Valentine's Day/Weekend...

This year we had an extra long Valentine's weekend with Presidents Day and a make up snow day that wasn't used.  Since we weren't making the trip to Florida, we decided to do a fun surprise for the girls.  We headed down to French Lick on Valentine's day and stayed at Big Splash Waterpark and Resort.  Our room had bunk beds and I think that was the highlight for Kensley and Avery!  We had fun swimming, walking around French Lick hotel and checking out the town.

 

Here are some pictures of our short trip.

 



Lately {winter edition}...

Since it's been a while since I've recapped what we've been up to, I decided a random post was in order.  I usually feel like the months following Christmas drag by slowly, but I am honestly not sure how we are nearing the end of February already.  We are keeping busy and it feels like we always have something going on.

 

Here is a highlight (in pictures) of what we've been up to since Christmas.

Played in the snow!

Avery has dance class every Thursday and then we follow it up with lunch at Chick-fil-a!

We got together with some of our friends for a crazy Saturday night!

Maddy loved on baby Grant

We celebrated Elli's 6th Birthday at Build a Bear

Followed by a little pizza party at our house...

And 6 crazy kiddos!

Maddy has been doing 'nastics twice a month and she LOVES it!

We went to Disney on Ice!

Had a morning out with these two cuties at Costco.

Looking cute before church

We were able to go to the park in January because it was in the 60's!

The picture is a little dark, but this one was looking sassy!

After a few days of feeling crummy, we had a lunch date at Chick-fil-a

These two finished up a gymnastics class and graduated to the next level.

Our MOPS group spent a fun morning at Jack's donuts...decorating and eating donuts and getting a tour.

 These two LOOOOOVE donuts!

Daddy got to come watch gymnastics!

This one has done more of this...not much success yet!

First trip to the dentist this week!  She did great!

 Between all of this fun stuff, we've been keeping up with school stuff, I have been working about 10 hours a week, Awana for Kensley, volunteering at church, Bible study on Tuesdays and small group on Sundays, etc.

Madelyn: 2.5 Years Old...

I can't believe our last baby is officially 2.5 years old!  It feels like time is flying by and Maddy is growing up overnight.  She is at a really fun AND tough stage.  The 2's have been the hardest yet with her.  We have reached the screaming and hitting stage.  None of the other girls were hitters so this is new for us.  Usually when she is mad and doesn't get her way, she will hit.  Her sisters take the brunt of it, but she has branched out to her cousins and also me.  Needless to say, she's seen her fair share of timeouts and spankings/swats.

As challenging as she's been lately, she's also so funny!  She is our family comedian and is constantly trying to make everyone laugh.  She is talking like crazy and knows exactly what she is trying to say...even if it doesn't always come out clearly.  She also seems to have one volume...loud!   

 

She doesn't really like to be alone and seems to be used to always having a playmate.  When her sisters are gone, she usually wants to be near me or at least aware of where I am.  She continues to love her baby dolls, coloring, playing outside, getting into her sisters' things, all things Frozen and watching TV.  She is way more into TV that either of the girls were at this age and requests to watch it often.  She continues to love her sisters and her cousins.  She is obsessed with her little cousin, Emery and loves to give her hugs and kisses.

Over the past few months she has been able to do a little gymnastics class with our MOPS group.  She LOVES it and calls it "her nastics class".  She's spent so much timing watching her sisters do the fun stuff and she loves to be involved now.  She's caught on quick and I look forward to the Fridays when we get to go to her class!

She continues to be a pretty good eater.  Her favorite foods are mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, French friends, strawberries, boo-nanas (I hope she never says it right), waffles, peanut butter and jelly, pizza, donuts, apple juice and ice cream.

We hope to start potty training soon.  She seems interested in it and often tells us to change her diaper...especially when she goes #2.  I am hoping she catching on easily as I am dreading the process.  I just registered Maddy for preschool next year and it seems so hard to believe.  When you ask her if she wants to go to school she says "Yes!" really enthusiastically. 

 We had Maddy's well check yesterday and the doc said she looks great!  She is growing like a weed and has surpassed her sisters at this age.  Her stats are:
Weight: 29 lbs (54%)
Height: 35.5 in (51%)

Somewhat different than with her sisters at this age, she doesn't tell us she is a big girl but rather a baby.  I am sure I am to blame for that as I tend to call her "baby".  She tends to use it as an excuse now when I ask her to help with something.  Me: "Maddy, can you help me clean up?" Her: "No, I baby. I too yittle."

We are so thankful for this girl and can't believe she is already 2.5 years old!  Happy half birthday, Madelyn Joy!


New Year's Eve...

We headed over to the "red water slide hotel" to stay for a few nights and visit with Grandma and Grandpa Brauchler.  We drove over after Jeremy got home from work on New Year's Eve.  We checked in quickly to the hotel and then met everyone for dinner at Logan's Roadhouse.  After dinner we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's to open presents and terrorize the residents (just kidding...although they probably weren't sad to see us leave).

 

We spent our rousing New Year's Eve in the hotel lobby with Ashley and Scott.  Mom and Dad hung with the sleeping kids, while we hung out in the lobby and chatted and watched football until about 10 pm.  The rest of the night was pretty rough as Maddy woke at 4:30 am vomiting about every 20-30 minutes until 7:30ish.  Needless to say, it woke the whole room so none of us slept much the rest of the morning.  We weren't sure if she was sick or if it was a side effect of something she ate (she consumed a whole peanut...shell and all at dinner).  Fortunately that 'episode' was short lived, but she was pretty tired the rest of the day and not quite her normal self.

 

 

We spent Friday swimming, napping, watching football and hanging at the hotel.  Mom and Dad took the three big girls to their room to have a sleepover that night.  Our room was much quieter and we actually had a good nights sleep...which Maddy needed.  Saturday morning we did some more swimming and then headed to lunch with everyone before we headed home.

 I could just eat her up!

Just resting before bed watching some Oso

Emmy enjoying her dinner

The sign of a fun weekend...every asleep within minutes of getting in the car.

 It was a fun couple of days with family!