Pierced Ears

 After Maci's birthday party on Saturday, almost the whole family headed to the mall to watch Madi and Maci get their ears pierced. 

 Matt and I had talked about getting Madi's ears pierced around her 5th birthday this year but thought this was just as good.  

Madi and Tucker waiting for the big event! 

 She was so brave and barely acted nervous.

 Right after they were pierced she went straight to Daddy's arms and told him "they pinched my ears!"

 But minutes later she was all smiles and so happy that her ears were now pierced.

 Maci right before the big event!  I'm bad and didn't even get an after picture. I'm sure there will be many more opportunities.

 The worker said this was the biggest group she's seen come for an ear piercing so she wanted to get our entire picture out in front of the store.  We just laughed and went along with it!

Madi can now have the fun memory of getting her ears pierced with her sweet cousin Maci.

Maci's First Birthday Party

 Wow!  It's hard to believe that cousin Maci will be one year old this Tuesday.

 We celebrated this cutie on Saturday with a family party. 

 She was tired on her party day so she didn't do much damage to the cake.  

 Shelle's sis-in-law, Jennifer, decorated balloons for the kids.

 We thought she was spot on with Madi's balloon!

 Jenn also made the birthday cake for us . . . .

 And Maci's smash cake too!

 Madi loving on Grandma before all the fun!

 Maci thought the best part was this balloon.

 She followed it all over the house again and again.

 She was worn out but it was a fun party!

Happy 1st Birthday sweet Maci!

Big Girl Booster Seat

Madi's finally old enough AND big enough to ride in a big girl booster seat with only a seat belt.

Although, she could already buckle herself in each day, she's enjoying being a truly BIG girl now!

Visit

 Matt's sister and brother, Aunt Erin and Uncle Jacob came over for a visit this past week.

 Jacob, Erin, & Matt

 Madi with Uncle Jacob

We had lunch and frozen yogurt and an even better visit!

Summer Fun

I forgot to blog about Madi going to Dance Camp this summer.  It was for a week and all the little girls learned two princess dances and played games.  We watched on the last day and I was amazed at how quickly they master new dances.  Now we have a break from dance until the fall.

Madi has become such a girly girl and now asks to wear dresses quite often.

Here she is before church last week.

4th of July

We had a quiet 4th of July this year.

Madi and Maci all dressed in their red, white and blue!

 Madi thought it was pretty cool that she's 4 and we were celebrating the 4th of July.

We ate ice cream!

And played with sparklers and poppers the night before the 4th.

 While Daddy grilled ribs Madi played in the sandbox.

 Did a little sliding.

 And acted quite silly!

 Dinner was awesome!  Matt made the best ribs and I tried a new potato recipe.

 She wasn't much of a fan of the poppers at first, but warmed up to them soon enough.

 Daddy showing Madi that the sparklers were safe.

 She did eventually like the fireworks.

Happy 4th of July!

Daddy & Madi Date

Madi went on a fun date with her Daddy while I went on a fun girl's night with my mom, sister, Aunt Bev and cousin's wife Melanie to see Magic Mike and eat dinner.

First, they ate dinner at the new McDonald's.

Then Madi wanted "pink" ice cream with chocolate chips so they went to Cold Stone.

 The nice worker asked Madi if she wanted a tour so of course she was all in!

I think they had a good time and didn't miss me a bit!