The party decorations

We had ice creams (not shown), cones, all kinds of toppings, sprinkle donuts, cakes, etc. There were ice cream cone theme bubbles for the kids and cute little ice cream theme bowls/spoons to serve the toppings from. That's a toy ice cream truck on the table that plays a jingle. =)

These were supposed to be penguins....... oh well, I tried. =)

All of Matthew's sweet birthday cards for his baby book.

Getting ready for the birthday party!

Big Sister helping set the party table. Note she is wearing her ice cream shirt. The party theme is an ice cream parlor.

More about me

Found this in my email folder, thought it would be fun to post for all those who 'think' they know me well. =)

1. Favorite color? Green
2. Favorite season? Fall
3. Favorite ice cream flavor? homemade peach ice cream, and maybe then strawberry without fruit chunks
4. Number of kids? 2 angels
5. Best way to waste a day? hmmm can't remember the last time I had an entire day to myself but I would probably shop, eat, shop, see a movie, shop, eat again, shop somemore, end it in bed with a new book- to read totally uninterrupted.
6. Biggest vice? The afore mentioned shopping is right up there.
7. Favorite way to exercise? Not familiar with this term.......
8. Hometown? I lived in Lexington AL until I was 15 and then moved to Madison until I was 18.
9. One pillow or two? Two for sure!
10. Favorite restaurant? Much to my husband's chagrin it is PF Chang's. We don't go there much becasue he doesn't care for it. Sigh.
11. Favorite subject in school? History and Biology
12. Least favorite? Sorry Kristin, but it was all forms of math.
13. Favorite sport to watch? Another term I am unfamiliar with- unless Auburn is playing football. =)
14. Worst concert you ever saw? This one is easy.... in 10th grade I went to see Cinderella open for Nelson. I hide my head in shame.
15. Best concert? Paul McCartney
16. Favorite candy bar? Whatchamacallit, Zero and Butterfinger...... oh I could go on and on.
17. Favorite animal at the zoo? Assuming there are no manatees there, I like the hippos and the giraffes.
18. What did you want to be when you grew up? 1/2 the time I wanted to drive a cement truck due to the twirly back and 1/2 the time I wanted to play tennis because I loved the cute skirt.

And now you know the rest of the story. =)

Sweet Princess

I was on the computer after Matthew went to bed and Madeline came upstairs to our room. After a few min I noticed it was awfully quiet in there, went to check and here is how I found her. She was so tired after swim lessons she fell out on our bed, still in her princess dress up!
ha ha Sweet sweet girl.

We have our evenings back now

Today was the last day of swim lessons. No more having to stay out until 7pm every day. =) Today they put a little boat in the water and each child had to get in and be tumped over and be able to get either to the side of the pool or on top of the overturned boat. Madeline did it 3 times and was able to get herself out of the water each time. That's all I wanted out of the lessons so it was money well spent! =) Today was also the first day she jumped in without the teacher catching her and she was able to swim from the shallow end all the way to the deep end wall. Great job Madeline!

The Almost Birthday Boy

In just 2 hours he will be 1!! I snuck in to take a last picture before he leaves infancy for toddlerhood. =)

This is the sugar cookie cake he is taking to school tomorrow to share with his little classmates and teachers. I am leaving a camera so they can take lots of pictures!

Quite True

Conversation in the car before dropping Madeline at school this morning for a field trip to the McWane Center (she is very prone to wandering off):

Mommy: What is the very most important thing to remember when on a field trip?
M: Stay with my group.
Mommy: And also be sure to obey and behave for your group leader so you don't get lost. Do we go anywhere with a stranger?
M: No Mommy.
Mommy: And what do you do if a stranger were to try to grab you or take you outside?
M: Scream Mommy.
Mommy: You bite, kick, scream, whatever you have to do to get away. You DO NOT go outside with a stranger.
M: Mommy.......... I don't want to bite a stranger. if they are that mean that they would grab me then I don't think they would taste very good.

I fear this every single time I go........

Where has this year gone?

I can't believe that my Sweet Little Man will be 1 on Friday!! Where did the year go? This sweet sweet little boy has been such a joy. I still can't believe he is walking. It truly seems like yesterday that we were lining up care for Madeline when it was time to go to the hospital and he came so FAST! Happy Birthday Sweet Matthew!

How Old Are You??

Older Than Dirt Quiz:
(count all of the ones you remember- not the ones you were just told about)
I got a 10...... my family never threw anything away! ha ha

1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed a real bottle
5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive-6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20.Packard's
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered
0-5 You're still young
6-10 You are getting older
11-15 Don't tell your age
16-25 You're older than dirt

More swim lessons

Madeline and Hudson at swim lessons. Today she swam with the teacher to the deep end and back with no floatie! She does even better with the noodle. We are by no means ready for the swim team but I am at least getting more confident that if she were to fall into a body of water she could get herself over to the side to get out.

This weekend's catastrophic event

This weekend we took Matthew for his 2nd haircut so he would be ready for his birthday. I have entered the mysterious world of male haircuts. I obviously don't know how to instruct them on what I want. I told her to get it up off of his ears and TRIM the back. She asks if we want the clippers or scissors and I said whatever. Note to self, ALWAYS use scissors. The sound of the clippers totally freaked him out and he was thrashing so badly that he ended up with bald spots where he bumped the clippers! It looks like he had his hair cut with a lawnmower! It is too too short with holes in places. Now I can't have 1yr portraits done until it grows out. Sigh.


Before the Horror...

this one was before as well, it just got posted out of sequence. I haven't taken any of how he looks afterwards yet. I did notice that there were penguins on his drape though!

And the Barbie tradition conintues

When Aunt Nancy and I were little we would make elaborate Barbie houses out of books all over our bedroom floors. We had beds and blankets made out of washclothes, folded toilet paper pillows, etc. Madeline likes to do this now for hers. Here is where I found her last night before going to bed:

Madeline by the tiger lilies

Wish I was here.......

This is Sleepy Hollow, the place in Liberty Square (Disney World) where we get funnel cakes and stop to rest and 'take it all in'. One of my favorite spots at WDW.

Who would have ever guessed

that Days Of The Week Panties would turn out to be such an ordeal. I bought some for Madeline thinking they would be fun and cute....... turns out it is a crisis of Biblical proportions when the right pair is either not clean and/or ready for the corresponding day. Add this to the already hectic mornings we have getting ready for school. She thinks the world will come to a screeching halt if her panties don't match the day now. Add this to the list of things that were much easier to pull over on her before she could read.....Sigh.

Swimming lesson day 4

Madeline and her friend Hudson from school, they are in the same swim class.

Didn't realize her goggles made such a reflection.

Today's class was cut short due to someone throwing up in the pool. Madeline was fascinated and totally grossed out! ha ha

Swim lessons day 2

The Finger Prick

Today was Madeline's 6yr check up at the doctor. She told Madeline after her exam that there would not be any shots this time, just a finger prick and then left the room so the nurse could come in and do that. Madeline had an absolute COME APART. I said "Aren't you happy there isn't a shot??" and she says in a horribly sobbing voice "Mommy! Aurora got her finger pricked and DIED!!!!!!!! I DON'T WANT MY FINGER PRICKED!!!!!!!!!!!" It was sooooooooo hard not to laugh at this, I couldn't believe she had made that comparison! For those of you who don't know, Aurora is the real name of Sleeping Beauty and we all know that story. =) Needless to say she did not choose Aurora when picking out stickers at the nurse's desk.

First day of swim lessons

Today was Madeline's first ever swim lesson. She is taking at the local Y every day for 2 weeks. She swam at the end of this class with no floatie at all for a short distance and even jumped in to the teacher from the side! She swam like a little fish and loved it! (small fit was thrown when it was time to leave and she didn't want to get out of the pool). To quote Madeline, "My teacher's name is Miss Montana..... NOT Hannah Montana, just Montana." =) She was so excited to find a friend from her class at school is taking lessons as well and they are in the same swim class.