birthday girl!

It's been pretty exciting around here lately. Last Friday was Madison's birthday. My big-little girl turned 2. We kicked off the big day with a visit to her pediatrician, who announced Miss M is perfectly healthy. The doctor asked the usual questions: is she eating well? YES...some days the girl is like a garbage disposal. Is she running and jumping? YES...she has more energy than *I* know what to do with. How many words does she know? I have NO IDEA...but it's A LOT. Does she speak in 3-4 word sentences? NO. She's been using LONG sentences (for a 2-year-old anyway)...like her favorite this past week: "We go to museum on the birthday. Maddi's birthday!"

Which brings us up to later in the day. She had been talking about going to the Children's Museum all week. I promised her we'd go on her birthday, and we talked about how her birthday was only three, two, and finally one day away. So when she woke up from her nap Friday afternoon and was told we'd go the museum after dinner she was so excited. My parents came with us and got the biggest kick out of seeing her run around the place. Miss M's favorite part is the food area, where there's a grocery/diner section stocked with plastic food. She loves filling up the shopping carts and looks like she's on one of those 15-minute shopping sprees. Here are some pics from the museum:

Since Easter was this weekend we won't have her party until next Sunday, so that's something else to plan and look forward to.

I've got Easter pics to post too, but will do that when I have more time. Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

mud pies

We, in the Midwest, were treated to a dose of spring this past Sunday. The temperature hit 60-something and the rest of the snow melted. I cheered this change on wholeheartedly and urged my little family to get ready to hit the outdoors, we were gonna celebrate! So we took a nice long walk and later, after Madison's nap, I took her outside to hang out in the front yard. And I got a glimpse of what this spring and summer is going to be like: within seconds, she was grabbing fistfulls of mud from one of my side flower beds. Now I wouldn't have minded so much, but the tips of my tulip bulbs are actually beginning to break through the soil and I REALLY want to see some color in my garden areas as soon as possible so I was at a crossroads: do I freak out and pamper my plants but dissuade my child from exploring? Or do I say buh-bye to tulip town? I chose an alternative solution, to redirect Miss M towards another special mud spot. I let her dig in the raised bed at the side of the house. There's nothing growing there yet so she was free and clear to muck around in the mud to her little heart's content. She had a blast. I guess I need to make sure she's in really old clothes whenever we're outside this season!

And by the way, our dose of spring was gone the next day. Yesterday was rainy and cold, and today we're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow. It's snowing right now. This is the longest winter EVER, I swear.

Here's a neat picture my dad took over the weekend: