Sunday is usually our grocery day and this weekend was no different, except we decided to let Madelyn push her own cart!! I wasn't sure what to expect, so I waited until we only had 3 or 4 things left on the list before turning her loose. How did she do? Well, let's just say next time I will wait until there is only 1 more item to buy :)

Okay, she wasn't that bad but she does need a little practice with the steering!

trying to turn...
there was a lot of this...ramming straight into shelves at full speed...
Hmmmm....those bottle caps (candy) look yummy...do you think Mommy will notice if I throw some into my cart?
how about a few more?

After the store, a nap, and then the cooking began! Madelyn has really taken an interest in helping to cook lately. She loves to help Clint make smoothies (and to help him drink them), but tonight pasta was on the menu.

Madelyn adding some salt...

and stirring...
and occasionally splattering a little sauce out of the pan...
all done...just needs to simmer now!
We had a delicious penne pomodoro for dinner that night! And Madelyn ate a ton of it!!

Science Spectrum

While in Lubbock (posting below), we spent one morning at the Science Spectrum. We met Keegan and Blythe for a playdate and had tons of fun. We began with a game of Chess...all 16 month olds know how to play Chess, right?

Which ball will roll faster?

Can I please have a turn?...I love bubbles

...finally
...look what I made! A giant bubble!

Magnets are fun...

Madelyn, me, Keegan, and Blythe...

After exploring the museum for a while, we headed to the AWESOME kids room (the main reason for visiting the museum)...

of course Madelyn went straight to the water table

Rollercoaster...

Wheeeeee!

this dino is more her size...compared to the one below

you can't really see their faces, but this kept their interest for quite a while...I think we have two future architects here...maybe they can go into business together someday :-)

more fun with Gramma...

Madelyn and Gramma putting on a puppet show...they could really see themselves on a TV screen in front of them...very cool!

adorable baby Blythe...

Madelyn loves the "How Do Dinosaurs" book series and was excited when she saw the giant T-Rex, but then he started moving and roaring and then she wasn't so sure. Here she is pulling Gramma's arm off trying to get away...

no explanation needed...

Then we looked at some aquariums and animals. While the rest of us enjoyed watching the cute prairie dogs, Madelyn preferred looking at the fish...

Valentine's Weekend in Lubbock

For some reason, the program I use to post collages and most of my pictures won't let me post them anymore, so I have no idea how this posting is going to turn out...it will probably be a mess! Hopefully you can still enjoy the pictures of Madelyn...

For Valentine's Day, we all went out to dinner at a fairly nice French restaurant and took Madelyn along. When my mom called to make the reservations, she learned they aren't exactly a kid-friendly place. They don't even have have highchairs...so no worries, we brought our own highchair and took Madelyn anyway! Thankfully, she was great the whole time...whew!! A couple even stopped me on the way out to compliment us on our well-behaved daughter!

We had a wonderful time with family while in Lubbock and stayed busy!