One and a Half Years.....18 months!!

One and a Half Years, 18 months, baby girl is rapidly becoming big girl. Exciting and scary all  at the same time! Here are 18 random things that Madeline loves to do and we love about her!!

1. Just Dance!!!!She loves to dance! She hears a a catchy beat and she will start to groove. Our favorite kids song to play is The Backyardigans' "A Pirate Says ARRR. "  Madeline loves her ba ba's.....she gets her left arm up and going.  Her dance is more like squating and jumping.  She can also get low.  This song brings out the bobble head in her and she wonders around saying "arrr".

Couldn't resist a picture of the cutest pirate I have ever seen!

As for favorite non-kid song it would be Flo Rida's "Low" (Shorty had the apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur, she had the whole club lookin' at her, she hit the floor, next thing you know, Shorty got low low low low low low!)

This cute little one loves to dance, but sometimes it is like the dance move called the maniac.  She hears a song she likes or gets to do something she wants and watch out...she will get happy feet.  Sometimes the maniac turns into a gallop too.  She is vocal, and she usually has loud screams when she gets excited and does the maniac. We just call her a silly girl, and laugh.  I think I am jealous of how she can just be excited and live in that moment and not care about how silly the maniac dance is. ( She dances like no one is watching!)

2. The Fish OBSESSION also known as: Ish or Ishy

This obsession all began when she watched "Finding Nemo" and saw the fishies at The Rain Forest Cafe. It is amazing how the girl can spot a fish on anything.  The tiniest fish on a plate, t-shirt, television, etc. and she gets sooo excited......ish!!! Ish!!! Now our spoiled little girl (thanks to Grandparents and Auntie) is fully loaded with objects with fish. She has towels,  stuffed animals, stickers, glasses, clothes, movies, toys, and the list could probably keep on going, just ask Madeline and she will show you where they all are. 

The last two pics are at Market Broiler off of my cell phone (not very clear), don't tell her what they eat at this restaurant. 

3. Her Sweet Voice!
In the morning she always wakes up and says Momma and then finds Jake and says Dadda! She is so proud that she can talk more. It is almost like she runs through her vocabulary and is showing you that she can do it and is smart. Along with her speaking she has many different facial expressions. Man she can use her eyebrows, that is definatley a Dad trait.

The most popular words she can say and/or has a version of, in no particular order :

Momma, Dadda, TT (Auntie), Papa, Na NA (Nanna), L (Layla), up, mo (more),  ish (fish), bebe (baby), ooes (shoes), no, yeah, hi, low (hello), bye, ball, ninny (Minnie), lellow (yellow),  tank you (thank you),  muah (kiss), le (bottle or cup), ne ne (night night), ought (hot), ide (outside)......I am sure there are more, but these are the first ones that come to mind. I know there will plenty more to come real soon, she watches you closely and tries to say even more.

     She loves to pretend to talk on the phone. She will put a phone or toy up to her ear and say "low" "low" ( hello, hello), she sure does observe more than we think. It is cute that she like phones....but be warned, if she plays with your cell phone it is not pretend. Our cell phone bills have recieved charges for odd features used, thanks to these cute little fingers.

4. Being Like Daddy
If daddy is lucky Madeline will even help wash the car, she will watch everthing he does and then follow behind him and do the exact same.  She is a perfectionist just like daddy when it comes to washing a car.  No spot is missed when Madeline and daddy team up.

The car wash photos were from a while back, but again too cute to resist

She is posing by her daddy's remote control truck, in a way it is like she has an older brother too. She loves to sit by him while he fixes the truck. She hands him tools and helps. I think we might get her a pretend tool bench, she would love it! Does Pottery Barn Kids make one in pink? She will just have to borrow from Dad for now.

5.Outside
This little girl would much rather be outside than inside.  When she first tells us that she is ready to go outside she goes and tries to put her shoes on or bring them to mom or dad.  Then she will wait and pull on the door handle if she can reach it.   Next she will grab the side of the door frame and step down on to the proch and then she is off.  Straight down the driveway and heading left towards the neighbors, who also have a little girl who is Madeline's age.  Sometimes she will run through the grass to the stepping stones in front of the house and try to step on each of them.  Most of the time she will ask for mommy and daddy's help to reach some of the bigger steps. 

                                              Resting by the steps in front of our house

Being outside running free

                                             She loves to be outside riding her power wheel

6. Shoes  aka: ooes (shoes without the /sh/ sound)

She does have quite a few pairs of shoes, but when she puts on a pair she loves to stomp her feet. At Kelly's she loves to pull out all of the other shoes and match them up. She will even put her hands in the shoes and pretend to walk them around.  She now walks up to me and hands me my shoes. When we are getting ready to leave she must know, she comes up and says mamma and gives me my actual shoes.

 She found mommy's ooes in these pictures.

Pinks boots

TT's Pink Heels

7.  ABC's and Lellow
We have a genius, she can say her abc's....okay not really, but she tries.  She starts off strong, it goes like this " a, b, b, b,....a, b, b, b" she points to words and letters and sings a, b, b, b.  We have leap Frog magnets that sing the alphabet and other educating toys that she loves to play with. Recently she has started pointing in books and repeating a, b, b, b, b. She is very much aware of the things around her.
Okay, you might call me crazy, but I think she knows the color yellow. We have been practicing colors with crayons. We went outside after coloring and she went up to the hose nozzle and said "lellow" "lellow", the hose nozzle is yellow. It might be a coinedence, but I say she is smart :)


8. Avacados and Cottage Cheese

If you are ever trying to get M to eat, try either avacadoes or cottage cheese.  When she sees these foods she means business. I let her go to town the other day with cottage cheese, and she made a huge mess (but it was a fun mess). As you can see the cheese is everywhere and she loves it.

The spoon was not working fast enough so she switched to hands. Yes, that is cheese flying through the air as she claps her hands.

                                         She is reflecting, hmmmmm, I hope there is more!!!!!

                    This picture was sent to me while I was at work (thanks Kelly and Kristen), she is serious
                                                                   about her avacado.

9. Layla

Layla was our first baby ( four legged baby, that is) and she has been wonderful with Madeline. Layla knows that Madeline is bound to drop some food and she will wait for it to happen.  In this picture M is giving Layla a dog treat and Layla is being very patient. Grandpa Clarke is the man behind the dog treats, he is always prepared and gives them to M to pass them on.

M and Layla meet for the first time, that was the first day that Layla was faced with the reality that she was just a dog, no longer number one. (But don't get me wrong, Layla is still a spoiled dog.)

10. Chairs, Pick One Any One
  She loves to sit in chairs, any chair big or small will make her happy.  She climbs up and is so proud. You probably noticed a few different chairs through out this post, the chair that surprises me the most is at her babysitter's,  Kelly's ( I don't have a picture of her on it yet.)  At Kelly's it is known as the timeout chair and she will sit and play on it for as long as she feels like it, this might be a problem when she starts earning timeouts. Not this little angel, right??? Keep reading and you will see how she is a very determined and independent girl......this could cause her to owe some time.

I caught her climbing up on this big chair and this is the smile she gave me, yep mom I am a big girl, look at me!

Sitting/climbing on her playhouse

Sitting on the front porch

Sitting with ish on the couch

                                                                   Sitting in her room.

                                              She is asking her Daddy to sit with her.

11. Crossing Her Feet, Such a Little Lady Madeline has always crossed her feet since she a little baby, I do it too, it must be a comfort thing. Recently she has been spotted crossing her feet while standing, it is too funny to watch....

Leaning to watch something interesting.

Auntie gave her a Ba Ba couch or a Backyardigans couch. She sat right down and got comfy.

Christmas morning and her feet are crossed in her PB chair from Grandma Clarke and at Easter her little crossed feet sneak out from underneath her dress. 

Hanging out in San Diego at the Bay, still like a lady.

Mother's Day 2009

I could probably make a whole post of crossed feet....who knows, stayed tuned.

12. Manners: thank you or say it real fast 
                              "tank tu"

We have taught her to say thank you whenever she receives something.  Since teaching her this she has taken it upon herself to say thank when she takes something as well (usually what she takes isn't hers...but we are trying to correct this).  We can ask her to give an item to somebody and she is very good about giving it to them, whether it be t.t., papa, or nana.  She even says thank you when she is done.  She is very excited when we ask her to do these things.

13. Water

Madeline also loves to drink water, she would take a sippie cup with water over most drinks anytime. When she is done drinking her water she says "ahhhhhh"..... she is too much!!

She can even climb into the tub, she doesn't care if her clothes are on or not. Any puddle or drop of water and she will slap her hands in it. At daycare she is notorious for getting to the water fountain ( the huge bottle of water that is upside down and has a spicket)...when I pick her up after work and see her in a new outfit it is usually because she found water to play in.

                          We had just started the water and she decided to climb in.......clothes and all.

She has fun floating in the water too!

               She loved the beach last summer, can't wait until this summer.....it will be exciting!!

14. Babies
  From about the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed, it is all about her babies. She points to the T.V. and says baby, baby, baby, over and over again. She calls the movie "The Incredibles" baby because there is a little baby in the movie.  Whenever baby "Jack Jack" is on she points and gets so excited and again says it over and over. She use to be scared of the ending because "Jack Jack" gets harmed and is saved by mom and dad. After watching it for the 101st time for the day she is okay and can watch it.  Madeline even puts her babies in diapers uses the wipes as a changing mat, she wraps them in clothes, pretends to feed them, pats their backs, and even pushes them in the stroller. She is going to be a great helper when she gets a brother or sister.
   Madeline will also point to real babies that she sees and smiles, it is too sweet to watch your little one love another little one.

Christmas 2008, her first baby doll and below this picture is Christmas 2009 with the same baby doll.

15. Miss Independent

Doesn't this picture just have attitude written all over it? She loves to do things on her own and when you try helping her she gets mad, almost offended because she can do it on her own. She loves to feed herself, throw trash away, brush her own teeth, color her own pictures, and it goes on and on. When she doesn't want your help she crosses her arms or pulls her arms away and says no (this does drive me crazy, is it too early for the trying threes????) 

16. Books
"bo..."   not "boo" or "booo" its "bo" whenever we ask her to read or if she wants to be read to.  Her favorite books are the ones with flaps and doors and hidden things in the pages.  Unfortunately if her mood is right those books dont stand a chance because they are torn out because she is soo good about finding those things in the hidden books.  

              This coloring picture could go under Ms. Independent, but she loves to color in books too

She is reading the book to us, if look closely you will see all her new big chompers (teeth)

17. Her Reflection and Silly Faces
Madeline will go along playing or doing whatever, but if she sees her reflection she will stop and stare!

 We were taking her out of the car the other day (in a parking lot) and she caught a glimpse of herself in the car next to us windows and she began sticking out her tongue. We can't help but smile when Madeline is around.

She likes to stick her tongue out at herself when she sees her reflection

Hanging over the side of her Benz to check herself out!

                                                               Gotta check this mirror too!!


18. Games: Peek-a-boo and Chase

 Madeline loves to play! She plays peek a boo in her play house, which you can see in the pictures below.  She pops up around a corner and says boo. She loves to surprise you! When she does, she laughs and can't wait to do it again! 

She likes to be chased too! She will run away from you and look back over her shoulder to see if you are really following her.  When you get close to her she says no no and then starts to giggle or scream with excitement. She is getting pretty quick, if she gets a good head start it is difficult to catch up to her.

Another game, well at least she thinks it is a game , is to take her baby's stroller or shopping cart and run into things or people. As she crashes she says boom and laughs and laughs. 

Where's Madeline????

There she is!!!!!!

I could probably write a million and one more things about our little love.....she brings us so much joy and happiness.  Hope that we gave you a little happiness too! It is sweet to be loved and give love!!!

Which number was your favorite? 

I would love to read your thoughts!

Inspi(red)

    Inspired, that is what I am when I view all the beautiful blogs out there. I have had too much fun blog hopping and viewing all the beautiful crafts and fun ideas...( I have lost many hours of sleep staying up late to do so.)  I decided that I wanted to do a Valentine craft and spread the love.  A project red for love.

    This summer I stalked up on canvas from Aaron Brother's buy one get one for a penny sale and decided to put them to use.  There are so many different ways you could do this project, but here was our first attempt. 

Materials needed: canvas, pencil, scissors, tape, paint (not shown), silver marker  optional

We (my husband and I)  cut the tape into hearts and used them like stickers. We covered the canvas in the hearts first, then let the fun begin. PAINTING WITH FINGERS!!!

Madeline loves to paint with her fingers, we tried to keep her clean by taking off her clothes, but somehow that didn't stop her from touching her face.

She took her job of painting so seriously.

We let the paint dry before peeling the heart stickers off.

We waited patiently......and in one and half year old language that means playing through the house!

I think she looks like a little warrior with her war paint on, she is making silly noises with her mouth while running like a crazy girl.

I finally caught up to her to sneak this picture of the paint up close and personal.

And finally, ta da, Madeline's first canvas painting. 

We traced the hearts with a silver marker because the paint bled through in some areas. Someone told me that the imperfect product doesn't really matter, it is the process we went through. I have to agree, we will cherish this memory and art forever! I hope that I might have inspired someone else to do the same.

Ponytails and Juice Boxes

It is becoming more and more undeniable that my little girl is becoming a big girl. The other day I was picking up Madeline from Kelly's house when I had to admit Madeline was a big girl.  I walked in and was greeted with the usual "Momma", but I had to do a double take.  Madeline had a sweet tiny ponytail with a pink ribbon in her hair...adorable. I have been putting bows with clips in her hair for quite a while, but never thought I could get her hair in a pony. She had her hair done like the other big girls and had the largest grin on her face. I am sure I was grinning ear to ear too!

    Then it was time for the kids to get juice boxes, usually the babies just watch the big kids while having their sippie cups.  Madeline was so thrilled to see the juice boxes come out that she sat down right in front of Kelly's chair where the drinks get passed out. She was the first one there and began to use her sign language for the word more and began to say mo... mo...( more, more). She was looking at the other kids like YES! we are getting juice boxes aren't you excited too?!! She had another huge smile on her face as she did her best to sit still and wait for her big girl drink. How could anyone deny this little (big) girl? Of course her cute-ness won us over and she got to have a big girl drink. She does pretty good with the juice boxes and straws. She loves to drink from a straw!!! Madeline sat so proudly holding her juice box!

     I just sat there and did my best to soak up that moment. I was in awe of this amazing, beautiful, healthy girl who always is happy and brightens up my days! This seems to be another stepping stone that came too quickly.... my heart grew even more (if that is possible.)

I had to take pictures of this first pony tail!!!!  Thanks Kelly for melting my heart!!

Madeline's Birthday August 1st 2009

So here is where I should have been if I didn't give up blogging in 2009. I did not get to complete Madeline's first birthday, but I will because it was so special to us to leave out. (I am going to have to figure out if I can re arrange postings..this might be confusing)

August 1, 2009 and Madeline Elizabeth is one year old! She was born at 11:45 PM, so throughout the day I kept looking at the clock trying to remember what I was doing a year ago.(I remember that day, like it was yesterday) We were lucky enough to have our family and friends come over and help us set up for Madeline's special day. We had a cupcake party, we invited friends to come over and have some fun because our little cupcake was turning one! We also decided to add an evening party for those who could not make it to our first party.

Charli and Madeline

Kade, Evan, and the birthday girl

Sammy and the one year old

Addison and Madeline

Troy and Madeline

Couldn't of had that beautiful pink cupcake without Aunt Jen. Madeline thought it was too pretty to eat because she didn't dive into like we all wanted her to.

Okay, after some time she decides to touch it and play with it first. It took some time for her to actually try it.

Looks like lip gloss, but it is frosting. She does know how to put on lip gloss though, I learned that she can't just hold a lip gloss. She can open it and apply.

Destruction!!!

And she is finished...she wiped her head with her hand covered in frosting and she did not like that. She was quickly escorted to take a fast bath.

Presents.......this is one lucky girl to say the least. She recieved dolls, talking tea pot set, videos, bath toys, shopping cart, Madeline dolls, a personal book with photos of Madeline, college money (way too much Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jen), books, talking piggy bank, clothes, clothes and more clothes. From Grandma and Grandpa Clarke she recieved a custom painted pink wagon (thanks Vandemon). Ever since the day I discovered I was pregnant I wanted a wagon, and this was the wagon to get. There are pics posted underneath. It just didn't fall in order of this picture story.

Yay, we had a great time!!

A princess must have her rest. She was getting ready for her evening party.

When she woke up Grandma and Grandpa Clarke brought out the wagon. It was in pieces, here is the back piece that you can see as the wagon passes you by.

Here are pics from another day, but you can see how cool it really is.

 

She had a much smaller cupcake this time and she appreciated that. The look on her face says that she doesn't know what to do about the candle. We sang happy birthday to her ( I got teary eyed when we all sang Madeline, that day was a big day for me, our Madeline was turning "1"!)

And Mommy got to blow out the candle.

Grandma Clarke, Mary and Dianne catching up. Next time please remind me to take more pictures of everyone else or to make someone else do it. We had some of the most important people at the parties and they got away without being in the pictures. We will get you next time!!

Dad's turn to help open presents.

We made chocolate covered marshmallows and Madeline enjoyed them

Right before bed Madeline got placed into her cupcake pajamas. They read "sweet thing"

We had such a wonderful day with our family and friends, thanks for making it such a memorable day for us. Madeline has brought an abundance of joy to our lives, we were proud to celebrate a year of her life and look forward to sharing many more! We love you Madeline Elizabeth!!!XOXOXOXO

A Simple Powerful Word

January  2009...nope 2010, I will have a difficult time writing that year, I am sure I will be corrected by my students plenty of times (hey, teachers make mistakes too). This year I am borrowing the idea of focusing on a word that I can post around the house, school, or where ever to keep me focused and help make it a priority in my life. (Special thanks to Tawny who brought this idea to my attention.)

Being an educator has also taught me that the learner needs to be exposed to that new vocab/word at least eight times to make it there own (interesting fact I thought). So the first place it is posted is in the kitchen. I created a word web, found synonyms, antonyms, examples, non-examples, and posted a picture of me demonstrating this word.

Live: to possess life, to exist, having life, or being physically present
To better explain, Jake and I thought about how sometimes we just go through the motions and not really enjoy parts of daily life. We often turn down opportunities or invitations because we are too busy or dealing with whatever life has thrown at as at the time. As we get older,  I want to take time to slow down, but instead I hear people say that they can't wait for another day (especially Friday). I want to live for today and live in today. I want to soak up every moment I can, and make time to accept the invitations and experience as much as we can.  We are all lucky to live in a country that allows us to live freely, why not take advantage of what is so often taken forgranted. This year the Kings are focusing on living now, focusing on what we really want to live for, and enjoying our life!
Stayed tuned for more ways that we live!

Black Eyed Peas

Jake's Great Grandmother, Grandma Davis, believed in a southern tradition of eating black eyed peas in the new year to bring fortune and luck.(Fun fact: the music group the Black Eyed Peas named themselves that because they wanted luck too) I never knew this until this year, so what did I do? Quickly ran to the grocery store to find these peas and through them into our home made tortilla soup. (Yes, my first dinner of the year and I cooked! It is one of my many goals this year.)

We had the Byrd family over to celebrate the New Year and our friendship! Erin and I have known each other since high school and have rekindled our friendship. Not only is our friendship great, our daughters' is too. Charli and Madeline enjoy playing together and are working on the whole sharing thing. Hopefully, they will have a life long friendship too!!

Madeline and Charli eating dinner too!

Jake took a picture of his girls.

Madeline is such a big girl playing on her glider, she can get up on it all by herself.

Charli loved the Mercedes, watch out Byrd family!

So sweet!

They are too cute together! They had the whole house to play in, but they loved the crib!

I made cupcakes that had tens on them, for the New Year! (kind of hard to see)

Preparing for the New Year

Okay, okay, I have been horrible about blogging to say the least, but I now have a beautiful 27" iMAC and have no more excuses. I was having the most difficult time uploading pictures,and found myself being discouraged from it all, but not any more! This new baby can hold oodles of pictures or as Jake would say "a s#*t load" of pictures. This computer can do amazing things and I will be taking classes to learn more about it at the Apple store (and maybe I can bribe Tawny to teach me more with photoshop too.)

Please have patience with me as I catch up on a lot of great memories and pictures. I will my best to keep them in order. Alright, I am done with excuses and ready to move forward with the new year. It is going to be another great year! Bring on Twenty Ten!!