Halloween 2010

Here is Sister Bear, from the Berenstain Bears. We are crazy about the Berenstain Bears at our house! Maddy found this mask at a Halloween shop back in the summer and knew right away that this is what she wanted to be. I had to come up with a plan to get Sister Bears outfit, which was no easy task. I can't sew worth a flip, so I knew I wasn't making it. An old friend of mine made the overalls for her, which were made out of felt. We painted her shirt, and my mother in law made her hood, paws, and feet from furry material. She won 2 costume contests, one of which scored us a $25 gift card to a local restaurant! As cute as the costume was, I think this is the first and last time we do something like this. WAY too much work getting the feet on!! I'm going for simple next year! We'll see......

It's me again, Margaret..

:::SIGH:::
It's been over 3 months since I've updated this blog. A lot has been happening around our house. I started babysitting my sweet little nephew, Asa..aka Ace-man back in August, and Maddy started 2nd grade around the same time. Between two kids, school, soccer, piano, and gymnastics, I have little time to update. But I'll try better! Facebook also takes up a lot of my time too. Again, I'll try better!
So, Maddy has moved to another gym for gymnastics and is now going twice a week for 2 hours each time. She is now a level 4 gymnast (10 is the highest) and will probably be competing pretty soon. She was able to land her round-off backhandspring and her chin-up pull over and back hip circle on the bars all in one week. We're very proud of her! Bars has never been her strong point. She used to be terrified of them but decided that they're not *that* scary a couple of years ago, but due to her still being timid and not having the best instruction, she was a little behind in bars. But she did it!! She worked very hard and is now where she needs to be!
She also started piano in August. She is doing GREAT! To me, it seems like her piano teacher may be rushing her a little, but she does have 25 years experience, so who am I to say she's rushing. She obviously knows what she's doing, because Maddy has caught on and is doing so well. She's now playing both hands and both lines (treble and base cleft). I probably just butchered those words, but you get the idea. If she were sitting beside me, she'd probably correct my spelling!
Soccer season has picked back up again. She has about 2 games left. She's been on defense a lot this year. I swear, one day she's going to kick somebody's teeth out! She is so flexible that when she goes to kick the ball, her foot kicks it, but her leg keeps going...and going..and going up into the air until it's over her head. LOL! We're trying to teach her to have some control over the height of her kick, but how can you teach that to someone who is pretty much a human pretzel? =D

Ryan and I started the hcg diet again after being on maintenence for 6 weeks and so far it's going well. We switched doctors and feel really good about our new doc. He goes to church with us, and used to be our Sunday School teacher when we first joined the church. He's actually a hormone replacement doc, and is pretty much a walking encyclopedia. He knows his stuff, and I trust anything he says. We are feeling great on the diet. Not to say we don't have cravings, because we do, but we're feeling much better this time around than last. True hcg medicine helps, I guess. We have to give ourselves shots in the stomach for 40 days, since the diet is for 40 days before going into maintenence. I thought it would hurt so I was worried about it, but the first one I gave myself, I kept wondering when it was going to start hurting and I looked down and the needle was already all the way in! It's actually kind of fun, honestly. If you came to my house, and didn't know we were taking injections, you'd probably think we were druggies! ; ) But we're doing great so far. We've both lost around 17 pounds and this is only day 20! Which means, at midnight tonight, we are officially halfway done with this round!! October 30th will be a great day! It will probably feel like Thanksgiving not to have any limits on anything but starches and sugars! I can live with that!!

Well, there's lots more to report, but that will have to do for now. But I'll leave you with a Maddy funny....

A few weeks ago we were in Dollar Tree and decided to buy some sponges for the bathtub. Ours were getting old. I told Maddy to pick her out a color. I figured she'd go for the pink or purple sure enough. But, she picked the blue and white. I picked the pink. She said, "The reason I picked the blue and white is because I'll use it until it gets old, and then I'll give it to daddy so I can get me a new one. He wouldn't like pink or purple anyhow." Ryan is looking forward to getting an old ratty sponge soon! ; )

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday (What I found when I woke up one morning)

Beach Bums

We took a mini-vacation last weekend for Memorial Day. Myrtle Beach had a "Meet and Greet" with some of the people who play on the Disney shows, and since we have a Disney freak in the house, we decided we'd head down there, with 10,000 of our closest friends! The lines for autographs were outrageous. We did manage to get two, though. We got Freddie (Nathan Kress) from iCarly and Tiffany Thornton who plays on Sonny With A Chance. We were in line for about an hour and a half to meet Debby Ryan (from Suite Life on Deck), but then the security guard closed off the line. So, we didn't get her autograph, but we did manage to get a picture of her! The next day was spent at the hotel pool and the ocean. We never left the place. We had a late breakfast at the hotel and then ordered pizza from a place that delivers. It was nice to be able to relax for a change. Our hotel had about 8 pools, 12 hot tubs, and one really long lazy river. We stayed in that thing for about an hour and a half. It was Heavenly!! Monday we drove back home, but first we stopped at Broadway at the Beach. We found a HUGE candy store called It'Sugar. Maddy bought a gummy bear that was about 5 inches tall. She's still working on it! We spent way too much $ there, but it's not often I find those little pieces of Heaven also known as CHOCOLATE COVERED GUMMY BEARS!!! Needless to say, I loaded up! As we were leaving, Ryan noticed a Zhu Zhu pet store, so of course we had to stop. Maddy got her 8th Zhu Zhu pet and her official name is Carly, but Maddy named her iCarly Sam...I wonder why?! We had a great time! We were glad to get back home, but we're already talking about our next trip down. There's just one problem. I think I have "sandyphobia"! ; )

Rock-N-Roll

I am so thankful that I have a child who gives me a comedy show on a daily basis. Here lately, she has made me want to rip my hair out, one by one, but then she says something funny to make up for those times.

If you see her around town, you'll probably notice that she's not walking. Ever since I found a pair of Heely shoes for her for a dollar at a yard sale, she has been wheeling around everywhere. I don't know how she does it, but she's pretty good on them and can even do a few tricks. Every time we get groceries, she likes to hold onto the side of the buggy and kick her heels up and enjoy the ride, instead of walking. It's a little aggrivating, because I have to push the buggy plus pull her weight with it. Well, today was no different as we were "rolling" through the parking lot at Publix. She looked up and said, in true Maddy fashion, "I may not can rock, but I can roll!"

Thank you Lord, for this child. If it weren't for her funny personality, I'd be on Prozac!

When I was your age, we walked to school!

That's what I grew up hearing from my grandparents! I knew the day would come when I get to pull that ol' "when I was your age" line on my own child! Today was that day! I had a few dishes in the dishwasher, and if you know me well, I tend to have severe OCD about things around the house! I knew there weren't enough dishes to run the dishwasher, and even though I couldn't see them in there, I knew they were in there, and I thought I heard my name being called a few times from that part of the kitchen. So, I decided to wash those few dishes by hand. Maddy saw what I was doing and said, "You're washing dishes in the sink? That's how the old fashioned people used to do it!"

I'll be 30 next month. I am beginning to have mild panic attacks just thinking about it. The fact that my daughter called me old fashioned has just sent me over the edge! But, coming from her sweet little mouth, I'll take it!

Bugg Quotes

Easley has been having a lot of construction lately. They are supposedly building a Super Walmart (UGH!) across from Rock Springs church, and re-doing that awfully dangerous bridge there at the intersection (thank God). In addition to that, they have just finished re-paving the street that we live off of. The street that we must take to get home. I have spent many many minutes waiting on the guy to flip the sign around to tell me that the traffic going the other direction can go "SLOW", and that means I get to go home! Needless to say, it's been highly aggrivating. What makes it worse is that the road wasn't bad to begin with. Teachers are being layed off, and they are concerned about a couple of pot holes in the road. Oh well...its my tax dollars but not my decision apparently.

Tonight as we were heading home, and waiting in construction traffic, Maddy says out of the blue, "What is this, like National Construction Summer or something? I mean, seriously, they are working on the roads, working on the bridge, working on our church. This must mean it's a construction Summer around here!"

I think she's right!

Reading

Guess who scored 56 on reading? That means she is now reading on a 5th grade level!!


We're so proud of her!

Wordless Wednesdays

Worlds Most Gullible Husband

If only there were such an award, Ryan would certainly win it! Yesterday was April Fools and Maddy and I got him over and over again! It was priceless!

We have a sink attachment for the bathroom sink. It's a whale that slips over the faucet and you can hold it's "flap" shut and the water will shoot up out of the hole on top of the whale, like a water fountain. If you close the flap all the way, the water will shoot pretty high. So, I put tape on the flap to completely close it. Hiding back laughter, I asked Ryan if he could check the water pressure in the bathroom because it wasn't that strong. Of course, he turns it on full blast to check the "pressure". When he did, water shot out everywhere, and Maddy and I ran downstairs to get away in case he were to have something up his sleeve for payback. Little did I know, that our trick was better than we planned it to be, because when we saw him again, his pants were soaked from the crotch to the knee, in a perfect line streaming down his pants! Ha!!

If that weren't bad enough, we got him again just 5 minutes after the first trick. Luckily, Maddy was doing school work so we pretended to do an experiment in the kitchen. We took 2 paper cups and filled them to the top with water. We were in there pretending to try to balance one cup on our hand. Maddy asked him to come into the kitchen to see if he could try to balance 2 cups, one on each hand. He fell for it! So, we helped him put both cups on his hands, and then walked away! He had no other choice but to spill the cups of water to get them off of his hands! Trick number 2 a success!

Trick number 3 was not as successful as the first two. I pretended that there was a bug in our living room so I grabbed a paper towel and chased the "bug". Once I caught the "bug", Maddy said, "Oh let me see!" With Ryan watching, she picked the bug off of the paper towel and ate it! No, I did not let her eat a real bug. It was the best kind of bug...a chocolate one! ; ) He wasn't the least bit amused by that one. But that's all right, because Maddy and I got a kick out of it atleast. We thought our tricks were doomed. He had finally caught on to what we were doing. What fun would it be when we couldn't trick him anymore. We almost lost hope. But then Mr. Lyons called and left a message!

I asked him if he had seen the note I left for him while he was in the shower. I showed it to him and told him that Mr. Lyons had called to see about getting some computer help. He called the number I had left for him, and then he said, "Greenville Zoo??" You can just imagine the hysterical pee-your-pants kind of laughter that followed! That was probably my favorite trick of the day! I tried to come up with a good first name for Mr. Lyons. I thought about Harry, but Harry Lyons..well, you get the picture!

I can't WAIT until 4-1-11! I have a few things up my sleeve already. I can already predict that Mr. Behr will be calling for computer help next year!

Coming Back Soon...

I'll be back. I promise! I know it's been a while, but I've been so busy with everything, and burnt-out, the Winter-time Blues, you name it. Until next time, I'll leave you with some Maddy funnies.

I found some white stuff on the carpet, and right before that Maddy was eating one of those Oreo Cakesters on the living room floor. I asked her if that was what it was and she said, "Yep, but don't worry..I'll lick it up!"

She asked me this morning what happens when the Tooth Fairy loses a tooth. I told her maybe she has her own special fairy and she said, "I doubt it. She probably just pays herself." LOL

She likes to make "Maddy cream" with her ice cream. She just told me that she will teach me how to make it in case I ever want to make "mommy cream". She said, "First you cut the pieces of ice cream up. Then you start swirling it. If it's sweet, keep stiring it. If it's sweeter, just keep stiring it. If it's sweetest, then you can stop stiring it cause it will be juuuuuuussstt right!"