Reading

Madeline has to read 15min each night for daily homework. She has discovered a book series in the library that she really likes called The Secrets of Droon. Sort of like a very young combo of Harry Potter and LOTR. I like to see her reading!

After the sleepover.... no captions needed......

Sleepovers have begun

We have entered the age of the sleepovers. These pics are from last Sat, Madeline went to spend the night with her best friend Halli.
She saw my 2nd grade school picture with my hair like this (or as Dee would call them, goat ears) like Princess Leia. She insisted on doing her hair the same way and when we got there Halli begged her mother to do her hair the same way!

This weekend she went to another one that was swim party/sleepover with another friend, Kat.

While Sissy was gone Matthew got to go to his favorite place, the Thomas train table at Barnes & Noble.

Cupcakes!

Madeline and Gracie wanted to make cupcakes with her cupcake maker..... they were so gross tasting I don't see why we couldn't have just made regular cupcakes in the oven. At some point we have lost pieces to the cupcake maker itself....... so it's going in the trash at first chance I get.

First Day of School!

First Day of School started out with Mother's special cinnamon sugar toast per Madeline's request.

Pictures on the front steps with the new backpack, haircut and outfit.

After school we went to Taco Bell for dinner! ha ha

Rio

Wed Madeline and I went to see the movie Rio. It was her last hoorah before the first day of school.

Back To School Prep 2

New 3rd grade backpack is ready along with her lunch bag. Aunt Nancy you probably recognize this lunch bag as you left it here months ago. Madeline has confiscated it to use for school this year! ha ha We'll replace it for you with a new one. We had a Hello Kitty, Hannah Montana and/or Jonas Brothers but she didn't want anything with a 'character' on it.
I also had gotten her some little things to keep in her backpack, little post it notes, mini mech pencils, a snazzy folder, etc. She is all packed and ready to go. She gets her love of school supplies from her mother. I always had certain color folders for certain subjects. =)



She's had this little tag on her school backpack since she started kindergarten. Jeff got it for her when we were at the beach right before Matthew was born. It's tradition. =)

She hasn't decided on her first day of school outfit yet, but she's got some contenders piled in the floor to look through.

Back To School Prep

Yesterday I took Madeline to Aveda to have her hair cut in preparation for school. She had 2" cut off, the ends thinned and a rinse put in to strip out the pool chlorine buildup. She had so many compliments from other people in the salon about how pretty her hair was. I always tell her that people pay a lot of money to get their hair to be her color and the lady in the chair next to her told her she was there for that exact color too!

Isn't it gorgeous! When she's in the sun it shines like spun gold!

That night we went to the school for Meet The Teacher Night. Her classroom is very nice and so is the teacher. She even has 3 friends from last year's class in there plus another girl she knew. She was more impressed with the fact that the mini refrigerator was right beside her desk! She also liked the reading section that had pillows, books and a big moon chair- that's her in the chair in the pic.

Monday

Madeline's summer camp ended last week and school doesn't start until Thursday so Jeff and I are switch hitting being home this week. Yesterday he was home and they went to see the new Smurfs movie.

More Sunday

After visiting Dee we had a second birthday party at the park. It was way too hot so only stayed an hour. Matthew had a little girl pull his hair pretty hard at the slide so he was ready to go!

We went down to Peach Park to check out some produce. These watermelons were HUGE. We got some good stuff but best of all were some peanuts that we put on to boil.

Dee and Matthew

Sunday Matthew and I went to visit with Dee.

He likes to put the Hawaiin leis on Dee every time.

Dee has 2 paperweights on her end table that Matthew loves to spin.

I tried to get a cute close up of their hands spinning the paperweights but Matthew is always full speed!

Train Party!

Today Matthew went to a birthday party for one of his best friends at school. It was at the Heart of Dixie RailRoad and the little boys were beyond giddy at being in the middle of all of those trains!


There was a Thomas train table in the visitors center to play with until the party started.

Preston was the Birthday Boy and Matthew and he were so excited to be together you would have thought they hadn't seen each other in months! They held hands and RAN to the trains squealing in delight!

All the party guests got a train ticket and we all got on the train for a ride before the cake/presents.

Tickets Please!! All Aboard!!!

Christian, Matthew, Preston and Xander.

At the end of the train ride the engine unhooks from the front and they drive it around to the back, re-hook it to that end and drive us back to the station. This is Matthew waving to the engine as it goes by.

The birthday cake was from Dreamcakes and was chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream frosting..... it was phenom! After Preston blew out the candles he leaned over and took a big bite out of the edge!

There was a second Thomas table to play on at the party.

The party was on an actual train car! So cute! I am adding this idea/place to my list for future parties!

Train Cheese!

There were trains everywhere. We had come here for Matthew's 2yr portraits and also for the Polar Express holiday thing they do but I had no idea about the birthday party option. They also do a Day Out With Thomas in April and an Easter Bunny train ride.

A day full of trains will wipe a little guy out!

New Best Dinosaurs

Meet Billy, Sam and Carl! These are Matthew's new dinosaurs that he got from Mamaw and he loooooooves them. Sam has gone to school with him twice, he's Matthew's favorite. The other night I watched him put Sam in his Water Day backpack so he would be ready to go to school with him! Many a night I have gotten into bed and found one of these guys under the covers.