A week at the Beach

That's Madisons head sticking out of the water beside her granddad.
Jack is with Bruce


Ok, so I got one picture of Jack running to me.


Madison getting ready for a bike ride with Uncle Terry


Madison with her granddad and Uncle Terry. She loves all the attention she gets from them.


I had to brib Madison to stand still long enough to get this photo.

My parents rented a house and my family spent a week at the beach together. We went to Holden Beach NC and had a great time. The last time we went to the beach, Madison would not even let her toe touch the ocean water. This year she went in the ocean up to her head.
She is such a big girl and growing up so fast. Jack had a great time also. Most of the pictures we have of him are from behind. Every time we put him down at the beach he took off. He ran after the birds, to the water and anywhere else he could. He did not stop running unless someone was holding him (which made for great naps in the afternoon). We all had a great time and can not wait to go back next year.

Our First Circus

Sunday afternoon we drove down to USC Aiken and went to the circus. It was the very first circus for all of us. At least the first one I can remember. We had a good time. It was a smaller circus and we were a little disappointed the only animals they had were the horses and dogs. They brought their elephant but she was 11 ft tall and the door to get in was only 10 ft. This is the first time Aiken has ever had the Ringling Bros. circus there so I will cut them a little slack this time. We were able to go to the preshow and Madison loved seeing all the performers up close and got to go in the ring and dance with the other kids. Jack was facinated with the whole thing and was so good. He ate popcorn and just watched the performers for the whole show. Since everything went well, we may try the big 3 ring circus this winter that is coming to Columbia. Madison loved the tight rope walkers and the first thing she said after seeing the girl walk across was "hey mom, I can do that". I did not tell her that there is a big difference between the rope and the balance beam she goes across in her gymnastics class.

Music to My Ears

Jack finally said Mama today!!! I was beginning to think he was not going to say it. He has been saying Dada and sister (yes sister) for a while but no mama. But today was the day. I think he probably just got sick of hearing me saying it to him slowly all the time everyday and just did it to shut me up. But whatever, he said it. It's music to a mother's ear to hear it for the first time. So now he can say...dada, sister, night night, hey and mama. I took him to the doctor the other day and he is perfectly healthy. He was in the 90th percentile of weight, height and head circumference when he was born and now he is in the 50th for height and 25 th for weight and head circumference. The doctor says she likes for children to be able to say 10 words by 18 mos and 50 by the time they turn 2. So Jack has just 2 short months to learn 5 more words.

Links

I have been meaning to do this for a long time and finally getting around to putting in some links.

The Davis Family and Walling Family are both great families we know from Texas.

The Durhams - Bruce's side of the family (although has not been updated in a long time)

The Rhodes Family- Bruce's daughter and son in law, Joel and Lindsey, who are missionaries in Jamaica. This is the website for their ministry.

Jack's First Haircut

After we moved into our new house and things settled down a little, I decided to get Jack a much needed hair cut. I kept putting it off because I just love his hair but since it is socially unacceptable to put a bow in a boy's hair I got it cut off. We went to a nice salon for the first cut and it was a disaster. Both Jack and Madison came away with the most uneven expensive hair cuts I have ever seen (I did not notice how bad it was until we got home). We had to go to hair cuttery for a fix and they did a better job for a lot less money....Lesson learned!

BEFORE

AFTER

Easter

The Easter Bunny hopped by and left lots of goodies for the kids. Jack did not seem to interested though.

Madison turns 4

It's no joke, on April 1, my baby girl turned 4. It's hard to believe...but the last 4 years have just flown by. We had a great day with a family birthday at Nana and Granddad's house. Aunt Ginger and Uncle Terry were also there. My sister/brother in law and my parents went all out and Madison racked up at this birthday party.

Madison finally got her bike. Everytime we go into a store she would ask for the pink Barbie bike so we finally got it for her. She was trying on her new princess dress up outfit while her bike was being put together and when the bike was ready she was ready to hop on and ride the bike around the house, princess dress and all.

Jacks 1st piece of Birthday Cake

Here are a few pictures of Jack eating his very 1st piece of birthday cake. No commentary is necessary...the pictues speak for themselves.

Happy Birthday part 2

Jack is such a good baby. He is so laid back and just goes with the flow. Everyone says it is just the way boys are, but of course anyone compared to his high maintenance sister, looks laid back.

Happy Birthday to Jack part 1

The first 6 months

1 month

6wks

2 mos

6 mos

5 mos

Jack turned 1 year old this past Saturday. This year has just flown by. Seems like it takes forever to get through the 9 months of pregnancy, but when the baby gets here, times just flies. So I am going to reminisce and post some pictures of my babies first year.

The Flu got us....

and I mean all of us. I had it first and thankfully it was just a couple of days. Jack got it next and it was so hard on his little body. It lasted a whole week for him and he started to get seriously dehydrated (even cried with no tears), he almost had to go to the hospital. It is so pitiful so see your baby so sick and there is nothing you can do, but hold him. We could not get him to eat or drink anything, so finally had to take a syringe and shoot pedialite down his throat. Then it was Bruce's turn, who also had a bad case and finally Madison, who like me had a mild case. But we are all better now and today was the first day we have all been well in the last two weeks. I would not wish this own my worst enemy.

First Steps

Jack officially took his first step on his own on 1/30/07. He loves to walk around while someone is holding his hands but does realize when he wants to get somewhere crawling is faster. It won't be long until he is walking all around.

Back to School

Madison started back to school last week and is having a great time. She loves her teacher Mrs. Blackwood and has a new buddy, Anna. They became fast friends on Madison's first day. Friday she brought home the Alpha Bucket and had to return it today filled with 3 things that begin with the letter R. She picked a ruler, red heart and raisins.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW , LET IT SNOW

Madison posing in the snow on the side yard.

Madison posing in front of the car. This little

kitten has lost her mittens.

So her hands were cold.

Madison and Jack. We found a pair of gloves

for Madison and Jack kept pulling his off to eat

or through on the ground.

This morning we woke up to snow. Madison was so excited to see that it had snowed. We got dressed early and went outside to see the snow, but the sleet was already starting at 8:30 am. As I am typing I can see the power lines starting to sag with ice. Hopefully the power will not go out this afternoon. This was the first time Madison or Jack have seen snow so of course we had to take a picture.

What A Mess

Babies are messy when they feed themselves and Jack is no exception. He loves to pick up his own food now but only a little actually makes it to his mouth. Most ends up on the floor, in his hair or on his clothes. What a mess!

My new pink scooter

This is Madison on her new pink scooter that Santa brought her for Christmas. He forgot the helmet, elbow and knee pads so she has not been able to ride around the neighborhood until recently. She is doing pretty well. We usually walk down to the neighborhood park and she scoots around on the basketball court. She loves to wear her gear down to the park and in the house and that has been a wonderful thing. Madison does not walk anywhere, she runs and falls down alot, so the helment and pads have prevented alot of skinned knees and other boo-boo's.

Swimming at the Y

Madison is taking swimming lessons at the local YMCA and except for refusing to get her whole face in the water she is doing very well. She loves going out to the middle of the pool with the kick board or noodle and of course her instuctor and since she usually the only one that shows up she is getting private lessons. I chose to write about the swimming after we had our 3rd lesson because of the drama that we had during the 2nd lesson. This post could have also been called I told you so, part 2....Madison was sitting on the edge of the pool waiting for her turn and she kept sitting closer and closer to the edge. I kept telling her scoot back, your to close to the edge, you are going to fall in. And what do you think happened...she fell in. We are only in the 3 foot pool so I knew she would not drown, but I heart sank a little, and when she came up she was screaming and as she started to go down again a man getting out of the pool pulled her out and put her back on the edge. After she calmed down she went on with her lesson as if nothing had happened.

First Play Date in SC

We are now getting into the swing of things again and are feeling at home here now that we have a play group. And our first play date was at, where else, but Chuck E Cheese. We are in a playgroup through my MOPS group. We are making lots of great new friends and having lots of fun. However, I was the only one with a camera, so I just took a quick picture of Madison and Jack on the Bob the Builder ride.

The Polar Express

Train helper holding Jack while signing songs. Jack was fascinated with her hat.



Madison getting in another request to Santa



Madison and Jack



Madison made a friend, Sarah, who was across the aisle with her mom. She pretty much ditched us the whole way so they could sit together and sing.


Before Christmas, (I'm just a little behind on blogging) we went on the Polar Express train ride. My parents took Madison, Jack and I and it was so much fun. We left from Bryson City, NC on the Great Smokey Mountain Railway and took a half hour ride to the North Pole. On the way to the North Pole we were served hot chocolate and a snack, were read the Polar Express Christmas story and sang Christmas songs. Once at the North Pole, we saw Santa and a couple of elves and they boarded the train and rode back and Santa stopped by and spoke to each child. Madison loved that because it was an extra chance to ask for Fairy Wishes Dora and a scooter. The helper on the train cars had a few children at a time march up and down the aisles with bells helping to sing. It was a great picture opportunity, however, I forgot my camera and my dad's battery was running low so most of the pictures turned out blurey. Oh well, we had a great time. Jack even let one of the helpers hold him and go up and down the aisle.

Book review

Well I just finished reading GET OUT OF THAT PIT...STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT GOD'S DELIVERANCE by a former pit dweller, Beth Moore. I have been waiting for this book to come out for about a month now and have been drawn to it since I saw the title in a Christian book magazine that I get. The Pit - "You feel stuck and lose your vision, you feel to buried in your present state to feel passionate about the future". Beth is clear that only God can get you out and keep you out. She gives you 3 steps to get out and gives you a week's worth of prayers to pray to get you started. Cause sometimes you just don't know what to pray.
This book is an easy read and she uses humor and her life experiences to explain things. I think most women need to read this, because even if you are not in a pit, you are sure to know someone who is. And even though we can help each other we need to keep the pit dweller focused on the One and Only Deliverer, Jesus.