Mom and Dad came over for a visit last week.  They did a TON of work around the house.  Thank you!  We explored some of the area - Pigeon Forge, the outlets and they went up to Kentucky to check out Cumberland Gap.  They were able to come to Madelyn's birthday party.  First time since she's been born.  Good to have them there and to have some help with setup and cleanup.  Mom has been asking to get her an American Girl doll pretty much since she was born.  I finally gave her permission this year.  Madelyn loves her new doll, Rebecca.  Wants to take her everywhere.  Pops was able to dye eggs with the babies.  They had never done that before and said they really enjoyed it. 

Birthday Tea Party

Madelyn had a very sweet tea party for her 5th birthday.  She was soo excited about dressing up fancy and having some of her friends come over.  This was the first birthday we let her have some of her age friends over to celebrate.  Normally it's been our friends that come to her parties :)  We had to limit the number since we were having it at our house and didn't want it to be too overwhelming and crazy.  The girlies came and all sat at our dining table.  They colored princesses, made bracelets, had some not so fancy food of pizza, chips and fruit and an adorable teapot cake that a friend of ours from church made.  She owns a bakery/catering company.  Betty told me it was going to be a teapot, but I didn't know it would look like an actual teapot!  Thanks to all who came out to help us celebrate our special baby girl.

Madelyn: 5 Year Old Questions

What is your favorite color? Pink

What is your favorite toy? Doll House

What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries

What is your favorite TV show? Paw Patrol

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pizza

What is your favorite outfit? Dress

What is your favorite game?  Candy Land

What is your favorite snack? Gogurt

What is your favorite animal? animals in her bed

What is your favorite song?  Mighty to Save

What is your favorite book?  the Bible

Who is your best friend? All my family

What is your favorite dinner?  Mac & Cheese

What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play with chalk

What is your favorite drink?  Pink Lemonade

What is your favorite place to go? Cracker Barrel

What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Pig, bunny & periwinkle

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Oatmeal

What do you want on your birthday?  Go out for lunch and have friends over

Madelyn: 5 Years Old

Madelyn Joy,

You are 5 today!!  And so excited about it.  You've been counting down the days until your birthday.  This year you really know what it means to turn another year older. We love you baby girl.

Here are some of your 5 year old stats:

-You weigh 36 lbs. and are 41.25" tall

-You wear size 9-10 shoe, 5T tops, pants and PJ's

-Some of your favorite foods are pepperoni pizza, hot dogs (no bun), french fries, mac & cheese, apple slices, gogurt, carrots and anything sweet.

-Still napping in the afternoon for around 2 hrs.  Going to bed around 7:30pm and getting up around 8am.

-You're in dance on Mondays - ballet & tap.  So excited about tap because you get to make noise with your feet!

-You also just started teeball and are taking to it well.  We'll see how those games go!

-One of your favorite activities is children's choir at church.  You love to sing and dance! 

-Your favorite shows are "Paw Patrol", "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood", "Handy Manny" and "Sophia the 1st"

-Some of your favorite things are:  riding your bike, coloring and cutting paper, singing, dancing, building legos, playing with dolls & dressing up

-You are so smart.  Like really smart.  You amaze us everyday.

Pictures from the 2nd half of your 4 year old year.  The first half are here

October

November

December

January

February

March

Visit from the Fitch's

Our friends, the Fitch's, came to visit last week-they got in the day I got home from Florida.  Jim helped Tim up at the church all week.  Cathy and Anna went up one day to organize music and clean out stuff.  They were such a great help! 

While they were here, we ate some southern food, had a day trip to Nashville and checked out downtown Knoxville.  I had never been to Nashville and they were interested in checking it out so we decided to head that way while the kids were at school.  We checked out downtown by recommendation from a friend.  It was such a nice day!  We walked up and down the strip, ate at Hard Rock Cafe then headed down to Franklin to check out the mall.  After that, we needed to get back to Knoxville for the kids teeball practice...and to avoid traffic! 

The morning before they left, we took them to downtown Knoxville to check out Theo's favorite, the "Sunsphere" and Market Square.  We had some really good southern food down there at Tupelo Honey.  So yummy.  Anna also took some family pictures of us.  She did such a good job.  Thanks Anna!

Downtown Nashville

selfies

Cracker Barrel

Tupelo Honey

Teeball

some family pics