The Frog...

Matt came home from work on Tuesday ECSTATIC because he had found a new pet for Madi...

a frog!

Apparently he was greeted by this creature when he got to work in the morning, which led him to capture him (it?) and save it for a pet.

After scrounging up a cage and creating a mini habitat, the frog (which has yet to be named, except by Seven who gave him the name Gabriel after his friend at school...) has found a new home in Madi's room.

She loves to stare at him and "ribbit". She tells us all kinds of things about him, which have yet to be interpreted... they have become pretty good friends!

We often find her doing this with the cage on the floor...

Great Grandpa and Grandma Olson came for a quick visit this weekend and Madi insisted on lugging her cage out to the family room to show Grandpa "ribbit"...

This look is my favorite...

How could you not take her seriously?

She told him everything she knew about frogs...

And then he told her everything he knew about frogs...

And thus, the conversation continued as she convinced this 78 year old man to lay down on his stomach to get a better look!

It's a hard life:

- being a toddler

- wearing pink football clothes

- talking about frogs

- running around barefoot all day

- being adored by everyone around you

But, she does it well!

Baby Olivia...

Last Sunday we welcomed our first baby NIECE! Olivia Marie was born on December 5th weighing in at 7 lbs and 18.5 inches long. We couldn't wait to get our hands on her so we headed straight to the hospital after early service church on Sunday! Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, but that's okay because Madi and I went to visit again on Monday...

and on...

well, we're trying not to wear out our welcome!

She is pretty much perfect though, just like we expected.

Madelyn loves her, although she doesn't understand why she doesn't get to hold her by herself yet...

"Mine" is currently Madi's favorite word, and for some reason she seems to think if she just tells us that Olivia is hers that she'll get her.

I SWEAR.

We DO NOT give her whatever she wants!

But in the meantime she'll just keep trying... she's a persistent child!

For now, we'll just keep visiting our favorite niece... she seems to like us already.

Okay, so maybe she sleeps peacefully for everyone!

Welcome to this world Olivia Marie! We love you SOOOO much, and we just might give you whatever you want... I mean...

Just Like Daddy...

Madelyn likes to try and play dress up... It's really funny to watch her stumble around while trying to pull some sort of clothing item over her head.

I know.

It sounds kind of mean, so sometimes we go ahead and just help her out.

She pretty much knew how cute she was once she got it on... and then we just kept laughing that she couldn't find her hands.

We're her parents. I'm sure she'll laugh at us for years to come too!

Lovin' This Deal, Lovin' This Company!

Well, to follow in succession of my favorite blog (This Beautiful Frugal Life) and other friends I am posting about my most FAVORITE recent deal (Yes, I realize "most favorite" is a double adjective). Shutterfly is offering up to 50 free photo cards for posting about how much I LOVE their stuff! When I first saw this, I thought it must be too good to be true. I had already been drooling over Shutterfly's Christmas cards this year wondering just how good of a deal I could get on them!

Many of you know that I absolutely LOVE Shutterfly, particularly their photobooks! I just ordered my third 8 x 8 photobook this year thanks to a sweet Groupon deal I purchased at the end of the summer. Their quality is AMAZING and I have never been disappointed with anything I've ordered from them. I have ordered photobooks from over three different companies and my favorite by far is definitely Shutterfly's books! In fact, my goal is to continue to make an 8 x 8 Shutterly book every season! I love doing it and my new obsession with the camera has lent to quite a few pictures in our iphoto library. My next project will definitely have to be a Shutterfly calendar though. I love their desk calendars and I think they would be another perfect gift idea! I think their stuff is so cute it almost makes me want to have another baby just so that I can order some birth announcements!

I highly recommend checking out their site and even getting signed up for their e-mail alerts. They send out great coupons, which you all know I'm a fan of! ;) I hope this encourages someone to order some beautiful Christmas cards and the next time you're at our house you'll have to check out our photobooks! ;) I just got our newest one (Fall 2010) in the mail last week!

Oh, and don't forget to send me a card! =)

Update...

It's been too long and I'm well aware of it. Here's an update for those who have been asking (and for those who haven't... =)! Thank you for your prayers, friends!

Caring Bridge

I love these two Duck fans like CRAZY!!!

"CHEESE!!!"

"Touchdown!!!"

(We're working on "National Title"... )

Our Little Frog...

Unfortunately Madi has been a little under the weather this week. =( She came down with Croup on Monday night. Her fever was pretty much gone by Tuesday night, but she is still hacking up lots of yuckiness. We spent the week at home, which felt great! The doctor encouraged us to get out in the cold crisp air as much as possible, so we snuggled up in the frog costume on Wednesday and headed to the park to take some pictures!

I LOVE fall leaves.

... and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE pictures with fall leaves!

At the end of our trip, I let the little frog dive right into her "pond". She pretty much loved it! After she had walked through the puddle a few times she reached down to her soaking "feet" (?) and said, "uh, oh"! =)

She was really into the big girl swing, although that pretty much meant that she just hung there. I didn't really trust her to hold on if she swung at all.

She was definitely ready for her nap by the end of our playdate! =) She didn't want to leave though. She preferred resting her head on the chain. =)

***These pictures pretty much have to replace any "Halloween" pictures because we didn't do much!***

October 13th...

I thought I would give anyone who still reads this blog a few laughs...

Ten years ago (yesterday) was Friday, October 13th and I had one pretty HOT date...

or so I thought, I guess you can decide for yourself. =)

I took these pictures from a little scrapbook that I made for Matt when he graduated from high school!

Yup, they pretty much scream Y2K!!!

... and it's cracking me up!

It's sort of a love-hate relationship when I look back on these pictures. I certainly don't remember looking like this (the hate part), but I love the memories and thoughts they bring back!

I took a few pictures this year on Wednesday the 13th and they look a little different...

#51 is our nephew Riley and he's an 8th grader at Talmadge Middle School!

His football team was playing Matt's alma mater so we headed over for a great game of blue vs. blue...

I didn't get a picture of me and my date, but I did snap a few of him with another girl...

Ah, I love them!

It's been a good ten years! Thanks for the date a decade ago, babe! Maybe in another ten years we can chaperone a Homecoming Dance on Friday the 13th!!!

And I must say,

I still think he makes a pretty HOT date!

Thanks for A & W, Babe! ;)

Perfect Moments...

Sometimes I just can't help but think about how perfect my little family is...

I love them SO much!!!

... and I think they feel the same way about each other...

A couple weeks ago I took Madi to the park in the early evening and Matt came and joined us when he got home from one of his appointments...

We could have stayed there forever... in theory.

In reality, Matt couldn't stand up anymore and we needed to go eat dinner, but it was the best 30 minutes we had all day!

I love that Madi is looking at her Daddy for approval in everyone of these pictures. I hope she always looks at him like this...

He is just the highlight of her day!

And this would be her screaming, "Mooooommmmmaaaaaa" from across the park...

So I came running.

What can I say,

she's still an only child! =)

... and I think she's a pretty perfect one at that!

**Disclaimer**

Although I used the word "perfect" a few times, I'm well aware of the truth. These pictures have captured perfect moments, but I'll admit... no one in my family is perfect! ;)

Good Bye, Summer!

"If they can do it, so can I."

I'm pretty sure that's what Madelyn would say if she was more "advanced" verbally.

I mean, does this face not scream rock star, or what?!?

If only her legs were a little longer...

They're absolutely best of buds!

I can only imagine the stories they will have to tell as the years go by...

Our sweet baby girl is turning into a sweet little girl...

It's fun to watch, but painful too.

The things she puts up with...

Don't worry.

I think she's secretly scheming in her mind all of the ways she will get them back when she's a little quicker...

This is only the beginning of "collections", and "forts" and playing at the park...

I love watching them play together.

They have SO much fun!

Our sweet little girl...

And our sweet big boy!

*I realize this is sort of a random post, but that is sort of our life these days... or maybe just my mind these days!*

Summer Days...

This will be quick, but I have GOT to get back in the hang of blogging. I miss making memories on here and it sure looks like our summer has been pretty blaw! For the most part, no one has really missed anything! BUT, we're starting to get out and about a bit and I'd hate to forget to document it! =)

Yesterday, we had our carpets cleaned for FREE because I won a drawing at Summerfest last weekend! It was SO fun! My carpets look amazing. I told the man that I haven't ever loved them this much and he kind of looked at me funny... anyway. Loved it! So, once Summit Cleaning was on there way, we opened up some windows and started some fans and headed up to Wilsonville to play with friends!

We dropped off Matt with Ben and picked up Ben's little boy Droiy and headed over to Memorial Park to have some REAL summer fun!

Once again, I always have a hard time picking which pictures to post...

... of course this picture was a must!

... and maybe this one too...

(This picture says SO much about our little Madelyn's personality...)

The first of many!

Kissing another boyfriend...

... and another!

One of my faves, even though the quality is really poor!

And finally, the best group shot I could get!

Here's to four REALLY cute kids!!!

If I may say so myself! =)