More pics of my outside water baby. Madi really doesn't like to get into her swimming pool, but she loves playing in the water outside of it. She is too funny. She loves taking baths though. All I have to say is "Does Madi want to take a bath?" and she is off running for the bathroom. She stands at the door and pushes on it trying to open it until I get there to let her in. I thought she would have so much fun in her little pool. But she loves being outside. I wish we had more trees and shade in our yard. It would be so much nicer to be outside during the day if the sun wasn't beating down on us so much.

Last weekend Jason and Tabatha picked up a Little Tykes picnic table for Madi for me. She absolutely loves it. She eats her breakfast and lunch there everyday and snacks. She likes to sit and color and play with toys and read books. Thanks Aunt Beth for convincing me to get one!!

Madi is growing so fast. Just in the last couple of weeks she has changed so much. Earlier in the month we were battling sleep at naps and bedtime. Now we have our routine down and she goes to sleep the same time everyday and she no longer cries when I lay her down. Maybe two minutes at the most occasionally, otherwise she curls up and goes right to sleep. She is now feeding herself with a spoon. She just started that this last week and she doesn't get alot of food from the plate to her mouth, but she is getting there. It is so much fun seeing all the little changes.

I have started pulling wall paper down this last week. I have the front bathroom almost done and have started in the kitchen. I still have to scrape the glue off the walls but it isn't taking as long as I thought it would and it is coming off so much easier than before. I am going to start helping Chris in the office doing his paperwork on Mondays. I hope it will only take a couple of hours in the morning and then I can come home and get some more work done on the house, while Jane is watching Madi. This way I can get more done and Madi gets a change of pace.

Happy Birthday to Mom tomorrow. Also Happy Birthday to Darci, Jeremy, Uncle Paul, and Uncle Mike and Chris' Uncle David. Hope you all have a great week.

Love, Amy

There has been a lot going on the past couple of weeks.

Grandma Betty is at home and seems to be doing much better. She was moving around well yesterday. She has now had all 6 of her kids in town taking turns taking care of her. Tommy from NH is here for the week. We had a nice time visiting with Joye and Linda and Beth last week and look forward to seeing Beth and Marybeth again next week.

Madi is cutting teeth again. No new teeth poking through yet, but she ran a temp for several days last week and her gums are really white for her I teeth. And she has been so spoiled with all these people around the last couple of weeks. She gets really cranky and fussy being home alone with me all day.

We finally drew up a design for the house that has everything we want and we are both totally in love with it. We are so excited. Saturday we spent all morning at Lowe's pricing everything and picking out and designing the kitchen cabinets. We are going to meet with a couple more cabinet places in town and see what they can come up with for a price. We want to have everything picked out and budgeted before we get started so there aren't any surprises half way through building. Now I need to get busy on getting our house fixed up to sell. I wouldn't be dragging my feet so bad if there wasn't so much wallpaper to take down. It is such a chore and there is no easy way of doing it.

We drove out to the land Saturday evening to see what Chris' dad mowed earlier in the day. We were sitting on the back side of the trees on the west side of the dry creek and pond and a huge buck came running through the trees followed by six smaller deer. That was the first time we had seen deer out there. The neighbors have seen them, so we knew they were out there, but it was cool to see them ourselves and that close. Now Chris won't have to go to deer camp for a week. He can shoot one off the back deck!!! I don't think he will give up deer camp.

Enjoy the new pics, I have more in my photo albums!

Love, Amy

Chris' grandma Betty had triple by-pass surgery yesterday. It all started Tuesday night when they took her to the emergency room with chest pains. Doctors said she didn't have a heartattack but if she hadn't come in when she did it could have been much worse. So, we have been at the hospital for most of the week. Chris and I drove to KC on Wednesday to pick two of his aunts up that flew in.

Grandma Betty is doing better. They removed the ventilator this morning and had her sitting up in a chair. She is very tired, obviously, so everyone went in and saw her this morning and then we went out to eat for breakfast. We can go back after 1:00 and see her again. Yesterday was such a draining day. Surgery started at 10:00, everyone was there by 8:00 or 9:00 and the doctor didn't come in to talk to us until 4:30. Chris and I took off right away to get Madi and finish supper for everyone. Tonight Bob and Patty are making supper for us. It will be nice to sit and visit this evening. And hopefully a bit more relaxed for everyone, knowing that things are a little better.

Take care...
Love, Amy

We are back from the lake! We had a great time but it was nice to sleep in our own beds last night. We went boating, fishing, swimming, played on the beach, played in the yard, and Madi had a great time with her Uncle Jason and Aunt Tabatha.

Madi had a big day last Sunday. She went boating and fishing, came back and got in her swimming pool for the first time, passed out in Aunt Tabatha's arms from all the action, and then woke up and had ice cream with Papa. (All pictured below!) She wasn't too sure about the swimming pool at first. It was a little cold with just hose water. So, we filled it up with warm water from the house and it felt more like a bath and she had a better time.



Chris had to work Monday and Tuesday. But came back out early Tuesday afternoon and surprised us with the rest of the week off. We went down to the swimming beach and tried putting her in the lake. She didn't like it (it was too cold). But she loved playing in the sand. We didn't stay too long because it was so hot and sunny and she didn't want to stay in the shade of the umbrella. She fell asleep on the drive back to the trailer. We layed her down in her swimming suit. When she woke up, Chris went to change her and she had a pile of sand fall out of her swimming suit and swim diaper. It was pretty funny! She also had a play date that evening with Jack. His parents own the marina. They are so cute together. Jack wasn't too sure about her this time, but she also kept running in to her with the toys, could have been part of the reason! But they gave each other kisses and it was so adorable!

Fourth of July Chris, Madi and I took off for a day trip of our own. We went to Mushroom State Park, which is just a couple miles from the lake. We took some neat pics of Madi on the rocks. But we started seeing toads and lizards and they kept getting bigger and closer and we decided to leave before we saw snakes. We drove over to the big town of Kanopolis to visit the Civil War Fort Harker. There are only a couple of buildings left. Then drove to Ellsworth and cruised around that town for a bit. We then drove out to Lake Wilson and visited Bob and Patty and Bobby Helm. They had been camping out there all week. It was hot, hot, hot. And of course Madi was non stop the whole time, in the sun. We loaded up and she was asleep within five minutes of leaving, she was worn out.

Thursday, we just hung out at the trailer and played games most of the day. It was so hot outside, you just couldn't be out for very long periods. Towards evening we got out the game of washers and played in the shade. It was a lot of fun. Madi tried to join us so we had to take breaks and let her get her running around in.

I have new pics in my photo albums. Some great pictures of her on the beach and in her swimming pool...please check them out.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. Happy Birthday to Tyler, Raymond and Trenten this last week!!

Love, Amy