Sorry it's been a while!

I haven't posted anything in quite a while. I guess we've been busy. In a nutshell, Maddie and I surprised Grammy with a birthday visit in KY for 3 weeks. During those weeks Maddie had a cold, ear infection, then Grammy got the cold, then Maddie got a stomach virus in which she shared with me! Whew! Not a very productive visit between the illnesses and the snowy weather. At least Maddie got to see snow/ice. Here are some pictures from our visit:





A small ice storm. Poor dogwood tree!

Maddie wearing my old snow suit. Yes, it's still intact after over 33 years! Maddie wasn't so thrilled with the cold temperatures. She better get used to it come winter of '08!

A small birthday gathering for Grammy. She had no idea that her friends would be showing up here and there all afternoon!

Maddie used Grammy's treadmill as a slide. That's one way to use it I suppose! She was just intrigued with Grammy's gloves for the fireplace. She wore them quite often during our visit.

We made a trip to Howard and Curry's shoe store in Lexington before the illnesses hit. Maddie has gone up a size or so since we got her first shoes in November. I had to share the terrifying, I mean, talking tree with her from my childhood. This tree used to scare the stuffin' out of me when I was little. Maddie was unimpressed. I think it's funny how little this tree really is. It seemed like a redwood when I was small. Oh, and this is a blueberry beauty mark... We had some blueberry pancakes and one stayed behind.

We did some visiting between the cold/ear infection and the stomach virus. Thankfully no one we visited got our germies. We went to Grammy and Pappy's where Maddie had a big time with their two dogs (Sage and Abigail) and six cats (Heddy, Stiltz, Socks, Bushrod, Emmy Lou, and Holly). The dogs kept licking her in the face and she would laugh. The kitties weren't too thrilled with a kid in the house, as most kitties would agree. We visited with my friend, Lisa, and her four kids. Danger Deb and Maddie had a good time. We also got to visit with my friend, Charla, and her daughter, Bella. Bella has graciously donated her Barney videos and stuffed animal to Maddie (thanks Char...."I love you, you love me, we're a happy fam-i-ly")!

We met Pappy and Grammy at Juniper Hills Park towards the end of our visit. She loves the slides! There was a nice man there with his Chiuaua, Pete. Pete has his own wardrobe... Come to find out, the man is related to Grammy's side of the family! Small world.

Grammy & Pappy brought a little bunny for Maddie. It makes bouncing noises. She loves to carry it around the house. We also got to play with Ava (or as Maddie says, "Ah-va"). She's just 3 months younger than Maddie. It was a wonderful surprise to run into Dr. Nicole and Jason, Ah-va's mommy and daddy.

As a sweet idea I heard from G-Judy, I made a half of a birthday cake for Maddie's 18 month birthday. This was before we went to KY, but thought you'd get a laugh out of my sorry baking work. Not every day you turn 1 1/2!


O.K. So now you're at least caught up through early March. I'll post Easter pictures soon. Maddie is almost up from her nap so I won't have any more computer time...

Ta-ta!

18 months old!

Maddie turned the big 1 1/2 on February 1. I can't believe she's halfway through her second year. We had her pics done at Sears and I'm not very thrilled with them, but here are a few. They just didn't get the big smiles as well as I trimmed her bangs and they're crooked!!!

Back in CA

We had a nice but too short visit to Kentucky. We never have enough time to see everyone. Here are a few pictures to summarize our visit:

Maddie sleeping in the crib borrowed from Mom's friend, Jodie. "Big Bear" was mine many years ago and is still going strong. (He's probably 33 years old or so.)

We visited the Harley store in Lexington and tried out the rocking Harley.

We went to Grandma's work and saw some friendly horses. She works at the American Saddlebred Association located in the Kentucky Horse Park.

Maddie was overwhelmed with what Santa brought her at Grammy's house. It took a couple of days to get everything opened.

We went to Bick's for the afternoon and saw cousin Patrick. He and his parents, Vivian and Rick, came in from Virginia. Bick is Maddie's great-grandmother. Grammy and Pappy gave Maddie this new rocking chair that she loves!

We also had Christmas at Grandma's house with cousins, Lilli and Thomas.

Here's a silly shot of Maddie back in California with her long hair. No, she's not driving a Porshe.

Maddie's first official sandwich! Turkey and cheese. She ate the whole thing!

Maddie and I ventured up to Palm Springs to see Amy. She was up there with a Stampin' Up! conference. We didn't exactly time our driving very well though...

There was a really nice street fair going on that evening on the main drag. We walked around and ate at an Italian bistro. It got a little chilly, but not very cold compared to KY! It was neat to see Aunt Amy all the way in CA!

Like I said~a very nice visit, but not enough time. I must admit, the weather is a major plus out here. It's so beautiful today. I think it's close to 70 or so and very sunny. Of course, the construction is never at rest..... They've really built a lot since we've been gone.

Happy 2008 to everyone. We already miss everyone back home and are looking forward to our next visit!!!!

On our way!!!!!

Well, it's finally the time to frantically pack, get little or no sleep, and rush to LAX. We leave EARRRRRRLY tomorrow morning. I'm sure Maddie will be a jewel to be with tomorrow afternoon after waking her so early. We can't wait to see everyone! It seems like it's been a very long time, but we were home in August. One more year to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a pic of our half decorated tree. Pretty funny. Wonder why we had to do that???

Maddie's 1st bangs trim at 16 months old!

Before











After








Maddie turned 16 months old today and Jason just couldn't stand her bangs in her face anymore. I can't say I liked it either, but I didn't really want to cut it yet. I guess that seems like something we would be doing when she got older, a LOT older. I trimmed her bangs and of course kept the wisps in a bag for scrapbooking. She's going to role her eyes at me when she gets older, isn't she? Oh well, that's what moms are for.




Maddie and I went to "Under the Sea" on Friday. It's an indoor play area. I'm not sure why California needs such a thing but it actually rained all day that day. There were tons of kids there. I think it was a bit overwhelming to Mads but she seemed to like it. We met a few more of the stay-at-home moms group there.











Maddie has really enjoyed our plastic Christmas balls this year. Last year we had the brain power enough to buy those for the tree since she would be able to get to them eventually. She loves putting the balls in this shoe box and then dumping them out and flailing her arms to scatter them everywhere. I almost can't bring myself to put them on the tree, not that they'll stay there for long...









On a sad note, Mom's dog Rugby passed away this morning. He's been sick most of his life and she kept him alive by taking such good care of him. Here's an older picture of Rugs at Christmas time. He was 15+ years old.