Madeline's School and Ballet Performances

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Madeline! Her pre-school class did a very small performance on their last day of school in which they sang 5 songs. Maddie didn't seem in the mood to sing, so she mostly just stood there and opened her mouth occasionally. Not sure why she was feeling shy since she's been singing the songs at home for weeks! Oh well.

Then, a couple of days ago, she had her first ballet recital. As is true with most kids this age, it's more about the costume and the experience than the actual performing! But Maddie really seemed to enjoy herself and wasn't intimidated by being on the big stage in the auditorium. She must get that from her Auntie Erin... There is a video of part of her routine at the bottom of this post.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Maddie with her school friends and Ms. Kim - they hand-painted these shirts earlier in the week.

Our little ballerina!

Maddie and 2 of her friends from ballet class

Princess Madeline

Pre-Christmas Festivities

We've been busy preparing for Christmas in a variety of ways. We got the house decorated in time for our annual Christmas party last week. Brogan and the cat only knocked a few ornaments off the tree as it was going up and they both seem to have lost interest at this point. Phew!!! We had cousin Emily spend the day last week and she came with us to visit Santa. Emily was very clear on her requests: makeup and a guitar. Maddie has yet to share her wish list with anyone (including me or Santa) and is now concerned that he might bring her coal because she wouldn't tell him what she wanted. We shall see....

Maddie's friend Ethan came over a couple of weeks ago to help decorate (and taste!) the requisite Christmas cookie cutouts. The kids actually did a really great job and had a lot of fun in the process. We love Christmas around here and it's been so fun to enjoy the anticipation of both Santa's arrival and baby Jesus' birthday!



Emily and Madeline with Mr. Claus

Brogan and Maddie with Santa. I thought Brogan would freak out but he was actually great! Totally fascinated with all of Santa's bells and whistles so I couldn't even get him to look at the camera.

Maddie and Ethan working in the kitchen.

Christmas Tree Cutting

This was the 3rd year in a row that some portion of our family has gone to cut a Christmas tree. Maddie and Jon have gone every time; this was the first outing for Brogan and me and the first for our family of four! We went into the mountains with our friends the Mays and the O'Neals and enjoyed a beautiful early December day. We hiked around for about an hour, found our tree, and then had a picnic lunch before heading home. Maddie has taken to naming the tree each year, so this year it's been dubbed "Mary Moo Cow". Who knows where she comes up with this stuff.... The tree is for the kids and their ornaments and it lives upstairs near their rooms. It's a fun family tradition we look forward to doing every year!


Maddie and Brogan with their tree

Grant O'Neal, Maddie, and little B

Maddie with Smokey Bear

The four of us with our "giant" tree right behind Brogan's head. It's about 4 feet tall. :)

Thanksmas 2008

Ah, yes, it's that time of year again. The annual roommate holiday that generally falls sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas (hence "Thanksmas") is always a hectic but FUN time with friends. As the number of children increases each year, so does the level of noise and chaos. But seeing our 4 families together and the amazing ways in which we are blessed makes the madness totally enjoyable. And besides, an adult conversation held over several glasses of wine and an uniterrupted time at the table is overrated anyway....

The 4 "bigs" - big brothers Lukas and Joshua and big sisters Madeline and Grace

Brogan (1 yr), Madeline (3 1/2), Nora (6 mo), Grace (3), Joshua (4), Kaitlyn (1 1/2), Lukas (3 1/2), Adelaine (1 1/2)

As you can probably guess, the arranging and taking of the annual "kid" photo is a most ridiculous endeavour. But as I say, at least all the kids are IN the picture, regardless of where they are looking or what they are doing.

The 4 roomies - me, Anna, Christine, and Carrie

Thanksgiving in Mexico

Hola? Como estan? We returned a few days ago from a fabulous week in Mexico with my family. We spent a week at the Gran Porto Real resort in Playa del Carmen and it was just about perfect. The weather couldn't have been better, the resort was amazing with a lovely beach and of course it was great to have so much time with my parents, grandparents, sister, and aunt. Other than Brogan being determined to wake me to watch the sunrise every morning, we had no other complaints. The kids were really good travelers and as long as Maddie had her daily "fruity drink", she was happy. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing that my 3-year-old daughter asks me the following: "Mommy, when can we go to the bar to get my margarita?"!!!!


The whole clan (except for Aunt Karlie, who was taking the picture)

Brogan absolutely loved the ocean. He wasn't so sure about the sand on the first few days, but he got used to it and couldn't get enough by the end of the week!

Grandma Sue and little B

The view from our room - not a bad way to start and end each day, that's for sure!

Our sand bunnies - note that Maddie is completely covered up to her waist. She spent a good part of the week as a "corndog" - made for fun cleanup at the end of every day....

Brogan loved running the long halls of the hotel. He only landed on his giant noggin once or twice. :)

One the gazillion iguanas at the Tulum ruins site - the kids thought they were awesome!

Me and my sister (Auntie Erin) at Tulum

Maddie at Tulum - she actually thought the old "castles" were pretty cool!

Me and Jon at Tulum

My grandparents (the Taits), Erin, and Maddie

Maddie had her hair braided the 2nd night of the trip - it was nice and easy for the rest of the week, though I think we are STILL finding sand and other beach treasures in her hair....

Who says buckets are for sand???

A constant theme of the week - one of us chasing the little dude as he was determined to walk or run everywhere, regardless of dangerous bodies of water at every turn.

Maddie and Auntie Erin - they were best friends all week. Poor Erin couldn't even go to the bathroom without Maddie insisting she go along.

Yep, this scene was pretty much the norm for 7 straight days - I can't complain!

Grandpa Lynn and Maddie

3 generations of ladies - my mom, me, and Maddie