Time to play catch up (again)!

A couple of pictures from mid February.  Our sweet, crazy-haired Valentine.

I feel like this was forever ago.  Since then, she has been introduced to so many fun and exciting experiences, some that are major milestones in a toddler's life!  She went to Mardi Gras.  She danced with family (and perfect strangers) to the music coming from the marching bands, the bands playing on street corners, the music that erupted from anywhere and everywhere.  She met Princesses, took a ride on a flying elephant and a spinning teacup, danced with Mary Poppins, and saw Tinkerbell fly over the castle.  She turned two (and I cried).  She now prefers to swing on the "big girl swing."  She is in the 75th percentile for her height/weight.  Madeline is growing up too fast.  I have so many pictures... I finally printed a few, and some are in the mail, heading south.  I'll share more here too, soon.  XOXO

And more snow

Monday was MLK (no work).  Tuesday Madeline was still recovering from her cold (no work). Wednesday was the snow storm (no work).  Thursday was when we were covered with ice (no work).  Madeline has been spoiled with all of the snow. I have been spoiled with staying home and watching this girl.

Wednesday, we went outside to let Madeline explore.

She loves these boots - borrowed from her friend Madison, who has outgrown them now.

Snow! Snow!

Her favorite thing to do with snow - just like in Whistler - is to sit in it and eat it.  I try to make sure she plops down by the freshest snow... 

Don't eat the yellow snow!

A couple videos of our time out there - I'm not sure if I uploaded these correctly so I hope this works!

The wonderful snowman Jake and I made!!!  She is still standing, by the way. Solid as a rock.

So that was fun.  I like snow.  Then Wednesday night, the wind picked up and a frozen rain/sleet/slush/snow mixture started. The power went out around 6pm leaving us at the dinner table in complete darkness, and poor Madeline lost it.  I held her while Jake went outside to start the generator (everyone should have one of these, seriously).  Madeline was so scared and concerned about where her Daddy was going.  I told her he was outside fixing the lights, and so then she kept repeating that to me - "Where is Daddy?" "Outside." "Fixing it." (She had the questions and the answers) - that is something new by the way.  Lots of questions.  Anyway - even though the generator was running, we still lit some candles.  Madeline loves candles.

The power came back on by 8pm, but I let M sleep with us last night because I was worried that the power would go out again.  Around 4am, she woke up crying because she lost her paci.  She sleeps with two pacifiers, one in her mouth and one to rub on her nose (I have no idea).  Not sure how I'm going to break the paci habit yet... but once I helped her find the pacifiers she kept crying and saying something that I couldn't quite understand, which just made her angry.  I finally figured it out.  She was saying "scratch back."  For real.  I looked at Jake like are you kidding me?  What kind of diva monster are we raising?  But it was 4am, and I wanted to go back to sleep, and I was still in shock that she was telling me to scratch her back.  So I scratched her back for a minute... 

We woke up late on Thursday because the power was out, again.  Jake went to turn on the generator while I got up with Miss M.  We were still laying in bed, and I swear the first thing out of her mouth - "Are candles fun?"  I thought - Um, huh?  But before I answered her, she asked, "Are paci's good?"  ...  I have a feeling the "question phase" is here.  We went to the window and saw an insane amount of ice on top of the snow.  When Maggie (huge lab) went to potty outside, her feet didn't even sink into the snow.  The layer of ice was a few inches thick. 

The tree branches were weighed down with ice - lower than our snowman's head!

The power was failing all over the place because of trees falling on the power lines.  The picture below was taken on Wednesday, before the ice.  And the last picture was taken today.  Even though the lighting is different and they aren't the exact same trees, you can see what the ice did to the trees.

Covered with snow, but still fluffy.

After the ice and wind.

Those trees are behind our neighbors houses across the street.  Several branches and trees have fallen back there - we can hear them cracking and falling when we are outside.

Snow day

 

Our forecast shows SNOW for the next few days!!! :)  

Madeline was watching Jake take down the Christmas lights.  Jan 15th, seriously. I know.  At least we weren't turning them on anymore.

Ta-dah!

Up to date!  I'll try putting up pictures faster this year instead of a month later.  I'm just usually busy with Madeline. or work. or cleaning or laundry or whatever is going on.  You know, life.   We'll see.

Here are iphone pics from the last 2 and a half months!

M loves her robe from her Mimi.

During walks, it's either "Hands!" or "Holdage!"

I say "smile!"  As usual, this is what I get.

She squeezes her daddy's cheeks during kisses.

Girlfriend can put down some pasta.

Ever had to do home renovations?  Ever had to do home renovations with a 20 month old?  It is scary.

  Madeline still amazes me every day.  Several times a day, Jake and I just watch her like - are you kidding me?  When did she start doing that?!  As much as I want to stop time in it's tracks, I'm just curious and so excited to see what she does next.  My favorite thing she does right now is how often and the ways she shows love and affection.  We could be sitting down at the table eating, and she says "oh, mama," and leans in to me for a hug.  Or I'm taking her upstairs to put her to bed, and she yells out to Jake "Uv-ew daddy!"   And then seeing her care for her babies, and the way she babbles on about her friends (in the office nursery and neighborhood friends).  It's seriously the sweetest thing.

New Years Eve Sledding

We went sledding on NYE in a very remote, very snowy little spot on the top of a mountain. And we got stuck. So we really only used the sled for maybe 10 minutes. It is probably more accurate to say that we got stuck in the snow - really badly - and while Jake, lots of other people, and a couple big jeeps with wenches pulled out our Jeep, Madeline and I sledded. twice. But it was still fun.

It was also really pretty!!!

We probably stopped 8 times on our way up. The truck in front had to keep stopping to dig snow out of the way so he wouldn't get high centered.

Brrr. It was FReeeezing. Madeline did alright...

She wanted to eat. Girl likes soup and noodles.

But besides that, she just wasn't too into it. Maybe she was cold? Maybe she was annoyed with being so bundled up? Not sure, but she was totally content sitting in her car seat in the car for at least an hour of the time while we were there.

When she wasn't in the car, she wanted me to hold her. She says "Momma Holdage!" And by the way, walking in the snow while holding a 28 pound tot is a challenge.

rosy cheeks