Target Practice

Madelyn is so proud to be the new owner of her daddy's 22 rifle.  Today was her very first time she got to shoot her new gun. An old school desk on the lease was put to good use and after Ryan sighted in the gun, Madelyn took over.

Although she is right handed she shoots left handed because she can only wink her right eye. She is just the opposite of her daddy. All three of us can only wink one eye...so we thought that was normal.

Her very first shot!! Her daddy was pretty darn proud.

It started pouring rain so target practice was cut short, but I imagine there will be many more father/daughter target practices in the future. Although Madelyn is ready to move on to hunting now.

Flashback Friday

My question is.....why would the photographer have a high school senior girl pose in such a seductive way? Odd!

Wordless Wednesday

What's in a Name?

When I was pregnant with Madelyn I was quite confident I was having a boy.  I would have bet money on it. Coming up with a boy's name came easily. We had tossed only a couple of different names when we decided on Cade Ryan. When we found out we were having a girl finding a name didn't come so easily. I really liked Kennedy Paige but thought better of it when I thought of all the bad luck the Kennedys have.  I also liked the name Madison, but that was ever so popular and Ryan dated a girl that named her daughter Madison. Yes I'm lame like that. Ryan liked the name Magdalen ...like Mary Magdalen... and call her Maggie for short. Um, that is quite the name to uphold, but quite honestly I thought it sounded like a crotchety old lady. Sorry Mary, I have repented for my negative thoughts. We finally agreed on Madelyn, and then the middle name came rather easily. We both thought Grace was very pretty and went well with Madelyn. We also felt like it was by the Grace of God that we were blessed with a healthy baby girl, considering all we had endured to get her here. Only later did we realize that Madelyn was my maternal great grandmother's name and Grace was my paternal great grandmother's name.

I love the name Madelyn, but do not like the name Maddy. She has friends and family that call her Maddy from time to time but saying Maddy just doesn't feel right rolling of my tongue. We have numerous other nicknames for Madelyn, so much so that when I call her Madelyn she asks me why I called her by her name. When she was a newborn we called her princess, which got shortened to prenny, pren, nenny and nen. Nenny and nen have stuck and we use those nicknames the most. Some other nicknames she hears regularly are, tickle bug, moose mouse, toot mouse, pete, punkin seed, pickle nenny, and nasty nen, just to mention a few. But you will never hear us call her Maddy. :)

Then & Now

 Taken in 2004 - Madelyn (1) - Mama (29)

Taken in summer 2010 close to now - Mama (35) - Madelyn (7)

Looks like we both grew...yikes!

Belated Valentine's Day Post

On Valentine's Day Madelyn started her morning by opening her gift from each of us (her daddy insists on getting her something special just from him because she is his Valentine).

 movies, gum & candy from mama

craft & a dew rag (not the one on her head) from daddy.

Then I took her to school and stayed for her classroom Valentine party. They had a snack, passed out Valentines and made a love bug. The classroom parties are always first thing in the morning and only last an hour. I would think the kids would be bouncing off the walls the rest of the day, but I guess it works for them.

 The love bug she made and of course gave to her daddy. Because she is his love bug.

Chilling while enjoying her snack.

Sharing a Valentine with Ryan. She's a little bit sweet on him.

Stomach Bug

Poor Madelyn has been hit by the stomach bug. She came into our room around 5:00am complaining that her stomach hurt. I figured it was just a ploy to get into our bed. I rubbed her belly for an hour, and got up around 6:00am to get ready for work, by 6:10am she was throwing up. I went on to work since I had meetings most of the day and Ryan stayed home with our sick kiddo. She continued to throw up through the morning and couldn't even keep water down. Poor girl. Finally by mid afternoon she was able to keep some food down. I'm hoping she is over the worst of it, but dreading that Ryan and I will be next in line to get sick.
Madelyn is rarely sick and has had the stomach bug only one other time in her life. I feel so badly for her, but her biggest concern was that she would not have perfect school attendance this year.

Last Weekend

Friday evening Jen (Aunt Bun-Bun) and Garrett came down and stayed the night with us. Madelyn and Garrett had fun playing together, as always. Thankfully Garrett deals well with Madelyn's demands.

Aunt DeAnn, Uncle Terry &  Aubrey joined all of us for Madelyn's game.  Obviously the Powells and Gordons were good luck charms as we won the game 16-7, against a team that had previously beat us.  Who am I kidding, all of the teams have beat us at least once.  Madelyn made two free throws, one or two baskets, and had four fouls.

It was great to spend time with our families, we don't do it often enough. Thanks so much for coming down!

Salon Services

Madelyn decided that I was in desperate need of a pedicure so she opened her salon services to accomodate. She was kind of demanding because when I had any requests she would look at me and say "let the stylist work."

 Time to dry my toes

 And even a nice massage, complete with a toe twist

If you are interested she is taking new clients, if you can handle the bossiness, tickles and toe twisting.

Aunt Shelly, you may have a salon partner in the future.

Team Picture

Aside from the glare from Madelyn's glasses I think the team picture turned out good, but the individual pictures are my favorite.
Madelyn had another good game today. She scored the only two baskets for the team but ended up fouling out right at the end of the game. The girl she fouled made the free throw which caused us to lose 5-4. Tough loss but each week the team seems to be improving.
Thanks PawPaw and Nana Sill for coming down for Madelyn's game today! She loves having a cheering section.

Flashback Friday

Pretty sure aqua net was the hairspray of choice that night.

Winter Blast

On Monday evening the snow began and by Tuesday we were being blasted by a full fledged snow storm.  We had wind gusts anywhere from 25-45 mph and the temperature with the windchill plummeted to -25 degrees. Although we only received six inches of snow, the blowing snow made it treacherous to drive. Schools here and surrounding areas, as well as, businesses, including Starkey, were cancelled yesterday and today. Honestly I think everyone could be back to work today. It would definitely be better for me and my family if I was back at work today. I do not do well being stuck in a house with my family for an extended amount of time. I feel like a caged animal and could inflict bodily harm to those around me at any moment. To keep that from happening we did meet up with friends for lunch both days, ran the halls at the high school, went over to some friends' house for dinner last night, and Madelyn had a friend spend the night. We all survived.....barely.

 The balmy temp...2 degrees. Yikes!

 Madelyn didn't seem bothered by the cold.

 Kenzie stayed the night and the girls stayed up much later than we did to watch a movie.

 Kenzie and Madelyn bundled up to brave the cold.

Ryan helping the girls build a tunnel in a snow drift.

 Time to head in for some hot chocolate.

 And back out for more tunnel digging....

Perfect fit

I cannot wait to go back to work tomorrow! I know without a doubt I could never ever be a house wife or stay at home mom. No. Way. Kudos to those that can. But for me personally I am a better mom and wife because I work outside the home.