Madelyn and her new bike!

Madelyn really liked our neighbor Sofie's trike and when I found it at a resale in mid-October. I wasn't sure if I should get it since it was late in the season and we had a trike but she still couldn't touch the pedals on it yet.  I decided to get it since we were having another girl and I am so glad I did. Madelyn loves it.  Nearly every day that it's been nice this fall, Madelyn has ridden it around our block.   She likes to wear her sunglasses and helmet and sometimes she even likes to pack a snack and put it in her trunk and then eat it after she is half away around the block.  For the most part, she makes it all the way around herself which means Brian and I haven't had to carry it much for her.

Here are some photos and a video of her in action. I love how big her smile is when she passes the camera.

Enjoying Fall Weather

Brian cut down our beautiful ash tree in our backyard that was infected with Borer Ash and was going to be dead by next year.  Madelyn was so happy when she found "gloves" just her size because she could help daddy with pulling weeds and other yard work.  It was so cute to see how she had observed that Brian always wore gloves when doing yard work and that she too needed to wear them to help. Her "gloves" are actually cotton pink mittens.  Here are some photos and a video from her helping carry the branches to the street to be picked up.

We also decided to take a walk in our forest preserve one nice but kind of cold fall day.  Madelyn loved being carried around in the ergo carrier on Brian's back while we trekked through the forest and meadows. She loved looking at all the leaves that had fallen down.  We found some really large ones that were bigger than her head!  After our trek, we all climbed a big hill.  Here's a photo of Madelyn and Leia on top of the rock.

Is Madelyn ready to Drive??

Madelyn loves to pretend to drive our cars. She loves to honk the horn which makes Leia, our dog, go crazy. She also knows where the key goes, how to do the volume on the radio and how to buckle the seat belt. Here are some cute photos.

Camping for the First Time!

Brian had been wanting to bike somewhere and camp. He decided to do it the weekend of September 14th.  The plan was for me to drive down with Madelyn and Leia after nap so that we could make it in time for dinner.  Brian was prepared to camp on his own in case we didn't make it.

He had a beautiful ride down even though he ran into a few trail closures which made the trip longer than expected.  He rode 60 miles to Illini State Park.  Madelyn and I drove down and also had trouble. We got lost twice! It was so frustrating but we finally made it and set up camp. Madelyn was so exited. She loved the tent and her sleeping bag so much she wasn't really interested in dinner.  We had a lantern for her that she loved carrying around. She also loved our headlamps and got a big kick out of wearing mine on a walk back to our campsite.  We had some loud campers by us that kept Brian and I up but Madelyn and Leia both did great and were quiet the whole night.

Madelyn loved trying out her sleeping bag at home. She even took a nap in it!

Trying out Daddy's glasses before he left

Brian's bike all loaded up complete with a tent and sleeping pad.

Brian ready to go.

Photos from his ride

Dinner time after we set up camp.

Madelyn with her headlamp.

So excited to sleep in her sleeping bag in the tent.

Reading a story before lights out.

Our little camper!

Kisses for daddy.

What a fun time!

Pee-Pee in the Potty :)

Madelyn has been more and more interested in her potty and wearing underwear. She loves wearing underwear and wants to wear it all the time but she hasn't been that good about actually producing a lot in the potty.  She does normally stay dry though while wearing underwear around the house.  Madelyn gets 2 gummy bears if she goes in the potty.She did it for the first time on 9/12/13.

Showing off her first pee-pees in the potty on 9-12-13

She is so silly. She'll come home from school and strip to wear underwear.

More underwear. I think she looks like a 80's girl here!

Helping herself to the gummy bears. We had to move them higher up after this!

Making Pizza

Madelyn likes helping us in the kitchen especially when we make pizza!  She loves rolling out the dough, spreading the sauce and sprinkling the cheese--usually sampling some cheese along the way. (We don't make the dough ourselves but use our favorite Trader Joe's Whole Wheat dough.)

Madelyn is wearing her apron that she got for her birthday from Annabel. It comes complete with her name on it and a matching bow which I got her to keep in for a short while. I hope Madelyn continues to enjoy making food with us as she grows older.

Kohl Children's Museum & Make-a-Messterpiece

My sister had been talking about how great the Kohl Children's Museum & Make-a-Messterpiece were.  We decided to make a day of it in early September as both were located about an hour north of us.


Madelyn LOVED the Kohl Children's Museum. It differs from our local children's museum in that it is set up for lots of dramatic play.  There's a car area complete with a walk-through car wash, a grocery store, a vet shop, and so much more! 

Madelyn driving the car

Ready to shop!

Choosing some canned veggies

Madelyn loves talking on the phone so she just had to try this one out

Choosing what fresh fruits and vegetables she wants

Listening to her dog's heart beat

Giving the doggie a shot

On stage with Connor: Madelyn was thrilled to find a bee outfit!

Outside the museum: Madelyn, Connor and Juliana.

After lunch at Panera, it was on to Make-a-Messterpiece where kids get to participate in lots of hands-on activities like Kids' Creative Kitchen,  Bubble’ology, DrumRoll, and Experimentation Station and make a mess!  The theme was flight so a lot of the activities focused around that. Madelyn had fun but was getting tired as it was nap time. She slept well for me on the hour long drive home.

Bubble’ology--creating a work of art using colored bubbles!

Ready to get wet in DrumRoll where she banged on drums that had water on them.

Kids' Creative Kitchen: They made Amelia Earhart Apple Pie :)

Experimentation Station: Making our own rockets and then launching them!

Madelyn's a Gymnast & a Bubblebee

Madelyn has really started showing off her gymnastics skills on the swing set.  She is very determined to do things by herself. Sometimes she struggles grabbing both rings since she still is a little short for them. She has to do it just right but she is very good about not giving up. Too bad her first session of gymnastics this fall got canceled.

Our little girl is growing up.  I was a little nervous about her transition from her grasshopper room (15-24 months) to her bubblebee room (young twos). We had a count down on the refrigerator the last week she was in grasshoppers. She loved peeling off the number each day to see how many more days until she became a bumblebee.  Here she is on her first day as a bumblebee (8/19/13)!  We are happy to say she transitioned wonderfully and loves her new teachers, her larger classroom and being reunited with some of her old friends who are a few months older than her and had already moved up.  She also now gets to go out for recess with Connor who is in the upper two's classroom which is connected to her classroom via a bathroom.