Confessions of a proud mother: The life and times of a 2 year old and the parents who love her

I am writing the blog as an escape today. I want to duct tape Madeleine into her clothes and pull up as her newest joy comes from being completely naked. I don't know why we had so many people telling us advice the whole first year of her life, but it seems that everyone left out this little issue that may arise. I know that we aren't the only ones though, because we have some friends of ours with a daughter the same age as Madeleine that are fighting the same battle. They are the family that is actually using the duct tape idea (don't worry I'll add a picture of Eva the Duct Tape Diva). We find her taking her clothes off at nap, bedtime, and just random times during the day. We will foolishly think she is back in her playroom playing quietly when all of a sudden she comes streaking into the living room and plops on the sofa as if all is fine. It's not that I have a problem with her brief nudity episodes at home, but I don't want her to be "that" kid at school. You know the one that is always strippin' down. We just please ask for your prayers that we may be able to break her of this before she's 16.

Eva the duct tape diaper diva!

In other news, Madeleine has turned 2 and celebrated it for weeks now. We had a wonderful party the week prior to her birthday when we went "home" to Texas. All the family was there and some of our good friends. When we returned to South Carolina, we had a party in the park on her actual birthday. It happens that Maddie's birthday was near to two of the other kids on the street so I included them in the festivities. Of course, Madeleine was given gifts galore and a whole boatload of money for college and her piggy bank! Thanks so much to everyone that attended in body and spirit.

Maddies Houston Birthday Party:

Maddies South Carolina Party on Her Birthday: (We included some of our friends with birthdays too)

Ethan

Sophie

And finally, as if all the cupcakes weren't enough, Daddy took us out for dinner and ice cream! When Madeleine was left to choose what she wanted from the selection at Coldstone Creamery, she went for the Ghiradelli chocolate ice cream with sprinkles.

Thankfully we will be moving away from Charleston soon. In the last week we have encountered tornadoes, snakes, spiders and alligators. Sounds just like heaven, doesn't it? We had some really bad weather over the weekend that spawned several tornadoes and thankfully one passed through a trailer park near us. The reason I say thankfully is because we got to see some of the occupants on the news describing what happened. If you've ever heard of Jeff Foxworthy, he does a wonderful rendition of southerners in trailer parks. Just yesterday Matthew and I were taking Madeleine out to dinner and we passed two snakes lying on the road just a few hundred feet from our house. I surely did run them over and vow that Maddie and I would walk a different route on our afternoon outings. The spider thing, I'm sure I've written about before, but because of the warm weather rolling back in the black widows are back. I've sprayed for this month and killed what I can, but it seems they are everywhere! The next outdoor terror is the alligators. There are a couple of alligators that stay in a pond near the house (no, they aren't fenced in). There is one alligator that does live in a fenced area here on base. Apparently, Charlie was not being very people friendly or minding to his own business so he is in his very own enclosure. I don't know why everyone was so quick to tell us how we'd love Charleston, because we are finding it hard to find ANY redeeming qualities.

I will now get down from my soap box and let you peek into our lives through pictures.

We enjoyed a family day on the beach with some friends. Madeleine and Alexandra enjoyed girl talk over sliced apples and stacking toys.

The easter bunny was good to us and we enjoyed a long weekend. We took Madeleine to BrookGreen Gardens to have some pictures in her Easter attire. We were so close to Myrtle Beach that we decided to drive in and have dinner and a stroll on the boardwalk. It was a wonderful day of family fun and some beautiful flowers too!