An Interview with Madeline at 3 1/2 Years Old

I've seen a couple moms post an interview like this recently so I thought I would interview Madeline and post it on here. (The photo above is what she looks like with a fu manchu, aka Daddy's birthday cake batter, haha. Just wanted to share...)

1) What is your name? "Madeline"

2) How old are you? "Free" (3)

3) Who is your best friend? "Jenna and Alyssa"

4) What is your favorite animal? "Cat and dog"

5) What do you want to be when you grow up? "Ballerina" (she has recently also said a teacher and a doctor)

6) What is your favorite movie? "Mickey Mouse" (I don't think she knows the difference between a movie and tv show at this point)

7) What is your favorite book? "Blue's Clues"

8) What makes you happy? "A present"

9) What makes you sad? (she said that nothing made her sad)

10) What is your favorite food to eat? "Hot dog, french fries, and ketchup"

11) What is your favorite song to sing? "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

12) What games do you like to play? "Puppy game" (on the iPad)


Three years olds are awesome! I love this age!

I'm curious to see how her answers will change to over time. I'll have to post another interview later.

Jumpa Jumpa Jumpa Jumpa.....

Today we went to Jumping Jax. I know we've probably blogged about this place before but I figured I'd put a few new pics in from today's visit.

It's such a fun play place for kids and a nice way to burn some energy during the super hot days of summer or cold of winter. The older she gets the more fun she has here.

She does a great job manuvering through the obstacle course...

And climbing the steep walls.

I was trying to keep up with her in this one but she just zoomed through it so fast she left me in the dust!!!

This was one of the obstacle course bounce houses they had.

She just hung in there with all of the big kids to day. She's no baby anymore!

I actually got one close up of her. The rest of the time she was moving too quick for a close photo.

Going up the ladder.

And down the big slide. This girl has NO FEAR!!!

Some of the cool slides at Jumping Jax.

Afterwards we went to a Tuesday Morning store and were checking out the Halloween decorations, is it too soon for that??? She was pissed that I made her try on the silly hat. She's already too cool for her silly mom. Let the embarrassment begin....haha!

She did like looking at the cool decorations though. This girl can shop with the best of them!

That was our Wednesday!

A Funny Little Friend

This past weekend we bought some really yummy sweet corn from a farmer who had a stand along the side of a road and when we husked the corn we found a little caterpillar hiding inside one of them....

This little guy made a fun playmate for Madeline.


It was fun watching it crawl around on Maddie's hand.


She really loved just watching it and checking it out. She wasn't afraid of it at all.

It's neat how something so simple can be such a fun learning experience for a little one...

Fountains with Friends

Today Maddie and I joined a couple friends at a local farmer's market where they have a fountain and live music twice a week. We had the kids in their swimsuits so they could have fun and get as wet as they wanted.

Madeline and her little friends had such a blast. It's nice that something so simple can be so much fun!


Silly girls playing.


Madeline with her friend Alyssa.

As much fun as they had splashing in the water I must say that the puppy, Roxy, was the highlight of the day! These girls couldn't get enough of little Roxy!

They played and played with her and gave her sticks to chew on. I'm sure that puppy took a long nap after she left.

After we were done outside we changed clothes and headed indoors for some lunch. We ate pizza then Madeline and Alyssa literally played on these two ride on thingys for a half an hour or so. They had so much fun we had to almost tear them off to leave!

A Bug Playdate!

Today Madeline and I hosted a "Bug" themed craft playdate with our playgroup. We made some special Dirt Cup snacks complete with jelly worms for the kids to eat. Madeline helped a little (and ate some of the gummy worms as we were getting the treats ready).

Here are some of the moms and kids in the playgroup starting on the craft. They were so cute. There were caterpillars, ladybugs, bees, and butterflies.


Madeline did the butterfly craft.

More of our playgroup.

Dakota did the butterfly craft too!

Alyssa did a caterpillar and was enjoying her dirt cup.

A close-up of how our dirt cups turned out. They were so simple to make! See the recipe here.

After the craft the kids played at the park. The little girls were having fun hugging and hugging.

Until they fell over...

Splat!

Then they got back up and hugged some more...

The kids got some playground time as well.

Madeline and Alyssa swang on their tummies.

Madeline was so proud of her completed craft. Go Maddie!

Stone Hill Winery Tour

During our Branson trip this past week we visited the Stone Hill Winery store. They give a short tour which included a 6-minute movie, a tour of the bottling facility, and of course a wine tasting. I think we tried like 10 different wines. I'm not a wine lover in general and not much of a drinker at all (other than the occasional fruity Pina Colada or Rum Runner) but I did like a couple of the wines I sampled.

Sampling some red wine.

Yum yum!

Madeline was allowed to sample some beverages as well - sparkling and non-sparkling grape juice! Here she is with grandma.

A wine display in the store.

And more...




My favorite of all the wine I tried - Cream Sherry, which is a blend of sweetened wine and wine brandy. It's sweet with a warm kick to it! Excellent!!!

My second favorite was the Golden Rhine which was a semi-sweet white wine. I did purchase one bottle of each of the two I liked. Hoping I can find someone to come over and enjoy them with me!

Branson Vacation 2011

The past 5 years or so my mom, aunt, and I have taken a short trip down to Branson, Missouri each summer. The last three summers Madeline has joined us and then last year my mother-in-law and another aunt also came along. This year I had two aunts, my mom, and Madeline on the trip. We stayed 3 nights and enjoyed shopping, eating, and visiting the Titanic exhibit.

My aunt Susie loves to check out the old fashioned five and dime store in the old downtown Branson area. It's packed full of just everything. Madeline loves this store too! She even got to ride the horsey out front.

One store I look forward to every year is the Christmas store at the Grand Village Shops shopping area. This place has three big rooms just packed from floor to ceiling with Christmas decorations and orniments. I pick out a couple new orniments every year.


This is one of the rooms in the Christmas store. I love how each of the trees is decorated by theme (Santas, snowmen, kids orniments, animals, etc).


Madeline thought this big rocking chair was pretty cool.



Madeline's face says it all...this is how she feels about shopping all day with mom...



Looking happier here (fake smile)...

Cute!

She was having fun just running around and dancing.

She even found some fun little rides at one of the outlet malls.

Yee haw!

My cute girl!

This old car ride is neat. I got a photo of her last year on the same car. It's neat to see how much she's changed in a year.

The highlight of the trip for Maddie was going to Build a Bear. It was her first time getting to build a stuffed animal there. She picked a cute black and white doggie. She named it Fluffy. In the photo above she was helping the lady at the store put the heart in her puppy. She had Madeline first rub the heart on her nose so the puppy would know Madeline's smell, then she rubbed it on her ear so the puppy would listen to Madeline, then she gave it a kiss to fill the puppy's heart with lots of love. Then she put it inside the puppy and sewed the puppy up with all of it's stuffing inside.

After the puppy was all filled up Madeline had to give it a wash....

...then she got it dressed and we made out a birth certificate for it.

Madeline was so excited about her new puppy!

She gave it lots of hugs.

There was also this cool train at Branson Landing for the kiddies to ride.

Unfortunately the conductor was on lunch break so Madeline didn't get to ride it but we still got a couple photos.

We're hoping to take Madeline to Silver Dollar City next year when we go down. We would also like to try miniature golf! Can't wait!