Happy Easter!

Maddie enjoyed her first easter egg hunt on Saturday at our house.  Grammie and Grampie sent an Elmo easter basket which she loved!  She is a bit prissy and a little dramatic, and hates walking on the grass!  What a girl!  So I was interested to see how she would react.  To my surprise she actually didn't whine too much, and was all about finding all those eggs!  

This is my first iMovie masterpiece, so I hope you all enjoy!  It might seem a little long, but I edited it as much as I could.  She was a little slow and unsure of walking on the grass, so it took her a little while to find them all!

Happy Easter everyone!

Tribute to Bogart...

I've been avoiding this for a long time, but I have to find a new home for my dog.  :(  He's a black lab and border collie mix, but just looks like a small black lab.   He's about 45 lbs. 

There's a bunch of reasons why we need to find him a new home, but mainly because we're going to be moving all over the place for the next year, or pretty much indefinitely.   Because we don't know where we will be living, it would be easiest to find a new home for Bogey.  Here's my story about my first dog.  

I never got to have a dog growing up, so as soon as I had a house of my own that's the first thing I wanted!  Brandon wasn't crazy about dogs but he let me get one the first summer we moved to Memphis.  We went to the pound and I noticed one puppy sitting quietly in the corner while all the other dogs were jumping up and barking.  The second day we had him he chewed up my new Rainbow flip-flop.  I yelled at him and disciplined him and have never had a problem with him chewing stuff up since (unless he really loves you and then he'll get your socks and run around the house so you chase him!)  He's a smart dog!  We had a great summer together, taking walks every day and frolicking in the sun.  And then Brandon turned really germaphobic and OCD.  I've had to open the dishwasher for him because he's afraid the dog may have touched the handle and he would get "dog cooties".  One time a box of cereal bars fell on the floor and he wouldn't eat the rest of them (even though they were wrapped...and in a box!)   Now he won't touch the dog or anything the dog has touched.  If you know me, you know the stories!  So I also am willing to find Bogey a new home for everyone's sanity!  

Bogey loves to run and loves attention.  He loves his tennis ball and he is great around Maddie. When we brought Maddie home from the Hospital he just laid by her cradle!  But when he was constrained to the kitchen, and he just doesn't get as much attention.  The worst thing he does is sometimes puts his paws up on the counter when we leave the house and helps himself to any leftovers.  But I'm sure this is just getting us back for being demoted to number 2!  

So if you or anyone you know would like an awesome family pet, please let me know.  It's very important to me that he finds a good home where he can get more exercise and more attention!

  

Hittin' the slopes

Brandon and I are enjoying our toddler-free week in Breckenridge! Despite getting a cold and the not so great weather we've had a good time skiing. Brandon still had his lift ticket on his coat from the last time we went skiing- Jan. 2004 in PA at Seven Springs! Before we were married, and before Maddie- back when we had a life and did fun and exciting things! :)
Brandon's never been skiing in CO, and thats where I learned (about 16 years ago!) It's been fun to be back, and to see Brandon experience it for the first time. I tried telling him we should take it easy the first day and not try to be too ambitious. By the end of the day my legs were killing me. He thought I was wimping out until the next day when he was complaining about how much his legs hurt!
It's so great to spend some time doing things we want to do without the little munchkin! She's having a great time at Nani and Papi's house this week. That's her new name for them now!
Here's a few pics of the Rockies from the top of Peak 8, and the view of some slopes that we definitely stayed away from! And then a pic of the mountain from Main Street Breckenridge.

CMOM

This week I took Maddie to the Children's Museum of Memphis. I've been wanting to take her, but wasn't sure if there would be much for her to do at her age. Some of the things she wasn't quite big enough for , but there was plenty of stuff for her to do! Her favorite thing was the little Kroger grocery store. It was probably my favorite too! I knew she would love it because lately when we go to the store she won't even sit in the cart, she wants to push it, and "help" us shop! Here are a few pics from her shopping. The first thing she grabbed was the cart, and then she went right for the laundry detergent. I have no idea why, but she was enthralled with that!

She also loved the produce section, and pretending to take bites of the apples!

But by far, her favorite part of the museum was a little "dance room" with disco lights, mirrors and funky music!

Long Past Due!

Apologies for this update being about a month late! I wanted to post some Christmas/New Years pics, but I have to do it on Brandon's PC b/c I'm still not smart enough to figure out what is wrong with our Mac!

We started our three week Christmas break here in Memphis, and went to the zoo to see some lights. It was complete with "snow" falling down as we walked in. Maddie even got up close to some animals!

Then we headed to PA to see Brandon's family. Maddie tore into the presents as soon as she saw them!

Then we were off to Iowa for Christmas with my family, and then the whole Hein clan (24 in all this year I think!) Maddie was a great helper with all the presents. I also took a picture of the lovely wrapping paper that Brandon and I had to wrap our presents in because somebody (Rebecca!) took all the other wrapping paper in the house! Guess what decade the paper is from!

And we can't forget the Turducken! Brandon has been talking about them for years, so this year my parents actually got one! It was pretty good, although it probably would have been better if it had been completely cooked through!

Next stop North Carolina for an awesome New Year!

Back in Memphis

Well our travels have ended for now.  It was a whirlwind of a vacation, but it was much needed. It was so good to be around all our family and friends.  It's always tough coming back for me, because that means it's back to being home all by myself with Maddie.  It's especially tough now, after the burglary because I hate being in this house.  It was so nice to be away and be able to sleep and not be constantly anxious and paranoid.  

But, hopefully a few trips will be able to break up the boredom.  In February I plan on going to Haiti for a short trip with Hopegivers.  We will be hanging out with the orphans and painting some buildings.  If you want to know more about the trip, or would like to help financially support the trip, please let me know!  

March will bring a spring break girl trip to the Bahamas which I have been looking forward to since last March!  And I guess in April I'll have to try to make it back to Raleigh.  Then in just a few short months we'll be in Iowa for the summer.  I'm hoping 2009 goes very fast, because I am anxious to move back to NC and for Brandon to be done with school so we can finally settle down! 

I hope you all  had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Round One of Presents

A couple weeks ago Brandon and I got Maddie's Christmas presents. This was the first year she really opened anything. Last year she was too little, and we were on a cruise! I couldn't wait for Maddie to open them and play with her new toys, so we wrapped them up, and she ripped them open in no time! I wanted to add some music, but I can only learn so much techy stuff at a time!

Becca's Shoes

Maddie is a typical girl and already into shoes at 18 months old! Sometimes it amazes me how innate the girlyness is. While Rebecca was here Maddie kept putting on her shoes and walking in them! She's tried to put our shoes on before, but never attempted to walk! What cracks me up is that one of them is on backwards!