Treasure it - Thursday!

Lets see, these days, Maddie is talking up a storm and speaks in complete sentences for the most part. She is always saying, "Look." For example, "Look, a bird!" or "Look, a barn!" Her latest favorite phrase is "I forgot." A few days ago when I was trying to get her to take a nap, she sat up and said, "Mom, I forgot!" When I asked her "forgot what?" She said, "I don't know" in a really serious tone. Her latest funny phrase, is "Sure-huh!"

She loves her babys, and they often accompany us on our errand running.

She still loves Diego and now whenever she sees the dogs shivering. She goes over to them and says, "Oh no, they're a scared little animal."

Definitely a Daddy's girl, but who wouldn't be would playdough skills like that?! I can always get her moving in the right direction if I tell her Daddy's waiting on us at home.

Santa!

Maddie is really excited about Santa this year. She loves peppermint these days and everytime someone asks her what Santa is going to bring her for Christmas, she says, "Peppermints!" This year we got to see Santa at Knoxville Mall and Maddie wouldn't sit on his lap, but sat next to him and talked to him. He gave her a candy cane after they chatted, so now everytime we go to the mall, she asks if we can go get a peppermint from Santa.

She's always telling me, See Santa, give him a hug. We stopped by to wave at Santa the other day however, and when he got up to adjust his coat, Maddie was out of there! She thought, he was coming over to take her up on her offer. Big talker!

Random Fun

We went bowling for Daddy's birthday and Maddie LOVED it for about 5 frames. Then she was outta there, playing video games and getting candy out of the little quarter dispenser things...

John is definitely the most creative when it comes to Playdough art..... Here are a couple of his masterpieces.

I didn't get a good picture of this, but it's an animal orchestra. There are little owls and bears playing the cello. LOL!


This is at the Zoo, again.....Hehehe, we definitely use the pass!

Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving this year with Gigi and Papa in Gallatin. The weather was perfect and we got to eat outside with this beautiful view.

The girls got their own table, and were so cute eating together.

Knoxville Zoo - Again

I'm still in love with the Knoxville Zoo. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, we found an indoor kid's Zone and we got to meet this turkey that they raised on a bottle. Super Cool!

This baby gorilla actually came from across the enclosure and put his hand up to Maddie after we'd been standing there for a few minutes. Of course, I missed that picture, but he sat right at the glass and walked back and forth for several minutes. It was super cool!

There's an indoor play area there that is like a children's musuem. There's a pet hospital...

And a big red barn with real live chickens and rabbits.

Along with an area where you can shovel these bean bags into a bucket, like picking up manure. I thought it was hilarious!

Fall in Knoxville - Catching Up!

We have definitely enjoyed fall in East Tennessee. The leaves were beautiful, and while Daddy's been working, Maddie and I have been enjoying the surroundings.

We found a Halloween festival and Maddie got to paint her first pumpkin.

We also went to our first corn maze, which I've always wanted to do. It was pretty fun. The maze was actually harder than it looked. They had miniture ponies and a train, so it was a hit.

We also found a really fun park to go to.; they have a great playground along with this cool fountain and bridge.

As for Halloween, Maddie decided to pass this year. She was "supposed" to be a cat, but she didn't want anything to do with the costume even though we tried to bribe her candy. Oh well, maybe next year!

Laundry Day and the Ijams Nature Center

Last Sunday Maddie had to earn her keep by accompaning me to the Laundromat to wash her sheets. She was a pretty good helper, especially with the basket on wheels!

Entertaining herself with the ipad!

Don't worry, the day started to look up, after the laundry, we hit up McD's playplace and the Ijams Nature Center. I was hesitant to go to the Nature Center because I thought it'd be pretty boring, but it was gorgeous! And they even had a kids area with a play cabin!

Maddie got on this turtle's back and said "I need a rope!" She's definitely a cowgirl at heart!

Our humble abode!

By request.... Here are some photos of the interior of our new "pad!"

The "Kitchen"

The "Office"

The "Living Room"


The "Master Suite"

Maddie's Room!

We are actually really enjoying living in our great big 5th wheel. Sometimes it's a little close quarters, but it only takes about 5 minutes to clean from one end to the other, so that's a major plus!

Happy Birthday Crafting

Gigi's birthday was last week, so Maddie and I put on our crafty hats and made her a gift. This is not my strong suite, so I'm fairly proud of our product. If anyone wants to repeat this loveliness, I suggest checking out the "original" on the Bringing Up Bug and Bee blog on my list.

Presenting Fall Hands!

At first, Maddie wasn't sure about what I was doing to her hands, but she soon discovered that finger painting is super fun! We started out pretty neat and clean with it, then things went down hill.

The mess was totally worth it, though. Maddie still asks if we can do "hand prints" almost every day!

Treasure it - When we can!

Lately, the word is "Attitude!"

A while back I told Kristi, I was going to rip off her "treasure it, tuesday" idea, but I haven't put it into practice, obviously. We're kicking this off on a Sunday and I'm going to try to do it as often as possible! No promises, though.





Maddie is Miss Independent these days. I hear "I do it!" at least 100 times a day. Lately she even wants to tie MY shoes. I usually get them back by telling her, "no, I do it!"





She also loves to climb on anything, chairs, ladders, tables, furniture. Once she gets on something, stands up really straight with her arms in the air and says, "I tall!"


She knows how to shake hands with people and she usually says, "How are you? Nice to see you."




At night, she's lately taken to telling me "Bye, Bye, Mommy! Daddy read to me." The first time that made me sad, but I will admit that John is a more entaining reader and usually keeps reading until I have to poke my head in and tell them both its time to go to sleep.



Whenever she wants to do something, she always says, "Come on, Mommy! Let's go, Mommy!" or my other absolute favorite. She asks for it a million times in a row, like "playground, playground, playground, playground...." Then, we I say, you want to go the playground? She say, "OK!" like, "What a great idea, mom!"

Knoxville Zoo

We knew from our summer visit here that the Knoxville Zoo was a "must do" on the list, so we are now official members. The membership paid for itself if we went to the Zoo twice, and so far we've been 5 times, so it was definitely a good decision! Maddie loves it and always asks to go to the Zoon!!

During our first trip there, we never made it to the Kid's Cove, so we were excited to find goats and sheep that you could brush, turkeys, bunnies, a big slide and "mountains" to climb.

I also have to give the Knoxville Zoo a double thumbs up in the cool department because a lot of the exhibits have these tunnels that look like logs, so you can go "into" the animals habitat. This one is for the praire dogs....

And this giant one is for the bears. They even put snacks down at the end to try to lure the bears close to the window. So far, we've not gotten close though. They are usually climbing on top of the tunnel when we're inside. It's still cool, though!

"Hatching" out of egg in the Kid's Cove

Officially on the Road!

We officially started "life on the road" Sept. 30th. Maddie was very excited to see Daddy and thought the new camper was super cool. Her favorite place is the top bunk, "fishing" for Rowdy. On a funny note, before Maddie got there, I bought her new, very cute, Owl bedding from Target and got the wall decals to match. I spent some (maybe not a lot) of time putting the stickers up, thinking she'd love them. And the first night, she told me that the owl was scary and she wanted him to leave. Hilarious! I put him in the bathroom instead and she's ok with that, but every night, if I leave the door open on accident, she tells me to shut it because the owl with get out. I guess she knows they are nocturnal!

On the first day, we found the Bounce House. So far anytime we've gone to these places, Maddie has been a little timid and I always end up wondering why I brought her there, but this time, she just took off and climbed, bounced and slid like a big girl! It was awesome!