Check out our little TWO YEAR OLD!!

That's right!

Jan 8th 2011 Madi turned TWO!!!
How did she celebrate the big occasion?
By having a TEA PARTY, of course!!

Here's the Birthday Girl all ready to party!

Check out all the sugary goodness!

Cake Pops!!
(This was my first time making these... overall I think they turned out pretty cute & super tasty!)

Madi, Avalee & Zavion enjoying some of the party goodies!

Madi trying a Cake Pop..

It eventually fell off the stick... making it easier to smash into her mouth... haha!

Yummy!!

Halen & Mommy hanging out at the party
(He's just 4 days old here!)

Tutu party favors!

Madi's "Girls" !

The kids got to decorate their own sugar cookies

Madi loved this activity... especially the part where she gets to lick the frosting off the cookies!

"Can I have more frosting Mommy?"

Grandma & Halen chillin' on the couch

Cake Time!
(Awesome Cupcake Cake Made by Grandma!)
Halen & Daddy

One of Madi's favorite parts... Present time!


Madi had a fabulous birthday party! She had so much fun having all her friends over to share her special day.
A BIG HUGE THANK YOU to my Mom, Peggy & Lynette for helping SO much with the party!! Having had our little Baby Halen only 4 days earlier I don't think the party would have happened without them!!!

Now it's time to start planning for next year!!!

HALEN HAS ARRIVED!

Mr Halen Alan Dillon is here!!
January 4th @ 6:36 Am Halen made his way into this world!
He weighed 7lbs 8oz & was 18in long!

We were all set to be induced on the 4th @ 7:30am... however Halen decided he was gonna come on out on his own terms! haha!
I had spent the day before getting the house cleaned, dishes done, laundry washed & getting as much ready for Madi's 2nd birthday party (on the 8th!) as possible before going in the next morning to be induced... (all of this work *could* have prompted Halen to decide to come on out a little sooner than planned....lol... ) I went to bed that night & woke up at 12:30am feeling a little funny.... then within a matter of minutes started having contractions.... only 4 mins apart... luckily Brendan was still up & ready to go! I had thought that if Halen came on his own that labor *might* be a little bit easier than if I had to be induced....I thought maybe the contractions would start off 30 mins apart...then gradually get closer and closer.... apparently Halen had other plans... they were only 4 mins apart right from the start & with in less than an hour they were already 1-2 mins apart!! I texted my best friend Peggy to come over & stay with Madi (since she was sound asleep!) & though it only took her a short time to get to our house I seriously thought there was a chance we wouldn't make it to the hospital before the baby decided to come out! Boy Mom was right when she said 2nd babies come quicker!! I called my Mom & let her know it was "Time!" so she could meet us there. (We also made the round of calls to everyone on the way there)
We made it to the hospital in no time (thanks to Brendan's quick driving & *maybe* running through some stop signs/red lights along the way) They took us right up to Labor & delivery and immediately into our room (I guess when you are having back to back contractions they skip the whole "triage" room... where they check to make sure you are in labor before actually admitting you) By the time we got to our room I was already dilated to 7! This was only about an hour after labor started! Which was crazy fast!!! .... so... long-ish story short (I'll save you all from the gory details!haha!).... Halen arrived at 6:36am! (and no, Liz didn't have to push for 4 hours this time around!! Yay!!)
Brendan & I are SOOOO excited and happy to welcome him into our little family! He is absolutly PERFECT!!

Big sister Madi meeting Baby Halen for the first time!

She wasn't too sure about what was going on at first... but it didn't take long for her to be obsessed with her new Baby Brother! She loves to point out where the baby's Nose is... his toes... his fingers...ect... she loves having her very own "baby doll" in the house!! Luckily she hasn't tried to pick him up on her own yet, but she does love sitting next to him on the couch & sharing her toys with him (although I'm not so sure how long that will last! haha!) She has even been allowing Halen to use her beloved "Boo-gee!" aka: her blankie. She is such a good big sister!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from our family to yours!!

We had a great time this year with our family and friends. As is our family tradition we got together with Liz's immediate family on Christmas Eve. This year we hosted the gathering at our house, which was lots and lots of fun! Madi loved having everyone over to visit & play. We ate some yummy food & delicious dessert (cuz dessert is THE best part of all family gatherings, right?! haha...especially when you are 9mths pregnant!!) Then we all sat down together & opened presents (Madi's favorite part!)
It's amazing how small our house gets once 20 people start ripping open packages!! Lol

A glimpse of how full the living room was!



Here's Madi with one of her favorite gifts (from Grandma) Minnie Mouse!!
It was love at first sight! Once she had opened up Minnie she HAD to sit her right next to her & show Minnie each and every gift she opened up! It was the cutest thing!



We were very excited to have some of our extended family in town to join us for Christmas Eve. Liz's Aunt Joyce & Uncle Carl and her Cousins Alex, Craig & his awesome other half, Rachel!! It was SO great to see them all & be able to celebrate the holiday together! ( We wish we could see them more often!)

We thought we may have an extra person arrive for Christmas this year as well... however Baby Halen decided to hold off for a little bit longer & didn't quite make it to the party this time around!


We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas & a very Happy New Year!!

Halen's Baby Shower!!!

December 5th, 2010 was a pretty exciting day for Liz.... it was finally time for a BABY SHOWER!

Liz's best friend Peggy was the fabulous host-ess with the most-ess once again!
Of course the theme for Halen's celebration was....
ROCK STAR!! (Makes sense right?!)



Here's Liz all set to go on in and Party!!



Some of the fabulous decorations made by Peggy


The Super Yummy Food!


The awesome Rock Star Cake made by Liz's Mom
(thanks Mom! It looked & tasted FABULOUS!)

A guitar all of the guests signed for Halen... it will go up on the wall in his room!


Here are some of the ladies decorating a bib or onesie for Halen



Here are some of the finished products! They turned out SO CUTE!!


Paige & Payton checking out the "Candy Bar"

Liz & Peggy


Madi & Mommy


Brendan made an appearance towards the end... So glad he got a chance to come check everything out!


Yay for Zebra Print! (Liz w/ her sis Jen & niece Paige)


It was so great to have our friends and family come together to help us welcome Halen into the world! It was such a fun day for us all!!
(next baby update? Should be his big arrival! Stay tuned!) :0)

Baby Belly!

As the last few months have gone by, Liz's tummy has been growing and growing... Baby Halen has been pretty content in there! He's growing more and more each day and has been practicing his Kung Fu moves practically non-stop (which makes attempting to sleep pretty interesting...) We're pretty sure he's going to be a Kung Fu Master by the time he makes his official entrance into the world!

Here are some recent pictures of the growing belly....



As the weeks keep going by we are getting more and more excited to meet our little guy! Each day we talk to Madi about the new baby. She will point to Mommy's tummy & tell us that there is a baby in there.... We're not too sure if she's really getting what that means though. Just a few more weeks to go until she can meet him and find out what all this "baby talk" has been about!

One more trip to the park!

We managed to make one more trip to the park before the yucky rain and cold air came back around and forced us back inside for the winter....
Madi LOVES the park... her ultimate all-time favorite thing to play on?

The Swing!

After quite a bit of swinging (and a slight temper tantrum when it was time to go) We took our long walk back to the car... along the way though we had to stop and check out the wildlife...


And of course stopped for a couple more Madi Photo-ops!

It turned out to be a fun day for us all! Madi can't wait for the sun to shine again soon so she can get back out there to the swings! Although, most likely the next park trip we make will include her little brother, Halen... Big Sis Madi is sure to have lots of fun teaching him the ropes!

Yay for Leaves!

Wow! How is it November already? This year just keeps moving right along!
Luckily we had a few unusually dry days this fall that gave us some time to go out and enjoy the crisp fall air...
We have a tree in our front yard that has finally grown large enough to dump quite a few leaves on the ground in the fall... this of course is no fun if you have to rake them all up... however it's perfect for an impromptu Madi-Fall-Leaves-Photo-Shoot!

At first she was not a fan of the leaves...We had hopes that we could make a huge pile of them that she would LOVE to just run and jump into.... no... not my child.... somehow I have broken her... she doesn't like to get her hands dirty.... and she's a little OCD (sorry kiddo! Mommy's fault!) & likes things to be neat and orderly.... so she had pretty much NO interest....
but eventually she came around... and we found that she REALLY likes to hug trees! (Maybe because there were no leaves left on it?)

Check out some of her best shots....

Yep, That's our girl... the tree kisser....