February Fun

At school, Maddie has been learning about simple machines. They used pulleys and ramps and explored in Science. The next week, they invented their own machine. Here is Maddie's invention. Her description is below:


It is called "The Shaking Dog." If you can't read it, it says "He shakes if you say something funny if you push the button." Pretty cool invention, Maddie!

Valentine's Day rolled around and Maddie was excited to have another candy-based holiday. She opened a gift from mommy and daddy ...and wore a beautiful shirt sent from Zsa Zsa. They both just love sparkly things.
On Friday, Maddie and I hopped on a plane to Houston to help Nana celebrate becoming an American citizen. Maddie and her bug were strapped in good and tight.

Maddie, Amy and I went shopping for all American food. We had one cart for drinks and one for food.

Saturday was gray and rainy. Sunday, however, was PERFECT! 65 and sunny. It was a perfect day for a party. Maddie was a great help with Alec. She would sit with him in her lap and look after him while the adults got some things ready. They looked so cute, so I just had to take some pics.






Maddie was FINALLY able to decorate with the flags we brought. Please also note the matching American tiaras - they light up!

The bar was stocked ...

The table was set (the empty spot is for the corn dogs, chicken nuggets and french fries ... mmmm!)and the American centerpiece was ready. PARTY TIME!!!Uncle (B)Ryan came to add excitement to the party.

We had lots of friends over to help celebrate mum and play with the cute grand kids.

In order to really make sure my mom was an American today, we served her her first corn dog. Yes, people ... her FIRST CORN DOG! (sorry for posting pics of you eating Mum - these are just too funny, though!)
and well ... she did not really love the corn dog.
Katie had some American trivia for us to answer which was lots of fun!

Nana and her babies.

Uncle (B)Ryan decorated Alec with an American flag bandana. Could he look more Brooklyn?!

The girls and his royal majesty.

We had a wonderful trip to Nana's and it was so much fun to see everyone. It was especially fun to see the cousies together again!


Maddie is very curious about how things are spelled these days. I will say "sit down so we can put your shoes on" and she will ask how to spell "sit down." It goes like this all day. I decided we should start up some of her own words. One way of teaching kids is to teach them the words they "need" to know to be better readers. Another way to choose words is to pick words that are important to them because then they will be more invested in learning them. I thought this would be more fun and more age/developmentally appropriate for Maddie. Each day, she chooses 3 words - any 3 words, and I write them down on cards for her.

Day 1 Words: yo-yo, cheese, people

Day 2 Words: roll, how, newt (I asked her where she had learned about a newt and she said it was in her A-Z animals book - and she is totally right - it was just a surprising word!)

Here she is reading her words. She is getting faster at them but I am also glad that she is looking at the first letter sound to help herself figure out the word. She will be reading soon, people! Yeah Maddie!

A Random Assortment of Fun

I was syncing my phone to my computer and found a bunch of old photos that I had not posted on the blog. Some are from all the way back in November, but I wanted to post them because they were so cute.

One day I said it was bath time. Maddie went to hide. Somehow I managed to find her.

This cracks me up. I know I am going to get in trouble for posting this video, but it just makes me giggle. I found my poor baby like this one night (again - why I always go in to check on her before I go to bed). The funniest part is the video (below). My sweet princess snores like a grown man. This summer at the beach, I was sleeping in the middle of Maddie and Nick. They were snoring in tandem and I could not catch a moment of silence! I ending up just laughing. It was too funny. PS: please note the one shoe on.

Uncle (B)Ryan came to visit for Daddy's birthday. Maddie and I decided to take a personal day and hang out with funny Uncle (B)Ryan. We started with Barbie's in bed.
Then went to the zoo on a beautiful Fall day. It was a little cold for snow cones, but Uncle (B)Ryan really wanted one. The two of them enjoyed the HUGE snow cone.

Here is the photo of Maddie and Alec that I could not find for my Thanksgiving post. Look at the baby! Head all the way on the ground! What terrible adults letting this happen ... but how funny is this picture! Alec is almost vertical!


Too cute.

What is Maddie's favorite color you ask?

Mommy's rain boots.

This picture was taken at Nana's house over Christmas. We took Alec for a walk and Maddie and Amy stopped for a little rest.
In the airport on the way to Dallas, Maddie found a little girl to play with. The other little girl had a dolly with her. Maddie came over and just started grabbing dollies from her backpack (we had quite a few on hand). It was really cute.
Maddie and Suze enjoyed a little snuggle and some cartoons.
When we got home from Texas, Maddie decided she wanted to bring a "home lunch." The only lunch box we had was Daddy's Star Wars one. Maddie LOVED it and kept showing it off to everyone.

A very full doll house.

Lots of new sparkly shoes! (that was what she wanted for Christmas - Zsa Zsa said that most 3 year olds don't ask for shoes ... I think she is right ... oh well!)

Maddie made a gingerbread house at school.

So ... Once again, having a teacher mom is no fun. I was copying some paper books for my students and thought - maybe I will copy one for Maddie and see how she does. WELL! She did great! She read the whole book! Now, when you watch this video, you may thing "yeah yeah - predictable book ... of course she can read it." I think I would have thought the same thing until I taught first grade. I have had kids in the past who have not been able to read this level book. Also, she is doing two main things for emerging readers: 1 to 1 correspondence (pointing to the word she is reading) and using picture clues (this is a major reading strategy). I am really proud of her!

Maddie asked me to take this photo.

I came in one night to check on Maddie and found Flat Lamb set up next to her on his own bed.

I then found Maddie like this.

Maddie and I were so excited to go see Beauty in the Beast at the theaters. Maddie insisted on wearing her dress and bringing her Belle doll.

Exciting stuff! It was in 3D! Maddie now plays pretend at home and we go to watch movies at the "feaser" (theater).

Maddie got an umbrella from Yiayia with her name on it. It threatened to rain one day so Maddie insisted on bring it.
I came downstairs one day and found Maddie and Daddy playing football/baseball. Maddie was, however, in a princess dress and heals.

Daddy then wore this:

Dancing together. I don't think anyone saw this coming for Nick. Once again, Summer, this is for you!

Maddie loves books! This book was from Uncle Andrew, Aunt Summer and Caroline. It is a princess story book with Maddie's name in the stories too! She loves it! Every time I read her name in the story, she looks so excited and surprised. Love it!

It was the 100th day of school on Friday! Maddie had a lot of fun activities all day long. When I asked her about it she said it was the 100th day of school ... and now it's time to go to Kindergarten! She is 100 days closer to Kindergarten ... but not there yet!