Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere

We've been to this pumpkin patch every year since Madelyn was born. It's our tradition now.
Some things we like about it:
1) It's FREE! Free Parking. Free rides. Free bounce houses. Free photo ops. Free fun! The only thing you pay for are the pumpkins or snacks.
2) They take canned good donations for a local food pantry.
3) Everyone on the staff is so friendly.
4) We always have a great time, no matter how crowded it is.
5) It's near one of our favorite restaurants (see previous post) and we're making that a tradition, too!

Checking out all of the little pumpkins in the 'pumpkin house.'

"What?! You want me to touch one of these muddy, gross pumpkins?"



That's more like it. What a sweet little expression!

Happy Halloween from all of us!

Seven Falls - Colorado

We took a trip to Colorado two weeks ago and really enjoyed the chance to get away and just be a couple. Our first day (after the flight) was spent at Seven Falls. Here's a taste of the incredible beauty. Yes - we climbed up and down that crazy "staircase" on the left side of this picture. 225 steps each way. Oh dear....


This was at the top of the stairs. Don't remember the name of this particular waterfall. They all had silly names.


Sunlight dancing in the leaves.


A pretty chilled out couple if you ask me. {Not a great photo, but you take what you get when someone else uses your fancy camera.}

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!!

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.

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!

Girls just wanna have fun

We had a fun party. I didn't get a chance to capture too many photos, so I'll have to rely on the photos of others to slowly trickle in. Here are some that I managed to capture...

Madelyn got an Anywhere Chair from us. She LOVES it! She likes to read her books in it and watch Baby Einstein videos. She also likes to......Stand up in her chair! What a daredevil!

Madelyn had a small smash cake and everyone else had a GIANT cake.

This is what happens if you try and give Madelyn cake. Mind you it took her a while to get comfortable with the cake, but once she did...

Even Daddy face-planted in the cake!

Don't take that girl's cake from her!!

Daddy and Teeth

Father's Day was pretty low key around here. Auntie Em and Uncle Outlaw headed back to OK and we had gone out to dinner the night before (Uno Pizza - yum!) Plus, I had to get ready to head to campus to listen to some band camp auditions. Anyway, here are some pics with Daddy. He's such a good one, too!


This was Jonathan's idea - he piled all of her buddies on him and even put frog lovie on his head. Silly Daddy!



Reading the book Madelyn got Daddy for Father's Day at bedtime. She's a bookworm!



So, apparently I'm behind on brushing Madelyn's teeth. According to several books, you're supposed to start as soon as they have teeth. Well, she's working on her fifth one. She has all four central incisors and her first lower left lateral incisor is peaking through the gum. So, we've started brushing her teeth at night. Apparently you're supposed to brush twice a day! Since we've just started, we'll slowly work up to twice a day. She does fine with it. The bottom teeth are the hardest because she tucks her chin and her tongue gets in the way. Hard to believe how fast she's growing up!

Keys

I think every baby likes real keys at some point. Madelyn really enjoys anything that she can make noise with now. Maybe it's her new music class. Whatever the reason, she's a big fan.



Can I drive? I promise I won't go too fast.



Silly Daddy wearing Mommy's sunglasses.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

We were in Denver this last week, so sorry it's been a while since the last post. We all rode just about every form of transportation while we were on our way there.

This is Madelyn waiting in the airport in Dallas. There was a group of elderly women going to Denver for a "girls week" and they loved talking to her and making faces at her.


We opted to let her "lap ride" and really hoped that there would be empty seats. Sadly, this picture is of the only time she had her own seat: Dallas to OKC. We rode Southwest and they were really great, but apparently also doing very well as an airline. 3 of our 4 legs were 100% capacity! She was too excited most of the time to even think about sleeping on the plane. I think the most she ever slept was around 20 minutes.
We landed in Denver, took the terminal train to get our luggage, then a bus to get our rental car. So, outside of riding a bike, she saw every form of transportation that day.We headed straight to the Denver Zoo. Denver was experiencing some record-setting heat while we were there, so we didn't stay long.


Here's Jonathan and Madelyn checking out the monkey island.


Her favorite - the giraffes! Lots of giraffes, even a baby giraffe. However, as you may be able to see, she's sweating and her sunscreen was running into her eyes. We managed to prevent her first sunburn though! The hat's a little big, but I figured she could grow into it. It was that, or a dorky one with a chin strap. Ever the fashionista, Madelyn opted for the big one.


Next it was on to the Hard Rock Denver on 16th Street. The temperature had dropped a little, so we ate outside. Madelyn tried her first chicken fingers, which were pretty spicy. They even had apple juice. I guess I'm still surprised sometimes at how family-friendly restaurants can be if you know what to ask for and how to make it work for your child.

I was at an Understanding Copyright Conference most of the time, so we didn't have much free time together or to venture out into the wilderness. We agreed that we'd hav eto go back when Madelyn can walk more and hike around and see the great outdoors! It was still beautiful to see the mountains around us.

We did go to the Denver Aquarium, which was neat because nearly all of the tanks went all the way to the floor, so Madelyn could see VERY well. It was pretty ok as far as Aquariums go, but overpriced for the size of the place. This is Madelyn checking out the Barracudas!


They did have a pretty amazing shark exhibit and had a fairly large pool of dozens of sting rays - all shapes and sizes. You could just walk right up and touch the sting rays! Madelyn got to touch one briefly, but I think she mostly liked watching me touch them.
About the most difficult thing was adjusting to the altitude and time change. Madelyn's now an expert plane passenger and was very good (no medicine required!)

Go Speedracer!

Uncle Ryan and Chris ran in the OKC Half-Marathon. They both finished under 2 hours. We all got up before the sun and cheered on the runners.

Madelyn's race shirt

Uncle Ry-Ry at Mile 7 - complete with a new mini-Mohawk.

Chris at Mile 9

Her new favorite vantage point.

Peter Cottontail

So, it was a busy weekend for us. I had Friday off so, Madelyn and I had fun shopping up in Southlake and around Fort Worth.
Saturday we went to church for an Easter Eggstravaganza. Madelyn got some help from Daddy on hunting for her first Easter eggs.





The Easter Bunny visited the Queen household and brought a little something for everyone - except the cats and dogs. (Why would a rabbit bring gifts for those that might try to eat him??)

We hunted eggs in the living room because it was pouring rain outside. She found some "puffs" and "yogurt melts" inside of her eggs!


Then it was off to church. We kept her with us during the service today and she was a bit restless, but everytime there was music, she was quiet and waving at everyone. She's a big fan of waving to everyone and everything now.

Then a quick photoshoot in her Easter dress...

And then it was time for Easter lunch! We had a Honeybaked Ham (worth EVERY penny,) green beans, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, and brown-n-serve rolls (JQ's favorite.) Madelyn tried everything except the gravy.




We had a fun Easter weekend and it's a shame it had to end.