Dinosaurs Unearthed!

For a fun Sunday activity we decided to take a trip to see the dinosaur exhibit "Dinosaurs Unearthed" at Union Station.

Mads and I posing by the sign.

It was an amazing exhibit with animatronic life sized dinosaurs, dinosaur skeleton replicas, and dinosaur fossil and dinosaur egg replicas.

It was pretty awesome. They looked and sounded so real.

One of the fossil replicas.

Skeleton replica of a swimming dinosaur.

Madeline didn't act too scared but she did stay close to mom and dad.

Playing with some dinosaur toys.

Fun Friday Playdate

Our playgroup had a fun outdoor playdate today at our friend Kenner's house. We hadn't met up with our playgroup for over a month so it was great to see our old friends.

They had these awesome tiny ice cream drumsticks that the kids, including Madeline loved! Was a good idea having them at an outdoor playdate.

Mads got to play in the kiddy pools.

Some of Madelines longtime friends.

The ball bus was a big hit too.

Just some playing.

Our good friend Beckett cooling off in the pool.

Madeline and Alyssa learning how to catch the ball.

Madeline in the ball bus. She had a great time today!

A Day at the Pool

For our Thursday fun with all the heat we've had lately we decided to head out to a local pool. We checked out the zero depth baby pool which Madeline had a great time in.

They had toys for the kids and Madeline's favorite was this floating turtle.

She would not let it out of her sight.

No one dared to take Madeline's turtle. She kept it close at all times.

Looking quite pleased with herself.

Farmer's Market Wednesday

Today my mom and I took Madeline to a local farmer's market. We checked out the flowers and purchased some sweet corn, tomatoes, peaches, and a cantaloupe.

Madeline really liked the flowers. (And look at how long that hair is getting!!!)

She had to stop and smell the gladiolas.

They also had a live band at the farmer's market and some fountains for the kiddos to play in.

So of course we let Madeline strip down to her diaper and play in the water. I'm sure some would disapprove but she was having fun! :)

Summer Plants and A Video

This summer I've done some patio gardening, well some tomato plants. I'm so excited about Madeline getting to water them every day and watch them grow. We're finally getting some small tomatos on them. Hopefully we'll get to try them out soon...

Some green tomatos starting to grow bigger. This is the biggest one. It's probably about 2 inches long. It's needs to grow a little more then turn red then this little sucker is mine!

Flower arrangement that my mom bought and brought up for ue. This is much bigger than it looks. It's probably 3 feet at it's longest width!

This last item is a video I recently took of Madeline. She is all into singing lately. She sings all the time!!! Mostly makes up songs or sings the Wonder Pets songs or Itsy Bitsy Spider or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. What a preformer!

Summer Fun in Branson

For a summer getaway Madeline and I took a trip to Branson, MO with my mother, my husband's mother, and two of my aunts for 4 days/3 nights. Madeline did great on our long car ride and staying the three nights at the hotel. On our trip we did some shopping, eating, and went to a show.

My big girl on a play 4-wheeler.

Oh yes, we rode the Ducks while we were there too! Madeline slept for most of the ride but woke up when we splashed into the river.

Mads posing with Santa at the Grand Village Shops.


The show we went to was Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. The show had alot of action and horses so it was enough to keep Madeline's interest for most of the hour and a half show. They also had wonderful food: creamy vegetable soup, a whole rotissorie chicken, pork tenderloin, potato, corn on the cob and an apple turnover. Yummo!

Grandma and Madeline with one of the show's stars...

Yes, you can get up close and personal with the horses in the show. As you are walking in and leaving you walk right by the horse stalls which the kids (and adults) just love!

One of our favorite mall areas was Branson Landing. It's a newer outdoor shopping area with restaurants and hotels/condos. Very nice!

Madeline strolling by the flowers.

More pretty flowers at Branson Landing.

Every hour in the middle of Branson Landing they have a water/fire show right by the river.

Here's a view of the fire show with Branson Landing in the background.

My mom & Madeline catching some shade.

Madeline and her grandma.

Mads and Grandma with pretty flowers.

Fun on the 4th (of July)

For the 4th of July this year we spent the day with my husband's family. Madeline got to spend some time with her cousins and had a great time playing and watching the bigger kids set off fireworks. Unfortunately the town's fireworks display was cancelled due to rain. Luckily we got to see a big fireworks display on Saturday night.

Here is Madeline with some of her cousins.

Madeline in her new chair. She looks pretty relaxed!

The above photo and next few pics were from another family 4th of July celebration a couple nights ago. This is Madeline with her favorite cousin Ava.

These two have so much fun together. I'm sure they will be best friends growing up. They were both born in 2007 but Ava was in February and Madeline was in December.

Playing with the parachutes that were shot out of fireworks.

What a cutie!

It's good to be a kid playing in the dirt with your shoes off!

Who knew digging in the dirt was so fun???