McPherson Family

Treasure it - Thursday!

2011-12-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-20T19:55:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-20T19:41:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-20T18:43:00.001-08:00

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

2011-10-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

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!

Snow Hats and Bubble Baths

2011-10-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

In the couple of days between putting everything in storage and getting to Knoxville, we stayed at our favorite home away from home, Momo and Mop's house. One morning, I was trying to get Maddie dressed and she put her shorts on her head and called it her snow hat. Pretty funny and she wore it there for at least 30 minutes. I just kept thinking that if I had an actual hat for her to wear I doubt it would last a minute.

She also discovered in recent weeks to joys of a bubble bath. (She's a girl after my own heart!) Too bad there are mostly RV showers in her immediate future!

Final Days at Gold Yarrow

2011-10-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Yep. We moved - again. Since Daddy is still working in TN, and our lease was ending, we decided to put everything in storage and hit the road! In our last few days on Gold Yarrow, in addition to packing up, we had a little fun.

I took Maddie to Inflatible Wonderland and when she saw this, she said, "Daddy!" I thought that was pretty cute!

She is way in to Hide-N-Seek these days. Here she's hiding in a giant bush outside the mall.

Where's Maddie?

I thought this was pretty cute. I noticed her door was wide open one night and when I went in to check on her, I found Rowdy keeping her company.

It became a habit in the last few weeks for Maddie to wake up in the middle of the night and get in bed with me. No matter how far over I started her off, by morning, this was as much space in our KING SIZE bed as I had to sleep in!

With Kenedy and Hadyn manning the garage sale/bake sale table where we were disposing of most of our wordly goods we had no use for!

We squeezed in one more visit with Blake and got to see one game of Bradys!

Maddie loves her cousin!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Maddie!!!

2011-09-10T20:12:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Maddie's 2nd birthday in Nashville at Gigi and Papa's house since Daddy is still working in Tenesseee. We had a Diego themed party with plenty of balloons - 2 of our favorites!

Gigi and her Girls!

Daddy in the Bounce House!

The Cousins!

The Cake - Diego and Baby Jaguar!

The party!

Beautiful Almost Two Year Old

2011-09-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Our precious girl! We think you are SO Beautiful and SO Sweet!!

Cowgirl!

2011-09-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

Maddie has been really into ropes lately. I've always hated when people call ropes, lassos, but that's exactly what she does! Diego and Dora are always "lassoing" things, so she goes around shouting "Lasso!" every where. Hilarious. The dogs are some of her favorite targets; luckily they're good sports!

Random fun

2011-09-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

We still love our "pishing pole!"

I put her baby swing in her room for her baby dolls, but so far, Maddie likes it best. Here is a very clear picture of life today. Playing on the iphone and swinging without shorts on!

Trip to Knoxville

2011-09-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

At the end of July, Maddie and I went up to Knoxville to visit Daddy. We had a lot of fun taking in some of the local sights.

Reviewing the safety info prior to take off!

I put my foot down on buying a 2nd ball at Wally World, so she climbed in the bin!

The mall by our hotel had an indoor playground and a train! They should never build another mall without one. That was my favorite place to go!

The Knoxville Zoo was awesome!

And, after two occassions of living in TN and always wanting to go to Gatlinburg; I finally got to go!! We had to go really close for a claim, so we just made a day of it. Or an afternoon anyway. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium and absolutely loved it!

They had these cool aquariums where you could crawl under and poke your head up in the middle. Pretty great view. They also had tunnels in the pequin habitat and you could walk under the large aquarium where all the sharks were. Maddie wasn't impressed with Sharks swimming overhead, though, so we had to make a hasty exit!

The peguins were definitely the hit of the day. Maddie made us go back 3 times and she posed with this peguin until we drug her away.

And one of my favorites, these little glowing jellyfish!

Major Milestone

2011-07-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

Maddie has decided that she's over the crib! While we were in Nashville, she got a taste of sleeping in a big bed and she'll have nothing to do with her baby bed any more. For a few days there, she wanted to sleep in our bed instead of her crib; however, even though I'm pretty much a softy on everything, having her sleep in her own bed is definitely where I've drawn the line. Maddie's been such a good sleeper that I'm not willing to give that up! Today was her first nap and tonight her first night in her new (to her) bed! Although, I must confess she spent the last few days at Momo and Mop's and they made the transistion first. (Because I had to be out of town, not because I sent her to them for sleep training!) Per their reports it was smooth sailing right after the first morning when she rolled off the end of the bed at 5am! Oops.

At home, she crawled right in at naptime and went right to sleep, but at bedtime, she was doing some fast talking about not wanting to go to sleep and kept turning the book I was reading her back to the first page when I got to towards the end. When I finally told her good night she stayed put though and I haven't heard a peep since!

Now that we've established the guest room as Maddie's new room, I guess it's time to make it a little more girly! Stay tuned, but I don't suggest holding your breath.....

What she's doing now

2011-07-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

What she's doing now -

Maddie can say pretty much anything you ask her to...... and definitely says way more than I could think to write down, but some of her favorite things to say - "Shoes, socks, airplane, dogs, horsees, four-wheelerlerler, tri-cyle, bubbles!, Diego!, pishing pole, moon, airplane"

She loves to point out eyes, nose, and mouth, and she still says Hi to anything and everything - from people at the store to fish to ants! Momo and I talk all the time about how much she understands, even when we are having a grown up conversation around her, she will some how show us that she's listening and she gets it! It's very scary to know that she's watching, listening and imitating every move we make!

She knows the words to several songs, and she is always responding to Diego and Dora, even in Spanish!

Momo calls her the "horse whisperer" because she can walk right up to Hudson's pony, Clyde and kiss him on the nose even though he shys away from us. It may have something to do with the carrots she takes him on a regular basis, which is where she's headed in the picture below.

Mop read her the 3 little kittens story the other day and she ran to get socks to put on her hands like mittens. Pretty smart!

And.....she takes requests!!

Guitar

2011-07-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

Maddie is crazy about the guitar and has to play it every time she spots the case.

4th of July

2011-07-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

We spent this 4th of July in Nashville. It worked out perfect because we got to spend it with Gigi and Papa, Grandad and Evelyn, and of course Daddy who is STILL in Tennessee working! Gigi and Papa's lake house is beautiful and now they have a pontoon boat! Super fun!

The hit of the trip was the fishing pole! Gigi got you a Car's fishing pole with a rubber tire on the end, so you could cast and reel until your heart's content.

Fishing with dad

On the boat for the 4th!

Back to practicing your casting.

Dressing up and Dressing Down

2011-07-10T12:20:00.001-07:00

Dressing up....(we're getting better)

....and dressing down! Maddie is more likely to be found these days stripped to the bare minimum. It is hot, so I can't blame her! She also loves hats and most recently watches! Here she's wearing Mop's hat and watch. She went running in to his office and asked for his watch and his hat while he was working. Who can say no?

Golfing

2011-07-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Dad is still out working hard for a livin', but luckily we got to spend a few days with him in June. Maddie was SOO excited to see him and kept pointing at him and yelling "Dad!" John still had to work quite a bit, but we managed to squeeze in a "round" of twilight golf. (AKA 2.5 holes)

"Teeing up!"

Really thinking about the shot.
Keeping track of the score.

Practice swing.

Golfing is thirsty work! Next time Mommy will remember to order water from the beverage cart!

Turtle on the path!

The funny part of the story was that we kept thinking it seemed really crowed and I was already a little stressed out because I don't know what golf etiquette is, but I know it exsists and I'm sure it doesn't involve letting your 1 yr old play and drink beer but John was like no big deal.... Then on the second hole, one of the workers came up and was like you were supposed to play the back nine, you are in the middle of a tournament! NICE!! No wonder no one looked amused. I kept thinking that everyone needed to lighten up!

Summer Fun

2011-07-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

The first couple of weeks of summer are always fun because the Bartows and now the Florida Weaklys come to visit for a couple of weeks. Until this year we've also been visitors, but this year we are thrilled to be "local"! (Even if we do melt before the end of summer!)

Here are some random shots of summer!

Driving the boat on Canyon Lake. At just under 2 years Maddie LOVES the water. She jumps off the boat and is starting to swim. She doesn't mind when she goes under and just comes up smiling!

Maddie and Cade at the rodeo (just 7 months apart)

The whole motley crew! Hudson, Maddie, Alex and Avery.

Maddie's Masterpiece! Ok fine, it was Taylor's. Pretty impressive!

The best we could do with (almost) all the cousins. Blake and Garrison opted out of the "fun in the sun" day!

Hudson is such a daredevil! I love it, and I'm expecting Maddie to be right behind him!

Um, excuse me, did you know there was a frog on your head?

A week with Momo and Mop

2011-06-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

Way back in May, I had to dash off to Atlanta to help John out with finishing up some claims and moving on to Knoxville, so Maddie spent the week with Momo and Mop! Despite all of them getting the stomach bug they managed to have quite a bit of fun!

Momo is working on Maddie to get her to like "dress up," but she's not a fan! They had to bribe her with an iphone so they could take these pictures.

She sure is cute, though!

They also took her on her first trip to Sea World complete with the Sesame Street breakfast! They said she LOVED it, as long as they kept their distance!

Saying Hi to Abby-Cadabby.

Seeing all the awesome fish!

Adorable with the flowers!

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

This year, Daddy was out of town working on Easter, but luckily Aunt Kelli and Uncle John came to the rescue and had us over for a great Easter celebration! We got to hunt eggs, dye eggs, play on their awesome water slide and have dinner with everyone! Maddie loved the Easter egg hunt and did really great! I'd have to say her favorite part of the day was the water slide though. Two of our favorite things....water and slides!

Ready to go....I kind of think she looks like a little old lady with the lace and carrying her basket like that....

Hunting Easter Eggs!

Showing Garrison what he has to look forward to next year.

Dying Easter Eggs!

Checking out Hudson's cowboy hat. She's definitely a Cowgirl.

Taking a spin down the water slide!

With big cousin Kenedy!

Thanks John and Kelli for having us! You made our Easter!

18 Months!

2011-03-03T19:12:00.001-08:00

Wow! We've reached (and passed) the half way mark to 2! Maddie is getting to be a little girl these days, no longer a baby! She's so much fun and loves to make people laugh! She loves to "sing" any song. She knows "Rock-abye a Bear," "This little light of mine,' "Old McDonald," and anytime I want a great big hug and a kiss, I just start singing Barney's "We're a Happy Family." So sweet! Maddie's favorite things are jumping (even is she doesn't leave the ground), blowing bubbles, being outside, and sliding! She's gotten really brave on the slide! She loves building with blocks and dumping out our poker chips. She could either be an engineer or a professional gambler in the making....Fingers crossed for the engineer! Just a funny thing to note since this is for Maddie....you hate for your pants to hang down on your feet; I always have to roll them up if your not wearing shoes!

Here the pics from our unofficial "official" 18 month photo shoot! I think they are ADORABLE!!

*Thank you Bobette for the adorable tu-tu!

Maddie's First Conference!

2011-02-26T19:04:00.000-08:00

Last night was Maddie's first of many to come, Allcat Conference. It's a great time to see everyone and very kid friendly with all the munchkins running wild. John Conlee played and he was awesome! Maddie was totally wound up and LOVED the music! She was up front the whole time, clapping, waving and dancing. She even shared her first county dance with big cousin, Hudson (2 1/2). It was so cute!

This is how much she loves John Conlee! :)

Thanks Hutton Photography for capturing the moment! Note to self...bring your own camera next time!

For Future Use

2011-01-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

I'm officially my mom! I am hoping that when Maddie grows up she'll be a tennis star or maybe a tennis Olympian! I told John that we need to get her out there and capture the moment, so that when she is in a big game, they can show some pictures from her childhood when she developed a love of the game, playing with her mom and dad! Mission accomplished.

Masterpieces

2011-01-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

We had Jen and Rogelio in town for the visit, and John and Rogelio used every block we had to build a couple of masterpieces! They were impressive!

Here, Rogelio realized they had one block left after they thought they were done. Luckily, it turned out okay!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

So, we're a little late with our update, but it's been a busy couple of weeks! We kicked off Christmas week with the stomach bug.....fun! We were supposed to fly to Nashville on Tuesday morning, but I spent all of Monday night sick as a dog! Luckily, it only lasted 12 hours so even though I still felt bad Tuesday morning, we decided to try to make our flight because the thought of driving instead was even worse. However, when we arrived at the airport and stepped onto the curb, Maddie got sick. So back to the house we went, where we spent the next 12 hours napping and taking care of a sick baby. Even worse than having the bug myself!

Then, on Wednesday morning, feeling much better and optimistic, I very stupidly suggested we throw everything in the car and drive. 18 hours on the road and one raunchy motel later, we made it to Nashville.

Once we made it though, it was great to see the family. Maddie loves playing with River and Skye and Uncle Josh hadn't seen her since last Christmas so he was surprised by how much she had changed. And to pay us back for our rough start, TN did provide a white Christmas!

Checking out the snow from the back patio

All bundled up; although this little TX girl could probably have used some thicker pants and a heavier coat.

Getting Ready for Santa!

Taking her new wheels for a spin!

Getting comfy in her new chair!

Always the early riser; Maddie got to check out the goods before anyone woke up. Don't tell River and Skye but we test drove their new wheels before they even knew what Santa how delivered!

New Years Eve held an exciting fireworks display that thankfully didn't result in any injuries or major property damage! Then off to bed for Maddie as usual, with Mom and Dad only outlasting her by a couple of hours! We're excited about all that 2011 holds and can't wait to see what another year with Miss Maddie will bring!

Just Plain Cute!

2010-12-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

Nothing too exciting to report. Just Maddie being so darn cute! However, if anyone knows anybody over at Nilla Wafers, we'd be willing to discuss commercials! :)

In this one, Maddie's trying to make it up to Santa that she screamed in his lap at the mall. He's much less threatening at this size.

15 Months & then some.....

2010-12-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

At 15+ Maddie is perfect! She is growing like crazy and running around. We have super busy days full of work and play and trying to keep up with her! At her 15 month check up she weighed 28lb, 11oz and she was 31" long. She loves reading books, being outside and hiding. She's climbing on everything and thinks it is hilarious to tease the dogs with food or toys. She can say pup, mama, da-da, no, no, no. She talks all day long and is definitely working on expressing her point of view! Here are a few of our favorite things:

The Playground

Reading

Taking Pictures with Mom's camera

Hiding inside our "fort"

A Really late Halloween Post

2010-11-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

We didn't do much for Halloween, but stayed home at our new house and passed out candy to the neighborhood kids. It was fun to see all the costumes and we even met some of the neighbors with small kiddos. Although, Maddie already got to dress up like a Ladybug, I couldn't pass up this adorable cow costume since cows are still our favorite!!

Apparently cows like grass and flower petals.

Since Maddie knows that cows don't belong in the city, but at the ranch, she decided to load up and try to head that way.

She settled for jammies and handing out candy. She did get a kick out of all those people coming to the door.

Catching Up

2010-11-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot going on these days! First, a move into our new house in S.A.! Yeah!! Then, in the middle of all that, we went to Riviera for a weekend to catch up with some friends. It was great, but Maddie decided to wake up one morning at 5am, then the next morning at 4:30am. Not cool at all.

In my current favorite outfit!

Then, home to unpack and repack our bags for a trip to Nashville to see the fam! Here are John and Maddie on the plane; you can almost feel the excitement. :) We had a lot of fun seeing Gigi and Papa's new house and visiting with the cousins!!

At the house practicing her Trick or Treat technique.

We went to the Peekaboo Playhouse in Hendersonville. It was great. They had costumes, toys, slides, etc. It was a great place to play for a few hours.

Maddie was really into the cars.

Here it looks like Skye is being attacked by the firehouse dog. Too funny to pass up.

Here, River has tamed the beast!

Gigi got all the girls matching Halloween costumes, so we wanted to get them in a photo all together. River and Skye are 3, Maddie 1; I'm not sure why we thought it would work. I'll let the out-takes speak for themselves. Looking back on them; it was hilarious.

First, we thought in this little wagon filled with straw at the pumpkin patch would be the perfect place. Maddie disagreed.

She decided to go straight to picking out pumpkins. She though this one was nice.

So then we thought, maybe in front of this trailer....

Us: Skye, get in the picture.

Us: Good job, just not directly in front of River.

Okay girls, look over here and smile!

Then we thought, maybe a few on the front steps of the house.....

Skye: Uh, girls? I think they said the front step, not the driveway.

Us: Okay girls, everyone over here and smile!

River and Skye: We're never going to get this done!

Us: You're right.....just the two of you, smile! Got it!

Happy Birthday, Gigi!

2010-10-09T06:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Gigi! Sorry we can't be there to celebrate in person, but we are thinking about you and hope you have a wonderful day!! When we told Maddie it was your birthday, she decided she would make you a card.

She carefully thought about which colors she would use.

These look pretty good.

These definitely won't work.

The finished product!

She put your card on your chair to save your seat.....

For a tea party, of course!!

Have a wonderful day!! We love you.

On the Move

2010-10-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

Miss Maddie is walking these days! Still a little unsteady, but I'm sure she'll be running soon! I finally caught her on camera this morning, walking and dancing to the Wiggles. She usually drops down and crawls as soon as she spots the camera because she wants to snatch it out of my hands. And yes, I said morning. Notice the dark windows in the background. Maddie is still quite the early riser. I'm not looking forward to "fall back!"

Animals!

2010-10-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Maddie is quite the animal lover these days. Today we went to the Exotic Zoo in Johnson City, for an up close and personal look with The Huttons and The Weaklys. It was great! We saw all kinds of great animals, but the camel was my favorite!

Maddie loved them all, but her first love is still the cows. Luckily we get to see them everyday at Uncle John and Aunt Kelli's. Here is Maddie showing off her skills.

Thank you Lisa, for inspiring today's outing, and Kelli for planning it! We loved it and give it two thumbs up! And if anyone else thought it was time for a blog makeover, you can thank Kristi! For some reason, she thought it was time to update the picture of Maddie from 4 days old. I love the new look!

The River

2010-09-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

Maddie, meet the Guadalupe!!

John and I took Maddie on her first river outing this week! She loved it. For a little while anyway....

Mostly she loved the rocks!

And putting rocks in this water bottle....

(p.s. Kristi and Brad, we have found your "secret" spot and we have claimed it as our own! :) Did I mention how good it feels to be back in Texas?! Better hurry home!)

Happy Birthday, Maddie!!

2010-08-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Maddie!! Our baby is 1! So hard to believe. We have had a very fun birthday weekend. Kicking off Maddie's Friday birthday with friends and family over for hamburgers and birthday cake! All available aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as, some very special friends from out of town turned out to celebrate the big day! Aunt Kelli was nice enough to bring her camera and take some professional level photos! I LOVE every single one she took, so I uploaded as many as could to remind us forever of the day.

Proud Mama and Daddy with the birthday girl!

The amazing cake from Lisa's Cakery. We were so excited that we got to celebrate in Texas since that's where the good cakes are!!

Soooo Excited!!

She started off a little dainty, picking off each little ball of icing and eating it....

And ended up looking like this!

Checking to make sure she had the perfect bite.

I'm not sure who she was looking at in this picture, but she doesn't like what they have to say, apparently.

Checking out the cabinets.

Enjoying a little chips and salsa.

With Steph and Garrison. She LOVES Garrison!

Little tiny baby feet!!

Beautiful!

Loving on her baby.

Some very special guests!

Garrison just found out that he wasn't going to be getting any burgers or cake. I'd be sad, too!

Misplaced No More!

2010-08-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Remember this little cutie?

Well, she is 'misplaced' no more!!

Maddie would like everyone to know that "It's official!" We are in Texas for goood, God willing!

We even have TX phone numbers and a TX address now. Maddie was using my phone to spread the word. "Who's next Mama?"

She actually puts the phone up to (or near) her ear and says, "Lo." She must be around someone who talks on the phone a lot. Hmm. I wonder who that could be.

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

2010-08-21T18:29:00.001-07:00

Well, almost! Maddie got to celebrate a little early with the TN group since we won't be there on her actual birthday. It was great. They showed up with cake, balloons, hats and gifts as a surprise. And what a great surprise it was. We're so happy that we get to celebrate this momentous birthday twice!!

She wasn't sure that the hat went with her outfit.

But she loved the singing!

Yummy Cake!

Checking out her new wheels.

Thank you everyone for the great party! We loved it!!

Yellowstone: Day3

2010-08-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

We made our way through the entire park today. It was amazing and the pictures don't do it justice, at all. You definitely need a lot of time here to see it all, but we managed to hit the highlights.

First stop, Old Faithful! We actually managed to luck into getting there within 20 minutes of the eruption, so we didn't have long to wait. Good thing too because Maddie isn't completely excited about all nature has to offer just yet.

My favorite stop, the waterfalls. (one of the many, anyway) This was at the brink of the upper falls. They were amazing!

Maddie loved watching these! At least for a little while.

Look close at her expression in this one. That's a little more like what she thought about all the photos!

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Roadside Buffalo!

John was obsessed with the water temperature; so he pulled out one of his inspection tools to measure it. 165 degrees!

By far the most exciting moment came as we were leaving the Mud Volcano. One of the Buffalo came into the parking lot, then up the walkway that we were going down. We turned around and hauled tail in the other direction, John pushing Maddie and me with the camera. Once we were safely in the car, John looked at the pictures and was like, you didn't get very good photos. Uh, sorry, I was a little preoccupied with running away. He is right though, this sucker was much closer to us than we have proof of!

Here is about to climb on to the sidewalk we were standing on.

Yellowstone: Day 2

2010-08-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

On our second day here, John went on a guided fly fishing trip. I sent him with a camera so he could have proof of the many fish he would catch, but when he got back, he had nothing!! He said that although he caught 6 or 7, he was waiting for a "photo worthy" fish, which he never caught. He did say that he hooked that photo worthy fish, but it got away. Here is indicating how big the "one that got away" was. Oh well.

While John was fishing, Maddie and I took in a little more of the surroundings. Here are some pictures from along the Madison River and at Crater Lake. It's beautiful!!

Yellowstone: Day 1

2010-08-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we wrapped up our claims in Billings and headed to Yellowstone today. It is a beautiful drive between here and there! Once we got here, we made camp and headed for the Bear and Wolf Encounter, then we made our first short foray into Yellowstone. Here are some photos from the trip.

Scenery on the drive here.

Up close and personal with the bears!

Maddie pointing out the bears. Okay, well she just likes to point, but there were bears in there!

Yes, it was a bear and wolf encounter, but the wolves were napping!

Our first true wild-life siting inside the park.

This was just a tiny hot springs off the road, but you could actually feel the heat from several feet away. Pretty cool!

Making a Stand

2010-08-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

11 Months

2010-07-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

Maddie is 11 months today! I can not believe it. This year has positevely flown! We are celebrating month 11 in Montana! These days Maddie is pulling up and has even taken a few tiny steps holding on to something. As of this morning, Maddie weighs 25.6 pounds. Her 5th tooth is coming in and her hair is long enough to require a clip. She has added "Da Da" to her vocabulary much to John's excitement and she waves at everyone! We spend most of our days outside with the Huttons, so Maddie is getting some blond highlights and quite a nice tan. She has loved getting to spend so much time with Alex and Avery and they all squeal as soon as they see each other! Too cute.

Since I couldn't decide which picture was best or which outfit, I decided to share a few!

Rowdy Bustin'

2010-07-24T11:20:00.001-07:00

It's never too early to start praticing for the Mutton Bustin' !

Ready?

Go!

She's pretty sure she won.

Earning her keep

2010-07-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

While we're working, Maddie is trying to do her part.

Splash Park

2010-07-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

We checked out the splash park today. I wasn't sure Maddie would like it because she can't run around, but she loved it. She is definitely a water baby. We were joined by Alex and Avery, of course, which made all the difference.

Notes from the Road

2010-07-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

We are having a great time in Montana! The scenery is beautiful and the weather is amazing! Camp life is good. Of course, having the Hutton House on the road with us has been the best part. It's been great getting to know Alex and Avery better, and they are giving Maddie some major incentive to get up and go. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

The view.

Enjoying the swings on the playground. Also, we tried out our first pig-tails.

Our hair after our first pig-tails!

Sporting a farmer's tan!

The Skills

2010-06-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

10 Months

2010-06-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

Maddie is 10 months old today! She weighs about 24lbs and wears size 18mo. She has just started crawling in the last few days. She is reaching, pulling up and standing holding on to things. She can say Mama and ba-ba. She loves to talk, swing and read books. She also LOVES Sesame Street. She sleeps about 11 hrs at night and takes two 1.5 hour naps (usually). What else is there? She's the best!!

I don't have a picture because once again, we are on the move; I just wanted to record the facts for history's sake. This week we traveled from TN to TX (for a brief stop), and we're on to Montana at the end of the week! She's possibly the most well traveled baby in history.

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

We spent Memorial Weekend in Texas....of course! We had a blast as always, and even got to witness a few bath-tisms as the kids would say. Most importantly however, would be meeting out newest addition to the family, Garrison! So happy to meet you sweet boy; welcome to the chaos and FUN! Here are a few photos from our trip.

With Daddy surveying the fishing hole.

Being a Ham with Kristi

Cade driving the boat on Canyon Lake

Maddie's first pool experience. All the kiddos were so sweet to her!

Taking a dip in the Holy Water!

Our latest tricks

2010-05-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

Just the other day, I started singing "Patty Cake" to entertain Miss Thing and she started clapping out of the blue.. it was so cute! Now she claps at everything!

One of her favorites...Peek aboo!

Say "Cheese!!"

2010-05-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

My camera has a red eye reduction light that comes on before you take a picture and Maddie has started to scrunch up her face every time I point the camera at her. It's hilarious!

Goings On....

2010-05-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

I feel like at least a month has gone by since my last post; I was shocked to see it's only been 2 weeks. Let's see. Maddie and I flew to Texas last weekend to go to Lauren and Tre's reception. John had to stay behind at the last minute because we got claims in the area. I had a great time seeing the family, getting to spend a girly day with Lauren, and of course the reception was super fun! I have no pictures to prove any of that because I forgot to take my camera. Oops. Maddie spent her first night away from me, Momo and Mop came to Houston and kept her all night. She was perfect, at least that's what they tell me!

Then Sunday, instead of flying home as planned, I get a call from John saying Nashville is flooding and we have water coming in our house. Not good, not good at all. Maddie and I end up in San Antonio with Momo and Mop and her first sleep over turns into 3 nights as I made the very hard decision to leave her in TX while I made my way back to Nashville to help John with the clean up and claims. Luckily, we only lost some carpet, and (after a meltdown on my part) got Maddie back with us on Wedneday. As for Maddie, I think she'd have probably have stayed with Momo and Mop forever. It's not that I wanted her to be sad without me, but still...aren't I a little special???

Maddie with big cousin Clay. They were so cute together!

Flooded car in the parking lot of Target.

Scrappy was like, "Hey, what are you doing?"

Maddie this morning, playing in our new toy tubs.

Home Sweet Home

2010-04-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

We have been home for about a week and we are sooo happy to be here. Comfy beds, seperate rooms, the relief can not be overstated. Since we've been home, we've tried to make it a rule to spend as much time as we can outside. We've also been shocked by how many of the toys that were too old for Maddie when we left, she can now play with. It's crazy.

Here are a couple of videos from the last few days. Maddie had been cracking up over Rowdy and the bubbles, but naturally, when I got the camara, she stopped.

The Cherry Blossoms

2010-04-03T05:48:00.001-07:00

We went to see the Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC yesterday with Momo. They were beautiful! Well worth the trip. Apparently everyone else thought the same thing as we heard on the news today that there were record-breaking crowds yesterday. We got see more of the monuments this time and enjoy some really beautiful weather. We thought we got some great family photos and some super cute photos of Maddie by the most beautiful flowers, but when we got home we discovered about 90% of them were over-exposed. UGH! So frustrating! Yes, Jill, you were right.... hahaha. Here are a few that did turn out!

7 Months

2010-03-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that another month has gone by! Miss Maddie is the proud owner of two bottom teeth, although they are not completely in yet. Some time in the last month she has hit a growth spurt because suddenly, nothing we own fits anymore. Good excuse to buy some new stuff; unfortunetely everything out right now is for spring and summer and it is still cold up here! She is now following in the not-so-stylish footsteps of her momma and can be often be seen wearing the same sweat pants on many days! She is still the best baby ever. She loves to laugh at the dogs, and she was an absolute doll when I took her to have her Easter Photos taken.

Chesapeake Bay

2010-03-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Maddie had her first day at the beach today. We went to Chesapeake Bay and let her put her toes in the water. Shes wasn't all that impressed with the water, or the sand for that matter once it got between her toes! She did like the sunshine and a fellow beach-goers kite, though. We're just happy we finally got a "moment" on camera. So far, we have been to the US Naval Academy and forgot the camera, and then we went to Washington, D.C. where I remembered the camera only to discover upon arrival that the batteries were completely dead. Oh, well. In other big news, Maddie got her two bottom teeth in this week! We thought it was just one, but John spotted the second one today. Very exciting!

This is her, "That water is like ice!" face. Sorry Maddie!

The Hair

2010-03-04T06:09:00.000-08:00

So, it's funny that Kelli commented about Maddie's hair because I was thinking that the photos were too dark to show off the hair, so this morning, I had already snapped some new ones. Maddie's hair is by far one of our favorite features. It's hilarious and sticks straight up all the time! John's hair was like this as a baby and that was the one feature that his family said over and over that they hoped Maddie got. I'm sure glad she did!

6 Months!!

2010-03-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Another state, another chair, but still 6 months old!! These days Maddie is 19lb, 14oz (97%) and I forgot her exact height, but she is in the 78%. We had her 6 month check up on Monday and she is doing perfect! She STILL does not roll over, but I have it on good authority from two of my most trusted sources, that rolling over is some what of a pain anyway because then they get stuck and you have to roll them back. She is sitting up really well on her own, grabbing everything, especially her feet. It's adorable. She is so happy and loves to laugh, especially at the dogs. They crack her up all the time. She is sleeping pretty consistently through the night, but she is quite the early bird, waking up well before the crack of dawn. I'm hoping once we are back home and she sleeps further than 1.5 feet away from us, she'll sleep a little later. We flew home for her check up, making that her 6th flight. She was, as always, a perfect travel companion. Then we (Maddie and me) collected our puppies and drove 12 hours back to Baltimore. She was better than you can imagine in the car. We are so lucky!

I had to include this one of Rowdy and Scrappy. We got them each a chew toy and you'll notice that Rowdy has them both and Scrappy has none. What a brat! And yes, if you're counting, that's two adults, one child, and two dogs in about 400 sf, trying to earn a living!

Hello from Maryland

2010-02-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

As most of you already know, we are working claims in the Baltimore area. Maddie and have been spending our days in our lovely hotel room, trying to help John, but we thought we'd give our viewing public an update. Since our last "get better Mop" post, Maddie got bronchiolitis most likely brought on by RSV. She had a terrible cough and had to go on breathing treatments. Then, a few days later she got her first ear infection and her first prescription for amoxicillin. Her doctor told me that I'm a real mom now that I've gotten "the pink stuff." They said that it would last for 2 weeks and that her cough could linger for 6 weeks, but I'm happy to report she seems to be all better now! I've discovered that the only thing harder than traveling with a baby is traveling with a sick baby!

So far, we're hanging in there with the hotel room. Sometimes she sleeps, sometimes she doesn't. We are in a great location near all this great shopping; however, to get to it you have to cross a major interstate and we don't have our own wheels, so we just stare at it out our window and dream. I'm sure it's for the best though. Shopping usually leads to buying.

Ta, ta for now. I need to get to sleep so I can have my game face on for my 2am play date with the wee one! Oh, and she's been going to bed at 6:30pm, sleeping until 6:30am. That's eastern time, folks. Working out okay now since that's what time we need to get up, but I'm a little worried about the 5:30am wake up calls when we head back to the central time zone. Yikes! Here are a few cute pictures that I snapped tonight.

A message for Mop

2010-02-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

Get Better Soon!

And now, a get better soon song!

5 Months!

2010-02-02T17:16:00.000-08:00

Once again, we didn't quite capture the "monthly" photo on the exact day, nor were we anywhere close to the official photo chair, but Maddie turned 5 months anyway! She is still such a doll! She is sooo good, but pretty much spoiled by lots of attention, so she really doesn't have a lot of reasons to complain. For the record books, she is still getting up a couple of time each night. It seems like almost every day I think I'm going to teach her to sleep through the night, but then when she's crying, I think, well maybe she really needs something so I go check. Therefore, I'm pretty sure we might have similar sleep comments come month 6, but here's hoping. She takes 2-3 short naps each day unless I plan on that, then she sleeps through whatever I had planned to do. Without fail!

So, we missed the 5 month photo because we spent 12 days in Texas! We had a ton of fun seeing all the cousins and friends. John got to fish, I got to sleep in and take naps while Momo and Mop played with Miss Maddie, we got to see all our Texas cousins, go to Hadyn's party, go to Brady's basketball game, see our friends at the conference, and generally have a good time. You would think with all that, we would have taken some good photos, but Maddie rocking her new strawberry jammies from Aunt Kelli is about all I got. But these sure are cute!

A visit from Momo and Mop

2010-01-14T12:49:00.001-08:00

Momo and Mop came to see us for a few days and we had so much fun! Maddie started off the mornings catching up with the business news with Mop. Then spent the rest of the day enjoying the extra attention. I always love seeing them, but this time their timing was perfect because Miss Maddie has gone on a sleeping strike. She takes little cat naps and wakes up a LOT during the night, so we're exhausted. Momo and Mop babysat while I slept in and took a few naps myself! We were sad to see them go, but the count down is on until our next trip to TX. We'll be down in just a week and a half! YEAH!

Watching TV with Mop

Learning the latest news about our nations housing market.

After her intense business studies, Momo lightened the mood.

Our First "BIG" Snow and the DEMO mode!

2010-01-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were supposed to get our first big snow; they were predicting 1-3" of accumulation but we only ended up with about an 1/8". What a bummer! It was pretty to watch, though, and as a bonus it snowed all day today, too. So in order to properly capture the moment I got Maddie all bundled up in her super cute hat and mittens and stuck her out in the snow, in her car seat with a blanket of course, and started clicking away. Much later when I was playing with my super cool new camera inside, I suddenly realized that it kept saying "Demo Mode." Duh! No camera card! With every other camera I've ever operated, they don't actually let you take pictures without the card. Live and learn. At least this wasn't some super special, one of kind moment we can never get back. So, I stuffed Maddie back into her outdoor wear, made sure we had a card, and tried again! If you look close, you can see the flakes.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T18:20:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! We got to ring in the New Year with our amazing friends, Jen and Rogelio! They drove all the way from Houston in inclement weather to spend the holiday with us, surely rescuing me from being depressed over our lack of local friends! We had a great time eating, drinking, being merry, and enjoying some seriously competive games! Just in case anyone is keeping count, and I am, that would make Jen and Rogelio visiting us in TN - 3, some other people reading this blog - 0!!

The Group Shot - Counting it Down!

Jen and Maddie counting down to 2010.

Rogelio and Maddie in 2010!

We had little snow around dawn on Saturday. Why were we up at dawn, you ask? John and Rogelio were attemping to go fishing, but as you might guess from the weather, it was a little on the cold side!

4 Months!

2009-12-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

Maddie is 4 months old today! My how time flies when you're having fun! She still hasn't rolled all the way over like I thought she would by now, but we did celebrate 4 months with the start of rice cereal. She wasn't really impressed, but we do love our stylish new highchair!

We're going to do what, Mom??

I'm not actually sure any of it got swallowed.

She also took her first spin in this thing. For the life of me, I can't think what it is called. This was a bigger hit than the rice cereal, obviously.

We were reminded how much she has grown while trying to find an outfit for the all important, 4 month photo. These pants are 3-6 months and when I put them on her, they looked a little more like capris.

I know, how about the new outfit Daddy got for Christmas?

Um, I don't know, why do you think he bought the shirt in 18 months?

You're right, it's pretty cute, but do you think you fix the shoulders?

In the end, we decided you can't beat our Christmas photo, so we're going to recycle!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T19:14:00.001-08:00

We have had a wonderful first Christmas with our baby girl! We opened presents at home then we were off to Gigi and Papa's house to celebrate with the family! Here are some pictures from the big day.

"I'm ready, bring on the presents!"

Dressing up for the party. Oh my gosh, I think she's SO cute!

Wishing Gigi a Merry Christmas.

Helping Uncle Josh open his present. Both in their "special" Christmas outfits.

Big Cousins Skye.......

...and River, showing off what Santa brought them.

Then, it came a full-on flurry! You have to look close, but those were snow flakes folks! Maddie missed it, she was blinking. :)

Me and Ryan

John and his Mom

Ending the day with Daddy.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

2009-12-24T19:06:00.001-08:00

We are set for Santa at the McPherson house. Maddie is all tucked in with her Christmas jammies on with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head. But before we tucked her in we let her open one present for Christmas Eve because she just couldn't wait! This one was from Aunt Bob and Uncle Keith, so we were all excited to see what it was. I think she's a natural at the gift opening! Hope you all have a Merry, Merry Christmas! I know everything I asked for is smiling back at me in these photos!

Almost a Milestone

2009-12-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

She's almost there. Maddie is really close to rolling over all the way. She can roll onto her side completely. I know it won't be long at all before she makes it all the way over. She has gotten really good at scooting around on her back. It's funny to take my eyes off her for a second and then find her in a completely different spot than I put her. Here she is practicing her moves under the Christmas tree.

And here's a shot of our other "babies." I was trying to get a good picture of the two of them together and this was the best one. I thought it was just too funny to pass up; I felt like Kristi trying to get both the girls to smile and look at the same time!

Supermodel Baby

2009-12-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

While we were home for Thanksgiving we took advantage of Aunt Kelli's new photography hobby and had her take some good photos of Maddie. Did she ever deliver!! I think these photos are stunning! Kelli, thank you so much for these and everything else! They really are amazing! To keep her head from getting big though, I must say she had a very adorable subject to work with. hehehe.

Decking the halls

2009-12-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

We have really enjoyed decorating for Christmas this year now that Miss Maddie is here. Even though she doesn't have a clue, it just makes Christmas so much fun. One of the first things we noticed though was that we didn't have a place to hang our stockings by the chimney with care, so John went out to the garage and whipped up a mantle. Thanks again Rogelio for getting him interested in wood working. It has really come in handy!

Here is the before.....

And the after....much better! Now we just have to get some stockings. Hehehe.

Maddie's favorite part are the tree lights and the glittery ornaments. I put her on the floor to enjoy them this morning and she turned a full 90 degrees by herself. I was really surprised. She'll be mobile before we know it!

And finally, a chance at meeting Santa. She seems to like him. It'll be funny to see what she thinks in the coming years. Based on everyone elses Santa photos, I'm guessing this might be the last smiling one for a while.

We have laughter!

2009-12-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the 3 Month posting but I guess it's better late than never. This was a quick shot at about 3 months and 1 week, but luckily Aunt Kelli got some GREAT pictures of her on the right day, so we'll swap those out for the record and just let this one be the stand in for now. These days, Maddie has taken notice of her feet and hands, she loves ceiling fans and lights. She's started laughing, and had I posted this at the right time, I'd be bragging about what a good sleeper she is; however, she's come completely "untrained!" She was sleeping from 7-7 and getting up once, but for about the last 6 days, she's been getting about 3 times. I'm not sure what's up with that, but I'm hoping it'll go back to the old routine soon! I forgot how tired you get when you only get to sleep for a few hours at time! Luckily, she's SO adorable, I don't really mind...yet.

As previously reported, Maddie has started to laugh. It's the cutest thing. I actually captured a little on video this morning. Please excuse my obnoxious fake laugh to get her going and the drool! :)

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2009-12-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

We made it home after a really fun Thanksgiving trip to Texas. We had a blast and we were sad to wave good-bye to the Lone Star state, but we'll back soon, I'm sure. And one of these days, we'll be back for good. But until then, I'm thankful for Southwest and their cheap fares and direct flights between San Antonio and Nashville! John and I had so much fun showing off our baby girl to all her Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends who hadn't seen her yet and along the way Miss Maddie had lots of firsts.

-First(and second) plane trip. She was absolutely PERFECT. On both flights she didn't make a single sound, and on both planes our seat neighbor said that they were probably louder than she was!

-First time to giggle out loud. I think she laughed for the first time on the flight to Texas. But for sure she laughed at Momo and Mop's house. It was hilarious! Momo was holding her and she was laughing at Mop. The sweetest thing I've ever heard! And one of the funniest.

-First boat ride, and believe me, it was in style! (Thanks Aunt Kelli and Uncle John!)

-First trip to Whataburger! (Her Mama's personal favorite!)

-First time to watch some roping, see a horse, see a steer....See her Dad ride a steer! (That was a first for everyone :)

Here are some of the highlights:

Meeting her "Aunt" Kristi

And "Uncle" Brad

One of her future BFFs, uh, Avery, I think. In my defense, I could totally tell them apart in person, it's just a little hard in photos when she is turned away. :)

With Taylor on Thanksgiving Day. Taylor was by far one of her favorite people. She never fussed a bit when Taylor was holding her!

With her Aunt Liz

Hudson and Cade showing her what she could look forward to!
With Uncle Mark and Aunt Andi
Uncle Shawn, Uncle John, Dylan and Dad getting ready to have a war on the ranch.

With Cousin Steph
And, last but certainly not least meeting Lauren and Tre for the first time. I'm not sure what that expression on her face is all about, but it sure is funny!

Looks like a natural!

Thanks to everyone who traveled great distances (Jen) and made an extra effort (Carolyn) to come meet our baby girl! We had a blast!

On the Road Again

2009-11-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

For the past week John and I have been in Missouri working claims. Yeah! It's been a great chance to check out the new camper and see how we'll do when its on a much larger scale. We've had a few hiccups, but we love it! I will say my RV camp ground site picking leaves a little to be desired. We are in downtown which was convenient to the claims, but we are in a big concrete lot with the next trailer about 2' from us. No room this time for our canopy and my very fun party lights.

We started off the trip about 4 hours behind schedule, no big deal. We made it about 2 miles when we decided we needed to pull over and re-check (for like the 10th time) we were hooked up correctly. This is when John put his cell phone on the bumper of the truck only to be discovered when for stopped for gas in Illinois, about 4.5 hours later! I'm not joking, this picture is exactly how we found it!

Fast forward to our arrival. I decide to help John with the set up since this was the first time we've done this on our own, so I put Maddie down on the couch in the camper so I'd have my hands free. We were working on the opposite of the camper as the door so being the good mom I am, I shut the door so no one could just walk by and snatch her. As soon as I slammed it shut, I checked it to make sure it didn't lock because the last thing I looked at before laying her down were the door keys on the INSIDE of the camper. Well, it did lock and I proceeded to FREAK out! I went running around trying all the windows, John crawled into the storage hatch, but we didn't know how to actually open it to the inside and just as I was about to put a rock through the window our neighbor ambled over and told us to pick the lock with a screwdriver. So John came to the rescue and got her out. Thankfully all this unfolded in about 3minutes, but they were a long 3 minutes. And note to self, it is super easy to pick the lock, so always turn the deadbolt! After that, we seem to be adjusting well. Maddie is a "happy camper" and has slept through the night the past two nights. Yeah!

Hanging in "Maddie's Room"

The Reason she is sleeping through the night...She figured out how to suck her thumb! I'll take it, and worry about bad habits later.

Road Trip

2009-10-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

First things, first. My baby girl is two months old! (plus a couple of days) When I took Maddie for her check up, she weighed 13lbs 15oz, (99%) and she was 23" long (73%). We missed posting the two month photo on Tuesday because we left on our first road trip. Maddie and I went to Kentucky to visit the Kennedys. It's so nice having family so close, just a mere 3.5 hour drive. Ha! We had a blast and Maddie was so perfect, she slept the whole way there and the whole way home. Our efforts were greatly rewarded as we had some of the best potato soup known to man and Sarah, Sloane and Clay kindly drove us out to a pumpkin patch so we could capture Maddie's first Halloween costume in the proper setting.

I'm pretty sure she was loving the costume on the inside.

Clay and Maddie checking each other out.

Sloane showed Maddie what she had to look forward to when she's big enough to play "dress up!"

Holy Moly

2009-10-23T18:25:00.001-07:00

Maddie is 8 weeks old as of yesterday, and she celebrated the occassion by SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! It was amazing! She slept from 9 to 6:30 this morning. Before last night, she was getting up twice in the time frame to eat. Of course, I did not sleep through the night, I was up every two hours checking to make sure she was still breathing. I don't really hold out any expectations that this will be the beginning of a new routine, but I feel like there's hope!

Cutie Pie

2009-10-19T19:41:00.001-07:00

Well, we don't really have an exciting event to share with everyone, but I felt the messy room post needed to be replaced. I meant to follow that one up quickly with a cleaned up room, but these days if I don't do it right then, it could be days before I remember something like that. I did clean the room up, though, just in case anybody was worried about how we normally live.

I would have some exciting pics to share from Maddie's first birthday party experience if I'd remembered to bring the camera. River and Skye (our nieces) turned 2 this weekend and we helped them celebrate. So far River and Skye haven't been very interested in their little cousin, but this weekend, Skye kept saying, "Cute Baby." Then, she brought everyone over to see her. It was adorable!

I did capture Maddie's cute outfit when we got home. Thanks Aunt Kelli, we got lots of compliments. And since, it's impossible to decide which of these 3 photos is the cutest, I decided to share them all.

Sleepyhead

2009-10-15T15:28:00.001-07:00

We are lucky enough to be a couple of years behind our twin girl cousins who have some serious style, so we get lots of great clothes handed down. So today, Maddie and I were sorting through our latest haul and organizing our clothes by size when suddenly I looked over and she had fallen fast asleep in the middle of the mess. I suppose she was overwhelmed by the task.

Or perhaps a better explanation would be she was thinking, I hope she doesn't think I'm going to clean up the giant mess she's made, I think I'll just close my eyes and stay quiet for a while.

Happy Birthday, Gigi!

2009-10-11T08:07:00.001-07:00

Friday was John's Mom's Birthday, so we celebrated with dinner out. We had a great time seeing everyone for a couple of hours. Happy Birthday, Gigi!

Here's a video of Maddie smiling... Finally, I got it on record. You can mute your sound, now I'm the dork talking in the video.

Bath Time

2009-10-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Maddie is 6 weeks old today. She does enjoy her bath. We have an absolutely tiny bathroom and we run the heater for her, so it's toasty warm and relaxing. She's been sleeping for 5 hours at a stretch at night these last few nights, so we've been super excited. Here's a few photos of our favorite towel! Obviously it's a flower, but I think it kind of looks like an Indian Headdress.

Dressing Up

2009-10-03T10:52:00.001-07:00

Just a few pictures to show everyone how adorable she continues to be. The weeks are flying by. We've made it out of the house a few times on our own for important trips to Walmart, Target and Sonic. She's been sleeping 4 hours at a time at night and that's pretty big for us!

I think Scrappy's trying to say, "What is it about this baby that requires ALL your attention?" Poor dogs! I didn't think I'd love them less after a baby, but it has indeed happened. I still love them though, so that's got to count for something.

1 Month!

2009-09-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

Maddie is one month old today! We had visitors all the way from Texas in for the occasion! Thanks John, Kelli, and Company for making the trip to come see us! Here are a few "1 Month" photos. The second one was just too funny to pass up. And some photos of our super fun weekend with the cousins. Maddie also shares her one month birthday with her Aunt Kelli and Kristi; Happy Birthday you two!

3 Weeks!

2009-09-18T17:20:00.001-07:00

Times flies! Maddie is 3 weeks old as of yesterday, but her doctor's visit was today. She is 9lbs, 14oz (84%) and 21.5" long (79%). She is doing fabulous according to me and her doctor. She's full of smiles (real or not, they sure are cute!), can hold her head up really well for a newborn, she's outgrown newborn diapers, and she is staying awake for longer periods of time to hang out. Except when she doesn't feel like it, then she sleeps a whole lot! She occasionally takes really good naps in her crib and when that doesn't work for her, she takes great naps in our arms! We are on no sort of routine or schedule - she's very much in charge, but for now, we're okay with that!

Aunt Andi's Visit

2009-09-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

This week we said "see ya soon" to Momo and Mop. It was fairly tragic. Luckily Aunt Andi was here for the hand-off so we are still being well taken care of! Her visit has been way too short though, she leaves tomorrow morning and then we are on our own for the first time. Yikes! Luckily it is only one week until the next group is coming for a visit! Keep in mind we're accepting reservations for the end of September and pretty much any time after that!

Her first pair of boots from Uncle Mark and Aunt Andi

T is for Texas

2009-09-08T10:20:00.001-07:00

Thanks again to Aunt Kelli for our FAVORITE onesie! I think the outfit speaks for the post! Thanks for peaking in!

Also receiving Gold Stars for visiting is the Kennedy family. We're awarding two gold stars, one for traveling from out of state, 1/2 for making the road trip with two small children, and 1/2 for making it while sick and having to the submit to the look and don't touch rules of the household! It would have been 3 gold stars, but since we were actually on the way during their journey to Texas, it stands at 2. Thanks Kennedy family, sorry we didn't get any photos! See ya on the flip side!

What else? More Maddie!

2009-09-07T13:29:00.001-07:00

Here she's saying, "Stop taking photos for the stupid blog and feed me!" But I had to get the super cute outfit in the history books that Aunt Kelli made!

Taking our first stroll together.

We think she looks like a little tree frog in this one.

Mop with two of his beautiful granddaughters.

Labor Day

2009-09-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

The Bartows (my sister and her family) drove down from South Dakota this weekend to meet Maddie. It took them 14 hours, so they definitely get a gold star! Between Taylor (my niece) and Liz (my sister) no one else is getting a whole lot of holding Maddie in, but she sure is loving the attention! John's brother also made a big effort to get here from L.A. but he's sick so he only got to look and not touch. We'll give him two gold stars since he made the trip and then was very gracious about Mama and Papa Bear's protectiveness.

I didn't make her wear the bow all day, but it sure was cute!

So Adorable!

2009-09-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a good report at the doctor yesterday. Her level dropped to 13.1 and they said that she didn't need to come back until her 3 week check up. Thank goodness! I don't think I could take another blood test. It was horrible!! Here are a few pics of our girl. She's just SO cute, I can hardly stand it!

Being Adorable

Hanging with Aunt Ryan

Doing the Cha-Cha

Alien Baby

2009-09-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

My poor baby has jaundice. She had an elevated count when we left the hospital, so they wanted to see her at the doctor yesterday to check and her count has risen to 16.5, which apparently is creeping into the not okay territory. John and I both had jaundice and apparently it is at least partially hereditary. When I had it, I had to be under lights at the hospital with a blind fold, but fortunately, these days they are able to treat her at home with a Bili-Blanket. We have to go back today to check her count again, so say a pray that her count has improved. Here are some photos of my glowing baby.

We Made It Home

2009-08-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

We made it home yesterday from the hospital. It's great having Maddie here with us. She's just so darn adorable. All I can say is thank goodness for Momo and Mop! They had food ready, cookies baked, and beer in the fridge. And yes, the Corona was everything I thought it would be after 41 long weeks! Maddie's doing great, but she does want to held ALL the time. We're pretty much happy to do that, but it does make for a long night. Momo came to the rescue this morning though and held her while we got some much needed sleep! Here are some more photos of our little angel.

Madeline Sinclair McPherson

2009-08-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well we went for our 41 week check up, a milestone I was hoping we wouldn't reach, and everything checked out just fine, but my doctor insisted we induce and sent us over to be admitted to the hospital right then. John and I were a little floored and a lot nervous, but to the hospital we went. The doctor gave me a less than 50% chance of avoiding a C section, but about 24 hours after being admitted, Maddie finally came into the world without surgery. She was born on August 27, she weighed 8lbs, 9.5oz and she was 20.5" long. She's so cute and we love her so much already. Maddie is named after my Great Grandmother and she just so happened to arrive on John's grandmother's birthday. Here's some photos from her first 24 hours of life.

Sleeping after her 1st bath.

Big Yawn!

1st Photo with Dad about 15 minutes old.

Not the 1st photo with Mom, but one of my favorite moments.

40 weeks & 1 day

2009-08-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

Soooo. I'm officially past my due date. I went to the doctor yesterday and there is still no sign of her making her entrance into the world. My doctor says that on average most first time moms go past their due date by 3 days, so here's hoping. However, if nothing happens in the next week, my next visit will be next Wednesday for a non-stress test to make sure the little darling is still getting enough blood and oxygen. Then.....we'll see. In the meantime, Momo and Mop are here keeping us entertained and acting as my walking buddies. Mom and I walked 4 miles this morning, so I'm doing my part, the baby needs to do hers!

39 Weeks.....

2009-08-12T12:03:00.001-07:00

And still nothing! UGH! So, I had my 39 week check up and pretty much the only thing that came out of it was the fact that my doctor thinks I'll definitely go past my due date. How far past, who knows? One more week isn't so bad, but if I go two weeks past, that's THREE MORE WEEKS. Yikes! So, since I can't do anything else, I'm just trying to chill out and enjoy the peace and quiet for a little while longer. We've been relaxing and taking lots of naps......

Stocking up on those essential after delivery groceries......

The only thing left to do is to obsessively clean the house, but since I don't want to do that more than once, I'm putting that off for a little while yet.

New Table

2009-08-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Since we still have no baby to show off, I thought I'd let John have a little Blog time. With the help of one of our friends, John has started wood working. His first project was building us a new dining room table. Not too shabby for a first project! Next up, a matching bench so we can sit at it. :) In other news, I had my 38 week appointment today and everything is going good. I'm beginning to think she's entirely too comfy in there and may never come out. The end is near though, so I think I can make it.