Madison is Two!

“Nothing you become will disappoint me; I have no preconception that I'd like to see you be or do. I have no desire to foresee you, only to discover you. You can't disappoint me”
-Mary Haskell

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.

My Daughter-

I wish you the strength to face challenges with confidence,

Along with the wisdom to chose your battles carefully.

I wish you adventure on your journey and may you always stop to help someone along the way.

Listen to your heart and take risks carefully...

Remember how much you are loved and I am so proud of you!

What a wonderful two years it has been watching Madison grow. Everyday is a true adventure and I now see how it is possible that time really does fly by. She is remarkable and brings so much joy to those that know her. Happy 2nd Birthday sweet Madison.

Cookies.... Just Cookies

On Friday, December 21st all the kids in Denton finally got out of school to start the Christmas holiday. This includes Madison since she does go to the Denton ISD daycare. We all have our little parties and Madison's class of 7 will be decorating Christmas cookies at 3:00, which is fine if your mom is a high school or middle school teacher because they get early release. However, if you teach elementary school then your just out of luck. School gets out at 2:50 and then you have to work your dismissal duty. The fastest that you will be out of there is 3:02. Don't think we don't have this schedule down to a science. I e-mail Madison's teachers and tell them I'll be there after dismissal and it takes be at least 15-20 minutes every day to get to this side of town. They tell me that they can wait to start until I get there, which I insist that they don't.
So... I have a plan. I prepacked before the kids get out, so I can just grab my bag, in which I have packed my brand new camera for the holiday festivities. I have changed duties to get me out of there about 4 minutes earlier and I am ready...

I walk in the building at 3:18 as one of her little classmates is walking out. His mom makes a fun loving comment about how quickly they make a mess and what a whirlwind it is in there. Ha. Ha. Okay, great, Merry Christmas. Then as I round the corner, my heart sinks. With my camera in hand I walk in to the room where all the other moms are packing their kiddos up for the holiday and Madison is left at the table all by herself still decorating cookie after cookie. They are trying to keep her there until I get there. So sweet of them, but heartbreaking none the less. She is excited to see me and invites me to sit with her and help with her cookies. She sits on my lap and we finish together as I am doing everything in my power to hold back the bawling that I am about to do.
I hold it together until I get to the car. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, walk out as normal, and absolutely fall apart when I get to the car. It's cookies. Just cookies. I get that. Just cookies, I know but here we are again... that feeling that I am missing out on Madison because I have to go work.

Jason calls to check in on our way home and see how the cookies went. Much to his surprise, I am a bawling mess. Jason never gets home with us. He's usually at least an hour later. Not 10 minutes after we get home he walks in with a grocery bag full of any and all the supplies that we could possibly need to make and decorate cookies. The 3 of us sit on the floor, rolled out cookies, baked them, frosted them, put way too many sprinkles on them and made a complete mess -- a messy floor of cookie memories. Jason earned major points for this one. Suddenly I didn't feel so sad!

 

Hello, sweets

Madison loves fruits and vegetables. We love that she loves fruits and vegetables! However, if sweets are around and she would like to partake in them, we let her. I guess I should say, we "would" let her, but she has not had any interest in it all. We did not let her have sweets at all before her fist birthday. On her first birthday we tried 3 different times over 3 different days to have a piece of her birthday cake. She refused. She cried. She screamed. She hated cake and she hated sweets. We of course, loved that about her! ha!
So in December of 2012 Madison had been home sick with some kind of stomach bug that made her have a loss of appetite for about 3 days. We were playing in the living room and I was unwrapping Reese's peanut butter cups to make some holiday cookies for people. She comes over as usual to see what's going on. I offer one to her, knowing she wont take it. She spewes and spits and says "yucky" before she ever picks it up. Awesome, I know...
And then it goes a little something like this....
Well I haven't eaten in 3 days, so maybe I will just taste what you have.
Spewes... spits... Yucky...

Wait a minute. What is this? Maybe I do want this-

Okay, now I'm thinking this is pretty tasty...

I devour it. Chocolate is everywhere and now I want more, please!

Well so much for the anti-candy band wagon we rode for so long.

One month away from officially being 2 years old, the girl ate something sweet.

Oh... if I could go back and fix that problem now.

:-)

We're expanding!

Well, expanding is a good term being that at 5 months pregnant and I feel like I can not expand anymore! Oh, but I will, won't I? :-)
We found out at the beginning of October that Madison was going to be a big sister. We surprised our family with the news a little before Halloween and the we sat on the information and didn't tell anyone else until we felt we were in the clear.

*This years Christmas card spread the word*

After 9 years of teaching I am by far in the most difficult year that I have ever been in. It's hard, to say the least. I am stressed beyond what my physical body can handle and my emotional state is shaken - for lack of a better word. My faith in God and my family has strengthened, and I am doing my best to try to fight through this year. So with all that being said, we waited until I was 4 months pregnant to say anything to anyone. This was about the same time that I had to get comfortable in those good ole stretchy pants.

Our check ups continue to deliver good news, which is always a welcomed sigh of relief. We found out on December 26th that Baby Vaughan #2 is going to be a boy! I was at a loss for that information -- a boy??!! But after it has set in, we are all so very excited that our family is growing at all and a boy  will be a new learning expereince full of fun, I am sure!

First Haircut

We took Madison in after Thanksgiving for her very first haircut! Yes, she's almost two, but she was practically bald until 18 months. She finally started to grow hair and when it started it grew pretty quickly...in the back. Yes, she was indeed rocking a killer mullet!

She agreed to sit with me. We had books, snacks, phones, etc. but she couldn't get over that these scissors were on her head! She did not sit still at all and in the end, Tara did a marvelous job --somehow. Glad I did not attempt this on my own as my mother suggested many times! Now I see why my sister and I had such awful hairstyles growing up!

Even better, Tara gave Madison her first haircut for free since I am her client. How is that for good business! Madison's hair is finally starting to thicken up a bit. Maybe one day she'll let me try a bow in it again... maybe!

no photos?

Well Hello Blog world -- and Help!!
The icon to upload pictured from my computer no longer exists as an option. I have been trying for over 3 weeks thinking it was the blog site. I have tons of stuff I want to post / share and can't. Guess this is one good reason to have FB. I could ask the masses and I know someone could surely help!

Is there anyone that can help? I need it!!

Thanks,
Katie