Halloween

I am officially ready to blog about our Halloween. Sorry, I haven't had these pictures on my computer until now. If you recall a few posts back, we visited the pumpkin patch. We did end up carving them the day before Halloween, but it was fun. I forgot how gross it feels to gut a pumpkin. It really is disgusting! But I forged on and we made some pretty awesome pumpkins, if I do say so myself. Here are a few pics of the master pieces in the making.....

Here is my pumpkin, of course, a kitty.... precious.....

... and here is Bryon's bat. He did an awesome job, but for the life of me I can't understand why he carved it on the rotten side..... he says because it was the flat side. It still looks great babe!

..... here they are all aglow!

On Halloween day Bryon had to work a graveyard (spooky) so we had to get Madi's trick or treating done early in the day. I took the day off of work and we started off with a visit to the Doctor for Madi's 15 month check up. Her doctor was dressed up as a hippy, which was entertaining in itself, but I thinked it helped mellow Madi out. I'm not sure she recognized who he was. Normally she freaks out as soon as he walks into the room. She was much better this time. Everything checked out great! She was supposed to have a couple of shots, but in past experience, Madi is not the happiest camper the remainder of the day when she gets poked so we opted to wait until her next visit. Next on our agenda was a visit to Grandma's work. Madi was too funny. She didn't want to take any candy. She kept telling everyone no. She was walking up a storm there but those pesky boots were so heavy it was hard for her walk around. Then we headed over to my work and said hi to everyone. Madi made a new best friend. She decided she wanted to hang out with Buddy in his office. Of course he let her color with markers, which she made a BIG mess with. Thanks Buddy! Then we went and met Tenille at the park for lunch. It was far to cold to hang out outside so we ate in our truck. Finally we were off to Bryon's mom and dads.

Isn't she cute?????

When we got there Bryon's mom had bought Madi some princess sippy cups. She was thrilled.

After trying out her new sippies and playing with the phone it was time to head home and bid daddy adieu and head out to the annual halloween dinner with the fam at Brick Oven. We had our favorite waiter, in another one of his great costumes....

Which Madi was not impressed with.....

It was a great night! We loved seeing everyone and I am pretty sure Mads had fun all dressed up. She never got upset once even when we kept taking her wings on and off. We hauled off with a load of candy! YUMMY!!! Now we are looking forward to another great Halloween next year!

Letters from Mom....

My Dearest Madisyn,

So much has happened just in the last month! I can't believe how much you have grown! You are no longer my little baby you are my little girl! You started walking only a few short weeks ago and now we can't hold you back. Your balance is improving everyday by leaps and bounds and you are even making small attempts at running. You are starting to talk so much, albeit, not very coherent, but you are talking! Tears streamed down my face when you and daddy called me at work the other day and amidst your adorable babble, you said "love" which we later found out is your way of saying "I love you". And as much as I love hearing you call out for your momma, it really would be nice if you could find a different word to use when you want something. But I love to watch you learn. You are so lucky to be able to spend so much time with your daddy during the week on his days off. His new favorite thing to do is to teach you a new trick to show me when I get home at night. The latest accomplishment is that he taught you to throw garbage away in our cupboard garbage. It really is tender to watch you struggle to open that door, but you are so determined to do what you have been asked to do. The only down fall to this great trick, is that you don't know the difference between actual garbage and things such as, oh say, mommy's wedding ring. We are going to have to re-arrange our house so that the valuable things aren't so easily accessible to your adorable little curious hands. This past month has been incredible. I can't wait to see what November brings. I love you Madi!

Love,
Mom

8 Things...

8 Favorite Shows....

1. The Office
2. Boston Legal
3. The Hills
4. Any of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge Shows
5. Kath & Kim
6. Professional Bull Riders Events
7. Man vs. Wild
8. WEC/UFC Fights

8 Favorite Restaurants.....

1. The Brick Oven
2. The Five Alls
3. Noodles & Company
4. Cafe Rio
5. Johnny Corinos
6. Training Table
7. Olive Garden
8. Wingers

8 Things from Yesterday.....

1. I worked
2. I figured out where my polling location is
3. I lent people money that I really doubt I will ever see again Ü
4. I realized that freezer chicken nuggets are not a good meal option
5. I realized that Daylight Savings ending really blows!
6. I decided that I am, in fact, feeling under the weather and I hate it!
7. I realized how much I am going to miss Boston Legal when it ends this year.
8. I realized that in order for me to get sufficient sleep at night, I need to turn off the DVR and go to bed!

8 Things I'm looking forward to.....

1. Getting off work
2. Going to vote, I'm not looking forward to the long line though!
3. Going home tonight and getting a good nights sleep
4. Getting to spend some time with my husband tonight since he is off graveyards today
5. Getting to play with Madi
6. Christmas
7. Getting our new computer
8. Eventually buying our own house with property

8 Things on my wish list....

1. That house with property listed above
2. Getting completely out of debt!!!!
3. Buying a new truck
4. Our new computer
5. That Day Light Savings became the permanent time
6. That Winter just went away!
7. That I was REALLY rich!
8. That my hair will grow back.... NOW!

I am tagging:

1. Tenille
2. Kristin
3. Kelly
4. Marrissa

I'm Bella....

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm a nerd! If you didn't figure it out on my previous Book Release Party post, here is further evidence. I played. I'm Bella.

Here is the actual description:
You are observant, diplomatic and often aim to please. You are unaware of your attractiveness and despite being uncomfortable with any form of attention, people enjoy your company. You can be impatient, stubborn and headstrong, but you are true to your word and mature for your age, often taking care of your family and enjoying a good book over chatting with girlfriends on the phone.

Pretty nifty! Try it out for yourselves!

The Great Pumpkin Search

Is anyone looking for a pumpkin? Farmer Madi knows where to find one.... Just follow her....

Ok, so seriously, how cute is that? Madi was having so much fun on all of the props at the pumpkin patch. She helped direct wheelbarrow traffic at the row signs.....

She helped pick out pumpkins from the wagon.....

Moving right along on our tour of the patch.... Can I just tell you how much Madi loved the tractor? A girl after my own heart!

When we got down to business, Bryon had the great idea to put Madi in the dirt filled wheelbarrow. For a good 10 minutes she wouldn't pay attention to anything. She was too busy making sure there wasn't a clean spot left on her.

We got her attention long enough to snap a quick shot of her on her big adventure with Dad. Someone should have maybe told Bryon that wheelbarrows don't come equipped with shocks. He was hittin' those furrows so hard, I thought Madi's brand new chompers would come flyin' out! She didn't care though, she was having fun!

After searching high and low........

We found "The One".... Madi couldn't have been happier!Next on the "To Do" list is to carve these bad boys. I'm sure that will be interesting. I'll be sure to have my camera handy and I'll post as soon as we finish! Happy Halloween everyone!

Family Halloween Party!!

This past Saturday we had our annual family Halloween party. Our family parties usually consist of my dad's sister Kay and all of her kids with their kids and all of the kids and grandkids from our family. We all headed up to Aunt Kays for some yummy soup in bread bowls, brownies, cookies, etc. After a nice warm lunch we headed outside so the kids could play some games. Thanks to Aunt Kays "short bus" parked out front, we were able to use it to put up a memory game for the little hoodlums we had trouncing about the premises. As you can see we had a visit from Red Ranger aka Tyler who got some matches. Tenille, you make a great Vanna White!

Kylie was dressed as herself. Isn't she cute! She was also really good at the memory game!

Here are the bunch of hooligans in their halloween best and the scariest of all, Uncle Chad....

Next on the agenda was the pumpkin bean bag toss. The kids had a lot of fun so the adults thought they would take a whirl.

Cory of course had to throw his from across the whole yard.

Grandma had to get a little bit closer....

Finally, a game of musical halloween plates, much like musical chairs. Of course when you have both Red Ranger AND Iron Man, things can turn south in a hurry. Luckily, it was all in good fun and they played a good game of tackle to wear each other out. To which I am sure their parents were very thankful. Since Madi was too little to get in on the action, she sat on the sidelines with Dad and played with a little flashlight.
She also showed out her mad walking skills as well as the art of getting up. What a cute tush!

After we got done at the party, Bryon, Madi and myself headed to the pumpkin patch.....

to be continued......

Hold on to your hats folks, WE'RE WALKING!!!

You heard me right! The little Madi Monster has perfected the art of walking... sort of..... The monumental day actually occured about 3 weeks ago, but I didn't have the pictures to post and I didn't want to put anything up without the visual effects to go with it. We have been trying to get Madi to walk for SO long! She had been doing really well, but just never dared to do it on her own. It was amazing, she just one day took off and hasn't stopped for anything! She still gets a little bit wobbly, but it is incredible to watch her balance herself out and stay standing. I don't know where she gets her balance from, it can't come from me, I swear my equilibrium is WAY off and Bryon trips over air on a regular basis. Some how, she lucked out! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures that we took of her the first day she took off. So cute!

Here she is getting her balance...

Here she is walking to Daddy...

Here she is on her evening stroll around the house...

I LOVE this picture. It is of her "getting" me! So cute!