"Maa do it"

In the last couple of weeks our sweet little compliant girl has turned into little miss independent. Her favorite saying is "Maa do it" and she uses this phrase for everything all day long! Putting on her shoes, getting in and out of the car, shutting doors, and so on. When she's really tired this even extends to tasks that are impossible for her, like getting completely dressed, combing her own hair and even helping to change her own diaper. Now, I know that independence is a good thing and that every kid goes through this. I guess I should just be happy that it's happening now so we have time to adjust and learn to deal with this new Madeleine phase before the baby comes. Also, it may come in handy when I have three of us to get ready before heading out the door. At least she can put on her own shoes. She's getting to be such a big girl and I'm going to miss all of the one on one time that we get together. She's become such a talker and gets so excited about the littlest things. Her biggest compliment lately is to say that something is nice. The way she says it cracks me up every time. What a cute girl even with this streak of independence.

Bard Party!

Jenny wants me to post something, since this is "our" blog, after all. So, here are a couple of photos from my company party that was held last Saturday at the Triple D Ranch in Herriman.

When we got there, almost everyone was sitting down to eat, so we took the opportunity to hit the kiddie area while it was mostly deserted. Madeleine is highly adventurous, but so much so that she doesn't realize she is two feet and 50 pounds smaller than most kids, and therefore tends to get banged around when she intrudes into big-kid play areas. So, it was nice to have the place mostly to ourselves to play.

Anyway, the picture on the right is the bottom half of a blow-up slide shaped like a shark. It was probably at least 30 feet tall, and you can see Madeleine emerging from the mouth and sharp teeth of the beast. Of course, she loved it, but couldn't get up the steep plastic sides without my help. So, I got to go down it a couple of times, too, which thankfully only resulted in a couple of mean wedgies and one plastic floor-burn.

After dinner, we went on the hay ride. Jenny was hoping that the ride would be bumpy enough to induce labor, but, alas, she wasn't that lucky. For the record, she is really anxious to be done with this pregnancy. Which means that I am also really anxious for her to be done, too.:)

Well, the ride was pretty unspectacular in itself. We saw cows and horses and deer at about 100 yards distance, which isn't really that exciting when you're that far away. The only really interesting wildlife we saw was as we were boarding the wagon. A little garter snake crossed our path, and Madeleine was enthralled with it. Meanwhile, other Moms and kids alike were scurrying away and commenting that they were glad to be up on the wagon instead of on the ground with the vile serpent. It's nice to have a little girl that isn't too squeamish and girly.

In the end, the story of the hay ride really just gives me an excuse to post this extremely cute picture of Madeleine, which is really the only reason people have blogs, anyway, right? So, here you go. Our friends Travis and Janae are becoming profession photographers these days, so maybe they can comment on the merits of our use (or lack thereof) of light and perspective. But this picture was taken by Jenny without even looking into the lens, so I'm pretty happy with our point and click technique.

So, people are sooo nice! Let me explain. We have realized that Madeleine has a love for cooking. Whenever I would make dinner, Madeleine would get out the plastic plates and cups and forks and start setting places for people to eat. She would have a place for me, for Matt, for grandma and grandpa, for her duck, for the water pitcher lid that happened to be a frog, for anyone she could think of. She would also get out my mixing bowls and start mixing her Legos or magnets and then dish them onto the plates. Also, everytime we check on her in nursery she is at the play kitchen and whenever we go to other peoples houses she goes right for a kitchen if they have one. So we've been thinking for awhile that we need to get her a kitchen for her birthday. It would be a perfect gift. Well, I had noticed that a neighbor had this little kitchen (the one on the right in the picture) outside of her house. It looked like it was going to be thrown away. Well I asked another neighbor what they know about it and the next thing you know this neighbor with the kitchen shows up with it and some play pots and pans and food. Madeleine loved it!! But it doesn't end there. About a week later this same neighbor stops Matt outside and shows him this way nicer kitchen that talkes and makes cooking noises. She said she got a different one (not necessarily better) and didn't have room for both. So now we have two kitchens all because a generous neighbor heard Madeleine loves kitchens and didn't have one. I still can't believe it. Madeleine has spent hours playing in her kitchen. Now all she needs is a table and chairs. I think that will be her birthday present now. What a lucky girl! Thankfully this neighbor is at least going to let us pay her back with some babysitting. I don't know if that is much of a fair trade, but I guess it's something.

Go Aggies!!

It's official, fall is on it's way and the Draper household is excited! This means celebrating a few birthdays, a baby finally coming, cooler temperatures and most importantly for Matt, football season. We went to our first Utah State football game Thursday. It is a yearly Draper tradition to buy season tickets to USU football (no matter how bad they are). But since we have a baby coming this may be the only game we make it to as a family.




As usual we went with Matt's family. You can see Clint and Ben or at least their white and blue hats to the left of us. And of course Madeleine loved being there with Grandma and Grandpa. Madeleine loved it from the moment we walked into the stadium. She clapped and cheered and danced. Much of the game she just kept saying "foot ball" and "go aggies". She even participated in the beloved Scotsman. I think she made her daddy proud. As for the Aggies, they lost yet again leaving us little hope for even a win this year. Maybe it's a good year to not have season tickets.