Cousins

My kids were on Spring Break this week and my sister and her family were in town as well. I'm sure my mom's house was pretty chaotic at times viewing from this picture.
Here is my youngest niece Myah with Austin. All of the girls love Austin and call him their brother.

Makayla is searching for eggs in Nana and Papa's backyard for the annual Easter egg hunt.

Madison found one in the tree!

Marissa found one on the fence.

My favorite thing about Myah is her great big smile!!!

Can't forget to post a picture of Molly! She doesn't seem to bother my allergies which is nice.

Here they are at Chuckey Cheese for Makayla's birthday party. I'm pretty sure this is where Madison picked up some germs that got her sick today. She's sad that we couldn't go to American Girl Store in Chicago like we had planned with her cousins.

Happy Easter

The kids colored 12 eggs each.
Madison decided to leave a special picture on our driveway for the Easter bunny.

After looking at this picture I'll give you one guess as to who found more eggs Easter morning.

Gee, do you think Madison is happy with her Easter basket?

Here they are all dressed up and ready to go to church.

Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on its way!

There was nothing I could do to talk Austin into being in this picture with Madison. I'm so sad that he is getting too old for this kind of stuff. Madison, however, was talking about the Easter Bunny Breakfast at her school ALL WEEK LONG!!! They had some games in the gym, face painting, raffles, breakfast and of course pictures with the Easter Bunny.

Let's Go Hornets, Let's Go!!!

Well, the 2007-2008 basketball season has officially come to a close now. I'm really going to miss going to all of Austin's games every Saturday. The season was very exciting for his team. They placed 3rd out of 28 teams which is pretty good. Way to go Austin!!! Austin will be playing in his first flag football league next month so we're excited to see how he does with that sport. Stay tuned to find out....

Friends

I always look forward to getting together with my friends from high school. There were 8 of us that were close friends back in the day and can you believe that 7 of us still keep in touch? (girls we need to find a way to get in touch with Laverne again) The occasion last weekend was Alice's baby shower. Alice, I can't believe you are going to be a mommy soon. You look great!! Can't wait to meet your little bundle of joy.

Then we headed over to see Jaci and Ben's new house! I LOVE your house, it is so beautiful. Congrats to your family.

Well here is half of us. Tiffany was suppose to be there but she ended up getting sick. Sumera is in New Jersey and Melanie is in Texas. Missed you guys!

Madison's Room

I have been promising Madison for awhile that I would paint her room. I finally had a week off from work to get the job done. Here she is helping me paint the bottom half of her walls purple. This was on Saturday which was 2 days before she came down with a 102 fever that she ended up having for 6 days straight. So needless to say I finished the rest of the the room myself.

I kept telling her not to peek so the final result would be a big surprise for her.

When the reveal was made she came in with her jaw down on the ground and ran to her bed and starting jumping on it saying "i have the coolest bedroom ever" it was the happiest I have seen her all week since she was so sick.
We are now in the market for some new bedding because she explained to me that she is too old for her princess comforter. (sad!)

Go Hornets

Austin's basketball team made it to first place in the regular season. They still have playoffs ahead of them so anything can happen. The games have all been very exciting this season. I think they only lost 2 games.

Back up and running...

I know, I know it's been awhile since I've posted something. Brian was cleaning up the computer and deleted my photo software so I couldn't get any pictures onto my computer until now. Between basketball games, superbowl party, slumber parties, game nights with friends and Hannah Montana movie... there was close to 100 pictures on my camera. Here are just a few I thought you might like to see.

Madison and Austin in matching Peifer School shirts. Austin warned Madison he better stay away from him that day at school.

Miles and Julia got to meet each other for the first time at our annual Superbowl party. All the guys played flag football in the snow before the superbowl party started. Then the rest of the night was football, friends, fun and food.

Pictures at Austin's basketball games never seem to turn out because they are running so the pictures turn into a blur. Here is a photo of him during warm ups.

Madison and I along with 6 other girls and their moms went to see the 3D Hannah Montana movie together. I must admit I enjoyed the show very much. You had to get there really early to get a good seat so our popcorn and slushies were gone before the movie even started. Free refills are the best!

...party day!

Madison's day of fun started off with a makeover at Libby Lu. That is a fun girly store located inside of Carson Pirie Scott. This was part of her birthday present from us and she had been looking forward to it for weeks! They paint your nails, put on a little eyeshadow and lip gloss, and do a fun hair makeover complete with fairy dust! She even got to pick out 5 things from the store as a gift.
Then we were off to Build a Bear which has become a birthday tradition for her. This year she picked the pink leopard and dressed her in a velvet black and pink cat suit. She wanted to name her Hannah Montana, but I talked her into naming her Miley which is Hannah Montana's real name instead.

This is the only picture I have of the two kids for the day. Austin spent the day with Nana and Papa while we took Madison to the mall, then later he went to his friend's house instead of the girls party.

Nana could hardly recognize Madison when she arrived to the party. Thanks mom and dad for all your help during the party... I couldn't have done it without you.

Madison doing one last mirror check before her friends start to arrive...

Once all of the girls arrived we started off by doing a picture frame craft. I took a picture of each girl with Madison and will be sending them as soon as they are printed to put in the frames.

Here is a group shot of all 10 girls.

After we all had some pizza it was time for Madison's favorite part of the night... opening her gifts. Gee... do you think she likes this one??

Thanks Sue for letting me borrow your cupcake display rack. It looked great!

Then we all headed back downstairs for some games and prizes!!

This is a Hannah Montana wig that Madison got from one of her friends. I still can't believe that my little girl is 7 years old. I think the birthday marathon is over now. Thanks to everyone for the cards, gifts, phone calls and visits to help make Madison's birthday extra special.

Happy 7th Birthday Madison

This is what a 7 year old girl looks like when she first wakes up in the morning! Happy Birthday Madi Sue! I still can't believe you are 7 years old.
This is what she looks like once she's all ready for school.

She's listening to her Aunt Sheila and cousins Marissa, Makayla and Myah sing "happy birthday" to her on the phone.

She wanted to go to Red Robin for dinner since the "balloon guy" was going to be there. He made her this really cool balloon crown. From the smile on her face... do you think she liked it?

Austin got a cool dragon balloon and Miles got a creepy looking Elmo balloon. Oh well, we all had a great time. Madison is really looking forward to her day of fun on Saturday. You'll have to stay tuned into this blog to find out what happens...