Madeline Turned Two!

Madeline turned two! First of all, I can't believe I have four kids. Secondly, the time has certainly flown with number four. It seems like yesterday when I came home from the hospital with Madeline. I will never forget the day Madeline was born. I had three ultrasounds which all revealed a baby girl, but I wouldn't believe it until I saw her in person. When I saw Madeline for the first time I was so relieved that she really was a girl. We would get to keep all the dresses and keep the room painted pink! Madeline has been such a joy to have in our lives. She loves to play with real babies and dolls both! It is so cute to watch her feed her dolls, push them in the stroller, talk to them, and care for them. I just love it. Madeline is also very competent already. She loves to help me fold and put away the clothes, put dishes away, vacuum, clean, etc. She's even organizing the pantry as I type this:) Oh and I can't forget the fact that Madeline loves to talk! She talks about everything to me and on the phone. It's so much fun having a girl!

The thing I have been the most impressed with, however, is just how tenacious our sweet and angelic little girl can be. She has her big brothers completely wrapped around her little finger. She has all the control when it comes to just about anything and her brothers love every minute of it. She is becoming quite the little helper, though. The other day we were on our way out the door and Zachary was getting in the car without shoes. I didn't notice and neither did Zachary, but Madeline sure did. She said, "Zachary! Go put your shoes on!" Maddie is so aware of everyone's needs, I just love it! She's acting like a litte mommy already. The moments I spend with Madeline are simply priceless! I love every minute of being her mom!

Vote!

Your vote does count! I believe that legal marriage should only be recognized between a man and a woman. We all have the latitude to make our own choices and I do implement tolerance. This does not mean, however, that people should have the liberty to alter the divine institution of marriage. Marriage is the state of being united as husband and wife. Please vote yes on 102!

http://www.yesformarriage.com/resources.php

Madeline's Performance

Madeline knew exactly what to do with the microphone and she loved every minute of it. We rented Pump It Up for Cameron's Birthday and Madeline took it upon herself to sing Happy Birthday to Cameron!

(You'll have to click the pause button on my playlist, right side of screen, so the music doesn't interfere with Madeline's performance.)

Baltimore Marathon!

This marathon was one of the best so far! I especially loved the fact that people are cheering you on for most of the race! This is my fifth 26.2 mile marathon and I am feeling like each one gets easier. Mike did the half-marathon (13.1 miles). He finished in 2:09. Way to go Mike! My brothers Paul and Joseph did the full marathon, but they finished almost an hour before me! My time was 4:18. Paul and Joseph were only 7 seconds apart, coming in around 3:37! I am adding this to my list of best marathons for sure!

Our Trip to Maryland!

We had so much fun back home in Maryland and took so many pictures, that I thought I would create a slide show instead of posting individual pictures. I put a few captions on, so hopefully you can tell kind of where we are and what we were doing. I picked only a few of our pictures and still ended up posting over 150 pictures! Enjoy!!!

Funny Things That Happened at our House This Week

1) Madeline LOVES apples. OK, so all my kids LOVE apples. I'm happy about this:) I love it, however, when the kids get old enough to just get an apple all on their own and I don't have to cut it anymore. Well, guess what? My older kids are old enough to give Madeline an apple. I don't have to do anything at all! So the other day Zachary asked me if it was ok if Madeline had an apple. I said sure, why not. Well, I kind of forgot about it until later when I was looking at the couch. There was this interesting looking thing sitting on the couch. Yes, it was red and a bit brown with quite a nasty appearance. It wasn't very big, either, quite tiny in fact. Upon careful inspection, I found that it was part of an apple and I mean a very small part of the apple. It all came back to me. I realized it was Maddie's and she had eaten most of the core, seeds, stem, and all!!! Oh my!

2) Something else funny happened to me this morning. Have you ever bought something 2 or 3 times, only to come home, put it away, and realize you already have it? I have done this many times. When people ask if I have my years supply, I don't really know, but I'm sure that I must. We are big Costco people and I mean BIG! I thought we were out of paper towels, so I was going to buy more at Costco today. I decided, however, that I needed to tackle the beach towels first that were piling up in the laundry sink. I was thinking this was going to be a HUGE load of laundry and surely it wouldn't all fit. As I was loading the towels into the washer, guess what I found? I huge pack of paper towels from Costco hiding under the towels in the laundry room sink. LOL! How did it get there? I have no clue, but I'm happy that I don't have to buy paper towels!