Park Fun!

Today Maddie, Liam, Gwen, and I packed up and headed to Miami Whitewater Park for some summer fun! We started off on the swings and slides and then headed over to the water park when it opened. We swam for awhile before eating lunch and then swam some more before changing and hitting up the playgrounds again. I think Liam fell asleep the minute he was in his car seat. I had to get a picture of Liam enjoying the swings in his hat. He actually left it on for awhile.

Both Liam and Maddie loved the water! Maddie played with Gwen while I helped Liam walk around the "baby" part. (That was what Maddie called it.) Maddie peeked out of the pirate ship so I could snap a quick picture of her.

Maddie and Liam both posed for me in the "Baby" part on the alligator for a picture. Something exciting must be going on off to the side because it looks like they are both focusing on the same thing. On the way home when I asked Maddie what she liked the best, she said, "Everything, Momma!"

4-H Fair 2011

On Wednesday evening, the Ruwe Family headed down to the 2011 Dearborn County 4-H Fair to enter Liam in the baby contest. Liam kind-of froze up! He wouldn't smile or crinkle up his nose at the judges.

After the contest, we walked around to look at the animals. Maddie and Liam got to pet a bunny. Liam LOVED it!

After Maddie got some ice cream, Maddie wanted to go on a couple of rides. Maddie rode the big slide.

I just had to include this photo of Maddie putting her sunglasses back on after she got off of the slide. She kind-of just left daddy behind.

Maddie also got to ride on the Bumper Cars with daddy. She can't wait to go back and ride a few more rides on Friday evening after the Pork Chop dinner.

Madeleine Wearing Madeline!

Madeleine Wearing Madeline!

Yesterday, Madeleine wore her Madeline shirt and I just had to take a picture of her wearing it. She was so excited when she found it in her drawer yesterday morning!

Liam is 11 Months Old!

On Tuesday, July 14, Liam turned 11 months old. During the past month, Liam has been a busy boy! He has been riding his bike.

Trying to get the hang of walking!

Even with the help of Uncle Kyle!

Liam's new favorite food this month, is spaghetti bake! He is so messy with it, I just take his clothes off before he starts eating lunch or dinner. I can't believe that in less than a month, we will be celebrating Liam's first birthday! I just hope he is walking by then, because he is such a load to carry around.

Madeleine's First ER Visit!

Madeleine made her first visit to the ER on Sunday morning, and Scott and I weren't with her at all. She was visiting Leah and Brendan with Nana in Evansville this past weekend. Scott and I received a phone call at 7:00 am on Sunday morning saying that Maddie had fallen out of the twin bed she was sleeping in and her chin was bleeding. So Nana came to the rescue by taking Maddie to the ER.

This is a picture Nana sent to Scott's phone so we could see how she was doing at the hospital while waiting for the doctor to come. Good thing Maddie had Denver with her. Nana said that Denver, her deer, was right there with her through it all! Nana said she cried the hardest in the room because they didn't have "her cartoons" on the tv there.

Her diagnosis was that actually her bottom front teeth went through her chin when she fell out of bed. She needed three stitches in her chin. It was so hard for Scott and I to not be with her, but we knew she was being well taken care of. On the way home from Evansville, Nana took Maddie to get ice cream at Culvers in Cordyon. As you can see from the picture, her disposition seems to be good, because Nana got her "Cinderella Blue" sprinkles.

Here is a picture I took of Maddie's face on Sunday night before bedtime. Her lower lip was still really swollen. She was having a hard time eating and drinking and would drool sometimes, which she didn't like because she didn't have any control over it. She is currently a mouth-breather and it is severely drying out her lips. She gets to go visit Dr. Kick's office on Friday to get her stitches out so hopefully we can swim this weekend.

Scott and I were so glad to see Maddie when she got home yesterday evening. Through it all, I think Scott still had a good Father's Day.

Holiday World 2011

This past weekend we made our first family trip to Holiday World. We will definitely go back because it was sooo much fun!

We stayed in a hotel for two nights and I was quickly reminded at 10:00 on Friday night, how much my children need normalcy or they don't cope well. Liam ended up sleeping in his pack-n-play in the bathroom for the first night. Maddie reminded Scott and I at 11:00 on Friday night that she needed her privacy because her couch bed was right next to our bed and Scott had a light on so he could read. We quickly fixed the problem on Saturday night by purchasing thumb tacks and hanging blankets from the ceilings for Maddie and Liam to each have their own "bedrooms" for the night.

Even though sleeping was scarce Friday night, everyone was chipper and ready for Holiday World on Saturday morning.

Maddie's first ride:Rudolph's Round up!Here is Liam's and mommy's first ride. Maddie was a pretty good driver for a first timer!

Maddie needed a little pushing, but she finally decided to ride on the canoe ride and she LOVED it!

Liam knows what ride he wants to ride next! He already has a great sense of direction!

Then Maddie rode the "hit boats."

Liam fell asleep as soon as he got into his car seat on Saturday. We had an AWESOME time on Saturday night! We went to Matt and Christa's house for dinner and met up with the Meunier Family and the Moore Family. It was nice for all of us to catch up with family and friends. We went back to the hotel at 7:30 for baths and bedtime. Due to having routine, being worn-out and "privacy" the kids went to sleep by 8:30.

Here is Maddie still curled up asleep at 8:30 on Sunday morning. She loved sleeping on her own little couch bed.

We spent an hour at the theme park side on Sunday morning while waiting for Splashin' Safari to open. We went on a train ride for Liam. He just LOVES trains! Maddie was proud of herself because she sat in the caboose all by herself.

Maddie survived her 1st roller coaster ride!

Liam hung out at the playground.

We spent the rest of our day at Splashin' Safari having a GREAT time. Liam and Maddie both got to ride lots of water slides and run / be carried though sprinklers. We can't wait to go back in the future and try more things. We made it home safely Sunday evening, but we did have to make an insurance claim on Monday morning due to a hail storm we drove though Friday evening left my windshield with many knicks. Overall, a GREAT vacation!

FISHING

On Sunday night, we decided it was the perfect evening to go fishing, so Scott got out Maddie and Jake's fishing poles that Grandma had for them and off we went. Maddie did pretty well with her Barbie fishing pole. The very first time Scott cast it out, Maddie's Mickey Mouse bobber went down. So she seriously caught a fish her very first time fishing, pretty funny!

Here is Maddie's big catch! She caught a small bass. She did not want to touch it, but said "aaahh, he's so cute"!

She decided she would pose with Daddy to show off her catch, but she wouldn't stand to close to it, because it was flopping around. Meanwhile, Megan and Liam were playing on a blanket on the pond dam watching all of the action. This is Liam's shy look after he touched Megan. They are so cute together, they are going to be good friends just like Maddie and Jake.


Jake and Grandpa both caught fish at the same time. Uncle Randy was pretty proud of the size of Jake's bass. Here is Maddie's last catch of the day! A blue gill. It was interesting because this blue gill was electric blue in color around his mouth. None of us had ever seen a blue gill like that. Hopefully, we will have more summer Sunday evenings of fishing ahead of us at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

BIRD HOUSE CONSTRUCTION

In late April, we began construction on Maddie and Liam's play set. Maddie quickly began calling it her bird house and the name has stuck.

Slowly, ever so slowly, construction happened on random weekends and week nights after dinner. This all depended on whether or not it was raining.

Phase 1: Initial structure and supports.

Due to the rain, we decided to tarp it between working times. We didn't want all of the labels to fall off of the pieces. So the "Blue Monster" stayed in our yard for a couple of weeks.

Phase 2: It finally started to look like the beginnings of a play house.

Liam liked watching us work on the bird house from his pack-n-play.

Phase 3 : Bird house constructed. Finally, Maddie got to stand inside her birdhouse. She was so excited!

Maddie wants to know how to get down from there. Should I jump or not?

Phase 4: HAVING FUN!!

Here is Liam swinging, but he just won't keep on his sunglasses!

Maddie on her swing!

Maddie on her "curvy" slide!


Maddie and Peter Rabbit getting a snack at the lemonade stand.

Phase 5: Landscaping/ Rock box

So the final and phase is another one for Scott and I. Getting the area under the Birdhouse to become a landscaped area with a rock box instead of a sandbox. So that is the next phase. I hope to have it done by Liam's birthday party in July.

Mother's Day 2011

This is my official Mother's Day picture. Scott helped the kids to make me a special omelet. I got a really special gift. A personalized month-by-month desktop calendar, that has pictures of Maddie and Liam throughout the year. It will look great on my desk when I go back to school.

POOL FUN!

On Memorial Day we got to take our first dip in our pool and we had a BLAST! Liam LOVED the water. He just floated around in his raft for about an hour before his afternoon nap. Liam just couldn't stop smiling!

Maddie enjoyed herself as well! She enjoyed herself just splashing. She said the water was a little cold for her, so she spent a lot of time on the ladder and throwing all of the pool toys into the pool. I can't wait to spend a lot of quality time together in the pool this summer!