Not sure what to title this post...read and you'll see why

Madison was supposed to be changing into her pj's and instead I saw her running through the hallway wearing only a pair of undies down around her ankles! "Madison!" I yelled "For goodness sake pull up your undies and put on your pajamas!!" "Moooomm, I will in a minute, I just don't want to fart in my underwear..."

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree!

We have many traditions in our family that we look forward to and our annual trip to Whispering Pines Christmas tree farm is one of them. This afternoon we bundled up and drove there to pick out the perfect tree.

Maddy and Mal with our tree

Mal adding decorations

and serenading us with a few Christmas songs... I'm totally loving the pink wig!

The tooth

Maddy's front tooth has been really loose for weeks now. All she can think about is pulling this darn tooth out. She actually wiggled and messed with it so much that the tooth turned blue. (maybe from lack of blood flow...I have no idea) So 2 nights ago we tried tying dental floss to her tooth and attaching it to the doorknob.
Here she is is with the tooth attached to the floss and tied to the door...when we went to slam the door the floss slipped off the tooth! We tried several more times with the same outcome so we gave up.
Well about 30 minutes after we tucked her in tonight (2 days since our dental floss and doorknob attempt) Dan and I hear her footsteps running down the stairs. While laying in bed wiggling her tooth with her tongue it fell out! YAY a little peace about that darn tooth. Then we hear, "Look mom the tooth next to it is really loose too!"
Great...

Staples?

Mallory loves to sing and is always making up songs. Yesterday in the car her song went something like this:

Ohhhhh Je-sus howwwww I lovvve youuuuuu!!!!! Thank youuuuu for being stapled to the croossss for meeeeeeeeee!

Stapled huh? Maybe I need to go back and review that story! :) Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)

Maddy

I'm FINALLY getting around to posting a few pics from Maddy's b-day. It was pretty basic this year. We took her to her favorite restaurant and then came home for presents, cake and ice cream...

Happy 8th Birthday Madison!!!

Today is Maddy's 8th B-day. My how time flies! This blond haired, brown eyed beauty has rocked our world from the day she was born. She came out screaming and did so for what seemed like forever. (those of you who had a colicky baby know what I'm talking about) She has more energy than 10 kids put together. Most mornings she's up and "crafting" by 7:00 am. Maddy loves to draw, color, write notes and letters to EVERYONE. We haven't found a sport that she's can't play. While all these are great qualities her Dad and I appreciate her heart for God and her kindness towards others. She's worked hard to memorize Bible verses and (on her own) has learned the Books of the Old and New Testament. :) We are so proud of her and can't wait to see what God has in store for her life as she gets older!
This year we (Dan) made Madison a homemade balance beam. Once completed we realized it would be to long to get it up the stairs and into the playroom. So a 10:00 last night we were pulling it through the 2nd story window! Wonder what the neighbors thought?

Here's the Birthday girl! More pictures to come...

Sick! Sick! Sick!

Mallory turned 5 on Sunday and she had her first "friend party". We did a craft and played a few games. Nothing elaborate, but it was fun. We almost didn't have the party b/c Mallory was sick all week, but thankfully was fever free the 48 hrs before the party! About 15 minutes before our guests were to arrive I started feeling feverish and light-headed so I took my temp. and sure enough it was about 100. I wasn't about to tell all the kids knocking at my door they had to go home so I just tried to keep my distance... Sunday night Maddy started behaving really wildly and out of control. Although, not the typical symptom someone may have when they are getting sick with Maddy it's always a warning sign. Sure enough Monday morning she had a full blown fever and an extremely sore throat. Tuesday I took her to the Dr. mostly b/c I was afraid she might have strep. No strep, but yes to the flu. :( By 7:00 last night her fever was 104 and she was sicker than she's ever been!!! Dan and I started putting cool wash cloths all over her to cool her down and in an hour her fever was thankfully down to 102.5. Today it's only 99.5 or so and she's just about back to her old self. Unfortunately, she's devastated about missing her last 2 soccer games of the season. Poor thing.
So I'm feeling good about finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. with this flu thing and..............Mallory now has a fever. Seriously, Ugh!!!!! What really peevs me off about her having a fever is that I took her to get a flu shot 2 weeks ago and the next day I got a call saying "Hi Mrs. Laughlin. We are so sorry, but the flu mist we gave Mallory was expired and she's going to have to come back in 2 weeks to get it done again." Two weeks to the day was Monday when Maddy was really, really sick. So if Mallory gets what Maddy had it was totally preventable!!!!!! ANNOYING!!!!

So here it is a perfect 75 degree autumn day and we are stuck inside, sick. (I'm still have my fever too btw) AHHHHHH!!!!!!! Well, as soon as we get better I want to put up the pics from Mallory's 5th birthday. I can't believe she's 5!!!!

Stay healthy and get your flu shots everyone. Oh, and make sure they haven't expired.