Father's Day

We went to Roseburg for the annual golf tournament that Tony plays in with his dad. We won't talk about how the golf turned out, but it was a fun trip and good to see that side of the family again. Tony and I enjoyed two date nights in Roseburg--drinks with high school friends, and the country club golf tournament dinner. It was a steak dinner and I decided that I wanted my money's worth, so I ate almost an entire steak. More red meat than I have eaten in the last 10 years. Moo!

This is Father's Day morning. Tony told me he wanted to "re-do" these pictures after he got dressed, but that never happened. Oops.

For Father's Day Maddie and I made him an impression of her handprints in clay. Again, I was pushed to my limits of artistic abilities. It was quite an ordeal. We had to go for the initial trip to make the impressions. The woman was very late meeting us there, and then of course Maddie didn't hold still very well and one of her handprints is a little smeared. Then it turns out that they misquoted the price. They told us it would cost one third of what it actually does, so we bartered to meet somewhere in the middle. Then they called to say the impression was done and we could come paint it. When we showed up it turned out that it wasn't done yet and we had to come back again. Next time I got smart and took Maddie's high chair. She sat and ate snacks while I painted as fast as I possibly could. I chose a color palate I knew Tony would like, and I came up with the phrase.... "Little Hands, Big Dreams!" There is one spot where the paint isn't coated evenly, but otherwise I think it turned out great!

Grandpa Ike and Divot opening a card with magnet photos inside! Divot taught Maddie to bark this weekend. She says "oof oof" and it is so darn cute!

Tony headed to Roseburg a couple days before Maddie and I did so he could enjoy some practice rounds of golf. We enjoyed our girl time. Here we are at the Rhodedendron Garden. I was all excited to go because I have fond childhood memories of running around the garden. However, it seemed kind of run down, the Rhodies were no longer in bloom, and there was duck poop everywhere! So, we left and headed to the park. I actually remembered to grab some bread for us to feed the ducks. This was the first time that Maddie understood how to throw it to the ducks. She would break off a little piece, throw it, and then jump back so the ducks didn't get too close to her. She did that for a while and then she ate the rest of the bread.

I feel like the quality of pictures we have been able to get of Maddie is dwindling lately. She is so active and so fast. She really hates posing anymore, so unless there is another adult to hold her, she is hard to capture on film.

Teething is still going strong. Maddie cut her upper, right molar over the weekend.

Home Improvements

Here is a happy news update to our painting contractor nightmare story....

Our house is finished and it looks awesome!!! We are so grateful for our friends Michael (who did all the painting by himself in three days!) and his wife Melissa (who was at home with the kids for three long days with no husband to help with dinner or bedtime.)

We are very happy with the paint job and the color that we chose. This was one of those times that even though we were very frustrated in the middle of it, we just had to remember it was a small piece of life and we overall are very fortunate.

BTW, in case you are wondering, the scary contractor still has not come to pick up his stuff. Apparently he was all bark and no bite.

Another project that was finally finished! I wanted to get letters up on Maddie's wall before she was born, but it never happened. For those of you who know me, I get heart palpitations when I have to do artsy crafty projects. So, thanks to my dad who bought the letters, and HUGE thanks to Robyn who did all the crafty work on the letters. Actually, she made me learn how to tie a bow with the ribbon. Somewhere on there is the one that I successfully tied...so I can tell Maddie I helped.

Work Party

Now that the house is freshly painted, we are excited to have people over. Last Sunday we hosted a BBQ for Tony's staff from the bank, and a few other friends and family.

Tony's former service manager, his wife, and little Noah (9 months)

One of the tellers and her husband

Maddie's first popsicle (made from 100% fruit and vegetable juice) and her first juice


(Maddie finally has enough hair to rock the barrettes. They were a gift from one of Tony's employees. I love it because people don't ask me if she is a boy when she has clips in her hair.)

She loved the sweet taste of the juice but HATED how cold it was. But she kept going back for more.

Maddie's first kiss (to a non-family member). Right now she is a cradle robber, but a 5 month age difference won't matter in a few years, right?

It was a super fun BBQ and good for Tony's staff to get to know each other outside of work. And, I might just offer to host again if Carla brings the ceviche again. Yum!

Life's a Zoo

We have had a nightmare contractor experience. We hired somebody to paint our house. He turned out to be CRAZY, worked as few hours a day as possible, drank on the job, and also was doing a crappy job when he was here. He lied to us about his license and a few other things, so when we found out and confronted him, he started making up really weird lies. He said that he had an audiotape of me calling him the "N" word and some other term that is derogatory against Hispanic people. Well of course that isn't true...and it doesn't even make sense as he is a white guy! We ended up firing him. Then we lived in fear for a few days that he was going to retaliate either against us or against our house, but so far he has not shown up again. Not even to pick up the stuff that he left here. Unfortunately we had already paid him some money that we will now not get back, but at this point we are willing to cut our losses to just be done with it.

Here is a picture that we took to show how he couldn't even paint a straight line. Also you can see the new color we have chosen for the house. It is called "Thatch Brown." We are actually quite happy with the color. And, in the end things are going to work out just fine, as they always do. Our awesome friend, Michael, is going to paint our house for a very reasonable price, and we feel good about it since he and his family are saving to adopt a child (or children) from Ethiopia.

I am so thankful Maddie has no idea what is going on. Here she is just playing in the yard as we are surveying the house and taking pictures to document everything.

This morning we went to the zoo to take advantage of $2 Tuesday. We met our friends Becca and Jack. We had a great time. We started out seeing the animals of the Pacific northwest, then went to the sea animals, and ended with a live bird show with eagles and hawks flying right over us! Unfortunately Maddie got tired then and let it be known that she was ready to go. NOW! But it was good timing as the zoo gets crazy busy on $2 Tuesday. That is why we go right when the open and leave before it gets too crowded.

Two owlets in the big nest!

Becca with her hands full!

self portrait!

In front of the duck pond.

riding the camel

If I may indulge in a little brag session...Maddie's verbal comprehension skills are taking off!

Today I was trying to entertain Maddie while we were getting ready for the zoo. I was going through all the animals and the noises they make. Right after I did cow, she went into the living room, grabbed her stuffed cow, and brought it to me to make it moo. Smart girl! She also can differentiate between three choices now. I held up three stuffed animals and asked her which one was baby. She picked up the baby and began rocking it. Oh yeah, she has also learned how to hiss like a snake. So cute! AND, she knows where her eyes, ears, head/hair, nose, mouth and belly button are. If you ask her where her belly button is she will lift up her shirt and point!!

One other fun thing you might enjoy. Click here for a link to my friend Sarah's blog. She has a posting dedicated to the BBQ that we hosted for their family last weekend. She captured some great moments!

Sickie

Unfortunately Maddie has been sick for the past two weeks!!

It started off exactly two weeks ago today with a cough and runny nose. At that point she still had energy and it just seemed like a mild cold. Then on Monday of the three day weekend, she developed a fever before bed. When she woke in the morning on Tuesday it had jumped to 102 degrees. I called the nurse and they advised me as long as she wasn't dehydrated to wait it out at home. So all day Tuesday she had a fever and I held her all day long and she took like 6 naps on my chest. Poor thing was burning up and had no energy. That night the fever got up to 104 at one point and they still weren't concerned when I called back again. The next morning the fever was still there and she also was super fussy and seemed uncomfortable like she was in pain. So I made an appt for 10:40 that morning. Wouldn't you know it by about 9:30 her fever broke and when we saw the doctor she was fine. No fever, no ear infection, no nothing. She screamed the whole time the doctor was examining her though and I was feeling like taking her in was a mistake. Then on Thursday her first molar made a tiny bump above the gum line on her lower left side. On Friday the fever came back (but only at 100.8) for another 24 hours. I called the doctor again on Saturday morning and they still weren't concerned.

The fever is now gone, the cough and runny nose are still lingering, and the bottom right molar is also making an appearance. So my best guess is that she is teething and also caught a little virus at the same time. Nothing serious, but enough to make her very uncomfortable and fussy. So we have been giving her lots of extra TLC, especially in the middle of the night when she has been waking up, and a fair amount of Tylenol and Motrin for the pain. I hope we are on the mend. I want to see her feeling 100% soon.

In the mean time, with the exception of the days she had the high fever, we have been getting in a lot of fun play time. Here are some pictures:

I had to pull out the front pack the other day when Maddie was really fussy and I walked her around til she fell asleep. Later she carried her baby in it.

Look at the matching dress and purse made by Mimi!

What's inside the purse?

Maddie's cell phone.

"Hello. Who is it?"

Another fun thing that she has been doing is instead of getting out of bed right away when she wakes up from a nap, she is grabbing all her stuffed animals and playing with them in her crib. It is really cute. I turn on her music CD and we sing and she plays for a good 20 minutes. It gives me time to get ready in the morning!

As if we don't have enough going on right now, we are getting our house and patio awning painted. We are so looking forward to getting rid of the ugly dark trim! We have also been busy in the yard, so we are ready for backyard BBQs this summer!