Just a little Maddy Wednesday!

 Proud Mommy Moment........Maddy was enjoying some time in the playroom this morning, these colorful letters were all scrambled up in a pile (the usual playroom mess). She ran to get me while I was cleaning house and pulled me to the toy room to find THIS!!! She lined them all up, by color in a row!!!! And she was SUPER proud of herself too because she knew what she did! LOVE THIS KID!!!

 And the potty training practice continues......nothing like trying to eat a snack on the potty with the dog waiting for you to drop something....Roxy never gives up.

Favorites from last weekend

We squeezed a lot in this past weekend with Mike being back, but the kids had fun every minute!!

 

Abby and Mike picked up donuts as a treat Sunday morning.....somehow Abby ended up the messiest!

 Caught the girls in Abby's bed after quiet time, snuggling up with the ipod touch watching a movie together (and NOT arguing.....it was amazing)

 New bath towels! The girls love the new Ladybug towels I got them! They are hooded and wrap all the way around them, so the can never complain of their towels falling off anymore! And they can hang them up on hooks in their bathroom too!!

 This is what it looks like when Minnie Mouse Madelyn pouts because she didn't get her way

 Story time with dad!!

 Maddy now LOVES going to the dr's office! Here she is inspecting everyone's ears!! 

Common occurrence with these ear infection kids we have.....bad genetics....my fault :)

 Working with her letters.....ABC!!!

Food, Photos and a Ride!!

We had a great first weekend with Mike back! Relaxing and full of yummy food (I've been eating minimally and watching intake and he's had "boat" food.....so we were both needing to indulge a bit)

Anyhow we hit Red Robin today for lunch because our attempt to attend the local Jubilee festival today was foiled by constant drizzle all day and it was the last day of the event

 Loving on her daddy!

 So of course after I pulled out the camera to take their picture, she wanted to take photos. 

And let me say, this kid is pretty darn good at taking photographs with any digital camera and camera phones! I think she's just about mastered it on almost any device! Her pics follow.......

 In case you wanted to see what the inside of her nose looks like......

And her silly tongue! Self-Portrait!!

 After naps we tried our luck one more time.....it was still drizzly.....but the event was almost over.

We parked and got in free, but most of the rides were not running due to the rain :(

So instead of paying too much for kiddie ride tickets, we let them ride one together, grabbed some cotton candy and hit the road to head home.....they thought it was great, so it did the trick.

 Literally.....all the rides were empty even though the event was rain or shine!

So they rode by themselves!!

Craft Time gone WRONG!!

 So this is what happens when you walk away from them to get things accomplished....

Maddy paints herself, eats a bit of it I'm sure, then cries about it only when I stop to take a photo!

Abby on the other hand loves to paint!! And made an awesome rainbow hand print on her own!!

Ahhhhhh

Daddy is home!! The boat pulled in early this morning, and he made it home in time to go with us to pick Abby up from school and surprise her!!! Both girls are in daddy heaven and getting the most out of him, and he's getting a chattery earful from them nonstop!! Exactly how it should be. Photos will resume next week after we enjoy a nice weekend together!! Life is normal again.....for a bit longer.

Maddy's 2-1/2 Year Checkup!

Miss Madelyn had her 2-1/2 year checkup yesterday!

And she PASSED with flying colors! This somewhat new checkup (between 2 and 3yrs) is mostly designed to catch any speech or cognitive delays......the doctor was MORE than impressed by her speech and word stringing and said she is a healthy vibrant young girl.

You should have seen her in the waiting room, it was just us, then walks in a teenage boy, and she connected with him instantly, whispering secrets in his ear, sitting next to him, and hugging him (poor kid, he was there for a sports injury of some sort, and also got some toddler affection:))

Then she proceeded to do the same to the dr in the exam room, wanting to sit on his lap even. 

She had ALL the ladies in the front office giggling at her cute behavior!

Anyhow, here are her stats:

WEIGHT: 28.6 pounds (50th percentile)

HEIGHT: 36.5 inches (75th+ percentile)

Our next hurdle (which she is currently practicing, and achieving like a CHAMP) is potty training!!

Planning to go hard core after memorial day weekend. As it is, she is already peeing on the big girl potty 4-5 times a day and doing great. Sometimes even having dry diapers thru bedtime/naps!

Maddy's new hair 'do

I have had SOOO many compliments on Maddy's new haircut! 

Everyone was so used to her scraggly curls, but so impressed with the short bob cut.

Here she is before she jumped in the pool with Abby the other day!

First few swims!

I refuse to get in until the water is closer to 75+ (currently 70)....but Abby and Maddy are LOVING the start to pool time this summer. This is what the fun looks like in our backyard! While mom's dry as a bone too.....usually drink in hand!!!

NOTE: Our August is very empty if anyone wants to book a trip to Casa de Smith! August is the PERFECT swimming month here!

The girls don't start back to school until mid September!!

Balance....

These kids are so silly. Abby started doing this balancing act on her own in the toy room. Then 2 minutes later Maddy comes into the kitchen holding the books and repeatedly asking me to put the cup on her head. She LOVES imitating her big sister.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to me! 

Mike got me this cute "flirty" apron and sent it while he's been away!

Abby of course had to be the first to try it on and pose. I think it will be a bit more flirty on me!

Self-portrait we took for daddy this morning! Best I could do with one hand to get all three of us in the shot.

 We spent a wonderful day at the beach, the weather was near 80 and breezy. As you can see, Maddy even passed out at the end. We were there 4.5 hours and the kids played and played! We met friends there, so they all played together nicely in the sand & water.

HAIRCUT for raggedy Maddy!!!

This little girl was in dire need of a haircut! And like her sister, did not appreciate battling me with a brush everyday! So.....off to the hair salon we went this morning for her 1st Haircut!!

She was a GREAT patient little girl and stayed very still. The results are FANTASTIC!!!!

No more tangled hair for these girls this summer. 

Daddy is the only one sad to see the long locks go.......but that's because he is never on hair duty!!

Oh well, it can always grow back. I think she looks great, and kind of like her big sis!

(And I saved some locks for her baby book!)

 Ta-dah!!!!! Clean cut, beautiful little 2-1/2 year old girl!!!!

Mothers Day Luncheon

Abby's class had a special Mother's Day Luncheon at their school today!

So I brought us lunch and we sat to eat with the other moms/kids!

Then I got my gift!! A cute bag full of fun "Abby" things.

1. A cute paper teapot that reads:

"I'll try my best in everyway

To make sure you have 

A Happy Mother's Day.

But sometimes when you 

Get frustrated with me

Relax and have a 

Cup of tea"

 

And inside the teapot is a bag of tea to make!!! She asked to share it with me because she 'loves tea'....

 

2. A cute bound book of "Totally Terrific Me" where they asked the kids questions and wrote down the answers for them! She says she likes to eat pizza & meatballs. Favorite colors are yellow, red & blue. When she grows up she wants to be "a mom"!!!! Awwwwww

 

3. And I got a cute hand painted (by Abby) potted plant to keep! 

 

Oh the memories. She really loved our special time together.  

Sisters Sharing

Per Abby's request I made them pancakes for breakfast the other night! We do it every now and again for fun!!

And as usual, they fought over who got to mix the batter. Well they finally started taking turns, and it turned into a 5 second stir each where the whisk barely even met the bowl, then they would pass it back and forth saying "Here sis....." and "Thanks sis".....OVER AND OVER. Finally I had to tear it away from them to actually MAKE the pancakes! 

This kid.....

This kid is one odd duck!! We take a day to go to the botanical gardens with a bunch of friends.....she doesn't go near any water fun, except she finds a warm puddle......and sits in it for a while!

 

My LOVE BUG!

We love this little girl!

(Thanks to Pics By 2Chicks Photography for the great photo)

"I see you too"

Maddy is ALL about talking now. She still whines here and there, but it is getting to be less and less as her vocabulary grows! Seriously just in the last 2 week's that Mike has been gone, her span of words and phrases has SKYROCKETED!! 
Her favorite thing to say when she's pointing a flashlight at you...."I see you". Here's a short video (yes I know its sideways.....I always forget :))



Some of Maddy's new words/phrases that she says voluntarily everyday now:
*Airplane 
*Blue water (referencing the pool)
*Waffle, Cereal, Orange Juice, Muffin
*Rocketship
*I do peepee on 'da potty
*I take a bath
*Lets go mom
*Love you mom
*Thank you sis, Thank you mom
*Hi guys
*And an even bigger surprise, she now says hi to all her friends she sees. So when we go to a friends house, she says "Hi Jack, Hi Grace, Hi Casey"! She NEVER did that before and now its all the time!
*And tonight reading a Dora Explorer book, she named all of Dora's friends: Tico (squirrell), Benny (bull), Isa (Iguana). Never done that before either.......
*And I've caught her lately counting in order from 3 to 10.......not on que, but its happened repeatedly.

Each day brings something new!


 

Big Girl Skin Tests

Look who got a hair cut!!!! 

I gave in (to her requests and my frustration with battling her knotty hair EVERY day) and we cut her hair short again!! I forgot how cute and put together she looks with it short. LOVE IT!

 Today we had our second visit to the asthma/allergy doctor (last month was to do breathing tests to figure out the problem with her persistent coughing due to activity; SOLVED for the meantime with some basic preventative oral meds) Not a single cough in a month.....fingers crossed it lasts!!

Then we returned today to do skin testing for environmental allergies as well as to confirm/eliminate her allergy to penicillin.

 I had to prep her arms (both sections on each arm, top and bottom) this morning with numbing cream and wrap them in cellophane two hours before the dr's visit. This was to minimize the pain from the scratch/needle tests.

Here is an example of what her arms looked like post-scratches. There were 60 scratches (30 on each forearm)

Then on the bicep area, she had needle punctures where they deposited a small bubble of other items to test for, including the penicillin.

Everything came back normal (THANK GOODNESS!!!!) And even the Penicillin came back fine......HOORAY for that. He even gave her an oral dose of Penicillin just to double check, but said if the skin test is negative, that proves 98% of the time to be accurate. Hopefully we are in the clear and can use "real" meds next time she has an ear infection.

She was a CHAMP through it all, and only cried during the needle parts, because a little blood came out of each poke afterwards, so I think it was more mental anguish from seeing it, then true pain.

Glad that's behind us......

Maddy-Mommy time!

 

Its not often that I get one on one time with Maddy getting my full attention, so its nice to capture the memories!! Week before last we had our playgroup at the local petting zoo farm and she sat on a pony for a brief moment (before crying her eyes out after I ripped her off the little guy because her mean mommy didn't pay for the pony ride....we had to leave to go get big sis!) Bonus!! My friend Janel was there to take photos so I'm finally in one!!

 And this week while Abby was at school one day, we met some friends at the beach!

Gorgeous weather and a great visit to our favorite spot. She wanted to be all wrapped up in her new bunny hooded towel!

Girls Just having FUN!

 The girls and I have been busy keeping busy while Mike's been away......2 more weeks to go!!

And nearly everyday Abby requests I take pictures of her to send to him.....here was her photo from yesterday! And then Maddy at the park swinging/smiling! I asked her at the park if she was my little monkey and she said "Uh huh"! LOVE being able to communicate with this little girl finally!

Water Fun!

I was watching my friend's daughter Akenna today, and after naps they had some good 'ol hose fun!

Abby loved doing the squirting and Akenna loved getting soaked!! Good combo!

Love this shot!

Just a TUTU in the sandbox!