birthday fun

We celebrated Madison's 4th birthday last weekend and these are my favorite pictures from the day.  Madison is starting to look so grown up - and I am amazed by how photogenic she is.  She looks so sweet in all of her pictures from the day!

Madison is such a ham!  She was so excited for the new princess gown and matching barbie that she immediately had to try it on and model it for all of us. 

We managed to get a picture of all of the Tigue grandkids!  We plopped them on the couch and took it really fast!  From left to right: Riley (2.5), Cameron (10 months), Madison (4), Evan (1.5), and Mason (4).  Clearly, Madison is in the minority!

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After all the pictures were taken, I finally got a chance the have someone take pictures of our family.  As you can see, they were DONE with pictures at this time.  Someday we'll have a family picture where we are actually happy!

Fall

It finally feels a bit like fall in the Med City!  We had to take advantage of some dry weather to get a few fall pictures!

Toofers!

There are teeth in there!  All about efficiency, Mr. Cameron decided to get his first two teeth at once!  They appeared sometime between Saturday and Sunday morning.  His Grandma checked for teeth during a short visit on Saturday and there wasn't anything there - but I found them Sunday morning while trying to figure out why he was umbearably fussy. 

How Big is Cameron??

So Big!

My Baby is FOUR

I cannot believe how quickly time flies. Before I know it, I’ll be saying that my baby is graduating. YIKES!

What can I say about Madison at four years old?

Madison adores her little brother and shows him that with hugs and kisses and by dragging him around the house by his neck. She has even accomplished the amazing feat of getting him out of his pack ‘n play, much to my horror. Madison does not quite understand the words “DO NOT pick up your brother.”

Madison is T.I.N.Y. She is tall, but oh so skinny. I do feed her, I promise! In fact, the kid eats like crazy but weighs a mere 32 pounds. I cannot buy pants that stay on her. I am constantly telling her that “crack kills” and pulling her pants up!

She still has the gorgeous red hair that she shocked us with at her birth. It is long long long. I want to cut it so badly! It is long enough to donate to locks of love but we are waiting just a bit so she will have some left when we do finally cut it.

Madison lives up to the fiery personality that red heads are so well known for. She is always right and will argue anything with anyone. Mostly she argues with Mamma. It’s funny and infuriating all at the same time. In a particular bad-mommy moment a few days ago I was very frustrated with her and muttered under my breath “oh, Madison grow up!’ She heard this and said “But Mommy, I can’t grow up, I’m still only three.” Those sweet little words melted my heart and a laugh escaped my lips. Of course, her “growing up” is the last thing I want – I’m sure many mothers of almost-four-year-olds can relate to my moment of frustration!

Madison can:
Write her name
Write the alphabet
Tell you what the first letter of a word is when you help her sound it out
Skate
Ride a bike with training wheels

Madison likes:
Pooh Bear (STILL!)
Princesses
Hockey
Camping
Campfires
Marshmallows
Capri Sun
Boating
Skipping
Driving her power wheels Jeep
Dresses and Tights
Sunday School
The Green Bay Packers
The Train Movie (The Polar Express)
Barbie Dolls

Madison wants:
Everything in the Fleet Farm Toyland catalog
A princess scooter
The Dora doll that can dance
Dresses

Happy Birthday, sweet Madison. You are the light of my life and the joy in my heart!

A Monday to beat all Mondays

Dear God - we could have done without today. Really. Everything happens for a reason and at some point, we will understand your plan.



There were a few very good moments that I will do my best to remember about today. I can't let the downside of life get in the way of all that is wonderful. Crummy things happen sometimes and we need to hold on to the little things. They are most important anyway.



Like Cameron all bundled up for Daycare - this is a new coat handed down from a friend. I couldn't help but think it looked like a Carhart and how proud Grandpa Tigue and Uncle Trevor would be to see Cam in a Carhart! Cameron has taken off in the past few days! He is clapping, saying Dadadada! and Mum mum mum! He has also learned to blow raspberries. Over and over and over and over again.




Poor Madison was sick today. Possibly with strep throat. So, Mama stayed home with her. Doesn't she look miserable? She'll be home again tomorrow, but the fever seems to be finally breaking.



But she perked right up when I told her it was snowing and that it would be good for her to get a little fresh air. She was very excited to learn that I was going to let her go outside for a little bit! I love her beautiful smile.





I bundled her up like it was ten below even though it was at least 30 degrees. Little Miss Personality did not care though - she had been sprung from her fever imposed house arrest.




The first thing she did was make a snow angel! It didn't take long and the beautiful snow on our back yard was full of foot prints. I went out and pulled Madison on a sled, pelted her with snowballs and helped her build the first snowman of the winter. Sadly, (or not, depending on how you feel about snow.) the snowman is already a slushy puddle.



So - even though today was the suckiest Monday of my entire adult life - these are the moments that I will remember. This is what is most important.

Cute new hat

It's getting colder here and its time to pull out the hats. So my sweet friend, Laura, knitted Cameron a striped hat. I picked out the yarn (and YES, its one skein of yarn, who knew that it would stripe on its own????)

I'm into weird colors right now - but this should look great with Cam's navy blue fleece snowsuit.

Now - the challenge will be getting him to keep it on his head!