Madden Turns Two - Part 1

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone! Last Wednesday, July 28 we celebrated Madden's 2nd birthday (and MY 32nd birthday). My baby is turning into a little boy right before my eyes! We enjoyed a fun day sharing our special day together.


Donut holes and chocolate milk for breakfast! Madden ate 8 donut holes and had a meltdown when we would not give him any more. He ate them SO fast!




It's OUR birthday!!

I worked 1/2 a day and then headed to Madden's school to celebrate his birthday with his friends there.

Caterpiller cupcakes!

Sitting at the table with his friends....

Digging in!

After the party, we came home. Madden was wired and I was tired. We hung out at the house before meeting Marc's family for dinner.

We went to Babes Chicken Dinner House in Garland. YUM!

Madden spent most of the dinner doing this.....walking around, running around, dancing. Everything except sitting and eating!

One side of the table: Madden, Marc, cousin Hayden, Uncle Dave, cousin Rachel and Honey!

Our table was next to this juke box. Madden liked the flashing lights!

The other side of the table: Uncle Ken, Aunt Cheryl, Madden, Aunt Jamie and cousin Sam!

Aunt Cheryl and Madden. The only family member's name that Madden cannot say! We're trying though.... :)

Rachel and Madden

Rachel and Sam

Our little family....

Honey and Madden checking out the firetruck...


After dinner, we headed back to our house for cake. It was almost 9:00 and we were all so tired, but we managed to have cake and open presents!

The cake I got for Madden and I. I realize it is a PINK cake, but I wanted strawberry cake.....and since it was MY birthday too.....I ordered it. Madden had his cake at school! :)

Little did I know, that my thoughtful husband had driven 4 hours (2 there and 2 back) to Hico to get my most favorite pie as a birthday surprise. We had SO MUCH dessert we couldn't even make a dent in it!

Key Lime Pie - my most favorite pie in the whole world! It was wonderful!

Singing Happy Birthday to Madden

Mommy's turn! This sharing of birthdays is a little CrAzY!

Then we opened presents. I was delirious at this point - but Madden made it SO fun! He was wired and thoroughly enjoyed opening each and every gift. His expressions were priceless. He kept saying "oh my!", "wow!" and would gasp for air out of excitment! It made everyone feel good about the gift they had given him!

He got lots of fun toys and presents! ......as did I! A few gift cards to some of my favorite places....and a NEW LAPTOP from my husband! He completely surprised me and I am loving having the freedom to blog from anywhere in the house!

Birthday Part 2 coming next......

A Weekend With The Girls

A few weeks ago, I drove to Abilene to spend a weekend with some of my best friends in the whole world. We met nearly 14 years ago at ACU and have successfully gotten together annually since we graduated 10 years ago. Although we don't talk much in between, when we get together, we are always able to pick up right where we left off.

This year's trip was a last minute idea - and it turned out everyone was able to come! We met at Rebekah's house on Friday and began our weekend together.....just the girls!

We all chipped in to cook dinner Friday night. It was kind of humorous to have 5 girls who all enjoy cooking in the kitchen together! We managed to cook a pretty tasty meal.



After dinner, we went to ACU to walk around. It was a ghost town and kind of sad - but we remember that is just how it is during the summer months! We enjoyed seeing changes that had occured since we left and reminiscing about old times.



We stopped for a group picture outside the Bible Building.

After our ACU tour, we went back to Rebekah's house where they surprised me with a birthday cake and presents! It was such a fun surprise! I got some wonderful gifts and it was so nice of them to celebrate my upcoming birthday!
We stayed up very late talking and catching up on everyone's lives. It's fun to visit with these girls and learn how they do things with their kids, get decorating ideas and cooking tips!

Saturday morning, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before heading out on our shopping adventure in San Angelo! We were up and out the door by 8:30am!

None of us had ever been to San Angelo, but we had heard that the shopping was GREAT! And GREAT it was......

.....and I think we ALL bought something.....and some of us bought several somethings! I think the steal of the weekend was the full size headboard/footboard that Rebekah got for $16.95. Or it could've been the baby quilt I got for $10! Or the fun clothes that Jordan and I got at a cute boutique! San Angelo is a great little town and has shops for everyone! I hope to go back someday......

We spent the entire day there and headed back to Abilene late afternoon. We enjoyed dinner at Abuelos and then shopped a little more at Old Navy and Target. We all picked out a t-shirt at Old Navy and Jordan is going to make us a cross t-shirt like she is wearing in these pictures! Can't wait to see mine! :)

We ended up back at Rebekah's late and unloaded all of our packages. Again, we stayed up late talking and sharing stories.



Sunday morning, we all packed our cars and went home in separate directions!

It was a GREAT weekend - one of our most fun girls weekends ever in my book! Not sure if it was the timing or the fun treasures I found or just getting to share a weekend with some girls....but it was just what I needed!

Marc and Madden stayed home and had a fun weekend as well - dinner with the cousins, ice cream at a truck stop, building a spaceship at Lowes and lots of playtime at Honey's house!

Happy Fourth Of July!

It was the BEST of times......and the WORST of times......but MOSTLY the BEST!!!!

Our original 4th plans fell through, so we scrambled at the last minute and decided to headed down South to San Antonio for a little vacation. We had NO plans or expections, other than to get away and have FUN! And fun we had.

We took Madden to school on Friday so he could participate in their 4th of July parade. They made tie-dyed shirt, hats and little sticks to wave. So cute!


Mommy and her little firecracker!


Ready to go! We picked him up after lunch and BEFORE nap time so he could nap in the car. He has his blankie, Skipet and puppy ready to snuggle with!

He slept for 2 hours! It was rainy and perfect sleeping weather!

We decided to take the 'back roads' to San Antonio, rather than I-35. I had been wanting to go to Hico, TX to try the pie at the Koffee Kup Restaurant. So, that was our first stop!


Probably the BEST Key Lime Pie EVER! I wanted to buy the whole pie!


Madden thought it was pretty good too!



We hung out in Hico for about an hour. I enjoyed strolling through some stores downtown: Shy Bears, Bliss, Sugar Moon and Homestead. Could've spent more time, but had 2 guys waiting in the car for me!

So, we continued on our journey......

Things were going good until we heard a POP and realized this had happened on our 'new to us' car. Great. Worst of Times!

Here we were. In a cow pasture in Andice, TX. Ever heard of it? Me neither. No one around. Raining. A toddler, 2 pies and a packed car. Luckily I remembered that we had roadside assistance with our insurance, so I called them up. Marc got started on it, but about 20 minutes later, someone showed up and had us fixed up in no time! Hallelujah! We were only 'stranded' for about 1 hour total.

Madden was SO happy - he just thought this was part of our adventure.

We made it to Austin in time for dinner. Marc and Duane went to Saltlick to get BBQ and it was delicious! We finished our meal up with MORE pie! We brought 2 with us....and they were good too!

Coconut Creme Pie - they said it was their best seller.

Banana Blueberry Pie - really good too!


We slept at the Mayers that night. Madden slept for 12 hours - which was wonderful! We got up the next morning, got the tire fixed and headed South to San Antonio.

We stayed at our friend Neal's house. They were on vacation and offered their home to us - complete with a beautiful pool!

We 'checked into' our residence and headed to dinner with the Bellos. They are friends from Marc's college days and have 3 boys. We had a fun (active!) dinner, headed to the park to play and ended the evening with Amy's ice cream. Yum!

Sunday morning, we joined the Bellos for breakfast at The Magnolia House. Scrumptious! We ran a few errands and headed back to Neal's for playtime and swim time.

Mommy's Little Firecracker. Another cute design by The Monogram Monkey. Love her work!

Taking a break from swimming.....for a little DP. Hey - we were on vacation!! :)

The Faldiks came over to swim. Here is Sophia (who is SIX!) - I cannot believe how grown up she is! She was so sweet with Madden.

Sunday afternoon, Madden napped and I floated in the pool. Ahhhh! SO NICE. I ended up with a little sunburn because I was enjoying the water so much. Ouch!

We headed to see Lainey, Pops and Care Care for a little bit before heading out to our 4th of July celebration!

We had dinner at El Chaparrel. Our table included 9 adults and 5 kids - it was busy! Luckily, they had a playground out back. We ate, played and then I slipped and fell on the concrete - resulting in lots of tears and a sore rear-end. I was holding Madden and thought he busted his head on the concrete, but it turns out he didn't! WORST OF TIMES!

We went to the Mayers for fireworks that evening. The kids played, the adults visited (and corralled) - lots of fun! By the time the fireworks started, it was 9:30pm and Madden was whooped. He wasn't too sure about them, so we stayed inside.

Monday morning, Marc golfed with his friend Russell. I had planned to go to my parents for breakfast with Madden. Before we left the house, I went out to the pool to get our towels so I could start packing.....and the door shut behind me.....and it was locked. Worst of Times! Luckily, I had Madden with me - so we started going around the house checking for any unlocked window or door. No luck. Here I was - in my pajamas, in the heat, without a phone or anything. I decided to go to the neighbors house. She was SO nice....let us in, let us use the phone and even play with their toys. About 30 minutes later, Neal's nanny was able to come and let us in! Whew!

We headed to my parents for a *late* breakfast. Then, headed to Neals to pack up and hit the road. Madden slept from San Antonio to Waco (about 3 1/2 hours) - we stopped in West for kolaches and Sonic and made it home in good time.

We had a lot of fun. Enjoyed getting to see friends and family, eat at fun restaurants, swim and play. Madden was a good little traveler - which makes all the difference.....it makes me think we could do this again sometime!