Ladybug

Somehow Halloween got lost in the mix with our trip to Hawaii and all that has been going on. But, Maddie did get dressed up as a lady bug. She also got to trick or treat a few select houses, and as you can see, she enjoyed her first lollipop! Our friend Sarah Budd took these wonderful pictures of Maddie (and many more!). Sarah is building a photography business, so please check out her gallery of pictures and feel free to order any that you like: http://www.sarahgracephoto.com/Portraits/Kids. The password is "mpf".

Maui

We had an awesome and much needed vacation to Maui! It perfectly coincided with Tony's break from school and with my birthday. Maddie was great to travel with and she loves the outdoors and the water so it was the right destination. We saw lots of fish and turtles! We did a lot of snorkeling, relaxing, swimming, and playing the sand.

Maddie on "Baby Beach"--a super calm beach
Maddie and Tony at the Ocean Center Aquarium

Maddie watching the shark and rays.

Me and Maddie feeding the Koi fish at the resort. We stayed at the Westin Kaanapali Resort Villas. We had a one bedroom condo with a full kitchen and washer/dryer. It was very nice.

Our family picture at sunset on my 31st birthday.

Tony and Maddie on Kaanapali Beach.

Maddie got a special Hawaiian barette. It broke her second time wearing it.

Maddie in the pool.

Maddie and I under the largest Banyon tree in the word. In LaHaina.




We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity for such an amazing family vacation. We are already planning for our next trip.....

On the Go

My newest favorite picture of Maddie. Such wisdom behind those eyes. And I adore her little pigtails!!

We continue to be on the go....literally and figuratively. We have added a weekly trip to the indoor play gym in Clackamas. Maddie's favorite toy is a roller coaster ride!

Fall brings more baking and yummy veggies. Here was my attempt at a meat filled eggplant recipe that I saw on Rachael Ray.

We made a trek to The Dalles. It was a sunny day (albeit a little chilly) and we actually got the O'Parents to talk a walk around the property!
Maddie and Grammy on the thinking bench.

O'Pa is passing his train wisdom to Maddie. Choo Choo!

And of course we carved the pumpkins we so carefully picked.

Dada pumpkin, Maddie pumpkin, Mama pumpkin

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday we took our first family trip to the Pumpkin Patch!! We chose a place a little out of the way, in hopes that it would be less crowded, and it was perfect! They had plenty of activities, but it wasn't crazy busy, and the weather was cool and dry.

It was called Twisted Creek Ranch in Estacada.

We fed the fish in the pond.

We found a caterpillar! (Maddie is signing "eat" to say that the caterpillar is hungry, which is one of her favorite books--The Very Hungry Caterpillar.)

This is her first taste of Elephant Ear!

Petting bunny rabbits. We also fed chicken (bok boks), horses, goats.

Maddie picked her pumpkin!

They had a maze made out of sunflower plants. It was a treasure hunt to solve a word puzzle. It was cool!

We also jumped in a bouncy house, rode in a wagon, walked through the gift shop, petted a dog and climbed over hay bales. It was a pretty darn near perfect family day!!

Maddie's First Hair Cut

Maddie's hair has been growing so fast and her bangs were getting into her eyes, so we decided it was time for her first hair cut. We were all excited, we waited until a day when both Tony and I were home. We borrowed some scissors and got the video camera out..... All that hype and her first hair cut lasted about half of one second. We got one good snip across the front before she decided that she HATES the scissors and will not tolerate any more cutting. Of course we saved the locks in an envelope for her baby book. The bad news is that her bangs are super crooked and she won't let us fix them. Oh well, at least they aren't in her eyes any more.

See...She loves her new hair cut!

Happy 18 Months!

On 9/12/09 Maddie turned 18 months old, and is therefore officially closer to being 2 years old rather than one. We went in for her 18 month check up and here are the latest stats:

Height: 2 feet 9.25 inches (90%)
Weight: 27 lbs, 1 oz (84%)
Head Circumference: 19.25 inches (96%)

So basically Maddie is still topping out the charts in terms of growth. The doctor was also very complimentary of Maddie's development, especially verbal and creative. She got a completely clean bill of health! Next appt is at 2 years of age.

I thought she looked like such a big girl in the gown. She was drawing with crayons on the exam table paper. Also she didn't really even cry when she got her shots!

Photo Update of September

It has been a while since we have updated the blog...sorry for that. We have been busy updating our latest happenings on Facebook. If you are looking for more updates, pictures, and video we would encourage you to join Facebook and "befriend" us. We have pictures and updates on there on a near daily basis. However, here are LOTS of photos from last week. I was on vacation, we had a wedding to go to, Justin and his fiance Sam were here from New York, and we went to the coast. Add all that with the fact that the three of us fought illnesses of all sorts for a week (or more), we were quite busy. Enjoy!
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We spent last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at the coast. Wednesday was an awful day for weather...colder and rainy...so we were a little more low key than we had planned. We decided to visit a dairy farm....

Mommy and Maddie posing.

This is at the Tillamook factory...

Maddie enjoying the petting zoo....

Megan, um, not so much....

We wanted to go on a hike, but the weather thwarted that. This is the Octopus tree near Cape Meares.

Taking a little break on our little hike...

This is an out-of-commission lighthouse that was kind of cool...

Tuesday was a beautiful day at the beach...too bad it was our shortest day there.

Maddie and I after a dip in the ocean....

Grammy was not afraid of the water either....

As you all know, Maddie LOVES the water. Hello Hawaii in less than 2 months!

Three generations....

Eating wild blackberries at Ecola State Park...

Sightseeing at Ecola State Park....Maddie already wanted to go swimming at this point...

Aunt Sam and Uncle Justin...

Too bad Maddie is not looking at the camera in this pic...

Did I mention it was a beautiful day?

We don't really have any pictures from Thursday, even though it was an even better day. This was partially due to the fact that I woke up really, really sick on Thursday. I was aching all over and puking all day. Yuk! I hear that everyone played in the sand and water some more and relaxed by reading and playing games. I slept all day and missed out on most the festivities.

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On Labor Day weekend Megan's cousin James got married at his parents' property in Springdale (outside Troutdale). It was a large wedding! Maddie stayed home with our neighbors and she did a great job with them. The day after the wedding there was a lunch out there and we got to take Maddie to that.

This is Maddie with her cousin Emma playing an old pick-up.

And here she is with Ethan, Emma's little brother...

We were excited to see O'Pa and O'Ma at the wedding....

Almost as excited as seeing them out on the dance floor!!!

James and his Megan - They are way too cute of a couple!

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Of course, it is football season and we have had our ups and downs so far. Maddie did not go to the first home game as she stayed with Papa Randy, Robyn, and Jackson and she did great. We are debating taking her to next week's home game. We want to show her off, but also worry about keeping her entertained for 4+ hours.

I have saved the worst for last..... Maddie had a rough start to the month with a couple separate headers that caused some boo-boos on her head. The first was when she tried to get out of the stroller herself and fell head first onto the asphalt! Ouch! The second was when she faked Megan out and went head first off the play bridge on the playground at the park. Please do not turn us into child services....we promise we were trying to prevent these from happening! But, the pictures speak for themselves....

She is all better now, though. Thankfully she is a quick healer!