12.30.11 - Maddie's 3rd birthday party

We celebrated Maddie's third birthday party tonight. We celebrated with a taco dinner, including black beans that Maddie has been saying for months she would eat on her birthday. Do you think she ate any? Of course not! After dinner we opened presents and ate a Strawberry Shortcake chocolate cake - that Angie made - with ice cream. The house was packed, we now own every conceivable Strawberry Shortcake toy that can possibly be made and Maddie went to bed a happy three-year-old.

07.31.11 - "Good job, Suzie!"

Gramma Karen dropped off a new play mat for Tommy tonight. Maddie overheard her tell Tommy "good job" more than once. So as soon as Tommy was done with it, Maddie raced to her room, got a baby and a changing pad. She played for awhile, reassuring her baby doll by saying, "Good job, Suzie! Good job!"

05.04.11 - New shoes

As mentioned over on Tommy's blog, Gramma Karen stopped by today and wouldn't ya know? She brought prizes! Maddie got a new hat and a new pair of shoes. She wore them all night! Thanks, Gramma Karen!

04.24.11 - "I find 'em!"

Maddie was super excited that the Easter bunny was coming today! After church, we headed over to Gramma Karen and Grampy Keith's house for brunch and an egg hunt. She knew there'd be an egg hunt and on the way, while giggling somewhat sinisterly, said "I find 'em!"


And she did! We think she had more than anyone else. We're pretty sure she'll beat up her brothers in the coming years if they find more than her.


What's in this one? Chocolate? Jelly beans? A quarter?


There's the Egg Hunters for the day! From left: Nate, Taylor, Keiton, Emerson, Savannah and Maddie.

04.16.11 - Fancy shades

Thanks for the new fancy shades, Gramma Karen!

04.09.11 - In your face, Daddy!

I can't wait to show this photo to Maddie tomorrow. (As soon as I open the laptop, she'll say, "Find me, Daddy!" at which point I'll have to show her a photo of herself.) She was getting a push on the swing by Gramma Karen as I was shooting photos of Nate with Grampy in the sandbox. I was intentionally shooting with my fisheye lens, which means I had to be super-close to the pinnacle of her swing to make this photo. On my first attempt, I got too close and Maddie kicked me. She thought that was funny and I spent a few minutes "pretending" to be kicked so that she'd give me a good laugh.

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.

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!

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!

02.27.10 - Little reader

Maddie loves to sit in a little chair at Lisa's day care so we searched online and found this adorable little reading chair! Gramma Karen and Grampy Keith decided they'd go in half on it and ordered it last week. They delivered it today and was it a hit! Maddie loves it!

If you're wondering, her shirt reads "That's 'Miss Cutie' to you!"

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!