Here is a recap from Halloween to now.

Maddie's birthday party #1 with Grandma Baillio visiting!

Maddie's first pigtails:

Brad and Celeste came to visit, and we went to the Children's Museum:

Maddie's birthday party #2 with friends (yes I did make the 1 cake, and yes I am proud of it):

For those that were wondering, here is an idea of what my apartment looks like

*disclaimer- all the fuzzy ones were taken with a phone....nothing to do with Kyle's photography skills. :)

So, mixed in there was my birthday, which I had a nice little date night without the kids, dinner and shopping. Got some fun things. Now I am 26. :)

There ya go....a photo story of the past month. If you just mix in a lot of snot and a little coughing, and some pretty nice weather for November, that's about it.

Which Family Should Be Mine?

Brad, Celeste, and their kids came up to visit us for Maddie's one year birthday and while they were up here Celeste took our family pictures and I took theirs. I'm glad we both got some good shots since we were doing it in between getting ready for Maddie's party and time was not something we had a lot of. Celeste did a great job in taking our pictures and we have chosen the one we want to use. But as I was doing some post edits on the picture there were two styles I really liked--one a more vintage look and the other a more vibrant look. So I thought I would put them on the blog and ask for you to tell me which you like more. Thanks again to Celeste!

You can also check out Brad and Celeste's family pics on the blog at my photography site.

Family, Halloween, Bday, Bday, and probably thanksgiving....all to come!

So....sometimes I get so behind on the blog that I start to feel overwhelmed, and then I slack more and more. I'm not sure how to remedy this. I guess part of it is waiting to get pictures uploaded...which, I am still waiting for. AND I was going to leave you with a picture of Hallee, but Blogger wont let me upload right now.....So, I will say a few things about my cute family.

1. Hallee is potty trained. I am still in awe and wonder and excitement and joy. You have no idea how much I am grateful for 1 less poopy diaper to change every day. no idea.

2. Maddie is 1! Holy moly. I can't believe that she has been with us for a year. Time goes by way too fast. She just had her 1 year appt and she is 50th % for height, 75th% for weight, and 98th% for head size. Yay! She is big and healthy. And the whole big head thing was expected because her sister has one too. :)

3. I am happy. I love my little family so much. My husband couldn't be better to me. My kids couldn't be sweeter and cuter and more fun than they are. Tonight I played with playdough with Hallee right before bed, and when she came over to kiss me goodnight, she said, "thanks for playing gloop with me." How sweet is that? Goodness.

Hallee and Maddie love each other so much. It makes me so happy. Granted Maddie has some issues with things being taken away from her because of Hallee's tendencies to do just that. Here are some things that I need to document so they can be reminded down the road just how much they loved each other.

- They genuinely love giving each other hugs and kisses, especially right after one of them wakes up from a nap. It's like they missed each other during that time.

- Hallee sometimes protests when I need to go put Maddie down for a nap, or put her to bed at night, because she wants to play with her.

- One day, Hallee taught Maddie how to say ooooo, and they sat there for probably 15 minutes saying ooooo to each other and laughing about it.

- Maddie is always watching Hallee. She definitely looks up to her.

- Hallee calls Maddie "my maddie" rather than my sister, or just maddie.

- One day when I was driving home with the girls, Maddie was crying a lot, and her binkie fell over the side, which I couldn't reach, and I just couldn't console her. I was saying things like, it's ok maddie, you're ok, and so on, and Hallee started chiming in to help. Finally when it kinda got quiet, Hallee goes, "I'm sorry Maddie, don't cry maddie, it's ok, don't cry. Mommy can't reach your pacifier right now. We are almost home. We will be home soon. It's ok maddie." It was seriously the sweetest thing I have heard from a child. I got teary eyed listening to her say it that way. She genuinely cared and wanted to help Maddie stop crying.

So...there is some living proof. They really do love each other.

Ok, a picture story from the last month...to come....

compare

And here is maddie!

Time flies

This was Hallee when she was Maddie's age almost exactly. I need to upload a picture of Maddie so you can really see the difference, or similarity, but here is shot #1.

Wasn't she adorable? My baby is so big now! All potty trained and everything!