The Sweet Life

Christmas in Indiana

2013-03-01T09:09:00.000-06:00

We travel to Indiana each year to see my family. For Jeff, coming from a small family I know that my big family holiday gatherings were a little overwhelming for him at first, but I think after 7 years he's finally getting used to them :-)

For the first time in the 6 years that I've lived in Texas we finally had a good snow while I was home! It was so beautiful! Its super nice for us because we get see the beauty and then go home to 60 degree winter temps ;-)

Maddox loved the snow. Especially the first day. After the second snow it was pretty deep so when he would fall in the snow his face would get snow on it. Then he would try to wipe it off with his snow covered gloves. The first day though, Jeff showed him how to make and throw snowballs so of course he loved that!

And of course there were more presents!

Holy Crap!

2013-02-27T21:32:00.000-06:00

I'm blogging again!! Its only been 3 months so i'm not that behind ;-) There has been a lot happen in the past three months obviously, as life happens rather you blog about it or not. But I thought I'd upload some photos from Christmas so when I look back at this blog I don't think we skipped Christmas of 2012 or something.

One major fail on this Mommy's part. Going all the way to Indiana with only one battery for my camera that only had one bar. FAIL! Oh well, it was kind of nice to participate only and not from behind my camera the entire time. I still managed to get photos from our little family Christmas we had at our house before traveling to Indiana and I also got some from our Christmas with Jeff's family and mine, just not too many.

Does it fit?? He was so cute, after he saw both Jeff and I open up clothes and hold them up to us, you know, how everyone automatically does! He did the same thing with the next clothing item he opened up.

Hmmm....Santa is kinda weird

Jewlsie and Maddox!

I'm going to get you mom!

Ahhh!

haha!

No seriously, I'm going to get you!

Uncle Chris got him the car and he loved it so much he wouldn't get out of it. So he opened a few presents from inside his car

Batman pj's! Yea, and we do Christmas in Texas in shorts

Maddox's gift to GP. Of course it has a photo of himself on it. How self centered he is!

At the Christmas Train with our friends

Opening his stocking! He was so funny, he spent so much time looking at each thing and then he'd put it back in his stocking.

He loved opening presents this year. He was a big help to everyone when it came to opening ;-)

So excited to see this broom! And once he opened it he was happy, he didn't care to open anything else...ha!

Aunt Jackie, Uncle Mark and cousin Miles stopped by

Kisses!

Ok, I realize this post is getting crazy long. So ending it here! Indiana Christmas to come! Along with super dooper cute videos!

Pork Enchiladas

2012-11-16T12:22:00.001-06:00

So this week I've not made it to the grocery. Maddox has been sick and grouchy, we've been busy and I've just not felt like it. So I've been "Pantry Cooking"! I've just been trying to come up with things to make from what we already have in the pantry and freezer. I think I hit this one out of the park though, Jeff must have told me 10 times how much he liked these.

It all started with leftover Pork BBQ that I had in the freezer. I wanted to do something different than just BBQ sandwiches. We had tortillas, so I figured I could do something like an enchilada with the pork!

Pork BBQ Enchiladas

2 1/2 cups of shredded pork BBQ (Pork BBQ recipe below)

1 cup brown rice

1 TBS chopped chipotle chilies in adobo sauce

1 cup shredded cheese plus some to sprinkle

16 small tortillas

4 TBS peach salsa

1. Defrost pork, when its defrosted throw in a pan on medium heat.

2. Make rice according to package directions.

3. As pork is warming, add the chipotle chilies. These are pretty spicy, you may want to just use the sauce, or use less if you don't like spice.

4. Combine the cooked rice and pork mixture, add cheese

5. Spoon mixture into middle of each tortilla and roll them up.

6. Top with shredded cheese and peach salsa.

7. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees

You could use bigger tortillas, I used small because its what I had. Pretty easy and delicious meal!

Pork BBQ

5 lb pork loin

1 can beer (darker the better)

1 medium onion (you can either chop or slice the onion)

Salt and Pepper

BBQ sauce

1. Place the pork loin in the crock pot, pour in beer, you may not need the entire beer, make sure its covering at least half of the loin. Add onions. Salt and pepper. Top with BBQ sauce. I usually squirt it back and forth a few times (don't worry, you'll add more sauce later)

2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

3. Remove from the crockpot and shred the pork. Drain liquid from the crock pot and add pork back in. Cover with more BBQ sauce (as much or as little as you want) and mix well. Leave in crockpot on warm.

We usually eat it for one meal and maybe leftovers the next day at lunch then I portion it out and freeze it for those quick nights where I didn't have time to cook or just don't feel like it.

Halloween

2012-11-02T21:05:00.000-05:00

....was kind of lame. Whoops! I'm probably not supposed to admit that one huh?!?! Maddox has been sick this week. Snotty, coughing and a low grade fever on Monday and Tuesday. We took it easy this week. Although I have to say, taking it easy for Maddox made it super easy for me to get things done around our house! I got lots of projects completed while he got better :-)

Wednesday was the first day he was really feeling better. Jeff had to work late and traffic was bad so by the time he got home, we ate dinner, I threw on MD's costume, it was time to get trick or treating!

Disclaimer! I couldn't find my camera, but I'm not going to lie, I also didn't look for it. HA!

I know this is pathetic. I'm a photographer, we were in my home (in front of my studio actually) and I have to share with you a picture of the back of my neighbor's camera of a photo that her husband took of our boys. Photographer FAIL ;-)

Also, I feel like we should have done photos then given them suckers (with the wrappers still on them...yep!) (from May....shhh, don't tell anyone we gave out candy from MD's birthday party)

Passing out candy to trick or treaters, and stealing suckers any chance he got

Super lonely little boots....

So yea, this is the best photo I got. He kind of looks like he wants to punch me.

We had a good time, even though I have no photos to reflect that. We went to a few houses in our neighborhood then sat on our porch and handed out candy. We didn't have a ton of trick or treaters, I think less and less people are handing out candy in the neighborhood so other people outside of the neighborhood aren't coming anymore, which I'm probably not going to complain about. We were left with a bunch of delicious candy because of it ;-) We ended up coming inside around 8:30 because we were getting eaten up by mosquitos. That's something that never happened when I was growing up and trick or treating in Indiana. We also didn't have to worry about over heating on Halloween either.

Uncle Chris got Maddox this Auburn Tiger costume last year, I just found it last week when I was organizing closets and it fits him perfectly. He looked super cute in it! I was going to put him in it for a Halloween party we were supposed to go to, but we ended up missing because he wasn't feeling well.

War Eagle!

Fall in Pearland

2012-10-26T17:22:00.002-05:00

A little different than fall in Indiana, by just 25 degrees or so :-)

This week we did story time at the Pumpkin Patch! Of course Maddox wasn't interested in smiling for photos, but he was interested in throwing the small pumpkins. We didn't really stay too long...

I'm going to guess that 1 second after this photo was taken that pumpkin was being thrown

Just a little dirty

This week we also got to have lunch with Jewelsie and go to the Children's Museum!

Lunch at Tiny Boxwoods

We're REALLY into dipping. If I give him ketchup he'll eat everything. Who knew that strawberries and ketchup were good together?

Playing with Grandma Jewelsie

And yesterday we did the most fall-ish activity I can think of. We went to the BEACH! :-) It was a beautiful day and honestly in my opinion this is the very best time of year to go to the beach. A little bit cooler weather and no crowds! Jeff was in Gavelston for a work meeting for two days so we went and hung out at Hotel Galvez for a little bit until he was done and then went to the beach for a little bit.

There was a sailboat race and there were at least a hundred boats out there. It was beautiful!

First (and hopefully not last!) family beach day

I did take the time to snap a few fall photos of Maddox this week. He actually did really well, and I was very surprised seeing as this is the first time he's ever cooperated in my studio!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall! I know we are!

Corn & Bean Fritters

2012-10-19T13:01:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I made this recipe once when my sister (the vegetarian) was in town and surprisingly, Jeff loves these things, and so does Maddox! So these are a big hit at my house. I got the recipe from a Food magazine so its currently on a ripped out magazine page that I'm afraid I will lose so here goes it preserving a family favorite :-)

Corn & Bean Fritters

1 lb grape or cherry tomatoes

1 Tbs vinegar

1 can of sweet crisp corn

1 can of butter beans, rinsed and drained

1 - 6oz pkg corn bread mix (I use Jiffy)

1 egg

1 tsp chili powder

Olive oil

1. Coarsely chop, halve or slice tomatoes. In a small saucepan combine tomatoes, vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 cup water. Cook covered, over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

2. For fritter batter, in a large bowl, mash beans. Add corn, corn bread mix, egg, chili powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 cup water, stir to combine.

3. Heat a large griddle or 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tsp oil. Drop four 1/2 cup scoops of batter on griddle at a time. Cook 4 minutes per side.

4. Serve fritters with warm tomatoes and parsley or cilantro!

Confessions! I don't serve with tomatoes on top! I also do not add the water to the batter, but since it calls for it I wanted to put that all in the recipe :-) I also only cook 2 a time, just so they don't get all jammed up together and it gives me more room to flip them.

Enjoy!

Fall in Indiana...Oh so nice!

2012-10-11T16:30:00.001-05:00

We just got back from another trip to Indiana! I feel so blessed that we've been able to go home so many times this year. Sometimes it pays to be the one that lives so far away, everyone misses you, they are so happy to see you when you're there, people make a big deal out of you being there. I'm sure if I actually lived close there would be more fighting and less hugging ;-)

The main purpose of this trip was to meet the newest addition to our family, baby Miles! And oh how sweet he is. He's a cuddle bug to the max and I loved it! I told Mark and Jackie both not to feel bad about letting him sleep on them because you never get that time back and no matter what some books say, I promise he will not be 2 and still sleeping on your chest.

"Hellooooo, why aren't you talking to me!"

"Wait a second, you want me to HOLD him? Uncle Mark, are you crazy?"

"Ah, this is not so bad, he's pretty snuggly"

"Aunt Victoria, please save me"

These two had so many matching outfits that we didn't even get them in all of them :-) I'm sure this will not be the last time that they match though. I see christmas pajamas from this year until, oh maybe 18 or 25 if they'll let us.

We spent a lot of time at Mark and Jackie's house and it made me realize just how much my entire day, every day revolves around Maddox. To say I got frustrated with him while we were up there would be an understatement. He's into anything and everything, and while it doesn't bother me at our house, it bothers me when we're somewhere else. One night before we were getting ready to go we were looking all over the house for his Teddy Blue. We looked in all the closets, cabinets, drawers, boxes, the dog crate, it was no where. Finally Mark found it in the bottom of the trash can. Whoops! Even though he threw him away he would have been awfully sad that night when Teddy wasn't there to keep him company!

We also did some fun stuff while we were up there. I really wanted to go to an apple orchard because we don't have them down here. It was a lot of fun and the weather was actually hot! As soon as we got there Maddox picked an apple up off the ground and started eating it.

"Run Uncle Randy!"

Someone really loves their Uncle Randy

They also had a pumpkin patch! But the apples were way tastier ;-)

They also had a little play set at the apple orchard and Maddox loved the slide! It was a big slide and it was really fast. I think Aunt Angie was a little more worried than Mommy. But that was probably a good thing.

Who's happier? Maddox or Aunt Angie?

Miles' first trip to the neighborhood park!

We were all very sad to leave. But thankfully we'll be back in 2 and a half months for Christmas! Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!!

Happy Birthday Miles!

2012-09-23T07:13:00.002-05:00

We are sooooo excited to welcome Miles Ryan into our family! My brother and his wife had him on September 21st (his due date!). We cannot wait to meet him next week. Thank goodness I decided to go up next week and not wait until mid October like I had originally thought. I'm just not sure I could actually make it that long without holding this little guy!

I was extremely excited when Mark and Jackie told me that they were expecting, but I'm not going to lie, I was even more excited when they told me that it was a boy! I can just imagine all the trouble that Maddox and Miles are going to create and get into as they grow up. And if neither one of them is blessed with a brother at least they'll have each other!

The Many Faces of Maddox

2012-09-20T12:39:00.000-05:00

No matter where we go, or what we do, Lily is always there with us ;-)

Achoo!

Are you looking at me??

whoo hoo!

Baby Proofing

2012-09-14T16:14:00.000-05:00

.....is never complete

We have a gate for the bottom of our stairs, but I really do not want to actually install it properly because it will put holes in our woodwork, so instead, I'm improvised.

Please excuse the massive amount of dog hair. UGH! I cannot wait for her to be done shedding this summer coat, its out of control!

It was ok for a long time, he never bothered moving the gate, until we had some friends over and their little girl moved it and walked upstairs. Lily used to do it all the time, but for some reason Maddox never tried it until he saw Natalee do it :-) I had to weigh that nightstand down because he would just move that out of the way too. On the other side (where my $75 craigslist buffet is now...woo hoo!) We did have a bench there and he would just move that out of the way and go up the stairs. He's actually very good at the stairs, but it still makes me nervous to let him have free reign, because he likes to play on the stairs, not just go up and down. Side note: I found that buffet and bought it, telling Jeff that I planed to refinish it and then sell it. Funny thing, he knew I'd keep it even before I knew I'd keep it ;-) It WILL be refinished some day (month, year) soon!

We have more cabinets than we should with no locks on them. Either they broke, or we lost them (when I repainted the island) and we say all the time, we really should put new locks on those. Its not that there is anything that he could hurt himself with in any of the open ones, he just makes huge messes and gets dog hair on everything. EVERYTHING gets washed before we use it in those bottom cabinets!

We had to move the trash and Lily's bowl into the laundry room and keep the door closed, but whenever he gets a chance he runs in there, dumps Lily's bowl and I'm sure throws something away. He also loves to things into the washer, we've washed more than one dog bone, toy and bowls. Starting the washer and dryer is always fun too, thankfully the washer won't actually start unless the door is locked. I started letting him help me load the clothes and then I tell him what buttons to push to get it started. Ding dong head me finally figured out that there is actually child lock buttons on both the washer and dryer, which saves me from doing the same load of clothes multiple times because I don't know where they were in the cycle when he shut the machine off :-)

In a nutshell he is into everything we don't want him to be into. But we still love him, how could you not love this sweet face :-0

2012-09-04T11:39:00.001-05:00

In the mornings Maddox usually wakes up long before I actually get him out of bed. He plays with his toys, talks a lot, blows his airplane mobile to try and move it. Then he'll finally get annoyed that I haven't come to get him, throw all his toys out and start crying. That last part doesn't happen every morning, sometimes I just go ahead and get him before he gets to that point, like this morning. I walk into his room, he's on his back with his Teddy Blue just talking away. He spied me thorough the bars on his crib, rolled over on his belly with his head buried in Teddy and pretended to be asleep! He's done this a few times now, to both Jeff and I, and it totally cracks me up! He'll lay there for a good minute or two and then he looks up with a huuuuuge smile on his face.

Thankfully, unlike his Momma, he is a morning person :-)

In the past few days he's really gotten into his books. Thanks to Granny, he has TONS of books. Used to, if I would try to read him a book he just wanted to slam it shut then open, then shut, then open (you get the idea!) the only book that he really ever payed any attention to was dog book. But recently he's been sitting down and actually looking at his books, page by page, and he'll hand me a book and actually pay attention, sometimes even gets in my lap, while I read it. This has been a big change. We've been working on counting 1-2-3, and colors, shapes and animal sounds. If I ask him what a cow says he goes "mmmmmmm" So far, cow is the only one!

He is so, so into Elmo again. He kind of lost interest, but I had downloaded the Another Monster at the End of the Book with Elmo and Grover on my iPad. He wasn't really interested in it until just a few weeks ago. Now, he could read/watch that book 100 times a day if I let him. We've had to take a break from the iPad because he was having meltdowns when I made him put it up. For the first time this past weekend we put Elmo on in our bedroom in the morning and Jeff, Maddox and I laid in bed while he watched. It was a nice way for Mommy and Daddy to rest for a few more minutes :-) I don't want him to be so dependent on technology to entertain him though, so TV and iPad time is very little.

He loves, loves, loves music. He loves to dance, and "head bang" to the music. We realized last time we were in Indiana that apparently he likes Jimmy Buffet :-)

He also is loving to climb on things and jump off.

*Sorry the photos don't really coordinate with the text...but they sure are cute photos huh?!?! :-)

Bad blogger

2012-08-31T11:36:00.002-05:00

Hello to anyone who still reads my blog!! I've been horrible at keeping up to date with it since Maddox turned one, I guess its kind of true that the older they get the less free time you get.

He is constantly on the move and into everything. He is great at the stairs now, going up and down all by himself. He likes to go up the stairs, go to his room and "read" his books . We put a gate at his room, so most of the time he accidentally locks himself in, which he is ok with. It was very nice when I was redoing our upstairs bathroom, I could work in the bathroom for a little bit while he played in his room.

Still taking two naps a day. He hasn't really shown me he's ready to go to one, so I'll take the two for as long as I can! Still sleeping 7:30/8pm - 7/8am.

He is saying ball, he has said airplane and Lily as well. They obviously don't come out all that clear and if I ask him what something is, or to repeat it he won't. I did point to Lily the other day and say "who is that?" and he said "Mama" So I guess Lily and I are interchangeable in Maddox's eyes :-)

One day after church he started signing for "more". We had started signing when he was about 7 months, but didn't keep up with it. I'm positive that he saw another little one signing more and getting a snack in the church nursery and he picked that up super quick!

Although he isn't saying much, he is very good at mimicking others. Any kind of noise we'll make he'll copy. He "jumps" (bends his knees and shoots up, no feet off the ground....yet) he does "somersaults" (bends over and puts his head on the ground then stands back up smiling at us waiting for us to clap) He claps when asked it, he does "Boiler Up" (no harm in planting that Purdue seed early!) He does things on a daily basis that crack us up.

I'm a little afraid that the next baby we have I'll be ready for it to grow up and get fun. I have so much fun staying home with Maddox every day and as he gets older he gets more fun and funny.

Piper - 4 days older than Maddox

Jeff's parents dog Lola, we dog sat for 2 weeks. Maddox definitely liked her more than she likes him ;-)

Sharing is caring

First time at the beach!

Dancing

2012-07-27T09:47:00.000-05:00

Its been pointed out to me by my husband that I have not updated this blog in awhile...whoops!

Here is a funny video (because I'm lazy and posting a video is easy!)

Warning! You may experience a little dizziness while watching the video ;-)

Camera Dump - April

2012-07-02T22:29:00.001-05:00

I've been bad at keeping up with blogging and I have tons of photos that need to be added, so I thought I'd try to do it by month.

First time at the splash pad!

So, I was going to April and May together but there aren't very many April photos....but TONS of May ones! So May will have its own special post :-)

Not Ashamed....

2012-07-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

....to admit that we are started the brainwashing early ;-)

1 Year

2012-05-20T16:51:00.003-05:00

Maddox officially turned 1 year old on Wednesday at 10:17pm. On his birthday we went to the museum with our bff's Darci and Jackson and Jeff met us over there for a little bit on his lunch break. Usually Maddox takes a little bit to warm up, but not that day. He was all over the place, playing with all the toys and he could have cared less where Jeff or I was at. Apparently he was telling us that he is a big boy now, he's one!!

Just a few highlights...

- He's walking a lot more now. Still crawling more, but its starting to get more even.

- He's pointing at things ALL the time. Good thing its not rude to point at people when you're a baby. We ask him questions about where things are, and he always gets Lily right, he most of the time points to Daddy when I ask, he sometimes points to me when Jeff asks where's Mommy and he all the time points to his airplanes, even when we don't ask ;-)

- He loves cake. I would say who doesn't but his Daddy and his Uncle Mark don't like cake (I know, weird huh?)

- He has loved each and every birthday present he's gotten. His wagon from Granny, an Anywhere Chair from Uncle Mark and Aunt Jackie, a dump truck with Mega Blocks from Uncle Chris and a sit and scoot John Deere tractor from (guess who!) Papa Thom! I'll post photos soon!

I'm this many Mom!

That's it! When I'm 18, I'm outta here!!!

That foots a little bigger than a year ago :-)

2012-05-15T15:53:00.001-05:00

I had a fantastic Mother's Day! I got a sweet necklace from Maddox, Lily and of course Jeff! And a fun project that Maddox and I can do together, make garden stones for my new garden! After church we came home and I got to take a nap (heaven!) and then we headed to the pool. This was Maddox's first trip to the pool and he loved it. We of course forgot to take a camera...boo. He had so much fun that he didn't want to leave, but he had to take his nap and get ready for his very first trip to Carrabba's! We met Jeff's parents and brother there for Mother's Day dinner. A nice way to end a great day :-)

Hope your Mother's Day was just a fabulous!

Camera Dump

2012-05-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

Apparently I'm a human jungle gym

Let's go!!

An afternoon at the vet is exhausting!

Jungle gym time!

Walking! Walking??

2012-05-08T08:37:00.000-05:00

So, Maddox has taken steps and he's becoming more adventurous in actually standing on his own and taking a few steps without Jeff or I enticing him with a ~~dog bone~~ toy.

It took me a while to get some steps on video, but I finally did!

11 Months

2012-04-25T16:35:00.001-05:00

Only one more month to go until he's a year old. WHAT?!?! I already told Jeff that he can't make fun of me if I cry on his birthday or at his birthday party. So, we'll see!

Things have been crazy and busy around here. Maddox and I have both been sick the past two weeks. He started out with a runny nose and it turned into an ear infection. I had a few sleepless nights with him, but thankfully once he got started on those antibiotics he started sleeping all night again. I've got the runny nose, congestion and now no voice (which I'm sure Jeff doesn't mind) I keep thinking it will go away and its been over a week, so maybe I need to get myself to the doctor!

So what's new......

- We've got a talker. No actual words yet, but he likes to talk, a lot. I can't imagine where he got that from

- If you're thinking about a birthday present for him, you may want to consider any kind of dog toy. They seem to be the preferred toy around this house.

- We still try to spend a lot of time outdoors before the weather gets too hot. Unfortunately this past weekend was probably the most beautiful weather we will have all year and we were stuck inside sick.

- Lily and Maddox are glued at the hip. I sent my family some videos that I've been taking and my sister asked "are they always together" Yep, pretty much!

- I feel like I've been on camera over time! All of a sudden I realized that he is thisclose to turning 1 and I panicked thinking I haven't taken enough photos or videos. Thats probably a little crazy, huh?

- Birthday party planning is in full swing! His party will be over Memorial Day weekend so hopefully you're planning to be in town!

- He weighed 23 pounds at the doctor when we went in for his ear infection. Measured 28 1/2 inches tall. I have no idea how that charts out, but I'm guessing his weight is in the higher percentage and his heigh is in the low ;-)

- He's still "cruising" on furniture and with his toys. And maybe oh maybe there have been a few steps here and there. Not enough to say that he is walking per say, but I'd say we are just around that corner!

I can't think of what else is new so here are some photos!

Don't tell Dad!!

LOVES those airplanes

Excuse me....

2012-04-15T21:34:00.000-05:00

when did my baby get so big??

For real???

Granny Visits!

2012-04-15T12:12:00.000-05:00

I don't think I ever posted any photos from Granny's visit. She came to stay with us over her spring break and the time went by too quickly! Not only did I miss HER when she was gone, I missed having a clean house ;-)

And she gave Maddox an early birthday present. A Radio Flyer wagon! We have already got so much use out of it. He loves it. I needed to install his big car seat in the car and I just drug his wagon out in the yard, strapped him in and he happily sat while I installed the car seat.

We love you Granny! Can't wait to see you in May!

Peeps!

2012-04-11T22:55:00.000-05:00

Easter Morning

2012-04-09T21:42:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, Easter was always a big deal. We would come down in the morning and get our Easter baskets, get dressed in our new church outfits, go to church, then after church it was always time to get together with family for lunch, easter egg hunts and eating way too much candy. While our first Easter with Maddox wasn't quite that crazy, it was still pretty busy!!

When Maddox got up we gave him his Easter basket, which consisted of a lot of dollar aisle finds from Target ;-) He also had a basket from Granny (my Mom) as did Lily, Jeff and I. She always hides Easter baskets for us while she's here on her Spring Break.

He was super cute with his basket, he actually took everything out one at a time, looked and played with each thing before he moved on to the next item.

He's loving Elmo still, so he got Elmo socks, Elmo plate and cup and an Elmo book. We recently discovered new sippy cups with straws. They are awesome because he just wasn't getting holding the cup up to drink. Now he can hold the cup down and drink from the straw. Funny thing is, as soon as he started using this cup, he's now doing better at holding the regular sippy cups up himself and drinking from them. I always got an Easter bunny every year. My Grandma started the tradition and then when she passed away my Mom kept it up. I want to do the same thing with my kids, although I know if I have all boys they could care less! Maddox is LOVING anything that even resembles a ball. He loves to throw balls, and he is actually pretty good at it. He got a bouncy ball and three outfits from Granny. He got an Elmo doll from Julesie and GP (Jeff's parents) he smiled at it, and then went right back to playing with the dog's tennis balls. At least he's cheap!!

We actually made it to church! It's been tough recently because I always have photo shoots scheduled for Sunday mornings, so its been awhile since we've been able to go to church. I made it a point to keep this past week open so we could go to church. Unfortunately we got there right before the service and it was standing room only. Which is a wonderful thing, but not super fun with a squirmy baby. To top off standing Maddox was the loudest he may have ever been. He would not stop talking. I always think back to our baptism classes and the teacher saying she loves to hear the babies talking during church, it makes the service feel full of life. Well MD was doing his part this Sunday!

After church we headed to Jeff's parents for lunch, the Masters and family time! It was a good day :-)

Wait is that...Yes its ELMO!!!

Hold on! I thought I was supposed to get candy bunnies for Easter?

Look who showed up again! Elmo!

Look Lily! There's nothing in there!

Lily with her Easter loot!

We weren't sure if this ball was for MD or Lily, so they decided to share.

Hope your Easter was a fabulous as ours!!

Rainy Day Outside Fun

2012-04-04T09:59:00.000-05:00

We all hate those dang palm trees....and they taste nasty too!