Pretty Madelyn Rachelle

Madelyn and I were just hanging out here at the house on this particular morning. I noticed the nice natural light coming from the windows and noticed my beautiful little girl next to me and decided to try and capture a few candid shots. I love it when a plan comes together!

Memorial Day 2008 - Fun Moments & Memories

Happy Memorial Day!

Monday, May 26th

Here we are getting ready for annual parade in Downtown Worthington. The weather was supposed to be rainy with thunderstorms and chance for hail. Yikes! But it ended up being a perfect, HOT, Ohio day. Warmest day yet this year!!

(Yes, Madelyn and I are dressed in matching shirts. Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Madelyn enjoying the parade from Nana's lap.

Spur-of-the-moment reunion with old friends. Lara Lebeiko on the far left, Kristy Pinschenat in the middle with her 3 kids in the front row (Weston, Brynlee and Jackson). Maddy is hiding her face from the bright sun.

Self portrait in my parents backyard...gearing up for our annual Memorial Day Cookout.

The guys having "grill pride"! (Mike DiBartola, Gary and my dad)

The women taking over the rest of the food duty.

What a fun day! Do we have to wait a whole year to do this again? Hope not!

Todd and the Girls Came for a Visit!

We had a great time with Todd, Lindsay and Kylie Smith this past weekend. THANKS FOR COMING! We missed seeing you guys and promise to have more visits this summer. We celebrated Kylie's 11th birthday, vegged-out together, and just had some time to catch up.

Todd and his girls.

The youngest 2 cousins obviously weren't cooperating for this photo op. Oh well...maybe next time!

Our last lunch together on Sunday before they drove back to Indy. We love you guys!

Fun at Gymboree

Last night was our final Gymboree "date" -- at least for the summer. It's getting too nice to be playing inside. So, I finally remembered to bring my camera and caught a few cute moments. Madelyn loves climbing all over the equipment, hanging on the bars, climbing UP the slides and playing with "Gymbo" the clown (no fear of clowns at this point!).

Hey mom, I'm going over there to play! (probably to find Maci, her cousin)

Maddy and Maci sliding down the mat slide

The cutest possible photo of any child with Gymbo the clown. So freakin' sweet!

Oh, and one last kiss for Gymbo too.

First Day at the Zoo this Spring

We were excited to take Maddy to the zoo because we knew it would be like a whole new experience for her this time around...especially now that she can walk. She's always liked the "petting zoo" area in our North America exhibit, but now that she can run and explore on her own...well, the photos really speak for themselves.

This was her first look at one of the friendly goats. She's already smiling.

Look mommy & daddy. I'm not afraid!

A BIG KISS for the wonderful goat.

And another kiss for this super cute goat!

She totally made herself right at home with ALL the goats. No fear at all. What a cutie!

She had Gary and I laughing non-stop while we were back here.

It was already past nap time, but we couldn't possibly leave the zoo without a ride on the antique carousel. What a fun day for all of us.

Baby News!!!

We had our "big" ultrasound today and the verdict was very clear..... (drum roll please)

It's A BOY!

Yes! We're having a baby boy...and I'm so excited and still slightly in shock.

Below is a sampling from the 10 ultrasound photos we were given.

Here's a great view from under the baby looking up. Legs spread apart (see chubby thighs). You'll see the umbilical chord up high, and then a very obvious (to me at least!) "boy part" right there in the middle where it belongs. Clearly a boy. We were lucky to get so many great shots of his manly parts. =)

Here's another similar view/angle with his left leg (on your right) bent. Still a very clear and obvious boy part right there...plain as can see (well, once the doctor showed us!) What a cute little bum!


These are 2 "head shot" photos where the baby is lying on his side. Head is on the right and you can see where his eyes and chin are. In this one it looks like his head is floating above his body, but our doctor assured us that he has a very healthy, intact spinal chord.

She kept saying what a "cute little boy" he is. Well, that made mommy and daddy feel great...especially when to us it looked a bit like Skelator from the face shots. But all is well. He's healthy and developing perfectly. And we're all THRILLED for this new adventure. I'm in my 19th week, so almost halfway thru this pregnancy already. I can't believe it. Thank you Jesus for another miracle!

Mother's Day Moments

It was such a special Mother's Day for me. Just watching Madelyn grow and change has been so amazing, and I think just knowing that I have another baby on-the-way made it an extra special day. After church we met my family out for lunch at The Ocean Club (fancy and fun!) and amidst the down pouring rain, we still could sit out on the dry, covered terrace overlooking Easton. We all had a great time. I loved this moment actually caught on camera where Madelyn is asking so nicely for mommy's bag of lip sticks.

Maddy's saying "Please!" in sign language.

Thanks Nana! Burt's Bees is the best stuff!

Nana and her girls. As you can see, Madelyn was disappointed that we took away the lip gloss for the photo!

Maddy and Nana having a grand old time in Starbucks with the tornado sirens blaring outside. What an adventurous day!

Madelyn and her cute daddy in the parking garage after lunch and coffee (she was giving him a special hair-do) Thank goodness for covered parking on days like this!

After long Sunday naps for all of us, we met Gary's family out at Olive Garden for dinner. Here's Grandma Sammons (she'd kill me if she saw this online) with her little Maddy and Maci.

Maddy: 19 months & Maci: 20 months

After dinner we finally came home and I received my special gifts from Madelyn (some beautiful framed photos of the 2 of us together). Here's Maddy is showing off the special card she made and colored for me.

The best gift of all: a super snuggle from my baby girl.

4th Anniversary Date

We just celebrated our 4th Anniversary and had such a fun date nite. The day started out great too when Gary surprised me by leaving 4 beautiful roses on the kitchen table for me (next to the funny sign I wrote for him in the middle of the night!)

I actually had fun planning the date this year, and surprising him with our plans. I picked out a quaint little Italian restaurant in Victorian Villiage (Basi Italia) that you would never know about unless someone told you. It was an old, refurbished home that was turned into a sweet little restaurante. We had a relaxing dinner and then went to the old-timey Drexel Theatre in Bexley to see a foreign film called "Counterfeiters". We highly recommend it. Another interesting thing to note about the night was that it was Madelyn's first full night away from her mommy. Yup, Nana and Papa Vaas watched her for the whole evening. It was kind-of a "test run" for the big Italy trip we have coming up...where we'll be away from her for 10 whole days and nights. Whew. Thankfully, Gary and I had a wonderful date AND Madelyn had a wonderful time too (and slept thru the night!!!) What a milestone for all of us.

I love you Gary Scott. It's been an amazing 4 years, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my years with you. All my love. oxoxoxox

Spring Daze

Last Saturday we spent the morning down at Goodale Park (Short North, Columbus) and volunteered with a group from our church to pass out free bottles of water to strangers walking, running and playing in the park that morning. It was part of the larger effort called "Serve Columbus" our church put on...doing "random acts of kindness" all over the city that morning. About 1500 people participated. Madelyn had lots of fun riding in her Red Flyer wagon and passing out water to all the runners, and petting the doggies. But amidst all that, I thought the real "Kodak Moment" came when Madelyn wanted to explore thru the park and play with the gorgeous flowering trees. Nevermind the fact that these beautiful blossoms (namely their pollen) make me feel miserable right now -- how can you not want to play under these trees? I thought you would enjoy these sweet photos too.

Yup, another fun day in the park.