Notice she has a wiggly, crooked tooth on the bottom?  She lost it during snack time at school that first day.

 Abby was so excited to drop Madison off.  She actually began to take off her coat and wanted to stay all day!

Brian was rushing off to work, but got to see Madison off to school.  

A Few Firsts...

Today was Madison's first day of Kindergarten.  She was so excited to meet her teacher, learn, be in a classroom, have recess, eat in the lunchroom, etc.  We arrived a bit late and it was chaos as all the parents were dropping off their children, taking pictures out front, unloading buses, cars going every which way, lost looks (on the parents faces, not children), and scurrying here and there.  We finally found Madison's classroom, which happened to be the second to last classroom of over 20.  She signed her name, put her lunchbox in a basket, saw a friend from the neighborhood, hung up her coat and backpack, and found her seat.  I thought there might be a teary goodbye since we saw a mom leaving with tears pouring down her cheeks, but no.  No tears by Madison or me.  Madison was so ready and prepared that the kiss and hug goodbye was demanded by me, not her.  Abby and I went back for lunch to help all the new kindergartners and see Madison where we found out she lost her tooth during snack time and had it in her backpack.  It was her first official lost tooth!  Abby sat down and ate lunch with Madison and loved it. Then Brian, Madison, and I picked her up after school and she biked home with a huge grin on her face.  It was tough to get her to talk, but she shared a few experiences about her teacher being funny, that she loves school, and that was about it.  Later she showed us some drawings, but it wasn't until she talked to Grandma Evans on Skype that it all came out.  Drawings, the schedule, where she sits for story time, etc.  We may have to get the real report from G. Evans:-)  Then this evening the tooth fairy came and left her some money.  She was so excited!  She found out tonight since we had to take out her staples.  Brian was able to pick up a staple remover kit and tried to take them out earlier today which caused a huge outburst.  She was not going to let us remove them, so we decided to do it when she was asleep.  It worked like a charm and she didn't even wake up until we moved her to her room since she fell asleep in the guest room.  It pays to have a Dr. for a husband and dad.  It would have been another traumatic experience at the Dr. office with them holding her down while her Dr. took them out.  Many firsts for today, but good ones.  I love being a mom and Madison is such a doll.  It was good to have her home later in the day:-)  Pictures to come.

Dinner, Dishes, Staples?

 Madison made dinner this evening...it was toast.  She even set the table and was so proud of herself.

 Then they decided to do the dishes.  They had so much fun.  "We made some big soaps and it was overfloated with big soaps."

 Madison fell down the stairs in a tall wicker laundry basket.  She was playing hide and seek with her daddy and hid in the laundry basket.  Brian knew she was in there and was just playing with her and said, "I don't know where Madison is, but I need to take this laundry down stairs."  He proceeded to carry Madison down the stairs and the handles broke on both sides and she fell down the rest of the stairs in the basket.  She hit her head at the bottom and it immediately started bleeding and she was screaming. We wrapped her head to stop the bleeding and let her calm down so we could look at it.  We canceled with the people we were about to have over for dinner in one hour.  Stopped in the middle of cooking dinner, had a neighbor come over to give her a blessing with Brian, and then took her to the ER.  We left Abby with some friends.

This picture was when she was enjoying herself watching a Barbie movie and eating a popsicle.  Everyone was so nice (they have a pediatric ER here).  The head doctor came in and said, "Is this the one that fell down the stairs in a laundry basket?"  Poor Brian had to explain what happened about 5 times.  He was just being a fun dad:-)  Well, then they had to numb it with a topical cream for 20 min., but I'm not sure it numbed it good enough because then they had to hold her down, scrub it out, and staple it shut with two staples.  She was screaming bloody murder at this point.  It was a scream of, make them stop...why are you letting them do this to me...it was horrible.  After what seemed like forever, they were done and Madison was a wreck.  We took her home and she calmed down as Brian explained to her why they had to hold her down and what the staples looked like.  She was fine after that and understood, but it would have been nice if we could of explained it to her before.  She was a trooper!

Can you see the staples?  Just two of them.

A day later and she is happy as can be.  We just can't wash her hair for 24 hours and so it's pretty nasty in the back:-)  I'm just glad we didn't have child protective services come to our house...besides, who could make up a story that crazy right?  I was tempted to bring the basket as proof...it was a bit mangled.

Jump'n up for joy

This is Madison and J. our neighbor friend who loves to play with my girls and whom they love to play with.  She is so sweet and good natured.  She eats with us often and there is never fighting when she is over:-)

I wish...

Madison woke up this morning and said, "Can Abby and I sleep in a tent and go camping?  Why don't we go camping?"
I said, "talk to your daddy."
"Why did grandpa buy all that fishing stuff?  It's so expensive." (She wants to buy fishing stuff and I tell her it's to expensive.)
I said, "Because he goes fishing a lot.  You love fishing and camping with Grandpa huh?"
Then she said, "Yes, I wish I could live with Grandpa because then I could camp with him."

Girls' Project

This is the before picture of it...it of course didn't look this nice.  It has some water stains and a bit of wear...I just found this on the internet since I forgot to take a before picture.

For the past 6 days, this has been the project we have been working on.  Madison and Abby came up with a lot of the plan of what to use for the different parts.  They also came up with what to use for the shelves, knobs for the stove, stove tops, and was there to pick out the faucet.  Abby and her painted the shelves, and helped paint the main part. At least most of the paint got on the kitchen:-)  I made the girls matching aprons, hot pads, towels, washcloths, etc.  The girls use some of my kitchen things that are red, have two bowls, their imagination, and a fun time using beads, blocks, etc. as food.  Today we had block and necklace bunt cake.  It was delicious!

Neighborhood Friends

Here are some of the neighborhood children that play with our girls.  They have so much fun together and are the sweetest kids!!!

Miracle of the Piano

So, on Sunday Madison was asking Brian during Priesthood when we were going to get a Piano again so he could play her favorite song.  Brian asked, "what is your favorite song?" to which Madison replied , "I don't remember how it goes."  Brian asked, "was it Bumble Bee Tuna?"  Madison said, "Yah, that's it."  I didn't know about this little exchange.  I was shopping in the second hand store and came across an electric piano that looked great!  I made some calls and then we got it!  It was later that Brian told me about Sunday and I just thought Heavenly Father must really love Madison since I wasn't even looking for a piano at this time.  It wasn't in the budget...so we thought:-)  It was even 25% off the tag price.  Anyway, here is the love of it in our home.  I relax so quickly when Brian plays and the girls just love it!!!!

Madison riding her bike...

Madison has gotten so good at riding her bike.  She just learned a week and a half ago and took off from there.  We even went on a three mile bike ride and Madison rode her bike the entire time.  She rides everyday with her friends in the neighborhood and loves it.  She picked it up so fast!  It was one day and by the next day she could start, stop, and dodge people in her way:-)  Not running into them.

Fun Memory

 Abby and her silly self.

 We were outside playing in the pool one hot day and I didn't expect Brian home for a while and all of the sudden he comes bursting out of the house and jumps in the small pool with the girls.  We then got out the slip and slide and they had a blast.  It's not just for kids eh?  Well, I guess Brian is a kid at heart.  What a fun surprise.  

Peonies at the Arboretum

 My child looks like an orphan...she hates for me to do her hair.  I think it's time to cut it:-)

 Madison loves flowers and had to sniff them and touch them.

 I love this one...you wonder about the head tilt, well Madison tried to teach Abby how to do a cute smile and taught her to tilt her head.  It's tilted in most pictures where she is trying to look cute.

Beautiful huh?

 This is the fairy garden that we pass on our way to the river.  As people pass, they can build a house out of just what is around.  They are such cute houses and Madison and Abby just love building a house for the fairies.  Madison secretly wants to become a fairy so she can have magical powers.

 The River.  Brian has to do crazy things or else a trip isn't a trip.  The girls just loved it and laughed at how silly he was.  

 There's the head tilt...it's a bit dramatic don't you think:-)  I just love it!

On the path where we got attacked by mosquitos.  We got out of there fast:-)

NY Trip

I was able to go and visit my parents on their mission in Rochester NY with my two girls, Melissa, and Dave.  We met up with the rest of the clan the next day and spent time going to Panera Bread...

 The Berry Patch to have amazing strawberry and raspberry shortcakes...

 A session in the baptistry at the Palmyra Temple...

The Siblings...we missed you Josh.  L-R Melissa, Emily, Seth, Sarah, Lael....A thorn between four roses:-)  Love you Seth.

 A night watching the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  Madison and Abby loved it and asked questions and pointed out stories they knew of the Book of Mormon throughout the entire show.  It was great seeing it for the third time since being in it for 6 years or so in the cast.

 And can't forget the famous Chill and Grill where the famous saying is "Is that a Small?".  

Emily, Madison, Elder McVea, Sister McVea, Abby, Sarah, Mike, Lael, Lacey, Dave, and Melissa.  It was fun to be waiting in line and someone mentioned about mom's name tag.  We all admired it since it was the name tag I wore on my mission to Halifax, Canada and passed on to Melissa to wear in Leeds, England, and then she passed it on to Lael who served in San Diego, California, and now my mom proudly wears it since when she was a missionary her tag said Sister Nichols:-)  The Legacy lives on and started with the one who is wearing the tag today:-)

Lake Michigan

Madison couldn't get enough of the water.  She loved the thrill of going as deep as she could and trying to jump with the waves.  She spent most of the time in the water and was reluctant to get out after 5 hours in it...she is our water girl and loves it!

 Our good friends invited us to spend the weekend with them at the beach house they rented and we took them up on it and had a blast.  We stayed at the beach for hours, swimming, building sand castles...

 Playing in the sand...

 literally:-)

I love this girl.  She finds joy in even the small things and has a contagious laugh that makes me smile no matter what mood I am in.

That's a good looking sand castle A.

Biker Babe...

Madison just learned to ride her bike without the training wheels today and announced that, "this is the best day ever!"  What an accomplishment after injuring herself pretty bad last year when she tried to ride without the training wheels.  She was brave and just decided since her friend Charish and Sam could ride and they are five that she can ride too.  I am so grateful to be a mother and watch Madison try and try again getting better each time and gaining confidence with each attempt.  It was a piece of heaven and a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father must feel as we learn new things and get better and better and grow in confidence.  Madison was so proud of herself and never gave up.  It was 89 degrees with pretty high humidity...needless to say it was HOT!!!  I'm just grateful to be a mom and experience the joy of watching Madison learn and accomplish something new.