Maddy's 2nd Birthday!

Madeline Eva Huseby celebrated her golden birthday this year. She turned 2 yrs old on Dec. 2, 2010. A small party to celebrate was held on Sat. Dec. 4, 2010 at our home. We had salad, lasagna, & garlic toast for supper. Then, cake and ice cream for dessert. She received many wonderful gifts. She had a fantastic time playing with the balloons and loved all the attention.
For the next several days her favorite words to repeat over and over again were party, balloons, cake, candle, and pizza because she kept calling the lasagna pizza.

On Dec. 8, 2010 Maddy had her 24 month "wellness" check. Our family doctor gave her a clean bill of health. He said the average number of words that a 2 year old knows is 50. Maddy is around the 175 word mark at this point which puts her above average. Her height and weight are above average too. She is 34 1/2 inches tall and weighs 28 1/2 pounds. We are trying to keep shoes and socks on Maddy because she is pigeon-toed and would like to help her self- correct it. Dr Larson said that it is current practice to see if children grow out of being pigeon- toed by 3 yrs old. If Maddy is still having issues with this after she turns 3 yrs old, then options will be considered. We are very happy that she is healthy and developing well.

We hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and cheers to 2011!

Madeline Eva turned 2 yrs old on Dec. 2, 2010.

Gold bar cake. Blow out the candle.

Reading a birthday card. Maddy waiting to open presents with Grandma E.

Opening presents.

Glamour girl. New Elmo movie!

When caterpillars attack! Listening to a Minnie Mouse singing card.

Froggie bath towel and new books!



Here's a video of the Happy Birthday song and blowing out the candles:

Maddy is almost 2 yrs old!!!

It was a beautiful fall here in Minnesota, but in the blink of an eye winter came. Our first storm/snowfall brought a whopping 12.2 inches of very fluffy snow to our region. Maddy played in all the snow until the cold forced Debbie to bring her inside against her will. Along with Maddy's snow fascination, she has become enthralled with painting and tents. Matt and Debbie try to join in the tent fun until the size limitations hurt our knees and we feel the need for larger spaces. We recently introduced the wonderful classic Christmas cartoons to her via a DVD, like "Frosty the Snowman", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". She loves them so we will have to add "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" to the growing DVD library.

Maddy took her 2 year photos on Nov. 19th. The photos are copyrighted so we won't be able to post them on the blog. However, we'll send a chosen photo on the Christmas card to everyone. There is a picture below that we took at our house before we drove to the photo shoot to give you a little teaser.

On Thanksgiving Maddy had an awful cold. We did decide to attend the Huseby Thanksgiving gathering and she had a ton of fun. Madeline's Uncle Tim kept asking her to bring him a piece of cheese. She would fetch the cheese, only to eat it right in front of him in a big snap of her chops while giggling uncontrollably. She is such a stinker, but at least she has a good sense of humor!

We are busy preparing for Maddy's golden birthday party. She will be turning 2 yrs old on Dec. 2nd. A special birthday blog post will be forthcoming. Until then, we hope you enjoy this holiday season. Only 26 shopping day left - Yikes!!!


Maddy has learned about the joy of tents/forts.

See no evil (Note the monkey pjs). Pirate smile - Rrrr!

Painting has become a favorite activity.

Little mermaid loves her bubbles.

Trying out the doll stroller. Kicking back after a bath.

2 yr photo dress and Thanksgiving turkey dress.

Maddy is 23 months old

Maddy had a growth spurt this past month. She grew a 1/2 inch making her 33 3/4 inches tall. She also gained 2 lbs which brings her to 27 pounds total. She is in size 24 month pants and can fit a 2T or 3T sized shirt depending on the brand. We are having trouble keeping shoes on her feet for two reasons. The first reason being that she is growing so fast that she is growing out of her shoes quickly and is now wearing a 7 wide shoe. The second reason being that she takes off her shoes and socks every chance she gets. Madeline's coordination is slowly improving, but she is somewhat pigeon-toed. She was going down a sidewalk that is slanted and fell. Don't worry, her face stopped her. Her nose took the brunt of the fall as you can see in the photo below. It healed nicely and looks much better now. Besides the scraped nose, Maddy has been cutting her 2nd year molars. She is halfway done with 2 more to go.

The weather here has been unseasonably warm. Usually by Halloween, there is snow on the ground with cold temps to make it stick. However, our temps have been in the low 50s to high 40s during the day. We'll take it! We are especially grateful for the warm weather this month because Matt's mom moved close (very close) to us. She is approximately 120 feet away. Maddy is delighted to have her grandmother so close and loves go over to see Grandma Huseby frequently.

Uncle Dewey and Auntie Carmen treated Maddy to an afternoon at their pumpkin patch. She received oodles of pumpkins and gourds in addition to the 4 wheeler rides that she bounced and laughed through.

This warm fall gave us the chance to go to a local commercial pumpkin patch also. Maddy went on a hayride, marveled the animals at a petting zoo, enjoyed a barrel car ride twice, ran through a hay maze, and couldn't get enough of the outdoors. Grandma and Grandpa Escherich treated her to this special day complete with a pumpkin for carving and a T-shirt.

As for the pumpkins, we carved 3 of them. Maddy picked out the patterns for 2 of them. The last pumpkin had a traditional jack o' lantern face. Maddy is truly fascinated with the moon and stars so it was no surprise to us that she chose a pattern with a moon and stars in it. Maybe the monster reminder her of Sesame Street?

On Halloween, Maddy dressed up as a princess. She was so excited! She went trick or treating at family and friend's homes during which she kept trying to get everyone to open the packages of candy for her. With BIG, brown eyes she would say, "Open pleeaassee". She has learned how to turn on the "puppy dog" eyes already.

Maddy can say over 150 words to date and keeps adding to her vocabulary. She will say please, thank you and you're welcome with a gleefull flare. Lately, she says "Thank you" and "You're welcome" in the same breath making us chuckle. She is still happiest when she gets to play outside, but another favorite is "hide and go seek". She has learned to respond to "I Love You" with an "I Love You too" which melts our hearts.

We'll see you next month. Enjoy the photos!

Smiley - Rudolph

Playing with Mommy's hair. Hmm...wonder where Maddy is?

Mountain goat Maddy followed by go-go dancer Maddy.

"Coloring" - Pumpkin patch t-shirt.

Princess Madeline

Carving pumpkins

Pumpkins in the light, pumpkins in the dark.

Picking pumpkins at Uncle Dewey & Auntie Carmen's pumpkin patch.

Haymaze - playing in the corn.

Barrel car rides.

Grandma & Grandpa Escherich with Maddy at the local Pumpkin Patch.

Maddy is 22 months old

It is unbelieveable that summer is over and fall is already here. The campground closed on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010. Since then we have been working on getting the campground ready for winter. There is no shortage of projects, but we wouldn't want to get bored, would we? We STILL have not taken a boat ride yet. Is it possible to live on a lake and never get out on it for a whole season? We'll contact Guiness and let you know.

Maddy is holding steady at 25 lbs this month, but she did gain a quarter inch in height so she is now 33 1/4 inches tall. We put her ball pit away this month to make room for an art easel. She has been extremely pleased with the new addition to her playroom. She is also getting very good at naming her colors. Lately, she has taken an interest in the keyboard that has been in her playroom all along. She plays it while other music is on and sings. Her vocabulary is slowly increasing. She is even putting a couple words together to make simple sentences once in a while. We've been stressing manners and using magic words like please and thank you too. We had 2 videos ready to post for this month, but they are sideways when played back. Matt took the videos using his new phone and realized that he wasn't holding the phone correctly. Oh well... Better luck next month. The 2 videos highlighted Maddy's skilled swinging on her belly and playing in leaves. She has such fun in the fallen leaves that it's hard to get her inside these days.

We hope that you enjoy the fall weather and can play in the leaves too. We're off to pick pumpkins and get ready for Halloween. Cider and caramel apples are calling!

Just woke up from a nap with "friends".

Stacker "attacker". Sleeping beauty.

Outside fun.

Wearing Daddy's hat. Opening a new toy from Jerry and Donna.

Playing piano and singing.

Leaves, glorious leaves!

We were playing with sidewalk chalk before the leaves. Can you tell?

Coloring on the new easel. Yee haw! Riding the pony.