Happy 1st Birthday Susanna!!!

Happy 1st Birthday My Sweet Susanna!

Susanna has several presents to open...will she figure it out?

Madeline got a present to open too...

Susanna figured out that she likes the bows...

Susanna looking at her new "soft" ...

After opening birthday presents, a girl has gotta have a snack!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

We decided to go to The Festival of Lights in Chickasha over the weekend before it got to be too terribly cold. So, we drove there on saturday night after dinner. It wasn't very crowded yet, either. Another plus of going early in the season! Here is a picture of Madeline and her daddy on the bridge that goes across the pond. Madeline was afraid to walk on the boards across the bridge and her daddy had just picked her up to carry her...that's why she looks shocked in the picture! :)







Mommy and Susanna. Susanna really enjoyed the lights. Last year when we went she was only 2 weeks old and it was very cold. So, she was bundled up under blankets and buried in her stroller and didn't get to see anything.








Madeline had a lot of fun on the playground toys too! She just loves to play!










Here are both of the girls on a ride they can play on together!












Susanna is really enjoying her walk through the park!!!










And all good things must come to an end. While Madeline and Susanna were playing on the playground, I walked to the bathroom. When I got back daddy told me the news. Madeline had an accident. Yep. This is her very first potty accident in public. She accidentally pottied her pants while she was playing and here is a picture of mommy making sure that she knows it's okay that she had an accident and that we were going to take care of it. She was more worried about the fact that she got the toys wet than anything. I felt really bad for her. It was really mommy and daddy's fault. We forgot to remind Madeline and ask her if she needed to potty. She's usually really good about letting us know, but we still needed to ask her and forgot amidst all of the excitement! And, I didn't bring any dry pants with me. So, after being there at The Festival of Lights for about 30 minutes we ended up having to go home. But that's okay!! We got to walk across the bridge and play on the toys and see lots of pretty lights. Plus, there are many many other light displays that we can see before Christmas. And you can bet that mommy and daddy will be sure to remind Madeline that she needs to go potty!!

O Christmas Tree....

The day after Thanksgiving has been the day we put up our Christmas tree. Matt and I started doing this when we got married. I love the idea because I enjoy seeing the tree all month. Matt keeps trying to talk me into putting it up on Christmas Eve because he's not as much of a fan of Christmas as I am. :)

So, we've gone to Home Depot in the past but this year we decided to go to Lowe's Home Improvement to find our tree.




Here we are shopping for just the perfect tree...it's got to be the right height, fullness, etc. Notice how sunny it is in the picture. Also, notice that we have on short sleeve shirts and no jackets. It felt like spring. There was something wrong with that to me. It's supposed to be cold in November!










Matt thought it would be funny to wear shorts and a t-shirt. Yep, it definitely doesn't look like Christmas. The weather is anytying but frightful!










We went inside to look at the lights and ornaments that were on sale. We didn't really find anything that we had to have. Madeline just loved seeing all of the decorations. These were her exact words (with her arms spread out and child-like wonder on her face)...."Isn't it amaaazing!!" Very cute!





Daddy found a wreath for Susanna...she doesn't look like she minds too much :)











Finally...we picked out what we thought was the perfect tree! We got a 6 ft. Douglas fir. We think it will be beautiful in our living room!











Here is the tree once we got it home and took the netting off. This is the before picture.....















Madeline is putting on one of the ornaments. Madeline really enjoyed hanging ornaments. She did really well and didn't put ALL of them on the same branch :) She spread them out a little and didn't need that much help!







Susanna is trying to take down one of the ornaments that Madeline just hung. Yes, we had a lot of that. Susanna enjoyed taking the ornaments down as much as Madeline enjoyed hanging them! But eventually we got them all on the tree!!









Here is a picture of my girls once everything was done on the tree. I can't find the "after" picture I took of the whole tree by itself. I will post one later, I'm sure. :)









Susanna really had fun digging through all of mommy's boxes of decorations!! She found all kinds of fun things!







Madeline is having fun with her Little People Christmas Village!! This year we have the Little People Nativity Set to add to her collection.

What an exciting time of year!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was a fun and busy one! For lunch we went to Matt's aunt Jan's house. We had turkey and all of the traditional sides. Oh, and we turned in our Christmas lists. This is a must with his family, or we don't eat :) After lunch we came home where I continued to cook a meal for my side of the family. I worked on the meal for two days! It was actually a lot of fun to cook. Here is a picture of Matt and I in front of the turkey! It turned out really well. I read a recipe that said to put fresh rosemary and sage under the skin of the turkey and it gave it a really good flavor!

Here is a picture of the menu. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing (which turned out WAY too thin...I followed the directions exactly too...I was disappointed!), rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce (from a can!! yum!!), and broccoli cheese casserole (thanks Uncle Larry). It was all very yummy and surprisingly we didn't have that many leftovers!




Here is a picture of dad, Mike, Larry, Mitchell and Melissa (you can barely see her head). Our guests included Papa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Melissa, Dylan, Rylee, Uncle Larry, Eric, Karen, Mitchell, Mason and McKinley. We all had a really nice dinner!








Here I am with my sweet Madeline sitting at the "kids" table :) Seating was limited...that's okay. I didn't mind eating with my sweet girl!














Here is my little Susanna enjoying some Thanksgiving mashed potatoes, dressing, rolls and cranberry sauce!





Here is Madeline playing trains with Mitchell and Mason.










This was a really nice Thanksgiving. We watched the Dallas Cowboys continue their winning streak, we spent time with our family and ate way too much food...exactly what you're supposed to do on Thanksgiving!

My Little Pilgrims...

Today was Madeline and Susanna's Thanksgiving Party and Feast! The girls had so much fun! Madeline made several things to take home. She made her very own apron (that she painted herself), she made a vest from a grocery bag (I remember making those when I was young!) and she made a placemat and a pilgrim hat. They ate turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole and fruit. After lunch, they all had fun playing together. It was a yummy lunch and a very fun day!







Madeline is sitting here with Maggie and Mallory enjoying their lunch!

Here is Libby with her baby doll. Also, Stefanie and baby Colt...he's getting so big!

Here is my little Susanna with a BIG SMILE!

Momma Turns 32!!

Well, it has taken me a few days to post it, but I turned 32 last thursday! I had a nice birthday. On my actual birthday Matt the kids and I went and ate lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Red Robin. They e-mailed me a coupon for a free burger of my choice for my birthday....YUM! And they even gave me a free birthday sundae. I remembered my camera, but the batteries were dead :( After lunch we went to North Pole City to look around at all of the pretty Christmas decorations (I looked and Matt held Susanna and indulged me...he hates that place! :) Madeline was able to ride the train at North Pole City too. It was fun. Wish I would've had a camera!
And then...on sunday, Matt's parents had a birthday dinner for me. Every year Matt's mom makes fried chicken and my dad, uncle Larry, brother Mike and his family all come. It was a very good dinner and a fun night! Madeline really enjoyed helping me open my presents. She only broke one (a candle holder) but I think I can find a replacement!

Madeline helping me open my gifts!

I'm getting ready to blow out the candles on my birthday pie (Key Lime!)

My little angels!

Meet Madeline's New Friend, Mumble...

Today Mommy took Madeline and Susanna to the mall so Madeline could go to the Build-a-Bear workshop! Madeline really has fun at this store (as all kids do!) and was excited to go make Mumble the penguin. Mumble is from a new movie called Happy Feet. Here is a link to the trailer http://www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet/ . It looks like a REALLY cute movie but we have to wait until November 17th to watch it.

Madeline picked out her Mumble and walked it over to the stuffing machine. Then she picked out a heart and gave it a kiss. She helped the lady fill her penguin fuuuulll of stuffing until the penguin was just the right sofness.

Then, when Mumble was all stitched up, Madeline had fun fluffing his fur. Mumble is really cute! His heart glows and we paid a little extra so that we can squeeze his hand and he will talk. Madeline can't wait to take Mumble home to meet all of her other Build-A-Bear friends....Rudolph, Frosty, Baby Chick, Pumpkin Bear and Winnie the Pooh!

Here she is with her finished Mumble....all ready to take home!

We can't wait...Susanna sat and watched today, but she's going to get to pick her very own out in a couple of weeks for her birthday. I wonder what she'll pick???