Ready for the Park!

I snapped this adorable picture of Maddie all decked out and ready to go to the park!  The sweater is a gift from her first birthday, it was too big before but fits just right now, it's from Germany! And I crocheted the Elmo hat!

Early Birthday Present - Ball Pit!!!

Joseph wanted to surprise Maddie with an early birthday present! While we were at the park, he set up a new inflatable pool and filled it will balls!!!  We will set it out during her birthday party for the kids to enjoy. We'll also use the inflatable pool during the summer

The first video is of her reaction and then another video of her enjoying the ball pit. She also enjoys bouncing on the side of the pool.

At the park while Joseph set up the surprise!

Video: Maddie Says Lollipop

Maddie's favorite new treat is the lollipop! She got one as a Halloween treat during her Art and ABC's class and she behaved the entire class! Normally they have to leave early but she sat through the entire class as she enjoyed her lollipop.

We went to Target over the weekend to pick up a few things and they had a few "trick or treat" stations for the kids and we got a lollipop.  Maddie behaved very well the entire trip so I gave her a lollipop as a reward and of course she loved it!

8 words, 2 sentences

A quick developmental update:

Maddie was playing in her crib after her nap. I gave her her giant Winnie the Pooh plush to play with.
She patted her chest and said "Maddie has blue shirt" then she patted Pooh's tummy and said "Pooh has red shirt."

Video: Maddie loves her new ball

I went to Ikea to pick up a few things, and picked up a stuffed ball (2 of them actually) that we already have that is Maddie's favorite toy. She sleeps with it and calls it "ball" of course.  I needed an extra for day care (for nap time) and picked up another one since it's a different color so she could get used to it.

I brought it out for Maddie and videoed her reaction. I didn't pull my phone out fast enough but her initial reaction was so adorable. She of course loved her new ball!!  After hugging, squeezing and kissing it, she ran into the dining room so she could sit and lay on it.

Lincoln Park Zoo Fall Festival

On Sunday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo to partake in the last few days of their Fall Festival. Joseph, Grandma Kathy and Maddie went during Grandma's visit and we had leftover tickets and needed to use them up!

Tons of pictures and a cute video below!  We had a great time (despite Maddie not smiling in many of the photos)!

Zebra!

Maddie LOVED the dried corn pit! It was a-maize-ing!

Maddie and I got our caricatures drawn!

We found this great climbing structure that was huge! It was a bit too advanced for Maddie but she'll probably be able to do it all next year.

Look how big it is!

This is a bear that was hiding. We said "Look! It's the bear's butt!"

Lillian's 3rd Birthday Princess Party!

On Saturday we went over to Lillian's house to celebrate her 3rd birthday! She was having a princess party!  Luckily we put Maddie in a dress, as all the other little girls were decked out in princess dresses. Maddie had a great time playing with new toys and munching on yummy muffins.  Shortly after we arrived, Princess Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) made an appearance!  Lillian went outside to meet her first and get some private time, then Belle came in and we all sat around to listen to her tell her story and sing.  Maddie was not very attentive, so I had to pull her out of the room and bring her into the toy room. We did join them again when it was time to take a group photo.  We had a lovely time celebrating Lillian turning 3 years old!

Hands in Pockets

It was a chilly morning and Maddie left for the park without gloves so Joseph showed her how to put them in her pockets!

Elmo Shirt, Elmo Chair

Maddie sure does love Elmo! Here she is in her Elmo shirt sitting in her Elmo chair.

Video: No Pat No!

One of Maddie's favorite books is Dr. Seuss's Hop On Pop.  She was sitting on the floor leafing through the pages and all of a sudden I hear her say "No Pat No!" I look down and she has it turned to the page that says "No Pat No Don't sit on that" so I had to video it!  It's an adorable video, especially when she says "No Maddie!"

Camping and Apple Picking!

This past weekend we went camping!!  We were actually going to go a couple of weeks ago but the weather was horrible - it was chilly and rained all day so we postponed it by 2 weeks hoping for better weather... We lucked out! It was dry and while chilly (in the mid-50s) it was enjoyable.

We decided to go camping at Weko Beach in Bridgman, MI as we've been to the campsite before and it's only a 1.5-2 hour car ride away. We arrived with some day light left and Joseph set up our tent while Maddie and I explored the cabin and camp site. We got a cabin for Maddie all to herself and set up the pack and play, noise machine, and baby monitor.

She enjoyed wandering around - we had practically the entire campsite to ourselves!  The trees were next to us and she kept pointing to them and saying "monkeys!" because she thought monkeys were in the tree. (There is a Raffi song that says "look at all the monkeys swinging in the trees"). I had to correct her by telling her there were no monkeys but there were birds and squirrels!  She then kept saying "No monkeys!" and then she'd say "birds and squirrels" when asked what was in there. We added raccoons to the list of what lives in the trees when we discovered raccoons had eating 1/2 a package of marshmallows and 1/2 a container of strawberries!

We ate dinner and dessert next to the fire. Then we all got into the cabin to get Maddie ready for bed. She was very excited for apple picking the next day!  It took her awhile to get settled down for the night, and thankfully she slept in in the morning.

We packed up quickly, grabbed some McDonald's for breakfast, and headed to the apple orchard - I decided on Radke Orchards as they also had pear trees!  It was a long walk to the orchard but there were tons of apples available, they had about 15+ different varieties of apples and 2-3 different pears.  We got about 30 pounds of apples & pears. Maddie enjoyed walking through the orchard and of course eating the apples and pears!

In all it was a lovely fall weekend and we're looking to camping again next year!!!

Enjoying a strawberry outside the cabin.

Enjoying the campfire

In the cabin, reading a story before bedtime.

A poor selfie attempt

After breakfast. All smiles in the car, waiting to go to the apple orchard!

Picking an apple

Taking a huge bite out of a pear.

Picking a pear

She loved counting the pumpkins