03.26.11 - Learning to read

Never to early to start reading!

03.23.11 - Big sister in charge

As if she needed a shirt to say so ...

01.02.11 - Woooo Hoooo! Maddie's 2!

Rubber Ducky you're the one, you make birthdays so much fun!


Someone thought they'd be funny and sneak some contraband into the party. I didn't think I had to worry about stuff like this until she was a teenager!


She liked 'em. Ugh.


Blue punch! (Because ducks swim on water, duh!) Maddie's got one clever Mommy!


Opening her first gift. Harley wants to know if there's anything to eat.


Nope, it's Maddie's first camera!


What's this one? "A BOX!" Well, yes. But look over there. There was actually something in the box, silly!


Get outta my way, tissue paper!


Grampy Keith and Nan and Pop watch as Nate tries to get in on the action.


Maddie lets Nate help open a gift.


Maddie sneaks a bite of icing before we can sing Happy Birthday to her. She ate the icing, ice cream and M&Ms but pretty much turned her nose up at the cake.


She had no problems blowing out her candle.


Her most special gift came from Nan and Pop. Nan's dad (that's Maddie Great Great Grandpa Scheer) made this baby bed for Nan when she was a little girl - nearly 75 years ago! And if you ask Maddie how many babies she has (between Christmas and her birthday) she just says, "more."

And in our house, ain't that the truth?!! Happy second birthday, Maddie Girl!

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.

10.16.10 - 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.

08.24.10 - Another milestone

Maddie is 20 months old today. Today also marks the one-year anniversary that Maddie has been going to daycare at Lisa's house. One year ago, Angie had to hold on to her so she wouldn't fall over. Today she had to hold on to her so she wouldn't run away!

08.06.10 - Scheer Family Reunion

The day after the Royals game, we did a little shopping then headed out to the Scheer Family Reunion. Angie's grandma, Nan, is one of 11 Scheer children. Maddie went swimming in a big pool for the first time before we headed inside to watch a magic show. Truthfully, I think the way Gramma Karen and Nan look at Maddie and Nate is magical, but that's just me. After dinner, we made the drive back to Wichita. Angie even volunteered to drive for a bit so I could ride in back with the kids. We listened to lullabies as the setting sun burned on the horizon. What a great weekend!

07.13.10 - Sprinkler mats, garden hoses and fountains, oh my!

You mean water shoots out of the ground, too?

To say Maddie has been into water play lately would be an understatement. Tonight she frolicked in the fountains at NewMarket Square.

05.26.10 - We've been invaded!

Our house has been invaded by babies and all their stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

03.22.10 - Good example

I hope this is the first of many good examples Maddie will set for her brother, Nate. She sat there and ate all her food just as if she were at home.

It was only a year ago that she was asleep in that car seat. Amazing how time flies!

02.13.10 - Haunted house

Maddie loves to take Nate's burpie rags, put them over her head, and crawl around the house. She looks like a little ghost although, as you can tell, she isn't the least bit scared!

02.08.10 - They grow up so fast

We swear, Maddie has grown about a foot after bringing her brother home from the hospital last week. We didn't see her for three days and we feel like we missed so much! Our baby is walking and now likes to wear this bow in her hair. Tomorrow, she's off to college!

02.06.10 - "No one asked me if I wanted a brother!"

And, no. I don't want him to sit by me.

The next frame in this sequence and Maddie is on the other side of the couch sitting next to Harley, who, I assume, is as displeased about today's events as Maddie is!

02.04.10 - Sisters stick together

We're starting to really miss our girls and we hope they miss us to but every time we call to check on them we're told they're doing fine. Grampy Keith snapped this photo of them looking out their front door today. They sure like they're looking for us!

02.03.10 - Rare form

Maddie's hanging out with Gramma Karen and Grampy Keith while her Mom and I are in the hospital having her brother. Before they headed to their house tonight, they stopped by to see Nan and Pop where we're told she was in rare form! Just being silly. Gramma Karen says the photo doesn't do her justice but we get the idea!