Maddie Show reprise

This one's all about Maddie.

When I was reading this book, Maddie suddenly jumped up and ran away. She came back with her kitchen bowl and a big grin on her face... she wanted to wear it on her head too!


Our letter of the week: V is for Vegetable. (I was feeling guilty for caving to my cravings last week). V is also for Valentine, which we made with a potato stamp! Inspiration here. We are having fun with this!

Finally, a note to Grandma Marcia: Maddie is loving her dress-up trunk!

OLIVIA PARTY!

We were invited to a party in honor of Olivia the Pig because today was her cartoon debut on Nick Jr. Our friend Penni is such a fun mom--she is good at making every day things something to celebrate.


The kids were invited to wear red and come over for lunch...


... and of course they watched the first Olivia cartoon!


Ella joined the fun too. Anyone remember when Maddie wore this little Red Riding Hood? Why does time fly???

And now excuse us... we need to hit the library and check out some Olivia books!

Never a dull moment...

I used to think I took a lot of pictures... well, now I take even more. Thank goodness I have a blog to splatter them all over!

Ella is sooooo yummy!!! She is becoming a little socialite, grinning and cooing at me when I talk to her. It makes a Mom's work worth it to have such sweet little conversations.

She is also getting really strong and holding up her head.


Maddie is, as always, our favorite entertainment.

She loved helping Dad with our new vacuum.

This is for you Dana... what do you think is in Maddie's pockets?? :)

Letter of the Week

Maddie loves to learn. She blows me away with how quickly she picks up on new words and ideas and how easily she can recall things from yesterday, last week, or last month! If only our brains stayed that spongy forever.

My cousin Rachel introduced me to the blog No Time For Flash Cards. I like her idea of having a letter of the week. Maddie loves craft projects and helping Mommy with anything, so this should be lots of fun!

I made up my own project for the first one: C is for COOKIE!!! Really I just wanted an excuse to make cookies... :)

Little chocolate chip sneaker...

I think it was pretty successful. She can recognize C now and loved the one-on-one time.

Link

Sorry to be confusing... for all who wanted it, the link is in the previous post if you click on "handmade baby quilts." Let me know if it doesn't work for you!

Also, the quilting was done by a lady I found who has a big quilting machine. I think it was worth it to have it done professionally!

Thanks for all the nice comments! :)

DONE!!!

I realize this is a shameless appeal for praise... but these were too much work to not display somehow! I wanted to make something special for Ella since I made Maddie's crib set... and Ella was born to a life of hand-me-downs. I found this fabulous link for handmade baby quilts and thought it would be fun to make one for each of my girls for Christmas. When we were growing up, Dana was always the pink baby and I was always the blue, so I followed the same tradition and the second baby gets blue.

Everything was done before Christmas except the binding because it scared me. Well I conquered my fears and it was easier than I thought! I am a very beginner seamstress so these were a good challenge and I am happy with them!

I couldn't leave out a picture of the little one! She was so sweet all dressed up for church.

Funny Faces

Ella is our little doll.

She makes funny faces. :)

Andrews Amusement

Some happenings from our leisurely weekend...

Maddie got her first braid. I am tired of her pulling her hair out so I am trying new things...

It's a little late but I finally got Maddie singing on camera. She learns songs very quickly and is always singing a little tune!

Ella looked on while we ate blueberry pancakes. I almost had to eat those edible cheeks too! A little syrup and they'd be scrumptious! Meanwhile Maddie entertained us with her eye tricks. She cracks us up.

Maddie asked about my wedding dress and veil in a photo so we got them out. She enjoyed jumping on the bed!

Little Ella melts my heart with her smiles. This one looks a bit elfish with her headband making her ears stick out. :) She is getting so alert and aware of her surroundings.

It's hard to believe she will be 6 weeks tomorrow! At her well check-up last week she already weighed 10 pounds!! She is such a joy to have around.

You're gonna miss this...

Try feeding (or even carrying) a toddler and an infant at the same time. Or bathing/showering three people, two of which can't do anything for themselves and need constant supervision. Or getting everyone ready to head out the door: clothes, socks, shoes, bows, blankets, diapers, wipes, burp rags, sippees, goldfish, phone, wallet, toys, coats... some of which is bound to be forgotten and urgently needed later. FUN!

Needless to say, I am still adjusting to having two kids (the thought of having more is staggering!). Maddie loves her little sister to pieces and is getting smarter and more independent every day, and Ella is such a sweet and good little baby... but there are bound to be moments when the world seems out to get me! After one particularly rough morning, I heard this song on the radio...

"You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days

hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now

But you're gonna miss this."

Thanks, Mister Adkins, for a dose of perspective. He's right, I'm gonna miss so much about "this"! Maddie's silly grins, wet kisses, crazy hairdos in the morning... Ella's cross-eyed smiles, supple cheeks, and skinny little legs... crazy as is may get, these are definitely some good times.

Blessed Baby

Beautiful blessing, beautiful baby, beautiful day.

Following are the proud grandparents. Thank you to all the family who came to support us. Ella's blessing helped me to realize how blessed I am as well... I love my sweet little girls and my calling as their mommy.

Burrito/mermaid baby? You do what you gotta do.