Pageant Time

She is the perfect combination of princess and warrior, and sunshine mixed with a little rain.

Maddie competed in the Horshoebend's Little Miss Petite Pageant this weekend. I personally always just pray that she  has fun and walks across the stage without tripping or falling (seriously). It's just a wonderful added bonus when she shines like the star she is and comes home with a trophy and flowers.  Lindsey did her makeup and hair, and painted her nails, which reminded me so much of the countless times Aunt Di helped us get Lindsey ready for pageants just like this. Life really does come full circle. Lots of sweet memories were made.  I'm still not convinced this is something Maddie will continue to do.  Either way, she is beautiful inside and out, and we couldn't be more proud of her!!

Fair warning, this post has lots and lots of pictures!

This little princess got in on the fun, too!  She picked out a pretty sparkly dress and got her hair done by Mom, too!  I can't wait until she gets to do this for real!

It's a process!!  

Uncle C and Aunt Taylor joined in the festivities!  On a side note, my sweet son got his first pair of new tennis shoes in THIRTEEN years on this trip.  I kid you not-THIRTEEN years!  The last three pair I bought him, he took back for the money.  Bless him!  

Now back to the princess!  Things are looking good!

Team Maddie!

The pageant begins with each girl wearing jeans and their pageant t shirt.  They introduce themselves and tell a little something about themselves.  "I'm number eight and tonight's going to be great!"

Her sweet friend Harper won last year, and helped crown this year!

Just beautiful!

You are every lovely word I could possibly think of!!

Intermission!  The gang's a little tired, but we're all here!

How sweet is this?  1st Alternate!  We couldn't be prouder!

 All smiles! Baxley is the sweet girl who won!  

We couldn't wait to get our pictures made with our sweet girl!

It's safe to say that the little ones were worn out at this point!

But as we were waiting for Maddie to change, Lillian held on to all of Maddie's goodies and said, "It's almost like I won!"

More wonderful memories were made!  So thankful for all of our sweet family!

Plants and Parks

A few days before all this gloomy rain began, Lillian and Reed helped me plant a few flowers in an attempt to brighten things up a bit!

Best helpers ever!  Reed found this toboggan and became quite attached for awhile! 

Sweet, sweet girl!

This one's pretty sweet, too!

These two missed out on the planting!  They were resting up before they headed out hunting.

The only thing they enjoy more than getting the mail might be watching the garbage truck stop by!  Both are pretty big events around here. These country kids don't get those big experiences at their house!

Pop and Maddie headed to hunt, and I headed to the park with the little ones.

This one had a ball!  

This one, not so much!  Obviously, he just wasn't feeling it!  

He did manage to enjoy a little snack! But mostly, he hung out on the bench!  I might add that when it was time to go, he cried because he wanted to play.  Did I mention that it was naptime?  He was much happier after his nap!

We will be heading that way in a few days. Visits are much better than Facetime calls, although we do enjoy those!  We can't wait to see them! 

Another Hunting Buddy

Uncle C and Aunt Taylor took the girls to the movie one afternoon this weekend.  Pop decided he'd take Reed and do a little hunting.  I wasn't at all sure how this would end, but Pop said he loved everything about it!  He was amazed by all the sounds, and enjoyed looking for squirrels, possums, birds and such! The height of the stand didn't faze him either.  Also, he was mostly quiet, which is quite a miracle!  Now, Pop is going to be in the market from some bigger stands.  Maddie absolutely loves to hunt whenever she can.  I asked Lillian if she was going to go, and she sweetly said she'd just wait until she was five.  I pointed out that her birthday was in just a few months, and she decided she'd think about it some more.  Time may prove me wrong, but I think she'll probably be hanging out with Nana!

Checking things out!

To me he looks scared to death here, but Pop assures me he was just taking in all the sights and sounds!

There's our smile!!

Making memories!!

Upsurge

On the way back to Alex City, the girls and I stopped at Upsurge for a little fun, while Pop and Reed hung out at Chic Fil A.  Even though this place is wall to wall trampolines, the girls spent most of the time playing in the obstacle course area.  They are big Ninja Warrior fans, so this was lots and lots of fun for them.  They also spent lots of time climbing the retainer wall around the trampolines.  One of the kind workers sweetly told them they couldn't do that.  (He didn't tell them until about their 50th time to make it to the top, though!)  Maddie said she had lots of fun and wanted to come back, but that it sure was a long hour!  There are lots of pictures, because we had lots of fun!

Checking out the trampolines!

Lillian hung in with Maddie quite nicely! 

Climbing, jumping, swinging, leaping and more!

This big girl is growing up!

And so is this one! I was so proud of her!  She loved doing everything!

I think Maddie came away with a new respect for those Ninja Warriors!

This is where they are not suppose to be!  Oops!

Back to the obstacle course.  They just couldn't stay away!

Every now and then, they would run and jump on the trampolines, and then zip off somewhere else!

We will definitely be back!  I would love to say that we had a great trip home, but it quickly went downhill.  Lillian has been prone to getting carsick all of her life.  It had been several months since she had gotten sick, so we thought she might have outgrown it!  I am sad to say this is not the case.  WORSE case ever!! We travel with all the clean up supplies needed, so we cleaned her and the car up and journeyed on!  They are really good travelers, so this was really just a little speed bump on the way!! And, we are actually on the way back to get them this afternoon.  More adventures are on the horizon!