Madison shares the news!!

I am at Granny and Papa's house. This is a picture of me Miss Madison. I am teaching. My Christmas was awesome. I got the most presents. Uncle Steve got the best doll in the world for me. That is why my Christmas was so awesome. This is me teaching:

Weekend at Home!!!

Long time, no post!! My job has been keeping me very busy. I have worked every weekend since I started-until now!! We enjoyed a day of football and house cleaning yesterday-so much fun!! Today after church Maddie and I did our favorite activity- making sugar cookies. It was nice to be at home with my family and to have time to write a little post. Hopefully I will be back on track with my weekly posts. Thanks for still checking in on us, even though we have been MIA lately!!!

cookies

Sunny Farms

On Monday Maddie went to a birthday party at Sunny Farms. She got to pet a lama and a giant bunny. She took a hayride and went on a scavenger hunt. But her favorite activity by far was riding Peaches the pony and Sunny the horse. She has already decided that she wants her 6 year old birthday there and we haven't even had the 5 year old party yet. She really had a great time!!!

VBS

VBS 1

Maddie and I had a busy week at VBS, but it was a lot of fun too. I am sure that is where she picked up the bug she had this weekend. She was feeling better today and had no fever so I think she is in the clear. I will be in a workshop all day, everyday this week so Maddie is going to Kid Cam - a summer day camp. Hope she can stay well for the week. She has an exciting birthday party to go to tomorrow afternoon. I will try to get the pics up on Tuesday!!

Summer Family Visit

We went to North Carolina for the first two weeks in July to visit family. Maddie had a great time playing with her cousins. She jumped on the trampoline with Justin and Jessica, played on the slip and slide with Amelia and got to hold baby Ciara. She also hung out with Kayla and played balloon toss with her. We had a great time. The trip back was long because we drove it without Mike- he had to go to a conference in Vermont. We were fortunate to have family along the way so we drove to my brother's house in SC on Friday, then to Mike's parents on Saturday, and finally home on Sunday. Just in time for Vacation Bible School on Monday morning!!!

Maddie and the Library

Maddie is really enjoying the summer library program. On Saturday she won a drawing for a special t-shirt and today she made a royal self-portrait. Her favorite parts are the dress and the jewelry.

Library Card

Maddie has wanted her own library card for a very long time. The deal was that she had to write her first and last name correctly and unassisted in order to get her card. We have been working on it sporadically for the last couple of months. On Monday her dreams came true. She got her own library card and checked out 6 books. She is such a big girl now!!

Bye Bye Bunnies

It took the bunnies about a week to be full grown. Before they hopped away for good Maddie bravely held one. When I told her that they had all hopped away she began crying. She asked if she could get a pet one day. I, of course, said what kind? She said she wanted a pet with legs(She has fish now). Kids say the funniest things!

Mice or Bunnies

Last weekend when Mike was mowing (yes it is warm enough to mow here!!) he ran over some sort of nest with the weed eater. He was afraid that he had seriously injured some baby animals and asked me to come look. When I looked into the nest all I could see were furry black animals squirming around. We decided that they must be mice and we needed to get rid of them before they got in the house. Neither one of us wanted to deal with it. We debated the best way to remove the nest. It was decided that I would use the shovel to excavate the nest and then Mike would do something-we really didn't have a plan. When I dug under the nest I scooped out three teeny tiny baby bunnies no bigger than a mouse. Glad we didn't hurt them. They still had their eyes closed and their ears back. They couldn't have been more than a few days old. We replaced the nest and tried to cover them up with grass hoping the mother would return. The next morning when we checked on them the mother had returned and fixed the nest. We have been checking on them daily and to our amazement they have tripled in size. Their eyes are open and they are very alert. We have been leaving lettuce and carrots out for the mother. Maddie has truly enjoyed this experience. Today we made Easter sugar cookies. I included a picture of one of Maddie's creations. She isn't afraid to use the icing!!

Softball and Face Plants

So much for more frequent updates. I am going to be better going forward. We had a pretty good week this week. On Wednesday night, Alabama and LSU played a double header in softball. Alabama was ranked #2 in the country and LSU was ranked #21 heading into the games. This was Maddie's first outdoor sporting event in Baton Rouge. Our seats were in the sun, and it was very bright at the beginning of the game. The temperature was about 77. Maddie thought it was really hot and kept asking why we couldn't sit in the shade. I kept trying to explain to her we had tickets and couldn't just swipe someone else's seats, but she never quite got it. She perked up a lot after I got her some popcorn and lemonade. The first game was very long (over 2 hours) so we had to leave before it ended to make sure Maddie was in bed on time. LSU won both games.

On Saturday Maddie was playing in the living room and sitting on the couch. She tried to climb over the back of the couch and fell. She didn't use her hands to break her fall, so she fell face first onto the tile. Her head probably fell about 5 feet. She immediately had a huge, bleeding knot on her head. Alica and I freaked. I couldn't quit thinking about Natasha Richardson. We rushed Maddie to the urgent care center around the corner. The doctor that checked her said she should be okay. We were still nervous because he told us if she was cranky, had a fever, was nauseous, fell asleep, or had a headache (keep in mind she fell on her head) within a few hours of the fall to take her to the emergency room immediately for a CT. None of that happened and she seems to be okay now. She got a new toy and a happy meal and told me it was a great day, except for the fall.

Back at last

It probably gets old reading my excuses about why I haven't updated the blog in a long time, and I am going to try to be better. We have had some relatively rough times the last few weeks. Alica and Maddie both got the flu! This was especially annoying since Maddie got a flu shot last fall. Both girls had a fever, aches, pains, and vomiting. Both were on Tamiflu and that new medication supposedly limited the length of their sickness. It was definitely the sickest Alica has been since we have been married (almost 9 years). Maddie had to miss a week of school and all of the Mardi Gras parades. They are feeling better at last.

By the way, Mike never got the flu.

Granny and Papa Visit

Mike's parents took some vacation time and rolled down to Prairieville for a Valentine's Day visit. We had a great time while they were here. Maddie got a lot of attention and a lot of Valentine's candy. She really enjoyed the horseback riding. Mike's dad, Gaylon, had the roughest weekend. He talked a lot about how we was going to dominate Mike's mom, Barbara, in Wii Bowling. As you can see from the screenshot, things don't always work out the way we plan. She played him about 10 times over the weekend and won every one.

Slinkers in the House!

Our good friends Keith and Crystal Slinker visited us recently and it was a blast. Maddie had a great time with their girls, Avery and Addie. On their last night in town, we went to a local Italian restaurant and all of the girls got to make their own pizza. We really appreciate the Slinkers traveling all the way from Dallas to hang out in Baton Rouge.

Tape Monster

WARNING! This video is a little scary! We found a tape monster in our house and took some video of her. Watch at your own risk.

Svarovsky Visit

Our good friends Mike and Gina Svarovsky visited us recently, and we had a great time. Among our many fun activities: making jambalaya (4 hours of work for Alica, but well worth it), eating king cake, eating at Tony's seafood, and watching Notre Dame basketball. It was a great time. We really appreciate Mike and Gina coming all the way from Minneapolis down to the Bayou!

Maddie's Half Birthday

On January 29th we celebrated Maddie's half birthday. Because her birthday is in the summer, her preschool celebrated her special day in January so we did too. It was a great day. Maddie got to be line leader, sign language star, flag helper, bubble color picker, and have a cupcake party at school. All of the kids got a cupcake with a special ring on top. We had 5 cupcakes left over, so Maddie ate one a day for the next five days. She really enjoyed them as you can see from the messy pictures above. We also had dinner at Chili's since that is Maddie's favorite restaurant.

Sorry for the long delay since our last post. Please keep checking back for more frequent updates.

Pretty in Pink

Today Maddie went to her friend Avery's birthday party. Avery is a princess just like Maddie so why not have a princess dress-up party!!! The girls had so much fun. The party was at a little house in Gonzales called Pretty in Pink. First the girls picked out their dress and all the accessories. This included gloves, crowns, veils, bracelets, necklaces, rings, purses, glasses-you name it. All very fancy and girly. Then they had a manicure and a make-up session which included lots of glitter!! Next they got a fancy hairdo with curls (for those of us who don't have Avery curls). The girls also made a crown picture frame craft and got their picture taken and printed before they left. After cake and presents they girls danced to princess music and of course the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance. Maddie had so much fun she has already asked to have her party there too. Thanks Georgette for inviting us to the party!!
(Just a side note: If you click on the bottom right corner of the slide show you can go to Picasa to view larger pictures.)

Guitar Hero

Mike got Guitar Hero for Christmas. It is not only his favorite gift but Maddie's too. She really looks like a rocker in this pic. We thought she was pretty good, but Granny and Papa were not as captivated.

Benton Christmas Number Three

Yes I am finally finishing the Christmas updates!!! Can you believe it? When we got home from all our Christmas travels we had a nice quiet Christmas at home. We opened our Christmas pajamas on our pretend Christmas Eve and wore them to bed that night. Maddie was very excited about her WALL-E and Eve pjs. The next night we had our first ever Christmas dinner at home. We enjoyed the food and then we enjoyed the presents. Maddie loved her dress-ups and her Littlest Pet Shops. It was nice to enjoy some family time at home. Check out the next post for Mike's big gift.

Cookie Monster

One of Maddie's favorite treats is Christmas cookies. She loves them anytime of the year and here is the proof. Thanks Sharon and Sarah for providing us with such delicious cookies!!

Benton Christmas Number Two

The Saturday after Christmas we celebrated again with Mike's brother Bryan and his wife Sarah. Maddie racked up again with her favorite Peek-a-Boo Petites and finger puppet crafts. We had a great time visiting with everyone. We went to Dothan on Sunday to visit Grandma Benton and Mike's aunts and uncles. Maddie was once again showered with gifts. Thanks to everyone for all your generosity.