Beck Christmas!

We spent December 26th with Josh's family. We went to his parent's house and celebrated with his mom, dad, Abby, Blake, and Cory and then we went to Josh's grandparent's house to celebrate with his extended family. Maddie was so good traveling. She had so much fun seeing all of her aunts, uncles, and grandparents.



What a good family picture!! Abby (Josh's sister), Blake (Abby's Husband), Cory (Josh's brother), Josh, Maddie, and Me!


Great Grandma and Grandpa Beck were so excited to see Maddie too.


This picture cracks me up. Josh's cousin Brandon was holding Maddie, so I thought I would take a picture. Of course there were ten people behind me trying to get Maddie to look at the camera and smile. So, Maddie looks at the camera and smiles and I actually get the picture, but Brandon's eyes were closed. So I gave him the lecture on how it is the adult's job to smile and make eye contact with the camera at all costs, so this was his second attempt.


Maddie loves playing with this massager. I guess the vibration feels good on her teeth. It lights up too. It is the most perfect diaper bag toy. She will play with it forever whenever I pull it out.


Happy girl!!

Grandma Beck and Maddie had fun playing with Maddie's new puppy.

Come on Uncle Cory smile with me!!

Christmas night!!

Ok, so I am way over documenting Christmas, but it was so much more fun this year with Maddie!! Christmas evening we went to my parent's house to cellebrate with my mom, dad, Jonathan, Jessica, Brayden, and Little Josh. My mom went WAY over board with the presents this year with Brayden and Maddie. You could barely walk through the house it was so full of presents!!


Holy Moly!! Look at all of those gifts!! My mom is a crazy Christmas Shopper and always over does it!!


Uncle Josh helped Maddie open some of her gifts...he is such a good Uncle!!

Brayden and Maddie got matching jammies. They appropriately say "What Santa doesn't bring me Grandma will!"

Maddie and Brayden also got matching 4-wheelers. The both absolutely loved them!!

Brayden is ready to go off roading.

We also watched the Colts game together on Sunday, so I included a few pictures of that too.

I love this picture of Maddie she is so proud to be walking behind her grocery cart!

3 BIG Colts fans!! :)

Morr Christmas...

We spent Christmas afternoon with the Morr side of the family. My Aunt Cathy had Christmas at her house. She made a fabulous prime rib. As aways we had way too much food!! Maddie had to wear her Christmas hair bows and her new puffy vest!! Little girls are so much fun!!

After dinner we had a "White Elephant" gift exchange. Josh and I took a "Lucky Seat", which was a toilet seat covered in lottery tickets. I thought it would be a good joke, but it ended up being one of the big gifts everyone tried to steal. We were the proud winners of a cook book and a big jar of M&Ms!! Josh couldn't have been happier. We had so much fun spending time with everyone.


Maddie has an obsession with clapping. She was so excited to get her picture taken with Heather and Darci (cousins).

Great Grandma Worthington came to the Morr Christmas party because we weren't able to go to the Worthington Christmas. I think Maddie wants to reach out and touch someone!

Pretty girls!! Three very beautiful blond babes!!!

(Janelle, Maddie, and Jenna)

Brayden & Maddie got matching sleds from Aunt Julie & Uncle Joe! It was so funny Maddie just kept sitting in hers in the middle of the room. I think that it was like having her very own little chair!

Look how tall I am!!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope your family did too! It is so amazing how much more I got into the Christmas Spirit this year with Maddie. Not that I don't love Christmas every year, but this year was very special. It is so much more fun when you are buying things that you know will put a great big smile on your daughter's face!! We started some of our own family Christmas traditions this year. We spent Christmas morning together as a family just Josh, Maddie, and I. We had special Santa Cakes for breakfast. I found a picture of these in a magazine about 7 years ago and told Josh that when we had kiddos we were going to have Santa Cakes Christmas morning and I finally got to make them!! After breakfast, Josh read the Christmas story from the Bible to us and then we opened our presents together.

Santa was very good to Maddie and brought her a little shopping cart, a shape game, a tea set, and of course her stocking was filled with new hair bows!! Mommy and Daddy got her a singing purse, an alphabet toy that goes on the refrigerator, and some clothes. Maddie wasn't really into opening gifts, especially after she found her shopping cart. She just wanted to play with all of her new toys! She is so cute with her shopping cart she can't walk on her own yet, but she was all over with the help of her shopping cart. Our house still looks like there has been a small explosion of toys. We haven't been home long enough to find new places for everything yet and it is driving me nuts!! Hopefully we can get things back together with the long New Year's weekend!


Maddie dove right in to the whipped cream!!



Closeup of a Santa Cake


Daddy's girls on Christmas morning

Maddie's new shopping cart!

A little glimpse into our Christmas morning.

Beck Caroling

Maddie joined the Beck Family for her first year of Christmas Caroling. For those of you who don't know about this Beck Family tradition I will explain. Josh's family is SOOO musically talented. Every year on the Sunday before Christmas Maddie's Great Grandpa Bill, his brothers (Uncle Joe and Uncle Norm), and sister (Aunt Bessie), all their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren get together and go Christmas Caroling to the homes of elderly individuals in the Kokomo area that cannot get out during the Christmas season. I think there were approximately 62 carolers this year. There is always a big caravan of vehicles going to various homes across the Central Indiana countryside. I believe that they have been doing this for about 30 years now.

After caroling, there is a big dinner and performances. With the help of Josh's Great Aunt Bessie, the children put on a Christmas program and reenact the Nativity scene with costumes and all. This year two babies were born, Maddie and another little girl, so Aunt Bessie decided it would be best to have 2 baby Jesuses (?sp), 2 Marys, and 2 Josephs (she never wants to leave anyone out!!). The other little girl's mom and dad dressed up as Mary and Joseph, so Josh and I thought that we would be able to get away with just having Maddie be in the background and not "Baby Jesus". While all the other little kids were all getting ready in their costumes, they kept asking what Maddie was and why she didn't have a costume on. I wasn't sure what to tell them, so after they offered to have Maddie wear a cow costume for the 3rd time, I gave in. Maddie put a little cow hat and cow outfit on. Meantime the show had started and Aunt Bessie was calling for Baby Jesus #2, Mary #2, & Joseph #2 to enter. So Josh and I escorted our "Baby Jesus Cow" onto the stage. Josh and I about died from laughing. I never imagined our little girl as a "Baby Jesus Cow". Maddie hammed it up the whole time! The rest of the production was pretty uneventful, but I still giggle everytime I think about our "Baby Jesus Cow". I was so bummed that we didn't get any pictures, since we were all in the show.

At the end of the night all the Becks sing Silent night by generation. There are 4 generations presently, so each generation takes a turn and then they sing it all together in harmony. It is a pretty amazing experience, one that we hope continues for many years to come.

Maddie, Great Grandpa Bill, and Great Grandma Katie

Our visit to Santa's Chalet...

Maddie had her first encounter with Saint Nick. We read a few books about Santa before we went to meet him, so she would be prepared. Somehow I don't think that it worked!! The pictures tell the story better than any story I could write!





Santa met us outside his Chalet.



He even brought one of his reindeer named Jingles for us to meet.




Everything started off fine in the comfort of Daddy's big strong arms...




Then Santa tried to coax Brayden over to his lap with a candy cane, but Brayden didn't want to have anything to do with it. So I thought if Maddie sat on Santa's lap Brayden would get curious.



And this is what we got a SCREAMING little girl. I think you can see all the way to her tonsils!!

Santa was so good with her, he is so happy and jolly even though he has a screaming baby on his lap! His happy faces crack me up.

Brayden decided to try Santa' lap too. Maddie seemed to calm down with Brayden at her side and finally we were able to get a decent, non-screaming picture! Good job Santa!

10 Months!!

Maddie turned 10 months old on November 29! My how the time goes. I feel like I just did her 9 month post. She has changed so much in the last 30 days!! Here are a few things she is doing:

• She must be growing, because she is wearing 50% 6-9 months stuff 50% 9-12 month stuff
• Maddie claps when she gets excited or when she wants more of something
• She has started shaking her head "NO" when she is full
• She loves to dance when music comes on! She bobs her head up and down it is so funny!
• Maddie plays peak-a-boo whenever you hand her a blanket. She holds it over her head and we act like we can't find her. She is so proud of herself when she uncovers her head!! I love it! She has also started doing this with things besides blankets, so her shoes, socks, toys, pants, etc. end up on top of her head/over her eyes and she thinks you can't see her.
• She doesn't like laying down for naps anymore, so it takes her longer to fall asleep
• Maddie has also started chewing on her crib rails. Yuck!
• She is eating more big girl food noodles, chicken, pretty much whatever we are eating
• Maddie is a waving fool, anytime someone walks by her she starts waving even if they are a complete stranger and/or if she just saw them 2 seconds earlier.
• She is a VERY FAST crawler and is starting to let go when she stands up, so I don't think walking is far away. Oh no! She loves to go up the stairs whenever she thinks we aren't looking.

Ok, I said she was doing a few things, I guess she is doing A LOT of new things this month!! It is so much fun watching her grow, but it makes me sad at the same time that she is getting big so fast.

Maddie can standup nex to anything now, and tries to help Mommy clean.


Cleaning is so much fun!!


Our Christmas Tree


Maddie is excited that the stockings are hung by the chimney with care...

This clip is a combo of Maddie dancing and playing peak-a-boo, nothing keeps her attention for very long.

Happy Thanksgiving

Maddie enjoyed her first Thanksgiving. We tried going to Grandma and Grandpa Beck's the weekend before to celebrate, but Maddie got sick while we were down there so we had to drive back home without seeing everyone we wanted to see. It was a bummer! I think it ruined Josh's plans for his time off. He took the whole week of Thanksgiving off to get things done at home and go hunting. He ended up staying home with a sick baby for most of the week. Maddie was feeling better by Thanksgiving and ended up feasting on turkey, green bean casserole, squash, and mashed potatoes. She is a VERY GOOD eater!! I still haven't found much she doesn't like. After dinner she took a big long nap...I was jealous!!

Cousin Time...Maddie, Jenna, Janelle, and Brayden giggling away at all the crazy adults trying to make two babies smile! You can't read all of Maddie's shirt, but it says "I'm Stuffed". I love it!

After dinner (and naps) we had clothes basket races around the house. Maddie had fun sitting on Brayden's lap. It was funny he got tired of sitting down so he got out and pushed her around in the basket for a little while!

Uncle Cory came up Thanksgiving night to go hunting with Josh. Josh and Cory had fun taking Maddie Black Friday shopping at Home Depot! Brave soles!!

Weekend Pics

Maddie had tubes put in her ears on Friday, November 6th. She did awesome with the procedure. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight on Thursday. Josh and I were worried, because Maddie is HUNGRY from the moment she wakes up! We took lots of toys to keep her busy at the surgery center and she really didn't fuss about being hungry at all. Her surgery was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Dr. Disher came to ask us if we had any pre-op questions and said he was ready for her, so he carried her back to the OR himself. She went right to him and just sucked on her favorite two fingers. We were back in the recovery room with her by 8:45. She was initially a little cranky and cried for a minute or two, but after she drank a bottle you never would have known anything had happened to her. Dr. Disher said that all of the nurses in the OR fell in love with her! By 9:15 we were on our way back home. It amazes me how fast they are! We didn't know how what to expect from Maddie, so we had no plans for the weekend. It was so nice just relaxing at home!


Cheering for the Colts!!


I don't know how much longer she will fit in her toy tub!

Maddie started standing like crazy on Sunday!! She was pulling herself up with anything she could find! Oh no...that means walking can't be far away!

The dynamic duo...Daddy and Maddie!

I just love this picture!! So cute!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

On Monday November 2, Josh celebrated his 28th birthday!! His first birthday as a daddy!! We had a great time. Maddie and Josh picked me up after work and we met Grandma Patty, Grandpa Dave, and Brayden for dinner. Both Brayden and Maddie did so well at dinner. I gave one of Maddie's yogurt bites to Brayden and after that he wanted to eat the whole bag!! It was so funny. My mom would give him a puff or cereal and he would point towards the yogurt bites and sign "more". I have such a smart nephew! We had so much fun together as a family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

Daddy shared his cupcakes with Maddie! She couldn't have been happier!

Boy, Dad! That was yummy!! Is there anymore??

We also took Maddie for her first hair cut last week! It was so funny her babysitter was at the salon getting her hair cut at the same time and Maddie kept looking around when she heard her voice.

Crazy Hair Maddie in her before picture! Her hair is all over the place!

Mid hair cut...I wish I could know what she is thinking in this picture!

Maddie's after picture!! What a cutie!!