Madi's !0th Birthday!

Madi's Favorite Gift
How crazy is it that we now have a 10 year old - It may sound like a cliche, but where has the time gone, I can't believe that my little Madison Linda is 10years old. She is turning into a beautiful, sweet, fun "big" girl! She loves to be with her friends, loves to get Mom to take her shopping (even to "just look"), she loves playing with her new baby brother and loves to be the big sister and babysit while Mom runs to the store for a quick errand! Madison is a wonderful student and her favorite subjects are art and reading. She loves clogging and playing soccer and is doing awesome with her piano lessons even if she doesn't like to practice! Madi - Dad and I are so proud of the good girl that you are and love the laughter and happiness you bring into our family.

So for Madi's birthday this year she got to go out to ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Gallacher, who also gave her a new beaded watch band for her watch (that we wear everyday now) and or course some new clothes for 5th grade. The next day on her actual birthday she chose to Chili's to go out to dinner with the fam and Grandma and Grandpa McDougal. Mom and Dad gave her a new ipod and more clothes and Grandma and Grandpa gave her Itunes gift cards so she can download her favorite music to her ipod. She thinks she is quite the little teeny bopper with her earphones always in her ears - we have already had to have the discussion about no earphones while we are sitting at the table with the fam!
Then of Friday night it was the "friends" party - the girls had Pizza, did some crafting with buckets, mod podge and paper. They had ice cream cake, opened presents, watched a movie and of course did a lot of running, jumping, laughing and screaming. Madi had a great 10th birthday!

Robby's Birthday

Robby's "R" Birthday cake






Like father like son


For anyone out there who might read this - just bear with me in my backtracking a little - I am trying to catch up a little on my journaling.
Robby turned 7 in May and this was his year for a family party so he decided he wanted to go to Chuck e Cheese's for dinner - the kids had a great time, especially Robby and Dad - what a team! Robby is quickly learning to beat his father at video games. We did this family party before Connor was born due to the fact that Robby's birthday is only a week after Connor was born. But we saved opening presents and having cake and ice cream until his actual birthday. Robby got Star Wars - The Last Saga for the Wii, a super soaker and a basketball hoop - so far his favorite have definately been the Star Wars game and the super soaker! Robby also went with his Dad and 2 of his friends and played Laser Tag - he said it was "awesome"!
Robby's favorite things to do right now is play any type of electronic game - the Wii, the computer or his game boy. He also loves to play outside with his friends (once you can drag him away from the Wii or computer) - - it is so fun to watch them and the games they make up - it almost always involves guns or swords(what is that all about - boys can turn anything into a gun or sword!) He loves to play soccer - he and Madi attended a Soccer camp this summer and loved it - he is looking forward to soccer starting in the Fall, especially since James will be coaching his team again. Robby - You are awesome - I love your smile and your laugh - Happy Birthday!

McDougal Family Vacation 2009

With the birth of 2 new babies and one more on the way very soon - we all decided to do a "staycation" this summer. We decided to have a family campout in Brad and Tammy's backyard and so some of the local fun stuff. So we started our adventure at "This is the Place" Park and had a great time. It was plenty warm with the temp in the high 90's but the kids had a great time touring the old pioneer houses and shops, riding the train, doing plenty of crafts, petting all the animals and riding the horses. We had a great picnic under the shade trees and had plenty of popsicles to keep us cooled off.
After a full day of pioneer adventures - we headed back to Uncle Brad's house for a BBQ, movie watching under the stars, marshmallow roasting and campout. The next morning we began with a big breakfast and then packed everything up and headed to Grandma's for a day of swimming. We all had a great time - the kids loved sleeping outside under the stars and being with all of their cousins!