03.25.12 - "I'm the king of the castle!"

Maddie stands atop the sandbox lid tonight and proclaims, "I'm the king of the castle!"

King? Well, there's this book called "Always" that I like to read her at bedtime. It's about a puppy who protects the castle where his little girl lives. One page in particular reminds me of Harley. It's clearly one of my favorites. Tonight, in fact, at bedtime, Maddie picked out two books she wanted me to read and then said, "After that you can read Always because it's your favorite."

No, Maddie. You're my favorite. Don't tell your brothers. :)

12.24.11 - Maddie's 3rd birthday

Maddie turned 3 today!


We celebrated during breakfast - chocolate chip bagels from Panera.


So proud of herself for blowing out the candles.


The birthday bunny she got from Santa a few days ago joined us at the table.


Her birthday prizes included a couple of Strawberry Shortcake paper books.


Again, so proud!


Christmas Eve is Angie's mom's family's big Christmas celebration so we spent most of the afternoon and evening at Nan and Pop's house. We sang Happy Birthday to Maddie at the minute of her birth. She sang along, too, while cuddled close to Nan.

Happy Birthday, Maddie Girl!

08.13.11 - Silly faces

One of our current books checked out from the library is called "Silly Faces."

We have three of them!

08.03.11 - A little heavy reading?

When we told Maddie that Angie works in a library, she got really excited and said, "I want to go there." Medical school libraries aren't known for their selection of kids material but Maddie grabbed a couple of review books and made herself at home.

03.26.11 - Learning to read

Never to early to start reading!

01.25.11 - More books

Maddie went to the library for the first time tonight. She was overwhelmed at first and why not? It's a room full of books! We checked out five books, due back in four weeks, and we read them at bedtime. We'll probably go back sooner than four weeks.

02.11.10 - Story time

Nate might have been sleeping when the grandparents came to visit today but Maddie sure wasn't. She insisted on reading one of her favorite books with Grandma Shepherd. We're so thrilled that she loves books so much!