happy memorial day!

daddy didn't get as far as he wanted on his landscaping yesterday, so madelyn and i headed to the local memorial day parade by ourselves. i wasn't really sure how much of a parade it would be, but i figured that there would at least be a marching band and that should be enough for madelyn to be happy.


we got there about 15 minutes before the parade started and were able to find a place on the curb and in the sun - very important. unfortunately, it was very, very windy and that made it cold. it was a lot colder than i had planned for and most (almost all) people were wrapped up in jackets and blankets. because of the sun we weren't too cold until the parade actually started.


anyway, there were a few formation flyovers, representatives from different military branches, firemen, police, sheriff, and a few high school marching bands. all in all i think it maybe lasted 15 minutes (or less). madelyn was so excited to "see it coming". she stood and clapped for the flag presentations. after the first band went by madelyn turned to me and asked, "where'd the parade go?" and then she looked down the road and said, "there it is! i see it! more parade!" she kept telling me that she was going to dance with the band and would step out into the road, but as soon as the band would get close she would step back onto the sidewalk. i think that the drums were her favorite part because that is what she talked about for the rest of the day - the "big drums".

madelyn's big thing this weekend has been saying, "i did it!" it has been either, "yea, i did it!", or, "ta-da! i did it!" and it's not just when she does something new and wants to celebrate - it has been lots of ordinary things too.


this picture is just one that i thought was cute from yesterday of her and her friend. she wanted to have her picture taken, but i only got this one before her thumb went in.

madelyn got totally spoiled on our trip to the grocery store saturday! we always end every trip to the store by looking at all the balloons and flowers. we were in the refrigerated flower case smelling the roses when i decided that she could pick a carnation to take home (the cheapest option). as we were heading back to the cart an employee asked if i wanted the flower wrapped up. seeing as how it was only one carnation i told her that wouldn't be necessary, but maybe clipping it a little shorter would be nice. she then offered madelyn some ribbon for her flower. and madelyn picked out some

pink ribbon that the lady tied on and curled for her. after seeing how thrilled madelyn was with the ribbon, she offered her a balloon too. and not just a balloon, but she gave madelyn a 'bracelet' of floral mesh (like the put over gerber daisy) to tie the balloon too so that it wouldn't fly away if she let go. what a special treat!


madelyn was so, so, so excited about her bounty of treats! i couldn't get her to hold still far enough away from me so that i could get her and her balloon in the picture. she was so worried about her balloon being too high to get through the doorway leaving the store and going into our house. she looked up the whole time and pulled the balloon as low as she could by pulling the ribbon. when we got home she could hardly get out of the car before she was calling for daddy so that he could see her flower and balloon. she headed straight down the hill to the back of the house because she knew that daddy was back there "digging" for his plants. it was so cute. love.