Right Now!

Lately Maddie has taken to saying the phrase "right now!". She refers to herself as "you", so now she'll say, "You do it right now?", like when we're putting on our coats or cleaning up. Sometimes it's used in a not-so-cute way, like when she demands, "Mommy, more yogurt. Right now!" (apparently she has her own personal maid servant!)

A few minutes ago I was trying to put her down for a nap and she was resisting.

Me: You need to get good sleep so that you can be a happy girl when you wake up.
Her: No, no nap! Play!
Me: No, you're a tired girl and you need your sleep.
Her: (in between whining and crying) No nap. You happy girl! You happy RIGHT NOW!

Nice try, my dear! :-)

(just a few pics with Nana and Papa at Thanksgiving, thrown in for good measure!) :-)

Mommy's got a new 'do!

You know that feeling when you've looked the same for what seems like forever and one day you just get sick of it and say I NEED A CHANGE!? Well, that's been me lately. Getting "new hair" always cheers me up and refreshes me, so I made an appointment at the salon and today was the day! Make me blonde! Chop it all off!! I totally love it. (As a side note, us girls know that getting a cut and color is spendy, so I only indulge twice a year. My hairstylist said I win the prize for "most growout" ...my roots were like 6 inches long! HA!)

Even though Maddie's been really sick for the past three days (103.5 fever...ugh!), when you pull out a camera she can't help herself. The inner HAM just has to burst through!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

For the past three years, during the Christmas season we have either been remodeling...or remodeling some more...or living with my parents, so I was soooo excited to decorate our own house this year! Keith is the self-proclaimed bah-humbug of the family (his mom is the same way...must be genetic!), so I get to do the decorating all by myself (fine by me! then I get to do it exactly the way I like it!). This year we got our tree and decorations put up the weekend after Thanksgiving because I want to enjoy them as long as possible. We'll be spending the holidays in Ohio this year, so December seems awfully short...gotta soak it all in now! :-)

I had these idyllic visions of Maddie and I standing side by side, decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music and sipping hot cocoa. Well...that would have been nice! Instead, she put about 2 ornaments on the tree, cried when I tried to put on Christmas music (instead of her Action Bible Songs DVD, which we hear *many* times every day), and then turned into Ms. Whining Queen for the rest of the afternoon until we couldn't take it anymore and forced her to stay upstairs, screaming in her crib.

Ahhh, the holidays have begun! :-)

Remember the hot cocoa I talked about sipping? Well, that quickly ended up all down the front of her white shirt, which then was thrown in the sink to soak. As soon as the shirt came off, she started streaking through the house squealing with glee, "I'm naked! I'm naked!" Man, if I'd known that was all it took to make her happy, I'd have tried it a long time ago!

While sorting through our ornaments, she came across this one, which she liked to call "itty bitty Lucy". It really does look *just* like our dog!

These square wreaths match the garland on the mantle. There's a wreath in the windows on either side of our dining room built-in china cabinet. Now I've got to go on the hunt for battery-operated white mini Christmas lights for those wreaths!

The grand finale! :-) Merry Christmas, everybody...from our home to yours.

She's a Hoops Girl

One day, a week or two ago, Maddie was playing with Keith and he made a basketball hoop shape with his arms so that she could shoot baskets on his chest. She thought the game was so much fun! Later that day Keith took her to Target and they picked out a little hoop with a Nerf-type ball and now they have father-daughter "hoop time" almost every night...usually while watching the Blazer game on TV and snuggling on the couch. I just love seeing my hubby have so much fun with his little girl & she sure adores her daddy!

She shoots, she scores!

Maddie is so proud that she's learning how to shoot baskets!

Hangin' with Daddy and watching the Blazers. Keith has her well trained already--she'll say, "Dribble! Shoot!" and "Go Oden!" :-)

Tonight Keith was getting ready to go outside, so he had his hat on. Maddie normally hates hats, but since daddy was wearing one, she had to wear hers too! She kept it on for probably 30 minutes, which is definitely a record.

Maddie's "Real" Birthday

Maddie's actual birthday was November 2nd (we just had the party a week early), so we decided to have a fun little day on the town with her to celebrate. I don't know about you, but I actually love it when I get to spread out my birthday celebrations! Coffee with a friend one day, special dinner with my family another, gifts that arrive even after my birthday...it's like a whole week of happy birthday to me! (oh yeah, we were talking about *Maddie's* birthday, right?!...)

In the morning I made Maddie pancakes with warm applesauce and cinnamon. Maddie opened one gift that I'd been saving from her Aunt Robin and inside we found the most adorable things she had made herself--a pink tutu with silk flower petals and an outfit she made for the birthday girl with the #2 on the shirt (see photos). I am jealous of how crafty Robin is with a sewing machine! I'm great with paper, but I can't even sew on a button. (Keith has this fascination with me learning how to sew, for some reason--I agree it would be cool, but I have too many projects going as it is!) :-)

We played with the new toys she opened at her birthday party (books, Playdoh with accessories, coloring book and markers) and watched one of her new Bob the Builder videos (which shows real construction equipment in action--she was mesmerized!). I had wanted to take her to Peanut Butter & Ellie's, a children's cafe I'd been wanting to visit for years, but when I looked up the address I was so bummed to see that they'd closed! So, off to the Old Spaghetti Factory we went. Maddie thought it was so cool that they have a train car inside the restaurant--that pretty much entertained her the whole meal.

"How old are you, Maddie?" "Two!" (Duh, look at my shirt, Mom!)

Racing cars with dad at Old Spaghetti Factory.

The oh-so-cool train in the restaurant.

After lunch we headed over to the NW 23rd library and picked out new books to take home--can't get better than that! Happy birthday sweetheart! We love you soooo much and are so proud of what a sweet, smart girl you are. You bring so much joy to our lives every day!

Happy Birthday Madeline!

I can't believe it...where has the time gone? It really does seem like just months ago I was in the hospital holding my newborn daughter and now she's TWO (as of November 2nd)!! Last year Maddie was sick on her birthday, so we had to cancel her party--such a bummer! This year we had friends and family over to my parents' house for cupcakes (my Mom's famous perfect chocolate cake recipe, which has been served at countless dinner parties, my wedding, Dana's wedding...) and ice cream. Maddie had so much fun playing with Allison's girls, Macy and Ava, the Newell's baby Lucy and her cousins Kinley and Bridger (well, technically they are MY cousins...anyone know what that makes them for Maddie??). I thought Maddie would really be into opening presents, since she'd already tried to sneakily open some at home, but once it was time she lasted through one gift! Nana, Macy and Kinley took over from there. :-) Thank you to everyone who came to show their love and help us celebrate Maddie's big day!

No smeary mess of a face for this girl...she's likes to be clean!

Lucy, all decked out. (Maddie talks about "baby Lucy" ALL the time!)

Alli & Ava...what a ham!

Maddie loves hanging out with Macy--Macy always makes her laugh!

Bonnie got her this cute boa, which goes perfectly with...

this totally adorable tutu that Ali made her! Can this girl get any cuter?! :-)

Halloween Night

The older Maddie gets, the more fun the holidays become...mostly because she's becoming more aware and involved in what's happening, which is such fun to watch. We had a fabulous Halloween night this year. In the morning we did our Friday tradition of going to the NW 23rd library for toddler storytime. The teacher and many of the kids came dressed up, which was so cute--especially two sets of twin boys. One set were firefighters and the other set were giraffes. Storytime is always filled with singing, dancing, listening to stories, and running around catching bubbles. I mentioned to another mom that I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of trick-or-treating in the pouring rain, so she suggested going to McMenamin's Kennedy School. It was an awesome idea & probably a new tradition we'll continue for years to come. All the staff members were in costumes and there were about 20 different staff throughout the maze of hallways giving out candy, including a balloon artist. It was dry, it was quick, it was safe, and we got to see tons of other kids and families (the hallways were packed to the gills!). (P.S.--Thanks for the adorable costume, Nana and Papa! But just to be fair, she also chose her Ohio State Buckeye pacifier! )




After trick-or-treating, we headed to Old Towne Pizza in N. Portland for dinner and then headed over to the Rose Garden for the opening night of Blazer basketball vs the San Antonio Spurs. (Keith and my dad have season tickets, but my parents are in CA this week, so we got to go as a family.) It was such an electric atmosphere inside the arena--Blazer dancers and cheerleaders, a live band, light show, etc. Maddie was totally into it, like I've never seen before--waving her arms, dancing, cheering, stuffing her face with popcorn. She had a great old time. Well, for the first quarter at least. I don't blame her for getting stir crazy. You thought sitting in airplane seats was tight. You literally have about 5 inches between your shins and the back of the seat in front of you. Maddie and I spent the 2nd quarter playing with toys and basketballs in the Blazer store and running up and down the breezeway. We headed home at halftime and Keith watched the rest on TV.




Maddie had eaten pizza, popcorn and drank about 1/2 of Keith's Diet Coke, so she was *super hyped* when we got home. The next morning when she woke up, the first words out of her mouth were "Hoops. Popcorn. Horsey ride (back to the car). More!" I think it was a good night for all. :-)