Christmas

Here are some pictures from our Christmas. The videos will have to wait as they are too large.

Getting ready for Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Morning

Rocking horse from Grandma & Grandpa Helman

Maddie is trying on Grandpa's new hat.

What A Difference A Year Makes

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

I WON'T Be Home For Christmas

Not this year at least. This is the first Christmas when I won't be traving home to Michigan for Christmas. And I have to admit that it feels a little strange and not quite like Christmas. But that's part of the deal when I said "I Do". Now I have the opportunity to begin new traditions in my new "home". I have carried a few traditions into my new home. One of which is our daily Advent devotions. It even came with the massive make-up sessions.

Holiday Express

Yesterday, we took Madison down to Union Station , along with Bryan's parents, to see Santa Clause and the Holiday Express train. She seemed to like the train as well as all the model trains. She did not, however, care too much for Santa Clause. When we were about to take a family picture, my father-in-law dropped my camera and the display screen broke. I was able to retrieve all the pictures I had taken earlier in the day. He felt so bad, that he aided in the purchase of a new one. My new camera, of course, has a microphone so I can take videos with sound. It also has a lot of manual settings so I can learn to take better pictures. I haven't learned all the features yet, but I can at least take pictures in "Dummy Mode". Here are a few pictures from the day (with my old camera).

Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful

And oh so crazy. Yesterday, we hit the highest high (61) and the lowest low (8) for the month of December, all in one day!

In other weekly news...

Thursday was MOPS. I baked 3 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange. I also discovered that I am allergic to cinnamon - but only when I rub a lot of it on my skin.

Friday was our office Christmas Party. It was a holiday themed Murder Mystery party. It was quite entertaining.

Saturday, we braved the madness to do some Christmas shopping. Next year, I'm purchasing everything online. A funny little story invovling Madison: She wanted me to read her Bible to her. We were reading the story of Noah. Everytime I said, "Noah," she touched her nose.

Sunday, we took our family Christmas photo at Bryan's parents' house. I'm not posting the picture because you'll see it in our card.

Away In The Manger

This is yet again one of those times when I wish my camera recorded sound. While Madison is doing something cute as usual, you miss the fact that she is dancing to "Away in the Manger" that is being played from her Nativity set.

Here are some more pictures. One of Madison stuffing as many people in the stable as possible. The other of Bryan putting up our Christmas lights.

Pictures

I know I haven't blogged in a while. And SOME people are anxious for more pictures of Maddie. So here are just a few random pics from the last few weeks:

Look Ma, I Can Feed Myself

Look at my BIG GIRL eating her applesauce with a spoon.

Maddie's New Shoes

Grandma Helman got Madison some new shoes. She really likes her new shoes. I think she ran a mile in them that day. She liked how they would go, "thud, thud, thud" everytime she took a step. Here are some pictures & videos for you to enjoy.

Happy Halloween

Madison had a really nice Halloween. I think she really enjoyed Trick-or-Treating. She was given two chocolate bars (one in each hand) at the first house we stopped at. She would not let go of them for any reason the entire time. Needless to say, they were completely melted by the time we were done. Luckily their packages remained in tack.

Hope

Bryan has an interview tomorrow!

Halloweeen or Easter?

Today, I dressed Madison up in her Halloween costume for the first time to take her to the Lee's Summit Halloween Parade with the other MOPS moms. Although the costume was too small, she still looked adorable as the Easter Bunny. OK, so she was just supposed to be a regular bunny. But I needed a container for the candy and Bryan said I to get one of the Easter baskets from the basement. So, she was the Easter Bunny instead. In retrospect, I should have also gotten some of that plastic grass and a couple eggs to put in the basket.

I'm grateful that the weather was so nice. I think Madison enjoyed trick-or-treating. One of the kids in our group won a prize for her costume. She was Little Bo Peep and her baby brother, only a few weeks old, was a little lamb. No, I don't have a picture. There were a LOT of really cute kids.

More Bad News

To top things off, Bryan was laid off this week (along with about 10 other people). We kind of saw this coming as the company hasn't had any new jobs in quite a while. Bryan hasn't had much luck finding a new job, either. It's very likely he will have to have to find a job outside of architecture. Please pray for our family during these troubling times.

Always Something

There's always something that needs to be fixed/replaced/worked on when you're a homeowner. We've been there less than 4 months and we've already had to fix our bridge, replace/upgrade our electrical service, and fix our washing machine connection. Now, our furnace doesn't work. We had trouble getting our pilot light lit so we called a professional. He said that the hole where the gas is supposed to come in had rusted shut. There was also a lot of debris sitting on the bottom. So HAD we gotten the pilot light lit, all the debris could have combusted.

Parent/Teacher Conference

We had our first parent/teacher conference at Madison's day care. We sat in a room for 20 minutes while her teacher, Ms. Jenny, told us how wonderful our daughter is. We were given a report card of sorts of her development milestones. The checklist lists various skills that should be reached by the end of 18 Months. She's reached almost all of them and she's only 13 Months!

DC 3-Day '08

http://www.dc3day08.blogspot.com/

Mommy's Little Helper

Walnut Picking

Last night we picked up HUNDREDS of English Walnuts from our driveway and yard. There are still several more in the yard and a few still left on the tree. We walked around to the front of the house and discovered that we also have a buckeye tree.

Culture Fair

Last night at Maddie's daycare, they had a Culture Fair Potluck Dinner. Each classroom was to bring a dish from a different country. The Young Todds had Greece. I wasn't that familiar with Greek cuisine, so I did a little research on the internet. Most of the food did not look very appetizing, was too time consuming, or just wasn't condusive for potluck. I chose to make a spinach pie. It was somewhat appetizing, it only had 4 ingredients, and would bake in 20 minutes. It was VERY easy to make: mix some spinach, feta cheese, and a little garlic. I did have to improvise a little. You were supposed to used this special greek pastry, but Pilsbury crescent roll dough works just as well. I was also supposed to have a top & bottom layer of dough (like a typical pie), but I dropped one of the dough containers a few days earlier (it rolled out of the refrigerator) and it popped open. So I only had enough dough (barely) for just a bottom layer. Then, the dough didn't bake in the time it was supposed to, so we were late to the dinner. But when it was all said and done, it went over really well. I only had to take home 3 small pieces. One teacher said that it was the best spinach pie she had ever had.

Madison Update

Madison is feeling much better. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic which appeared to clear everything up. She's back to her usual happy self.

Madison

I got a call from Maddie's daycare yesterday, while I was already on my way to pick her up, saying that she had just thrown up and had a fever of 100.4. I wasn't all that concerned about it until when I got there and the teacher said that there was a little bit of blood in her vomit. I called her doctor when we got home and they said that we should take her to the emergency room. We actually got in to see the doctor rather quickly. We explained the situation. But since she only threw up the one time and we weren't there to see how much blood was there (he assured us that a little bit is fine), there wasn't much to go on for a diagnosis. He ordered some blood tests and a chest x-ray, just to see if anything showed up. THIS took forever. After about 3 hours, the blood tests came back normal. Madison developed a slight rash while there, but the doctor said it could be caused by a million different things. Not very reassuring, but since he wasn't concerned, I guess I shouldn't. The doctor did ask if she had been coughing lately. She has, but I thought it was just a cold. When looking at the chest x-rays, it appeared that she has the beginnings of Pneumonia. He prescribed an antibiotic. She didn't have a fever this morning, but I kept her home from daycare & Bryan's mom is watching her today. Hopefully she will feel better in a few days.

Madison's First Birthday

Wow, Madison's first birthday has come and gone. It's amazing how she went from a 4-1/2 lb "peanut" in a plastic box, hooked up to all kinds of tubes & wires in the NICU, to an "ideal" healthy little girl of 20 lb, 9 oz. It's so fun to sit back and just watch her play & explore. It always brings a smile to my face (and sometimes a joyful tear in my eye). I thank God everyday for the joy she has brought to our lives. Here are some pictures from her big party yesterday. Thanks to everyone who made the trip.