Finally Done!

After two and a half months......two swingsets....140 bags of rubber mulch....some sweat....some tears....we finally have a swingset!

As many of you know, we purchased a swingset...that arrived in 5 large boxes, and 10,001 pieces to put together. Dustin was on day 4+ of working on it, when a storm came through and carried our partially put together swingset over our fence and into the neighbors yard! So, we were back at square one. After working with the insurance company, toys r us, and my extended warantee we re-couped our initial money and actually picked out a better swingset. After we started to put together our original one, we realized it was not the best quality for the price we paid. So, since we had to start over we went with one that we could see and test out prior to buying. It was on sale, and they had $99 installation deal going on. Totally worth it. The set was delivered and installed in about a half a day.

We then decided to put down rubber mulch to ease Dustin's mowing process, and also as a softer covering to land on if someone was to fall!

So, tonight we finished putting out the final 40 bags of rubber mulch. We were told we won't have to replace rubber mulch year after year like regular mulch! Let's hope that is true!

So, finally we have a swingset! Maddie loves it...and has already spent many hours swinging and sliding like a monkey!

We also discovered Maddie loved jumping on a trampoline....not a big suprise since she is always removing the couch cushions to bounce on the springs of the couch. So, we also added a trampoline to our backyard of fun! We now love spending our evenings out back watching & playing with Maddie! Hopefully we have many years of fun to come!

Hair Cut

Maddie has long hair, I have un-officially trimmed it here & there, but she had never had a real hair cut by a professional. About a month ago, we were dropping Snyder offer at the pet groomers and Maddie threw a fit and started crying because she didn't want us to leave her "bubba". I quickly explained we were just dropping him off to get a hair cut. Ever since, she has wanted to go to Primp my Pup to get her hair cut. Well, I decided that probably wasn't a good idea, and took her to a kids salon instead. So, a few pics of Maddie's first official hair cut....at the age of 3 :-)

Bathing Beauty

We love to go to the pool....We have been multiple times to our neighborhood pool and also to the Schlitterbaughn water park. Maddie is quite fearless jumping in, going down all of the slides etc. I usually have to hunt her down and drag her out of the water. It has been rather cloudy and rainy lately, so she has been swimming in our master bath tub! We are hoping for more sun soon!

Ears Pierced!

So, last week Maddie and I were out on a morning shopping excursion. We happened to be in Claires and she starts to tell me she wants her ears pierced. Now, she has been commenting on my earrings and Mimi's earrings for awhile now, and she always says "someday when I get bigger, I'm gonna get my earrings pierced. So, everytime it comes up I tell her about how it will hurt for a bit, and usually she changes her tune very quickly about wanting it done. Well, not on this day. After asking her a few times if she really wanted to get her ears pierced I asked the girl if she could do it. She told me that if we came back after lunch a 2nd girl would be there and Maddie could get both ears done at the same time, which I had heard was the best way to go!

So, after promising Maddie we would come back after lunch, we left to do a bit more shopping. I figured the idea would wear off and she would back off of wanting to do it. Not so much. Every ten minutes Maddie was asking if it was time to go get her ears pierced. Finally it was time. She climbed up in the stool, by herself I might add! Picked out some pink rhinestone flower earrings and sat motionless while the girl cleaned her ears, marked them and got all set up. She asked Maddie if she wanted to hold my hand, she did. So the two ladies got in position, myself in the middle holding Maddie's hand, and snap. It was done. Maddie flinched, squeezed my hand and sat still for a second-almost stunned. Then, she was fine, bounced down and wanted to see her ears! So, on to six weeks of cleaning and leaving them in. We are on week two and so far so good. She is learning to clean them herself and loves them! I see her flicking her hair back every once in awhile to show them off. Here are a few pics...