State Fair.

We brought Madeline to the great Minnesota get-together on Sunday. She helped us eat our fair food and even tried a bit of a hotdog herself. Mmmm, corn dogs, macaroni and cheese on a stick, frozed chocolate dipped banana on a stick, sunnies in a boat, roasted corn. My goodness, it was gooooooooooood.
Madeline enjoyed the horses, she giggled as they trotted by. The sheep she wasn't sure of.

A trip to Great Gramma Shirley's!

Last week Madeline, my mom, and me went to Austin to visit my Gramma Shirley. Doughnuts, coffee and a beautiful day. It was really nice to sit and visit with her for the day. An added bonus was an opportunity for my aunt, Madeline's great aunt, Laurie to meet her for the first time.

Madeline's First Birthday PARTY.

My apologies for the lack of posts recently. I have been quite busy around home, getting the house staged, decluttered and listed on the market. In addition to that, I was preparing for Madeline's 1st birthday party, which was so much fun! Our home looked like a daycare with all the babies...I think at one point there were 10 babies in this house! A special thank you to Nana Donna and Grandma Barbara for helping me with the food. Little to no leftovers=success. Madeline did not care for her birthday cake, she was overwhelmed with the new exciting toys she received and so she pooped out early! Good for her. The adults stayed and played until about midnight. Here are a few of the many photos we took:

Happy Birthday Madeline!

Good Morning Miss. Madeline! Thank you for sleeping in until 7:45 this morning!

Happy baby!
Okay, guys...enough photos. Get me out of here!

Mmmmmmmm, yogurt for breakfast! I'll just help myself to that thankyouverymuch.

Lunch at CRAVE at the Mall of America!

Her first birthday treat, a hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles!

She actually liked it!

Good face.

A trip to Underwater Adventures to see all the fish....

...and to even touch a few starfish.

Madeline had a nice little outting for her first birthday.

Cupcakes!

For Madeline's first birthday party she told me she wanted Confetti cupcakes with Gram's Dessert Frosting....so if you come to her party and sink your teeth into this deliciousness, you'll just have to ask me to make you more for your own party or personal enjoyment as I cannot share the receipe...it's a secret family one!
We made these today, they freeze fabulously and we'll enjoy them on Saturday!

No baby gates.

I have made a decision to forgo baby gates at this point. I figure she can learn where she can go and where she shouldn't.

Madeline learned in her own time how to refrain from any attempts in going down the steps....she took a spill one afternoon trying to find me. Fortunately she was fine, spooked, but fine. And to this day, she may peer over the edge, never does she try going down. Instead, she goes up.

The day before my 1st birthday....

Deep thoughts, by Madeline Maslow....



Tomorrow I turn one year old. Today I am still a baby. Being a baby is great, and boy do I have my parents trained. I'm learning lots, like crawling and walking, holding my own bottle and I can even sing myself to sleep, although the adults tell me I am "self-soothing" I just talk to my doll friend in my crib and then we decide it's so cozy we just fall asleep. A while back I missed my parents and so I would wake them up about 2am and cry...of course they would come pick me up and rock me back to sleep but then one day, totally out of the blue, they stopped doing it! Shooooooot! Now I actually have to continue to sleep through the night with no cuddling. Oh well, that's okay. But get this, I refuse to feed myself and I refuse to drink out of anything except my bottle...why? Well, because I am still a baby and I'm going to act like it as long as my parents will let me! I've heard my mom telling people that one of these days she's just going to stop giving me my bottle and stop feeding me....and when that day comes, I'll let you know....but I think she'll keep doing it for a while. Speaking of food, they did stop giving me formula. I guess I'm a "big girl" now 'cause I drink whole milk. It's pretty tasty, I don't mind it at all. And, did you know my favorite food is yogurt? I especially like it when my mom puts chunks of fruit in it and I gag. She thinks she's so tricky.



Anyway, today it was crappy. So I decided I needed to play on the couch....I forgot to mention that's my new favorite thing to do...play on the couch and on my mom and dad's bed in the pillows. Anyway, so mom was being a photographer while we tried to make forts with the blanket. Check out these photos of yours truly. I sure am a "babe" aren't I?

Zucchini and a baby.

I've posted photos of our neighbor's little guy, Channing, in the past while he and Madeline play. His mom received a gift from her brother-in-law recently. A HUGE zucchini. Here's a photo of Channing and his zucchini.
She baked Asiago Zucchini bread and brought several, warm fresh from the oven, slices to me. Mmmmmm, the savory goodness. I'm pretty sure she is still baking bread over there and it's been at least a week or two since receiving this lovely vegatable.

Walking to Elmo.

Madeline is walking a ton, with the support of furniture of course. Here are some shots of her the other evening on our deck. She loves to be outside and loves her Elmo bubble machine!