Happy 13th Birthday, Madi!

* this post was actually completed yesterday - well, not this one exactly, but one just like it.  It took me several hours to gather pictures, load and title the pictures, and write a paragraph about our Birthday girl.  However, somehow I lost it all just before publishing. You can't (unless it has happened to you) imagine how infuriating it is!  I just about cried, I was so disappointed and furious!   Sweet Madi, she came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me it was okay, but I hated that I didn't get a post out ON her actual Birthday.  

So anyway, just pretend (for the sake of reading this) that today is Madi's Birthday - February 23rd and here is the post that should've been...

It's hard for Jack and I to believe, but today our little girl is officially a teen!  Madi is now 13 years old and is starting a new and challenging (no doubt) chapter in her life.  And though we are shocked at how fast time has gone by, we are excited to see what the teen years have in store for our bright young lady.  I know that there will be some rough patches along the way, but I have confidence that Madi is going to continue to shine through it all!  I know that she will tackle the teen years with grace and a smile and that she will continue to be the sweet, loving and cheerful girl she is today!

I remember writing a post last year after Madi's 12th Birthday titled, 350 days and counting.  At the time, I was half joking about how she would be 13 years old in just 350 days, but I never expected those 350 days to go by as quickly as they did! 

Where did the last year go?  Here are some Madi-highlights from the past year...

Feb. 23, 2010 ~ Madi's 12th Birthday

March 2010 ~ Spring Break

April 2010 ~ Easter

April 2010 ~ Family Bluebonnet drive

May 2010 ~ Jason's Tennis Tournament

May 2010 ~ given the "Sprit of Choir" award.

May 2010 ~ Memorial Day

June 2010 ~ First day in June and the Memorial Day weekend.

June 2010 ~ Last day of 6th grade

June 2010 ~ Family Baptisim

June 2010 ~ 1st day of Aggie Swim Camp 2010

June 2010 ~ Last day of Aggie Swim Camp 2010

June 2010 ~ Our first time at a Round Round Express Baseball game

June 2010 ~ Celebrating Cami's 60th Birthday at Crystal Lake

4th of July, 2010 ~ tubing at Lake Stillhouse

July 2010 ~ Junior Olympics

August 2010 ~ Jason's 14th Birthday celebration

August 2010 ~ 1st Day of 7th grade

September 2010 ~ 7th grade class picture

September 2010 ~ Round Rock Unclassified Swim Meet

Round Rock, Texas

September 2010 ~ after Round Rock Meet

October 2010 ~ Her first Middle School Swim Team Swim Meet

October 2010 ~ Rock Climbing with her Swim Belton teamates 

October 2010 ~ Halloween

 November 2010 ~ 2nd Middle School Swim Meet

November 2010 ~ Thanksgiving  

December 2010 ~ Christmas Choir Concert

December 2010 ~ Christmas morning

January 2011 ~ Watching Papa and Jack toast to a New Year.  Not a good picture, but unfortunately it's best I got for Jan.!  :(

February 2011~ all dolled up for a friends Birthday party/dance

February 2011 ~ Valentine's Day

And TODAY

February 23, 2011 ~ Madi's 13th Birthday!  

Happy 13th Birthday, Madi!  We are so proud of you and feel so totally blessed to have a daughter whose light shines so brightly!  YOU are the best thing that has EVER happened to us!  We love you!

*Since Madi's Birthday was on a weekday, we will be actually celebrating Madi's Birthday on Saturday, Feb. 26th.  So, look for a Birthday wrap-up next week!

Big doin's...

We had a super busy, but super lovely Valentine’s Day weekend.  As you know, Valentine's Day fell on a Monday this year, but most of our weekend was devoted to Valentine's Day activities as well as Bella’s Birthday. I have a lot to cram into this post, so bear with me here.  I want to make it quick because I have MUCH bigger things to move onto, like Madi's 13th Birthday which is tomorrow!!  YAY - it's exciting and at the same time very, very frightening!

So anyway, I'll try to wrap-up our Valentine’s Day weekend as quickly as possible, starting with Friday, February 11th which was the night of Madison's middle school Valentine's dance. After school  on Friday, I picked Madi and her best friend, Carly up and brought them home to get all dolled up for the dance.  My sister and brother-in-law brought our nephew, Jason, over about an hour before the dance began.  My intention was to take pictures of the kids (together and separately) before the dance. Yeah, that didn’t really work out. The girls (who weren’t looking forward to pictures anyway) took waaay too long to get themselves ready and by the time we got out for pictures, the sun was setting and we didn’t have time to drive to the location I had in mind.

So anyway (sigh), this is the only worth-a-darn shot I have of all the kids... 

Carly is not smiling and I had to make Madi stop making faces...Mom & Dad, I know you are laughing right now!  You get what you give, right?

Jason, on the other hand, was down with the whole picture thing. Or, at least he was kind enough to pretend that he was and never complained.  I got a few of just him.  He looked very handsome I think. Here he is seen, kickin' it outside of "Tiger Stadium".

The dance was over by 9pm and all three kids came back to our house to hang out afterwards. They were all wound up;  Jason was showing Jack and I video’s of friends he recorded breakdancing while Carly and Madi demonstrated their a.w.e.s.o.m.e (hehe) new dance moves!!  I wish I would’ve recorded those!  Jason only hung out with us for a little while after the dance, but Carly spent the night - well she actually spent the whole weekend with us. I feel kind of sorry for her, having to hang out with Madi and her crazy parents for two whole days!  Poor thing, we had her up early both Saturday morning, for a basketball tournament and Sunday morning for Church. 

Early Saturday morning we drive to Bruceville-Eddy to watch Madi’s long time friend, Micaela, play in a girls middle school basketball tournament.

Micaela during the game.



Micaela's little sister, Ashley.  What a cutie!  And super sassy too! 

 

 

Ashley playing with Madi.  Madi has a way with little ones and it was so sweet to watch she and Ashley together.



Micaela’s team didn't win their game, so they did not advance in the tournament.  I know Micaela and her family was disappoint, but those girls played so hard and should be very proud of themselves.   Micaela was really impressive and we think we'll be seeing big things from her in the future.  She’s super talented and such an all around great kid. 

The girls after the game. That Ashley really loved Madi - it was so sweet!


Thank you Micaela, as well and Albert and Melinda, for inviting us to come out and watch the game!  We had a great time with you all!

After the game, we drove home and started baking for Valentines Day!  I was a little lazy this year and decided not to bake sugar cookies.  Instead, I made No-Bake Cookies.

My Mom use to make them all the time for my sisters and I, when we were going up. Not for Valentines day, specifically, but just on a regular basis.  This was my first time making them since I was in 4H back in 5^th or 6^th grade and they turned out just as I remembered – super delicious!  After making them the traditional way (with oatmeal, cocoa, sugar, vanilla & peanut butter) I decided to put my own spin on them and made a second batch with cayenne pepper.  Yum. I have to pat myself on the back for that idea!  Never whoulda thunk it, huh?!  Actually, I wasn't a bit surprised because I've found that a little bit of heat/spice and chocolate can compliment each other quite nicely.  When I told my Mom about adding cayenne pepper to her No-Bake Cookie recipe, she sounded straight up horrified and somewhat disgusted at the idea!  I think its fair to say she'll be sticking to the traditional way.

While I made the cookies, Jack made his 4th annual Valentine's Chocolate Cheese Cake.  This is always the highlight of my Valentine's Day!  I've look forward to one every year since we got married and he never disappoints!  

 

Seriously the best chocolate cheese cake- ever!
Jack shared a few pieces with his Mom and Dad and they both agreed - it's the best.

Once the cookies and cheesecake were done, Jack and I desided to go for a trail run. We couldn't resist, it was gorgeous outside and it would've been a shame not to take advantage of it!  We went to Dana Peak Park and took the girls (all three ~ Madi, Carly and Bella) with us. We didn’t make Madi and Carly run; we ran (with Bella) ahead of them and just before they got out of our sight, we turned back and ran toward them.  Bella, who hates any form of exercise, was in misery, but Madi and Carly seemed to enjoy themselves. I didn't take picture during this run, but I did take pictures during our run the following day (Sunday) out at Miller Springs - which I'll get to later in this post.

Saturday evening, as a Birthday/Valentines day present, Jack made homemade dog treats for Bella...  

Madi, Bella and I are so lucky to have Jack!  He does such a great job taking care of his girls!

and we celebrated her 4th Birthday (which was technically on Feb. 5th) by giving her a few along with a stuffed froggy.

Jack giving his princess her toy.

Madi & Bella playing with Froggy

Bella loves her froggy!!



Sunday was a little bit more relaxing.  We went to church and afterwards we took Carly and Madi out to lunch.  Later, Jack and I went to Miller Springs Park, as I've already mentioned, for a long run.  Miller Springs is just about a mile from our house!  The trails are fun and the scenery can really be stunning.  At this point, if I had to choose between Dana Peak (which is awesome as well) and Miller Springs, I would choose Miller Springs as my favorite place to run.  Anyway, I got some pretty good pictures that I can't wait to share later in the week.  

By the time Jack and I got home from our run, our Sunday-funday was almost over and it was time to wind-down and get prepared for another work/school week.  But, to my surprise, while Madi and I drove Carly home, Jack stayed home preparing my Valentine's day gift.  I didn't know it at the time and it wasn't until a little while after I got home, that I found it.  I went into our bathroom to grab some laundry and right away, this is what I saw...



Knowing how much I love long, relaxing baths, Jack got me all new bath stuff!     

I was so surprised, I teared up!  He had totally redecorated the tub area with apothecary jars (I love the jars!) each filled with different bath goodies, candles, and a sponge in a beatiful dish with little roses that float on the bath water.  He truly amazings me sometimes!  I was thrilled with my gift, but felt very guilty because I didn't put as much thought into his gift as he had mine. :(   

I waited until the next morning (Valentines Day) to give Jack his gift - 

A birdfeeder.
So, yeah...now you see why I felt guilty.


















We also gave Madi and Bella their gifts on Monday morning...

For a Valentine's day breakfast, I fixed eggs and cheese toast for Madi  and Jack mixed Bella's dog food in yogurt (an every morning thing) and placed one of his homemade heartshaped dog treats on top! His girls (Madi, Bella and I) are pretty spoiled like that!  :)

Tomorrow is a pretty important day - it's HUGE - it's Madi's 13th Birthday!  We'll be celebrating her birthday a little tomorrow before and after school, but we'll do the major celebrating this coming weekend.  I plan to write a short Birthday post for our beautiful young TEEN tomorrow, so look for that.

Have a blessed day!