A Creative Outing

What are Madison's outdoor essentials? A purse full of markers and her faithful cat.

The New Do

The battle is over and I lost. I hate, hate, hate cutting Maddie's hair. I am always so sure that her beautiful curls will mysteriously disappear if scissors come near them. However, Maddie was done with curls in her eyes. She wanted to wear clips at night to keep it out of her face. So, I gave in and gave her some bangs. I still am sad but she loves them. What do you think????

Rainy Day Picnic

What could be better on a gloomy rainy day than a picnic. Maddie has been obsessed recently with picnics. She has pretend picnics with her animals every day and so we decided to have real picnic today. We put out all the sandwich stuff and enjoyed a rainy day picnic.

Father's Day Recap

We had a great time with Dad this weekend. We played games, ran around, visited a museum, and cooked yummy Father's Day treats. Madison loves to help bake anything.

Classic picture of Maddie doing what she does best when we bake-sneaking the chocolate chips in to her mouth. We had a great dinner of traditional feijoada over rice and finished it off with Tiger Butter bars and ice cream.

Dan was very happy to get the new Tiger Woods golf game for the Wii. He didn't have a clue that this game was coming his way.

The Center for Puppetry Arts

This weekend was a really fun one for our little family. We have not had a chance to do anything but just deal with the craziness of our new lie in GA since we got here. We decided to take a break and have some fun. We went to the Center for Puppetry Arts Museum in downtown Atlanta.

It was really quite amazing. As part of your admission (which is not super cheap) you get to see the museum, special exhibits, and a show. I was expecting some kind of cheesy little puppet show. I was seriously wrong! It was amazing. Think about the Sound of Music puppet show-times 50.

The kids got to go upstairs to a puppet workshop and make their own puppet. Madison was over the moon with all the craft supplies at her finger tips. She is just like her Mom and Grandma Ludlow - she loves to create artistically.

The finished project!

Madison was so happy to be able to have her Daddy at her fingertips for an entire day. It has been a while since she just got to be with him and play.

Say Hello To the Newest Addition.....

Here she is in all her glory...(a moment of silence please). After years of devoted shopping and patronage to Apple I finally have an iPod. It is not just any model but an iPod Touch. Dan has had several versions and we use one as our car stereo but I have never had one of my very own. You might ask what merits such generosity? I have no idea to be perfectly honest. I was more than willing to wait until Christmas but my sweet husband insists that I should get one. I swear this was all his idea. The benefits of Dan being gone 12+ hours every day (job=money) and not having any adult conversation are finally starting to pay off. Let me hear a whoop whoop!

A Quick Summary of our Happenings

We have been pretty busy trying to get our house put together.  We had a week before Dan started working and we were able to buy our first couch and love-seat, hit Ikea for some help with organization, buy a lawn mower, buy a garden hose, weed part of the backyard, unpack all our stuff, organize our storage, and except putting up the frames we are doing pretty well.

We encourage child labor in our house.  Madison had a fantastic time helping to put together some of the new shelves we bought at Ikea.  She really loved using all of Daddy's tools.
This is not a forest-well yes it is a forest, but it is also our backyard.  It is so beautiful and green here.  We live in a very rural area and we are surrounded by forests, streams, lakes, and beautiful trees.  It is going to be a challenge to keep the forest from taking over the house.
When we started the process of moving we promised Maddie that if she would help out and let us get things done we would reward her with a pool.  Ta-Da (As Maddie would say)!
We got a pretty good deal on this pool.  It hooks into the hose and sprays water under the arch that you can climb through.  It also has a little slide that she can play on.  Best of all she can play right outside the kitchen while I am making dinner.
No, really she isn't spoiled-I swear!
Here is the aforementioned lawn mower.  Thanks Daddy for all the advice on buying a new mower.  Also, thanks to my sweet husband who worked hard all day and endured the commute to come home and mow our lawns.  I swear it was his idea entirely-I told him to relax! 
Maddie is in super imagination mode.  She is always imagining herself and her animals and me into some super cool place.  The last couple of days we have spent all out time at the "beach".  The table cloth is the water and you will notice the goldfish crackers swimming in the water where she can easily fish for a snack.  Kitty really likes fish.  The real challenge has been getting her to take the bathing suit off so she can sleep. 

Things I learned from this move

Here she is in all her 30 plus foot glory.  Here is a short (not so short) list of things that I learned from this move:

1. Having people come and pack you and load you is not as restful as it sounds.

2. Using an independent packer/loader is not a brilliant idea after all.

3. Just because the company assures you that they have packing experience does not guarantee packing experience.

4. You must monitor every move that the movers make or you will end up with broken things, scratched furniture, and a huge mess.

5. Driving a huge U-Haul while towing your car behind you is NOT FUN.

6. Shoving your entire family into the front of a U-Haul is also not highly enjoyable.

7. Blown out trailer tires can bring endless fun as you wait on the side of a busy highway for several hours while waiting for U-Haul to send someone to fix it.

8. Just because you provide Mattress bags and furniture pads does nit ensure that the movers will actually use them.

9.  Bring cleaning supplies with you in the car because even though the house is supposed to be clean upon arrival it might be a utter pigsty.

In summation when you think you are making life cheaper and easier by avoiding using a real moving company-you should think again.  Thank you for listening to me grumble, complain, whine, and vent.  On the bright side it is all over and the company is picking up the tab-Hurray!

Catching up on vacation

We spent a little less than a week (not long enough) in the Beehive state with my parents.  My Dad made this amazing cake for a party.  It was so adorable and it tasted pretty good as well.
It was so wonderful to get to spend Mother's Day with my Mom.  My Mom is the hardest working, most talented, most generous woman I know.  She is my best friend, my coach, confidante, and inspiration-I love you Momma.
Dan and Maddie got me two new games for Mother's Day.  One of the games I have been requesting for the last three years.  I was pretty happy.  Not to mention that my gourmet Mother's Day was catered by my incredibly talented Father.  Seriously the man is a genius in the kitchen.  I love my hubby but there is no real comparison in the cooking department.
Beautiful princess is modeling the amazingly cute skirt that my Mom made for her.  My Mom also made me a really lovely skirt as well.  I will have to take a picture wearing it sometime.
It was so beautiful in Utah.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time.  We helped plant the garden, played at the park, smelled the flowers, fed the horses, sheep, and cows, and had a great party with some of my Dad's co-workers.  We were sad to go but with the move looming less than a week away we knew it was time to go.