can be quite windy - wow!

Wine tasting was great but one of the best parts of the w/e was at the Red Lion hotel bar for Kareoke night! Who knew it could be such a happening place? We stayed the night at the Red Lion and decided to check out the bar...we were in for quite a surprise! The bar was hopping and the singers were GOOD! Well a few anyway! Jeff even got up and sang a Jonny Cash song. He got everyone clapping and singing along! Good times!

Our last stop for the weekend

Madeleine & Gaga

My parents watched Madeleine over the weekend while Jeff & I were away. As always, Madeleine had a lot of fun while there and could have cared less about me when I came to pick her up! I imagined her missing me but that was not the case!

Madeleine has taken to calling my parents "Gaga". In fact, even the dog is "Gaga"! She points to my mom, dad and Lucky and says Gaga - too cute!

My parents took Madeleine to swim lessons for us and they all had a great time! My dad jumped in the water with her while my mom snapped a few photos. Madeleine loves the water and my dad got a kick out of swimming with M in the water!

Madeleine had fun outside playing with the John Deer tractor!

The Weekend...

We started swim lessons back up for Madeleine! It has been awhile since we've been in the pool and Madeleine was apprehensive for a few minutes but then squeled with delight!


We headed over to a friends house on Saturday night who has a son 1 month younger than Madeleine! We all walked to the park and it was cute to watch their little waddling diaper butts walk all the way to the park and play!

The kids move too much...I couldn't get a good pic of them all facing me

We met up with Dave, Staci and the kids on Sunday at the Cougar Mountain Zoo! This was Madeleine's first visit to a zoo and our first time to this particular zoo. It is a privately owned zoo with Tigers, Cougars, Birds, Reindeer, Llamas and lots of other neat animals.

Madeleine liked feeding the animals! It was kind of funny - first she would cry in fear and then when they ate the food out of her hand, she would laugh!


See the Tiger in the background?

Beautiful view from the Zoo

Dave, Jeff and Madeleine before all the birds started making A LOT of noise!

This bird played peek-a-boo and could also say "peek-a-boo" and "hi"!

We had a great weekend!

Liberty's Child Psychology Class Studies Madeleine!

My old high school and the school my mom works at has a group of students studying child psychology and child development. They needed children from newborn through pre-kindergarten age to study so I volunteered Madeleine. She liked being around all the kids and especially stopping by Grandma's work!

The kids had lots of good questions and some funny ones too! One kid asked if Madeleine could walk backwards yet! Not yet!!!

In Grandma's office causing trouble!

Madeleine meets a police man at the school! Don't worry, no one was in trouble!

Madeleine's 15-Month Appt.

Madeleine went in for her 15-month appointment today and is looking healthy! She had two shots today which she did not like - ouch! The doc commented on how curious Madeleine seems to be...as I'm sure most toddlers are. She is into EVERYTHING these days!

Madeleine is in the 83% for weight, 74% for length and 95% for head circumference.

Toddler Time With Overlake Moms Group!

It was my turn to organize a playdate so I decided on Toddler Time at the local community center! All the babies are on the go now so this was perfect - us moms got to talk while the kids ran around and played with all the toys!

Here is Taylor pushing Madeleine around!

Madeleine & Sam

The last 3 kids left!

More Easter Pics

We had a great Easter! We headed over to my parents house for dinner. We had a good laugh watching Madeleine wear her new bunny ears and sunglasses! It was nice to visit with family too!

Madeleine loved her presents in her Easter basket. She got a bunch of crayola begginnings crayons, stampers, markers and tub crayons!

My mom got Madeleine sunglasses...it was so funny to see her in them!

She also got bunny ears but wouldn't wear them at first. My mom wore them instead and Madeleine really liked this!

Cuddling with Grandpa!

Madeleine loves to give kisses these days. Here she is giving Lucky a kiss!

Sharyn is in her 3rd trimester already!

Happy Easter!

We took Madeleine to get a picture with the Easter Bunny. At first she thought the bunny was funny but when I left her on his lap and walked away, she started to cry. I felt bad for her so I sat on his lap with her so she would feel better.

Mimi & Grandpa Fower sent Madeleine this darling dress and coat to wear for Easter!

Our neighborhood has an Easter Egg Hunt at the local park each year. Last year Madeleine was too little to participate but this year she got right in all the action! Here she is on the way to the park!

Hooray! She found an egg!

My 1st Pigtails!

I Love My Spoon!

Madeleine loves to hold her own spoon while she eats but rarely does she actually use it to feed herself. The last few days she has been more interested in using the spoon for what it is intended to do and is getting pretty good! She thinks it great to scoop the food and put it into her mouth! I make a HUGE deal when she does it too which she also enjoys! :-)

After breakfast, we went shopping and out to lunch with my mom since she is on Spring Break. We had fun and Madeleine is all set for Spring/Summer....if it ever arrives.

Long Beach, WA

I headed down to Long Beach with Madeleine, Andrea & Bella! We had a nice, relaxing time and enjoyed some nice weather too!

This was Madeleine's 1st "walk" on the beach!

Madeleine LOVED Bella and gave her so many kisses all weekend - so cute!

Playing with Bella's toy phone

Madeleine and Lamby eating breakfast!

Growing So Fast!

When Jeff and I were outside today, we were thinking back to last Spring/Summer when we would be sitting out on the patio with Madeleine thinking ahead to this Spring/Summer and how Madeleine would be running around the yard. It hit us today as the sun was shining, how fast these little babies grow! It was amazing to see Madeleine running around already and I swear this post was just yesterday: http://thebirdcatchers.blogspot.com/2008/08/goodnight.html

Crazy!

A Gymnast In The Making

We tried out Little Gym this weekend and Madeleine experienced gymnastics for the first time! She got to twirl on the bars and walk across the beams. She had fun!

She was really pulling herself up - we didn't realize how strong she is!

The beam will not be her favorite event if she decides to be a gymnast when she is older. She didn't care for it too much.

The Sun Has Shown Itself

Hooray! The sun came out and we all got to play outside for a bit!

Mommy's Little Cupcake!

Madeleine finally fits into this cute little t-shirt I got at my shower!

You've Got To Be Kidding!

I can't believe it is April 3rd and we woke up to snow.