Time to Catch up

We are alive.  :)  We had a fun Christmas and New Years.  And Madeleine has been sick 5-6 times since she turned 18 months old and started going to nursery at church (it's the very first Sunday school class little kids start with).  We've gone a whole three weeks healthy again though and I'm hoping with the warmer weather the colds and flu bugs will start going away again for a while.

The sad thing is that Madeleine loves going to nursery.  She loves her friends and teachers.  She loves the toys, the little 2-step slide, snack time, singing, coloring pictures to do with each lesson, the whole kit and caboodle.  On weeks that I've kept her with me during church she runs to the nursery door after our meetings end and goes down the slide a few times.  I'm glad she likes it so much.

One Sunday morning Matt took a few pictures of Madeleine.  She is wearing one of Sadie's old dresses--one of Sadie's favorite old dresses that she used to put on herself all the time.  Madeleine reminded me so much of when Sadie was this age.

Isn't she so cute?

When I was looking at our pictures from that morning somehow our picture editor jumped to a different folder and this picture popped up.  It was pre-Matt, and even pre-Jax (see Alicia's tummy).  Sadie had been running around and was hot but you can get an idea of the cousin similarity.  I wonder how I didn't get the white shirt memo though?  Maybe I was mourning from dating woes... oh how long ago that seems.

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With the snow that we got last month Matt and I took Maddie sledding in Hobble Creek canyon a couple times.  It was very fun and Maddie seemed to like it too.  She let us pull her up the hill in the tube the first few times and then decided to get out and walk with me the next time or two.  She was so tired by the end.

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I also had a birthday last month which was very fun.  Matt took the day off and we took Maddie to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  I didn't realize how fast she could run until she started following another family with lots of kids and tried to join up with them.  The oldest daughter (7 years old maybe) was holding her toddler brother's hand and Maddie tried to go up and hold her other hand.  It surprised the girl though and she turned around to see us and suggested Maddie stay with her mom and dad.  

There is a room with a waist high little canal with water and sand in it that kids can play in and search for toy dinosaurs.  Maddie played there a long time.  We didn't know there was another area at the end that is just a big sand pit that you can use hand shovels and brushes to "dig" out the fossils and dinosaur bones.  M was so tired by the end that we didn't stay and play and as we carried her out she cried, "Diiiiiiiirt!!!"  Matt and I have joked about it several times since how she wanted the "dirt" so bad.

I got to take a long nap with Madeleine that afternoon.  When we woke up we all went down to the indoor track at BYU and walked for a bit (Matt and I want to do a race this spring so we've been trying to go there at least once or twice a week).  Madeleine discovered the bleachers and followed me up them when I was running the stairs.  She also liked watching the kids playing basketball there.

Matt and I can't actually remember what we did for dinner that night but it was good and we had ice cream afterwards.  It was a very fun day.

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Our little valentine...

On the Monday before Valentine's day Matt brought me a bouquet of roses.  I had Maddie sitting up on the counter next to me while I was getting dinner ready.  As he brought groceries in and was putting things away we were chatting while I continued to cook and then Maddie exclaimed, "flowers!"  I turned around and, sure enough, Matt was right next to me holding flowers.  Fun surprise.  

During his lunch break on Valentine's day Matt stopped at the store again and brought home five bright pink daisies for Madeleine.  She was resisting her nap anyways so I let her sit with Matt and look at her new flowers.  The next morning we got them out for her to look at again.  She loved that she could hold them and do whatever she wanted with them...

Next year we will have two little girls for Matt to give Valentine daisies to.  Yes--we are having another little girl later this year!  All three of us are very excited!

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Remember how Spencer used to sleep like this when he was a baby?  Wendy used to always say how his "little hiney" was up in the air.  I don't think that's what Matt was thinking about when he took this picture one afternoon but it's what I think of...