A New Favorite Toy

On Saturday, after our morning outing to the pumpkin patch and after a very long nap....Marc and I were working in separate rooms at the house and each of us thought the other one was watching Madden. Well, we discovered that neither of us had him and we couldn't find him!

Until I heard a little music coming from upstairs.....Apparently, he had climbed the stairs (which is LOVES to do, but usually not by himself) and climbed on this little baseball rocker. It has buttons and plays songs and he was having the time of his life. It was a gift for his birthday in July from my parents and he has had ZERO interest in it....until today.....

Just look at that grin..... :)

Pumpkin Patch 2009

On Saturday, we headed to the Dallas Arboretum for a family outing to see some pumpkins. Madden walks around our house and waves at the pumpkins I have out for decoration, so I thought he would enjoy seeing some REAL ones.

It was a beautiful morning. It's funny because we were there by 10am. In our life before Madden, I wouldn't have even been out of bed at this time! It's amazing how life changes and your body adapts to less sleep!


Our family of 3!


Climbing the stairs....

Exploring. He LOVED getting to walk around everywhere!

Madden and Daddy in front of the AMAZING house made of pumpkins. It was really neat!

Mommy and Madden

I probably took 100 pictures on Saturday and had a really hard time getting Madden to look at the camera. Seriously. What is the deal? So, most of our pictures look like this.

I did get this one that is good of Madden, but a little lopsided. Opps!

It was a wonderful Saturday outing! We stopped for lunch and then Madden took a LONG nap. He was worn out! Mommy went shopping and Daddy watched some football. All in all, a GREAT day!

Texas State Fair 2009

Every October, the State Fair comes to Dallas! I had never been until a couple years ago....and it was actually really FUN! We didn't make it last year, but were determined to take Madden this year. The Swine Flu hit our house for 1 week, so the fair kept getting postponed. We finally made it the last weekend it was open. We went on a Friday night. It was late and quite crowded, so we didn't stay long....but did manage to see a few things and eat some yummy food!




First stop = CORNY DOGS for dinner! Madden loved it!





....and a little funnel cake! He kept saying, "MMMMMM!"




We saw a few animals at the petting zoo.....

.....and looked at cars at the car show......Mommy's got her eye on a new car, but we're just not quite ready to have that little detail called a 'car payment'. It has been nice to have 2 cars paid off for a few years!

Not very eventful! We decided that next year we needed to go on a weekday, during the day....when it would be less crowded and Madden would be in a better mood. But, we went and Madden got to experience his first "fair day"!

Mom & Dad Head To Vegas!!

At the end of September, Marc and I were invited to go to Las Vegas with our friends, Brad and Laura Currey to celebrate a surprise birthday for Brad. We are always up for a trip to Vegas and realized we had not been on a trip TOGETHER since October 2007....so we were WAY overdue! Marc's family kept Madden and we left for a whirlwind trip. It was a lot of FUN!

We stayed at the Mirage. It was OK. You don't spend a lot of time in your room while in Vegas, so we were glad it was in a good location along the strip.

Located in the lobby of the Mirage was a Carnegie Deli, so we ate there for lunch on Friday after we dropped off our bags. Marc and I ordered their famous corned beef/pastrami sandwich and I am SO glad we split it - WOW - it was huge! We didn't even make a dent in it!!

After lunch, I was quick to make my way to The Frog Prince. The slot machine in Vegas that I love. I love this game....each hotel we would go to, I would scope out to find THAT game. I just think it is so fun! But, it wasn't too good to me this trip.....

Exploring the Mirage.....and feeling a little fun and free! No kids=no responsibilities!!

Friday night, we got dressed up and went to eat at The Steakhouse in Circus Circus. We heard it was the "best steak you would ever eat". The atmosphere was great, but the food was OK. My husband makes the best steak I have ever eaten....and it's a lot cheaper too! After dinner, we headed to the 'original strip' downtown. It was quite a sight! Very touristy and FUN. They had a great laser show, we got some fun fruity drinks and did lots of people watching.

After about an hour, we headed back to The Strip and walked....and walked....and walked.....we caught the fountains in action at the Bellagio....and walked some more! We saw lots of 'interesting' people....some were even from "Ohio". (A bit of an inside joke here, sorry!)

Saturday morning, I begged Marc to go to Raffles for breakfast at Mandalay Bay. We stayed there last time and this restaurant had the BEST breakfast. So, we took a taxi ride down there, ate (yummy!!) and then searched high and low for The Frog Prince. I first discovered the game at that hotel. We could not find it. Marc tried to talk me into 'other' games, but none would do.

We headed back to the Mirage. Marc and Brad watched (and bet on) football while Laura and I lounged by the pool. It was a relaxing afternoon.

We decided to see Mystere at Treasure Island. It is the original Cirque Du Soleil show. It was interesting....funny, weird and facinating. Glad we saw it, but it was bizarre.

We ate a late dinner and then walked the strip some more.....untill the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday, Marc and I ate breakfast at Carnegie Deli and did a bit more gambling. Winning a little and loosing a little. We packed our bags and grabbed a quick burger at In N Out and headed to the airport for our LONG journey home (2 stops - thanks Southwest!)

Madden was snoozing away when when we got home. He did great while we were gone and we were so thankful to have family to leave him with, so we could enjoy a little time for just us.

Jesus Loves Me

Madden has always enjoyed being sung to since he was born. He has recently decided to join in. Here is a clip of him 'singing' Jesus Loves Me. I tried to get him to sit in a chair and just sing, but that was impossible.....