Wish List 2012

Andy and I have been thinking a lot about Madeline's second Christmas, which is right around the corner! We're ecstatic that we're going to get to have our first family Christmas in Vermont, but we will miss both sides of our family very much. 

Madeline is growing so quickly and she definitely is developing her preferences. If you need/want some gift ideas, here are a few items that might be helpful. It is a list looking at her current and future developmental needs as well as things she enjoys doing. Madeline loves to push things around that have wheels---this could be one of her favorite things. She also really likes helping us clean, so a kid sized broom would be much easier for her to manage. And since we cook so much at home, we've been letting her help whisk eggs and knead bread dough. I can't wait to have her help out more when we build her a learning tower (our Christmas gift to her)!

 (The learning tower we are making Madeline for Christmas if you are curious.)

And here it is, the link to Madeline's Wish List for 2012 and some things on there:

http://amzn.com/w/26TXCRSK3S0K1

(I apologize that I just got around to posting this and it's almost December!)

A Day in Portland, ME--in pictures

 

  

Pumpkin Chunkin' 2012

In October, we went on a family date to a Pumpkin Chunkin' contest in a nearby town. Each team makes a contraption that "chunks" a pumpkin across a field. There were about 20 teams from 7 year-olds to  grown men. I did observe very few women on the teams.

Madeline didn't really know what was going on, so she just ate food. 

There are the trebuchets in action.

Madeline is practicing her new walking-wobble skills.

Some of the larger contraptions were shooting the pumpkins further than 300 feet!

This is the children division. Notice how the grown men are working on them!

One of the machines backfired and the pumpkin flew behind the crowd and hit the top of this silo! It was very scary and then very hilarious.

 

This is Miss Teen Vermont talking to a pirate selling CDs. Really. 

And here is Ms Vermont talking to this guy. 

I suppose if you want to land a beauty queen, dress up!

After all of the pumpkin fun, we drove through Smuggler's Notch for the beautiful changing colors. We did this right after Madeline was born too, so it was nice to relive that adventure.