Maddie's Princess Tea Party

Well, we had a birthday party! And it was a great one! Thank goodness it's over and we have another year to figure out how we will out-do this years. We had a Princess Tea Party for Maddie and some of her friends. Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Coco and Grandma Brenda came up to help with it. We spent all morning and afternoon decorating the room and getting everything just perfect for all the princesses. All the girls had a really fun time and Maddie thought it was pretty cool too :). I volunteered in Maddie's classroom for lunch today and her friends were still talking to me about the party, then the teacher popped in and said with a sigh that that's ALL the girls have been talking about ALL WEEK! I had to laugh. It was fun and the party seemed to go by so fast for how much work we put into it. I did learn one thing from the party though, Grandma Brenda.... I'll leave the pre-school teaching to you!! It's not for me!

Wow, Maddie turned 4! I can't believe she is already 4. I know people tell me all the time how they grow up so fast, but 4 years really has went by so fast. Maddie had a good day. She woke herself up in the morning (I usually have to peel her out of bed) and sprinted downstairs. As soon as she saw Matt she said, "Daddy, am I 4 now?" She was sooo excited. She got to wear her new outfit that Grandma Tootie got her for her birthday. I gave her some new headbands that morning but told her that her other presents would be a surprise when she got home. I made cupcakes for her to take to school and share with her friends. She was really excited to hand them out to everyone. I picked her up after school and Matt had her new princess bedding all put on her bed. She was really surprised and LOVED IT! As you can see from the pictures, McKynzie loved it too! She is so ready to be in a big girl bed. Every night she tries to get in bed with Maddie and she says, "Night Night." We took Maddie out for dinner and ice cream as well. She had a busy day and was on a sugar rush most of the day. Oh well, you only turn 4 once! Stay tuned for the Princess Tea Party this Sunday!

Teddy Bear Clinic

Where did my weekend go? I even had an extra half day. I took off work on Friday afternoon with Amanda and we went to Topeka to go garage saling (does this make us crazy)? Saturday I worked the Teddy Bear Clinic all morning. This is where little kids can bring in their teddy bears for a check up with the doctor. They take all their vitals and check them all out to make sure they are in good health! It's so cute. Matt brought the girls up to take their teddy bears through the clinic. Let's see... Maddie's teddy bear is named "Teddy" and he had an "owie" on his stomach but the doctor was able to put a bandaid on it and make him feel better. McKynzie's teddy was named "Teddy" too and he didn't have an owie but he needed a breathing treatment so McKynzie got to hold the mask up to Teddy's face and help with that. :)

We found out that both girls are still scared of big walking cartoon characters (even though Maddie tries to act like she's not and wave at them when their back is turned)! McKynzie just burries her little head. Oh girls, maybe someday they will outgrow this!

The rest of the weekend is a blur but I do know one thing. Maddie is SO READY for this coming weekend! She can't wait to have her "Princess Tea Party" with her friends. I am getting excited for tomorrow too! We bought Maddie a new bedding set for her birthday. It is all in the princess's and she's going to love it. We are going to surprise her when she gets home from school tomorrow.

Maddie's Spring Music Program

Monday night was Maddie's Spring Music Program at her school. Poor poor Maddie! She was so scared and DID NOT want to get up on that stage and sing. I had talked to her about it before we went and she seemed okay with everything and knew what she would be doing. We got there and went to the basement to wait for her class's turn to go up. She was okay down there and I even got some smiles out of her but it was all down hill from there. I managed to get one of the songs they sang on video. Notice the little girl next to her in white. She was so sweet and put her arm around Maddie to try and comfort her.

Castaneda's Easter

After we left Burdett, we raced to Kinsley to go to the Offerle Easter Egg Hunt. Maddie ended up with 6 eggs and McKynzie got 3! It was a bit anti-climactic since we just came from the Great Holopirek Hunt where each of the girls got around 30 eggs. But they still enjoyed it and they got money in these eggs so we had something to put in the piggy banks when we got home. Saturday evening everyone came over and the girls got to play with Hunter and we got to meet the newest member of the family, Hooper! We actually got a picture of all four kids sitting down. I told Amber this might be the only time this ever happens.



(poor Hooper)


Grandma Tootie had the great idea to color Easter Eggs with the kids, so we got them all dressed for it (or undressed if your McKynzie) and sat them down at the table to color some eggs.

After coloring the eggs, it was bathtime and bedtime for McKynzie. Maddie thought she needed to stay up so we let her and this is how I found her and daddy!

Out like a light, so sweet! Too many egg hunts.

Easter Sunday we relaxed around the house in the morning and finished a project that Amber started the night before. We dipped egg shaped rice crispies in melted chocolate and sprinkles. Maddie got the hang of it but McKynzie just wanted to eat them all (imagine that).

We got cleaned up from that and went out to the club for dinner. The girls got more Easter baskets and more candy (thank you very much)! Maddie also got to open some birthday presents which all seemed to have a common theme (DRESSES)! She loved them all and I think she has wore every single one for at least a little bit. We headed for home around 4:30 pm and drove in the rain the ENTIRE way. We had a great weekend!

Holopirek's Easter

Well, we had a fun Easter weekend! Matt had inservice until 3 pm on Friday so I got us all packed up and ready to go when he got home. We stayed in Burdett on Friday evening with Grandpa CoCo and Grandma Brenda. Randy grilled some yummy steaks for us and mac and cheese for the girls. The girls got to open their Easter presents and of course Maddie had to change into her new dress immediately. After dinner Matt went for a bike ride, I went for a jog and Maddie went "swimming" in the hot tub!! (McKynzie got to go to bed). Saturday morning we ate another yummy breakfast and then the girls went on the Great Holopirek Easter egg hunt. They had a great time and each got lots of eggs and candy, (too much candy)!! After the hunt, Robbie and Rachael came over with baby Lee and played with the girls for a while before we had to leave.

Okay, one more video! This one is too funny. The girls love to dance to music downstairs. Matt usually turns on some disney music or at least something "kid friendly" but last night he turned it to some rap station. So this is the girl's doing their version of a rap dance!

1st Birthday Party

Maddie was invited to her first birthday party this weekend. It was a princess tea party for one of the girls in her class. We are also planning a princess party for Maddie on her birthday so this was good to go to and get some ideas of what to do and not to do at Maddie's party. Maddie had a great time and looked so pretty. All of the girls were so cute in their princess dresses. Here's a couple pictures from the party. When we got home, McKynzie was feeling left out so Maddie was so nice and helped her dress up in her dress and jewelry too!

The 1st Video

Yea! I'm so excited that this works. I was so curious to see if I could post video's that I just went thru my old video clips and found one to put on here as a test. This one is kind of funny though. Notice how Maddie is being very nice and motherly to Kynzie at first and then as Kynzie doesn't do what she wants her to, Maddie's motherly ways turn to anger! Ha ha, this was taken right after Christmas when Kynzie got the new pink chair. I'll definitely post more videos. These are way better than pictures!

Ball Dress

This dress was given to Maddie by Coco and Grandma Brenda and it was her favorite dress for the longest time. She wanted to wear it everyday. Now McKynzie has grown into it and she loves it too! She's not quite as old as Maddie was in this picture but it fits her the same, ha ha (imagine that)! We are seeing so many things in McKynzie that we saw in Maddie at this age. I forgot about how obsessed Maddie was with shoes but it's all coming back to me watching McKynzie in those dumb dress up shoes. Every single day, the very second that we walk in that door, McKynzie starts saying shooooes and runs upstairs to Maddies room to put on one of her pairs of shoes. She litterally clunks around in them until we put her to bed that night. Then, the second I get her out of the crib in the morning, she runs to Maddie's door and starts pounding on it until I open it so she can go get the shoes on again. One morning I forgot that she was wearing them and got her all buckled up and just happened to run back inside to grab something and there were her real shoes sitting on the counter. She almost got away with it! Oh those girls and their shoes!!! I'm waiting for the purse phase to hit! That was another big thing with Maddie.

Maddie in the famous "ball dress" in 07.

Look who finally fits in the ball dress now!

Spring Snow

We finally got the snow here late Saturday morning. We only ended up with about 2-3 inches. Nothing like what western Kansas got. Maddie was excited to get out and play in it. Matt was pretty excited too! We don't have a real sled so Matt had to improvise! He tied a rope to the girl's water floaty, ha ha! It looked pretty silly but to my surprise it worked pretty well. (Until daddy got tired of pulling) Matt wanted to tie the rope to his scooter and give her for a whirl but I advised against that. Here are a few pictures of the day!

Maddie looking like a marshmallow and poor McKynzie thinking she gets to go outside with Maddie. (Mean mom thought it was too cold for her).

Here We Go!

Hi everybody! Well, I am going to give this blogging thing a try. A couple of my friends are doing this and it seems like a great idea. It's kind of like a modern day diary. I've never kept a diary mostly because I hate writing. However, I don't mind typing so this should be good. Everyday I think how fast the girls are growing up and although I do take pictures, I'm afraid 5 years from now, I won't remember all the cute little things they say and the day to day happenings. My plan with this blog is to update it at least once a week with the past weeks events and pictures from time to time. I thought this would also be good for those who I don't get to talk to on a regular basis. You can always check out this blog and see what's going on with us. So, here we go! I hope you all enjoy our family blog!