Goings on...

So sorry for my absence! This time of year is very busy & being 8 months pregnant makes it even more difficult to do anything but eat & sleep. ;)  The end of this year has flown by SO fast! I was just starting to enjoy October, when December suddenly rolled around. Not sure what happened to my November. Well, since pictures speak louder than words, I'll let them speak for themselves to show you what we've been up to lately.

Oct. 31st: We went to GBC's annual Country Fair!! The girls went as Cookie Monster & Elmo! They have more & more fun every year!

Nov.5th: Kare broke her arm(buckle fracture) falling out of the hammock when playing with Daddy & Kels. She was a very brave girl for X-Rays, wore her splint for 3 weeks, went back for a recheck & is all healed! Unlike her sister, this poor little thing is my accident prone princess.

 Nov.22nd: Thanksgiving!! We had a lovely feast hosted by my sweet mother-in-law who, bless her heart, cooked everything! It was really the first time the girls got to eat everything & enjoy it! 

Kels kept calling the gravy, "soup" and Kare liked dessert best! 

 Nov. 13th: My best friend Cherise welcomed her son, Rhyder, into the world! Such a blessed baby boy! 

 Nov.10th: Maternity pictures with Shannon Morton at the Pecan Farms! 

The girls still love to read, so we're reading "Little Mommy" to our baby girl.

 The 5 of us!! 

 Nov.18th: We took the girls, Nana & Grandad to the Texas
Renaissance Festival for the first time! The girls had a blast & got to ride their first pony! Very fun! We plan on going every year! 

December! Time to decorate for Christmas! It is SO fun watching these girls get excited about Jesus' birthday! A delivery driver dropped off a package and the girls answered the door. As he walked back to his truck, they yelled after him, "Bye! Thank you, Santa!!" Their favorite movie is "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen; not ashamed to say we watch it practically every day. ;) When asked, "What's Christmas about?" they promptly reply, "JESUS!" I love watching them grow, learn & love!! 

 Decorating their li'l tree! 

 Kisses for our Hero!

 Nothin' better than Dad!

 Dancing to Christmas music and singing along to Rudolph,
Santa Claus & Frosty!

 Joy!

 They were pretending to be Mary & held their Snuggy like baby Jesus.

 Mama & her 3 jewels!

 Going through the ornaments to hang on the big tree.

 Christmas beads

 A lot of hugs shared! Kels is wearing our tree skirt!

Dec.8th: Went to the tree farm to find our Christmas tree! 

Found a girl size Santa!

Dec.10th: First cups of hot chocolate to drink all by themselves!

All bundled up & playing out in the cold weather!

Took the girls to Santa's Wonderland for the first time! When we asked Kare & Kels what they thought, the words they used were "beautiful" & "awesome". It was cold(40 degrees) but they loved it & didn't want to leave!

The next goings on 'round here are a big Mader Family Christmas 

and immediately after, we will meet our sweet baby girl! Praising the Lord for His goodness!

Baby Update!

31 weeks along and I'm aching to meet my little jewel! She moves constantly! On average, this Mama gets about 4 hours of sleep a night. It has been challenging keeping up with the twins. I can't move at the same pace anymore and bending down is getting quite difficult. Thankfully, Karis & Kelsie are very understanding and they often ask, "You ok, Mommy?!"

We have decided on a name for her, but won't be revealing it until her birth day. Ian and I have scheduled a repeat C-section on January 3rd. Ian loves the "easy-to-remember" date...1/3/13.

There's only a few things missing and we'll have her room all set up! I love how it's coming together! 

We are looking so forward to welcoming her into our lives!

And so begins my 29th year!

We celebrated my 29th birthday on Sunday the 9th! Ian took off Sunday & Monday, and was already scheduled to have T,W, Th off work, so having him home for 5 days straight was a huge gift in itself!! It was pretty low-key which was nice & relaxing! Spent the first half of the day with our best friends, the Ratliff's, and the second half with Mom Mader who brought me red velvet cake & a huge bouquet of gorgeous flowers! She watched the girls for us in the evening so that Ian and I could go to a nice dinner at Christopher's. I got a beautiful ruby ring from my husband and I an incredible vacuum(Dyson/Animal) from my in-laws(I LOVE to vacuum!)!! Also received very sweet cards from friends & family...some enclosed with thoughtful surprises; and a plethora of well wishes via facebook from family & distant friends, and that always makes a lovely day more special!

I asked the girls to come take a picture with me and with no further prompting, this is the preciousness that turned out! Great capture of their personalities...Kare's always the dramatic love bug & Kels, the expressive ham!

 Holding my priceless gifts from above...all 3 of them!

 Pregnancy shared between best friends! 

Baby boy Ratliff & baby girl Mader will be 2 months apart!

 My hott date & endless love! Oh, we took the baby along :)
(22 weeks)

 Hooray for birthdays!! I'm off to eat more cake!

"Princess Dy". 

You would not believe how much nastiness this thing sucks up out of the carpet!! It's unreal! Love it! 

Recent tid bits

Wow! It's been a while. Sorry about that blog fans.

For those that don't know, Ian and I had a baby appointment on Aug.28th and we decided to find out the gender of our baby! We originally didn't want to know and if Ian had his way, we still wouldn't. He & I had discussed that if this one was a boy, we would probably be done having kids. That being the case, I really wanted to know pre-birth if this was going to be my last pregnancy so I wouldn't have to deal with that emotion postpartum. Ian understood, and the more we prayed about it, the more we came to the mutual decision that it would be best for our entire family to find out. We're really glad we did so that we can now make it more real for the girls. 

It's a Girl! 

We are excited to meet our li'l jewel come January! She definitely had us fooled. Ian and I were both thinking it would be a boy since this pregnancy has been so different than my first. First trimester had me nauseous all the time, she is constantly moving, way different food preferences...but we are grateful to know that she is exactly what our lives need!! I am 22 weeks along and other than fatigued, feelin' great! Instead of calling the baby "baby Bert", we've been encouraging the girls to call her "baby Cinderella" or "ella". ;) 

Karis & Kelsie have been doing great with potty training. It's been over a week with no major accidents! Very proud of them! They love any Disney Princess and can name all of them. They also sing most of the songs they hear. They are very helpful and enjoy assisting me with chores. They also have made a habit of cleaning their room before bed, picking up toys & books. They are growing up so fast! I know they're going to be great big sisters! 

Here's a couple of my favorite recent pictures.

Feeling very blessed!

Fluff & Stuff!

The girls are really into this dress up phase right now & I'm loving all the cuteness we're getting to see! Wanted to share a few of my favorites with you! 

Pretty Princesses!

Kelsie Cheese!

Kare's Minnie Mouse!

Kelsie's SnowWhite!

Kare's Cinderella!

Officer Mader! Just like Dad, only better shoes! ;) 

This house is full of singing, dancing & twirling! Ian bares it well, but I'm hoping he gets a little boy someday, just to smudge the rainbows, dirty up the ballroom, and frazzle the frills! ;) 

More of the past few months!

Our summer has been packed so full of fun!! 

June 19-July 2nd: We had the pleasure of the McReynolds (Oregon) company! 

July 2nd-9th: My brother came for a visit (Kentucky)!

July 4th: we celebrated Independence Day with the Schmuckers! Caitlin was full of smiles! 

The girls loved their playing with their cousins & adored their Uncle Jeff. 

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so enjoy!! 

 They loved Evan, Caden & Brennan and still ask to play with them frequently!

 Kare sharing sweet smiles with Aunt Amy!

 Love this guy!

 Star Spangled Sweeties!

 "Say cheese, Caitlin!"

 Jason & Mel Mel, a couple of our favorite people!

 Dancing with our G.I.Joe!

 First time seeing fireworks! They enjoyed it, but were glad it was only 10min. 

 Best seat ever!

July 25-Aug.1st: The girls & I went on a week long trip to Denver with Nana while Daddy was at a police conference in Dallas. We enjoyed seeing extended family!

Karis enjoying the flight with Nana! They did pretty well for being 2!

Playing in the pool with Miss Brooklyn

 Dress up Dolls!

 Kels & Aunt Angie

 Karis & Pookie(Jill)

 We learned how to do somersaults!

 An unprompted hand hold! My favorite random moment! 

We've been so blessed with being able to fellowship with friends & family throughout the year!! The treasured moments go beyond pictures! 

Baby Update: Felt our li'l one squirming around in there for the first time on July 13th! Yesterday (5th) had my hand resting on my tummy & felt a kick, 3x!! It's wonderful to be feeling it again. Definitely missed that feeling & it still excites me beyond words! I will be 18 weeks along on Thursday. Had a doctors appointment today and he said all is progressing well. I am able to eat pretty much anything now, but beans have been a staple for me...baked, black, chili, bean soup...odd, but true. ;) Ian and I have decided that we will be having a repeat C-section. We were given the option of that or a VBAC, but the c-section comes with less risk to me & the baby. So we've opted for that route, hoping to avoid excessive bleeding and a 24hr. stay in the ICU. Due date is January 10th. Thank you for your continued prayer over our family!