Georgia Aquarium

When we moved here we got a membership to the Georgia Aquarium. It is fantastic!!! It is the largest aquarium in the world. They have some beautiful fish and other sea life. We finally got a chance to show Daddy just how cool it is.
A Whale Shark. These are the biggest fish in the ocean. They are gentle plankton eating sharks. Maddie loves them! They have a pattern of stripes and spots all over them. This is the only place you can find them outside of Asia.
Madison loves touching everything they have available to touch. She likes the rays, sea stars, and urchins best. She really loves how the fishes like to hide inside the anemones.
This giant ray is seriously big. He is not to full size yet but he is like a couple Dan's put together. We really love hanging out with all the ocean life.

Ballerina Princess

I just can't get enough of watching my ballerina princess!

Forgive the Massive Update

I have procrastinated my blog for a couple of weeks and so there are a number of new posts. Sorry about the massive update. Enjoy your Summer!

Cousins Come to Play

We were so excited to have my sister-in-law come to visit with us for the weekend. Maddie loved having cousins to play with. They must have played every game on our shelves (and we have a lot of games). Most of the free time was used in bowling tournaments, golf, and Hula Hooping on the Wii.
We did find time for a trip to Ikea for some things Kristy needed in her new house. What would a trip to Ikea be without meatballs and apple juice?
Matthew quickly became a kindred spirit for Maddie. She finally met someone who liked to draw, color, paint, and just generally create as much as she does. I love their looks of intensity as they create paintings.
Maddie also liked hanging out with Megan. They would spend hours upstairs playing and hiding in the tent Dan put up in her room. We sure miss them and are glad we will get to see them again in a few weeks. Thanks for coming to see us!

A Month Long Quest

I really love fresh hot bread-who doesn't? My Dad and my oldest brother are amazing bread makers. I mean like mouth watering, craving it all the time, wonderful bread makers. My favorite breads are rustic artisan breads-crunchy on the outside and soft and thick inside. So, about 5 or 6 weeks ago I began my quest into the world of sourdough bread. In order to make sourdough bread you need a starter. In order to have a starter you need to create a seed culture - sounds complicated right-you have NO IDEA! I will make a long story short by simply saying that after many tries and failures, endless phone calls with my saint of a father, and more patience than I thought I had......I did it!
My first two loaves of hot delicious sourdough bread. They were not as good looking or tasting as my Dad's bread- but it is a start. You have never enjoyed food until you have sweated, prayed, and slaved over it. Come to Atlanta and I will make you some.

Summer Classes

We are lucky enough to live a few minutes away from a recreation center that offers VERY inexpensive classes for kids. This is a picture of Maddie's ballet class. She is in classic stranger mode. She is trying to keep herself from getting to close to anyone. I love the attitude on the oldest girls face and her stance. Poor girl really needed a more advanced class.
Madison loved learning all the ballet moves and especially loved to leap and spin.
This is her gymnastics class. They were learning to do bridge-ups. Maddie was pretty much lost in this class. She was the youngest in all her classes and wasn't sure at first what was going on. She is catching on pretty quickly though.

Latest Project

This is my most recently finished project. I made this little outfit for one of my best friends. It was so fun sewing for a newborn baby boy. I am always doing girl stuff and it was a great change. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Wipeout

Do you ever have one of those moments as a parents where you realize that you have made a huge mistake-a wipeout if you will. I don't know if you have ever seen this show but its pretty funny (if you enjoy pithy commentary and people looking like complete dweebs). I made the mistake of not turning it off when Madison wandered in one night. She settled down next to me and was soon laughing along with me as people fell off giant bananas, giant balls, and well just about everything. The next night instead of requesting Backyardigans or Blues Clues for her bedtime show she begged me for Wipeout. "Those balls are really funny momma!" I have always had a strict no TV in front of our child policy with the exception of American Idol (I know it is a sickness that I have). What to do? I realize that I am perhaps teaching her indirectly that it is funny to laugh at people when they fall down. I can picture her first day of Kindergarten when some kid falls off the slide and Maddie points her finger and starts laughing. One must hope that everything else I have tried to teach her counteracts the need to laugh when someone falls in a big old pile of mud.

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a wonderful weekend! Friday we went to a lake about an hour from us that had a beach and swimming. Maddie had never been to the beach (although she has imagined herself there many times) before. She was so excited and the look on her face when she stepped into sand the first time was priceless. She loved everything about the beach. We swam and built sandcastles and took a paddle boat out to a little island complete with an old bridge that spanned the lake. As we went under the bridge I couldn't help but feel a "kindred spirit" to my childhood hero Anne of Green Gables as she held on under the bridge waiting to be rescued.

Saturday we played soccer, Mario Galaxy, hung pictures, had a wonderful BBQ (thanks to Paula Dean for the fresh strawberry cake), relaxed and enjoyed life. We shot off fireworks on our patio and than Dan and I watched the fireworks in boston as we listened to the Pops play the Stars and Stripes. All in all it was a fantastic holiday weekend.