People of Walmart...

I wish I could post this picture to the people of walmart website, but instead I will post it here... only at Walmart my friends!

Yup, it's a golf cart. But don't worry, this customer was prepared - weather shield and all! Wow!

Bittersweet...

I took all of the ornaments off the Christmas tree this evening and threw the tree out on the front porch! Christmas is officially over at our house. We had a WONDERFUL Christmas and we were so blessed with lots of friends and family to celebrate it with! It is sad to see it come to an end, but I will be glad to get the last pine needle out of my house for a while! =)

It is official... Madelyn is getting into EVERYTHING. She is a crawling maniac and she is sneaky too! I have heard "Boy, she's busy" way too much in the last few weeks... I'm well aware of it! =) Our sweet, snugly, precious baby girl is on the move and I am VERY ready to get all of the Christmas decorations out of the house!

Matt was gone at basketball tonight and I was telling Madi that it was sad to think that her first Christmas is already over. It feels like we were all just decorating the tree together and listening to Christmas music (and Madi wasn't crawling)! Time is going by incredibly fast and I'm not sure I like it...

On a more optimistic note, we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas week. We celebrated with lots of friends and family and we have many memories to cherish. I posted a few pictures of Christmas with just our little family (Christmas Eve morning). I hope that you were able to have as much joy this Christmas season as we were! Until next year...

Our happy baby girl enjoying every bit of wrapping paper that she could get her hands on! =)

Opening her present from Mama and DaDa!

Mommy and Madi Christmas Eve morning. Madelyn was VERY excited about her new binkis!!! =) (Please note that we do NOT shower or change out of our pajamas before we open presents =)

Daddy and Madi about to tear into their presents!!!

Madelyn headed to the goods!!

Tradition... tradition!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love traditions.  There is just something so special about memories that are created around favorite family activities.  My favorite Olson tradition is, hands down, our annual Spaghetti Factory - Zoo Lights outing!  On Monday night all of the Olson siblings (Matt, his two brothers, and his sister) along with their families met at The Old Spaghetti Factory for a Christmas celebration.  We had a BLAST as usual and then we headed over to the zoo where we had beautiful weather and enjoyed lots of gorgeous Christmas lights. It was so much fun!  Madi enjoyed herself as well!  She loved looking at all of the lights from her stroller, but she eventually passed out in her daddy's arms.  Here are a few of our favorite pics...

Aunt Whitney's cheek is fun to squeeze...

Madi eating out of her fancy new spoon from Uncle Kyle and Auntie Katie.  It holds the food and squirts it out for each bite - Wow, I know!!!

Opening her present from Uncle Neal, Auntie Stacy, and the boys! (Killer stache!)

Helping Uncle Kyle open his present!

The whole group outside of The Spaghetti Factory!

Getting ready to hit the path at the Zoo!

Madelyn very happy to be all cozy!  We were all jealous - She was in her jammies, in a sleeping bag with TONS of warm blankies - who wouldn't be?

The lovely train we waited in line to ride!

Yes, for over an hour.  (Frowning is difficult)

Madelyn passed out in line for the train.  She didn't wake back up until the ride was almost over!

Too cute...

Okay - explanation:  Kyle decided he is no longer going to hang Christmas lights at his house. Instead, he is going to find random objects that light up and stick them in his yard.  He decided upon the bouquet of roses...

... and these "stacked" animals.  He's also going to have a blinking peacock, but I couldn't get a good picture of that because, well, it was blinking...

Brother #1

Brother #2

Brother #3... and Whitney ditched us before the Zoo Lights. :(

Madelyn at the end of the night!  She was pooped, but she sure had fun!!! =)

I love this family!  We had so much fun and it seems like FOREVER to have to wait until next year to go again!!!  What a fun TRADITION! =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!  I hope your Christmas is filled with lots of fun family traditions! =)  Or just lots of fun...

Mondays...

Mondays!  Everyone knows the feeling they get inside them late Sunday night when they think about the next day being Monday!  So much to do, the weekend was so fun, and who wants to think about waking up and starting the work week all over again?!?!  Well, I can happily say that I haven't had those feelings in over 7 months!  For the last 10+ weeks Mondays have been my day with Madi and my boys!  Today was the first Monday I didn't have the boys in over three months (excluding The Monday of Thanksgiving - Thanks Mom)!  It was a little sad.  I decided to go through my pictures and review all of the memories we have made over the last few months.  Here is what I found.... 

This was an unexpected trip to Salem because Madi needed to see the pediatrician at the last minute.  So we decided to pack a picnic and make the best of it! It was a BEAUTIFUL day and Bush park was the perfect place to spend the afternoon!

Michael loved his sandwich. =)

So did Sevvy! =)

Madelyn slept through the picnic!

My three little bumpkins... The boys were exhausted after our fun in the sun!  If I remember right, it was one of our 90 degree September days! So... we headed home for some well deserved naps! =)

Sevvy loves baking!  So one afternoon we made some "Diggin' in the Dirt" cupcakes, as Seven likes to call them.

We may have ate more than necessary... =)

Of course Mondays were the days we took our cousin baths together!  I don't have an updated picture though.  Now Madelyn just sits up like a big girl! (I love how Seven HAD to be touching Madi in this picture =)

My favorite photo shoot... Fall is the BEST time to take pictures, so I dressed the kids up one morning and we headed to the back yard for a photo shoot.  We took LOTS of pictures.  Here's just a few of my favorite moments! =)

He's in love! =)

=)

Sharing his hat!

All three munchkins and their pumpkins!

Michael was so happy he got his pumpkin to stay all by itself!

Madi making sure her crazy cousins are okay...

One morning when the boys got to our house there was a snail on the front porch.  This resulted in over an HOUR of entertainment!  Yes, Uncle Matt finally threw the snail to the road when he came home at lunch. =)

Michael stroking the snail...

I loved this pic with the flowers in focus! =)

I had to put this picture in because Seven took it.  He LOVES to take pictures by himself with the "little" camera!  This one was pretty cute too!  Nice job little photographer. =)

Another sunny afternoon in the backyard.  I believe this was the beginning of a red light-green light game!

Brothers and their monster trucks.  These pictures are making me miss the sunshine!!!

Our most recent Monday... The boys favorite pass-time is to play in Madi's crib with her.  

Lots of love!

Yes, those are stockings folks! And yes, I let him put them on... no harm done! In fact, isn't that what you're supposed to do with giant socks? =)

The things Madelyn puts up with!  Seven was just dying to "carry" Madi in this laundry tub... we settled for pulling her around in it. =)

I LOVE my Mondays!  I LOVE these kids! Madi is so lucky to have such wonderful big cousins (on both sides!)  I know we will have many more memories to come and there are so many moments I WISH I would have taken a picture!  Oh well - at least we have these ones! =)

No Touch!

Madi and I spent yesterday afternoon/evening putting our house back together.  It was quite trashed after the craziness of the last few days of school... making treats for people at school, getting kids' presents ready on top of our usual Wednesday/Thursday mess!  Madelyn does SUCH a good job of playing by herself on the floor.  She likes her toys, especially "edible" ones.  I take that back; she pretty much makes them all edible.  Anyway... she loves to be her curious self and check things out, but definitely doesn't like it if I leave the room for very long (which is fine because we have such a tiny house).  We've known that she can "crawl", but she still doesn't officially do it very often.  She moves around by scooting, pulling, crawling backwards,  or sitting up/laying down, sitting up/laying down until she gets to where she wants to be.  Last night, however, she made a break for the tree and decided that my Starbucks cup Christmas ornament looked awfully tasty (a girl after my own heart :).  She then caught sight of the first wrapped Christmas present under our tree - thanks Ramie - and crawled straight for it.  I thought she would be pretty harmless, but I was wrong and the evidence is below.  I realized for the first time that it might be time to start saying "No touch" to our sweet little Angel.  Wow... time has gone by fast!

Watch me go Mommy!

I think I might stop for a rest right here under the tree.

"Limited" hair still. =)

I need to grab Winston's toy.  It's easy to take with me on my arm. 

Eyeing the present...

And she's on it...

The damage that was done... I realize that I should have stopped her, but I'm kind of in denial that she can do any harm.  Also, I thought I should let her practice a little bit since Christmas is less than a week away and she's got to be able to keep up with her big cousins. (I saw the pile of presents at Nana's house =)