Madison still says only 3 words..."Mama" (mostly when she is crying), "Pa", and "Bye-bye." She has said "G-Ma" and "Da" once or twice. Otherwise, she just grunts and points at everything! I don't think she is EVER going to talk! She did learn a new trick this week though...she nods her head up and down (to say yes) every time we ask her a question! "Madison, would you like a drink? (NOD) Madison, do you want to go outside? (NOD)" It is very funny! She doesn't know how to shake her head "No" yet, so everything is a "Yes!" She also learned how to pucker her lips and give kisses! She loves stuffed animals, and her new thing is babies. If we see a baby in the store, she starts pointing and grunting! She carries baby dolls around all the time and gives them kisses! When we go into Wal-Mart, she makes a little fist and holds her hand out and grunts until the Wal-Mart greeter gives her a sticker! And if Mackenzie gets two stickers, Madison wants two stickers! She's a smart cookie!
Mackenzie learned how to do a summersault (not sure how to spell that) this week! I had no idea she could do it, and all of a sudden there she went across the living room floor! Then she said, "But I can't do a cartwheel yet." I didn't even know she knew what a cartwheel was! Her vocabulary continues to amaze me! (And everyone else!) I may have posted about this already, but the other morning I woke up to her little face staring at me and she said, "Hey mommy, you ready to kick it?" Crack me up! She heard that on the movie Enchanted! It's so funny to me that she understood and used it in context!
These are a few pictures from the past week! Oh, how I love having daddy to help with bath and bedtime! Below he was reading Bible stories to the girls one night. Madison was interested for about 3 seconds!
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Then she got bored....
...so she decided to pull her sisters hair! (Her favorite thing to do!) We do get onto her for this all of the time...even pull her hair back. She does not have a sensitive head at all. I pull HARD and it has no effect whatsoever! Whatever will we do with this ornery little one?!
Madi had a high fever (103.3) on Sunday and Mackenzie wanted to help take care of her, so she got lots of toys for her to play with! She is a very good big sister!.jpg)
Then, she decided to play "Doctor." Man, those glasses make her look even more like me when I was her age! I had glasses that looked about like that! =0)
Madison sat very still...she loves her big sister and loves it when she plays with her! Mackenzie's hair is getting so long! I will be sad when we have to cut it for the first time. 
Here she is giving her some medicine! Mackenzie calls Madison "Madi Joy" all of the time...its so cute! She loves her little sister, but doesn't like it when she gets into her stuff. They are starting to fight already!
Then she decided that Madi needed a shot...look at her smiling about it! I think she was a little too happy about giving a shot!
Mackenzie said "Daddy let's play PLUS!" We finally figured out that she wanted to add with the jars in our spice rack. Brian started this with her a while back to teach her 1 + 1, 2 + 2, etc. She loves it! What a great daddy! Mackenzie is actually wearing capris in these pictures...can you believe it?! This is one of very few times this summer that she has worn anything other than a dress or skirt! She said she wanted to be like mommy...wow! A few days later, we went and bought some more shorts!.jpg)
Mackenzie likes to climb up on top of the chaise like this!
Taking it all in!
Madison woke up at 5:30 on this morning and stayed awake until 7:30. Then, when it was time for me to get up, of course she would go back to sleep! She can be a little stinker! I love this little nightgown she is wearing!
We got to celebrate Cole and Bailey's 5th and 6th birthdays! It's hard to believe they are already that old! We had a wonderful time at their birthday party! Mackenzie LOVES her cousins!.jpg)
The view from our back patio! It was beautiful!
We all got in the hot tub in our clothes! (This was while the rest of the group was our rapelling!)
Madison liked the hot tub, she just didn't like it when I got out to take her picture. She wanted her momma...go figure!
Their "tent!"
Blair is so funny & great with kids!
We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on August 3rd! Wow...time really flies when you're having fun! I really cannot believe it has been that long! We had a wonderful (kid-free) evening...we had dinner at Macaroni Grill, then we went shopping for ourselves, and then we finished the night wih dessert at The Cheesecake Factory! Does it get any better than that?! Mackenzie took these pictures of us before we went out. At dinner, we talked about how much we had experienced, and how much our lives have changed in the past 9 years. (For the best, of course!) I am beyond thankful for the wonderful husband God blessed me with! We laughed about how we were really just kids when we got married, with not a whole lot of direction in our lives. All we knew was that we loved each other and wanted to be together forever. God has taken us far, and continues to guide and bless our life together. Brian truly treats me like a Queen...I am thankful that our girls' have that kind of example of what a husband should be like. I could pray nothing better for them, than that God would give them a husband that treats them like their daddy treats me! Truly, life is sweeter than ever! We had our first dance at our wedding to "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain. Reading the lyrics now, I love it even more than I did then! We have come a long way from the 13 year old kids we were when we first started "going out." =0) We realized the other day that we have been together for more of our lives than we have been apart. (14 years apart and 14 years and 2 months together) That's crazy! We had a great 9th Anniversary...but I am starting to feel (and look) old! So for our 10th Anniversary, we are thinking about either going on a cruise, or taking the girls back to Disney World...there are pluses to both! I suggested that we just do both! =0) We'll see what happens!
"You're Still The One"
We got to pick daddy up at the airport on Sunday and we were SO happy to see him! His plane was supposed to get in at 8:30 Sunday morning, but there was a delay and it didn't get there until 12:30. We got up that morning and drove home from Newcastle. It was an emotional departure for us all after being there for a whole week. I love my parents so much and I'm so thankful that we can spend so much time with them. There is a reason that Mackenzie doesn't like goodbyes...her momma and G-Ma don't like them either! I had just enough time to stop by the house and drop off some of our luggage before heading to the airport. We literally got there with 10 minutes to spare! I am so glad we made it in time...it was so sweet when the girls saw their daddy walking through those doors! Mackenzie squealed, "Daddy!!!" and took off running towards him! Then Madison got excited and started following her! Everyone watching loved it! He was very happy to be with his girls again! We had a wonderful time in Newcastle while he was gone, but we were ready to be at home with him again! Daddy loves going on International Mission trips...I always tell him that I don't mind if he goes, as long as he doesn't mind if I stay. It works for us, and he always comes back! This was his 3rd summer to go to Brazil. We went home and spent the day just hanging out together. Then we went to Mazzio's for dinner, where Mackenzie's favorite part was getting her cute little to-go box! This was the last big trip of the summer, so maybe now things will calm down a little. Daddy didn't have much time to shop on this trip, but he did bring t-shirts for the girls. It was funny because before he left, Mackenzie asked him to bring her a dress. Well, the t-shirt he bought her turned out to be so big that it fit like a dress, so he did good! Madison's t-shirt was a little tight, but very cute! I laughed, because daddy doesn't shop for the girls often enough to know what size to get! What a good daddy for trying! Ariel, Flouder and Ursula were so glad to have Prince Eric back again!
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