Soon to come....

A post just about Gabe. I seem to leave him out of the mix.

Recipes - I did say I was going to participate in Shelly's Recipe Extravaganza.

Progress.....

SHE DID IT. I can't believe that girl, she actually skated by herself, right on schedule. Granted it was only 10 feet at the most, but she did it. I know Madi planned it that way - it was her third week and she skated, just like she told me she would after the first practice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JENNIFER!!!!!!! How old are you? j/k

She might be right.....

Last week Madi made a little progress learning to skate.

She was so funny in the car on the way to practice. She told me, "Mom I don't want the blue helmets to help me, I only want the guy with the mustache." I asked "Madi, why do you like the guy with the mustache?" I didn't remember anybody with a mustache from the prior practice and I was confused about the blue helmets. She said "The guy with the mustache is so SMILEY." When we arrived at the rink - I knew what she ment.

The guy with the mustache, wore a white helmet and indeed was smiley. Most of the other coaches had on blue helmets. Three different coaches helped Madi last weekend. I am so impressed with how patient, helpful, and sincerly nice all of the volunteers are.

Madi CAN skate with just a bucket when she wants, but I think she gets nervous when someone isn't right next to her helping. She would freeze, when her helper would skate away to help someone else. I did witness that Madi can skate with just a bucket for at least about 20 feet. It's progress. We need to work with her at home a little bit more.

We will see what this week brings, perhaps, it will be just as Madi planned and she will skate without the bucket. Not likely.

100th Post

It has taken over a year for me to get to 100, but I did it.

.... and just because posts are boring w/out pictures here's a cute one of Madi.

Picking the Perfect Tree

Every year on Black Friday, we pick out our Christmas Tree. This year was no exception and we picked a good one. We always go with grandma Valerie and Grandpa Noal. Once we bring it home, we put it up right away and follow up with Cincinnati Chili and a Christmas movie.

I wish we would have taken a family picture by the tree we cut for our house, but it was too windy and the kids wanted to get out of the cold.

The kids were so cute on the way home from tree cutting. We listened to Christmas songs and the kids tapped to the beat and Madi attempted singing every song - she knew none of the words. She must have learned that from me. A few times I had Mike turn down the music because I thought Madi was crying or trying to tell us something - Madi came back with "Turn up the Music, I can't hear." There favorite songs were: The Little Drummer Boy and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Madi is really excited for Christmas. She was a little confused about the Christmas season versus Christmas day, but I think we have that straightened out. Madi hung her stocking on the front door and on Saturday and Sunday morning she checked it, to see if Santa had brought her any treats yet. She was so cute and was going to ask her grandparents to send Santa to our house if they saw him first. We've explained to her about the holiday season and I think she understands a little better now.