Thanksgiving and Grandpa's Visit

We had a very busy holiday weekend hosting Thanksgiving and Grandpa's visit. We picked Grandpa up from Williamsburg on Tuesday and he stayed at our house through Sunday. It was so nice spending time with him and Madelyn had a blast playing with her Grandpa. She usually shares him with Cousin Jack and this time she had him all to herself. During the week the boys played golf and went to the UR vs. Elon football game, did some shopping, decorated the outside of the house, and went out to eat a lot which was so nice after cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Today, we spent the morning/early afternoon in Williamsburg with Aunt Erin. We walked around and had lunch at a yummy tavern. It was a beautiful and warm day and there were a ton of beautiful Christmas decorations which I loved.

On Thursday, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house with both sides of the family. We had a great time despite the fact that Aunt Kristen and family and Uncle Sam could not come and Meme was sick. Bill did a great job with the turkey and it was a great day spending time with family! We are so thankful for everything we have right now in our lives.

Here are some pictures from our holiday weekend:

Madelyn thought she was such a big girl sitting at the table!

Getting ready to say the blessing. Madelyn's favorite part of dinner!

Chef Bill carving the yummy turkey!

Bill with Cora and Madelyn!

Madelyn thinks she is a Mommy. She's obsessed with feeding her dolls. This is why she's getting a baby high chair for Christmas!

Walking around with Aunt Erin in Williamsburg.

Loves sitting on the steps!

She's growing up so fast!

Hanging out with Grandpa!

Happy 2nd Birthday Madelyn!

We celebrated Madelyn's 2nd birthday the last couple of days. It seems like yesterday when she came into our lives. She is a true toddler now with such a sweet demeanor and makes us laugh every day! She loves to sing and is speaking in sentences now which is really fun and hilarious. She's very girly and loves pretend play with her dolls, new kitchen set, and Little People. On Tuesday, Madelyn had her 2 year appointment with Dr. Goradia and it went really well. She weighs 25 lbs (28th percentile) and is 33 inches long (29th percentile). This is the first visit we've had in a very long time where Madelyn did not cry. She even let them prick her finger and watched the entire thing. I couldn't believe it!

On Saturday, we had a family party to celebrate the big day. The theme was Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street and decorated the house in pink and purple. I even attempted to make a cake in order to save some money. It turned out o.k. as long as you don't look too close. On Monday and Wednesday, we had parties for our two playgroups and enjoyed some yummy cupcakes. Madelyn loved celebrating her birthday this year and especially enjoyed eating cake/cupcakes while wearing her Abby Cadabby party hat. She's also had a ton of fun playing with all her new toys. Her big gifts were a kitchen set from Grandpa and a Cozy Coupe car from Nana and Pop. Our house is getting pretty full of toys. I don't know what we're going to do when we add the baby gear to the mix! Here are some pictures from the last couple of days:

Madelyn in complete awe when she woke up from her nap and saw the kitchen sent from Grandpa! Getting ready for the family party!

Cora loved wearing the Abby Cadabby party hat!

Madelyn is obsessed with her new car from Nana and Pop!

Playing with the Little People plane given to her from Aunt Erin!

Eating her yummy hot dog birthday dinner!

Blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday Madelyn!

Madelyn loves the slippers given to her by Jacob and Judah. Only Madelyn would be obsessed with slippers at the age of 2... she wears them constantly!

Bunko Playgroup party. Madelyn sitting at the table with all the boys in their pink hats. Adeline and Delia are hiding somewhere!

The DeHaven boys sporting their pink hats!

Cute little Adeline eating her cupcake!

Playing with all her toys!

Stroller Strides playgroup eating their pizza! Mostly the girls sat and ate their pizza. Liam was the only boy...So cute!

The rest of the boys playing kitchen while everyone else ate their lunch!

Singing happy birthday before our camera's memory card became full! Oh well!

It's Another Girl!

We found out yesterday at our 20 week ultrasound that we are having another girl! We are very excited and can now start preparing for the new baby girl to arrive and Madelyn has really started saying and kind of understanding that she's going to have a little sister. I'm so excited to buy the girls coordinating outfits and I hope this new baby has enough hair for bows!

We visited a firehouse with one of our playgroups last week. Madelyn made me hold her the entire time, but I think she liked looking at everything. I guess she could have freaked out and cried, but my arms were about ready to fall off after the tour. Last Thursday, Madelyn and I went up to Ashburn, VA with some friends to visit the Baskettes who are getting ready to have a baby boy in a couple of weeks. All the kids really enjoyed playing together and we had a great time during our visit! Here are some pictures from the last week. Again, for some reason blogger won't let me re-arrange pictures so everything is out of order.

Madelyn and the boys watching TV in their PJ's before bed! Picture of me 20 weeks pregnant. It's a horrible picture, but I felt guilty because I haven't taken any pregnancy pictures with this baby.

During our ultrasound yesterday, Nana took Madelyn to Build a Bear for her birthday. She loves her new bear and named her bear Katie. She loves taking the clothes and shoes on and off which has been a little annoying for me:) Madelyn really enjoyed her birthday outing with Nana!

Wearing the belly dancing outfit that Nana and Pop brought back from Turkey. They just got home from a month of traveling to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and went on a Mediterranean cruise. She loves her new costume!

Watching TV with her one of her many boyfriends, Jacob!

I thought this was a funny picture!

The kids eating dinner. Madelyn thought she was such a big girl with no highchair or booster!

Firehouse #10. I think the Mom's were more entertained than the toddlers!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Our computer is on it's last leg (we have a new one in-transit) so it won't let me rearrange the pictures, etc. so everything is out of order.

Madelyn insisted on wearing her costume the next morning! Madelyn hanging out with her buddy the lion, Judah!

Madelyn and the Moore boys!

Madelyn trick or treating with her friend the Fozzy the bear, Liam!

Trick or treating at Carolyn and Rick's house!

We brought our wagon, but Madelyn insisted on walking everywhere. The wagon ended up being a recycling bin for beer bottles and held the cooler. We were a little behind the rest of the crowd, but Madelyn didn't care at all!

As Madelyn would say, she was "taking turns" in this picture.

All ready to go!

The group getting ready to leave!

Eating dinner at the Robinson's house. We had wonderful chili, cornbread, and pumpkin pie!

All ready and heading out to our neighbor's house for dinner!

We had a great Halloween this year and it was extra fun because Madelyn somewhat understood the concept of trick or treating. The forecast called for rain so a couple of our after trick or treating plans were rained out, but we had a great time having diner with friends and trick or treating.

We started the night at our neighbor's house with a wonderful dinner of chili, cornbread, and yummy pumpkin pie. It was so nice for the Robinson's to have us over beforehand and hang out with some of our neighbors.

We left to go trick or treating around 6:30 and Madelyn loved it! We brought the wagon, but she insisted on walking by herself. She loved putting the candy in her pumpkin. The funny thing was that she didn't understand that you can eat the candy so she just took it in and out of her pumpkin and carried it around the house. It's hysterical!

After our neighborhood, we walked to to the neighborhood next door and met up with some more friends, including the Moore family. Madelyn was so excited to see her friends Jacob and Judah all dressed up. It was a very fun night and we didn't get home until close to 9. This morning, Madelyn insisted on putting her costume on again as soon as she woke up!