Gulf Shores, Alabama

It's been a couple of weeks now, but we took a little family trip over to Gulf Shores, Alabama to hang out at the beach for a few days.  We heard it was nice, and closer than Destin (which is always good when you're traveling with a toddler) so we headed on our way.  We broke the trip up and stayed in Port Arthur on the way there and back, and got to spend some time with our families.

Mady did awesome on the car ride there!  Eight hours in the car, and no tantrums or meltdowns at all!  I brought some snacks, toys, and books for her to play with.  We also loaded a couple of movies on the iPad, and that was all it took.  We had a wonderful time at the beach and Mady loved it!  I wasn't too sure she was going to enjoy it and went with low expectations but boy was I wrong!  She had so much fun playing in the waves with us, and she loved playing with her beach toys in the sand.  The condo we stayed at also had a few pools, so we had some fun times in the pool as well.  Great memories made!  Just two days ago we asked her if she remembered going to the beach and she started naming off: dolphin! kite! water!  All things we saw while we were there.

We're here!!

Just a little relaxing on the beach.  My kind of girl!

Playing in the waves

School started this week for Mady and I.  It's been a bit of an adjustment, but I think more on my part than hers.  She has done great going back to school, but I must admit I miss her a lot.  Classes have gone really well so far though, and I have a good group of students.  While I do miss her, I love what I do and really have fun teaching and being in the classroom.

Latest happenings

We spent Father's Day watching the US Open, going out for some mexican food, and ice cream for dessert.  Nick had a great day but he deserved it and so much more. Mady and I are so blessed to have this guy in our lives.  He is so good to us and is the best husband and daddy, but we're partial of course ;)

A couple of weeks ago, our niece Meagan flew in to see us.  She's 14 and this was her first time flying, and she was by herself!  Luckily, they allowed me to go to the gate to wait for her to arrive and go with her to the gate when she flew home, which was great!  Mady had a blast at the airport, and she had an even bigger blast with Meagan.  She loved having her here and so did we.  The day after she left, when Mady woke up in the morning she went into the room Meagan was staying in, saw it empty, and starting crying and saying "Meagan!" over and over.  So sweet.

A couple of other gems I found on my phone:

Nick was less than thrilled when he saw this picture, haha

Swim Lessons

We signed Mady up for swim lessons this summer and today was Mady's last day of swim lessons.  With us going out of town at the end of the month, and me teaching in July, we took a two week course that was Monday - Thursday each week.

Mady was pretty apprehensive at first in the water.  With the unusually cool weather the first week of June, it didn't really help matters much being in the cold water.  This second week she really came out of her shell and was doing her scoops and kicks and having a lot of fun.  We will be taking many trips out to the pool this summer!

Doing her scoops and kicks

Our little fish

Her ribbon for passing the class!

Last day of School

Mady's last day of preschool was yesterday, at least for the academic year.  She goes back in July for four weeks, while I teach summer courses.  We have really liked her school!  Her teachers are wonderful, the staff is great, and we really feel comfortable having her there.  So thankful to have found this place :)

Mady on her first day of school

Mady on her last day of school

Her awesome teacher, Mrs. Rose.  Definitely going to miss her next year

My little helper

Mady had a lot of fun the other night helping me make french bread pizzas.  But I think she had more fun eating the cheese and pepperoni than actually helping me put them on the bread.

We have a 2 year old

Two weekends ago we celebrated Mady’s second birthday.  It’s hard to believe that two years have passed since she came into our lives, and what a fun ride it has been!  We had a party for Mady with family and friends on the Saturday before her birthday.  She loves the show Doc McStuffins that comes on Disney Jr.  It’s about a little girl who is a doctor to toys.  I made stethoscopes for all of the kids and set up a spot for them to do check-ups on the toys.  Mady loved having all her favorite people with her at once and the kids had a lot of fun.  A big thank you to my brother-in-law Cody, who without him, I would not have had any pictures!

My take on a Doc McStuffins cake

I just love Pinterest

Sunday was Mother's Day and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than celebrating Mady's actual birthday.  The day that made me a mother.  We went to church in the morning, and then had a great lunch outside in the beautiful weather at one of my favorite restaurants, with our mom's who were still in town. The whole weekend was so wonderful.  Looking around at the party at all the people who came to celebrate her was such a blessing.  Thank you to everyone who came!!

So what is Mady up to these days?  She is talking so much.  She strings together 3 to 4 words at a time.  Her vocabulary has grown so much.  She still loves dancing and music, with her favorite song being, I’m ashamed to say,  Trouble by Taylor Swift.  She wakes up requesting “trouble, trouble, please trouble”.  And yes, I do have that song…don’t’ judge me! 

She knows all her letters, numbers (1-10), shapes, and all the primary colors, plus a few others like pink of course!  We’re still working on counting, which right now mainly consists of (1, 3, 7, 3!), so cute! Just today she counted from 1-10 all by herself while going down the stairs!

She loves her babies, one specifically, that she brings everywhere with her, including school.  Speaking of school, she loves going to school.  She walks right on in now without even looking back to tell me bye.  While it does make me a little sad, I much prefer that than the crying and screaming, which is what we had the first few months. 

She is getting better at eating.  She is still pretty picky, and I can't get her to eat vegetables for anything, but we are seeing improvement.  She still loves fruits, which I am very thankful for. I continue to feed her our dinner, and she never gets anything special made for her.  If she doesn't eat what I make, then she won't eat and I think that has helped a lot.

We are entering the terrible two's and that does show in the increased tantrums.  She can be very stubborn and strong-willed, but time-outs right now are working for us. Fingers crossed, that continues.  She is so fun right now though.  She has the best laugh and is so fun loving and caring.  We are really enjoying her.

As for potty training we haven't done much of that.  We bought her a potty and she knows what it is and will sit on it, but not with her clothes off!  I don't think she's quite ready for that so I'm not pushing it.

This is Mady's last week of school.  We have the whole month of June off together, and then I teach classes the second summer session, so she'll go back to school in July.  Here's to a great summer!

So proud.

This past week we have seen a lot of tragedy in our area with the tornadoes.  It has been heartbreaking to watch all of those affected lose their homes, belongings, and loved ones.  Tornadoes have always scared me in the fact that they can cause so much destruction with very little warning.  I still remember when Mady was about a week old and the three of us were huddled in the closet because of the tornado threat, or the time I was rushing home to Mady from school, when there were tornadoes in Dallas.  I'm praying for those affected and hope through God, and the community around them, they will find strength to stand up and start building again.

I will say, however, that in the last week I have grown an even deeper appreciation for what Nick does.  This week we saw how important the work they do really is.  I heard many times on the news what great warning time was given to everyone.  Many lives I'm sure were saved due to their hard work at predicting and getting the word out.  Nick worked really hard during the tornado outbreak we had south of us, and at one point had been awake over 30 hours!  But, he didn't mind at all and kept going because he loves what he does and has a passion for it.  Thank you Nick and all of you for the hard work you do.  We are very lucky to have people working tirelessly to keep us safe!

If you are looking for ways to help, here are a few links to organizations who are accepting donations to help those affected:

American Red Cross

Samaritans Purse - Oklahoma

Samaritans Purse - Texas

Oklahoma Regional Food Bank

Salvation Army

The next link is to a church in Norman, OK that our friends attend.  They are accepting donations and will be using the proceeds for short-term and long-term relief efforts including (but not limited to):

- Andrew Burkhart (pastor of Acts 29 church in Moore, Love & Justice) and his family who lost their    house and belongings
- Love and Justice Church as they serve people in their neighborhood who have need
- Chick-fil-A of Moore as they serve the immediate Moore area.

Providence Road Communities