10.31.10 - Happy Halloween!

Maddie and Nate pose with their "punks."


Dressed as a K-State cheerleader (because she refused to wear her original cupcake costume), Maddie's first stop trick-or-treating was at Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd's house.


She wasn't much into taking pictures. When Grandma Shepherd asked her to blow me a kiss, she made a fish face.


From there, we headed to Nan and Pop's house where we trick-or-treated in the neighborhood with Brent and Tori and their kids. Gramma Karen and Nan (and Harley!) went along, too.


Maddie held tight to her Tootsie Rolls.


Checking out her loot at the end of the night.


We thought she was going to want to sleep with her basket of candy. She didn't want to let go of it to be buckled in. We got home and she danced around the living room a bit but it didn't take her long to wind down.

10.26.10 - First masterpiece

Lisa had a couple of older kids at daycare today and she had them working on an art project. Simply coloring wasn't enough for Maddie. Lisa says she insisted on doing what the big kids were doing. Lisa put some glue on each piece but Maddie decided where they'd go. It's her first masterpiece and it's proudly on display on our fridge!

10.23.10 - Socks

Maddie likes to put on socks. Her socks. Her mom's socks. Her dad's socks. So today she sported a pair of my black dress socks with her pink sandals. Stylish, no?

10.16.10 - Headin' to the Punk Patch

In what's becoming an annual tradition, Gramma Karen and Grampy Keith treated us to an outing to the "punk" patch. This year, Gramma Karen won four free tickets to Applejack Pumpkin Patch. It's the only one we've been to but so far it's our favorite! It's located on Kellogg between Andover and Augusta. Maddie loved walking all over the place. In fact, most of the pictures I have of her are from behind because she wouldn't stay interested in anything longer than five seconds and I couldn't always predict where she was gonna go!


She found several that she liked although she ended up getting one from the patch with Grampy Keith.


There were a ton of activities and games in addition to the patch. While most kids were mesmerized by actually trying to push a plastic duck from one end of the water ramp to the other, our daughter was busy splashing in the water tanks below. "Wha-der! Wha-der! Wha-der!"


Really, she was only interested in walking. And walking. And walking some more. We switched shirts at this point because it felt more like summer than fall.


We photographed Maddie in front of this sign last year but, as you might have guessed, she's have none of that standing still nonsense long enough for me to get a photo of her this year. Nate, on the other hand, did great with a little help from his mommy.

10.15.10 - Wildcat foofiness

Maddie models a K-State tutu made by our neighbor, Tori, who runs a home-based business called Cutie Pie Boutique, which specializes in infant and toddler fashion accessories. She wore a similar tutu for her first birthday but is otherwise not exposed to anything foofy or princess.

On the contrary to this headline, K-State was anything BUT foofy in pounding KU 59-7 yesterday. Go State!

10.11.10 - Pee-pee in the potty!

Angie is so excited because, at that moment, we have pee-pee in the potty! There's a more risque version of this photo that will embarrass Maddie on her wedding day.

(Please pardon the mess. The bathroom is currently under renovation.)

10.10.10 - Little House on the Prairie

Gramma Karen bought Maddie an indoor playhouse at a garage sale yesterday. We set it up in the basement after Maddie went to sleep so it would be a surprise first thing this morning. We waited with eager anticipation for her reaction yet she didn't even notice it.


But this animal train (also a garage sale find) that we've had forever is AWESOME!


Actually, once she found it, she loved it! Thanks, Gramma Karen!

10.08.10 - Lisa's playhouse

Maddie likes playing outside at Lisa's house. She likes to throw balls and drive the toy cars. Recently, she learned how to climb in the playhouse. We witnessed this today. Another Maddie made sure our Maddie didn't fall!


I think she was talking to her Nan!


Crawling through the tunnel!


Stopping to count the rocks.