Picture Time!!

Here are some pictures from our first days of school this year.  Maddie is LOVING Kindergarten and Sadie had a smooth drop off at her first day of preschool today.  Momma's alone and has no idea what to do with herself.  Maybe I could do a little cleaning??  Hmmm...I'll think about it.

All about Sadie at 3 Years Old

What makes you happy?  I like yogurt.
What makes you sad?  Mommy takes my lovey away. (I had to take the lovey away so she would take her thumb out of her mouth to answer my questions)
What is your favorite thing to do with Maddie?  Play doctor.
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  Go down the elevator.  (I'm pretty sure she means escalator)
What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  Play fireworks. (We have never, to my recollection, played fireworks...)
What's your favorite breakfast food?  Yogurt.  
What's your favorite lunch food?  sandwiches.  Peanut butter and jelly.
What's your favorite snack?  I just want for snack...I want chex mix for snack.
What's your favorite supper food?  Ears. (giggles)  Yogurt.  No, really, Sadie.  We don't eat yogurt for dinner.  Mac and Cheese.
What's one food you REALLY don't like?  Broccoli.(She actually really likes broccoli so I'm not sure why she said that)
What's your favorite book?  Trucks.  
What's your favorite thing to watch on tv?  Doc McStuffins.
What's your favorite movie?  Blue Ray Combo (She means Epic.  When the commercial is on they say "blue ray combo" and she thinks that's the name of the movie.  Ha!)
Who's your best friend?  Maddie (Awww....she answered this one without hesitation.  yay!!)
What do you want to be when you grow up?  A toddler head.  No, Sadie.  Be serious.  What job do you want to have when you're a grown up?  Arts and Crafts.
What are you best at doing?  Arts and crafts.
What is your best memory?  The zoo.  Anything specific at the zoo?  Elephants.  And alligators at the zoo.  I saw the alligator at the zoo inside.  It was a pretend one that didn't move.  But, it was sleeping.  Right now we're home but tomorrow we're going to the zoo again.
What's something Daddy tells you a lot?  I love you. 
What's something Mommy tells you a lot?  sharks. (What??  No idea where this came from...maybe because we played sharks in the pool this weekend?)
What's your favorite song?  Moves like Jagger
If you could change your name, what would it be?  Momma
What's your favorite color?  Pink. 
Where's your favorite place to go when we leave the house?  to the zoo.
Now, tell me something funny.  Play playdoh. (makes silly faces and sticks out her tongue)
Is there anything else you want to tell me?   I'm a mean shark.  Snap, snap, snap (snaps her fingers like crab claws).  I have a stinger (sticks her butt on my arm).  You got stinged.  ha ha ha.  Mmmm, your boob smells good (nice, Sadie...I'm glad my clean laundry makes you happy).  Mmmm.  You smell like a hotel (not sure if this is a compliment!).  

Are you excited to start school tomorrow?  MmmmHmmm (her thumb is back in her mouth now...)
What do you think is going to be the best part about school?  arts and crafts

My Baby is THREE!

How can it be that three years have passed since my youngest was born?  My mind just can't even fathom the idea of it.  As I watch her grow, I have to continually remind myself that she's not a baby anymore.  I mean, she's been my "baby", she hasn't been able to do as much as Maddie for so long that I forget she's been growing and catching up.  I find myself in amazement sometimes at the things she's able to do, then I remind myself, "Oh yeah...she's NOT a baby!".  It's hard to change my mindset!

Today we had a super sweet day with our two big girls!  We started the morning off with Sadie finding some Happy Birthday balloons in the kitchen and then had a breakfast of special birthday pancakes (our favorite recipe with some mini chocolate chips and lots of sprinkles thrown in!).  Of course, Sadie would have preferred to have cake for breakfast so I guess it's a good thing I hadn't finished making it yet!  We would've had quite a fight on our hands.  After breakfast Sadie wanted to open her presents.  Goodness gracious, did this girl make out on her birthday!  I haven't seen that many presents in our house since Christmas.  I kind of felt bad because Maddie didn't get nearly as much for her birthday as Sadie got...but then I reminded Maddie that she got a bike and Sadie didn't :)  So, you might be wonder what Sadie got... A bunch of cars and trucks, some puzzles, a doll, some crayons and a coloring book, bubbles and stickers.  I *think* I remembered everything.  Of course she loves her cars and trucks...but one REALLY special truck was passed on to Sadie today!  Back when Eric was a little boy his grandpa (My girls' great grandpa) built him a tow truck that you can assemble and disassemble with bolts!  Eric was just as happy to see that as Sadie was.  I'm sure it brought back a ton of great memories for him.  I only had the privilege of meeting Grandpa Reese once, but I sure did think of him a lot today and miss him.  I wish I had the chance to get to know him better and I wish my girls had been able to meet him.  I'm sure he would love seeing the toys he made over 30 years ago being played with by his great grandchildren!  Sorry for getting sidetracked there...Eric and I are pretty sure Sadie's going to end up being a mechanic.  With this newest truck, I think her interest has grown even more!

Sadie also wanted to spend some time at our neighborhood pool today.  We spent about two hours until the girls (mostly Maddie) started getting too fussy.  We thought it would be best to come home, have a snack and get the girls down for naps.  They ended up sleeping for about 2 1/2 hours!!  I guess that was a good call to leave when we did!

Tomorrow it's back to the grind...Eric has to get back to work and Maddie will be going to school.  I think Sadie will stay nice and occupied with all her new cars and trucks for the day while I catch up on some laundry and housework!

I'll share some pictures soon and also Sadie's birthday questionnaire.  Actually, I don't think I ever published Maddie's on her 5th birthday...I should probably get to that.  I remember doing it with her, just never published it.  I guess I should get to that too, huh?  Ha!

A Little Beach Time

This weekend we took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Galveston.  It's about an hour and a half drive from our house to the island so I've taken the girls there a few times this summer just for day trips.  This time Eric was able to come along so we decided to stay overnight to have a little extra beach time!  The girls were SUPER excited to stay at a hotel, and even more excited when they found out the hotel had a pool!  We had a really nice time playing in the sand and sun most of the day Friday and all morning Saturday morning before heading home.  Here are some pictures we took (sorry for the lack of pictures of Eric with the girls...I have some on my phone that I'll have to upload to the computer soon).

Rainy Week

What is it about rain that always makes me feel so lazy??  This entire week has been so muggy that we haven't done much.  One afternoon we had some nice weather so I took the girls out on a bike ride.  I don't know how far we went mileage-wise, but we took a nice little 30-35 minute ride.  It was the first time I had taken both girls in the bike trailer and, boy, was I in for a surprise!  Maddie's weighing in at just over 40 pounds and Sadie's just over 30 so pulling their weight plus the weight of the trailer was no easy feat for my quads!  It was really nice to get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air...that is, until the girls started getting on each other's nerves in the trailer.  Ahhhh....I was two seconds away from saying, "If I have to pull this bike over..."  ha!  The good news is we made it home in one piece and we look forward to riding over to a park if we get a dry afternoon soon.

Today I hope to play catch up on my housework.  Woo hoo, exciting, I know!  In an ideal world, the girls would play nicely and stay out of my way while I do my cleaning.  Unfortunately they've been at each other's throats lately so I'm afraid I may have to resort to putting on a movie to keep them quiet and out of the way.  We'll see.  Nothing wrong with a little movie time, right??

I hope you're all having a great week!  Here are a few shots of my girls lately.  Enjoy!

 

Sadie helping with a little cleaning (after dressing up, of course!)

 

At Maddie's dance recital

 

 

The "McDonald's Cow" (as Maddie yelled out while we were eating at Chick-Fil-A!!)

 

Sadie displaying the snack necklace we made for our trip to Tennessee.

 

Maddie getting a hair cut.  Her hair looks extra blond in this picture!

Sadie wrapped herself up in a box :)

 

Maddie was pretty excited about catching lightning bugs at grandma's house!

 

Murphy and Sadie snuggled up in the hotel bed.  Murphy isn't allowed on furniture at home so this was an extra special treat for her!

 

Maddie took some stickers and made herself some cat whiskers :)

 

My girls cooking dinner. (yes, we had a pj day...)

 

All ready for a bike ride (don't worry, this picture was taken before the helmets were put on!)  Daddy is able to put the bike seat for Sadie on his bike, but I can't put it on mine.  I think they really enjoyed riding separately but together!

A Little Beach Time

Yesterday we took off on a day trip to the beach with my aunt Beth and her son Eli.  It was JUST what the doctor ordered.  My girls are at the perfect ages for the beach.  Maddie knows how to swim so I don't mind her playing in the water by herself (at a safe distance from the shore, of course!).  Sadie couldn't stand the seaweed "grabbing" her ankles when she was in the water so she was content to stay and play in the sand.  What this means for me is that I get to SIT IN A BEACH CHAIR, have a grown up conversation (that still revolves around kids, of course) and watch the girls play.  Ahhhh...what a relaxing day!  Also, we got a season pass to a beach at the east end of Galveston.  It's normally $8 for one day of parking there but we paid $25 for unlimited trips to the beach.  The highlight of this trip?  We parked ON the beach!  There was no lugging all our stuff to and from the car.  We just parked and sat right by the van. Wow.  Now, that's what I call convenient!  I look forward to MANY more days at the beach this summer now that I see how well it went.

Here are a few pictures from the day (my camera settings weren't optimum for our action-filled day at the beach so most of them turned out blurry...gotta remember to check that shutter speed!!) but here are a few of the kids that turned out.

Hey There!

I've been so horrible about updating this old blog...I think about it often but just never take the time to write anything out.  Actually, that's a lie.  I have two drafts that I never published.  One from December and one in June.  ha!

Life has been going by so fast.  Some days I feel like I barely have time to breath.  Other days I have all the time in the world and can't seem to peel myself off the couch.  I think the every day, mundane tasks of being a stay at home mom and housewife have been bringing me down more and more.  We got to get away for about 10 days to take a trip to Tennessee and I thought that might help bring me out of my "funk".  I felt excited about returning home...then we got home.  I'm trying to get back into a good routine but I just feel like I don't want to be here.  Blah! 

So in an attempt to snap out of it, I'm getting out of the house and will take the girls to the pool today for a while.  Hopefully a good dose of Vitamin D will help!

I'll leave you for now with a few pictures of my beautiful girls.  It's been FOREVER since I've shared any photos of them!

Sewing Projects

I've been up to a lot of sewing lately!  I'm happy to report that I finished my last few stitches last night and hope to let the sewing machine rest for quite a while!

The first project I did many of you may have seen on facebook (well, I guess I posted pictures of all of these on facebook in some form).  I made Sadie a super cute Halloween costume!  Here are a few pictures:

The next project I worked on I can't share on facebook just yet...we have to wait until closer to Christmas to share that one!

Next I needed to make some little bags for the girls for our trip.  On our last trip they had stuff all over the van.  By the time we got to Gulf Shores, the van was a disaster!  Hopefully with these new bags the girls will be excited to keep their stuff contained :)

The one on the left is Sadie's (I made it out of fabric that was leftover from when we did her nursery).  The one on the right is Maddie's.  I'm especially proud of these bags because I made a flat bottom on them.  Eric was pretty impressed that I knew how to do that :)  I just like how it makes the bag a little wider and easier for kids to find things.  Maybe I need to make a solid bottom...Hmmmm...if I have time left over this week I'll do that.

The last project I'll share is a couple of travel pillows.

It's hard to see in this picture, but Maddie's travel pillow has a 2 inch flat section in the middle.  This is so she can fold it over her seat belt and hopefully it will help it stay in place.  I just used an old pillow case, cut it to 18 inches, hemmed up the bottom, then sewed 2 seams down the middle to form the two pockets and empty section.  Stuffed it with polyfill, then sewed it closed.  It's not pretty.  It's not perfect.  But Maddie loves it.  She especially loves that there are roses on it since her middle name is Rose :)

Here's Maddie simulating resting on her seat belt :)

And here's Sadie's.  I wasn't planning on making her a pillow, but when she saw Maddie's she wanted one.  I knew if I didn't have something for her, it would make for a rough trip.  Every time Maddie would get hers out, Sadie would fuss.  So I had a few squares of flannel in the sewing room, I just made a quick little pillow with that.  I didn't stuff it too full, I know it's not going to be very useful in her car seat, she just needs to feel included :)

Ok, I'm sure this will be my last post until we get back from vacation (unless I go crazy and want to share anything else travel-related).  I'm going to spend the next few days wrapping presents, baking cookies, cleaning and packing!)  Have a Happy Thanksgiving and we'll see you when we get back!!

Traveling with Kids Part II

Treat bags!!!

In this post I'll share with you what the girls are getting in their treat bags for our trip.  We have four legs of the trip.  First, from Houston to Knoxville.  Second from Knoxville to Baltimore.  Third from Baltimore to Gadsden, AL.  Finally, from Gadsden back to Houston.

I put all of these legs of the trip in Google maps and found cities in between at regular intervals.  I'm doing citites about 3-3 1/2 hours apart.  When we go through each city (or at stops), the girls will each get their bag for that designated city.  It gives them a little activity and a little snack and just kind of motivates them to look forward to the next city.

The first leg of the trip we'll be driving through the night.  Because of this, we're only giving the girls two bags for this 14 hour trip.  We're really hoping they sleep well through the night so we won't have to worry with the fussy kid/tired parent combination!

Trip One (Friday night):

• The first treat bag will be given in Beaumont, TX.  They'll get a little clipboard with a notepad on it along with some pencils.  For snack they'll have pretzel balls and m&m's.
• They'll get the second bag in Lafayette, LA.  This time they'll get a glow stick (hopefully it'll be dark or close to dark by then!) and some Pringles and skittles to snack on.  

Trip Two (most of the day Monday.  We're anticipating a 9 hour drive):

• First bag:  Marion, VA.  They'll each get a little stuffed animal along with a dollar store doctor kit.  Chex mix and a lollipop for a snack.  (I thought it would be cute to have a lollipop with their doctor visit!).  I decided to put this as their first toy because my girls love their doctor kits so I'm hoping this will keep them happy for quite a while.  I also expect if they have periods of boredom, maybe they'll go back to this one.
• Second bag:  Staunton, VA.  They'll get a little wooden car and Funyons and fruit snacks.  
• Third bag:  Silver Spring, MD.  They'll get a super annoying microphone (you know the ones that kind of echo?...yeah...those).  I know it'll be really annoying for mom and dad, but the girls LOVE those things!  I figure by the end of this trip, they'll be getting anxious to get their and this will lift their spirits.  They'll also get Nutter Butters and Smarties.

Trip Three (all day Saturday.  We have to get the first 12 hours of our 24 hour drive out of the way)

• First bag:  Staunton, VA.  They'll each get a little toy horse, some pizza Combos and some gummy worms.
• Second bag:  Marion, VA.  Maddie will get a little compass and calculator.  She's loving math these days so I thought she might have fun with that...and the compass will help her draw nice circles in her notebook.  Sadie will get a new DVD.  I picked up a Berenstain Bears Christmas DVD for her.  For snack they'll have pretzel balls and m&m's.
• Third bag:  Knoxville, TN.  This time Maddie will get a movie.  Yes, I know two movies in a row is going to be torture!!  But I knew if I didn't put them close, Maddie would get upset that Sadie got a movie and she didn't!  So...Maddie is getting The Dog who Saved Christmas and Sadie is getting a little tea set.  For snack they'll have Chex Mix and fruit snacks.
• Fourth (and final for the day) bag:  Fort Payne, AL.  They'll each get another glow stick, some Pringles and Skittles.

Trip Four (all day Sunday.  This will be the final leg of the trip...another 12 hours.)

• First bag:  Livingston, AL.  The girls will get pom poms.  Yay...these are going to be super annoying too.  But, the girls will love them so they should stay happy for a while (I hope!)  For snack they'll get more Chex Mix and a big Tootsie Roll.
• Second bag:  Picayune, LA (I have no idea how to properly pronounce that city).  They'll get a dry erase board that has activities and a space to draw pictures.  I think Maddie will like it.  I worry that Sadie may draw on the van...we'll see!  For snack they'll have Combos and gummy worms.
• Third bag:  Lafayette, LA.  I found cute little mermaid sets at the dollar store so they'll get those this time.  With their mermaids they'll get Pringles and Reese's Pieces.
• Fourth bag:  Liberty, TX.  Another glow stick!!  I really hope they're asleep by this point because I'm going to want to be asleep by this point!  ha!  Pretzels and m&m's for a snack this time.  

I didn't spend a ton of money on these bags.  I shopped at the Dollar Tree, 99 cent only store, Target dollar spot, Walmart and the trick-or-treat buckets (shhhh....don't tell the girls!!).  Of course, you have to expect to spend a certain amount, but don't go crazy.  I'm not expecting these toys to be permanent toys in our home.  If anything gets lost or broken, it's ok.  The point is just entertainment.

Here are some pictures for you :)

Here's a shot of all of Maddie's goodies.  

Here are Sadie's.  Another thing I should note:  have everything opened up out of the package and ready for the kids to play with.  You don't want all the trash in the car to deal with.  And the point of it isn't for them to see they have brand new toys, it's just to have something new and fun for them to play with.  By all means, by a "lot" of used toys for this and save some money!!

Here are Sadie's bags with the toys inside and the treats ready to put in.  Things that didn't come individually packaged got put into snack size baggies.  I tried to keep it to 1/3 cup or less (each Pringles bag has 8 Pringles...and that may be too much even!).  I don't want to fill the kids up, but having snacks at regular intervals will keep them happy.

So, there you have it.  The treat bags.  I have a feeling these are going to be legendary in our family :)  Please let me know any questions you have or any suggestions to improve my process!  

Thanks for reading :)

Traveling With Kids

When I was a kid, flying in a plane wasn't even a consideration.  Anytime we went anywhere, we loaded up the car and we were on our way (there was one trip where we flew to LA and drove to Vegas...but that's a post for another day).  I honestly don't remember complaining too much about being in the car.  Now, my mom and dad might have a different memory of those road trips, but I'm telling my side of the story :)  Our biggest complaint was when we were driving with Pap Pa (my dad's dad) and he did NOT like to stop.  We would have a scheduled lunch stop and you better use the bathroom while we were there because it would take a natural disaster for us to stop again!  That was the only problem, holding it until we got to our destination.  Ahhhh...the problems we had as kids :)

Fast forward 20 years and here I am with my own kids and I have gotten quite spoiled by flying with them.  When we're in the car, we consider a trip to the zoo (about 40 minutes) a long drive.  I let the girls watch a DVD to keep them happy on the way.  Isn't that crazy that 40 minutes is a long drive??

Well, we've taken a few long trips with the girls.  The first was when Maddie was just under 6 months old.  We drove from Houston to Knoxville for Thanksgiving.  Maddie was still a baby so she slept a lot.  We made a stop every 3-4 hours.  The stop would consist of us getting gas in the car, getting some food, using the bathroom, nursing and changing Maddie.   Then we'd get back on the road.  Life was good.

Now our girls are 2 and 4 and they are opinionated!!  They no longer sleep most of the trip, they need more entertainment to keep them happy and they F.I.G.H.T.  So, this past summer when we drove to Gulf Shores, AL we knew we had to do some pre-planning to satisfy all the girls' needs.  It was a lot of work and took a lot of planning and a little bit of money...but it paid off BIG TIME!

I'm going to turn this post into a few-part series just to keep this from getting too long...but for today I'm going to give you my top ten tips for traveling with kids.

10.  Do NOT start with movies right off the bat!  If you do this, you will only have movies going the entire trip.  Some of your kids may be ok with that, so ignore this.  For Sadie, however, if she's watching a movie, she will NOT go to sleep!  Also, once one movie ends they just want another and another and nothing else we have planned for the trip seems as good as watching a movie...we try to save this for desperate times!

9.  Plan car-friendly snacks.  Since Sadie is probably the messiest eater of all time, I really have to be careful what we bring.  This means no crackers, no breads, no cereals, nothing that gets too crumby or sticky.  Some of our favorites are fruit snacks, apple slices, grapes, cheese sticks, pretzels (mini ones, not sticks...those get crumbly easier), individual packs of m&m's, chex mix (yes, it's a messy one but it's a special treat because we don't eat that much at home).  We keep a cooler up front between the front seats with cold snacks and water.

8.  Be prepared to sit in the back seat with the kids.  Sometimes kids need something a little out of the "norm" to feel special.  I take along some books (we have a stock pile of books at home they've never read so we bring plenty of new ones and some old favorites!) and will sit in between their seats and read to them.

7.  Expect your kids to be cranky and unhappy.  If you go into the trip expecting cranky kids, then the trip can only go better than you're expecting, right??

6.  Have special "trip-only" toys.  I have a magna doodle, a Mr. Potatohead, a Crayola dry erase crayon board, some magnetic paper dolls, and finger puppets that we used for our last trip.  I think some of those things have made it to their play room so I'll have to come up with some other ideas for our upcoming trip...but, by bringing along toys they aren't used to having, they keep their interest longer.  You could even consider "hiding" some of their favorites 4-6 weeks before the trip so if you get it out in the car, they'll be super excited to play with it!  Don't give them all the toys at once, or even at all.  Save them in a bag for when you need something.  If the kids are happy looking out the window trying to find alligators as you drive over the bayou, by all means let them!

5.  Have a stock pile of napkins/wipes at the ready.  You just never know...be prepared!

4.  Plan to stop every 3-4 hours.  If the kids don't get a break from sitting in their car seats, they're definitely going to be fussy.  Go ahead and just be prepared to stop at regular intervals.  Get them out, let them run around or even bring along something to do while you're stopped (bubbles, a frisbee).  Play tag, play Simon Says, play follow the leader...just get them moving!

3.  "Choose an activity" cards.  For the last trip I wrote out some activities on little pieces of paper.  They included things like "read 4 books", "sing songs with Mommy", "play with Mr. Potatohead", "Tell stories", etc.  If Maddie was acting bored, I would let her chose one card out of the bag and we did whatever was on it.  We only had to do this 2-3 times (and that included the drive there AND home!)

2.  Treat bags.  I put together treat bags to give to the girls at regular intervals on our last trip.  I'll go into more detail on these on another post, but I had to put them here.  The girls knew I was putting them together so they were really looking forward to them!  Each bag contained a small toy or activity (I shopped at the dollar store) and a snack.  I'm sure these bags are what saved our trip (and our sanity)!

1.  Keep a potty chair in the back!  Of course this is good in case you just passed that "Last exit for 120 miles" and THEN the kids decide they have to poop.  But also it's good because kids are just more comfortable going in their potty instead of in a gas station potty.  AND Mom and Dad don't have to kneal in a nasty bathroom to hold little ones on those nasty toilets!  Along with your potty it's a good idea to keep a pack of wipes or tp, and little bags to carry any solids to the bathroom when you get to a good stopping place.  We didn't come prepared with the bags on the last trip so Eric had the pleasure of carrying the little potty insert into gas station bathrooms :)  Oh, and don't forget the Clorox wipes with it too.  It's always nice to know you have a clean potty!

Ok, that's it for now...let me know if you have any other tips to add to the list!  12 days til our trip, I can use all the help/advice I can get!!!!

My Big Girl, Maddie

I couldn't do a post about Sadie and ignore Maddie :)

Maddie has been amazing us over and over again.  I really had no idea a 4 year old could be so smart.  Now, I'm not trying to say she's smarter than other 4 year olds, I don't know...she might be, but I just had no idea their little brains could comprehend so much at such a young age!

Lately Maddie's been trying to sound out words to write them.  She made a picture for Murphy (the dog) the other day and wrote "MOF" on the top for Murph.  Not bad, eh?  This morning she was playing with a doll and she decided to name her Ruby.  On Ruby's "school folder", Maddie wrote "Rbe".  I was seriously impressed!

She loves to learn and is always really excited about going to school and learning new things.  She's constantly impressing us with how much she's learning too.  She really impressed Eric the other night when he was reading her a book and she told him the author wrote the book and the illustrator drew the pictures.  It's just these little things that are the coolest to hear her say!

Of course, she continues to make us laugh with her silly little expressions and comments.  Her little brain is in overdrive and she's becoming more and more creative with what she says.  Last night I was getting her ready for bed and she tooted.  She said, "Woah, excuse me.  I'm a Tootie McNoodle!"  I couldn't stop laughing!!

Probably the BIGGEST, most exciting news about Maddie these days is that she no longer sucks her thumb!!  On the morning of September 24th, she came downstairs and told me she doesn't want to suck her thumb anymore.  She brought me her two snugglies and her two favorite stuffed animals that she used to suck her thumb with and told me not to give them back.  I reassured her that if she really wanted to be done that I would take them and she would NOT get them back.  I knew it was going to be hard on all of us, but it seemed she was ready and I had to take that opportunity to help her.  Well, her "sucking hazards" went up on top of my armoire in my room and they are still there.  They haven't moved...(I'll put them in her keepsake box so she can have them forever!).  We've been so proud of her taking the initiative to be a "big kid"!

So now I'll leave you with some pictures of our sweet, sweet 4 year old!

First day of Preschool!

First dance class.

Maddie loving on the T-Rex at the zoo.

Sweet girls at the campground in Grapevine.

Working on a painting project.

We had to stop by Target after dance class and she was so excited to see her favorite Disney Princess :)

Mommy and Maddie sleepover night.

Maddie got a prize after not sucking her thumb for 2 weeks.  She chose this fun gumball machine!

Being a silly goose at the zoo!

Here's a shot of Maddie in May of 2011 and again in October 2012.  She's grown quite a bit :)

She got this tent in her room for Christmas 2010 and still likes to nap in it some times.  I love it!

Here's our big girl the first day she wanted dropped off in the car line at school.  We're so proud of her!