Sprnkler 'pool'

Well, its not really a pool, just a bunch a sprinklers with a drain in the middle. I've been looking for one of these all summer because Madeline LOVES sprinklers. I honestly think she could have spent the whole day here. The pictures were taken by Greg, I was busy running after her. We didn't know the park had one of these, so we let her run around in her diaper and pink crocs, saving her dress from getting wet. I love how happy she is in these shots. Every once in a while she'd look up at one of us , as if she was saying" Look ! Sprinklers!!!!!"

Our Town

We are moving next month. We bought a cute house about 40 minutes from where we live now.

I love the town we live in now. One of my friends referred to it as Mayberry. After living and working here for 5 years, I am familiar with most people that walk down the street- if not by name, definately by sight. If we had an extra 700K lying around, and about 13K in taxes, we'd stay.

This is where we brought Madeline home. This is where she screamed for hours on end, our nice neighbors telling(lying to) us they never heard a thing. This is where I stayed up at night, rocking my beautiful tiny daughter in my arms, looking out the window at the snow falling. This is where we celebrated her first Easter, Father's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, her first smile, word, laugh and steps. This is the place we became a family of three.

I've been trying to capture some of our favorite local spots on film. Every morning I take her for a walk, where she says " Hi. Hi. HI. " to all the birds, roars like a lion at the lion statue in front of someone's house, and excitedly scans the street for a sprinkler to run through. Usually we end up at the grocery store because I forgot to buy something the last time I was at the store( the day before), but on the way back, we'll stop at the park. It has a gazebo in which to run back and forth , benches to sit on, and other people and woofs( dogs). Here are some pictures from this morning.

YAY! We're at the park !

Through the gazebo, Take One

On Bird Alert- 24 hours a day

"I'm just gonna sit a minute, OK, Mom?"

And here's a close up of those choppers I've been hearing so much about. At 4am. Every night. Poor monkey

Elmo Sprinkler

No words necessary, just my girl, enjoying her Elmo( or as she calls him " El-ma") sprinkler.

rhode island

We had a lovely visit to Grandma and Papa's house in Rhode Island. Here's Maddy and her cousin, Olivia. ( Look at that hair!Those curls!)
She is quickly learning how to climb, so getting up on this bench was quite an accomplishment. She was just beaming with pride. And here's Miss Maddycat with her Papa. A lot of people ask me how I get her hat to stay on, as toddlers are notorious for whipping them right of. The answer is, I don't know. I have two hats for her that she will just wear. I leave them on her a lot, like even if we go in a store, I'll keep the hat on, so maybe she's used to it? I honestly don't know what the magic words are...
Maddy in her...er.. Olivia's Fourth of July dress, with Jack and Papa in the background. Jack was spraying Maddy with the hose and she loved it. Until she decided to go off exploring elsewhere... Ahh, one of summer's simple pleasures... hose water.