Teaching and Aging

As a mother, I want to provide our daughter with opportunities. I want to provide her with the abilities to explore and discover new things. At this point in her life she will only be given the opportunities that I provide to her. I have two choices I either shelter her or let her be free.

I want her to know that there are many places we can go. I want her to know there are millions of books to be read. I want her to be empowered by people. I want her to discover her creative side. These are all things that one day I will teach her but right now I want her to know that chocolate pudding has two uses: 1) A delicious snack and 2) Finger paint.



I am a huge neat freak and I am very organized. Everything in our home has a place and I would prefer that everything remain in it's place. Some people may view this as a flaw in my personality or think I am a freak but this is me. It's always been me and will always be me. Well,I am all neat and tidy for the most part until it comes to Maddie. It's as if I have no filter, no sense of what the aftermath may be. I don't think, we just do.



Madison had a ball. She loved feeling the cool pudding squish through her fingers. She took her long fingers and rubbed it around on her tray and tried picking it up. She took her spoon and did the same. It didn't cross her mind to eat the pudding until I put some on my finger and let her taste. Then she was all about trying to get some in her mouth.



She kept taking that spoon and swirling the pudding around like she was mixing up cake batter. She then licked the spoon and said "Yum, yum, yum." I already see a little Betty Crocker emerging.



I love that I can let my guard down when it comes to Maddie. I can let loose, have a good time and worry about how we are going to clean this up later. I don't know what it is but I just want her to have opportunities. I want her to explore so much that my feelings and OCD go out the window.



So, yes, later did come and we wondered "How are we going to clean this up?" She got thrown in the tub clothes and all. I learned a very important lesson: remove clothes prior to doing something potentially messy. Rookie mom mistake, I'm still learning.

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My birthday was yesterday. The big 3-0. I am a grown up now. Ha! Yeah right. I told Ryan weeks ago that all I wanted for my birthday was to go to the park and have a picnic. Ryan packed our picnic and off to the park we went.



Unfortunately, the wind was whipping around and rain drops kept falling on our heads. Thus, no picnic only a little play time.



I still got what I wanted though....time with my two favorite people in the whole wide world. The past 30 years have been wonderful. I have learned a lot, experienced a lot and grown up a whole bunch. I have discovered who I am while becoming a woman. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, wife and mother. I still have a whole lot of living to do and I am so grateful that I've got my little gal right there with me.



Cheers to 30 more years and to 30 more after that!

Oh, Maddie also gave me a little present...she took her first step yesterday. Ryan and I both were right there to witness this milestone. She has taken a few more since then. I can't believe it! Best present ever!

Lots of love....

Pumpkin Picking

It's a week before Halloween and we have yet to carve pumpkins, until yesterday. We made a trip to the pumpkin patch. As I was reminded repeatedly it wasn't a pumpkin patch it was a pumpkin stand. Whether it is a patch or a stand they had pumpkins and that was all we needed.





We found several photo opportunities and took advantage.









Finding the perfect pumpkin is a tough task. With careful consideration we finally found them.



Now, homeward bound! Off to carve our perfect pumpkins to make them our own.









Madison preferred sitting in her Meme's lap to sticking her hand in pumpkin guts. Watcha guys lookin' at?



We enjoyed the evening and the beautiful weather. It was so nice to have the whole family together to carve pumpkins, laugh, play, be silly and enjoy each other's company.





After several hours of carving and perfecting we lit our finished product.



Success.

Surprise!

As a child, your friends are your world. You live for them, you want to be surrounded by them at all times, you will do anything to be like them and you fight with your parents when they won't let you be with them. Family takes the backseat when it comes to your social life. Having dinner with your family sounds like torture when compared to grabbing a pizza with your friends.

As you enter adulthood, this changes. After high school, you lose touch with many friends while gaining new ones in college. After college, you lose touch while starting a family. You begin to appreciate the people that are around you which is your family. The ones that have always been there and the ones that will always been there.

I am fortunate that I have the best of both worlds. My family is right by my side and so are my friends. Technically, I have entered adulthood, I know it's hard to believe. Since I've had Madison, I have come to appreciate my family more than ever. I've been blessed with the family I've been given and the friends I've chosen. The friends I have now are my family. I am grateful for the support, laughter, love and comfort that I receive from all of them.

Saturday night my friends and family showed me just how much I mean to them. They threw me a surprise 30th birthday party. I am still overwhelmed by the shock that they pulled something of this magnitude off all the while a little unnerved that they all are great liars.

We had planned a "Girls Night Out" on Saturday night. The girls and I were going to meet for dinner and drinks then maybe go for a little dancing. I arrived at the restaurant all ready for some girl talk, met a girlfriend outside so we walked in together. (I later find out this was staged.) She's gabbing while stating that she knows where the other girls are seated and I follow. That's when it happened, I walk into a room filled with my friends and family as they screamed "Surprise!" Tears came flooding in, I was overwhelmed by the warmth and the love that filled the room.

I had been proclaiming that I wanted a surprise party for months. I invited everyone I knew and when they asked when it was all I could say is "I don't know....it's a surprise." I never in a million years thought Ryan would actually plan a party for me. Let alone an actual surprise party. Yes, I feel like a complete ass now by not having the faith in my husband.

After composing myself from the shock of the surprise, I begin making my rounds to give out hugs and thanks to my guests. I see Ryan's mom and my sister, awe cute they are here. Wait! They are the only two people that we have let keep Maddie so I shout "Who has Maddie?" I begin to tense up wondering where on earth my daughter is. Then, the sea of friends part and up through the middle comes Maddie in my mother's arms while being followed by my dad. Holy shit! My parents are here, from Florida. Again the tears flowed. That right there would have been enough. I didn't need anything more but heck the party sure was awesome.

I am floored that Ryan, my friends and my family would go to this great length to do something so special for me. I appreciate each and every one of them for their time, efforts and love that they put into this party. My 30th birthday party will be one that I will never forget. Thank you to everyone that was there and to those that couldn't be there you missed one hell of a time.



Obviously, I was busy at my party I only took two pictures. So, if any party goers with cameras could email me some pictures, I would greatly appreciate it.

My actual birthday is October 24th. I keep stating that once I hit 30 it's time to grow up. I still have 6 days. So, we'll see.

So....Meme and Papaw are here! We've just been chillin'.



Papaw caught a cricket for Maddie.



She tried and tried to catch him but he was too quick. Please note: no crickets were harmed while taking these photos.



In other news....our book arrived today! I got the idea from a friend of a friend to make a "year book" for Madison. I am going to create one each year and have it completed by her birthday. I've been working on this book for about 6 months and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I can't wait for everyone to see it!



Lots of love!
-K

Coughs and Crafts

Our Maddie Cakes is sick. Poor little girl has a runny nose and obviously doesn't feel well. As a mama, I wish I could take the sickness away from her and give it to myself. Hearing her sniffling, coughing, sneezing and breathing through her mouth because her nose is stopped up pains me. Madison is quite a trooper though, still manages to get a little play time in.



Only she plays while laying down when she's sick. On the plus side, she wants lots of cuddles from her Mama. I am happy to fulfill this need.

I've been home with her the past two days. I'm covered in her bodily fluids and I am loving every moment of it. Ryan did ask me if I've take a shower the last couple of days.  For the record, I have but maybe it's time to change my shirt again.  Today she is showing signs that she is coming back around. So, i thought we would do a little art activity.



She wasn't quite sure how to use these markers. I thought it would be better to get the markers instead of the crayons because I thought she would just chew on the crayons but now she is just getting marker all over her hands.



So, what is the next progression in the sequence of art activities...finger painting, duh.



Maddie is looking at me like "Are you sure I'm supposed to be doing this, Mom?" I don't really know what I was thinking when I walked into the playroom, opened up the closet, removed the finger paints, closed the closet door and walked back into the living room. There was plenty of time for the thought of "This isn't a good idea, Kimberly" to enter my head but it's my head so nope that thought never came through.



The whole finger painting activity lasted about a minute and a half.



She started crawling off the paper so to the tub we went.

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This past Saturday was the annual "Craft Day" with Ryan's family. All of the girls get together for food, music, drinks, fun, crafts and no boys. This year we had two new gals join us...Maddie and Emerson.



Gotta admit though that they kept many of the women preoccupied and not many crafts were completed.

Emerson is a huge fan of her ExerSaucer.



When Emerson hopped out for a moment, Maddie hopped in.



Think she might be a wee bit tall for this one?



The girls enjoyed playing with each other. They shared a doctor's kit. Well, Maddie let Emi play with what she didn't want at the time. Maddie is kind of a bully and just takes what she wants. We are going to have to work on the fundamentals of sharing.



Prior to our big evening we got to have a photo shoot. Ryan's cousin Traci got a new camera, a big girl camera, and is taking some photography classes. Yeah hoo for us. We'll be her subjects anytime!







Yeah Traci you are doing a great job....keep going!







All diva's have a little melt down now and again....



But she recovered quickly...and we're good to go.





We wanted to get some pictures of Maddie and Emi together. I stopped and looked at us. It's quite a production to get a picture of two tiny gals and it just made me laugh.



Poor Emi just didn't want to take any pictures. So, Maddie tried tickling her to get her to smile.



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Ryan and I went to the Colt's game on Sunday.



He hates it when I try to take a picture in a crowd of people.



Maybe next time I'll try tickling him.

Bye for now!