Update

Just a quick update and some pictures of what we have been up to lately.

Madalyn got a gingerbread decorating kit yesterday as a present so we put it together today. It was really quite fun and I think Malcolm and I got into it just as much as Madalyn did! It was a fun family activity. I think it turned out pretty cute! In this present she also got an advent calendar with a little book of fun ways you can do an activity as a family to remember and celebrate each day of advent. I am looking forward to using it!

Daddy and Madalyn decorating the gingerbread house

All done!

We celebrated American Thanksgiving with just the three of us and it turned out to be a really great day! Madalyn and I stayed home all day while I did all of the cooking and watched the Macy's parade. It was fun watching it with her and showing her all the big floats. She loved watching the singers and dancers from the different musicals on Broadway they had perform and watching the Rockettes. She actually was trying to do their routine with them! It was so cute! Trying to kick her legs and moving her arms aound like them. :)

Mommy and Madalyn ready to eat a good Thanksgiving dinner
Daddy and Madalyn eating our Thanksgiving Dinner
Having some pumpkin pie

Our Journey Care Group started meeting in November and we really love it! We have a great group and it has been a great way to connect and share life with other families. A week ago we made cookies and some other treats for the staff at the school where we meet every Sunday. I am excited to see how we can come up with (and just have our eyes open) to how we can serve others. That's what it's ALL about! Clap! Clap! :)

Making cookies with our Care Group
Madalyn and her friend Rachel-They love to dress up as princesses!

Thanks for reading (lurking)!

Funny

I thought this video was great! This guy has some really good stuff! Hope you like it! I don't know how to get the actual video on here! Sorry!

http://www.whiteboydj.com/babygotbook.html

I don't know how to get the above to actually be a link that you just click on to get to the video! Help me PLEASE!

Pictures

These aren't the retirement pictures but just some I wanted to post and one I promised to show Bonnie.

Madalyn dressed herself today! You can't really tell but the pants are way above her ankle.
Madalyn took this picture of Daddy playing for us!
Madalyn got the camera and took some pictures. This is one of them. I think it is kind of artistic. :)
Here you go Bonnie! These are the curtains in the kitchen. Silly Girl in the picture!

Better Late than Never Halloween Pictures

Winter Princess
Trick or Treating in the snow!
Performing her Halloween songs at preschool
Cute Halloween outfit
Putting on a puppet show

It has taken me a while to get these pictures up here but Finally here they are for your enjoyment. I think I tried three times to get them on here and blogger was not cooperating so I gave up for a little while.

Madalyn was sick the Saturday night and Sunday (and Heather might say Monday :) before Halloween and then Malcolm and I were sick on Halloween. Yuck! We tag teamed it to get Madalyn to her preschool party and out trick or treating. Malcolm was able to get her to preschool. There was NO WAY I would have been able to do that the way I was feeling. I did feel better in the evening and took her out to get some candy. It was pretty cold! It was my first time trick or treating in the snow! I doubt it will be my last. Madalyn did great and would shout "Trick or Treat" at every door. Since then she has talked about when it's Halloween tomorrow and we can go get some more candy! I think she liked it!

There are some great pictures from the big retirement party that I need to post. I know you don't believe me but it will happen soon!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving and we had a great time at Steve and Rebecca's. We had a wonderful meal and fun visiting with friends and family. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures to post! :( I like celebrating two Thanksgivings. We get three turkey dinners for three consecutive months (including Christmas) and it is always good to be thankful so I highly recommend it! It is probably not good for the waistline but oh well! ;) I am hoping to have a big dinner to celebrate American Thanksgiving with some american friends here but anyone is invited. The more the merrier! I have never really cooked a turkey before (without my mom helping me) so it should be an adventure! I am thankful I am in a mixed marriage! :)

I have a cute Madalyn story to share. Yesterday, Madalyn found some of Malcolm's mints on his bedside table and she asked me if she could have one. I couldn't really see them so I asked her what they were and she said, " a Tic-Toc". It took me a minute to figure out what she meant. They were Tic-Tacs. It made me laugh!

I had better go and try and get everything done that I need to today. We are leaving on Thursday to go to Regina for Malcolm's Dad's retirement party. It should be lots of fun and I am really excited! Next time I blog I will post some pictures!

Fall Pictures

Today it was a beautiful Fall day so I thought I would take some pictures of my sweet girl! I think some of them turned out pretty well. I am hoping to find a pumpkin patch to go and take her picture at sometime soon as well. I just love the Fall! The crisp, cool air, the leaves falling, football, apple cider, wearing new boots (I just got some!), a holiday that reminds us to always be thankful and the list could go on.

We have had a pretty busy couple of weeks with lots of company and the launch of Journey Church. It was all pretty exciting! I will post pictures of some of those fun times later but for now just enjoy these of my beautiful girl!

Ballerina Girl

This picture was taken so Nan can see that mommy did a good job on my bun! :)





















































Today was the first day of ballet! Madalyn did not want to leave and threw a fit because she wanted to go back in and ask her teacher something. I think it was to make sure she could come back again next week! I would have let her go ask but she was already teaching her next class. She came home and showed me what she learned. I then had to do it too and she would correct me if I did it wrong! Too funny! We might have created a ballerina monster!

Preschool went okay today. I can't figure out why but she was not that excited to go and even said she didn't want to. She did not cry or anything but she wanted me to stay with her. I did for a little bit and and then left and she was fine. Her teacher said she did great so I don't know what is up. I guess we will just take it week by week. I did get a picture of her with her teacher who seems really nice. Hopefully tomorrow will go better!

Fun Pictures

This is the funny picture I was talking about in an earlier post that I think is so hysterical! Madalyn did not like me holding Siena and would Not smile. We got this picture that just says it all! Too Funny!

The next day we got some great shots of Madalyn and Siena! She loves her cousin whom she calls Baby Siena.









What a sweet baby girl!




















Fun in the sun!!





















I LOVE this picture! Madalyn still talks about Great Grandma, Grandpa & Auntie Lo and wants to pray for them every night.



Malcolm and Grandpa Reynolds

It was so great to see Grandpa R and visit with him a little bit. What a sweet man! Madalyn prays for him too!








This is the day they planted our tree before we got our grass. I thought it would be fun to take Madalyn's picture by it every year so we can see how much they both grow. That is if our tree survives! It is looking kind of sick. Do you like Madalyn's outfit? This was her day to pick if you couldn't already tell! :)

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was the first day of preschool for Madalyn and she did GREAT! She already knows her teacher's name (Mrs. Patterson) and she said that she learned about trains and that they go in a circle. :) Her teacher said that she did very well and had fun playing dress up with some of the other girls. I am excited she is in preschool too! I get to sign up to go and help and bring snacks a couple of times and they have some really neat activities planned throughout the year. It was kind of hard to leave her but she did so well and just went in and started playing after giving me a hug. I think it is because she is just getting so big! I went to the gym and had a good workout and it felt really good so I think this is going to be really good for both of us!


We got her swimming pool out the other day and she had a great time swimming in the fron yard!

I better go! More later!

Still Here!

I have tried to update and post some pictures a couple of times but I couldn't get blogger to load my pictures. I seem to think that I can't post if I don't have pictures! ;) What to say? What to say?

Madalyn is as sweet as ever! She starts preschool on Thursday and I think she is going to love it! Today we were at this children's store and she was playing with one of the dressed up manequin and she says, "Mommy meet my new friend". I think she is really going to love having some new friends to play with two days a week. Next Tuesday evening she starts ballet and she is going to be in HEAVEN!!! I am really excited for her too! I have to say I have always wanted to have a little girl to take to ballet class. it must come from when I was a little girl and my favorite book to read was "Little Mommy" about this lttle girl who took care of her dolls like a mommy. It was a Little Golden Book and I can't find it anywhere so if anyone has it or has seen it let me know. Fun childhood memory!

I have a show I like to watch - Rockstar: Supernova and it makes me laugh how into it I am! I think next week is the final show and tomorrow night we find out who the final four will be. I really like Toby! I thought Storm did well tonight and liked her original song plus she is from Portland. Just a fun mindless way to relax in the evening. Malcolm watches it too! It is a fun thing we do together.

I have such random blogs when I don't use pictures to guide me. I will try and post some soon with some Madalyn stories because this blog is suppose to be about her and I think it is much better that way! Later gators!

Holidays in Victoria and Washington

We left for our holidays about two and half weeks after we moved into our new house. We flew to Victoria and spent the weekend with friends and then rode the ferry to Vancouver, B.C. so we could drive down to Vancouver, WA. Thanks so much again to Bonnie and Todd for letting us use their car for the week! You guys are great! And of course, here are some pictures!

Our fun friend Elise had us take girls and guys pictures at the party on Sat. night
The Guys! Madalyn had a great time with Graham (the one who is holding her)
Taking a nap
The ferry ride is just Beautiful! And so are they!

I love the West coast but for some reason I always have to move away! I think heaven is going to be the Pacific Northwest for me so I can enjoy it for all eternity and not have to leave! ;)

This is when we met up with Auntie B and Uncle T and Baby R to gt their car. Cute picture of Madalyn holding Ronan.
Uncle Todd and Ronan wearing their matching shirts Bonnie Made. I thought this was a cute picture! I forgot to turn this picture around but you get the idea!

Here we are in Washington at my parents house playing with good friends!

Madalyn and the girls petting Deer Darlin
Yummy cupcakes (or pupcakes as Madalyn calls them)!
Malcolm having fun playing with Kirk and Matt!

Well, that is the first part of our trip in Washington. More pictures tomorrow!

I'm Back!

I don't even know where to begin it has been so long since I have blogged! We are all moved into our new house, have gone on vacation to see my family in Washington, have had our Journey Stampede breakfast and Day Camp, and we just got back from our vacation to see Malcolm's family. It has all been very memorable and fun but also very busy and I have not taken the time to blog about it all. It didn't help that we didn't have internet access the first month and half in our new house! Anyways, I thought I would just back track a bit update and share pictures as it all happened because I don't have anything too exciting going on now. :)

I will start with our new house. A picture tour of the downstairs.

Front Door






Our house is perfect for us and we are so blessed! I need to find some curtains (and money to get them with) for our living room because in the evening you can't sit on the couch because the sun is blazing throught the window! I also need some help hanging pictures! I feel like it is such a commitment once you put the nail in the wall. Too much pressure!!! Anyone want to come over and help? I have a sample of pink paint that I am going to try out in Madalyn's room so hopefully I can get going on that soon. I will post pictures when her room is all finished. I am praying for a project friend to move in on our street. I like to do big house projects with a friend to bounce ideas off of and also to make it more fun! I have lots to do!!! :)

I have the funniest picture of Madalyn that I can't wait to post but it is from the vacation we just took so it won't be for a while but it will help motivate me to keep blogging. Thanks for reading and commenting while I was gone! I want to be a better commenter! I really can't believe how addicted I am to reading blogs! It is just so fun keeping up with everyone! I really am going to go now! Next time I will try not to use so many exclamation marks! LOL (Lordy O' Lordy) That is what my mom thought LOL stood for and THAT makes me Laugh Out Loud! She is a funny lady! Enough!!! BYE!BYE!