Colorado

Recently we spent 9 wonderful days in one of our favorite places- Colorado. It was a welcome respite from the brutal triple digit temps in Texas. The weather was awesome, scenery was beautiful and we got to spend time with friends and family. We broke up the drive into 2 days and the girls were great. We spent some time in Denver visiting Grammie Great and our friends the Nelson's (pics to follow in another post). Then we headed west to Edwards (just outside of Vail) to meet up with Gigi, Papa, Aunt Lindsey & Uncle John, Aunt Lauren, and Lexa (Lauren's roommate) & our friends the Weaver's. We stayed in an incredible house next to the Eagle River and spent the week hiking, horse back riding, playing at the park and anything else outside simply because we could:-)

Audrey and I at Vail Market. I don't have pictures of it but she LOVED playing in the fountains all over vail. It was bordering on an obsession;-)

The Shoemake/Taylor crew getting ready for the Missouri Lakes hike. A beautiful 3 mile uphill hike, however not baby or 3 yr old friendly so obviously they did not take part. I volunteered to stay with them while they napped and I had an afternoon of quiet to read- so tough right?

A very happy Dad

Pretty amazing once you reach the top. Snow in August- love it!

This is the free pony ride at Beaver Creek. Didn't take long to learn why it was free. As Audrey put it, "the pony won't go!" Lucky for her she went on another pony ride at the top and Vail and this time the pony was much more cooperative.

Mount up! Our guide was awesome and I loved my first horseback riding adventure.

Madeleine and Papa intensely checking out the surroundings at Beaver Creek. Shortly after this picture, Madeleine got a hold of the flowers behind her and managed to put them in her mouth (like she does with everything these days) without anyone noticing...at least not right away.

Papa, Gigi, and Audrey in the gondola headed to the top of the Mountain at Vail. There was an outdoor concert along with lots of family activities. It was a great way to spend our last night in Colorado. While up there, our fearless 3 year old flew like a bird. Check out the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tam6p8Wcs1g

Audrey with her new BFF's the Weaver's

Once the sun went down in was pretty chilly- Madeleine didn't seem to mind though. It's tough being a baby.

Lindsey, Lauren, Cory and Papa

I wish I had more pictures of Lindsey and John and our friend Lisa with the girls- they had so much fun with them & Audrey told us she was very sad when we left CO because all her friends were gone. I'm ready to go back...I've been told there are only 92 days until Thanksgiving break;-)

Beach post #3

12 days at the beach was a welcome break from the TX heat. It was even better because the girls & I got to spend so much time with Uncle Mikey & Uncle Tim (Cory had to come home after 4th of July). We see them on average 2 times a year so we loved spending so much time with them and with their girlfriends- Mallory & Kristin. Audrey loved all of the attention and having so many friends to go "kick kick" (swimming) with. She would ask one person to go in the water with her & as soon as they came out and sat back down in their beach chair she would ask someone else. This pattern continued throughout the day.

SPF 100 and her hat everyday. No sunburns for my fair skinned babies!

Madeleine enjoyed the beach but preferred to stay in her tent and nap. Seriously, how much better does it get?

Mike: " I am a trained professional so follow me this way to the beach."

Audrey helping her Uncles build a ditch to protect us from high tide.

Everyone is helping out now

Kristin, Tim, Mallory and Mike.

Smile everyone..Madeleine was napping per the usual:-)

Beach post # 2

So while on vacation we ate..a lot. Donuts and crumb cake for breakfast, sub sandwiches for lunch, lobster, clams and salmon for dinner and you cannot go to the beach without going to the local ice cream shop at least 4 or 5 times.

Audrey was more than a little surprised when I told her we were getting ice cream for lunch one day. Hey, it's on the way home from the beach and Daddy wasn't there so Mommy got to make the rules.

No trip to the beach in complete with a visit to Seaside Heights and the Sawmill. They serve the biggest pizza's I have ever seen. Mike and Mal are holding a piece that was cut in half. So yummy!

Mommy and Audrey being silly .

Audrey was not a fan of lobster. My child will pet a snake, touch cockroaches and pet snapping turtles but she was terrified of a cooked lobster. Seconds after this picture she turned and ran the other way.

She did like the clams though.

The girls and I with my Grandpa

4th of July (beach post # 1)

This year we spent 4th of July in New Jersey and although we were very close to Seaside there were no Snooki sightings. Now that the "kids" are adults and some have kids of their own it makes it difficult for my entire family to stay at my grandparents beach house. 18 adults, 2 dogs, a 3yr old and a 4 month old all under one roof is not my idea of a relaxing vacation. So this year we rented a friend's beach house that was a block away from my grandparent's and only 3 houses from the beach. We stayed there along with my parents, Mike & Mallory and Tim & Kristin. It worked out great, plenty of space for everyone and the beach was steps away:-)

Mikey took this awesome picture of a storm rolling in...it lasted only 30 minutes and then the sun came out again. Most days were in the 80's, the water was an average temp of 68 and there was always beer in the cooler!

Mallory took this picture of Audrey in her 4th of July gear. It's one of my favorite pictures from our trip- thanks Mal!

Madeleine: "Ummm...what are you so excited about sister?"

Audrey: "It's 4th of July!"

Madeleie: "Well I guess I should be excited then too."

Audrey: "Actually you'll be asleep during all of the fireworks, but maybe next year..."

My cousin Christina (who is Audrey's new favorite friend- she's asks for her about 100 times a day), Audrey and Sushie walking to the 4th of July celebration.

All of the brave men who have served our country are honored each year during the 4th of July celebration in the township where my Grandparent's house is. It started out as a small backyard get together 20 years ago and now involves the flag raising by the fire department & fire truck, a cannon, bagpipes, and a fly over.

Daddy daughter ending...wonder what they're talking about?

Counting how many sprinkles are left on her chocolate donut?

4 months!

It is so hard for me to believe that Madeleine is already 4 (really 41/2) months old. We were at the beach when she turned 4 months and her check up wasn't until last Friday so I wanted to wait until we had her stats to post about it. Our sweet baby girl is off the charts in both height and weight. She has grown an incredible 7 3/8 inches in 4 months and now measures 27 3/8 inches long. Looks like she may take after her Uncles and reach over 6 feet tall. She weighs 17lbs 15oz- meaning that she has almost tripled her weight in 4 months. I know that you aren't supposed to compare your children but I think it's interesting that Audrey was 6 months before she weighed 17lbs and 9 months before she was this long. I enjoyed my Dad's explanation of her off the charts measurements...he said that she is simply a natural born leader and already ahead of the class in all aspects:-)

Madeleine is honestly one of the happiest babies I have ever seen. I may be biased but seriously she is all smiles, giggles and grins unless she is tired or hungry. She LOVES her big sister and watches Audrey all the time. Audrey in turn is an amazing big sister. She loves to help change diapers, bathe her little sister, hugs and kisses her constantly and my favorite...holds her hand when they are in their car seats. So sweet!

I love this picture - what a face!

Madeleine loves to sit up & see what is going on around her. She cannot do this by herself but is perfectly content to sit in my lap and take everything in. She is still very much a cuddle bug, especially right before nap time. Her newest accomplishment (aside from drooling on everything) is rolling over. She rolls in slow motion but it's so cute to watch her concentrate so hard and then grin from ear to ear once she does it.

She is also a great sleeper like her big sister. She is asleep most nights by 7pm and will wake once to nurse around 3 am. I am looking forward to the day she sleeps through the night but she is such a quick nurser that she's only up for about 10 minutes and goes right back to sleep.

It's hard to imagine our family without our happy Madeleine and I am trying my best to soak up what little time is left of my summer break with my sweet girls.

Happy Father's Day

I know it's early but I took this sweet picture of Cory and Madeleine a few nights ago & wanted to share it. I don't say it often enough~ Cory is an INCREDIBLE Dad to all of our sweet girls (Shelby too!). To Cory and all our Daddy friends out there I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day!

Growing like a weed

Our sweet little Madeleine is 3 months now and so much fun! I love to kiss those chunky cheeks and she smiles and talks back to me every time. She has been a pretty easy baby so far and has been a lot like Audrey in so many ways. She is a great napper and pretty easy going just like her big sister was. She is finally sleeping longer stretches- woohoo!!! She's asleep most nights by 8pm and wakes around 2am for a feeding and then back to sleep till 5 or 6 with a short nap after that. I cannot imagine our little family without her:-)

Getting ready....

And there's the smile!

After Madeleine was born my Mom stayed with us for a week. Now we all know how much Mom loves to play in the dirt. Well she's passing that along to Audrey and while she was here they planted sunflower seeds. Audrey loves to go outside and see how tall her flowers are. Here is the most recent picture. I can't wait to see her face when the flowers bloom.

I usually hate Texas summers because of how ridiculously hot it gets. However, yesterday morning was actually really nice. After checking on Audrey's sunflowers we had breakfast on the deck and played outside for a awhile.

And finally this s Audrey being silly. She likes to try out most of Madeleine's toys...I was surprised she could actually get in the car seat.

A Woodlands Week

As I said in the last post, we spent last week at my parent's house in The Woodland's. Overall a great trip and several 1st's for the girls. Madeleine "swam" for the first time and loved it. She started kicking her feet as soon as we got in the pool.... or maybe she was flailing her legs in shock. Either way she smiled the entire time. Another first for both the girls was a boat ride around Lake Woodlands. It was a beautiful night and we had dessert and wine~who could ask for more?:-) We had a great time with Big Guy and Sushie and look forward to more fun with them when we head to the Jersey shore in a few weeks.

Enough pictures Mom, we want to swim!

Madeleine's first dip in the pool.

Sushie with the girls.

Nap/Movie time for both girls on Sushie's bed. The weeks activities wore them both out b/c they slept GREAT!

This pic was taken seconds before Audrey licked the ice cream that we were all sharing. There was no sharing after she claimed it all with that lick- gross!

Another carousal ride- Audrey loved it last summer so we had to go again this year.

Audrey and Sushie getting ready for the big boat ride.

Madeleine is excited too! Can't you tell by all the drool?

Audrey loved seeing the dragon. She is a huge fan of the movie "How to Train a Dragon" so this made the boat ride even more fun.

We are working on posing like a lady...at least she was wearing shorts under her skirt.

Captain Audrey. She found the horn extremely entertaining and honked at everything...people, ducks, boats, you name it.