Chuck E. Cheese

Madison is now 21 months so it was about time to try out the famous Chuck E. Cheese :-) The first time my parents took her, she wasn't too keen on riding all of the rides. But, the second time we took her, she did better. She really enjoyed some of the baby rides. She especially loved climbing and crawling through the big tunnels and tubes with daddy. I'm so glad he was able to get in with her because there was no way I was going in there!

I think we used more tokens playing skeeball than she did!

It's January and we're waiting for a snow day.....

Madison is all prepared for the cold weather. My mom bought her the cutest hat and mittens. And, she made her the best scarf! Madison loves her scarf and makes sure she always has it on when we leave the house.

All bundled up.....

And it FINALLY came.....just enough snow for a little outdoor fun. I had found a baby sled on craigslist for $5 which turned out to be a great purchase. Joseph's parents have a hill in their backyard so we did a little sledding. We had a great time!

Madison's 2nd Christmas - 2008

Unfortunately, I did a terrible job this year of documenting our Christmas with photos. I wasn't feeling the greatest, as I had been struggling with severe nausea and exhaustion. But, nonetheless, I wish I had more pictures to show how much fun we had. We spent Christmas morning at my parents house. Madison had so many presents to open that we had to tackle it in stages. :-) Her favorite gift, by far, was the free stroller my mom and I had found at a yard sale - what a find! And, it was perfect because it is a double stroller which fit the twin cabbage patch dolls my mom bought her perfectly. She pushed it around all day.

We were also able to spend time with our dear family friends Robin & Jesse, Aunt Pam, and many others. I love our time with my family, extended family, and friends. It's always busy, but always worth it.

Just to serve my memory, Madison also received many other fun gifts - a kid-sized table and chairs (from GiGi), a play kitchen, dollhouse, doctor kit, and megablocks (from Aunt Pam), a animal hospital (from Robin & Jesse), and much more!

My parents gave Joseph and I Wii! What a surprise! They also included the Wii fit, mario kart, and lots of extras. Boy, have we had fun with that!

Christmas card photo shoot

Once again, our dear friend Peter agreed to take some pictures of our family. The purpose of the shoot was to capture a good shot for our annual Christmas card. But, as always, Peter does such an amazing job that we were able to get many more great pictures too! Here are just a few....

The one we used for our Christmas card:

Some fun fall photos in the leaves:

And, this one just shows her personality so well. That's what I love most about Peter's photography - he always seems to catch Madison's personality so well. I treasure these memories since she changes so quickly!

Thanks Peter!

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

This year, we decided to spend Thanksgiving with the Apolenis crew. Everybody was able to be there - all eight siblings, wives, and children! Uncle Lou and Aunt Therese (along with their children) and Aunt Colette and Lindy also joined us. The amount of food was unbelievable! It isn't very often that the entire group is together in one place at the same time. So, we took advantage and captured a great photo of the Apolenis family. What a bunch!

Celebrating New Life!

Yes, at the end of October, we found out that we will be having baby Apple #2 at the end of June! We were sharing the excitement with my mom (she bought us a "congrats" present). Madison's face says it all - we are so happy!

Fun at the park

I just love these pictures of Madison enjoying the last of the nice fall weather. She is finally big enough to really be able to play on our neighborhood's tot lots. She loves climbing, sliding, and swinging. And, as you can see, she loves the camera :-)

Madison's 2nd Halloween

Once again, we attended our church's harvest party. Madison was much more aware this year of what was going on and really enjoyed the whole event. She dressed up as a flower fairy and was oh so cute! She had fun playing all the games in the different rooms and especially loved picking out candy after each one! Every time, she would pick a lollipop! Although mommy wasn't feeling very good (I had just found out I was pregnant!), I had fun walking around with her and seeing all of our friends dressed up too! Maybe next year, our whole family will dress up, right dad? ;-)

GiGi's Birthday

October 2008
It is tradition for my entire family to celebrate birthdays at one of our favorite restaurants - Giovanni's. It has the most delicious Italian food. As you can see from the picture, Madison was the highlight of the night, even though it was GiGi's birthday :-)

Our Girls' New York City Birthday Trip!

October 2008

My two dearest friends, Danna and Johannah, both turned the big 30 this year! So, the three of us wanted to celebrate in some way. Unfortunately, with Joseph losing his job this summer, going on the cruise or trip we had initially talked about was not an option. We had decided to just do an overnight in Leesburg when Sam (D's husband) emailed me from Iraq and said that he wanted to suprise D for her birthday by sending the 3 of us on a trip. Upon hearing this news, I was like a little kid on Christmas morning....I was so excited! So, Sam and I proceeded to do lots of planning. Needless to say, we ended up in NYC! We had tons of fun - eating at a quiet, authentic Italian restaurant in the West Village, seeing The Lion King on broadway, staying at the beautiful Marriott hotel in Times Square, running in Central Park on a 70 degree day, sharing martinis at a fun hotel bar, eating pizza at 3am, and staying up all night chatting....all expenses paid by Sam. What an amazing trip! Thank you, again, Sam for blessing not only your wife, but Johannah and I as well. The memories made are etched in my heart forever.