The Lily Pad

Just a few pictures of Madelyn from Wednesday...an exciting day of playing and going to Target and the mall. We like to live on the edge. Chasing a raisin.... I needed to replace her beanbag chair because it was a casualty of the great stomach virus of 2009 and as soon as I put it in the cart she wanted to sit on it. So I obliged... It's such a hard life to be pushed around in a shopping cart on a cushy chair. Of course today she "baptised" her new bean bag chair by dumping 20 oz of water on it that her bear was "drinking". It's never boring around here!

We are taking steps to potty train Madelyn and this means that she is now obsessed with pee pee and poop. I go pee and it's "Mama pee pee?", Chris goes pee and it's "Da da pee?", Madelyn goes in her diaper and it's "PEE PEE!" or "POOP!". The other day I was trying to take care of a little business on the toilet and Madelyn was way too interested in what I was doing and the more I tried to distract her so that I could have some privacy the more interested she was. So much so that she eventually carried her stool into the bathroom and sat on it at my feet and rested her head on my knees saying "Mama pee?" I think I'll cancel the cable and we can have family potty night the next time we all eat Mexican.

Knock Knock... Who's there? Orange. Orange Who? Orange ya glad this isn't another downer post? There I told you a joke, you should be laughing. Love, your smartass daughter. :)

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this lately and have come to realize that I have a lot of fear. Fears that I think are irrational until I hear something on the news and then I want to puke. Recently a man left his two children in the car while he ran inside to grab dry cleaning. The car was running, the kids were OK and he could see the vehicle. Then he couldn't because it was stolen. With the kids inside. I wanted to beat the man about his head and face for this and as I saw the reunion of mom and kids 4 hours later (the car was left abandoned 7 miles from where it was stolen) I just couldn't imagine the horror they must have felt. They were 2 and 4 (or something like that) so old enough to be aware that they were in a car alone for 4 hours. Oh...and it was 90+degrees, those kids could have died! I live in fear of somebody breaking into our house and taking Madelyn and I wouldn't know it because I'm sleeping. I fear having to face somebody who breaks...

I guess I was a little harsh on the maker of the sign proclaiming the sexual activities of a married couple upon return from deployment. It just didn't sit well with me. The idea is cute but it just isn't executed as well as it should be. Women, you have 6+ months to plan your welcome home sign...I expect a little more. Of course mine just said Welcome Home! I love you! But whatever. Plus I have driven past this sign at least twice a week (usually much more) for over a month now and it's just on my nerves. Take it down already! Hey look! Here's a cute picture of Madelyn... taking care of some business and travelling with her most current entourage, a cup, hat, baby, glowbug and sunglasses. Every. Single. Trip.

This is a welcome home sign that somebody put up on base. I'm sure the Marine recognizes himself in the picture as do all the Marines that know him. There is just so much wrong that I don't know where to start. Is this sign from a jealous girlfriend and wifey's on the bed of a pick-up truck on her way to Mexico to be sold into slavery? Is this sign from his brother who took "care" of wifey while he was deployed? Is this just a sign from the wifey who likes to advertise that she is lazy and fat and probably has cracker crumbs and bugs in the bed because this sign has been up for several weeks. I won't even get started on "the ice", like there's only one ice? I bet it melted really quick. Maybe it's on the ice in Alaska? Or on the ice on the boat that she bought with deployment money and is sailing around on with the brother? OK, it's making my brain hurt because it doesn't rhyme or flow. It's just a bunch of statements on ...

Rushed home from shopping to attend an event in your neighborhood celebrating the retirement of one your neighbors, ran in the grocery store to grab a fruit tray, ran home and changed clothes (because you saw other neighbors outside more nicely dressed than you), changed your childs clothes, load your arms up with a folding chair, sippy cup, sun hat, baby doll, toddler, and fruit tray just to walk down the hill, knock on the hosts door and apologize for being 15 minutes late to then be told that you're a day early? Yeah, me neither.

Last week my friend Kristen took Madelyn to our Summer Fun class while I went to a class and while she definitely had her hands full (she has a 10 month old), Madelyn had a great time and I didn't want her to miss the activity that day. I really wish I could have been there because based on these pictures I know just how much Madelyn was LOVING milking a "cow" and it would have cracked me up. Here's Farmer Tassy and Bessie Cow... You want me to do what with what??! Um...OK, but I think I'll just touch this part up here. After squeezing out the milk (heavy whipping cream) they shook it up in baby food jars and made butter! I don't have pictures of this part, but I'm sure Madelyn was on board with it! Madelyn brought me a piece of bagle with some of her homemade butter on it...it was so special! Thank you Kristen for taking care of my little dumpling and allowing her to milk a cow.

1. Chris' dad visited for the past 9 days and left yesterday morning before Madelyn got out of bed. After our LINKS class we came home, took a nap and as soon as she woke up she walked around looking for "Papaw" and kept saying "Papaw, where?" 2. On Sunday night we decided to do an impromptu bowling trip. I was getting the camera ready to take a picture and Madelyn found a ball that she could pick up and took off! With as much as she loves balls I should have known she would have a blast. The orange ball is a 6 pounder. 3. Apparently it is slavery if I make my daughter hold the hose to fill up her own pool, so she found a better option. I never would have even thought the hose would stay that way! 4. Since I weaned Madelyn she is a whole different girl sleep wise. She requires a 2-3 hour nap at 12:30 every day and she sleeps for 11 hours at night. Before weaning she was an hour napper and it was flexible and she was sleeping 9-10 hours a day. WTC? 5. Potty tr...

We had a great Fourth of July, we stayed home and did some low key family fun. First I made Madelyn fill up her own pool Then I forced her to gnaw on a corn cob. Then we strapped daddy up to the wagon and made him pull her to the park above our house to look at fireworks. She was miserable Then the show started! There were jelly fish... and weird heart shaped monsters Some green mist... and Fraggle poms! It was way past bed time and all just a little too exciting for one little pumpkin... OK, so she wasn't actually asleep, but she did ride all the way home this way popping her head up randomly. All in all we had a great time!

So, I'm way behind on blogging since I've barely blogged my parents visit and now my father in law is visiting now too. I'm kind of in a writing funk so there we go. Here are a bunch of pictures that I think highlight their trip pretty well... Dad did things he isn't proud of... :) We saw really stinky rocks... Wait, there's a reason that big rock stunk so badly? We went to some wineries... Mom had a REALLY good time... We ate a lot of really good food. Kinda like this goat but it wasn't grass off the ground, more like fresh caught seafood, fresh guacamole, steaks, fried shrimp, and anything else that didn't eat us first. We saw a couple changes of command. But mostly we just did our best not to get pissed on. :)