Party time! (picture overload)

Madison had her first birthday on Friday! We celebrated on Sunday with some of my extended family and then had a party for her on the 16th. It ended up just being Ana, my mom, Lori & Justin and Kristi's family, but we had a good time. For the Sunday party I made her an Elmo cake and an Elmo cupcake. I knew that if I just put a whole cake in front of her she would be very upset when I took it away but I didn't care if she ate a whole cupcake, so that is why I did both. She got some super cute clothes and some stacking cups and a touch-and-feel book (thanks, Wendi, Madie loves the book). It amazes me how quickly she learns things, it only took a couple of times reading the book before Madie knew where to feel on the pages.  

Here is the cake from her Sunday party

For her Saturday party, we had pizza and cupcakes and went swimming. Madie wanted nothing to do with the pool at first but she slowly warmed up to it. We took her again tonight and it didn't take as long for her to stop screaming (despite what the post date says, it is Monday night now). For that party I made several of the sesame street characters. I did Oscar,  Grover, Cookie and Elmo.

And because I didn't want to make 2 1/2 dozen sesame street characters, this is what I did with the rest:

Madie enjoying her Elmo cupcake

She wanted to share :)

Madie wanted to play with her toys as soon as she opened them, of course, and couldn't care less about the clothes she got (however, I am very greatful for all of the cute clothes she got). Thanks, Kristi, for the super cute Elmo farm play set.

Thanks Grandma 'roney for the animal zoo. Madie and Katie had fun with it before it was even out of the box.

Here are just some random pics from the two parties...

We don't call her "crazy auntie lolo" for no reason :)

Madie got this balloon from Kristi and Jenny and Katie, who stopped by on Madie's birthday to sing to her :)

This one's not from her birthday parties, but I think it is funny. She is really into climbing on things lately, including people, and she managed to climb onto me while I was laying on my side the other day. 

This is Madie's new church dress. It was originally going to be for Lori's wedding but then she changed her colors so Madie got it for her birthday. We got tons of compliments on Sunday about how cute she looked.  

I'll have her stats tomorrow for her weight and height and all of that. She says several words: mama, dada, birbir (which is bird), pupu (which is puppy), ball, no, uhoh, woah, up, and today she said home. She also waves hi and bye and can tell you what a monkey says. And get ready for pacie-free pictures. We try to only give it to her at bed time, since we switched carseats on Friday she no longer gets it in the car, but don't always. But we lost both of her pacies and I was planning on taking them away when we move in a couple of weeks anyway, so I was not going to go buy new ones tonight. She did fall asleep without any crying, surprisingly, so hopefully it won't be too terrible after all (although she gets shots tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes).

Cute pics

The other day Madison decided to squeeze behind her elmo table. I thought it was super funny and so I took some pictures and they actually turned out to be really cute shots of her. (And the shirt was made for her by my friend Paula as part of the previous blog craft exchange (see post Giving Makes the Giver Happy). Thanks, it turned out super cute!)

The last one is my favorite. Her face just cracks me up!

Ok, I guess I'll admit it.

I've never really felt like a creative person. Several people lately have made comments to me though about how creative I am. I guess I just don't see it since I usually take my ideas from someone or somewhere else. I realized the other day, though, that I almost never copy an idea in its entirety. There is usually some tweaking that goes on. After making these cupcakes, though, I felt creative. For Madie's birthday I want to make her an Elmo cake, since she loves Elmo. I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it look as cute in frosting as it was in my head. I saw on a food network challenge recently someone make a cake of Sully from Monsters, Inc. and he used this grass tip to make the fur and I thought that would be way cuter than using a star tip to make Elmo. So I went out and bought one. This was my first round. The second round I did the nose a lighter orange so it shows up better. I thought they turned out way cute and I knew I must not have done too bad when I showed one to Madie and asked her who it was she just laughed and reached out for it. She knows its Elmo and that's pretty much all that matters. For her birthday I'm going to try and do several of the Sesame Street characters. I'll post pics of those. 

I didn't feel like making 2 dozen Elmo cupcakes so this is how I decorated the rest. I stole the idea from a cookbook, but they rolled the edges of sugar cookies in sprinkles. 

Sorry the pictures are upside down. We have been really trying lately to get Madie to fall asleep on her own at nap time. She is doing much better, she only cries for about 10 minutes, usually, and then it out. This is how I found her the other day. I thought it was a pretty interesting position. She is laying across her crib the short direction with her leg bent and pushed up against the edge.

Then Zach put her down on Saturday while I was getting my hair cut and this is how she fell asleep. 

Madie's new favorite thing is to help me clean. She loves to carry around the swiffer. She bangs it on the floor and sometimes even drags it across it.

Oh, and despite the pictures on this post, my child really does wear pants. 

Easter Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter, Madie went to her first Easter party at my parents' house. All of her cousins were there. She did pretty well, despite the fact that it was nap time for a decent chunk of the party. The kids all ate some mac & cheese for lunch, hunted for eggs (inside since it had been raining and was all gross outside), decorated cookies and took turns hitting the Easter pinata. 

Madie giving her new bunny a kiss. 

Madie with most of her cousins and their new stuffed animals.

And the race is on...

Madie got sidetracked on the way to the hunt by this 5 gallon bucket. She thought she would see if her basket fit inside of it. 

Taking a break from trying the eat the egg to play with the dog. She spent more time at the door near the puppy than she did looking for eggs.

For some reason, Madie decided that she needed to crawl under the step ladder and sit underneath it for a while. 

Madie wasn't too fond of the pinata but she did enjoy walking around with the candy hanging out of her mouth.

On Easter morning, the Easter bunny had brought Madie a new Elmo movie. She went right for it and after unsuccessfully trying to open it, did with it what she does with everything - put it in her mouth. 

Zoo trip

Madison and I went to the zoo with some friends of ours a couple of weeks ago. At first, Madie was more interested in watching the other people than the animals. She did enjoy the otters and the monkeys. She would have enjoyed the petting zoo more but I wouldn't just let her run around, so she kept getting mad at me.  

Here she is with her friends. It was actually chilly for the first part of the morning. 

Madie & Ethan

Madie & Andrew

All three toghether.

The baby orangutan was playing in a sheet. It reminded me of when Madie plays peek-a-boo with her blanket..

Thanks, Jessica for inviting us! We had a good time.