Easy like Sunday morning...or afternoon

We had another wonderful weekend here at the Stroup household. Saturday, Dan and I spent some time together and then spent some time with our good friends Kevin, Gail and (a sleeping) Gavin. Sundays have become our "family" day. It's the one day of the week where all four of us are here at the same time. I can't imagine how crazy the schedules will become as the girls get older...oh my! I guess we'll just always have to set aside Sundays for us.

Reese was able to meet her great-grandmom LeeLee this Sunday. After a few minutes to acclimate herself, she walked over to Grandmom and crawled into her lap. And oh was Grandmom lovin' on her!!

Reese, Grandmom Evans and Dan...

Dan thinks this picture is hilarious. She's not trying to look mean...I just managed to catch her right before she coughed.

I'm not too sure what was going on here but the facial expressions are pretty funny...

Madeline and Reese...



This was Madeline's first-ever attempt at a "self-portrait" (where someone in the picture is also holding the camera. I've discovered it's a true art form!) I think she did pretty good!

So then she tried it with all four of us. This is our very first photo with all of us together...

And her second attempt...

Dan and his girls...

Later that evening, Dan finally talked Madeline into going for a little (and slow) trip around the block on his motorcycle. While Dan was tinkering with something on his bike, Madeline struck some poses for me. Shy in front of the camera? No way!



She's a little nervous so she's squeezing Dan REALLY tight!

At the end of the ride, you can see she's relaxed a little. When she finally got off she screamed, "THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!"

Not long after the bike ride, I called Madeline into the house to start our school-night routine. She was pushing her bike up the driveway when she realized she was being called in for a shower. She said to me, "are you trying to ruin my day?" Such dramatics... ;-)

First page of the book

I decided I'd do a little project for Madeline. This project Will take many, many years to complete but I got the idea from my aunt Reene who has saved what appears to be every paper my cousins have put their names on. At Patrick's graduation party this last Spring, Reene pulled out all the little books and journals he made throughout his school career, along with awards, photos, art projects, etc. So what I've decided to do is play reporter with Madeline every year around the first day of school and record some of her thoughts and favorite things. I'll compile these into a scrapbook with photos from her first days of school and when it's time for her to graduate from high school we'll have a book to present so all her family and friends can see how much she's grown and changed (or... not.)

Here's our first interview on the first day of kindergarten. Keep in mind that these answers are un-edited and as the years go on the questions will become a little more in depth...

Favorite colors? pink, purple and white

Favorite foods? breakfast- eggs and toast; lunch- ham and cheese sandwich; dinner- chicken and rice

Favorite dessert? chocolate cake with pink icing

Most favorite summer activity this year? going to Six Flags. I want to go ten times again.

What about school you're excited about? playing on the playground

Favorite outfit to wear? white skirt with blue and white new school shirt

Favorite toys to play with? crayons and coloring books

Favorite movie? High School Musical

Favorite TV show? Phineas and Ferb. They have a platypus.

Favorite book? the book about the Haunted Hotel ride at Disney

Most exciting thing to ever happen to you? riding a roller coaster
I want to learn how to... dive like the swimmers on the Olympics and how to do a head-stand and hand-stand and turn in a circle on my head

I want to be...a cheerleader when I grow up.

The scariest thing to me...are huge, huge spiders, 50 feet tall!

Officially a New Berlin Pretzel

Yesterday was Madeline's first day of Kindergarten. She had a shortened first day but she rode the bus to and from and took all her supplies with her in her High School Musical backpack. Today was her first full day...she experienced lunch, recess, and apparently lots of rule stating. Today when she got off the bus she ran towards me...cheeks flushed and very anxious to tell me her story.

Apparently, she got off the bus this afternoon at the wrong stop. She said she got off and nothing looked familiar to her so she kind of stood there for a second. A parent noticed she looked a little lost and held the bus driver up until they could figure out where she was to go (thank God for that parent!) She said she told the bus driver her name and address and also told him that she's a pretzel and he knew where to take her. She said she was lucky that the bus driver waited for her because she didn't know where she was at the first stop! I suggested that she wait to make sure Alaina (the little girl down the street who is a few years older) gets off with her next time. She said, "that was my first clue...that Alaina didn't get off there. I should have known that wasn't my stop. But I didn't follow the clues!" Luckily, she rebounds quickly from mishaps such as these. Within a minute or two she was digging through her lunchbox for the cookies she didn't have time to eat at lunch. All that excitement required some chocolate therapy!

Here are a couple of pictures Dan took on Madeline's first day at the bus stop...

My Cool Rider

Is anyone else familiar with the movie Grease 2? I've asked around over the years and no one will admit to having seen it, much less knowing the music...until now.

I snapped a couple of shots of Dan on his "new" bike and just as I was, Suzi came around the corner ready to pick me up for our wedding dress shopping trip. And what was one of the first things she said? (after a cat call and a whistle, of course) "I want a co-o-o-ol rider. I want a co-o-o-ol rider. If he's cool enough he can burn me through and through, woah."

Thank God for the Suzis of the world or I'd be all alone with my knowledge of the lyrics to"Cool Rider." If only I had a ladder to climb...

Update: Madeline swims like a fish!

Last week when I took Madeline to her swim class we arrived a little early and were able to watch the kids ahead of us finish up. I noticed one little girl swimming completely under water and I pointed her out to Madeline. The little girl's dad was behind us in the bleachers and he said she'd never done that before that night and that she was swimming with her eyes open. The girl got out of the pool and was very excitedly telling her dad about her accomplishment. Madeline jumped in to the conversation with "I can do that too! I can swim that way...under the water." So naturally I issued a challenge to Madeline...let's see you do it! She showed me. Every chance she had she was swimming completely under the water...no splashes from her feet, no hands walking on the bottom of the pool. I don't think she had ever swam under water until that night but she talked the talk and walked the walk! What a girl.

I'm a worker bee

Madeline and I attended "kindergarten roundup" last evening for a meet and great with teachers and classmates before her big first day of school today. She was very excited and not at all apprehensive about new people, new rules, etc.

So... last night as I was tucking her in I said, "goodnight my kindergartner Madeline." She said, "goodnight my worker Lyila."

She doesn't miss a beat!

a tea party and an ice cream chat

I'm here at Madeline's tea party. She's serving tea with raspberry sugar and every once in a while she puts (invisible) vitamins into the tea from her Belle pez dispenser because "a girl always has to have her vitamins." She asked me if I'd like more tea because she has more in her jet-pack. This is some tea party!

A few weeks ago she and I were sitting on a park bench eating our ice cream when she starts to talk about how she feels about herself. I don't even remember what brought it up, but with Madeline often times there doesn't need to be a segue into a particular topic...she just speaks what's on her mind. She says, "I'm a good kid. I have good memories, I'm smart and I'm healthy. Oh, and two more things- I'm funny and I'm cute." I'd say she is developing a good sense of self. ;-)

Madeline swims like a fish!

I took Madeline to one of her swim classes this week and was pleasantly surprised to see how comfortable she is in the water. I'd been told that she was doing really well but I liked seeing her in action.

Here she is getting ready to jump into a 9 ft. deep pool. I don't think you could get me to do that as an adult!!!

And she jumped without hesitation...

She likes getting thrown across the pool and "dunked."

We love play dates!!

Play dates are such great fun...especially when the kids get along and the parents all love each other. Dan and I love Kevin and Gail and Baby Gavin is the cutest so getting together to meet Reese, play a bit, chat a bit and eat a bit seemed the perfect recipe for a rainy summer day.

**Small digression: As I write this, Madeline is on the phone talking to Luke (my youngest brother at age 8) who called to tell her that he broke his skateboard in half. She asked if he'd bring it to the wedding so she could see it and then she asked if he could come at Halloween and go to the water park with us (sure thing...if only we lived in Florida.) She's in the other room chatting away and God only knows what kind of plans they're making!

But back to the play date. Here's some pics...

Gavin is checking out Reese's kung fu moves as she scales the seat of the row boat...


Hey mister, don't go pointing at me!

Walk Gavin, walk!
Reese watching the big kids play around her...

No...she's not a state trooper with a stache...

...just a lover of chocolate pudding!

Gail got some snuggle time from Reese. All that playing is tiresome!

"Walking along, minding my business, when out of the orange colored sky..."

A Surprise Party

Dan's dad, John, was treated to a special retirement party at the end of July...and boy was he surprised! I figured he picked up on a few things here and there and probably suspected something was going on but he was completely surprised! And as usual, I snapped some photos of family and friends that attended....

Dan's parents, John and Sue

The Hassebrock family...

The Begley family...

Dan and Reese with his sister LeeAnne...

I usually end up with some fun shots of the kids and this day was no exception.

Ian, Malina, Gabriel, Rebecca and Evan

This was quite a big deal as Reese is pretty shy and usually doesn't let too many people hold her. Malina held her arms open and Reese walked right on in. A few minutes later she walked right into Rebecca's arms.

Cousins Rebecca and Reese

Reese discovered that if you look through a balloon everything changes colors. And if you press your little nose into the balloon it's even more fun!

The kids discovered the chocolate fondue bar and their pleasure was written all over their faces...in the form of chocolate, of course.


It might seem strange that I put this photo of Dan and John in the "kids" portion of the blog but as you can see...boys will be boys.


She couldn't take any more action. Safe and sound in her daddy's arms.

Movie in the park

Last Friday evening, Madeline and I headed to Rotary Park to take in a free movie (who doesn't love free entertainment?) shown on a big screen in the park. We packed a cooler of treats, sprayed down with bug repellent, grabbed a blanket and lawn chairs and headed out. It was a beautiful evening after a warm day and we quickly noticed that we weren't the only ones with the same idea! The featured movie was The Wizard of Oz and the four main characters were walking around posing for pictures with the kids. We couldn't pass up a photo op!!!

Dorothy is squirting Madeline with oil. She apparently looked a little rusty...