Madie's mind has been working hard at figuring out College life and entering the work force. Here are some conversations we have recently had.

Madie: How much does it cost to get a job at Petland?

Me: It doesn't cost anything. You just go in and interview and if they like you they give you a job and start paying you.

Madie: (overwhelmed with joy) You mean they pay YOU! I thought you had to pay someone to work at their store! WOW. Whats an interview?

Me: You have to go and talk to the manager of the store and they ask you all sorts of questions to see if you would be right for the job. Like...How many hours do would you work a day?

Madie: 12

Me: Great. Do you know anything about Lizards?

Madie: Yes, I am not afraid to pick them up.


Me: Can you help people with puppies if they want to get one out?

Madie: Oh, yes! That would be my favorite job. I'm really good with puppies.

Me: What if they poop of pee and you have to clean it up.

Madie: I guess I will just plug my nose and try not to touch it!

Me: You're hired!


She also came home from school and told me that she has decided that her and Kate (a buddy from school) will be going to the same college and be room mates. Which means, she will move out of the house and live at school. Althouth very concerned with college homework, she is thinking it is not a good thing to live at your school. Maybe teachers will come by your room and drop off homework? Maybe she'll live at home! (yipee) And with much persuasion she has convinced Kate to work at Petland too.

Madie: I finally convinced Kate to work at Petland with me, but she does not like snakes, spiders, and lizards. I am going to have to teach her about them so she can get an interview.

Me: That is really kind of you to look after Kate.

Madie: There is one big problem though...(sigh and pause) I have not exactly told her about the poop cleaning thing. I am not sure how to discuss it with her. It's going to be tough.

The point is...I hate cleaning up poop too.

As I am changing into my gym clothes-

Madie: Mommy, your tummy is really turning gushy.

Me: Does it look worse? Is it bigger?

Madie: Nope, its the same as it's always been.

Me: Ahh, haaaa what? What does that mean?

Madie: I like it that way because I can make it do this...

She proceeds to grab every ounce of love I have and squish it into a donut lump and give me a big sloppy zerby. After a split second decision to laugh rather than cry, I grabbed her and wrestled her nose off!

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Me: Oh, man. KITTY

Jenna: (running down the hall) What's the matter?

Me: Be careful don't step in the cat barf. I'll get it.

Jenna: (with snap your finger sas) Man, you are on it Mama!

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The point is...Really? Has the last 2 years of working my tail off in the gym only produced a squishy donut worthy of a zerby? WOW

As is tradition, we do a bunch of clothes shopping here in Arkansas on vaca. Kory and the girls can only tolerate a small amount of fitting rooms and sale racks before they are waving the white flag. This morning when Mom and I were ready to head out for shopping extravaganza, Kory and the girls decided to stay home.
It was to be a beautiful day--perfect for more bike riding practice for Madie and tagging along for Jenna. Good call Kory on bringing their bikes.
Madie is still super wiggly and prefers the safety of the training wheels. So, I left for the day with Madie on a little Dora bike that is way too small for her. We have a much bigger bike for her, but at the very mention of the bike she gets teary and scared. Jenna has named her bike honker. She will tell me--I want to ride honker. So cute! She loves her squeezer bike horn. (wheeee haw)
I called Kory about 9 pm (I told you long day of shopping) and he acted super weird. He insisted I call him about 5 minutes away from the condo and pull into the open parking lot by the club house. He is pretty sneaky so I wasn't sure what to expect.
We pull up, he rolls down the van window and Jenna says--Announcing Madie Kilbourne. Then Kory sticks his head out and whistles. Then to the amazement of my eyes Madie is on a big new bike, suited up from head to toe, and riding like a pro. WOW! I had to jump out of the car and cheer! She was so excited and had a grin on from ear to ear!
I guess the story goes like this--
Madie and Jenna got tired of riding in the parking lot here and they decided to go to the walking path/park nearby for some new scenery. As an added bonus to sooth a few wipe-out scrapes they stopped on the way at Dairy Queen! Kory claims he got them kiddy cones...looks giant to me?
Madie quickly mastered bike riding on the walking trail and the training wheels were removed. At some point, Daddy decided she needed a new big bike...now. So he hauled them to Wal-Mart and picked out the best princess sparkly streamer bike they could find! He even got a great after Christmas price. He also threw in a new light up helmet, (since we bike a lot in the dark??) elbow pads, knee pads and a pair of purple sparkle fingerless racing gloves. We kinda have a pattern of going over the top on some things! They drove up to the parking lot at my 5 minute warning call and prepared for the presentation of Super Madie riding a bike!

The point is...I am sure the learning curve was faster without safety Mama their to monitor the lessons. I did kiss all the boo-boos when I got home!

I was making dinner and Madie came rushing up the stairs out of breath...

Madie: Mom, I know what I really want to get you for Christmas. I think you would really love it.

Me: What is it?

Madie: You know how you complain about the wind blowing into the house? I just saw this thing on TV for the doors that will keep the warm air in and block the cold air out! But there is one really big problem!!

Me: Sounds great! Whats the problem?

Madie: The TV said you have to be 18 or older to buy it so I guess I can't get it for you, must be something weird.

Me: (avoiding the must be 18 or older to order explanation and the fact that a door draft blocker is NOT on my Christmas list this year) Yeah, it must be something weird!

The point is...She totally knows what I complain about. I better watch my mouth.

Me: Madie's Christmas show is tonight so we are going to have to cheer really loud for her okay.

Jenna: Will she be on stage like Hanna Montana? She is a rock star.

I am officially getting rid of our TV.

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Madie's school Christmas pageant was last night! Madie has been practicing since the middle October and was super excited. The show was in the high school auditorium which was a big deal to Madie to get to be at the high school.
Madie's class is in red. She is on the front row first on the left. Her class was assigned the song 12 days of Christmas. It was the best song! They all had super funny parts. Madie was the goose a laying. She took her job very serious. We went and bought a special fuzzy grey jogging suit and she had a white tutu since she was a girl goose! She looked adorable. She had a big red playground ball that she had to sit on for her egg. When she came out and plopped on her ball the whole place laughed. She was super proud and excited about her big part in the show though. She even took me back stage to show me all the cool curtain ropes and her dressing room!
I bought her a super cool green glitter snow globe bouncy ball and gave it to her after the show for a job well done. She was on cloud 9! We celebrated with rootbeer floats!

The point is...Madie shocked me at how brave and excited she was. She gets embarrassed to talk in front of people and really shys away from the spot light. Clearly she does not get that from me?! Madie is a rock star!

I think there are so many little things in life that we should celebrate, but I sometimes get caught up in the busy and forget to stop and appreciate the little victories. So stop and smell the roses with me...


Madie gets to pick out of the treasure box in her class each Friday with tickets she has earned through out the week. She is always so excited and she keeps us informed daily of her ticket tally. Today she came home super excited and made Jenna sit down and close her eyes. She pulled an orange fairy doll out of her school bag for Jenna. Orange is Jenna's favorite color and she was so excited that Madie got it for her. Seriously...You would buy something for your sister after working so hard for the tickets all week? I love you, Madie May.

I also opened up her backpack to clear out all the paperwork and found this sentence starter assignment completed by Madie.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving for... God giving us life, pets and my family. I am thankful for God giving me life because he died for my sins. Everyday I am thankful for my free pet. My friends make me happy. This is what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

The point is...I need to take lessons from Madie. Wow she is a really great kid! I can't believe she is mine.

Oh my word, her teeth have been falling out faster than I can post. She lost her top front tooth, #5 on Friday, Oct 3 while eating her cereal for breakfast. I have no love for this tooth and affectionately called it the Billy Bob...it was dangling down and wiggled as she talked. Yick! I was not a fan of Billy Bob. We tried to get her to pull it and Kory even traumatized her with a piece of floss. Who knew floss could be so scary. Not our brightest idea. Well just as she planned the tooth fell out on its own.


Yesterday, I went to pick her up from school and she did not want to smile at me. Finally, she let loose a smile and had another new new fry hole. Tooth #6. Now there are 4 fry holes. This ones extraction seemed less than pleasant. She was knocked in the mouth accidentally by her friend Anna, and out it popped. She scrubbed it shiny last night in hopes of getting extra money for an extra shiny tooth. UGH?? What is the protocol when the little girl goes to bed praying her tooth is shiny enough for an extra dollar? I'll tell you what it is...Its an extra dollar.



The point is...Let me pass on a word of wisdom to those of you who have never had the pleasure of a tooth fairy visit... Do NOT get carried away with excitement over the loss of the first tooth and slip a $5 under the pillow like I did. I am learning 2 lessons the hard way....there are many more teeth to come x 2 kids, and after a meaningful discussion with Madie about how she would feel if the tooth fairy left less money for the other teeth it is clearly not an option and apparently the shinier the tooth the more valuable it is to the tooth fairy?? Who knew.


Just to drive my point home, I got on the Google and it states: Children loose all twenty of their deciduous (baby) teeth,and that does include molars. (That means you should loose eight molars.) Let me see...... 20 teeth x 2 kids = 40 teeth ....... 40 teeth x $5+ extra dollars here and there for the extra shiny ones = $ 213!! I am going to start pulling my teeth for cash.

It is never good when the school calls. Since Madie is the angel child I can assume its either injury or sickness when the phone rings. I had to go pick her up at 11:15 am. She was really sick all afternoon and into Friday night, but she woke up feeling great Saturday morning. She never complained of being sick on Saturday and enjoyed all our outdoor fun. After church she was not eating much dinner, but I chalked it up to recovering from the 24 hr flu bug.

Madie's sweet friend Meghann called this afternoon to check on how she was feeling. So Sweet. The conversation was short and sweet.

Meg: How are you feeling.

Madie: A little better

Meg: I meet your Nanny at Church today. She was with your Mom. She has orange hair.

Madie: My Nanny doesn't have orange hair. Are you sure you meet my Nanny?

Meg: Yep (must have been the lighting??)

After a great lazy afternoon we headed to Petland at about 6 pm to make memories with Nanny at our favorite store (of course)! In the car at about Battlefield and Hwy 65 Madie commented that her tummy was rumbling. I asked all the important questions with rapid fire...
1. Are you going to barf?
2. Do you need a bag?
3. Should I pull over? and last but not least...Do not barf on the carpet, remember you must warn me before you actually barf.

Madie assured me that she was just fine and the feeling had already passed. whew! So we are now sitting on the corner of Glenstone and Battlefield at the red light and I hear...Ughryunajfipsk. (I am pretty sure that is how you spell it?!) In the same second the light turns green and the traffic is breathing down my neck. I grab our ever ready MiniVan trash sack and hit the gas all while frantically trying to open the sack. Nanny has shot into panic mode that her baby Madie is suffering and is telling me with conviction to pull over. She suffers panic paralysis and could not even get her seat belt off to turn around to help Madie. I started laughing at Nanny's loss of function and my lack of garbage bag skills. Why are trash sacks so hard to open? First off which end opens anyways? UGH!

We finally got pulled over in the Kmart parking lot to which I burst out of the car to help Madie. We got things under control with 1/2 a bottle of hand sanitizer and a million baby wipes, however we had no choice but to make Madie take her pants off and ride home without them. It was slightly traumatizing for her to be riding with no pants on, but seriously what are the options?

So we head home and decide to take a pit stop at the Price Cutter for some 7-up. Jenna asks if she can come in and Madie confirms that she indeed does not have to go in with no pants on! We got rock star parking right by the door and we head in leaving Nanny and Madie in the car.

The actual events of the next portion are a little sketchy but...Apparently Nanny was getting hot waiting in the car and decided to open the car door. The car alarm started going off at full blast the second she opened the door.

Madie: What is that?

Nanny: Oh, Shoot I think I just made the car alarm go off.

Madie: Nanny, It is so loud shut the door. Turn it off. Turn it off Nanny!!!

Nanny: I don't know how?

Madie: Use the key Nanny.

Nanny: I can't find the key I think Mommy took it in with her.

Madie: I am pretty sure the police will come, and you will be in really big trouble. I don't even have pants on. Everyone is staring at us.

Nanny: We will just tell them we are waiting for your Mommy to come out of the store. Oh no, everyone is staring at us.

Madie: I am going to hide in my seat. This is the most embarrassing day of my whole life.

When I came out of the grocery the horn was honking and the lights were flashing in full panic mode and both girls inside were laughing their heads off.

The point is...If this is the most embarrassing thing that ever happens in your whole life little girl, you will be so thankful!

Madie lost her 4th tooth tonight, and there are at least 2 more still in there--hanging on by a thread. I bet before the month is over she will have lost tooth 5 and 6 too. She is so funny about them. She will not let you touch them and if anything bumps one she immediately goes into a tail spin.


This picture of Jenna is so funny, she insisted on me getting a picture of her teeth to send to Nanny. She wanted to make sure Nanny knew she did not loose a tooth...just Madie.


The point is...Once the tooth fairy has visited several times can you lower the $ at any point. I think I started out too high. This gig is going to cost me a fortune after both girls lose all their teeth...UGH!

When we were on our way to Canada we spent the night in Minneapolis and went to the Mall of America for the day with mom and the whole gang. Madie was crawling through a clothing rack and somehow slipped and knocked her tooth loose, with blood and all the drama that goes with it. Well that was on July 25. This tooth has been driving me crazy. She babies it, refusing to eat most foods that require chewing, and with an Oscar winning performance erupts with unbearable pain for me to even look at it. The last few days she has been able to spin it almost 180 degrees around in her mouth. It's gross if you ask me.
I picked her up from school today and as we were walking out of the building we ran into a mom of one of Madie's friends and she asked if Madie lost the tooth yet. I said-No and it is crazy loose. Then Madie without warning looked up and gave me the cheesiest grin and...it was gone. WOW! It looks great! She was in the lunch room eating a (Christie plug your ears) oatmeal cream pie and it came right out in the pie. Easy as that.


So with great expectation and planning we are ready for the Tooth Fairy to make her appearance. I had Madie scrub the tooth up so it would be shiny white and we carefully placed it into our very special Tooth Fairy pillow that we have only had the pleasure of using twice.

Madie: I think we should write the Tooth Fairy a note and I would like to put some money in there for her.

Me: You want to give the Tooth Fairy money? Isn't she is leaving you money?

Madie: Yea, but I want her to know that I love her and that I am thankful for the job she does.


The point is...Clearly we stayed up past bedtime to compose a thank you note to the Tooth Fairy and yes--there is one shiny front tooth and money waiting for the Tooth Fairy in our very special pillow.

Madie: I think I know what I want to do forever.

Me: Do what forever?

Madie: You know how you get to pick one job to do for the rest of your life...I think I know what I want to do.

***Madie has had 2 prior career goals.
1. Birthday Cake Driver
2. Petland Worker

Me: ooh, What is it.

Madie: Well since the bus is so fun and I love to ride everyday...I think I should be a school bus driver. It would be so fun to make stops at everyones house and pick them up.

Me: Totally Fun!! I think Miss Debra (her bus driver) must be having so much fun everyday!

Madie is in amazing company with her friends too. Meghann is one of her best buds and Meg would like to be the lady at the mall that hands out the Chinese samples in the food court! Maybe Madie could drive her bus over to the mall and have lunch with Meg in the food court. How exciting!

The point is...I love the simple way they look at...one job for the rest of your life. Little do they know when they become wives and mothers some day they will have hundreds of jobs. I will continue to let Madie, and I'm sure Heather agrees too--let them live in la-la land for as long as we can! Precious!

Wrestling is one of our favorite pass times over here. Madie kept harassing me while I was trying to get the laundry folded this afternoon, so I gave in and said...

Me: Get over here! I'm taking you down!!

Madie: I know Karate and I am going to deliver the tail whippin' of your life!!!

It may be one of those--you should have been there moments, but I'm pretty sure I have never laughed so hard. Where does she get those crazy ideas...oh never mind. Yikes!

The point is...Hopefully I won't rub off on her too much.

I know people, yesterday was the first day of school and I should be over it, but today was the first day Madie rode the magic yellow school bus. She was super excited and ready to go. Summer even got to go down to the road and wait for the school bus with us. I guarantee this will be Summer's very favorite part of the day. She practically jumped on the bus with Madie. Although Summer and I have a love/hate relationship it was very sweet and American to wait for the school bus with your loyal golden retriever! I did jump on the bus myself and introduced Madie and myself to the driver Ms. Debra who seemed delighted to meet Madie.


What I love about the bus

• Free gas to school. It's 9.8 miles--15 minutes each way {UGH}
  
• Madie feels confident and excited about her new responsibility
• 4 neighbor kids we know pretty well ride the bus with her
  
• I heard Ms. Debra runs a tight ship with assigned seats
• She gets on only 10 minutes earlier than when we would have to leave
• Only K, 1st, and 2nd graders ride Madie's bus
• I don't have to wake Jenna up in the morning-sleep baby sleep

What I don't love about the bus

• That Madie is old enough to even think of riding the bus
• The unknown--will they know there is a problem if she does not show up?
  
• No seat belts in the bus? Why is that?
• I lose 10 more minutes with her in the morning

The point is...If I can use the money we are saving, by letting her ride the bus in the morning, for a new pair of shoes--I will feel much better about this whole bus thing!

I was in the kitchen getting a special first day of school dessert ready, the Olympics were blaring in the back ground and out of the blue Madie started a conversation that I will cherish.
I started to bring her her dessert and she was sobbing-

Me: What's wrong?

Madie: I don't want to go to hell.

Me: Oh, honey. You have Jesus in your heart you are going to heaven.

Madie: What if I don't. I have asked him into my heart like a 100 times, but sometimes I worry.

(I am literally praying under my breath that God will help me to live in this moment and say to her what her little heart is searching for)

Me: When we ask Jesus into our hearts our name goes into the Lambs Book of Life and we live our lives like Jesus would want us to live. I know by the kind of girl you are you love Jesus with all your heart. Do you want to pray with Mommy right now and we can ask Jesus into your heart so we know for sure that you are going to heaven?

Madie: Can we do it right now?

Me: Absolutely- I prayed a sweet prayer and she repeated after me that she wanted Jesus to come into her heart and live forever.

I have no doubt that Madie has asked Jesus into her heart 100 times before, but this is the first time I have seen her actually be emotional about making the decision and actually getting the gravity of knowing that people go to hell if they do not have Jesus in their heart. It was an amazing moment to share with her.

Madie: (still sobbing) I have a bad feeling about something.

Me: What?

Madie: I don't think that some of my friends and maybe some of our family is going to heaven. I really want all of my friends from school to be in heaven.

Me: The great part is Jesus gave us the job to share him and his love with people who do not know him. Have you asked any of your friends if they know Jesus?

Madie: I can't ever do it. Every time I get ready to ask someone my eyes get all teary just thinking about them going to hell if they do not have Jesus in their heart, and I don't want to just stand there and cry in front of them.

Me: We can start praying for strength and that Jesus would help you to be brave and bold.

Madie: Does it hurt when you get sick and die? Like when Papa stopped breathing did it hurt?

Me: Well, I know when he was really sick sometimes it did hurt, but I remember being with him when he died and it was very peaceful and the Angels brought him right up to heaven.

Madie: What do you think heaven is like?

Me: It is like your very bestest favorite day times a million.

Madie: Do you think I can eat the biggest root-beer floats all time without getting sick or a big tummy? (nice..the big tummy part...totally my fault on that one)

Me: For sure!

Madie: You know how the bible says that the angels and Jesus have a party every time someone gives their heart to Jesus. Do you think there is cake and ice cream every time?

Me: What kind of part would it be without cake and ice cream. I can imagine that the parties in heaven are better than you can even dream of.

Madie: I think we should pray for Hunter, to invite Jesus in his heart. (this is the guy that crushed on her last year, the Who's your man? question asker) Do you think I will marry someone cute like daddy?

Me: I think Jesus has someone already picked out for you!! Why? Do you think Hunter is cute?

Madie: Yea, kinda. What if when I am big someone asks me to marry them and I don't even know if they smoke? I would say NO WAY!

Me: Yeah-that would be totally gross.

Madie: I want to pick someone who loves Jesus. We should really start praying for Hunter.

Thank you Jesus for making me sensitive to the moment and being available to just listen to her heart. She was way to emotional for me to pull out of her why she was thinking about all of this. My guess--I am sure during the first day of school she can already see that some of her friends live differently than the way she has been taught. When I was pregnant Kory and I would pray over my belly and every night that our little baby girl would have a gentle heart and a tender spirit.

The point is...God heard and answered my prayer.

Madie started her first day of school this morning at 8:40. The summer flew by in a flash and now is gone.

I wrote down on my calendar that open house for 2nd grade was Aug 13th so with excitement we had all our stuff packed and ready. Yesterday Aug 13th while sorting a stack of mail I ran across the invitation that clearly stated open house was on Aug 12th. You know that sick feeling in your gut..yeah I got a good dose of that. I almost started to cry thinking that I have ruined it and made it hard for Madie since she did not get to meet the students or get to bring in her supplies to get set up for the first day. I also was sure the teacher would get a bad first impression since we missed it. UGH! What a HUGE mistake.


Thankfully God still has grace up his sleeve. I called the school and spoke with the angel Ms. Mary Hall and she invited us to come right up to the school and meet with her. Thank you Jesus for showing me mercy. We packed up and had the best 45 minutes at school unpacking and learning the lay of the land. We also got Ms. Mary Hall all to ourselves for some great bonding time. I already know she goes to James River and we discovered her son Austin is also in 2nd grade and was even at camp the week Madie and I were there.


If you ask Madie what she is most excited about she will tell you...My class is in a trailer!!! Yes, we live in Missouri and my precious love's classroom is in an overflow trailer. She is pumped about it. (???) One great thing is the classes run between 26-30 students, but since the trailer is smaller there are only 20 students in Madie's class. I guess there is a bright side to everything!


The point is...no more hitting the snooze button, hello sunrise!
(and coffee of course!)

We let Madie stay up until midnight, so she could start having fun the minute her birthday started on Sunday night. We finally rounded her into bed about 12:30. I slept tight until morning. However--apparently Madie was too excited to sleep which lead to Kory unable to sleep, so at 2:00 they got out of bed and raided the chocolate donuts (we bought special for B-day breakfast) and decided to watch Snow Buddies until 4am. What a way to start your birthday huh!
Madie then decided in Branson style to celebrate with a day at White Water followed by rides and fireworks at Celebration City. We were able to catch the extreme parrot show at Celebration city.
I knew Madie would love it if she was picked to be a bird volunteer, so I tracked down the stage lady and let her know it was Madie's birthday. During the show there was a hula hooping contest and thankfully the lady choose Madie to play on stage. However since Madie has not mastered the hula hoop quite yet she did a great job jumping through the hoop like a jump rope. You could tell by the look on her face she wanted to win really bad and she tried her heart out. Thankfully the clap-o-meter went Madie's way (due to me going ba'zerk in my chair like a looney mom) and she was able to hold 2 of the big parrots and even get her picture taken with them. (a $10 value, I know ahhh!) She could not stop taking about what a great job she did and how she must have been the best since she was the winner. I smiled at Kory and told him that I was going to try to rig the rest of her events for the rest of her life!
She also choose Chinese for dinner, and with anticipated permission to eat all the crab rangoons she wanted--she managed to eat 2. It was classic! We had a great family day and Madie commented that this was her best birthday ever.

The point is...no matter how hard I try to savor each moment and soak all the fun of the girls being little I still feel like I am missing it some how---life is passing me by way too fast.

Madie and I just got home from James River summer camp. The theme was Giddy Up and at was a wild rodeo with 210 2-4th graders all from our church. The verse for the 3 day camp was Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how we may "spur" one another in love and good deeds.


Madie was nervous about going to camp, but the whole idea of taking care of herself was exciting. She did want me to go as a leader just in case she got scared at night! Ahh, still my baby! We were on the White Girls team, and we named ourselves the Fierce Cottontails. I had an amazing co-leader Cheryl and together we managed to take care of 12 2nd grade ladies. Let me tell you the work that it took for me to organize my 12 girl's stuff, hair and all while trying to instill some time management skills was way more intense than 6.8 camp. I am so use to Madie being completely responsible and being able to get a job done after one request--I guess I forgot this is not normal for other 2nd graders. They would get distracted on the way to brush their teeth and still be in there PJ's without there teeth brushed 2 minutes before we had to be at breakfast. UGH!
We had non stop fun, excitement and total chaos for 3 days. It was right up my alley. Everything was cowboy, right up Madie's alley! They created the mystery of Pistol Pete Utah and the stolen 1st place trophy. We would get tree mail at our cabin stations with clues. The kids were way into it, and even solved the mystery and captured Pistol Pete. We played great games at rec time and had lots of fun swimming in the pool! We also had a Party at the Barn the last night with an old fashion square dancing time.


By far Madie's favorite were the mud and slime games on the last day. She has been looking forward to this since Kory and I got home from 6.8 camp. A few of my girls were not happy about the mud and gunk and refused to play. Madie was trying to get as gross as possible and having the time of her life doing it! It was so fun to see her cut loose and just throw herself into the mud!


We did have one problem...With 210 students trying to hose off and shower at the same...the well pressure was terrible and being the last team to play we had no water. However the Fierce Cottontails were the only team they allowed to go down and swim in the lake to wash off. They didn't even know the lake existed since they do not let the littles go down there. Madie could not get over that she got to jump in with her clothes on. It was really the highlight of our time the mud and lake. The girls swam for about a 1/2 hour and then we had a cannonball contest off the dock. It was great!
My favorite part of the whole trip was the Shine Your Light Award. They picked one student from each team that showed the most Christ-like attitude, had great team spirit and was a great friend to everyone. Could I please tell you my eyes welled up a little when they called...Madie to win the Shine Your Light Award for our team. She felt amazing and was so shocked and surprised. The winner got to take home the team flag we made, which she can not wait to proudly display in her room..forever.

The point is...although it was completely exhausting getting home from Hawaii at 12:30 pm Sunday night and heading to camp at 7:00 Monday morning it was all worth it! Madie has made great friends and hopefully will always love camp as much as Kory and I do!

The ladies had the best time at Nanny's while we were in Maui. I love leaving the kids with Mom. I know they will have a blast and I never worry about them or their care while we are away! Thanks Mama!
The Summer Fun program at SunRise kept the ladies very busy. They hit the week just right for making tee-shirts! It is one of their favorite summer fun projects. Madie made a beautiful shirt with lizards, hearts, snakes, and lots of beautiful art. Jenna made a great shirt with all red paint. Mom lined out some animals and shapes which made it super cute. You can tell in the picture all the kids are wearing their special homemade tee-shirt except Jenna. It must not have made the fashion Diva's cut. She is just like me as a kid and super picky with her cloths. {Ugh}
Mom also took the ladies to a fishing derby! The girls loved it and even caught a prize winning fish. They won a great new fishing pole, that was a joy to bring back on the flight! I remember as a kid, fishing was a favorite pass time. Mom and Dad would take Nate and I fishing all the time. I loved the uninterrupted family time and the fun of trying to catch the biggest fish.

The point is...Fishing with Nanny made a memory stamp in the ladies hearts. I only wish my Daddy was here to enjoy the thrill of fishing with the ladies! I am sure he was there...

Jenna got a little hair cut today, really just her bangs and by me in the bathroom. LOL I use to hate it when my mom would want to trim my hair. I guess you really do turn into your mother...?!?!
She is super proud to show it off. She told everyone at church tonight! She is really getting to be more and more fun now that she is 3. I love my bubbs.


The point is...I am going to stop naming my favorite age/stage since clearly they keep getting better and better! Our girls are simply getting way too big! Stay Little~~Stay Little