The Adventures of Shane & Madison!: Christmas in July??? November-March Update... not too behind!

I'm back!!!!!! How did I ever get this behind?When I was uploading these pictures I was so embarrassed! Maddie looks so small, she was not walking or talking much! It feels like it was not that long ago, but it was a long time in the life of my little munchkins! They truly grow up in the blink of an eye!

OK, on to updates! On Veterans Day Dan was asked to speak to a class of University of Chicago Medical School students about Cystic Fibrosis and his lung transplant. Since we were already in the area, we decided to hit the Museum of Science & Industry! Shane is obsessed (then & now) with space so we knew he would love it! Here are some pictures from the day!

I can hardly believe this is Maddie - she looks so different! Same awesome smile though!

Best Friends! Shane and Dan are like the same person! They are really great buddies!

We stayed in the weather area a long time! The kids loved standing in the middle of a tornado!

The light area was fun for Maddie and Shane since Maddie could not walk yet! She crawled over to kiss her brother!

Maddie is ALL girl and loved the miniature houses! Her first word after mama and dada was doll! She was saying that at 9 months!

My future astronaut or astronomer at work! Shane can tell you all about constellations and loves the planets and the stars!

November also was time for a family literacy night at Shane's preschool. We had a chance to check out the Mayflower that Shane and his classmates made! Here are Shane and Alex inside!

Look who came to literacy night!

Elmo & Maddie

Shane & Elmo!

Here are Shane and Dan on Dan's birthday!

New slippers for Daddy!

After the presents Dan headed downtown to work for the national board program and the kids and I headed out to celebrate Asher's first birthday! Here are Maddie and Shauna! Shauna is only 6 weeks older than Maddiw, but look how much hair she had here!

Maddie and the birthday boy!

After the party, we met Dan for dinner in Oak Brook. Before dinner we used a coupon and a gift certificate and took the kids to Build-a-bear for the first time!

After dinner we headed home for cake! We made Dan;s favorite - pineapple upside down! (Maybe these insanely busy days are why it took me 8 months to get this blog updated!)

Here are my little turkeys in their Thanksgiving t-shirts!

On Thanksgiving a special package arrived from the North Pole! It was a note from Santa and our Elf on the Shelf book! The elf arrived later in the day - the book told his story to the kids. In case you are not familiar, the elf on the shelf is 'assigned' to you from the North Pole. He stays in one place all day and then after the kids go to bed, he goes back to the North Pole and tells Santa if they have been naughty or nice that day. Half of the fun is finding the elf the next morning. You will see some of the antics of our elf that the kids named Rudy.

The twins on Thanksgiving!

Maddie and Erin on Thanksgiving!

Shane loved playing at Geri's!

Maddie & Daddy on Thanksgiving!

Cousin hugs! Julia and Shane!

Papa Carolyn & her favorite grandchildren!

After leaving John & Geri's we headed to my parents for more Thanksgiving fun! Guess who came there! Rudy - our elf!!!! He sent new pj's for Shane and Madison!

Shane can hardly believe his ears! His elf sent a letter and new pj's!!!!

But where was Rudy? Oh, there he is! On top of my parent's cabinet!

I think some people had too much Thanksgiving dinner!

Maddie & Lynn practiced walking!

Aunt Jorie woke up to play!

Papa Irwin & Papa Judy with the kids!

OK, it is Rudy time! I am going to place all of the Rudy pictures together so you can see what our elf was up to on most days! He started the day after Thanksgiving and continued until Christmas. One morning we found Rudy eating pizza in our village.

One morning we found Rudy in our entertainment center playing Shane's Curious George game with two leprechauns and a stuffed lamb!

On another morning he was hanging out in a stocking and he had a note for the kids!

One day we looked and looked for him and found Rudy sitting on some yogurt in our refrigerator enjoying some milk!

Another morning we discovered that he borrowed Shane's toy rocket to get to the North Pole and back! He landed on top of our sliding glass door!

He left the kids a note in the shape of a paper airplane!

Sometimes Rudy was a little naughty! He turned our milk green and re-named it elf juice! Shane was not amused at that one and was seriously angry at Rudy. Needless to say, Shane would not drink the milk. Thankfully Dan loves milk and finished up the elf juice! We opened a new milk for Shane!

One morning Rudy TP'd our tree! See him sitting in the tree? Shane also hated that one! He much preferred a nice elf to a naughty one!

This was one of my favorite elf tricks! Rudy left the kids 3 peppermints to plant in sugar. 3 days later they grew into candy canes!

Rudy took a break in our cabinet and enjoyed a cool drink on a balmy December day! (December was very mild this year!)

Rudy got into the Hanukkah spirit and left books for the kids!

One morning we found Rudy fishing in our sink! He borrowed a bath toy and caught some goldfish!

Rudy missed the cold of the North pole so he made a marshmallow snowman!

Rudy wrote the kids a note one morning & drew a picture!

One day Rudy was fed up with the kids not cleaning up their toys so he went on strike!

The strike eventually ended, but Rudy warned the kids it could start back up at any time!

Rudy made a copycat gingerbread house to go along with the one the kids made!

Rudy marked up our bathroom mirror one morning! He gently reminded the kids to clean up their toys!

We found him next to the mirror - marker still in hand!

One night he climbed into Shane's bed!

He left this picture of him and Shane for Shane on Christmas morning!

More Rudy pictures next year! Now back to the blog updates!

In November Kim and I took Isabelle and Shane to the circus. We left the little ones home with the dads. Maddie was not happy! Her and Thunder watched us pack up the car!

They love to hug! So sweet!!! You should see them at t-ball hugging on the sidelines! Oh, but that is now - this is November! Oh boy am I behind!

They got cute circus tattoos!

Shane and Isabelle met some clowns!

We headed to our seats and enjoyed the "greatest show on Earth!"

November 29, 2012 - Madison's first steps! She walked on her 15 month birthday for the first time! I was so worried that she hadn't walked yet (Shane was 14 months) and had just talked to her pediatrician about it that morning. He was not concerned and that night she finally walked! Go Maddie!

We headed to Winter WonderFest in early December! Dan took a day off work and we headed down to beat the crowds! The kids had so much fun!

Shane and Maddie loved the carousel! In fact Maddie cried hysterically when we had to get off. Thankfully they were not crowded and we rode many times!

Playing in the candy cane tunnels!

My fearless Shane!

Shane and Dan at the top of a large inflatable slide!

Maddie in a bounce house!

Dan and Shane on the drop ride!

My loves - I love this picture!

Maddie was still wobbly on her feet!

Awww! Shane and Maddie love their daddy!

We all had fun decorating a cookie!

Shane and some of the characters!

In the village area - think a Christmas Carol!

Dan and Shane went ice skating! Shane had never been on skates before and he could not wait to try!

He loved it! I love my boys!

More bounce house fun!

A train ride!

My little elf!

Hanukkah was especially fun this year as Shane really loved it! I loved how happy he was with really simple presents. We got him and Maddie the little people zoo to share and then gave them each an animal for the zoo ($3) for several nights! We used my Bubbie's menorah as well as Shane's menorah this year! Next year we will light Maddie's as well! Here Shane is helping Dan & Papa light the menorah!

Aunt Jorie got into the celebration!

We were so happy that Betty joined the Hanukkah festivities this year!

Papa Carolyn and Maddie on Hanukkah!

Auntie Jami gave Shane a Tiana doll for Hanukkah! He loves her!

Aunt Joan & Uncle Cy gave Shane the Princess & the Frog movie! More Tiana!

A dapper hat from Aunt Jorie and Uncle Jason!

A favorite! A doll and stroller from Aunt Joan & Uncle Cy!

Jorie & Jason brought my mom and dad a menorah from Italy!

I love this picture!

Dan's mom looking beautiful!

Betty & Maddie - I think this picture screams our family! It was taken on Hanukkah and shows Maddie in a Santa hat on Betty's lap. Betty is from Ireland! I love it!

More Hanukkah pictures from the 8 nights!

Papa Carolyn recorded books for the kids for Hanukkah and Shane loved it!

Plainfield Park District does a great winter party and the kids enjoy it every year!

Shane and Alex especially enjoyed the snacks!

I visited Shane's preschool class to teach a lesson on Hanukkah and make edible dreidels!

Papa Carolyn came over to make her famous Christmas cookies with the kids! Shane loves helping!

More Hanukkah pictures!

Popular presents! Disney dolls for Shane and babies for Maddie! She is such a little mommy!

Shane took a winter t-ball class (indoors) and loved it! Here he is getting his medal & with his coach!

The kids loved making a ginger bread house with Dan!

He fed them lots of icing in the process!

They even rolled out the candy to use it for decorations!

The finished product!

Rudy even got into the act and made his own house out of blocks! I know this picture is in here twice, but it seems so fitting here again!

On Christmas Eve we made cut out cookies to leave for Santa and enjoy on Christmas! Shane loved decorating them!

On Christmas Eve we found presents from Aunt Margaret, Cathy & John on our porch! The kids loved them!

Our annual tradition of leaving reindeer food on the lawn!

And of course we left Santa cookies & milk!

Santa arrived! He spoiled the kids as usual!

Christmas morning! The kids loved all of their presents! The favorites may have been the castle for Shane and for Maddie - the dolls!
Dan & I told the kids we were taking them to Disney World on Christmas morning! I can't believe that as I type this we are almost ready to leave!

Even Dan got a few surprises!

We had Dan's family & my parents for Christmas! It was a blast! Tons of wrapping paper & smiles! What a great day! It was the first Christmas without Dan's dad, but he was definitely there in spirit!

Love Joe!!!!

All of the grandsons and great grandson got cuff links that were Dan's dad's.

On New Year's Eve we had Kim, Tom, Isabelle & Madelynn over as well as Dan, Cathy & Alex. We exchanged gifts with them on NYE. Shane loved his Cars remote control car!

Dan got in on the party games!

So did Tom!

Meanwhile Dan tried to burn our house down!J/K sort of! he always makes Bananas Foster for NYE dessert and this year was no different. He doubled the recipe so he used more alcohol and then there was just a little left over so he threw that in too. look how close the flames got to my cabinets!

The house did not burn down so we celebrated with a dance party! Happy 2013!

Auntie Christine & Connor spoiled the kids with Christmas presents later in the week! Maddie loves all of her doll accessories!

I love this one of Dan and Maddie!

We took advantage of Joe being home from school and scheduled some babysitting!Shane was thrilled - Maddie too! They both adore Joe!

We love hanging out with Jami, Charlie, Lilli & Daniel! The kids visited Chuck-E-Cheese for the first time with them this winter!

I love this one!

So sweet! I love that my kids are close with Jami's kids! I have only known her my whole life!

Maddie loves visiting Papa Carolyn's dolls!

And Papa Carolyn!

Besties!

Getting ready to watch ND play in the national championship game! You can tell by the smiles that the game had not yet started. They got killed!

Look at Maddie making the #1 sign!

We celebrated Auntie Debbie's birthday and Shane helped her blow the candles out!

She spoiled Shane with awesome Hanukkah presents!

I just love this picture of my dad playing dolls with Maddie!

Shane in Charlie's old Buzz Light year winter gear! The kids were so happy to finally have a little snow to play in!

Snow Angels - finally!

The kids and Thunder...

I love this one!

Connor's 5th birthday party! It was a mad scientist theme!

At the end of January it became clear to us that Thunder was really struggling. He could not get up on his own and was falling outside. It broke all of our hearts so we gave him as much love as we could in the end.

This was our last photo with Thunder. We put him to sleep on January 22. It was extremely hard to do, but we knew it was the right time. He was suffering and we owed him the right to no longer suffer. He gave us 17 1/2 amazing years. We all miss him still!

Being dogless did not work for Shane or me. We both felt the emptiness in our house right away and it did not take long before I began searching the world for a new golden to love. We were not allowed to adopt from the local golden rescue because we had little kids so we began checking shelters and finally came across a golden a Cache Creek animal shelter in Anna Illinois. His name was Skeet and I just knew he was meant to be our dog! The ladies at the shelter agreed! The best part was that they brought the dogs to our local Petco. On February 1st we adopted Skeet who is now named Snickers (courtesy of Shane). He is approximately 3 years old and we adore him! Even Maddie, who does not always like dogs, took to him right away!

Me trying to get a Valentine's day shot of these little goofballs!

Shane had a Valentine's Day party at preschool and we loved going!

Love this one of Shane, Maddie and Mrs. Duesenberg! Shane was so sad when she left Kensington at the end of April! She was really special and she has kept in touch with Shane! We just had ice cream with her this week!

Our dear friend John found an old peddle car in the garbage and fished it out for Dan. Dan had it repainted and surprised the kids with it! By the look on Shane's face in the next picture you can tell he loved it! Both kids love it!

We met Jami & Lilli & Daniel at a mall with a bounce play zone and the kids had a blast!

I love this one!

Maddie had fun playing with her friend Carly at a play place in Naperville!

February brought more snow! The kids were thrilled!

Shane & I joined Connor and Kristine for a performance of Dr. Seuss in late February! The kids had so much fun!

One day Shane and I were in Target and we found pjs for Dan just like Shane's space ones! We had to buy them & then Dan had to wear them!

I just love this picture!

In March we had a gift certificate to use up so we took Shane's 4 year pictures and Maddie's 18 month pictures at Portrait Innovations! They came out adorable!