"...The Smallest One Was Madeline"

Made by Maddy Monday

2012-02-27T12:50:00.000-05:00

In our house these days, we're 'making' a whole lot of puzzles. Maddy has been really excited about building puzzles lately and we do several a day. She can do 48-piece puzzles on her own, and quite quickly once she's done them a few times. She's even managed to do her 100-piece map of the world completely on her own.

These three she did before leaving the house this morning:

She's standing on Uranus! (giggle):

Last week we made these footprint penguins. The black part is my footprint and the white is Maddy's footprint. The only thing that I did was trace our feet and cut the orange pieces. Maddy's getting pretty handy with scissors and enjoys cutting shapes .

Winter?

2012-02-23T21:31:00.001-05:00

With temperatures above zero almost every day and very little snow, you'd think that we'd be loving this winter. But to be honest, I'm not. Yeah, it's nice not to be freezing our butts off every time we step out the door, but ... there's nothing to do. Last winter we were playing in the snow daily and going skating after dinner multiple times a week. This year our yard is a combo of ice and grass and the rink has been closed more than open. I feel like we're in a winter rut, doing the same stuff all the time.

I'm not sure if we should be hoping for a late but real winter or the full onslaught of Spring.

Pint-sized photographer

2012-02-21T17:31:00.002-05:00

Voldemort the movie

2012-02-18T19:39:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday - At home activities

2012-02-15T17:10:00.002-05:00

LOVE

2012-02-14T16:36:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope that you get to spend the day with someone you love, and if you can't, we're sending some love your way.

(Thank you to Nanny for the Valentine's Day outfit!)

Winterlude

2012-02-13T13:46:00.002-05:00

We spent the weekend in Ottawa enjoying the festivities of Winterlude. It was COLD (-15C) but we bundled up and had a great time. The ice slides were the definitely highlight, but we also enjoyed skating, the ice sculptures and the dog sleds (sans dogs).

When Maddy was going to bed on Saturday night she whispered to me "Mommy, there are so many fun things to do in Ottawa, I'm having trouble deciding what I want to do." She's right!

These ice slides were FAST. Of course, Maddy loved them.

Ski Day

2012-02-10T14:10:00.002-05:00

Dan took the morning off to come skiing with Maddy and I. The good news is that Maddy has no fear. The bad news is that even though she can, she doesn't see any need to turn. Dan was trying to hold her and guide her down the hill and she was trying to pry his hands away while telling him to go wait for her at the bottom of the hill. Here's a little taste of our speed machine.

Wordless Wednesday - The Hutch (Version 2.0)

2012-02-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Voldemort

2012-02-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

[Maddy runs up to mommy holding a rolled up ball of grey felt]

Maddy: I have a present for you!

Mommy: Ooh, what is it?

Maddy: It's a cuddly little koala!

[Maddy runs off and hides in her hutch]

Maddy (muffled): Open it!

Mommy (unrolling the felt): AAAHHHHH!!! It's VOLDEMORT!

[Mommy throws Voldemort in the hutch]

Maddy (giggling hysterically): I don't want Voldemort in my hutch!!

I'd post a video of this transaction, but the laughter makes it impossible to understand what's going on.

Made by Maddy Monday - Long Distance Love

2012-02-06T19:06:00.003-05:00

Maddy and I are sending this handprint hug to one of my online friends who recently received some devastating news about her pregnancy. We're thinking about you R & baby J.

Thanks Aunt Emily!

2012-02-04T21:36:00.001-05:00

In early January Aunt Emily took a little trip across the pond to London. Maddy loves her new Harrods apron, matching bag, and t-shirt. Unfortunately she doesn't love having her picture taken.

Wordless Wednesday - Ladybug Hockey

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Bang Bang

2012-01-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

For whatever reason, in the course of normal conversation, Dan and I started singing a song from one of our favorite shows, How I Met Your Mother. Maddy now requests that we sing it regularly, and will ask for one or the other or both of us to sing it, and now she even joins in. This is going to be horrifying to her in about 10 years.

Made by Maddy Monday

2012-01-30T13:17:00.003-05:00

Here's a few things we've been crafting up lately.

Maddy started ripping her socks off when we were painting, so we did some cute footprint penguins:

Pipe cleaners + magnetic fishing rod = easy fishing game

Maddy's drawing abilities are exploding lately. This is a picture of Maddy and Mommy holding hands. The sun is shining and we're both wearing hats.

And finally, we started making Valentine's Day cards. Stickers, glue, scrapbooking paper, heart punches, stamps and scissors have all made an appearance!

Wordless Wednesday - Hunting the elusive Maddy

2012-01-25T19:01:00.001-05:00

And also the elusive Aunt Emily.

The Hutch

2012-01-23T08:07:00.000-05:00

So much for relegating this bin back to the basement shelf on which it belongs. It turns out our little kitten has declared it her hutch. She fills it with blankets, pillows and stuffed animals and informs us that she's now living in it. The first night we had it out we had to talk her out of sleeping in it.

Hockey Talk

2012-01-20T11:38:00.003-05:00

Dan and I are avid hockey fans (Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, respectively) and it looks like we've bred one in Maddy. Here's some evidence:

Last weekend Maddy was playing hockey when all of a sudden she dropped her stick, ran up to Dan and started flailing her arms around. She was having a hockey fight.
When we play mini sticks, sometimes she runs over to the corner, sits down and reports that she's in the penalty box
The other day she said "I have a secret to put in Daddy's ear". She went up to him and whispered "Lucic!" triumphantly. [If you're wondering, Milan Lucic is a Boston forward, a bit of a goon]
Maddy happily reported that her favorite team is Boston in a fit of giggles. How she knew that this was funny is beyond us.
Last night, proud mommy moment: "My favorite team is the Ottawa Senators because that's Jason Spezza's team"
Maddy frequently runs away from where she's playing because "the Zamboni's coming!"
While skating outside: "We're at a rink, not at an arena."

Declutter time

2012-01-19T13:18:00.003-05:00

We're following a year-long declutter plan, and last weekend I decided to go through a box of old clothes that I had stored in the basement. After realizing that nearly everything in the box should go into the donation pile, we were left with an empty box. Until...

Sk8er Girl

2012-01-16T22:38:00.000-05:00

After watching Maddy sprint around the ice on her double-bladed skates, we decided that it was time to graduate to some "big girl" skates. Maddy took to it immediately and can comfortably waddle around the ice without falling. She ends up doing a modified glide, where she pushes with her right foot and keeps her left on the ice.

Like with most things she can be a bit reluctant about skating by herself, so we had to develop a game to encourage her. Dan and I take turns falling on the ice, and Maddy plays the doctor, skating over to give us medicine and a shot. She really hustles too, giggling the whole time. Whatever works!

Of course the highlight is still gliding fast with Daddy!

Map of the World

2012-01-13T11:44:00.003-05:00

Maddy got a few new puzzles for Christmas, and of course the one that she has taken a liking to is the 100-piece map of the world puzzle that she can't quite do by herself. She manages pretty well, though, and she can now pick out each continent on the map!

Wordless Wednesday - Hilda Hippo

2012-01-11T08:22:00.002-05:00

Or as Maddy calls her, Big Hilda.

Caped Crusader

2012-01-09T16:04:00.000-05:00

Super Maddy saves the day!

Ski Bunny

2012-01-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we took Maddy skiing for the first time. Since Dan and I are (er, were?) avid skiers, we've been eagerly anticipating the start of Maddy's skiing career. We've both taught kids, so we weren't particularly optimistic about her first time out. I figured she'd maybe be able to glide in a straight line and be stopped by the terrain or Dan.

Much to our delight, she seems to be a natural! At the end a couple of hours she was following me in big turns down the bunny hill and stopping at the bottom. And I may be (completely) biased, but she looked pretty darn cute hitting the slopes.

Christmas Recap

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Dog Hospital

2011-12-29T11:46:00.001-05:00

During this trip to Ottawa, Maddy and Aunt Emily have invented a new game called Dog Hospital. Maddy carefully places each animal in a bed ("because they are sick") and then she joins them. Everyone has to then receive medicine, the preferred administration method being a shot in the bum. Sometimes the staff at this place is not quick enough so Maddy needs to self-medicate, then she gives all the animals their meds, saying "give-give, give-give" as she makes her way down the stairs.

This must be a serious drain on health care resources because the number of patients seems to keep growing and growing and the repeat visits are through the roof.

All I wanted for Christmas...

2011-12-27T20:14:00.001-05:00

All I wanted for Christmas was some snow and to spend time with my two angels.

Thank you Santa...

Fall Challenge Wrap-Up

2011-12-24T21:15:00.000-05:00

Back in September, I blogged about participating in Life Outside - Fall Challenge. Yesterday was the official end of the challenge, and I'm very happy to report that WE DID IT! We went outside every day just for the sake of being out. We were very lucky to have the warmest, driest Fall I can remember, but we did have our share to crummy days too and we went out and enjoyed every single one of them.

I think what I loved most about the challenge is that it made us carve out a little time each day to be together. Once we were so busy during the day that we didn't make it out until after dinner for a walk around the block to look at Christmas lights. It would have been easy to just stay in, but we couldn't. And it was great to have a breath of fresh air and some family time after such a busy day.

I also loved watching Maddy's imagination blossom outside. Fall is a pretty tricky time to be outside - there's a lot of time when it's too cold to really play at the park but there's no snow. So we were witches riding rake brooms, we were hockey players skating on the puddle hockey rinks, we were runners in a race, we were bears hiding in a tree cave.

The challenge saw us go to 10 playgrounds, find 23 Geocaches, spend time in Ontario and California and spend time in temperatures ranging from +30C to -10C. It was awesome, and we can't wait to take on the next challenge: WINTER!

I'd like to think that Mother Nature gave us her Christmas present a couple days early as our reward...

Brand Loyalty

2011-12-22T15:23:00.001-05:00

Maddy's pretty lucky to have a nearly unlimited supply of Vans stickers, since she insists on plastering herself in them every day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-21T14:44:00.001-05:00

I can't believe how quickly this month has gone by. We're in full Christmas mode around here, keeping busy with crafts and baking. We've been to a couple of parties and are looking forward to spending Christmas with both sides of the family. Here's what December has looked like around our house.

Maddy standing at the window, saying "it looks like we're in a snow globe".

Trying on the stockings

Trimming the tree...

... as only a toddler can. She wanted all the reindeer together so that they could play.

We were lucky enough to be part of a card exchange this year. We have such a full mantle that Maddy told me that I need to "build her another mantle for all her cards"

Reading the Nutcracker with Daddy. The Christmas books have been a big hit this year.

Dressed for our cookie exchange party

Sesame Street & Will.i.am

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

One of my friends posted this on Facebook the other day, and I think it's the perfect message for all kids.

Maddy was riveted.

Made by Maddy (and Mommy) Monday

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Paper plate reindeer!

Drawing of Daddy!

Hello Kitty beach stickers!

Felt ornaments!

Glitter bulbs!

Christmas tree quesadilla!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies!

Geodesic paper ornament!

December 16

2011-12-16T12:24:00.001-05:00

This isn't the activity I expected to be doing this close to Christmas, but if there isn't going to be snow at least it's warm!

Maddy's fake Uggs are from H&M. She's been getting compliments everywhere we go.

Made by Maddy Thursday (oops!)

2011-12-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

First, pick a piece of tissue paper...

... then dip it in the glitter glue ....

... apply to paper plate wreath ...

... and display!

We've been doing lots of crafty stuff, just nothing worth showing. But now that napping is off the menu, we need some more afternoon activities!

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday - "I'm doing a handstand!"

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

That's what Maddy yelled out while I was trying to get some work done during "quiet time". Little nut.

Putting toddlers to work

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Paint brush + snow covered deck = one happy & busy toddler.

Of course after such hard work you need a little yoga to wind down.

Christmas is coming

2011-12-12T16:03:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning we went to a Christmas party/fundraiser at the preschool that runs Maddy's Moms & Tots program. We haven't bothered to take Maddy to see a mall Santa because she seems pretty scared of the guy. However, we were pleasantly surprised that A) Maddy was not the most fearful toddler in attendance and B) Maddy actually went up and stood next to Santa to get her picture taken. The bribe of a gift may have helped, and she certainly wasn't getting cozy (not that I blame her!). We also managed to get a half decent picture of the three of us for a change.

Maddy Scissorhands

2011-12-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Maddy's latest craze is using scissors. She's actually pretty good at cutting a straight line, and we haven't really tried shapes yet. She just wants to take a piece of paper and cut it into a million pieces.

A little messy, but it keeps her busy. The other day she reported "I'm in the middle of a paper disaster!"

Wordless Wednesday - Toddlers are weird

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hot Cocoa Cookies

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

On the weekend we made hot cocoa cookies. And yes, they tasted exactly as good as they sound.

Our little Mådchen*

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we attended a Christmas party hosted by Oma's German group. It was the perfect opportunity for Maddy to wear the adorable dirndl that Aunt Mic and Uncle Roger brought back from Austria.

Saint Nicholas brought treats and each child was allowed to pick a stuffed animal from a wide assortment. Maddy picked what could only be described as the worst one possible. I have no idea what it's supposed to be, but Maddy was not to be convinced of any other choice. She named her (him?) Australia Downtown.

The party was over naptime, but at least she picked something that could double as a pillow.

The highlight? Dancing to the Christmas carols! The look on her face when they played Jingle Bells was priceless.

*Mådchen is German for girl

A girl and her puddle

2011-12-01T16:45:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday - "I'm ready for ski season"

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Cute face

2011-11-29T18:40:00.001-05:00

Maddy and I have been sick, so I haven't had much to say since we've been back in Montreal. Stay tuned for Advent activities - our first Christmas party is this weekend.

Candy Cane Cookies

2011-11-25T15:51:00.001-05:00

We officially started our Christmas baking last night! Well, we actually started last week and made soft sugar cookies, but since they didn't last until December they don't count. We had to kick things off with Maddy's favorite from last year: candy cane cookies. They are a little bit finicky, and every time I make them I wonder what possessed me to torture myself, but seeing Maddy take her first bite made it all worth it.

Snow Day

2011-11-24T12:24:00.001-05:00

We had our first snow of the year yesterday. Maddy was thrilled to wake up to snow in the morning, but had a bit of a rough day so was extremely uncooperative outside for photos. These pictures are from this morning, and aren't great but she's at least being pleasant. The snow is starting to melt already, and with a forecast of +8C all weekend, it'll be gone soon so it was nice to get out and play while we had the chance.

Wordless Wednesday - Maddy the Jelly Fish

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hotel California

2011-11-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Our hotel was nothing short of fantastic. Beautiful grounds, view of the beach, swimming pools, hot tubs, and water slides. Our little water baby remembered how much she loves swimming and when we tried to coax her out of the pool, we were always met with "I just want to swim a little bit longer". She may have even gone for her first skinny dip!

California Girl

2011-11-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Apparently it was unseasonably cool while we were in California. This just meant that the beach directly in front of our hotel was essentially empty the entire time we were there. It was amazing having the whole place to ourselves. Maddy is a total beach girl and was happy as a clam digging in the sand and running away from the waves.

The Huntington Beach pier is in the background, about 1 km away, and right at the end of Main Street where all the shops and restaurants are located.

Our hotel is in the background, and we had direct beach access via a footbridge crossing the Pacific Coast Highway.

California - Part 1

2011-11-18T15:41:00.001-05:00

Maddy and I were lucky enough to get to tag along on the second half of Dan's business trip to Huntington Beach, California. We arrived at 4 pm last Friday and instead of tackling LA rush hour traffic, we decided to head to Manhattan Beach for a little run in the sand and dinner.

The forecast for Saturday was rain, so we visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach where we saw tons of fish and sea life. Maddy especially enjoyed touching the jelly fish and the sea anemones and I liked seeing the sea otter training.

I couldn't resist posting a pic of the coolest sea dragon:

Sunday we headed in to Los Angeles to Griffith Park. First stop, the observatory for great views of the Hollywood sign and downtown LA. We were extremely lucky to go the day after a rainfall because with the LA smog, we probably wouldn't have been able to see anything on a regular day.

Then on to the Los Angeles Zoo. Maddy reports that her favorite animals were the elephants and the zebras. I report that her favorite part of the zoo was the maps.

Slide

2011-11-15T18:38:00.001-05:00

Maddy had a blast this morning going down the water slides at our hotel.

Greetings from California

2011-11-14T18:10:00.001-05:00

Just a little sneak preview from our trip to LA/Huntington Beach!

Favorite things

2011-11-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday - Fun in the leaves

2011-11-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Making friends

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

We were out for dinner last week at Maddy's favorite restaurant, L'Academie. Another little guy was there for dinner with his family and when we were both finishing up he came over to check Maddy out. He looked at her so expectantly that she handed him a crayon and he hopped up into our booth with us.

It could have been a match made in heaven, but Maddy wasn't impressed with his colouring skills as she looked at me with a slightly disgusted look on her face and said "he doesn't know how to stay in the lines!"

I thought it was too early for us to have to chase the boys away from our daughter...

Ottawa weekend rewind

2011-11-07T22:25:00.003-05:00

Since Dan was leaving bright and early on Saturday morning on a business trip, Maddy and I packed up and went to Ottawa for the weekend. We did our best to take advantage of Ottawa activities, including:

The Agriculture Museum (aka, Experimental Farm, or to Maddy "Nanny and Gampy's farm")
The Aviation Museum
The Scone Witch
Museum of Nature
La Cigale ice cream (I had Dulce de Leche and Coconut Cashew, Maddy had Lemon)
Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park

The photo highlights:

Pumpkin

2011-11-04T11:15:00.001-04:00

This fall I've gone a bit crazy with making pumpkin recipes. I love the flavour and moisture that pumpkin gives to baking. There are a few more recipes that I want to try, but here's what we've made so far

Pumpkin pie cupcakes: The taste of pumpkin pie without the hassle of crust. The crust is my least favorite part anyway, so these are just perfect for me. A little more dense than pumpkin pie filling so that they stay together. A hit with Dan's pumpkin-pie loving family.

Pumpkin spice latte cupcakes: yum, yum, extra yum. I didn't do the awesome presentation from this blog, but I really liked these and would be tempted to Starbuck-ify them for company. I think whipped cream would be just as good on top as the icing.

Pumpkin spice lattes: A great alternative to buying one, and as a bonus you don't need an espresso machine. I didn't make mine nearly as sweet as suggested, but it was easy to fiddle with the ratios. I also made these using a shot of espresso, which was better than brewed coffee.

Pumpkin chocolate chip brownies: Fantastic taste, but they didn't have the nice thick & chewy texture of a brownie. Maddy loved them.

Roasted garlic pumpkin soup: I used the recipe from LCBO Food & Drink (which isn't online yet). I skimped on the garlic because I thought it would be overpowering for Maddy. A great fall soup.

Turn of phrase

2011-11-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Maddy seems to be experimenting with language a bit lately. The result is that she says a whole bunch of stuff that just doesn't seem like it should be coming out of the mouth of a 2.5 year-old.

"This twirly slide is just perfect for a girl named Maddy."

"Daddy will be so pleased to come home to a clean toilet."

"This is my opportunity to jump in the leaves."

"When I'm a little bit bigger I'm going to watch Pretty in Pink. Maybe when Daddy gets home from work."

"Please can I have a hot chocolate without any foam on top" (Maddy's Second Cup order)

"When I was a teeny tiny baby I used to say 'moosic' instead of 'music'" (She actually says this A LOT about tons of different stuff, the funniest being 'dinner tater' instead of 'dinner table')

"The person who wants to have soy milk cocoa is Maddy."

"Good-bye park, thanks for seeing us today!"

Wordless Wednesday - Sleepy in the Stroller

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

Halloween wrap-up

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Our morning started with a Halloween party at Moms & Tots complete with lots of homemade goodies. We had an absolutely beautiful Halloween here and we ended up spending most of the remainder of the day outside.

A while back Maddy decided that she wanted to be a skunk again this year which I whole-heartedly supported since the costume still fit. This year she really "got" Halloween. She surprised me with her willingness to go to the houses, say "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank you", very pleased with her haul of candy. Ever the thoughtful girl, she kept saying that some were for her, some were for Mommy and some were for Daddy (and that we were going to "eat them up in our mouth, yum, when we get home"). Maddy was also very interested in the decorations, as long as they weren't too scary. It was so warm out that we stayed out until her bag was full, then returned home to snack on some Smarties.

Our little skunk

Our smiling laughing pumpkin. Want nice rounded cuts? Use power tools.

Veggie skeleton, our contribution to the Halloween party

Made by Maddy (& Me) Monday

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

In the last little while...

Maddy sent cute Halloween cards to a couple of lucky people

She made some apple muffins

And some zucchini bread (with walnuts and chocolate chips)

And I made some Halloween centerpieces!

BOO!

Look what we caught

2011-10-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

"Mommy, there's a little skunk caught in a trap!"

No, I did not stage or pose this. We were trying on Maddy's costume today and she did this all on her own.

Earning her keep

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

Maddy actually begged us to buy her a "Maddy-sized" rake. She does a darn good job, too.

M-A-D-D-Y

2011-10-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

If you ask Maddy how to spell her name she'll proudly announce "M-A-D-D-Y!" She's been able to write M for a few weeks and she's slowly been learning more letters.

Next step, put them in a row!

The "letters" below her name are smiling Ms.

Wordless Wednesday - Blocks

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Chocolate wasted cake

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

I offered to make dessert for my brother-in-law's birthday dinner. His requests: chocolate and decadent. No worrying about calories or sugar intake or making it somehow healthy. Since I don't usually bake desserts like that, I had no idea what I was going to make. And then I went on to Pinterest and the very first thing in my pin feed was Chocolate Wasted Cake. Clearly the internets were speaking directly to me. We decided to cover the top of the cake with Kit Kat, Rolo, Twix, and Hershey with Almonds.

Pre-chocolate drizzle:

Post-drizzle, ready for us to get chocolate wasted:

Maddy licking the spoon - doesn't she look sugar-crazed already? Like a ferret that got its first taste of meat.

Made by Maddy Monday

2011-10-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

We had a busy week of crafting. First, Halloween fingerprint pictures. For the pumpkin picture, Maddy wanted to make the song Five Little Pumpkins, so she drew the gate herself. I love the stems and smiles that she added too.

We also collected leaves to make hedgehogs (mine is the second one):

And then we tried a recipe for soft pretzels. Easy and delicious, definitely a hit!

Little monkey

2011-10-21T14:39:00.001-04:00

Me: Here are some little monkey undies for my little monkey.

Maddy: Daddy needs BIG monkey undies!

Bedtime birthday party

2011-10-20T14:35:00.001-04:00

One of Maddy's ~~procrastination techniques~~ bedtime games is "birthday party". She very carefully sets all her animals up in her bed and declares it to be someone's birthday. They sing and eat cake and it's completely adorable.

It's really hard to put a kid to bed when she's being so awesome.

Wordless Wednesday - Fly a kite

2011-10-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

Running race

2011-10-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

One of Maddy's favorite games continues to be "running race". She goes to the "start line" at the corner of the street & our driveway, and takes off when we say "GO!" She follows a very specific path, going around the telephone pole, inside the crabapple tree, behind the cedar and down by the stairs. According to Maddy we wear bibs while we run, since it's a race. For a long time her bib was 6, but lately she "wears" 16 and I have number 12. Often she yells out how many laps we have left ("Just nine more times mommy") before sitting down on the front steps and announcing that she is "sweaty from all that running".

Made by Maddy Monday - Ghost prints

2011-10-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

This week we made ghost foot prints to get in the spirit of Halloween. Of course, Maddy wanted to paint her feet "by myself without any help from mommy", but that just added to the fun. I drew the eyes, but Maddy added the mouths. She decided that they are happy ghosts who smile.

A great day

2011-10-16T17:44:00.001-04:00

Today was one of those fantastic weekend days when you feel like you've been productive but had a lot of fun too.

We started the morning with ghost pancakes:

We went for a little "hike" and found three geocaches:

Then I went for a surprisingly fast run (3 miles in 24:42) and followed it up with a homemade pumpkin spice latte

I went to my sister-in-law's house to do some scrapbooking:

I came home to they yummiest smelling stew in the oven and now I'm sitting in front of the fire blogging and watching Maddy flip through her scrapbooks while we wait for dinner.

Hope everyone had as nice a weekend as we did!

Quinn Farm - Take 2

2011-10-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

There's more to do at Quinn Farm than just pick apples. We had a great time checking out the animals, exploring the hay castle, going on a tractor ride and sampling the pumpkin muffins and fresh apple juice.

Apple Picking

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday we went with Maddy's Moms & Tots program to nearby Quinn Farm to pick apples. Maddy learned the right way to pick an apple - turn it up to the sky - and happily filled our 5lb bag before polishing off two delicious Empire apples. We picked Empires because they are apparently the easiest to pick, and they were almost falling off the tree into Maddy's hand. The couple Maddy picked for me to taste were possibly the best apples I've ever eaten. We'll be making plenty of apple recipes in the near future!

Wordless Wednesday - Single Ladies

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

We love the Ecomuseum

2011-10-11T08:00:00.001-04:00

One of our favorite places to go is the Ecomuseum. It's nearby and small enough that Maddy can walk around the entire loop. Maddy loves the snowy owl, the otters, the arctic fox, the ducks, the boardwalks, climbing up on the fences, and eating snacks on the benches. I love that she runs up to the sign in front of each animal and 'reads' "this one says 'I love [animal name]'". It's too cute seeing her run around the Ecomuseum declaring her love for all the animals.

Thankful

2011-10-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

I feel pretty lucky to have these two.

Made by Maddy Monday

2011-10-10T09:10:00.001-04:00

Most of last week was so beautiful that we spent as much time as possible outside. Nevertheless, we still had a bit of time to get crafty.

With the leftover handprints from the turkey puppet we made a pinecone turkey:

Maddy painted "a beautiful sunset" and practiced her letter Ms:

And she traced her own hands on the Magna-Doodle:

Next up, some Halloween crafts!

Life Outside - Geocaching

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Something we enjoy doing outside is geocaching. For the uninitiated, geocaching is a world-wide GPS treasure hunt. You plug some coordinates into a GPS, and go! They are hidden in trees, under rocks, on bridges, street signs, etc. We've even found one in a culvert under a highway. Some include puzzles or multiple steps. The "caches" are small containers, often filled with little trinkets and a log book to sign. Maddy enjoys it and now often asks me if we can go find a geocache when we're out and about, and it's a perfect fall activity to get us outside.

We even managed to incorporate geocaching into our trip to the museum and found a couple right outside

A morning at the museum

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

Museums are a highlight of any trip to Ottawa. This time we went to the Museum of Nature. This time we checked out birds and the the special exhibit of Extreme Mammals, or as Maddy called it "the extremely tallest mammals"

I'm a glyptodon!

Letting Snowy Owl have a turn at the wheel.

Hanging out in a wheelbarrow with Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl gets some love

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday - It's a Little Book

2011-10-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

Maddy thinks this book is HILARIOUS. And it kind of is.

Maddy & Emily

2011-10-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

Maddy is starting to develop a wonderful relationship with her oldest cousin, Emily. Emily (7) is so helpful with Maddy and is constantly showing her things and teaching her new tricks. It's adorable to see how proud Maddy is of what she's learned and how proud Emily is of having taught her.

Hopefully they will just become closer and closer as the years go on.

Made by Maddy Monday - Turkeys

2011-10-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

With Thanksgiving coming (we actually celebrated over the weekend with my family), I decided that we needed to work on some turkey crafts. We've been talking a lot about being thankful and the things that we're thankful for.

Trick of the trade: Instead of tracing Maddy's hand, I got her to use an ink pad and stamp her hand on a paper. I cut out the stamp and used that as the hand template. It definitely made for better hand shapes.

Life Outside - Fall Challenge

2011-09-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Last week another mom blogged about a simple challenge and I knew that we had to join in. The challenge? Go outside every day. When it's cold, when it's wet, when it's windy, and when you don't really feel like it. The current challenge is 90 days, Sept 23 - Dec 22.

I don't think that this will be too tough for us, since we go outside almost every day already. In fact, I can't remember the last time we didn't spend at least a few minutes outside. But Maddy loves to be out, so I'm hoping that this will encourage us to get out on those less pleasant days. December 22 is the short-term goal, but my long term goal is ONE YEAR. At the very least, I'm going to keep track of the number of days that we miss over the next year.

I hope to incorporate some new adventures into this challenge. We're outside all the time, but we're usually doing the same things in the same places. I want to check out new parks, do some hiking and some geocaching, and hopefully go to a pumpkin patch or corn maze and fun fall things like that.

So, who's in?

What are we reading - @ 28 months

2011-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've written it before, but Maddy loves to read. She can sit through countless books, knows several lines of most of her books by heart, and wants books whenever she's in her stroller and carseat. It's tough to tell which are her favorites because she really likes a variety, but our current most-read list includes:

Best Counting Book Ever
A Big Treasury of Little Animals (this is 6 books in one, over 150 pages long and she'll sit through all of it)
Click Clack Moo Cows that Type
Berenstain Bears Go to Camp and Go to School
Toot & Puddle and Charming Opal
All of the (many) Charlie & Lola books we have
How to Catch a Star (popular partly because of the beautiful sunset pictures)
Cherche et Trouve Au Parc (a Where's Waldo type book where you have to find different items in the picture)
It's a Little Book
Bubble Trouble and Peepo are still the go-to nap time books

I recently organized Maddy's bookshelf of board books in her room and I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pics because it looked so nice.

Wordless Wednesday - Walruses

2011-09-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

Walking in my Spider Web

2011-09-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

Maddy has a new favourite park activity: the "spider web". I can't get over how well she climbs it and how focussed she is while walking along the ropes. This is not our "regular" park, but it's worth the short drive just so that Maddy can climb this structure.

We've been loving the late-September weather that we've had lately. I never want to go inside on warm and sunny fall days, since you never know when it's going to be the last one.

Made by Maddy Monday - Lions

2011-09-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Ever since the dinosaurs, Maddy has been wanting to paint paper plates. So I've had to find more paper place crafts. This time we made lions. I got in on the action too so that I could demo it for Maddy and she could copy. I tried to encourage Maddy to use orange paint, but she said that her lion is pink because it's a girl. Hard to argue with logic like that. I cut the mane and the nose, but did all the gluing and drew on the whiskers and mouth herself, and even took it upon herself to draw a forehead.

She's asked to make a raccoon next. Thank goodness for the internet.

Girls and Boys

2011-09-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

Wednesday we were at the park with Maddy's cousin David, who is 5 weeks younger than Maddy. We came across a caterpillar that was crossing the path. Maddy crouched down beside it and said "Hi Caterpillar, how are you today? Do you want some caterpillar food?". David crouched down to take a look, stood up and stomped on it.

I think that pretty well sums up the differences between boys and girls.

Playing together at Moms & Tots

Routine

2011-09-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

With September comes a new routine and schedule. Maddy and I like to keep busy, so we have an activity planned most mornings. This fall, our weeks look like this:

Monday - Moms & Tots at a local preschool

Tuesday - Playdate morning and lunch

Wednesday - Swimming Lessons

Thursday - Gymnastics

Friday - Songs & Stories at the library

Of course all these attempts at socialization have not had an impact (yet?) as Maddy generally avoids all the other kids. At least she no longer acts like holding hands with someone else is a form of torture. But she looks darn cute in her little backpack heading off to "school".

Wordless Wednesday - Cousins

2011-09-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

Baby Boot Camp

2011-09-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

We run a tight ship around here, and Maddy knows she better stay in shape.

Just kidding, she did this on her own the other day, saying "I'm doing my exercises with my hands on the floor and my feet on the chair." She also likes to do "bum kicks" and sumo stretches ever since she saw me warm up at my last ultimate tournament.

Made by Maddy Monday - Ace the Octopus

2011-09-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

As you can see from the post title, I've decided to test drive a new theme for Mondays. I'm hoping to showcase the crafts that Maddy and I do together, though you may also get some of my crafts too.

It's amazing what you can make by painting a toilet paper roll and adding googly eyes. This time around we made Ace the Octopus. I have no idea where Maddy comes up with the names she assigns to things, but they can be pretty funny.

Maddy has also recently started making recognisable drawings. Here she's drawing a sunset, and as I'm writing this she's sitting beside me practicing drawing herself. She's very realistic about what she can accomplish and seems to intentionally draw things that are easy - like a slide with puddles at the bottom, or a sailboat. She also likes for me to draw part of the picture and then either colour it in or add the details.

Summer goals update

2011-09-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Since I'm as close as I think we're going to get on our summer goals, I figured it was time to update the list:

~~Swim in the ocean~~
~~Watch fireworks~~
~~Watch the sunset over the water~~
~~Build a sand castle on the beach with Maddy~~
~~See 3 summer movies in the theater~~
~~Eat dinner on a patio at a restaurant~~
Make the most of our vacation to Iceland (hike, see the sites and relax)
~~Eat lobster in Maine~~
~~Beat last year's number of swims (50) at our local pool~~
~~Try 5 new barbecue recipes~~
Run a sub-25 minute 5k (this might be tough)
~~Go out for ice cream (this will be easy)~~
Wakeboard
~~Tackle this reading list~~

Some notes on the above:

Hopefully Iceland will happen another time. Especially since EVERY person I know seems to have gone this summer, and thought it was the best place ever.
I've been so close on the 5k time, but haven't quite been able to do it (25:06 on the treadmill, 25:55 in a road race where we went out WAY too fast).
Seeing the Help was one of the funniest movie experiences I've ever had. The theater was licensed so we all had drinks in the middle of the afternoon, just because we could. And we managed to get free movie tickets from Facebook.
Lobster is delicious
Maddy and I went to the pool 58 times. I can't believe how well Maddy can swim.
We tried some fantastic recipes. Dan's favorite was definitely pork & mushroom skewers with basil sauce. Maddy likes the pork satay.
The ice cream place we tried in Maine was as good as our favorite local place. I had Salted Caramel Nut. Love at first lick. Dan had Key Lime Pie, which Maddy referred to as "key lion pie"
I read WAY more books than in the original picture, but that goal was to make me read the books that I actually own and not just library books. The Hunger Games trilogy was my favorite read of the summer.

Hmmm, I guess we need to think up some Fall/Winter goals now...

Maddy in Maine

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday - Corn-on-the-Cob

2011-09-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

"I'm eating corn like Gampy!"

Dinosaurs

2011-09-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Another easy craft involving paper plates, paint, glue and googly eyes. Please excuse the girl who refuses to have a nice picture taken.

More Things Maddy Says

2011-09-12T07:45:00.000-04:00

"Tomorrow we'll make a cake in the blue pan just in case it's Daddy's birthday"

Me: "You're going to turn into a crouton"
Maddy: "A feisty crouton!"

"Daddy is a polar bear and I'm a manatee bear"

"Mommy should have a jelly bean for being a good mommy" (Maddy gets a jelly bean for peeing on the potty)

"We have two doggies. Their names are Lyla and Puppy Race."

"The girls are pushing Colonel Gaddafi off a cliff"

"After Daddy builds another moat and another wall, he's going to draw a picture of North Conway"

Nanny: "It's already eight o'clock"
Maddy: "Somebody ate a clock!"

"If we get in a bird or an airplane we can fly to the moon"
[Then, later in the same conversation, after explaining that we can't get in a bird and neither birds nor airplanes can go to the moon] "We can go in a rocket ship and then turn into astronauts to fly to the moon!"

"You're my favorite Daddy in the whole wide world"

Owls

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Here's what Maddy and I crafted up this week: a family of owls! Maddy painted toilet paper rolls, and then added googly eyes and a scrap of orange paper.

Labour Day Weekend Cottage Fun - Part 2

2011-09-08T08:28:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning of the long weekend Maddy and I headed up to a good friend's cottage for a couple of nights. We went boating and swimming, read books in the hammock, played on the swing, and had a relaxing time enjoying the last long weekend of the summer.