IA/MO Vacation

Last week Maddox and I went to Iowa for 6 days to my sister Suzy's house. My other sister, Jennifer came up too with her daughter. We had a houseful of sisters and cousins and no men (except Matthew). No adult men. Then we all headed down to St. Joe, MO for 3 days to attend the Hatten's 50th anniversary party. Jeremy had to stay home by his lonely self. We're going to FL in a couple days so he couldn't take 2 vacations that close together.

Maddox played in the dress-up box with Katherine.
Maddox was trying to be Katherine's helper while K was trying to build something.

This one's just for her big blue eyes (which look gray here but when the pic's bigger they look blue.)

One night we went to a campground to cook out. Emily and Maddox had their own little chairs by the campfire.

Then Maddox started doling out kisses.

Getting lazy in her chair. "I wish it reclined!"

M with silly Aunt Suzy.

Storytime around the campfire, at least for the little ones.

Now let's all read a book, quiet time. That lasted for about 30 seconds.

Another day the little kids and Matthew played in the backyard in the pool and with water balloons.

The last night in Iowa my sisters, a couple of Suzy's friends, and I went out to a dueling piano bar called Blue Moon. We all shared a fish bowl and luckily the bar is a couple blocks from the house. Just kidding, one fish bowl for 5 isn't bad. We drove the 2 blocks. It was a fun night of singing out lungs out though!

Emily and Maddox playing in the bathtub.

Back in MO we went to a Royals vs. St. Louis game. I wanted to check out the K's renovations and see the rivalry game. Here's M putting the hat on her own head.

We met Jeremy's brother James and his family, Angie, Gabbie, and Hayden for lunch on Saturday. At least two out of three are smiling . . .

Sunday morning in church Maddox went up with Katherine for the children's sermon. It was her first children's sermon so I had to take a picture. I'm sure she learned a lot.

The trip was fun and it was so nice to see some family. Sorry we didn't get to see more but between limited time and not having a car we did what we could. We had a lot of late nights and Maddox refused to sleep in ever so she got pretty tired toward the end of the trip. Luckily, even when dead tired, she doesn't get very grumpy. Just a little more clingy. Maddox worked a lot on her animals sounds (moo, baa, cack cack, woof, a high pitched meow) and a few other words like fish and shoe during the week. She still says none of those consistently unless she's in the mood and it's just me around. She's so shy and doesn't want to be put on the spot. Oh yeah, she also went to her first movie! We saw UP. She saw about half of it and slept the other half but sat quietly on my lap. She also loves to ride in the red wagon. We don't have one yet, but IA house does and she loved it. And on the plane she did great, read a magazine, books, or slept both directions.

Friday night we leave for 9 days in FL so lots of naps and quick recovery from the last trip. We'll probably have more pictures then!

Fun in the Sun

We'll start with her love of animals. One day last week she was really loving toward the dogs and kept following around and hugging them or laying on them. Luckily they both tolerate it and sometimes even like the attention. She does this to Gabby all the time too. (the cat) Pets her or just lays her face on her. Gabby just meows but never leaves. It's really nice that maddox has such good animals around her. This one's Bella, the Bacon's dog.

This morning I decided to go for a wog (walk/jog) and push Maddox in her jogging stroller. In the seat was one of those tiny Bibles someone on the street gives you. The whole time I ran she turned the pages and "read" the Bible. She would even point to the pages, talk, and then point to houses or up in the sky and talk. Maybe a little minister! When we got home I decided to wash the car and the dog so Maddox helped me. Gotta start by organizing your things:

Time to get the car clean. Gotta get her squeedgee wet.

"I'm doing a tire, got a problem with that?"

After washing the car it was time to wash the dog.

She knew she had to get water on her squeedgee then rub Jessi.

She's such a good helper. She puts things away in the kitchen, pulls laundry out of the washer to hand me to put in the dryer, picks the clean clothes that I drop off the floor and into the basket, follows me around and closes all the doors and drawers, and loves to wipe things down. If I keep training her right she may turn out to be a big helper! Maybe she does need a little sister or brother!

In this video she's washing the dog. It's so nice to have a dog that will stay when told to0000000000:

And lastly, this video is from last week when apparently Jeremy was training our daughter like a dog. "Lay down . . ." and she would and they'd tickle and laugh. She loved getting the laughs and did it over and over!