Christmas Eve

So, all our plans for Christmas Eve went out the window with the Oklahoma Blizzard of 2009. It was snowing so hard and the wind was pretty fierce. After it was all over, OKC saw 14.1" of snow! Worst. Snowstorm. In Oklahoma. EVER!
All the churches cancelled their Christmas Eve services, so we all stayed snuggly inside.
But that didn't mean Madelyn didn't wear her Christmas Eve dress. We had a fun little mini-fashion show! She huffed and puffed because she'd been in her pj's all day, but once the dress went on, she was workin' it for the camera like a supermodel!



Check out all of the snow in the window...


My favorite, by far!

As is tradition in our house, we open one gift on Christmas Eve. Here's Madelyn in action...

Pre-Christmas Eve

Yummy mexican dinner at Auntie Em & Uncle Outlaw's. If you didn't know, Madelyn's middle name was almost "Queso." Sort of kidding...

We opened a few presents, too.

An OU hat from Grandma D.

And, one of her favorite Christmas gifts, a phone. She's still practicing saying, "Hello!"

Scrolling through her rolodex.

Time flies and so do little girls

The days have zipped right along here.

Madelyn helped decorate for Christmas.She also went flying and hit her teeth on our headboard. There's even a mark left on the headboard! She cried and cried a lot. But didn't bleed nor lose any teeth. We may have lucked out on this little accident. Fingers-crossed that it doesn't become infected.

Madelyn had her last music class for the semester...

Even Mommy & Daddy enjoyed a night away for a company Christmas party in downtown!
And a big congratulations to Daddy for passing his Professional Engineering Exam! Woohoo!!

Buh, buh, buh, Benny and the Jets...

Even "Elton Claus" made an appearance today! :)

Highway to the .... Danger Zone!

Jonathan is super jealous that I ate lunch here...

SoCal

I'm in San Diego. Here are some highlights...

What a wig

Our very own 80's rocker.

Trick or Treat

This year was Madelyn's first time to Trick or Treat. She did great and quickly learned the routine. Now, any office with candy dishes seems like an opportunity to trick or treat!

This house had full size candy bars! This girl knew exactly what to do - one for her and one for mommy! That's my girl!

Pumpkins

Madelyn and I picked out some very pretty pumpkins and mums this year. Yesterday when we got home, I let her have some fun exploring the front yard. She loves the little pumpkins. And she loves her Halloween shirt from Nana.

Her hair is pretty wild and crazy these days. It needs to get just a little bit longer and then maybe I can pull it into a little ponytail.

Trying to pick up two at a time!

Showing Daddy how strong she is!

I have no idea what these two were up to, but I HAD to get a picture. Just plain silly.

Healing Nicely!

Well, sorry to keep all of you avid blog readers waiting...

Surgery went great! She went in at 8:20am, released about 9:00am, home with McDonald's pancakes by 9:45am, walking around and playing like normal by 10:30am. Probably the yuckiest part was the drainage that came out of her ears. I didn't take any pictures. Didn't figure that was something ANYONE wanted to see. She goes back in about 10 days to make sure everything still looks good in those ears and that all the fluid/sticky earwax is gone.

This was taken the morning after. I'll let you decide if she looks like she's in any pain/discomfort...

She's "talking" more when she reads. {Who cares if the book is upside down - I think it means she's going to be one creative little girl.}

And she's walking at least 90% of the time now. It took her a few days to get used to the new feeling in her head - it would tip backwards periodically - perhaps due to less weight up there? She's wearing her first nightgown - a gift from mommy & daddy for being SO brave.

Later that day Madelyn and I went to Michael's for the Great Pumpkin Event. It was kind of disappointing - not enough paint and glitter - but we still made a pretty cute {craft} pumpkin.

"M" for Madelyn & Mommy!

Tomorrow Madelyn and I are headed to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. I think it's the best one in the Fort Worth metroplex. We took her last year, so maybe this will become tradition.

Oh - and we'll be watching OU/Texas. Hoping for a GREAT game and victory!

My brave girl

The waiting begins.

Fall Days

Fall is here. I planned all week to take Madelyn to the Dallas Arboretum on Saturday. Gorgeous weather. I even was the thrifty mommy and figured out that if I purchased my ticket at the grocery store, it was $1.50 cheaper! It made me feel pretty cool. I don't know why, but I guess it felt like I could add one more "mommy patch" to my vest. Or sash. I think I like the idea of a sash better than a vest. I also earned another "mommy patch" on Saturday, but we'll get to that...

So I had grand plans to leave the house at 8am so that we could get there when the Arboretum opened {1 hour away.} But Madelyn and I don't get ready very quickly when it's just the two of us. So, we got on the road at 9am. I got my Starbucks fix on the way and a few minutes later I heard Madelyn let out a huge cough from the back seat. I don't know why, but I didn't turn around to check on her then. The occasional cough is normal for me and her - a.k.a. "McRae mucus." For some reason, out of the blue, I turned my head to see what she was up to back there - and I saw every parent's worst nightmare and my next "mommy patch." Wait for it... I know the suspense is killing you....

Puke! In the car! On a cute fall outfit! Nowhere near home! Ticket purchased! Very stinky! Hoping for extra clothes in the diaper bag! She's putting her fingers in it! GROSS!!

Well, I got off the interstate, stripped her down, wiped her down, wiped the car seat down, and put it all in a ziploc bag. Still didn't really help the smell, but we continued down the road towards Dallas.

The Arboretum was beautiful. The weather was perfect. Lots of fun. I hope to go again before it gets too cold and everything dies off. If you've never been, you must go - very kid friendly and worth every penny. Whoever saw soooo many different varieties of pumpkins and gourds?!

I was still able to get some cute pictures - even though the cute outfit got ruined and we went to backup daycare outfit. Oh well... I think the smiles and beautiful backdrops make up for the lack of cute clothes.

Checkin' out the pumpkin.

Checkin' out a boy - seriously. I could not get her to smile at me, only this little boy in the hay "cut out" next to her.

She picked this seat out herself.

Mommy & Madelyn - Dallas Arboretum - October '09

Pretty girl. Pretty flower.

Madelyn will have her tubes put in her ears on Friday morning. Please be in prayer with us that everything will go smoothly and that she'll recover quickly. We have a great and well-respected doctor and pray that He will guide his hands. We'll update you all once we can after she's recovered and we've made it home.

The Look

Madelyn is known for her facial expressions. I got this one on Saturday because she wanted more ice cream and cake.

First iPhone Post

Trying to do my first mobile blog post now that iPhone finally has MMS.
Madelyn helped me sort the mail today!

Odds and Ends

Sorry it's been a while.
What's new? Ear infection #7 I think. I don't know. Maybe #8? I lost count. No matter how hard you try - they'll always find a way to catch something.
Antibiotics. Ibuprofen. Humidifier. We know the drill.
However, we've had some fun over the past few weeks before this new infection hit.
We went to the pool a few weekends ago. Before all this rain and cooler weather started.
She chills in her starfish like a professional now.


Madelyn and Daddy played in the Dora Ball Pit. :)


We all went to Chuckee Cheese for a friend's birthday party. It was pretty crowded, but we still found some games and rides for Madelyn to enjoy.
Honing her Skeeball skills early!


Riding a giant motorized rocking horse. Please notice her tickets in her left hand. She would not let go of those things for anything!

Trying her hand at Whack-A-Mole.

And on our first "girls only morning" with Daddy in class, we had fun!