Happy Halloween!!

Maddy and I went trick-or-treating in my sister's neighborhood. Madeline had so much fun with her cousins. It was great to watch all of them walk up to a house and say trick-or-treat then come and show us the candy or toy they got. They were all so excited. What a fun Halloween!!

Before trick-or-treating.

After trick-or-treating.

Notice the difference.

Ward Halloween Party.

Today we went to our ward Halloween party. The youth did everything. We ate dinner and then the kids went around to different rooms for games, activities, and treats. They also had a pinata. Madeline won a jar of taffys for guessing correctly how many were in the jar. She was pretty excited about that. We had a fun time.

Princess Madeline

Maddy and I.

Birthday gift.

These are some earrings I made for my niece, Madison. She just had a birthday and turned nine years old. They turned out really cute so I thought I would post them. I would like to make myself a pair, except in black.

Public speaking.

Andrew and I had to speak in church today. We spoke on keeping the sabbath day holy. It's a tough subject to speak about without feeling like you are preaching. We only had one week to prepare (three hours for Andrew) and I think we did a good job on talking about a tough subject. I'm glad it's over though because public speaking is not one of my talents.

Creativity

Here are a couple picture I took of Madeline's creativity. She comes up with the funniest displays.

I love where Madeline placed the Beauty and the Beast characters.

Madeline did this all by herself.

The Pumpkin Farm

Madeline and I went with a play group to the pumpkin farm. We got to ride on a hay bale towed behind a tractor. The kids and adults got to pick out one pumpkin each. Madeline picked out a big round pumpkin. She was pretty proud of it. While we were looking for pumpkins, Madeline kept tripping on the pumpkin vines (she just got new tennis shoes and wore them for the first time; she has a hard time walking in them). After the pumpkin farm, we all went to Artic Circle for lunch. I haven't been to an Artic Circle for over 10 years. I forgot how much I liked Artic Circle when I was younger. I love how they give out free mini ice cream cones. The kids had fun playing on the play structure. Madeline got a witch flashlight in her kids meal and was really excited about that. What a fun day.

The play group

This is the hay bale we rode on to get to the pumpkin farm. Madeline is with her friends and the pumpkins we picked out.

Madeline really had fun picking out a pumpkin.

I love Madeline's facial expressions in these two pictures. She was so excited to be at the pumpkin farm.

Nighttime

Andrew and I always go in Madeline's bedroom and check on her before we go to bed. Lately she has fallen asleep in the funniest positions. She has fallen off the bed a couple of times. We had to take a picture of this position. How can she sleep like that? It's so funny. Someday we will get a real mattress that fits her bed (and not a crib mattress).

Birthday Celebration.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRINCESS MADELINE!!

Today is Andrew's birthday. I woke up around 8:00am to start getting ready for church and I looked outside the window and it was a winter wonderland. Everything was white and covered with snow! I woke up Andrew and told him to look outside the window and said, Happy Birthday Andrew! This is a birthday he will always remember because of all the snow. I think we got at least four inches.

We had a big party to celebrate Andrew and Madeline's birthday. There were 14 from Andrew's side of the family and 17 from my side of the family that came to our house to celebrate. We had a yummy dinner--cafe rio tacos (Andrew's favorite). Then Andrew and Madeline opened presents and we had cake and ice cream. Thanks so much for all of you who came to help celebrate Andrew and Maddy's birthday. We had so much fun!

THE CAKE!!!

Andrew's cake. It's an ice cream oreo cake.

Madeline's cake: a princess barbie cake.
I also make cupcakes to go with the barbie cake.
Maddy loves her cake!

THE FAMILY!!!

The studs.

THE PRESENTS!!!
Andrew got some clothes, money, a football, a dry erase board, and cologne for his birthday. Madeline got more polly pockets, a barbie with a movie, books, a bracelet, barbie cd player, four goldfish and dress-ups. As soon as the dress-up treasure box got opened, Madeline and her cousins dressed up. I have a hard time getting Madeline to not dress-up.
Maddy and her cousins helping open Andrew's presents.
Maddy opening her dress-up treasure box.


Maddy and her four goldfish. Her Grandpa and Nelly gave her the fish and she loves them. They also gave her some food to feed the goldfish.

THE SNOW!!!

Madeline's face when she saw all the snow this morning!

I put this picture up not only because it's of my beautiful sisters but you can see all the snow out of the window.
Maddy and the snowman that Scott (my brother-in-law) and Nathan (my nephew) created.
Madeline loves all the snow.

More presents.

Madeline was really excited today because she got a birthday present in the mail from her cousins, Samantha and Cody. It was Beauty and the Beast polly pockets. She loves them. She played with them all day. Thanks so much for the present!

New Princess Scooter.

Well I had to go exchange Madeline's scooter for a new one because of the missing piece. She and Andrew put it together today. Madeline had so much fun riding on her new princess scooter. She loves the basket attached to the scooter and puts one of her toys in the basket so it can go on a ride with her. I love watching Madeline ride her new scooter. It's so cute. She is really cautious. I'm sure she'll get faster as she rides it more.

Happy Birthday Madeline!

Madeline turned 4 years old today! She is getting so big. She was so excited for her birthday. This morning, Maddy and I made her birthday cake. She was so excited to help make her cake. We made a princess castle cake. Later on that evening, some of our neighbors came over for cake and ice cream. One of our neighbors made Madeline some cute bows and gave her a little purse to keep the bows in. Madeline also got some barbies, winter clothes, shoes (she did not have any close-toed shoes besides Sunday shoes--that's what happens when you live in Florida!), polly pockets, Little Homes set, the new Little Mermaid movie, and a princess scooter. Andrew and Maddy tried to put the scooter together. After spending a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong, Andrew finally realized that a piece was missing. So Madeline will have to wait to ride her scooter. Happy birthday Madeline!

Here is Maddy helping me. She is such a great helper.

She got her face messy by licking the cake batter.

And here is Madeline with her princess castle cake.

This is the front of the cake.

This is the back of the cake.

Maddy with her barbie.

Maddy was so excited about her new movie: "The Little Mermaid, Ariel's Beginning." She calls it Ariel's sisters movie. If you look to the right, you can see Madeline's new scooter.

Maddy and her friend, Katie, playing dress-ups.

New Camera.

Yeah! We finally got a new camera. Now I can start posting more pictures. After alot of research, we decided on a Canon-digital elph. I think it will be a great point and shoot camera. We are really excited to start using it.