Football Friday

Today Maddy's school had football Friday. They decorate the foyer in TN and AL colors and have balloons and signs...it's really so very neat to walk in to. Obviously Maddy was dressed in orange today and I must she was so super cute...as she always is. I wanted to get a lot more pictures than I did, but we were running late as usual this morning and the director was at the front desk so I felt a little awkward trying to take a picture lol. I then tried to get a picture of Maddy in front of their decorated door, but right when I put her in front of the door it flew open...her class was going outside. Photo op number two didn't happen. When I went to pick her up I came prepared and at least got a couple of pictures.

 She was hyped up when I got her. She kept swinging the football behind her and I was scared she was going to break it because she was pushing it pretty hard. Then on her right side there were some Alabama balloons that she kept trying to bring down to her level. To get this picture she was not being still, which is why she looks like she does lol. She was rocking herself back and forth and I caught her on the up right before she went back.

Nana and Pops finished the rest of her swing set. She immediately noticed the glider and swang on it for a while. She wanted it to go fast like her swing, but it just doesn't. She was not too happy because our next door neighbor's kid came over and talked our ears off. My mom and step dad didn't really get to visit with Maddy at all due to the kid talking...he must be very lonely :)

I'm not a big football fan at all, but I will be rooting for the Vols...GO VOLS!!!

Hello Princess

It's been a bit of a rough day today...not gonna lie. I was getting Maddy ready for bed and decided to put her in a gown for her pajama's. As soon as I put her gown on her she immediately said, "I'm a princess!"  She twirled around and kept saying, "I'm a princess!" I have no idea where she even heard about princesses because we don't watch them here at home. My only guess is one of her friends at school likes them. It was so cute seeing her twirl around pretending she was a princess. She is so precious! I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of her in her gown, but I'm going to post some random pics of her.

 lol...this picture cracks me up! I went to check on her one night and found her all sprawled out like this. She was sound asleep. I'm really surprised she does as well as she does when we sleep in the same bed because she rolls around a lot, but she does really well. She cried and cried tonight because she wanted mommy to sleep with her. Talk about melting your heart. One of these days I will get her pouty face so I can show her when she gets older. This girl knows how to stick out her bottom lip and get her eyes just so...she looks so pitiful but then sometimes she will look like she's starting to smile a little...as if to say, "ha ha ha...i know how to work ya lol"

This isn't the best comparison of me and her. I have no idea how old I really am here. My hair isn't AS blonde as hers but it's close enough. We have different face shapes, but apart from that we look alike. I mean no, we aren't twins by any means but she does have some my features. I actually see a lot of her in my picture :) 

This post is random, but not for me. I think we are definitely headed towards the "princess" phase. Maybe soon we can start getting some of the Disney movies...although I must say there are some things in Disney movies I'm not sure I am ready to let her watch just yet. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday tomorrow! I for one am SUPER excited the weekend is here. I've had a rough end to my week but I'm trying my best to just trust God will pull me through. 

Boring Meal Planning

I have slacked off on my meal planning the past two weeks because I hadn't had time to get to the grocery store. Yes, we ate but I had to scrounge around trying to figure out what we would eat. I finally got to Wal-Mart on Sunday to get things we had to have and picked up a few extras. I am hoping to get back into the swing of couponing this week to get stocked back up. Since getting my mom planner/calender it has helped me to really get things organized and it truly makes life so much easier. I have a spot for meal planning and all I have to do is cook it :) Here is what my "weekly" calender looks like...yes, I even schedule my cleaning and exercise lol.

Here is our meal plan for this week...so far I have really stuck with it.

Monday: Chicken fettuccine alfredo

Tuesday: Chicken Teriyaki w/rice and broccoli (we left out the broccoli and had macaroni instead)

Wednesday: Lunchable for Maddy and leftovers for me

Thursday: Spaghetti w/garlic toast

Friday: leftovers

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: Beef stroganoff

I hope you all are having a great week so far!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Over the weekend we went to OUR second annual pumpkin patch :) This year my sister and her family decided they'd like to go with us. It was a bit of a trying day because Maddy would not take a nap. We went out early to do a little shopping. I'm in search of boots and because I don't know much about boots and the do's and don'ts it took a little longer than I anticipated. We also got Maddy's halloween costume and to my surprise she did not pick Minnie Mouse...she chose to be a lady bug. She has a love for ladybugs. I also was searching for her some shoes because she only has one pair right now that she can wear and they are pink and while they go with most of her outfits, there are some outfits they just don't match very well. I knew exactly what I wanted to get her but can you believe that the three stores I went in did not have her size on anything really. She is size 8.5. I've found that after size 6 it's just been so hard finding anything she can wear. I decided to just order them online. I really need them for Friday because they are having their football Friday where they dress up in their favorite teams colors. She has a TN cheerleader outfit and pink definitely will not go lol. Anyways, she fell asleep on the way up to the pumpkin patch, but unfortunately after a few minutes of being asleep we had to slam on our brakes which made her head fall forward and from there on out she was awake. I'm going to let the pictures do the talking, but I will say it really seemed as if everybody had a really good time.

 Getting her to sit still and look at me and smile was just impossible. She would sit and look straight for literally .2 seconds before she was moving around trying to find things to do.

 Last year she wouldn't attempt to "milk" the cow. This year, she was all over it. I think it had something to do with my youngest niece doing it too. Maddy ended up sitting on the ground where all the water was going and had one muddy leg. After that luckily it was time to go in lol

 This is called the corn popper. All the kids had a ball on it! Maddy kept wanting to go back on it. I actually thought it would be loads of fun to do myself, I didn't see any adults on it so I decided to just be a mom and watch  :)

 Maddy could swing on the tire swing this year. Again, not something she could do last year. They didn't go high at all. She didn't like it as much...I think she felt like she was going to fall because she's used to a bucket swing where she can just sit there and enjoy.

 Even Nana joined in on the fun. It was so cute. Maddy "helped" my mom climb up on the bale of hay...she is such a caring little girl.

 Of coarse the corn box. It feels so good in there. It's a great way to relax. One of the moms said she'd like a bed made out of corn..I kinda wouldn't mind trying one of those myself lol.

 I thought this was a neat shot.

 Maddy takes baby everywhere and makes sure she gets to have some fun too. After this picture she did forget about baby...and so did I for that matter. Luckily my mom saw it and put it in her bag for us lol

 On our way to the pumpkin patch

Maddy had a ball looking for her a pumpkin. She originally had a small orange one that was sitting all by itself. For some reason she decided she didn't want it after all and when it was time to find "the one" she ended up with this tiny tiny green one. I liked her first one better because it was orange and bigger, but really in truly this was the perfect size for her. She carried it around and was proud of her pumpkin. My mom is keeping the pumpkins the kids picked out to decorate her front yard with. She sent me a picture and it is so cute. I will have to take a picture myself because the one she has has my nieces in the picture and my sister doesn't want their picture all over the internet :(

It was a fun filled day!

Favorite Moment

Ever since getting her swing set for her birthday, Maddy asks every day if she can play outside. Unfortunately for her she generally only gets to play outside on Monday and Friday during the week and then of coarse Saturday and Sunday. This week has been a little different. We weren't able to make it outside on Monday. Tuesday is bath night. Wednesday was Maddy's dr. appt. and we had no church. I had already told her she could play outside which had her super pumped. Before having a swing set all Maddy talked about was the slide, but I think since getting a swing set she has really come to love the swing. I love spending time with Maddy no matter what we are doing, but pushing her on the swing has become my favorite. We talk the entire time and I get to really see how she thinks and what she likes and things like that. It's a real bonding time and I just love it. I decided to video a little bit tonight. I only have the video camera on my phone since mine is broken. It's a little long because she just stared in the beginning. Anytime I pull out my camera she quits doing what she's doing and just stares.

She is such a good mommy and takes really good care of her baby. When she swings she notices the sky and the birds and hears all the noises and asks what it is. She also says she thinks it's going to rain tomorrow all the time lol. I'm so happy we were able to give her a swing set to play on...she absolutely LOVES it!

3 Year Check-Up

So I was a little late this year in getting Maddy to her 3 year well check. Her birthday party planning completely took over everything and I found myself a week later never having called to set up the appointment. I have since ordered me not one, but TWO mom planners lol. One is a normal planner you take with you and then the other is a magnetic calender you can hang on the refrigerator.

It's really amazing and from now on will be my planner of choice. They give you space to write in your family members names so you can see who is doing what. I know I only have a family of two...well three because Manny is definitely family and has his own spot, but between work and church and home I found myself forgetting to do a lot of things. Now I have our events scheduled in and I can rest a little easier.

Maddy had her dr. appointment yesterday at 2:10. It was the fastest appointment ever. She weighs 30.5 lbs and is in the normal range and is 3'2 tall which landed her in the 72nd percentile. Her BMI is 14.85. Her doctor's office has completely changed. They took her picture when we signed in...I guess to keep in the chart. Instead of looking on the paper for the growth chart is completely done on a laptop now. My favorite thing is they now send a copy of the stats with you now so I don't have to remember how much she weighed and all that. I just wish they put on there where she fell in the growth chart. Maddy was a bit nervous so she was super quiet and stayed attached to me. She did super well. Luckily there were no shots...there will be next year :( She is going into size 4T. She's been in a 4T shirt for a while, but we're slowly fading pants into 4T. She's still in a size 4 diaper/pull up. Yesterday I decided to let her wear her big girl panties. She LOVES them, but it didn't help in the potty area. She pottied on her bed and didn't tell me until we were fixing to go play outside. This morning for school she got mad at me because she couldn't wear her big girl panties to school. I'm going to start putting them on her when we get home.

Random Thoughts

I know I have been starting out or at least talking about how rampant the devil seems to be running lately. This post is no different. I myself am being attacked and I know several other people are as well. Through this rough time I have at least learned something, although it's sometimes going to be easier said than done. One thing I have learned is that regardless of our situation or circumstance, our joy should still be there. I have been reading the wonderful devotional my mom got me and I am amazed at how personal it feels. I'm going to write a portion of the devotion for October 5. "Remember that joy is not dependent on your circumstances. Some of the world's most miserable people are those whose circumstances seem the most enviable...True joy is a by-product of living in My Presence. Therefore you can experience it in palaces, in prisons...anywhere..." The next day, October 6 it talked about following Him wherever He leads though we may not see the big picture...walk by faith not by sight. I could go on and on up through today because everything  has just been so relevant to what has been going on in my life. I've recently learned of another fellow blogger who tragically lost her husband over the weekend. They have an 11 month old daughter and I just cannot even begin to fathom the pain she must be feeling. She lost the love of her life and became a single mother in just one night. Her daughter will never know who her father is. Sure she will hear stories, but she herself will have no memory of him. Today was a silent day of blogging and I chose to participate. It's not quite midnight, but it's close enough. I have prayed and thought about this family all day today. I do not know them at all, but my heart aches for them. As my personal circumstances got worse I read about how the uphill journey has been long and it's okay to vent but to vent to God because it helps us see things from His perspective. When things get real hard I do tend to want to complain. I thought of this sweet lady from Arkansas who was dealing with an unexpected death and how she has not one time complained over social media or her blog. Her entire world has been flipped upside down and if she can keep from complaining, so can I.
The second thing I have learned in all this is that I need to trust God COMPLETELY. I need to not worry about the future or try to plan for this or for that because it makes me self-sufficient. This is the part that is easier said than done. I know God has a plan for me and I know He will take care of me...I just have to trust . I had such a great year last year that I think I walked into this year thinking it was gonna be so easy. I didn't need to rely on God as much...I could take the reigns. When things get hard I cling to Him and when things get easy I tend to let go. I think I have a plan to work on that, but I won't know until I try :)

My blog is having a minor change. It will still look the same, it's just getting a different name with it's own domain and few other changes on the back end. These changes aren't entirely my choice, but I feel it's the best decision for now.

I am so thankful God loves not just me, but all of us. I am so thankful that He is patient with us because I have been quite slow in learning the lessons He has for me. If you are going through hard times please know I am praying for you. I may not know your name or the specifics of your situation but He does.