We had a wonderful Easter. Service at church was nice and then we headed to Chris' parents for lunch. We then went to my mom and dad's while Jason and Tabatha were still in town. Madi looked so cute in her new dress. Not much else going on. It is cold and rainy today. I am ready to have the nice spring weather back. Enjoy the pics!!

Love, Amy

What a week!!!

I watched a 5 year old and almost 2 year old boys this past week and man they were a handful. They are brothers and they just pick at each other and feed off of each other getting into all sorts of trouble. And non stop movement. Madi liked to sit and watch them but she was awful clingy this week. She ended up getting bumped and toys taken away if she was on the floor, so she stayed in my lap or right beside me. Poor thing, she isn't used to all the commotion or movement (neither was Oliver, our dog).

Wednesday night I started a four week class at our church called Conscious Discipline. This is very interesting. It is discipline that is positive and talking to children to produce what you want and not focusing or pointing out the negatives in what children do. It really is a life-style change in the way you think and speak to your children. It is so natural, I think to most people, to automatically say don't or no to a child. But for self esteem and building a child's personality and the way they see themselves they need to be taught what to do instead of being told what they aren't supposed to do. Check out the website, they have some really good ideas on talking to children and even the use of time out. http://www.beckybailey.com/

Madi is up from her nap!! Have a great Easter.

Love, Amy

Tear out Weekend #2...

Yard work again this weekend. First we put down new metal edging around the house and shed and mailbox. It looks really nice. Then we dug out the stumps and roots to all the bushes and evergreen tree that we removed last weekend. That job went much easier with the rental of a backhoe. But the roots were so big and deep on the evergreen tree that it took at least 45 minutes of digging to finally get it loose. But it looks great and we don't have to worry about any of it growing back.

We had decided last weekend that we were going to do all of the landscaping ourselves instead of paying someone to do it. Well, that might have worked IF we knew what we were doing. The plants are a mystery. So many to choose from and we drive around looking at other peoples yards and we were more confused than when we started. Then, we started looking at what we have. We have a ton of rock still in the old landscaping that we wish we could use but we know the plastic underneath needs to be replaced because there are weeds growing up through it everywhere. But who wants to shovel all the old rock out just to shovel it all back in and risk still having some weeds in it. So...we decided yesterday that maybe we should hire someone who knows what they are doing. Plus, we were able to get two small beds done on the north side of the house and they took 33 bags of new rock to fill. It would probably take 200+ more bags of rock to finish. That doesn't sound like fun to me!! Hopefully I can keep Chris convinced to hire someone...wish me luck!!! All this yard work has also been really hard with Madi. She isn't mobile enough to follow us around and keep content and she is just too young to stay outside all day long. If it wasn't for my parents and Chris' parents to help out with her, we definetly would not have gotten as much done as we have. THANK YOU!!!

Madi is now 10 months old!!! And I am already starting to think about her 1st birthday party coming up in 2 months! It is planned for May 26, it's a Saturday. Don't have anything else planned yet though...keep the date open!!! I also talked to our pastor Sunday and today and we have her baptism scheduled for May 27th.

It's raining here!!! Have a great week.

Love, Amy

Madi and dad playing on the machinery!!
Evergreen roots.
Front step being destroyed.

Sunday was tear out day. We removed all of the bushes around our house and all of the plastic lawn edging. It looks 100x better already. It took about 15 minutes to cut down the big evergreen bushes and tree in the front and about 2 hours to get it all cleaned up and moved to the driveway. Chris, my dad and I worked outside and my mom kept Madi content inside. Thank you, Thank you for your help.
We had a friend of Chris' who owns a tree service come over yesterday and shred the limbs, so now we don't have a huge pile in front of the house. And just in time, today the rain is washing whatever was left of the mess away.

Last night Jason and Tabatha were in town. Everybody came over and we had supper and cake for Jason's 25th Birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday!!!! It was a very nice evening.

Madi is still cruising around. We practice standing on her own but she is still afraid to let go. No new teeth yet but still drooling like crazy. Last week she started to point at things. Now she points all the time. Sees something she wants and points. It's cute. And she is getting into everything. I have been letting her play in the kitchen when I am in there working and she would play with her letters on the fridge or she had her own drawer with stuff she could play with. But now she is wanting to get into everything. So, next trip to Wal-Mart I am purchasing a gate and she will be locked out of the kitchen. I don't think she is going to like it very much, but it is for her own safety. She'll get used to it.

Take care and have a great week. Bring on the rain!!!

Love, Amy


Before
After
Chris' truck is parked on the other side of the pile, you just can't see it!!

Last night Madi took her first bath in the big tub!!! She had a lot of fun. She was able to move around more, which meant more slipping. Need to get grippy pads for the tub and more toys!!

Daylight savings time did a nice job of messing with not only Madi's schedule, but I have had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. We both did better this morning so hopefully I have her back on schedule. It's been rough this week. Madi also has a terrible runny nose and drooling like crazy. We are ready for some new teeth to come in!

I have the renovating bug right now. I am so ready to get started in fixing up our house. I have a list of things we need to do a mile long. Chris has been talking more and more about it so hopefully he is getting ready also. We had a local lawn care business come by yesterday and tell us what we need to do to get our yard looking better. They are supposed to be here today to fertilize. But our main goal, hopefully soon, is to get those ugly bushes and evergreen tree pulled out in front of the house. The plan is to get rid of all the bushes around the house and start over. And then of course there is plenty to do on the inside, but I have to wait until Chris is ready. (The fun stuff is coming up...TAXES, ugh)

Enjoy the new pics!!

Love, Amy

Yesterday was Chris' birthday. We had our parents over for supper and cake. It was a very nice evening. I had planned this on Monday and thought that the weather was supposed to be much nicer than it was. So, we made hamburgers on the grill and it was so cold outside. Thanks dad for cooking for us!! Madi had so much fun playing on the floor with the wrapping paper. She is a hoot to watch!! She also got to practice for her birthday cake with her dad's cake. She had no problem diving into the icing. But her cake will be much messier!!! I think chocolate all around would be great (can't wait).

I have spring fever bad. Last weeks nice weather didn't help a bit either. We were able to go outside a couple of days and play in the swing and went to the park on Monday. I am ready to go to the lake, too bad there isn't any water in the lake. No boating again this summer, unless we get some serious rain.

Take care and enjoy the new pics!!!

Love, Amy

Madi is now 9 months old as of yesterday. How time flies!!! It sure doesn't seem possible. We just got home from her well-baby checkup. She is now 17 lbs 12 oz and 28 inches long. She has made it to the 31 percentile in weight and 65 in height. Her doctor was very pleased with her weight, which makes me happy. I was a little worried when the nurse weighed her that she was still a bit on the small size. If the doctors not worried then neither am I.

Madi has been fighting sleep again since last Wednesday. So we have started putting her down and letting her cry. It takes about 15-20 minutes of her crying before she calms down and goes to sleep. But once she does, she sleeps all night.

She is also starting to cruise around the house. What ever she can pull herself up to she does and then she can walk herself around as long as she has something to hold on to. Won't be much longer and she will be walking!!

Not much else going on. Chris has a busy, busy week last week. But was able to get everything done and took Saturday off to spend the day with me and Madi. Which was very nice. We haven't had a weekend together in a long time. Next weekend is the Ambuc's show here in Salina at the Bicentennial Center. Chris' cousin Bob with Bob's Creative Taxidermy will have a booth setup. So look for him. Chris will be helping him probably all weekend. So Madi and I will probably spend most of Saturday there. I think my mom is going to join us and we will walk through all the campers and they also have a craft show at the 4-H building.

Take care and have a great week!

Love, Amy

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Love, Amy and Madi

I finally took some pictures yesterday of Madi playing. I have been really bad about getting the camera out lately. I wrote last time that Madi is pulling herself up onto things. She is a climbing monkey. Yesterday she managed to get herself up and standing at the back door, how she did that with nothing to pull on is beyond me, but she did and she had a wonderful time. She also likes to scream...very loudly. Everything that moved outside she would scream!!! I am trying to get her to stop. I can just imagine what she would do in a store or restaurant (that is when we ever get to leave the house again).

She is driving our dog insane. He is getting older and she is constantly wanting to play with him. He is finally realizing that she can move and she can catch him when he gets too close. There were several times yesterday she got him and he wouldn't move, just growled...made me so nervous. He is so temperamental and Madi doesn't know when to leave him alone. I finally had to send him to the other room, my lap is no longer the safe place for him.

Madi has been working on her second tooth for over a week and it finally popped through today. But I don't think she is feeling well today. Chris came home last night with a nasty cold and she woke up this morning with a runny nose (again, she is going to be just like me, catches everything) and has had no interest in her food and diarrhea this morning. Yuk!!! Knock on wood, she has yet to have anything other than a runny nose and cough. Not looking forward to the first really bad sick and throwing up.

I am so excited for Saturday!! Why? RACING is back!!! Tomorrow is the first race of the season, the Bud Shootout at Daytona. It's a short race and no points are involved which should make it a good race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts 17th out of 21 drivers and the good news is, he has won this race from the last postion, so he has a good chance. Go Jr!!!!! The following weekend is Daytona 500!!! One guess where I will be every Sunday from now until November. I love this long season!!!

Well, it sounds like someone is waking up from her nap. Enjoy the pics and check out more in my photo albums!!

Love, Amy

A few new things going on since my last post. Madi is crawling every where. She follows me around the house as I do my housework. She is also pulling herself up onto things. She is still a bit wobbly so I have to keep a close eye out, she is hitting pretty hard and hasn't learned to catch herself. (Chris just lowered her bed, kind of sad) She has also learned to sit herself up this past week. Which is sooo nice. Before she would lay on her back and kick her legs and lift her head up, she looked like a turtle stuck on his back. She is much happier and content playing on the floor now. I think she is cutting another tooth. We have had some sleepless days and last night she would not sleep in her bed. It was a very long night.

Really not a lot going on. It has been so cold we haven't been getting out much and Chris is just working.

Take care and stay warm. GO BEARS!!!

Love, Amy