Starting a New Christmas Tradition

I've been thinking about holiday traditions a lot lately.  Now that Maddie is 2, I think its a perfect time to start some of our own family traditions.  I hope this one sticks (pun intended!) because it was lots of fun!

We are going to decorate the Christmas tree tonight while we munch on Christmas tree Rice Krispie Treats and sip hot chocolate!
Maddie did a good job helping me make them.

And she  couldn't resist a little test taste...

YUMMMY! What are some of your family traditions for the holidays?

Back to Her Sprightly Self

Thankfully, we woke up yesterday morning and no longer needed this...

Maddie's fever finally broke and now she is back to her old, sprightly self again!

Who's Entertaining Who?

Yesterday we hit the road to travel up to Kansas to spend Thanksgiving with Kyle's family.  It was nap time so the plan was for Maddie to sleep a couple of hours while we listened to Dave Ramsey.  Life with a toddler never goes as expected : )  She tried to go to sleep but she just couldn't and the poor thing was crying her hurt cry : ( 
We stopped and gave her some tylenol, thinking she may be working on another tooth.  She was fussy the entire trip, except for a brief hour when the medicine kicked in and I transferred to the back seat to entertain her.  I grabbed Maddie's sunglasses and put them on to be silly and then she took them and knew exactly what to do...Entertain Me!

Turns out she was sick...she's been running a fever of around 101 but has no other symptoms.  As long as we give her tylenol, she is her usual, playful self, and the fever will drop.  Hoping its just a 24 hour thing!!

A Few of my Favorite Things

So, Oprah just did her favorite things show.  I started thinking about my favorite things.  Here are a few:

Canon Rebel XSi

I love, love, love my camera!  Best purchase ever.

Ugg boots

Finally! It's cold enough I can wear them again.

Red Wine (particularly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon)  and I really like the Mad Housewife label (mostly for the name, because you know I have mad housewife skills : ) 

My Seven jeans

Sewing Projects, especially ones for Maddie Rayne

Garage Sale Finds (woot, woot!)

 I know I could go on and on, but those are all the pictures I have.
It's Thanksgiving week and it would be weird to post a blog of favorites and not mention how grateful I am for the inordinate blessings in my life.  Blessings like my husband, my baby girl, my family, my friends, my house, my backyard, my morning coffee (hee hee - is it bad that it rates up there with family and friends?) 
So, Happy Thanksgiving!  Thanks for reading!  Enjoy turkey, stuffing, and all of your favorite things this week!

"Sing, Sing a Song, Sing out loud, Sing out Strong"

Maddie has started doing this new thing where she "sings".  When she hears a song she particularly likes, she turns around in circles, usually with her arms raised up over her head and her eyes closed shut and she moves her mouth like she's singing but nothing comes out!  It's hilarious.  I tried to catch the action, but I know the pics don't do it justice.  We really need a video!

Last Day at Big Cedar

Day Four

I have to admit usually the last days of vacation are always bittersweet, but this time it happened to be my favorite day.  We didn't go anywhere or do anything but hang out, armed with my camera and good company.  It was a perfect day.  It started out with Maddie getting a kick out of the bubbles in the jacuzzi tub.

Next we set out on one of the hiking trails...

Stopped for some fun leaf-playing...

found out Maddie fits in well with royalty...

saw how Big Cedar does Christmas...

this is my reflection in a giant ornament!

took a family shot...

and ended with lots of hugs and smiles from our little princess...

If you ever get a chance to stay at Big Cedar, I HIGHLY recommend it!  We had a great time!

Fishing vs. Shopping

Day Three

Something happens when you go on vacation.  Sometimes your mind goes on vacation too.  Dad and Kyle had been eager to go fishing since we arrived.  At least 15 times a day we would hear the computer generated voice on speaker phone announcing the status of the generators at the dam. "He" would say, "Heh-wo, This.is.a.com.puter.gen.er.ated.mess.age."  Every time the answer would be zero.  Which means nothing to me, but apparently translates to good fishin'.  So, the night of Day Two Dad and Kyle spent a good amount of time getting the fishing gear ready.  Kyle used his fishing vest, the kind with a pocket for everything. He meticulously put each and every thing in its assigned place.  So, you can imagine my surprise when Mom and I are getting ready for our shopping trip and I get a call from Kyle.  He wants to know if I can bring him his fishing vest.  What?  No way to explain it, except he had vacation-brain. 

Mom and I enjoyed a great day of shopping, you know the  I-think-I'll-adjust-the-budget-because-I-really-need-this kind of shopping!  I just love Target! I do have a small, tiny confession to make.  If you read yesterday's post, you know our ordeal with not trying on clothes before buying.  With a sleeping baby in my arms, I chose to forego the trying-on-clothes-before-buying-rule and snatched up a lovely dress.  Fortunately, it fits like a glove. : ) 

The Shopping Excursion

Day Two

We went shopping on Day Two.  Sounds like a lot of fun and normally it is, except we were shopping for things Kyle needed.  There have been countless times he has refused to try anything on and when we get home and it doesn't fit we are tasked with the unpleasantness of either returning the un-tried-on item or finding a new home for it.  The only thing I could talk him into trying on were dress shoes.  He squeezed them on over his bulky white socks and promptly said, "They fit, let's go." Usually I would have jumped on the chance to buy anything at 70% off (even Kyle's dress shoes) but we've been down this road before too!  I had to BEG him to try on the shoes with the silly little "socks" the store provides and guess what...too big!  So we didn't score a super great deal on anything he needed but we did manage to find a few things and as he tried on the jeans we bought for the first time this morning he announced that they really don't fit that well. (sigh) Oh well, I do have a sewing machine and I have hemmed a few pairs of jeans in my day so maybe we won't have to find these poor, forsaken jeans a new home after all.
Here are a few pics of Maddie from the day...

Let's go!!

Back from Big Cedar!

Maddie and I left with my parents last Friday to enjoy a little getaway in Branson at Big Cedar.  Kyle was in Dallas so he joined us on Saturday.  We had a really good time and the best part of this little getaway...we didn't really do anything!  It was just nice to relax and be with family. Big Cedar was beautiful.

 Day One
Maddie got to enjoy her first hot chocolate!

But only before she gave us some att.i.tude!

We had her all bundled up and when we got inside she was getting warmer and warmer.  When I took her hat and her coat off, she decided her sweater and dress should go too.  She was upset because we wouldn't let her take her dress off. : ) 

After enjoying hot chocolate, we went to play with the lincoln logs!

UH-OH!

Well, we had to use our time out chair for the first time the other day

Maddie did a really good job picking up before we had preschool because she always gets excited for it.  I told her we couldn't have preschool until we picked everything up and she worked and worked.  So, when it was time to pick up after preschool, she didn't really see how it benefited her and refused to pick up! 

I gave her several chances to pick up the "hay" and when she finally just walked away, I knew I had to do a time out.  It had absolutely no affect on her at all. : ) I set the timer for 2 minutes and of course she got up before the 2 minutes was up.  I put her back in her chair and she thought that was really funny and laughed.  Hopefully we won't need time out too much, and hopefully when we do, it will actually work!