Mad Gracie Photo Blog

Look out Bobby Flay and crew, chef Maddie is cookin up something for ya !! A few night’s ago Kathleen was trying to make dinner and Madeleine just wanted to be with her and wasn’t being shy about it. Being the resourceful young lady she is Kathleen got a chair and got Maddie to help her make dinner. As you can see she was all about it.

 (see Eden Mill fun page for more pics) A few weeks ago I had to go to Eden Mill Nature Center on a Saturday for a few Halloween photos for the paper. Kathleen was going lunch with some former co-workers so I took Maddie with me. We watched some volunteers carve pumpkins, took a walk to look at the “big water” as Maddie called it and explored the nature center’s critters and stuff. Maddie loved the critters, most of them were stuffed but there were some live fishies, snakes and what turned out to be her favorite, the turtles. I have a feeling Maddie will be spending a lot of time around Eden Mill with their great programs for the munchkins !!

 (more pics on the Trick or Treat Time page) Madeleine definitely got the whole Halloween thing a lot more this year. After some debate on a few different costume ideas Kathleen decided to go with a gingerbread munchkin costume she got from Eli’s mom Amy. We did a costume  test run around the house to make sure everything was in order and were ready to “rock & roll” as Maddie said. We headed to Aunt Kris & Uncle Jeff’s house to meet up with Aydan before heading out. Aydan was soooo cute and  a trooper with her hat in her Ladybug costume. After a few moments for the photo op. we hit the streets! Maddie was LOVING LIFE just walking around in her Gingerbread munchkin outfit. We really only hit two houses just across the street from Kris and Jeff’s. Grams & Gramps stopped by to join the fun too.

 Sunday’s Ravens game against the Vikings was just a bit to much for Maddie and stretch !!

      A few weeks ago we had the well dug in the field for what will soon become our new house. Maddie wanted to come and watch as my friend Steve got his well drilling rig onto the hill. While waiting she was just standing in the bed of my truck watching everything and grabbed my bicycle helmet. Of course I couldn’t pass up the chance to snap a few, eventually Steve got the machine into the right spot and Maddie just wanted to play in the dirt. It’s so much fun just letting her run loose to play in the field.

  (check out the Jville Sunflowers page for a few more pics) A few weeks ago I had to shoot some photos of these fields of sunflowers not to far from our house. Madeleine and I were just hanging around the house waiting for Kathleen to come home so I figured I would take the munchkin along and get some nice pics of Maddie checking out the sunflowers too. We arrived and the light was perfect, not to mention that there were other people there checking out the field which made my pics for the paper MUCH better.  She had a blast  meeting the other folks and helping me carry my notebook or “helping daddy work” as she said.

   We aquired a little roller coaster play set for Madeleine from our friends John and Anna a few weeks ago. Maddie was a little unsure at first but after watching the car go down the track a time or two decided it might be fun and gave it a try…SHE LOVES IT !!!! as you can see. she tried putting one of the cats on the car, he was having none of that and jumped off  before that car even moved. She will put a doll on it and send it down giggling the whole time. Lots of fun still to come with this one !!

 Yup, the munchkin is 18 months old !!! Maddie is still talking up a storm with a huge vocabulary and is even starting to put small sentences together and answer questions… she’s quite mobile and independent too. She just got her 18 month doctor visit out of the way and did very well, especially with the shots she had to get. Maddie is apparently very tall for her age at 34 inches but a little on the slender side at 25 lbs. She of course has plenty of time to work out all that stuff. It’s amazing to watch her become this little person right before our eyes.

(check the summer fun page for more pics) Wow, it’s hard to believe summer is over already and Maddie is 18 months old !!! She’s had a busy summer after the fourth of July, which was the last post I made. Maddie helped her friend Dylan celebrate his first birthday where she got to take a ride on a fire truck, make some new friends and have some fun. Eli joined Maddie for a trip, not a date, to the Plumpton Park Zoo in Cecil county where they saw all sorts of crazy critters. She went to a cook out at grams and gramps house and had some corn on the cob and steamed crabs…well I should say Maddie reaped the benefits of everyone’s picking !! On another take the munchkin to work day, our friend and co-worker Nicole snapped a few shots of the munchkin helping daddy edit some pics and disorganize daddy’s desk. The Farm Fair was a good time Eli and his family joined us again. Maddie got to meet my friend Jay Rickey and one of his cows. August was a little hot so Maddie broke out the pool and stayed cool splashing around. Maddie took in some baseball at The Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen again. She even got a media pass to get the access she needed.