Tooning on the lake

Madeline calls this 'sailing'.

Julie and Madeline. Those are the super sassy sunglasses Julie gave her!

Me & Matthew. He was a wiggle worm on the boat.

Pulling out of the dock.

Aunt Melanie and Matthew pointing out the other boats.

Uncle Bobby and Madeline in the driver's seat.

Yes, that's Madeline driving the boat! She was so excited afterwards, took a little coaxing to get to her try it at first. Now she's asking how old she has to be before she gets her own car! (I told her to ask her Daddy since he got a car when he was in high school and I didn't). =)

Lake Weekend Teaser

We had a wonderful time at Crocodile Lake this weekend! We rode on the boat, ate good food and hung out with family. After the long drive back and unpacking I'm too tired to post all the pics tonight, but here's a teaser preview of what's to come:

Cookie Cake!

We took a cookie cake to school Friday for Madeline to share with her friends for her birthday. She wanted Minnie Mouse ears on her cake. It turned out really cute!

R&R Pics over the last few days.

Happy Birthday!

My Sweet Sassy Girl turns 7 on Saturday! Where did the time go? She is growing up right before our eyes and it feels like we just brought her home from the hospital not that long ago. She is full of life and all giggles and I hope she stays that way. I can't remember what things were like before she came into our family! She keeps us all on our toes. It makes me dizzy to think of how fast we've gone from baby toys, the ever present 'clack-clack-clack' of her baby swing (one of the very very few ways she would go to sleep), Barney and those Baby Songs DVDs to flouncy, sparkly clothes at Justice, Nintendo DS, animal bracelets and cut throat games of Uno! But it's comforting to know that she still loves her stuffed animals and Disney and is still not too grown to want hugs & kisses from Mommy and Daddy.
Happy 7th Birthday Sweet Girl!! We love you so very much!

Thanks But No Thanks

We are all aware of how much Matthew loves dogs and puppies. LOVES dogs and puppies. Everyone is also aware that Jeff, Madeline and I are quite happy having neither. Or any pets at all for that matter, particularly in the house. Tonight I asked Madeline what she would do if Matthew begged for a puppy, would she be ok with that or would she compromise on a cat (lesser of two evils). I asked "would you prefer a dog or a cat?" and she said "neither one." I said but what if you had to choose one and she said "I wouldn't choose either." ha ha ha

I'm sure this is not finished playing out and we are biding our time because the day is coming when he is going to want a dog. We'll see. I think pugs are cute when they are someone elses.... and corgis too, nothing larger than that.....

Happy 7th Birthday Madeline!

Madeline's 7th birthday party was at Build-A-Bear in the Galleria. Her friends that came are Kendall, Alyssa, Halli, Whitteny, Taylor and Kirsten. They had a wonderful time and it was tons of fun. I wish we had done this years ago! This is all of the girls with their bears for a group photo.

Madeline outside the store before the party began.

Picking out her animal. Since she was the birthday girl she was allowed to pick out any animal she wanted. The others were on a party budget! ha ha

This is their 'Bear Handler' explaining to the girls that the guests get to pick one of the $10 bears, they could have the dark brown on the light brown.

The Bear Handler sat in the floor with them while they waited for everyone to arrive. He mentioned that he was a school teacher and one girl asked why he was working at Build-A-Bear and he said "because I'm a music teacher in Alabama." ha ha

Getting ready to start the party. The only rule they had was that they were NOT allowed to use their inside voices! ha ha

Birthday Girl was the line leader. They played red light/green light as they wound through the store. Red light=stop, green light=go, yellow light=go in slow motion, purple light=everyone yell HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADELINE! It was a lot of fun!

He had all the girls sit around a hula hoop with their bears while he got the stuffing maching ready. They played hot potato so see the order in which they got to stuff their bear. Birthday Girl goes first though. =)

Each girl gets to use the foot pedal to control the air going into the stuffing machine that stuffs the bears. The little box on the side holds little red hearts to go inside. Before the girls put the hearts inside they rub them on their heads to make the bear smart, rub them between their hands to warm the heart up, rub them on their elbows to make them funny, kiss them to make the bears feel loved, rub them on their tummies so the bears are never hungry and lots more I can't remember! ha ha

Here's Madeline with her bear after he was stuffed. She chose this one because of the peace sign on it, she said it reminded her of the stuff in the Justice store for girls. Everything in there this summer has peace signs on it.

After the bears are stuffed and sewn up the girls take them over to a pretend tub to bath and brush them. The pedal on the floor works blowing air to 'blow dry their hair'.

Madeline bathing her new bear.

The Bear Handler had picked out a mountain of outfits for the bear beforehand that fit into our party budget and this also helped to keep the girls from running all over the store grabbing tons of stuff. Most of the girls picked swim suits for their bears.

Then it was time to dress the bears in their new outfits.

Every one got to pick out 2 bows to go one their bear's ears to finish out the look.

Meet Fluffy The Bear.
Also included was a framed group picture of the girls with their bears, complimentary backpacks and an autograph bear/pen for the girls to sign for Madeline. Then it was off to the food court for birthday cake.

Aunt Nancy and Jason sat in the food court to hold the table and get it set up while we were down at Build-A-Bear. Here's Madeline with the famous bear cake.

Happy Birthday!!

Blowing out the candle. After the Bear Handler had the ENTIRE store sing Happy Birthday to her at Build-A-Bear (which distressed her greatly) she did not want us singing it to her again so she just made her wish and blew out the candle minus the singing. =)

Matthew Carter had chocolate cake and frosting from one end to the other. These pictures were taken early on, it got much worse. He even had it on his back and up his nose.

Madeline looks so grown in this picture! Where did the time go?

Madeline and my good friend Joyce.

Signing the autograph bear.

Party's over. These are the cute backpacks the girls were given to carry their bears on their back.

Aunt Nancy with Madeline back at the house. Thanks for all your help Nan!

One of her gifts was a messenger bag with special markers to color the outside of it. She loved this and worked very hard on it so she could take it to school the next day.

I snuck back in her room to take her picture sleeping with her new Build-A-Bear but she caught me and woke up when the camera flashed.