Daddy's Girl

There are some advantages to being the only girl...a Valentine's date with Daddy! They tried to hide their excitement: "Smalling Gothic"

But she was starting to crack...

Finally she admitted that she was slightly excited about a night away from the brothers.

What a special girl and special daddy! I hope she never forgets how dearly she is loved!

Her last year in single digits

"What?! Seriously?! I'm like an old woman or something!" Yes, my baby Maa-maa is NINE! Actually, I think she was in disbelief over the cashola in her birthday card, but she did totally say that when I told her it was her last year in single digits.

Maddy posing with Memaw and the Hannah Montana jackpot

Maddy posing with her recently-returned-from-Honduras Dani and a Barbie princessThey all look like they're in varying degrees of pain. I guess it is that bad posing with your brothers. She only felt obligated because they'd just given her the "Fairies" book you see in her lap.
At least somebody's happy!!
Why are the pictures of them together always almost good? If not for 8 different minor things, it would be a great picture :)

Happy 9th Birthday, Madeline Jean! I love you, sweet girl!

Zai jian, Mei Lin

This is part of Maddy's Mandarin Chinese class at our church in Nashville. She loved learning the language and culture. That makes her language-nerd mama proud :) Her class had a going-away party for her before we moved, with cupcakes, snacks, a card, and a gift of a Chinese dress and purse bought by friends of ours when they went to China to adopt their precious daughters! We are so blessed with such thoughtful and generous people!!

The board says "To: Mei Lin [her Chinese name] Zai jian [Goodbye!]

I am so impressed with how well she picked up the language, especially learning characters and the very specific sounds and tones necessary to speak. My nine year old can carry on a (basic) conversation in THREE languages!

My China Doll

Actually, this is Luke, NOT my China doll :) But he was too cute not to include. There's my China doll below, in the pink, making Moon Cakes with her Chinese class teacher, lau shi Wang (blue ponytail), to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. We have several Chinese members at church who have come through the Let's Start Talking program that is offered. We also have several families who have adopted from China in the last few years. Two of the Chinese families decided to offer a beginning Chinese class for children on Sunday afternoons and Madeline jumped at the chance. She's always been very interested in China and seems to have inherited her mama's love of languages, so this has been a great fit for her. They now are using a book and are really buckling down and learning a lot. Even drawing characters and such. I am so impressed by the teachers and also the students who are working hard to learn a language that is COMPLETELY different than anything they've ever known. It's a beautiful culture and fascinating language...but this is about Madeline! So the class gathered at the home of one of the teachers to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival together. You can read about this and the Moon Cakes they're making by following the links above. They were surprisingly (they're made from bean paste, but are sweet) delicious!

Here's Madeline with her twin, Jenna. When you're in elementary school, wearing the same shirt (yay Target) is a good thing! Here they are working hard. I had to make Maddy give other people a turn. She loved this. They use a special kind of wooden mold to press the cakes and then bang it to get it out. She really enjoyed that part :)


Angie, Luke and Jenna

Madeline gets her due...

Two days in a row, I got very similar pictures of Madeline Jean:


(yes, we were sitting still at a stoplight in the car pictures)

Can't you just hear the "Mo-om!" She likes to pretend that she doesn't like the attention, but we all know she loves Mom's obnoxious documentation of every stinkin' little thing :) I love this girl!

**Even more Madeline pictures to come, I promise! The Chinese book in her lap is a clue!**

Some Random Cuteness

helper

A couple of weeks ago, I had had a rough night with Luke and was late getting the boys ready for Mother's Day Out. Well, I'm usually late, but even later than usual. I finally got them ready to go, but needed to nurse Luke before we headed out the door. I said, to myself but apparently outloud, that I still needed to fix their lunches after I nursed Luke. Lo and behold, when I went to the kitchen to fix lunches, the sandwich fairy had left these:

My little fairy-Maddy had not only MADE 2 pb&j sandwiches, but even put them in baggies and stacked them neatly. AND...PUT UP THE PB&J. She's a better woman than me! I'm so thankful for Madeline Jean for the precious little girl she is, but I'm also really thankful for all the ways she helps out our family! Love you, Jean-Jean!!

Lukey Lovin' 7-9-08

Madeline the Photographer

Strep

I was just telling Aunt Maggie how thankful I was (and still am) that we had fared pretty well this flu season and all been pretty healthy.

So it only makes sense that today poor Madeline woke up with strep. And in case I have fooled you into believing I am a decent mother and my life is all snow cream and hot chocolate, let me just say that I sent her to school. Yes, her throat hurt and I did nothing but check her forehead (with my hand, not a thermometer or anything), declare she did not have a fever, give her motrin for the discomfort, and send her on to school.

It took less than 30 minutes for her to convince the sub that she needed to go see Nurse Beth, her new best friend. Now, we had a spell recently where Madeline went to Nurse Beth daily complaining of her ear hurting. It was obviously nothing, because we never got a note home about it, and she never mentioned her ear hurting to me AT ALL. We finally did get a note home saying Madeline was coming in almost daily, so maybe we should take her to the doctor. I mentioned this option to Madeline, and she immediately asked if there would be a shot involved. I might have told her that that was a good possibility. Miraculously, the mysterious ear pain stopped. Amazing. Noah had also been complaining about his ear hurting, but only on days when he had music...we finally learned he was scared of the wolf from "Peter and the Wolf". Seriously. We have issues.

So Nurse Beth called at about 8:15 saying that Madeline did not have fever, but did have very swollen and red tonsils and I probably should have her checked for strep, since apparently this year, strep does not include a fever. So I called the pediatrician's office and they said to come on in. I had failed to mention the part about "they're going to stick a swab on the back of your throat that's already sore to check for strep". She was not pleased. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But reason finally prevailed. Then my 64 pound baby girl curled up in my lap as we waited for results. The rapid test was positive, so then I felt like I should explain to my pediatrician why any decent mother would send her child to school, at this time of year, if her throat hurt. But I was too busy keeping Jack from eating his Cheerios off the floor. Because it's one thing to eat Cheerios off OUR floor, where the dirt and grime may be days weeks months old, but at least it is generally related to us. It's a whole 'nother ballgame to eat Cheerios off the floor at the doctors' office, where the dirt and grime are much fresher, but also totally unrelated to us.

So, no school today or tomorrow for her. After a trip to Sonic, because we are fancy, to get a chocolate milkshake for her (she was sure that would help A LOT) and 2 bags of ice for me, a luxury (at $1.29 a bag) I only afford myself when I'm pregnant and crave crunchable ice, (and maybe also a 99cent b/c it was before 10 am diet Dr Pepper, also for me) things looked a little better. For all of us. And if the talk of Sonic has made you thirsty, don't forget the 1/2 price drinks and slushes from 2p-4p everyday. That's my public service announcement for today.

That, and also: Don't drink peppermint tea you made for your daughter whose throat was sore but you thought it was nothing and she didn't like the tea, so you just finished it yourself because, really, who would let a hot cup of peppermint tea go to waste? I probably should start the antibiotics now, huh?

Ballerina

Like most of her friends, Madeline is Han.nah Mon.tana crazy. She's only seen about 4 episodes, and never actually heard her music other than that. But still. It's required. So I'm always relieved to realize she's not nearly as grown-up as she would like to think she is. I really just wanted a picture to document how cute Madeline looked in the school outfit she put together herself.

And because I got those tights on clearance at Tar-jhay and she had previously thrown fits about how they bother her feet because they are not footless. I was thrilled to see her putting that $1.99 to good use.

And also because she requested that I fix her hair, and then requested a BOW, of all things! And a pink one at that! Lately she's been insisting on doing her own hair (even though the back is not always as thoroughly brushed as I would like it!). And it has been a LONG time since she *wanted* a bow. That's not to say she hasn't *worn* some bows, but they've been against her will, because I'm just not ready to completely give up that part of her childhood.

She's had a bow in since the day of her birth when the kind nurses KY-jellied a bow on her head...

And how could I NOT include the quintessential (I'm not really sure what that means, but it seemed appropriate, at least in my head) Maddy-bow-picture...
Today, as soon as the camera came out, she felt the urge to show me the "ballet moves" she learned in ballet 2 years ago. She is currently deciding between ballet, softball, and soccer for the spring. She has never played soccer this year, but the thought of BOTH boys being able to play soccer this spring suddenly inspired her. We'll see how that goes!

I love my big girl, especially when she reminds me that some part of her is still just a little girl!

Noah the builder

More of Madeline's photography skills at work...the tower:

The knockdown...

The rebuild...

I'm telling you, if you don't have some of these cardboard blocks, you are missing out. Even L.ego-maniac Noah enjoys the "big blocks" still. Especially great for the build-knockdown-rebuild because they can be built tall and don't hurt when they crash down on your head! Go getcha some here!