Happy Halloween

Hannah Montana in the house!! Actually Madi Montana!

Madi has decided that she thinks Hannah Montana is the best so what better to be for halloween than her!  I really think she was more excited to be wearing a long haired wig...she has since informed me that she wants to have her hair as long as her HM wig.  Nice.

The past couple years we have been blessed to have such wonderful friends who host a "Halloween party". We all go over and have some yummy food then get all the kiddos ready...attempt to take a group  picture...then head out for some massive trick or treating.  Below is the attempted group photo.

So many kids, so much fun and so many different costumes = all really great!

I felt bad for some of the very nice people handing out candy...there were moments of craziness when all the kids rushed the doors and driveways at the same time.  But seemed that everyone survived and all the parents and kiddos were very happy and tired at the nights end.

Madi was so excited to check out all her loot!  As we were driving home that night she said, "Mom, do you think if I dressed up again tomorrow, rang door bells and said trick or treat, would the people who live there give me their left over candy?"  Really.....what a great thought I told her but with all the kids around I just don't think there are many leftovers and Halloween only is one day.  Her response, "maybe I can try that next year" I hope she forgets.

State Fair

I have always loved the Arizona State Fair....my dad use to take me every October when I was kid and I cherish those fair memories.  I have forced that fair love on Brady and Madi, however Madi seems to really be excited year after year.  She is completely unfazed by most of the rides.  She'll go on all of them.  Last year she was just a few inches too short for lots of them and all year long she kept asking if she was tall enough...so sure enough she was!! She can go on pretty much all the rides...she even wanted to go on the death drop ride...thankfully she wasn't tall enough for that one this year.

Since the State Fair usually comes around my birthday, that's what we did for it...birthday at the State Fair, my cake....Funnel Cake. I know it's super bad for me but I only have it once a year so I think it's fine :)  Thanks for a fun day and Happy Birthday to me!!

Schnepf Farms

Is there a funner place to visit during the fall? We don't think so!! We have made going to Schnepf Farms our family tradition (this is year 2:) to go each October. We did sooo many fun things there that by the time we got home we all crashed. Here are a few of the activities we partook in: watched the dog show, almost was talked into a new puppy (me more so than Brady), roller coaster, swings, long tunnel slide, big bike path, kiddie bike maze, face painting, haystack climbing, bee riding, tree house climbing, shaved ice, and of course picking out our family pumpkin for Halloween.

Now we are really ready for Halloween!!

Amy & Geoff's Wedding

My sweet sister-in-law is now Mrs. Geoff Marincovich (just like it's spelled). Yipeeee!! Amy and Geoff are such a cute couple and had an absolutely beautiful wedding. They were married in a Catholic Church in Scottsdale and then had a reception at the georgeous Villa Sienna in Gilbert.....it was a gem of a place.

This first picture is of the 3 cutest flower girls ever!! :) They were all very excited to learn what their jobs were for their Auntie Amy's special day and they did a fabulous job.

Above is Madi getting a little blush and lip gloss from the MAC makeup artist whom we both loved and she did a fabulous job on some of us bridesmaides.

Unfortunately since Brady, Madi and I were all blessed to be in the wedding there wasn't lots of opportunities for me to take my own pics so I had to ask around (if I get more I will post them). The photographers did a wonderful job and took many many great pictures. I thought the picture with the little kids sitting on the "red carpet" with the new bride is adorable. They were all just chillin' waiting for all the pictures to be over so they could go in and party!! Which it was....a great big fun party.

Congrats Geoff and Amy!! We love you both!

Alexa's Party

Party party party....that's what we like to do!  Now it was Alexa's birthday party we were able to attend.  There was a castle bounce house, cute finger foods, jewelery decorating for the girls, and monster coloring for the boys, a pinata, and of course a cute and yummy castle cake.

There were lots and lots of friends there so it really was so much fun. Happy Birthday Alexa and thank you for such a great day!

7 lucky years!

I am so happy to say Happy Anniversary Brady!! 7 great years we've had so far!! I still remember the day we met, our first date (with Bobby Burke), how I thought it took you forever to kiss me - which ended up being underwater (funny story really), your proposal, our wedding day, finding out we were expecting our first blessing, Madi being born!! These are just some things we've shared together. I love you more and more each day and I am truely blessed and thankful that God brought us together. I think we make a great pair!! We have so many more adventures to go on....I'm glad I get to go with you! I love you always and forever hun!!

Skate land Party

One of Madi's cute friends Addie had her birthday party at Skate land!! I was so excited to go to this party myself....seeing as how I use to go there every weekend when I was in elementary school and now Madi could go. (I forgot it was there since I don't drive that way much)

All the kids were giving a little coaching before they could get out on the actual rink. They were taught how to stand up from the floor and hold their balance and even how to fall the correct way, I guess they want to try and minimize broken wrists and rolled over fingers. Here is Miss Madi practicing on the carpet....she did really good once I got her the right skate size.
She proved to the coach that she could hold her own and was able to get out on the rink. By the way, it is really slippery out there. But Madi did great and had so much fun on the skating rink.

Here's Madi and Addie (I know cute right) taking a little break from all the skating!

This was a few of the kids there having a blast! And you have to check out the cake!!

Addie's mom, Monica, is the best as making cakes...after all she is a professional!! It was absolutely delicious too...and she make really cute skate shaped cookies as party favors!! Oh if I could bake like her.

Happy Birthday Addie!! Thank you for inviting Madi!! We all had a super fun time!

End of Summer Swimming

It is officially the end of the summer and swimming season will shortly be over. We have had so much fun swimming nearly every moment we possibly could fit in the water. We are very lucky that Nana and Papa live only a few miles away and have a really great pool!!
Madi is officially a fish too. She absolutely loves to be in the water and can swim then length of the pool correctly and take breaths as needed. She had been taking swim lessons for a few sessions and asked if she could take a little break....I really think she thinks shes an expert now. Don't they all at 5?!? Madi loves to play any and all water games too.

I'm glad to see that she loves the water as much as I do. I would love to own a home with a pool someday...when I can afford a pool-boy too :) I guess when Brady wins the lottery :) Oh and yes....I love water photos.

tooth #3....gone

Seriously.....she is the only one in her Kindergarten class who has lost any teeth....not just one but this is #3!!! Her dentist said she'll just go thru her "ugly stage" sooner. Not really something a mom wants to hear.....I really don't think my princess will ever have an ugly stage and that's the truth!
I think her tooth fairy will be broke before she's done with Kindergarten at this rate!! Now Madi will tell me that she thinks another one is going to be falling out soon.....this growing up stuff is just too much, I need her to stay little for just a while longer

Bye Willo....

I have to say that it has not been the greatest year as far as dogs in our family go.....earlier this year my first dog Wiket had to be put down and now his side-kick little (big) brother had to be put down. Willo was known as my mom's dog....he was always so sweet and very loyal and will be missed.

He had the softest look in his eyes every day and was always happy to see everyone. I'll miss his little bull legs and happy look. Say hi to Wiket for me little guy.

Madi sure has learned lots about death and dying over the course of this year....I hope we are done for a while now.

First day of KINDERGARTEN!!!

I may just bawl through this post....my little princess is in Kindergarten....FULL day Kindergarten. As you can see above with her "you are special" plate and her smiley face pancakes, Madi is very excited for her first day. We've all heard it a million times about how quickly our kids grow up and we are always asking ourselves "where did the time go?" but seriously I can not believe she has started her school career. Okay okay she did to 3 and 4 year old preschool but that was just the fun stuff, at the time I didn't think it really counted - kind of like 2 practice runs for me :)

We actually bought her back pack last year and when she put it on with her lunch attached and water bottle it was so heavy she could hardly stand up straight. So since the first day we've purchased a more suitable light weight one for her.

We are very lucky to live right across the street from Madi's elementary school so we are able to save some gas and walk (when it's not scorching hot.....we do drive on those days). So here we are walking Madi to her first day. I didn't want a picture of my face because I was trying so hard to hold back the tears so don't be jealous of the backside picture :) There were a zillion kids and parents watching their kids and taking pictures so we decided to join in...we got to watch Madi play on the little Kindergarten playground.

When the bell rang and teacher blew the whistle all the little kiddos got their backpacks off the fence and lined up as best they could and followed their teachers into school.

Here she is (sorry it's blurry) waving and saying bye. And that was it....well except for me crying all the way home.

She had a blast the first day. She did come home hot and exhausted but very excited to go back the next day.

Happy Birthday Maggie!

It was also Madi sweet friend Maggie's 5th birthday on the first day of school so we decided to surprise her and bring the kids ice cream cones and have a cool treat with her. They have been good friends for about 3 years now and they are so cute together and have loads and loads of fun!
When Maggie opened the door we started singing happy birthday to her. She had the cutest expression the whole time. It was so much fun!!




Jesse was watching some other kids that day too so they all sat around the table and ate the yummy ice cream together. The weekend before Maggie had her first birthday sleepover and Madi was invited. I thought for sure all the girls would be up all night but Jesse said they were out by 9pm I believe. And ever since then Madi has been asking for Maggie to come have a sleepover at our house. Is this too young to be starting a normal routine of weekend sleepovers? They are building such wonderful memories!