Fall Pre-K Soccer

Maddy had so much fun playing soccer last spring that we signed her up again this fall. We also intentionally signed up with two of her teammates from our last team. The mom of one of them agreed to be the coach of their team and I am her assistant.

Saturday was our first practice and it was a blast (although wrangling eleven 3-4 year olds was a chore)! Maddy really liked having me be involved on the field with her. 

Here are some photos of our team. Maddy is in the pink shirt. Her friends Landon and Aaron from last season are in the green shirts. Go soccer!

Maddy Photos - 2015

Earlier this month we had outdoor photos taken of Maddy at the Country Club which is right on a lake (we got married there too!). We had a great afternoon with our photographer who had tons of photo ideas. Maddy had a blast posing and acting goofy. 

She looks so grown up! We can't believe that she's technically only three (although very close to four)!

Here are our favorites!

We're Back & Maddy Starts Preschool

Wow what a hiatus! I had been pretty good at blogging for about 3 years but 2015 proved to be too much. A new house, a new degree, new sports for Maddy, it was a lot and blogging moved to pretty low on my priority list. While I didn't always miss writing or feeling obligated to update the blog, I do miss the regular account of our lives. I miss visually seeing Maddy grow up and master new milestones. I miss a chronological account of our successes and challenges. So I'm back, for as long as that makes sense for me/us.

It seems fitting to jump in to my first blog post in 9 months by sharing the start to a new school year. 

Maddy moved to the 4 year old class at daycare today which more officially begins pre school since next year will be pre kindergarten and then kindergarten the fall of 2017 (thank you fall birthday for that little delay). 

Maddy has been working on the transition to the 4's class (what they call it at her school) for a few weeks now, spending half days with the new teachers in the new class. Maddy is kind of an all or nothing kid so it's been a little torturous for her that she couldn't just jump right into the new class, leaving the 3's behind. But alas the day has finally come. Her cubby has been moved, her art folder has been moved, and she's all ready to be an even bigger kid! Luckily many of her closest friends, including her BFF Savannah, are moving too.

One of my friends posted photos this week of her kids starting school and included a couple of questions she asked them to highlight their views on life. I stole them and asked Maddy. Here are her responses:

What are you most looking forward to in the 4's class?

I'm excited about the new toys I get to play with!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A chef! I love cooking with mommy and daddy!

She could barely contain her excitement for her new class. And of course she had to add a silly face photo up in the reading loft.

New House

Well it's official, we have a new house. We offered at the end of October and closed the beginning of December. It was quite an adventure and one I'm glad we won't have to do again anytime soon. We love the house and are so happy.

We moved in about a week before a lot of travel, so we are just now getting unpacked and settled but it's all coming together. It's over 1000 sq. ft. bigger than our townhouse was and is on .25 of an acre which means Maddy and Bailey are ecstatic about all of the outdoor space. We are so glad it all worked out. Here are some of the listing photos. I'll share some more personalized ones once we finish unpacking and decorating.

Top 5 Things I Love About the New House
1. Separate family and living rooms which means Maddy's toys are contained and out of our main living space
2. Tons of cabinets and counter space in the kitchen
3. 2 1/2 bathrooms including our own master suite which means no more bath toys in our shower
4. Yard, yard, yard enough said
5. Quiet neighborhood with neighbors who bring you banana bread to welcome you to the neighborhood

Family Photos - 2014

We finally had family photos taken again which turned out to be really fun. Maddy's age made the task much easier because of her ability to follow directions and her "regular" smile has become much less cheesy and relaxed which was a bonus as well.

We did family photos with all three of us and then some of just Maddy. Our photographer had some awesome back drops which added alot to the photos.

Here are some of my favorites!

Day at the Park

Last weekend we had some surprisingly good weather and so we took advantage of it by going to the park. Blue skies, shorts and leaves were a fun combo! Maddy was even extra brave and tried out a new part of the play structure where she had to climb pretty high. She had a blast climbing over and over and then jumping off. We're pretty grateful for the amazing summer and fall we've had and know the rain is around the corner.

Haircut

Maddy got her haircut two weekends ago at a new place near our house. Since this was her third haircut she was a pro. She jumped right in the chair and was super chatty with the hair stylist. It's been much easier to manage her hair having it be a couple inches shorter which is much appreciated. She even got her hair blow dryed which she thought was super fun!