GO RED LEGS!

Today was opening day and even though no one from the Ruwe Family was in attendance, we were supporting our RED LEGS! Leave it to the Reds to clinch their first Opening Day win in three years in the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs! We hope the Reds have an even more exciting season than last year!Maybe a world series run??

Blasdel Fun

On Friday evening we headed over to Blasdel's house for a fish fry and badminton. Maddie and Liam both LOVED being in the jumper. This was Liam's first time and he really enjoyed it.

Maddie, Kaylynn and Lainey played Ring Around the Rosie together.

And they all fall down!

Newport Aquarium

On Friday, Scott, Maddie and I took our first trip to Newport Aquarium. We had LOTS of fun and can't wait to take Liam when he is a little bit older. Here is Maddie checking out some fish swimming over top her head.

Maddie has been intrigued by turtles ever since my mom caught one last summer at my grandma's house and put it in a bucket to take home to their lake. Whenever, she sees a turtle she equates that to her grandma having one in her minivan.
We all enjoyed watching the octopus go from room to room in his tank. We couldn't believe how such a large octopus could squeeze through such a little tube to get to the other side of his tank.

These were just two fish that Maddie liked.

Of course, she LOVED seeing the "Nemo" fish! Now, we just have to watch the movie sometime.

Maddie and I got to play in the jungle gym. She wouldn't go in by herself because there were lots of "Big" kids in there and it was pretty dark inside of the tubes.

Maddie is trying to keep one eye on the sea otters while daddy took her picture!

Maddie was so excited to see scuba divers. She especially liked the scuba diver that was teasing the fish by putting rocks on the fish's back.

How big of a shark is Maddie...

And she is a "Puffader Shyshark"!

Of course, she had to try to pet the sharks! She wasn't exactly successful, because her arms aren't long enough yet to get deep enough!

Maddie is going through a phase where she is afraid of things that look real, because they may not be fake. So after watching a few children posing by these penguins and mommy assuring her that these penguins are fake, this is about as close as she would get to them. She did pretty good for her, usually she will just scream, so maybe she is getting over her fears a bit.

Maddie enjoyed playing the penguin games.

After our aquarium visit, we went to Cold Stone Creamy to get an ice cream to split. As you can tell Maddie LIKE IT. Even though she has never had it before as Scott is paying for it, she told the cashier that this is her favorite!

It was a great day! I forgot what it was like to only take one child out for an outing. Scott and I agreed it was nice for Maddie to have the attention of both of us for a change.

Spring Break FUN??

On Tuesday morning we took a quick trip to Bright Lions Park to get a little fresh air. Maddie was so excited because she got to play with Play-Doh. She has been waiting a long time to play with it, because I only let her play with it outside....I just can't stand the mess inside the house.

She also got to go down the tube slide a few times, before Liam got cranky.

On Monday afternoon after Liam's nap, he began to get this rash on his scalp and face. He was running a low grade fever. By the time he woke up Tuesday morning, he was covered in a bright red rash and still had a fever. So Liam had to see the doctor on Tuesday afternoon. His diagnosis was Roseola . I tried to get a picture of his rash on his face. Surprisingly, he is smiling in this picture! He is only contagious for 2 days when the rash is at its peak. As of Thursday, his rash is rapidly disappearing and may be gone by Friday morning. He is definitely feeling better, even though he didn't lose his appetite, he was extremely clingy and wanted to be held all day! This was extremely exhausting. Our doctor said that Maddie may get it, we aren't sure if she was exposed as a baby or not, but so far so good.

Puppy Time!

On Saturday night, we headed to Aunt Emmi's house to celebrate her birthday and see her new puppies. When we saw the last litter last summer Maddie absolutely LOVED the puppies, so she was excited to meet the new puppies.

Here are the puppies waiting for us to go inside the pen to play with them!

Here is Maddie trying to hold/hug a puppy!

Liam enjoyed the puppies as well. I just love his expressions in these two pictures! He enjoyed petting one of the puppies and giving him kisses!

Maddie tried to call the puppies over to her, but they seemed tired!

Here is one of the TIRED puppies as the Ruwe Family left so they could get some sleep!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Liam wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day! He also wanted to let everyone know that he is a "lucky dog"!

The Little People Mini-Van

This evening, Maddie got her Little People mini-van from the Moore Family. Of course, she had it loaded down with her Little People family. Mom, Dad, and her twin babies! She was so excited about getting the van that the neighbor boy was outside playing when she got home from Nana and Grump's house that she had to run over and show him her mini-van. Then she came to the door to show me. She told me right away that it came with a dog and groceries!


Here is an action shot of her playing with her mini-van and her dollhouse before bed!

Visiting Mommy's Classroom!

Today Maddie and Liam got to visit me at work! Today was Literacy Day and my Dad volunteered to come in and challenge my students to a Tongue Twister Challenge. Well, I can honestly say my first graders had a great time along with Maddie and Liam. Here is Maddie and Liam sitting with me before they left with Grandma and Grandpa.


Here is Maddie trying to act like a first grader. When I was telling my family good bye, I told my students to sit at their desks for a minute before we get ready for lunch and Maddie decided to follow the crowd. I think she will do great in preschool!

Liam is 8 Months Old!

On Monday, Liam turned 8 months old! It blows my mind that one week, Maddie turns 3 years old and this week, Liam turns 8 months old! I really don't know where the time goes! (I was sad that I had to work until 8:00 p.m. on his 8th month birthday due to parent-teacher conferences. So Mommy didn't see him at all that day, but daddy did a good job of taking care of him.)

I love this picture of Liam because it pretty much shows his personality at 8 months. He is ALWAYS happy, except when he is hungry or sleepy. So he is extra happy to be eating one of his new favorite foods, Gold Fish crackers!

Lately when Liam has toys laid out to play with, he will pick books. It is funny how he holds it correctly and really tries to look at the pictures. So far so good with his literacy skills!

Liam is an active baby! He can only crawl backwards right now, but I am sure he will begin crawling everywhere any day now. He can crawl himself into a corner in any room, it is soo funny!

He enjoys playing ball with Daddy. Daddy is trying to teach Liam how to roll and throw a ball already. He has a really good throwing motion, but he won't let go of the ball, he just holds onto it. It is really funny. He gets so excited though when he sees a ball being rolled at him.

Liam is working on getting his 5th tooth, so he will continue to try more and more foods! On Sunday he tried bites of cheese and he loved it, but he is obviously NOT a picky eater!

Happy Birthday Maddie!

On Wednesday, March 9th, Maddie officially turned 3 years old! She had a great birthday! Her birthday fell on Ash Wednesday this year, that tidbit is going in the Baby Book. I wonder how many times, if ever again her birthday will fall on Ash Wednesday. For dinner we had her favorite foods, pancakes and sausage. Then she got to blow out her Cinderella candle again.

Then came her favorite part, opening up her birthday presents! From Mommy and Daddy she got a Loving Family dollhouse with accessories. Right away she started organizing it! Right after she opened it she said, "Just what I have always wanted!" The funny part is she said the same thing after she opened up her next present! She is keeping her dollhouse in her bedroom so that Liam can't get into the little pieces very easily. So far, so good on not getting out of bed to play with dollhouse during nap or bedtime. But she does have to put the entire family to bed before bedtime and nap time.

Next, she opened up her Little People Zoo. Right away she started playing with her zoo and organizing her animals in typical Maddie fashion. In the picture you notice how she has all the animals lined up by size. She is definitely the queen of organization!

She thanked Liam for the gifts she got from him. Liam picked out a "school" book for her and a Cat in the Hat and a Corduroy book. She even told Liam that he is a good shopper!

Letter to Madeleine from Mommy on your 3rd Birthday:

Madeleine,

You have grown and changed so much this year! You matured SO much when Liam was born. You are such a caring, nurturing big sister. That is why Liam LOVES spending time with you. Your vocabulary sometimes stuns me, you are a very intelligent girl. You are extremely particular about how things are; very neat and organized is your way. I LOVE your budding personality! I can't wait to find out what the upcoming year brings for you.

Love, Mommy

Maddie's Princess Party!

On Saturday evening, we celebrated Maddie's 3rd birthday with a Princess Party! She has been super excited and has been practically dieing with anticipation of this party! A couple of weeks ago she decided she wanted to be Cinderella for her party, so I ordered her a dress. As you can tell from the picture she looked just BEAUTIFUL! She was beaming!

Every princess needs a castle cake! This cake creation was made with LOTS of love by Grandma Rachel and myself. Maddie even helped with the M & Ms.

Not one, but two Cinderellas showed up at the Princess Party! Maddie's best gal pal, Leah likes Cinderella also.

Liam even got in on the party action, by playing the part of King Liam.

King Liam likes Queen Megan!

Queen Megan wasn't so sure about King Jake's grip.

Here is Princess Madeleine getting ready to blow out her Cinderella candle.

This is Princess Madeleine getting ready for some beauty sleep in her new princess pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.

Liam the Cleaner

On Monday night Maddie, Liam and I cleaned the upstairs while Scott did his weekly homework assignments. If I wanted to be ready for Maddie's birthday party on Saturday, I knew I had to get their bedrooms cleaned on Monday evening. The kids cooperated really well. When we were cleaning Maddie's closet, Liam figured out how to shut the door, which was funny. Then he decided to crawl backwards into a corner. That is his new thing right now, he doesn't crawl forwards, he just crawls backwards until he finds a corner.





So after Liam found the corner, he decided it was bed time. So I just had to snap these pictures of him "helping" us. He looked so peaceful despite a vacuum running!

Is Spring Here?

About a week and a half ago, we had a sneak preview of spring time. So I took the kids for a wagon ride. This was Liam's first ride in his Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa.

Maddie is such a good big sister, she let Liam lean on her and not complain about it. She thought is was silly how he would lay on her.

Every girl has to end a good wagon ride with a phone call to Nana to tell her about her day!