Easter

We headed to home on Saturday.  We were with my parents on Saturday until after her nap.  My mom has “rented” a bunny from some local people for a good number of years at Easter time.  Although she was a little unsure, she would occasionally venture over to peer through the cage by herself once and awhile.  She is getting really good at taking apart the velcro vegetables as well.  She also loved pushing this little Pooh Bear all around the driveway.  She couldn’t bear taking her eyes of that bear spinning circles in front of her.

           

                   

We headed to Jeremy’s parents at that point.  They graciously offered some grandparent time, so that we could go out for my birthday (late).  We went to Rockne’s in Massillon and then to see The King’s Speech.  That was at a theatre where we paid a total of $4.50 for BOTH tickets – awesome!  :) 

Sunday, we woke up for breakfast with Maynard and Gloria – omelets, sausage, and donuts.  Madison went back down for her little morning nap.  Then, we headed to Salem Mennonite for church.  She was dressed in an outfit that coordinated with her cousins that she got for Christmas.  The kids were super cute:

                  

         

The Easter egg hunt for the little ones went well.  She had been in training with the sitter last week, so she knew exactly what to do.  Also, Landen is only 11-1/2 months old; so she had a few months on her competition:

             

After a super long nap (exhausted from the day’s activities) we headed to the Bricker gathering.  She was loved on – being the only baby has its advantages!  Grandma and Grandpa Yoh had an Easter basket all ready for her.  And a singing bunny – it sings “who put the hop in the hoppity-hoppity-hop” and claps its ears together.  Madison loved it – and we left the camera in the car :(  On the long drive home (stupid traffic), she learned how to turn the bunny on and off.  So funny … and a little annoying :)  It was a great gift.  It was good to reconnect with everyone there.  Madison touched Great-Grandpa Bricker’s hand and said “nice”  It was precious. 

Well, that’s it.  I am back at school; Jeremy is back at work; and Madison is back at the sitter’s.  She learned how to climb up the little plastic slide today, and how to go down stairs this weekend.  Yea!  Have a great week.

Long awaited…

It has a been a drought on my blog, but I am finally posting.  Two weekends ago, my family got together at Skyview Ranch in Holmes County.  It had been since Christmas since I had seen everyone.  Madison went with a little fever that didn’t go away until Monday just before we headed home.  Poor girl!  I think it is because she is getting more teeth, but who knows.  Madison always takes a little time to adjust to the volume of these gatherings, and when she is alone in the house, she can’t stop talking.  There were some goats that roamed the area; the little ones had a ball watching them and petting them.  There was lots of land – with lots of hills – to trek around, a little mini-golf course, tether ball (my mom kicked my butt.. twice!), basketball courts, and swings.  Here are some pictures.

                 

               

                 

                                                

Then, the week went on.  On Tuesday, Jeremy and I split a day at home with Madison who had a little fever again when she woke up.  She was fever-free in mid-morning, but slept like a hibernating bear that day!  So, there was just a lot of down time to relax for us!  This past Saturday, we headed back to Holmes County to surprise Jeremy’s dad who was getting an award from Ruritans.  During the late afternoon, my friend (Sandy) came to meet us for some Amish tourist activities – mainly, eating samples of cheese and bread – and dinner at Der Dutchman.  We made it to the the award banquet just in time for the award.  Here are some pictures of that time. 

Madison thought the little chef was a real man, I think!

Our associate pastor spoke at the banquet.  Maynard is seated after receiving the award.

 

All dolled up!

                             

swimming!

               

new bathing suit

Picture Post

I promised some pictures this time, and thankfully, Jeremy took some.  Jeremy had some long work days, so he had accrued 40 hours by Thursday.  Since they won’t let people work overtime, he had today off – and daddy time with Madison!  The other night, he made a mohawk with her shampoo.

                   

Today, he caught her playing dress up with some of his things :)

                  

Some close photos:

                                 

Bible Time… this small Bible happened to be her favorite thing this afternoon; she even took it on our little walk with us.  She also is learning to fold her hands and pray at meals, too. 

                                   

                        

Hope everyone has a great weekend

Nothing new

So, not much has happened in the past week ... at least none that I photographed. My parents came on Saturday for a short time. Jeremy and I went on a little lunch date to get out of the house. I went to work at school on spring break for a few hours to get ahead of the game. I went back to school Monday and the week is flying by. This is good and bad - good: because it is not torturous! bad: because I have an IEP due that I have been procrastinating with. I talked with the school psychologist today about it, and I'll finish writing it tomorrow. I have become a procrastinator... so not good. The problem is this: we don't have enough school hours to get things done, and I HATE with a passion doing school work at home. I feel like home should be this sacred place where I can get away from school so that I can enjoy the hours I am at school. So, that's that. We are taking supper to the Brokaw's tomorrow night - tacos. Anja just went back to work, and I think you sometimes need meals then as much as just after the baby is born. It will be fun to see their little girl again. Today Madison and I went out to enjoy the sunshine at the park. She got very excited when she saw the park from the car window. Jeremy is still at work (8:41pm). Crazy! Blah, blah, blah. I could continue to type about meaningless details of our life, but I'll let you all off the hook. I'll try to take some pictures and post them next time. Have a great rest of the week.

Vacation

Madison and I took the much anticipated trip to Kansas City via an airplane.  Jeremy helped us on Saturday morning get ourselves through the ticket counter and to the security checkpoint and then we were on our own at 6:45am.  It is a lot of getting dressed and undressed with all the shoes and bags you have to take on and off through security.  Madison did a great job.  It is nice you can take milk and food with you for an infant.  (Food is for everyone – milk for the infants.)  We sat next to a nice band teacher from Kansas.  He was headed back with his soon-to-be fiancé – also a band teacher, but here in Ohio.  He was not irritated by Madison in the least and kept up decent conversation.  Madison didn’t cry once the whole flight.  She drank her milk on take-off and was sucking her thumb while sleeping on landing.  Saturday was a big day – flight, meeting Kristin’s family, getting to see the resident cat (Ruby) and dog (Max), Mark’s and John’s coming for dinner.  Abby (John’s youngest daughter) followed Madison around all night – even feeding her dinner!  Here they are in the kitchen and Madison hanging out with Matthew on Sunday morning.  He left on Monday early morning for business, so it was a shorter visit with him. 

                   

Although she was in good spirits, she was exhausted by bedtime.  All seemed well, until about 11:30 when I heard her crying.  When I went in, I discovered she had thrown up.  She has never done this, so it was a new experience for both of us.  I got Kris to help change the sheets, and put her back down.  She threw up again about 30 minutes later, and we went through the whole routine again. The rest of the night was fine.  She woke up a little more clingy and not quite herself.  On Monday, she woke up with a low-grade temp, so we took her to urgent care to make sure there wasn’t an ear infection or strep throat or anything else that would need antibiotics started before our flight on Tuesday.  It was just some kind of virus.  By Monday night she was doing a little better.  On Tuesday, she was walking again, although she wasn’t too interested in others cuddling her – just mommy.  Although I long for her cuddles, sometimes a break is nice too :)  Here are some cute (and a little pathetic) pictures of the little sick-y.

             

Since she was sick and the weather was gloomy and cold the whole time, Kristin and I just hung out, talked, watched movies, and ate most of the time.  It was relaxing – maybe a little boring for my always-on-the-go cousin.  Madison battled sickness, but more exciting to watch, battled her fear of the unknown with her curiosity of the dog.  She clung tight on Saturday whenever Max was around.  Ruby (the cat) was a bit scary, but not as much as Max.  Max was actually very calm and didn’t get very close to her much.  By the end, she was walking by him – if she was holding my hand – and she would reach her hand out to touch him from her highchair.  She was even calling his name!  Max and Madison…

                    

                      

                              

On Tuesday before her afternoon nap, we decided to go to a park to see geese, ducks, and take a short walk.  It was good to get out of the house for all of us.  This is Kristin and Madison checking things out:

                      

                           

And finally, the flight home.  Our flight took off at 6:30pm.  The man next to us moved up to an empty group of seats at an exit row.  That was very nice.  Madison and I could spread out her things – sippy cup, snacks, blanky, etc.  There was a lady a row behind on the other side of the aisle that “played” with Madison for almost the entire trip – funny faces, waving, peek-a-boo, etc.  It was fantastic.  Madison said hi to her and everyone else in our vicinity.  She received many compliments for her behavior as people were exiting the plane.  Here she is sitting in our seat.

                     

We met Jeremy (after a few attempts at finding the correct exit by me) outside.  Madison started smiling and said hi dada when she saw him.  It was a late night.  She went to bed right away.  I followed shortly after.  Today, we are both catching up.  Jeremy held down the fort here – installed a new closet system, put in a new stereo in his car, hooked up this little digital box to our TV, and other things.  I haven’t had a chance to hear the full scoop on how he enjoyed his time.  All in all it was a great experience.  All my worrying (as usual) was for naught.  She was a fantastic traveler – we may need to go somewhere else!  Until later…. 

Slacker

I will admit it: I have been a blogging slacker. It is not because Madison is not getting so much cuter every day or because she is not getting smarter because she is. I have just been zapped by the time evening comes. We are still doing the OGT testing (for all the absent/skipping students last week), and although we take it in shorter shifts, it disrupts my day. I also wanted to get our taxes done before it was April 15 or later, and before the price for TurboTax went up on the 25th - TODAY. I finished them last night; we get a small federal refund, had to pay a little to the state. Never had to pay before, so I'm hoping that won't happen again. I have also been a little obsessed with this trip Madison and I are taking. I am usually such a control freak and feel like I have less control than I would like because we have never flown before. Jeremy will be holding down the fort. So, that's why I have been a slacker. I really have nothing new to tell you. It is 6:24am and my brain isn't really wanting to formulate cute stories - I am just trying to live through this final day of the week :) (It is really not that bad, but sometimes it is fun to exaggerate!) So, I am sure I won't blog for awhile, but when I do... be ready! Have a great weekend!

Catch up

This weekend was girls’ weekend.  My mom and dad came up on Thursday night to hang out and take care of Madison on Friday.  Thursday night, Madison drank some milk with Grandpa and spaced out with Grandma.

          

Friday afternoon, Jeremy left with Madison and my dad to clear the house of boys.  After school, mom and I hung out for a few hours before meeting up with my sisters-in-law at Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant – delicious!  It was fun to hang out – just the ladies… no boys and no kids!  We stayed up late with a movie and talking.  On Saturday we slept in, then headed to get massages!!!!  Ahhh…..  After spoiling ourselves, we went shopping, to California Pizza Kitchen, and Graeter’s.  After gorging ourselves, we took a short walk in the beautiful day.  Then, we worked on planning an upcoming family event.  Around 7:30pm, everyone headed home and I had a QUIET, no responsibility house to myself – awesome!  Sunday, I listened to my brother’s sermon from about a month ago while I waited for Jeremy, Madison, and the Grandparent Yohs.  It was good to see my family again.  We ate out at O’Charley’s and entertained many Sunday diners as Madison paraded up and down the aisles.  Sunday afternoon we were back to our little Yoh clan and life as normal.  So begins the week….

Madison is easily entertained.  Here are a few of her antics the past few days – mesh laundry bag: so fun to walk around with!

            

              

Putting letters in Daddy’s mouth had her giggling!

    

Today Tara and I finally met up to go walking again.  It was a nice to catch up again.  Little Grace was very excited to see Madison – so much so that she bit Madison’s thumb!  I thought she was just going to lick it – that’s what she did when she gave her a kiss, licked her face.  BUT, she chomped down on it and surprised us all.  Little ladies don’t always know what they are doing.  Although Madison was crying, Tara and I were laughing about what a “bully” Grace was.  :)  I am sure Madison will have her day.  Well, that’s it.  Have a great week everyone.  Enjoy the view from our back door as you go about the evening….