He didn't like the chair, didn't like the drape, didn't like the spray water, it was all around unhappiness.
The Dum-Dum sucker made it a little bit better. A little.
And 2 suckers later it was all over. Isn't he so cute! Could eat him up with a spoon!
Jeff thought Madeline had been getting in his desk drawer and helping herself to the chocolate he keeps in there. When she said it wasn't her he asked if I had eaten it. Nope. And then here comes Matthew into the kitchen with a HUGE chunk of chocolate in his hand. He had been eating it all along! The pic above was just after that as we were getting into the car, you can see the 'evidence' still on his mouth!
This is what happens when Madeline is allowed to pick out Matthew's clothes. She assured Jeff that this matched and he either assumed she was right or just let it go.
Madeline and Jeff camped out in the backyard Friday night. They strung the cords out for the box fan, took the radio, flashlight and air mattress. If Matthew weren't such a little escape artist he might could have tried it too. 
Say hello to our new doorknob covers. We never needed anything like this with Madeline, but boys are a whole new world. Last Sunday Matthew was able to go downstairs unlock the bottom lock, unlock the dead bolt, open the door and get down all the front steps by himself within 2 MIN! He was sitting on the very bottom step!! Thinking about it still gives me chills!!!!
The scene of the crime.
This time she was on for almost 45min! She and her friend got their Nintendo DS out and played with each other over the phone.
Saturday was Aunt Nancy's wedding shower at Sue's house in Decatur. Madeline and Matthew went up with me. They liked playing with the little doll houses and people. 
Aunt Betty arranged the flowers. Aren't they gorgeous!!
Getting ready to set up.
We had tea that was soooo good!
Aunt Betty putting the final touches on.
The girls were especially excited to get the job of 'gift openers' as guests arrived!
Aunt Nancy playing the panty game.
Jason and his mom Jane.
Jason's sister Amber and her baby Kaitlyn.
Aunt Betty and Sue. The hostesses with the mostesses!
Sidney and Madeline. Partners in crime. Overheard them in conversation about hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works:
Nan with some of her oldest & dearest. Laura was her best friend in high school and Deanna was her room mate. 
Us girls.
The new Pooh:
The old Pooh:
So how young is too young to start having phone calls from friends? Madeline taked for 30 min with a school friend. I'm not ready for all of this 'teenager' stuff at 7!!
Madeline had a wonderful first day. She is learning her way around the maze of her new school. What a difference to go from 2 second grade classes to 14 second grade classes! There is a MASS of students at the new school.
She goes to afterschool care each day and is looking forward to taking art and gymnastics during this time. Jeff and I ate lunch with her today and she was doing very well. She's very excited about going back. Tomorrow we venture into the new world of 'the drop off car line'. So far she has never done this, I've always parked and walked her to class. Tomorrow she wants to 'try' to get out in the car line by herself and go in alone. Fingers crossed.
Thursday is Madeline's first day of 2nd grade at her new school. She has her outfit picked out and ready to go. She packed her lunch and her snack. Organized her new backpack and went to bed early. She's excited. I hope she has a great day and makes some new friends. Jeff and I are going to eat lunch with her tomorrow too.
She wanted me to braid her hair before she went to bed so it would be curly for school tomorrow. I'll take tons of pictures and post them tomorrow. 
Matthew reading to his bear in the rocking chair. So sweet I could just eat him up! I tried so hard to get a picture of him holding the open book up to his cheek so bear could see the pages but I missed it. Oh well.
The kids have a routine when they visit Dee. Madeline visits and makes rounds with the ladies out in the hall. Afterwards she comes back to Dee's room and organizes all the pins in the pin cushion.
Matthew would play for hours on her walker. He thinks it's a portable jungle gym. Dee said "why don't you get this boy one of these!" ha ha
Madeline then progresses over to the dresser to start organizing over there. No wonder Dee can't find anything when she has so much 'help'! ha ha
One of the best treats though is the bird book Aunt Judy sent to Dee. Madeline has to be very gentle with it but they are both enthralled! Each page is a pop up and plays bird sounds for the corresponding page. One page is penguins and Matthew LOVED it!
I see little glimpses of me in Madeline such as the Oreo incident of 2010. When I was her age and we had Oreos in the house I only wanted the white inside part and not the outside cookies. I would lick out the middle and leave the outside. So, I wasn't allowed to get another cookie unless I ate the whole thing. Consequently, I decided to flush the outside parts down the toilet and keep going back for more- yep, stopped up the toilet and I got caught.
Matthew was making his Greg and Anthony Wiggle dolls ride on his little black horse. He thought is was hysterical. I took the pictures after about the 56th time he did it. =)
Madeline loves to picnic no matter where she is. She wanted to picnic for lunch this day and put a blanket over the coffee table.
And afterwards I found the left over cucumber from the picnic hidden in the toy fishbowl.
On Saturday Madeline had her friend Alyssa come over for a playdate. Can you tell from the above picture that she was excited? She sat in the floor to wait on her to arrive!
I took them a picnic lunch on a tray down to the playroom. They had a fun time!
