Loving Spring!

I don't have to tell you she's cute. ;) Madison was forcing herself to make the loudest, goofiest laughs and would then run over to me to look at the picture and then back to do it all over again and again. Such a ham! And a little sweetheart. :)

Madi and Gem

Last weekend, Dylan, Madison and I put on our boots (well, not really) and headed to the rodeo. Madison didn't know what to expect - she knew there was going to be a lot of animals though, so the whole way there she kept asking if we were at the zoo yet. As we were walking up to the gate toward all the carnival rides, she could hardly contain herself! She was overflowing with excitement! :) It was too cute! We hadn't had supper and had a pretty long walk to the petting zoo and all the other kiddy stuff so she reminded us quite often of the animals. By the time we got to the pony rides, there was a long line, so you can imagine her patience level at that point! She picked out the pony she wanted to ride while in line though and I think the ride was well worth the wait for her. She ended up getting to ride "Gem", the white pony she had her eye on and was again super excited when she got off. We got to see some other really neat things including newborn calves, piggies, and chicks. Madison thought it was sooo "silly" that the baby piggies were "eating milk from their mommy". :) She just loves babies of all kinds!

After walking around the Farmers Market a bit, we headed inside the stadium to see the rodeo events. We ended up having great seats (right behind the chutes) and really got to see a lot of the action close up. We weren't sure how Madison would react but she LOVED it! During the steer wrestling she was shouting at the cowboy when the steer got away and got really worked up with the bullriding. Even though we kept her out way past her bedtime and even stayed for part of the concert afterwards, she still wasn't ready to go home!

Here are a couple of pictures of our little cowgirl. The first one is blurry but the only one I caught of her big smile.

Of all the toys this little munchkin' has, I am amazed at how much longer a box of dixie cupes keeps her occupied than anything else! Playing with these cups is her favorite thing to do! The other morning, I was able to take a shower and get completely ready without any interruptions, she was perfectly content setting them up, taking them down and setting them up again in different places.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Valentines!

Dylan is going to kill me...

But this is too funny not to post! Look at those faces!

Doll Night at Chick-fil-a!

A couple of weeks ago when Dylan was out of town for work, Madison and I had dinner at Chick-fil-a for a special "Doll Night"! She got to bring Ariel, who got her hair done, and she got some glitter on her face and her nails painted. She absolutely loves Chick-fil-a! Until Madison came along, I had no idea they had so many fun themed family nights and other family-friendly/Christian events. It's great!

Madi with friends, Jenna and Kailey

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now a New Year!

I finally uploaded all of the pictures we have taken since Thanksgiving! I forgot about taking half of them it has been so long! This poor blog has been neglected big time. Things are great on our end though! Madison is fully potty-trained (even through the night), absolutely loves her gymnastics class, is a social butterfly if I have ever met one, is already planning her 3rd birthday party, and has the biggest vocabulary of any two year old I know. ;) (Dear friends with 2 year olds...you know I must say this because 1) she's ours and 2) this blog is titled, "Mostly Madi". ;) All of our friends have little geniuses too!) As for us, Dylan is absolutely loving his new job - what a blessing! And I still find every way possible to have more things to do than there is time for, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Some of my favorites from the past couple of months...

Kids say the darndest things...

Madison, while looking at and talking to herself in the mirror -

"I not happy with you, SANTA!"

(This, "I not happy with you" talk has been used on Cobber and Brody, Dylan and myself. It is definitely a daycare thing, because it was new to us!)

On our way home from gymnastics the other night -

Madison: "Where are we going?"
Me: "We're going home now."
Madison: "I don't want to go home first."
Me: "Well, where do you want to go, baby?"
Madison: "To the store to look at shoes."

Tonight, while I am on the couch studying, and Dylan just took a gatorade upstairs where Madison was playing:

Madison (who came downstairs to ask me this question): "Can I have a gatorade?"
Me: "Why don't you ask daddy?"
Madison: "I can't. He say no."
Me: "Well....if he said no, you can't have any gatorade. Sorry..."
Madison: big sad frown followed by, "...oooook".

Just a couple of others worth sharing:

Madison: "Hey mommy, sing the Christmas song."
Me: "Oh Madi, my throat is hurting." (Seriously guys, it does, and frogs could sing better than me right now!)
Madison: "Oh mommy, come on. You can sing the song. Coooome ooon."

Me: "Come on, munchkin..."
Madison: "I not a munchkin, I a angel."

"I a biiiig girl!"

That is what Madison tells us a lot these days, and she is right! The most exciting big girl news we have is that Madison is potty trained! She has been in panties for almost three weeks now and doesn't even want anything to do with a diaper. We have to convince her to put one on at night so that she doesn't "forget to go potty while she is sleeping and get her bed wet". We'll work on that a little later, but for now, we are thrilled and so proud of her. It was really pretty quick and easy - once we decided to just make the switch to panties full time, she of course had some accidents, but within just a few days, she got it!

I wanted to share a couple of cute videos of her too - a couple of her reading in her room and one of her singing her "favorite" song. The song is sung by a girl that goes to our church. She and her husband and her brother-in-law just released a CD and Madison loves it. She got to see her sing and play the guitar at church one night, so she now tells me everytime we get in the car that she wants to hear "the girl with the guitar".

Disney on Ice

A couple of weekends ago, Landon came to spend the weekend with us. Madison was thrilled and Landon felt so grown up - he said over and over how he got to come without his mommy. I have learned that any time spent with Madison and Landon together can be challenging if they aren't kept busy, so we packed the weekend full of fun stuff! The kids had movie night and a slumber party on our bedroom floor the first night. On Saturday morning we met some friends at Chick-fil-a for breakfast and they played for about an hour and a half after breakfast. Then , Saturday evening we went to Disney on Ice! I really didn't know what to expect and wasn't sure if it would be fun for them, but they loved it! Madison's eyes were glued to the ice - I couldn't even get her to turn towards me to take a picture until intermission! Landon was so excited too - they both yelled out to the characters and waved, hoping to get a direct response. I have to admit that I had a big grin on my face the whole time too - it totally took me back to my childhood....Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King.... :) I loved (and still do) Disney movies. Dylan thought it was cool for the first 10 minutes or so. :) It probably didn't help that he had been out fishing all day, was tired, and sunburnt, but he was such a trooper!