Visit with Friends

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we went to Tennessee for a short visit with Scott's brother's family. While there, Madilyn and I were able to make a short drive north to visit with some friends of ours, Ed, Amy & Tucker Sims (we got to be there for Tucker's 2nd birthday party!) For those of you who don't know, we met the Sims Christian Homes (the adoption agency we used). I think you'll agree, our two families were blessed with the best there is!!!

Here's Amy and I with our kiddos

Madilyn had a blast playing with all of Tucker's toys!!

It helped me get some good Christmas gift ideas, too :)

Sorry, Tucker! Madilyn still thinks that it's good

to taste toys before you decide whether

they're any good or not!

Here's the star of the party...the birthday boy himself!

Tucker had a "farm" theme party....sooo cute!!

Most of the birthday festivities were held outside,

so we had to bundle up! (This pic was actually

taken in the garage, so it only required

a coat...not gloves and hat)

HeeHee!! How funny is that little bundle?!

It doesn't look like it, but I swear

she had a blast playing outside!

This was the first time since she was a baby that

Madilyn has been bundled up quite this much.

Let me tell you...she HATES to have her gloves and

hat put on. Once she's done throwing her fits and

gets outside, she's quite fine with it, though :)

Tucker's mom really knows how to throw a birthday party -

they rented a bounce house!! Madilyn wasn't quite stable enough

to jump and bounce, but she had fun being bounced by the other kids :)

This little toot...we couldn't get her to smile

for a picture all day. I guess she was in "serious" mode!

Tucker knew how to take control, though!

That little boy knew how to jump!!

How precious is that?! He was eating it up!!

After a little bit, Amy got in the bounce

house with Tucker...yeah, Mommy!!

I just thought it was hard keeping up with Madilyn until

we were there with Tucker...that little boy is ALWAYS on

the move!! We tried to get a pic of him and Madilyn together

in the Rhino, but he couldn't sit still long enough...he wanted

to get up and drive! The camera was the least of his concerns!

The Rhino was used to take us on a hayride!!

Madilyn decided she needed to inspect area

before we loaded up, though :)

...and here we have Ms. Serious again.

Maybe she thought it was just too cold to smile!

All bundled up for the hayride! That's Amy's friend,

Stacy, smiling big for the camera...she's a hoot! :)

Kept me laughing nearly the whole time I was there!

Oops! A small mishap on our hayride. This was one of the times

that Stacy had me laughing so hard...her husband was the one

driving and she kept talking about how embarrassed she was!

No biggie, though - we were back on track in no time.

Our birthday boy did not want to ride on the

back of the hayride...he was much more

interested in being up front with his Daddy!

For a boy who's in love with tractors, his

parents hit the jackpot with this birthday gift!

He got his very own John Deere Gator!

Our sweet friends - Ed, Amy & Tucker :)