Austin and spring fun

Well another month has come and gone and again I have waited till the end to get my blogging done! Madi and I had a busy month. We has a ton of fun in Austin visiting Aunt Crystal, Aunt Jenni and Uncle Danny, Madi also got to meet her new cousin Will. It was fun to see her interact with him.
She definitely hasn't slowed down much, we have learned the art of running away and now that is one of her favorite things to do! She also has become very vocal lately and some times we can actually understand her. She does have about a dozen words and LOVES to read. Most nights she reads her book to us instead. She also loves playing with her cousins and especially loves it when Alyssa or Shyler come to play!
We have continued to move and renovate the house and I am proud to say that the dust has cleared and our projects for the year are about done! Joe was able to get some much needed shelving in the garage for storage and finished off his man cave with built-in speakers and stadium seating. We also after 2 weeks of rain got all of the landscaping done just in time for the dry spell of colorado hit. Oh well I guess the sprinklers will have to work overtime!
Other than that May brought us some great moments of joy and some very hard sad moments but our hearts and prayers are with all our family and friends and we look forward to see what the summer has to offer.

Drivin the car with Daddy!!

I look sooo cute but I won't let go of my milk so mom can get a picture

Favorite breakfast spot and my favorite breakfast of choice (eggo waffle and milk!)

Best Buds, Madi and Lyssa rocking their babies to sleep

in the 'movie fort' with a snack and mickey mouse clubhouse

sidewalk chalk in the pouring rain! (I love the fact that my front porch is completely covered and is big enough that the rain can't really get to the front door)

So I don't typically blog about things I buy but I do have to say this stroller is truly a stroke of genius! (or designed by a mom!!) Its a Phil and Ted brand from Australia and is probably the best money I have ever spent. There are many cool features but I specifically like that it is a single stroller with a double seat attachment(alyssa is in the double) The seat can attach to the front or back of the stroller depending on the age of the 2 children. Since it is only the size of a single stroller it is so easy to maneuver in stores, malls, etc and it even makes a great double running stroller. I am so glad that I found this!! (and to answer the question once and for all I did NOT get this stroller because I am pregnant)

CHEESE

Frisbee golf in Austin

I am not stealing Will's blanket, I was just seeing how soft it was.....

New monkey friend! (Who now goes everywhere with us)

Naming Monkey

Giving monkey a bath

Wait give that back, what are you doing to my monkey(she didn't like the stuffing part at all)

My first trip to Build a Bear (or monkey in this case) Austin TX. Thanks Gram Ma!

Happy Mothers Day

She kept pointing to her ears all week, I later found out she had a double ear infection (her first at all)! Poor thing

Yummy TX BBQ!!!

By the end of dinner she was covered from head to toe in BBQ sauce.

Hey this isn't to hard! I don't know why everyone else needs ropes and harnesses.

Rock Climbing with Uncle Danny and Aunt Jenni

Uncle Danny promised that we wouldn't be wading through rivers...

I love my sister and her creative mind! She made the cutest food stands from plates, cans and paper for her book club!

Caught in the act! I stole mommys camera and hid in the bedroom taking pictures of my self... most look blurry but this one was cute!

It was so humid in Austin that Madis hair stayed super super curly it was so cute all week and I was so excited to show joe but no sooner did we take off in the plane and her curls went completely flat and have yet to bee seen again. :(

It was so hot that Madi got to run around in a diaper all week! She also found some fun playing with water, bowls, cookie cutters and spoons!Her first trip to the pool was so much fun! I have never seen this girl have so much fun in the water. It even got to the point that every time I would stick her in the tub she would want a swim diaper and her swim suit on...

With cousin Will

Birdy in the nest :)

Hi baby Will

On the plane! How did she score the window seat?

The house is finally a home!!

Here are the pictures that everyone has been waiting for! The house is finally finished and we absolutly love it and how all the renovations turned out!

Joe's 'man cave' complete with stuffed animals and toys :)
Finally a storage room that isn't a closet!!!

The awesome media room that my dad and joe built!

Garage

Craft room/office (We have enough room for both of us to have a desk!)

Madi's Monkey room

Looking at the guest bathroom and bedroom from the hallway

Looking into the master bath and closet (all built by joe and my dad, I picked out the tile :))

Awesome tile job done by my dad!

Master bedroom

looking in from the front door

living room

Dining room

Backyard (soon we'll have grass, all the rain as put it off for about a month)

Powder room

Kitchen looking out

Kitchen

Walking, talking and dancing

Madi has become quite the little lady lately. She finally started walking on her own and there doesn't seem to be anyone or anything that can stop her. She also has become very opinated and likes to pick out her own cloths in the morning. (Yesterday I had to let her wear her leotard and butterfly tutu. She also has been talking none stop and I am hoping one day that I will be able to actually understand her! She has been adjusting wonderfully to the new house and loves that she has toys and books in just about every room of the house. We finally moved into the house March 12th and have gotten unpacked and used to living on our own again. We were also able to have a great long weekend in Utah over Easter visiting my sister and grandparents it was great and Madi learned how to dance. She now has been dancing none stop everytime there is music on. We love her and she is definently keeping us busy!

Cool girl shades
future ballet dancer :)

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes

This is how she went to church, she picked out everything right down to the shoes, purse, and bracelets! (yes I know we are in trouble)

one hot day...

Madi over heard us talking about getting a swimming pool this summer....

next thing we know she is letting us know she agrees by playing in the dogs bowl...

keeping busy while mom cooks dinner

Learning to stand or doing yoga were not sure...

Reading her books, one of her most favorite things.

Maybe she will be the one who actually plays the piano

(since neither joe or I do the piano just kind of sits there)

Best buds!

Sleepover at Auntie Cycsle and Tot (Crystal and Scott)

Learning to dance

Where it all began...

So obviously I have been very neglectful in blogging for the past few months but I really do have good cause... Madi is doing well and is growing up and getting into everything. She has figured out how to walk on her own but she refuses simply because if she doesn't have a hand to hold then she knows that no one is following her... She also has started talking quite a bit and is very social. With the addition of 2 new nephews and a new little friend she also has become very interested in babies. She is very sweet when she plays with them but doesn't quite understand why they won't come when she calls them. The biggest news for us is that we finally closed on our house February 19th!!! Yes we own a home and yes we have yet to live in it :-(. This new house has kept us quite busy, hence the lack of blogging.

Now to explain the house situation. Yes we did buy a brand new house and it is wonderful, however we were very grateful to be able to make our house exactly how we wanted it and started the home improvement projects only a mer few hours after we signed the papers! First we pulled up the carpet and linoleum in the front room and kitchen. I didn't want to have to worry about constantly cleaning the front room carpet with a kid, dog, and mud for a yard so I really wanted wood in the front room. We decided that putting the wood throughout the whole main level would really open up the house so we finished that project and continued to the rest of the house. The builder build our house with a bonus room above the garage that they leave completely unfinished. We chose to use that large space as our master bedroom and so we had to add a bathroom and closet and finish the room up. With the upstairs started we carried on down to the basement. We have a full unfinished basement that we finished about half into a tv family room. So as you can tell these aren't the smallest or easiest projects but about 6 weeks later we are finally ready for the final inspections and will hopefully be moving in sometime this week!!! I currently have the before pictures and will post the after ones when I get things cleaned up! I definitely like the after better than the before what do you think??

Before: unfinished bonus room

Madi's room (1 of 3 others they pretty much all look the same)

Before: Kitchen
After: Kitchen

Before: Kitchen looking to front door
After: Kitchen

Before: Looking into kitchen from front door

After: Looking into kitchen from front door

Walking...kind of

So my daughter is incredibly stubborn (surprise surprise!) We know she can stand on her own and we know that she can walk because we have caught her a few times when she doesn't know we are looking, however she absolutely refuses. I'm pretty sure that it is only because she can definently get to where she wants to go by crawling or by holding a hand but oh well. We decided to try the walker again, she really enjoyed it when she was younger and I thought that maybe it would help her get more comfortable walking. Well.... as you can see she is walking but not really using the walker as she should.....oh well soon enough I guess!

Oh and a small house update. We have an official closing date of February 19th and right now the house is almost finished. If anyone wants to take a peak let me know and we can stop by anytime!

Family and 1 year pics