Maddie Lou and Amelia Ru !

A new blog....again

2009-11-01T18:57:00.001-08:00

We have been having some technical difficulties with this blog and decided to try a new blog provider. Please visit us at carnesfamily.blog.com.

Thanks for stopping by!

August 18, 2009 - Maddie's 1st day of school

2009-08-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today Maddie had her first day of preschool. She goes every Tues and Thurs from 10-2, so she gets to pack her lunch! She was so excited when she got up! She got ready fast and wore her backpack all around the house.

When I dropped her off, she put her lunchbox in the basket and then she found her backpack hook on her own. I had to ask her for a hug and kiss before I left!

Then she took off into her room and started playing with her teacher's assistant, Ms. Cuball and Noah.

When I picked her up, she talked nonstop about what she did. Her teacher said she did really well and she was surprised she just turned 3 a month ago because of how much she talked and well she articulated herself. She is very excited to go back Thursday!

South Carolina

2009-07-12T11:13:00.001-07:00

For the 4th of July weekend we went down to South Carolina to visit our friends Dustin and Nikki. They were our favorite neighbors back in our apartment, and have lived down south for the past few years. This was the first time we had gone to visit them, and the first big road trip with just the 4 of us.

Getting to Aiken, South Carolina from Indianapolis requires a drive through Eastern Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. This is not a typical ride in the region, but it sure seemed to fit in pretty well. Gotta love the trunk. It's a real trunk. You know, like a wooden trunk. Anyhoo...

Pretty sure this was after we got back, but it was just a great picture of Madelyn.

Dustin and Nikki were great hosts. Amelia was especially fond of the accommodations.

On the 4th we got up early to head down to Charleston. We had originally planned to see the Ravenel Bridge, hit the beach, check out the USS Yorktown or Fort Sumter, and visit the City Market. In the end, we saw the bridge because it was the only way to get to the beach, and the other stuff closed before we got to it. This picture was our pit stop halfway to the beach. We had our picnic lunch in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot, because that's how we roll.

Went to the beach at Isle of Palms, and it was a perfect day for it. The water was probably in the 80's and the kids were having a blast. The big kids liked it too.

At first Maddie was scared of the water, but after about 15 minutes she couldn't be kept away.

After the beach adventure we went over to get some seafood. We found a great place on Isle of Palms - Seels on Sullivan's (the place on the right). We tried fried shrimp in hot sauce - good stuff!

After the big day, the big kids (Brandon and Emilie are Dustin and Nikki's kids) sat at the table for some dinner. Something's missing - where's Amelia?

Found her!

NCAA Midwest Regional Finals 3/27 and 3/29

2009-03-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

We were very lucky to be able to attend the biggest event in Indy this weekend: The NCAA Midwest Regional finals. Friday night there were two games and Sunday was the game between those winners.

This was our first time inside of Lucas Oil Stadium. It was a blast. This is the view from our seats.

The first game was Louisville vs. Arizona. It was a fun game to watch! Chuck got this great shot of Chase Budinger.

The second game was Michigan State vs. Kansas. Go Big Ten!

Hey! It's My Man Mitch!

We were back at the stadium Sunday for the final game. Michigan State took on Louisville at 2:20. Michigan State won

The view from upstairs before the game.

Back at our seats ready for the game.

MSU's most famous player showed up for the game....can you spot Magic Johnson?

Bill Polian (the GM of the Colts) shaking hands with Sparty right in front of us. Awesome!

A great shot of the awesome defense Michigan State played.

Goran Suton cutting down the net after the game.

Randy and Meredithe visit 3/28/09

2009-03-30T06:48:00.001-07:00

Randy, Meredithe and the kids came for a visit this weekend. We all met up at the Children's Museum for a fun (and exhausting) day. We had lunch to make sure we had enough energy to chase 5 kids around the place!

Here are the girls playing in the train tunnel.

We spent the majority of our time in the Playscape for the little kids. Each kid had their favorite thing to do.

Caitlyn spent the majority of her time at the sand table with the same scoop and toy. She loved it.

RJ tried his hand at driving the bulldozer. He liked it a lot!

Maddie spent a lot of time at the water table hoarding ducks and fishing.

Amelia played in the baby section. She loved all the textured balls they had to play with.

Brenna visited the lego area with her Uncle JJ, but we don't have a picture of her :(

Chuck was able to capture this great picture. The girls were chasing him up the ramps at the museum. They look so happy!!

After the museum we came back to our house and let the kids play. They were all over the place and had a really great time playing together. Here is a great shot of all them playing together.

Valentine's Day 2009

2009-02-16T05:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fun Valentine's Day in Indianapolis. We got up and made a heart shaped breakfast. We dyed our pancakes red and made them into heart shapes.

Everyone got presents and as you can see, Amelia loved hers.

That evening Chuck and I went out to dinner at Maggiano's and saw The International. We were very lucky to have a sitter that evening. The girls went to Kate's (our old daycare provider) who hosted a parent's night out.

2009-01-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well, for once the weather forecasters were right! We woke up this morning to about 10 inches and it was still snowing! We ended up with 12.5 inches, which is a lot for Indy! They said it was the 6th biggest snowfall ever here.

So, talking about the weather is really not very exciting, but you should have seen how excited Madelyn was about it this morning. She got all bundled up to go outside with Daddy while he shoveled off the driveway.

Maddie had fun playing in the snow. She kept throwing it up in the air and began falling down in it with a high pitched "eeeeee!" squeal! She decided to help daddy shovel.

Notice she is saying (after Chuck asked her what she was doing) "I fixing the snow because you broke it". Too funny

Look what I can do....

2009-01-28T10:34:00.001-08:00

Amelia learned some new tricks pretty quickly! She had been working for awhile now to get sitting up and she has it mastered! She is so quick and flips from sitting to crawling in a split second.

Her newest trick began on Monday evening. I was out for the evening and the girls were with Chuck. He told me Amelia started pulling up on the stairs. She gets into a kneeling position and then pulls herself up.

Getting started:

Got it!

However, I think she must have decided the stairs were too easy because she moved on to the exersaucer. Once again, she started on her knees....

Then stood all the way up! What a champ! Not bad for 8 1/2 months. Maybe she will walk early!

Christmas #3 12-25-08

2009-01-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

The Carnes Grandchildren -
Back row - Brenna (4 1/2), Zack (14), Kayla (9), Amelia (8 mo.), R.J. (2)
Front Row - Caitlyn (2), Madelyn (2 1/2)

Our third and final Christmas was spent at Chuck's parents house on Christmas day. We got up and had some donuts before we headed down to see if Santa came. He had come and delivered lots of presents for the girls.

Later that morning the others arrived for the big festivities. There were fifteen of us there and it was a madhouse of wrapping paper and toys!

After dinner we went outside for some sledding. We don't really get snow at all, so Madelyn was thrilled to be able to not only see it, but play in it.

Kayla and Madelyn wore ski masks to keep their faces warm. We were surprised Maddie left it on the whole time!

Brenna, Kayla and Maddie making snow angels.

Amelia and Uncle Randy

Christmas #2 12-23 and 12-24

2009-01-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

Shinevar Grandchildren -
Madelyn (2 1/2), Rebekah (1), Rachel (3 1/2), Amelia (8 mos)

We spent the 23rd and 24th together atMammaw's house celebrating Christmas. It was kind of a revolving door of people! Unfortunately Mom had to work on the 24th. Randi and Joe hit some bad weather on their way North and didn't make it for the 23rd. So, we spread out our festivities and enjoyed the time we had together!

Grammy and Amelia

Mammaw and Pappaw

Grammy got Madelyn a tea set for Christmas. She set it up and was serving tea! She plays with it all the time with her ponies, dolls and stuffed animals....pretty much anyone that will come for tea!

Rebekah and Amelia "sharing"

A new rug for my laundry room! Chuck thought it was kind of funny to get a themed rug, but complimented it when it was in the laundry room!

Christmas #1 12-20-2008

2009-01-21T06:30:00.000-08:00

On Dec. 20 we celebrated Christmas with Dad, Roberta, Randi, Joe and the kids here in Indy. This was our first run of opening gifts with all 4 girls here. Amelia, as usual, slept through most of the gift opening festivities, but the other three girls were more than willing to open her gifts.

Rebekah was pretty excited about her gifts!!

This gift is for Rebekah, but the older girls were circling so they could "help".

Amelia did get to open a couple!

Chuck got some new binoculars, however this picture makes him look like Johnny 5!

Christmas smiles!

It was a fun weekend and glad it worked for us all to be together!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a great, 5 day break! We did a lot of traveling, as usual. Rachel rode up with us because Randi and Joe had their appointment for Rebekah at Riley. The girls were all excited about our roadtrip!!

We went to South Bend for the day Wednesday to visit with Uncle Greg, Steven and Kelsey who had been at Grandma and Grandpa's for most of the week of Thanksgiving. Everyone had a great time visiting and playing.

Some had a little too much fun......

Our visit was all inclusive to be able to visit with Grammy and Mandy as well!

After our visit in South Bend, we headed to Grand Rapids. This time Madelyn went with Randi and Joe, so we just had Amelia....and some Barnaby's! We spent Wednesday evening through Sunday morning in Grand Rapids. We went to Lansing for the day on Thursday for some good food and Lots of family....think we figured there were about 45 there!

The Rachel and Madelyn got some cool air matress beds to sleep on. They were kind of a pain to blow up, but were perfect for them and they loved them.

Friday morning, Randi, Roberta and I got up and left to go shopping at 6. We got lots of good deals and didn't really deal with too many unruly crowds. Walmart was a little sketchy, but that is to be expected I suppose! Chuck and Joe kept the girls entertained while were were gone and got some really cute pictures.

Amelia Crawls!!

2008-11-17T18:00:00.001-08:00

About a week ago, Amelia started crawling. She does more of an army crawl by only using her arms, but she moves pretty fast! As with Maddie, we used the remote to inspire her to crawl. Not bad for being just 6 months!!

Chuck gets sleepy too!!

2008-11-16T18:38:00.001-08:00

Just want to make sure everyone is aware that Chuck has his sleepy moments during football as well. As a matter of fact, this was taken today while he slept through an extremely exciting second half of the Indianapolis Colts game! He slept for 2 hours like this (well with Maddie up and down from there).

New pictures of the girls

2008-11-16T18:07:00.001-08:00

We haven't done anything terribly exciting in the past few weeks, but have managed to catch some great pictures of the girls around the house.

The kids are doing well. Amelia is now 6 months old and getting big! She has started crawling this week (We will get a video of this on here soon!). She just uses her arms to pull her along, but she gets quickly gets to where she is going! She is now 18 pounds and 28 in. long. She has her first cold, poor thing. But, she is hanging in there. She still remains all smiles....well, most of the time!

Maddie is keeping us busy. The other day I heard her counting....in Spanish! You can see in this video that she can go all the way to 8!

We had a quiet weekend at home this weekend. We poured some rice in a container and let Maddie play with it. This kept her entertained for nearly an hour (and took about an hour to clean up!).

Her new favorite place to play.....

Halloween

2008-11-16T17:56:00.000-08:00

So, better late than never, right? Here are pics from Halloween. We really lucked out with great weather and Amelia got to stroll along with us! She was excited to go for a ride, as usual.

Maddie was a pro. She knew exactly what to say to ask for a piece of candy and, of course, peeked in her bag to see what they gave her while still standing on their porch.

Maddie had a great time, but when she was finished, she was sure to let us know!!

Twas the night before NFL Sunday...

2008-11-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before Sunday, and all through the house, all the girls were sleeping, quiet as a mouse...

The Purdue game was on, and none seemed to care. The Boilermaker beating was in full-swing, Spartan points coming from everywhere.

Kiddies were taken, put snug in their beds, images of good teams (like the Colts) dancing in their heads.

A High Flying Adventure

2008-10-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

We were sitting around Sunday enjoying doing nothing and Chuck said to me "You know what would be perfect for today?" I finished his thought with "The kites!"

Quite awhile ago we picked up these two cheapy kites from Menards. They were super awesome. One has Batman on it and the other Transformers.....they were buy one get one free. We hadn't had (or maybe the word is made) a good time to fly them. However, Sunday presented us with the perfect opportunity because there was plenty of wind (30-40 mph sustained winds).

We went outside and of course Madelyn was totally interested. Chuck got one flying and gave it to her. I wish we had caught her excitement on tape when she was squealing and saying "Look at me Mommy!" Every time she had the kite she would squeal with excitement. This video shows a little bit of it, but at the end her kite crashes, so she isn't as excited.

A family trip to Broadripple 10-25-08

2008-10-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a great picture?!?!? She is getting so big!!

Awhile back Chuck and I were watching Sunday night football. The game was here in Indy and they showcased a burger joint in Broadripple (a section of Indy that has a college-like atmosphere). Several weeks later, we decided to pack up the kiddies and go try it out.

It was a little chilly Saturday morning, but we bundled up and headed out. We first went to the Broadripple Farmer's Market, behind Broadripple High School. We didn't find much, but Maddie picked out some pumpkins. She got one big pumpkin (the daddy pumpkin) and 4 tiny pumpkins (the babies).

We then headed for some lunch. We went to Boogie Burger. It was a tiny little place that probably only had seating for about 20 people at the most. We got burgers, fries (Chuck got his favorite...chili cheese fries) and Maddie, of course, had a hot dog. It was really good!

After lunch, we did some walking. We were looking for Just Pop In, a local popcorn place that was started by a set of twins. We found it and decided to get some cheese popcorn as well as carmel corn. Yum, yum.

Maddie enjoyed our walk over there. Oh, and see in her hands? She is carrying 3 tiny ponies (or honies as she says it) that she got from her stocking last year. These are her new favorites to carry around, but are impossible to locate at bedtime sometimes and many of you know how she is about her things at bedtime!

Halloween party at Gymboree 10-24-08

2008-10-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

Maddie participated in her first Halloweed party last Friday. It was pretty chaotic (we attended after not having a nap), but it was a fun time. They spent about an hour in the gym playing games and singing songs.

After that they moved into the side room (where we have our music class) to have a snack and decorate pumpkins. Maddie had a good time decorating hers.

She was completely exhausted after the party.

Another Busy Week

2008-10-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Last week Joe and Randi had a conference to attend in Noblesville and the plan had been for Chuck and I to keep the girls from Thurs-Sat morning. Randi came Wednesday and stayed with us. After we put the kids to bed, Randi and I went to see Nights In Rodanthe. When the kids got up Thursday morning, Rebekah was running a fever and not feeling well. We gave her a popsicle to try and cool down.

Randi took Rebekah with her and left Rachel with us. Madelyn and Rachel had a great time playing together. Friday came and I knew I had to get them out of the house to burn off some of their energy. Chuck suggested we go to the zoo. We are members, so we figured if it didn't go well, we wouldn't be out any money. The girls did a really good job!

We got there in time to see the elephant Tombie get a bath.

The zoo was all decked out ready for the Halloween Zooboo. The girls hopped in the ghoulbus for a picture.

The girls enjoyed looking at the penguins and the polar bear (or, as Maddie says it "holar bear")

The girls had a good time and were really well behaved. They both took good naps that afternoon after we got home!

That weekend we had our third and final wedding in South Bend. We left about 8 in the morning. We had to make one stop in Kokomo to feed Amelia. We met Randy and his family, along with Bill and Debbie at Chik-fil-a for lunch on our way into town. Maddie had fun playing with her cousins!

She climbed up into the play set and realized she didn't have a way down she liked. She sat up in there saying "I'm stuck!" "Daddy save me" and "I'm in trouble". SO dramatic. Anyway, Chuck had to climb up in there to get her out, but as soon as he got up in there, she said "I go play now" and then repeated the same cries for help when she wanted to get out again. This time there was an older girl in there who was able to help Maddie climb down.

Our friend Jenny's wedding was at 3, so Bill and Debbie took Amelia with them and we took Maddie to Chris and Brandi's house. They took her to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. This is her and Kayla looking for pumpkins.

Found one! Actually, she ended up getting 2....one to decorate and then a "baby pumpkin".

They stopped at WalMart to get stickers so that Maddie would be able to decorate her pumpkin herself. With the help of Zack and Kayla, she made a pretty cool looking pumpkin!

Sunday morning, we met up with Mom, Grandma and Pap for lunch at Logan's. Maddie sat next to Pappaw and played with him. She really enjoyed making faces at him and cracked up when he would make them back at her.

Our drive back to Indy was pretty typical. We start out with quiet children and then end up listening to them alternate who is going to cry or whine for most of the way. Amelia took first shift while Madelyn napped. We decided we needed to stop and give her a bottle, but that meant we would have to wake Madelyn up. We passed the Apple Dumpling Inn on US 31 and decided to stop there.

It was a really neat place. They had fresh picked apples for sale. They also had a playground to play on as well as a barn with different animals in it for petting/viewing. Madelyn was brave enough to pet the donkey.

This was the first time she sat on a big girl swing. She loved it, in case you can't tell from her face.

We got home about 5:30 and were glad to be home once again!

Indianapolis Children's Museum 10/09

2008-10-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday we made another outing with Stacey, Brayden and Bryce. This time we went to the Children's Museum. This was our first visit to the museum and it was a blast! We played in the Playscape room the entire time we were there. This room is geared to children 5 and under and was full of hands on items. While it was mostly for the big kids, Bryce and Amelia enjoyed themselves as well!

When we first arrived, Brayden showed Maddie his favorite thing at the museum....chasing the lights on the floor. They spent several minutes doing this before we moved on. click on this video to check it out!

Maddie spent the majority of her time in the playhouse. It had furniture, play food and even a baby, which she latched onto right away.

Maddie also enjoyed the sand table. Thanks to Pop, she took the baby from the playhouse and buried her in the sand table. I didn't get a picture of it....I was too busy cleaning the baby off!

Near the sand table was the water table.

This is Madelyn as a bird. They had an area where they could climb up and sit in the "nest".

Maddie and Brayden had a good time playing together. Not sure how she talked him into moving her all around, but they did this for quite awhile.

They had a time for singing and dancing, which Maddie was ALL about. You can see the excitement on her face!

Needless to say, she was exhausted and fell asleep after about 2 minutes in the car. She went home and still took a 2 hour nap!

Lots of Outings

2008-10-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Once again it has been a month since we posted. Things are great! Amelia is now 5 months old and has been on cereal and 1st foods for a month now!

Madelyn is getting an extensive vocabulary that includes: "I don't want to" and "Never again _______ (insert thing she has done wrong)". Madelyn continues to go to her Music classes at Gymboree on Wed. mornings and we have been getting out to do more, as you will see from this post. Madelyn continues to love Amelia (Or "Yee-Yuh" as she says it). Amelia won Madelyn's heart by watching Dora with her.

Chuck and I are well. Chuck has been working long hours and I honestly don't know how he does it sometimes. He is still working on his MBA and is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have enjoyed being home and with the girls. Seems like there is always some small project to be working on!

We have been trying to get out and do an outing once a week. About a month ago, I took the girls to the zoo by myself! We have a membership, so I figured it was no big deal if we had to leave. The weather was great and the girls were so well behaved! Going during the week, there aren't many people there, which makes it easy to watch Maddie. Every animal we went to see was a baby or Mommy or Daddy of that animal.

Before we left the zoo, Maddie wanted to ride the carousel. Both the girls loved it!

The next week we went to a really nice park in Plainfield. Plainfield is just west of the airport and is where Chuck works. They have a really great parks system, so we went to play and then Chuck met us at the park for lunch.
Maddie was able to get Chuck on the Merry-go-round.

Maddie is obsessed with turning wheels. This park had several, so she was in heaven. This one happened to be in a tractor, so she said she was driving the truck.

The following week we went to Bouncertown. For $6 per child, they can play all they want in the blow-up bouncer houses. We went with my friend Stacey and her boys Brayden (he's 3) and Bryce (he's 3 months). It seriously took Maddie 40 minutes before I finally convinced/bribed her to get on the bouncer. Finally she did and loved it. She played forever in the toddler areas.

After awhile she said she wanted to slide. I asked her if she wanted to do the whale slide. She ran right over, climbed up by herself and slid down. I couldn't believe it.

After awhile, she even moved on to the giant yellow slide. Seriously, these things were huge, but she did it...by herself!

Amelia at 4 months

2008-09-07T17:06:00.001-07:00

Hard to believe Amelia is 4 months old now! She goes to the doctor tomorrow and we are anxious to see how big she is getting. She is really long!

This video is the cutest thing. She has just started to notice Chase and thinks he is great. She was laying on the floor in the living room and was cracking up when he ran by. Check out this video by clicking on it.

Where have we been?

2008-09-07T16:40:00.001-07:00

Hey all. Things are good here and we are still around! We have been really busy and haven't done a very good job of taking pictures!

We have been on the move most weekends. Labor Day weekend we went camping with our friends Chris and Lisa. They have a pontoon boat that we hauled with us and spent our days on Lake Monroe. Randi, Joe and Grammy kept the girls in Terre Haute and they had a great time! We had a great time with great weather.....fun was had by all.

This weekend we rode the motorcycle to Purdue. Wow, what a trip! It took us about 2 hours to navigate out of Indy and make it to Lafayette....without any highway! Going back to Indy we took the highway, so it took a little less time. Purdue beat Northern Colorado, thank goodness!

On our walk back to the bike we walked through the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. It is a beautiful building at the edge of campus. They have a neat cafe downstairs with a beautiful name. For those that don't know, Amelia Earhart was actually a college advisor for women at Purdue and Purdue actually gave her the plane that she attempted to fly around the world with. Anyhoo, we were taken with the sign.

Our friends Chris and Lisa kept the girls and met up with us that afternoon for our fantasy football draft at Brad and Stacey's.

We will try and be better about getting a few more pictures taken! Here are a few cute ones of the girls to leave you with.

Amelia - 3 months

2008-08-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

Wow! It is hard to believe that Amelia is already 3 months old. She has changed so much in the past month. She began sleeping through the night at about 10 weeks, which has been awesome! She goes to bed about 9ish and is up about 7 or 7:30. It has been great. Now if we could just make ourselves go to bed earlier!!

One of the new things Amelia has started doing is playing with her toys. We recently got her one of those playmats with the toys overhead and she will lay under it for a long time.

This toy (as the pictures below shows) was the one thing we have for Amelia that Maddie is completely jealous of. She likes to lay and play with it as well. What a goof ball.

Today she really got into playing. Click on the video below and see her reaction!

Madelyn's birthday party - 7/19/08

2008-08-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

On July 19th we celebrated Madelyn's 2nd birthday with a big party. We had about 20 people over for a cookout and party. Of course there was a Dora theme and she got lots of good presents. Thanks to everyone who attended and all the great gifts she received.

Maddie had a great time playing outside and "swimming". Even our neighbor Justin had fun in the pool.

Maddie got a vacuum from Aunt Brandi and Uncle Chris. Up until now, she has been scared of our vacuum, but this has helped her like it more. When anyone else would try and play with it (or even look at it), she would say "MY vaccuuuuuuuuuuuum!".

Amelia was ready to party and actually stayed awake for most of the party!

Pop, on the other hand, fell asleep at the end of the party.

Mammaw and Grammy doing some good work at putting these tired girls to sleep.

Maddie got a playhouse for her birthday from Grandma and Pop. She calls it her barn. She has spent a lot of time out there playing in it.

Our little diva......(not really, just in this picture)

Smiles from "Yee-ya" (that is how Maddie is saying Amelia).

Madelyn turns 2!!!

2008-07-14T19:43:00.001-07:00

Sunday was Maddie's 2nd birthday! We greeted her with singing and she was extremely excited about it. We got her a giant Dora balloon and a group of just latex balloons. She called the group of balloons the "party" and every time she had them she said "oh! My party!"

She opened presents from Mommy and Daddy as well as the presents Bampa and Bobo sent to her. It didn't take her too long to get the hang of it!!

We had cupcakes mid-afternoon. Only this goofy kid would eat it with a fork and actually whine when she got some on her hand. We finally got her to just pick it up and eat it.

After our naps (we all took one this particular day!) we headed to Johnny Rockets for dinner. We knew they would have Maddie's favorites dot-dogs and shake-shakes (milk shakes). She got one of each and loved it.

After we got home we worked outside a little bit. She helped me weed and helped Daddy wash the car. What a way to end your birthday! Fortunately, she loved it!

A trip to the Vigo County Fair

2008-07-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday Chuck was out of town, so I packed up the girls and headed to Terre Haute for the day. We went to the county fair. Everyone had a good time! I think Rebekah's face says it all (as usual, she is smiling!!)

Joe took Maddie and Rachel to pet all kinds of animals....

Rabbits (even Rebekah on in on this one!)

Pigs

Cows

Goats

Chickens

They got to ride one ride (Maddie wasn't tall enough for most things), so they did the carousel. Safe choice since I knew Maddie would like it!

A day with the girls

2008-07-14T19:17:00.001-07:00

Friday the girls and I ran a few errands. Amelia did her usual thing of sleeping through the entire trip. We went and got Maddie's haircut for the very first time! There wasn't much to cut, but it got the hair out of her eyes!

After the haircut, we went and had lunch at 5 Guys Burger and Fries Anyone that has been to In-and-Out Burger in California, this is a great 2nd to it. Maddie had her usual, a hot dog (or as she calls it, a "dot-dog").

We ended the trip with a walk through PetSmart. We were looking for puppies, but no one had brought theirs in this particular day. We did find some kitties, fish, birds and rats (to which Madelyn said "ew, nasty").

A visit from the Gormong cousins

2008-07-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last week Randi came and brought the girls for a 2 day visit. They had an excellent time together. The first day we just stayed at the house and allowed the kids to play. Rebekah wanted to play with Amelia, but unfortunately she isn't quite big enough to brave the chaos of the other three girls.

Wednesday, we got up and went to the zoo. We were able to try out our new sit and stand stroller. Randi pushed the three girls and I had Amelia. I think I got the better part of that deal!

Rachel got to try and pet the sharks. I am not sure if she actually made contact with one or not, but she seemed to really enjoy it!

Enjoying the penguins.......

The girls were trying to get a more up close look at the zebras.

They got the chance to ride the carousel and the train while we were there. Rachel was hilarious on the carousel because she kept yelling "I am having so much fun!"

Aren't they sweet? Looking a bit tired however.

An Amelia Post

2008-07-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

Amelia is really getting big! She is starting to coo and smile when we talk or sing to her. These are just a few cute pics we have managed to capture!

I thought this picture was cute...they were lounging in bed one morning. Bet you can't guess what they were watching!!

A visit from Grandma

2008-07-14T18:40:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago one of Maddie and Amelia's "Bugga"s came to visit. We spent Sunday afternoon at the Indianapolis zoo.

Maddie got to pet her first shark. Unfortunately she was more interested in playing in the water which scared most of them away.

The newest exhibit this year are the koalas on loan from the San Diego zoo. Unfortunately they sleep 22 hours a day, so we didn't see them awake!

Maddie got a pretty up close look at the polar bear as he was roaming around after a swim.

At the end of our visit, we sat and had some ice cream. It was a fun trip!

Road trip to Grand Rapids

2008-07-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

The weekend of June 21, we packed up the family and made the trip to Grand Rapids to see Grandpa and Roberta (or Bampa and Bobo). We made good time getting there....only 4 1/2 hours!

Saturday morning, Chuck took Madelyn to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens. They spent the majority of their time in the children's garden, but Madelyn really enjoyed it! It was great for her to go do something without her sissy.

Saturday afternoon we all went to Lansing to celebrate Michelle and Caroline's graduation from high school. We didn't take the camera, but we had a really good time seeing everyone!

Sunday we all went to the Grand Rapids zoo. We saw this as we were walking to the gate. It left us wondering what a herpetologist is.

We saw these kangaroos.....notice the leg sticking out from her pouch in her stomach.

We had a good time seeing the sights at the zoo. Oh, and in case you were wondering......

Take me out to the ball game....

2008-07-07T19:19:00.001-07:00

Back in June we took Amelia and Madelyn to an Indians game. We went with our friends Chris, Lisa, Justin and Tracy. This was Amelia's first trip to Victory Field and she really enjoyed it! She stayed on the blanket for quite a bit of the time before getting hungry.

Madelyn enjoyed the company of our friends. She liked Tracy's glasses and looked super cute in them!

Lisa was kind enough to share her ice cream cone. Maddie hasn't really had much experience with ice cream on a cone and didn't quite know how to eat it. Luckily, Chris and Lisa coached her on how to properly eat it.

Unfortunately the Indians lost that night, but it was a fun night for everyone!

Pictures of the girls

2008-06-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

Jill bravely took the girls to get their pictures taken last Friday. Amelia was awake the entire time, but Madelyn wasn't much in the mood for saying cheese to the lady with the camera. You can click here to access our picture proofs. You will have to put Jill Carnes in for the customer name when asked to. We ordered several prints to send out, so if you want to order some, please be sure to check with us first about what we got for you. We will have them back on the 27th.

Brown County Beauties

2008-06-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

Brown County Indiana. It's a beautiful place. Home to Brown County State Park, the Nashville art colony, the town of Beanblossom, a piece of Lake Monroe. Anyone who has been there can attest to it's beauty, but I'm not writing about the flora and fauna. I'm writing about our little beauties, of course. Amelia (sleeping) was in the mood for a road trip, so we asked Madelyn what she thought about heading down south. She was jazzed.

It was a perfect day for a family picnic at the State Park. We packed the coolers and hit the road.

Our route took us through Martinsville, one of the cities hardest hit by the recent flooding of the White River. The Chrysler dealership had a sign out front that read, "No Flood Cars Here". The Ford dealership next door wasn't so lucky. They had a group of what looked like 75 cars encircled with caution tape. There's nothing quite like that "wet car" smell.

We finally made it to the park, which luckily was above water. We had our picnic, and Maddie got to play on the playground. Amelia got to go on her first hike.

We hooked up the baby carrier (first time) and I toted her around the lake, while Jill and Madelyn followed.

The trip was a success, the girls had fun, and crying and whining was at a minimum. That's what I call a good Father's Day.

Just out for a Sunday drive....

2008-06-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

Many of you have probably heard by now of the record flooding that occurred here in Central Indiana over the weekend. It began raining overnight Friday and by about 1 PM on Saturday, 7 inches of rain had fallen in Indianapolis and about 11 inches just south of us. Needless to say, it caused some problems with the roads.

Sunday we were planning to go to Terre Haute and visit. Mom was in town and we were going to go have a cookout at Randi and Joe's. The problem that was affecting us was that I-70 westboud to Terre Haute was closed because part of the road had collapsed. Luckily we knew about this ahead of time and were prepared for a detour.

We set out at 11:00 am. We stopped in Plainfield for gas and a soda. We traveled on 70 to exit 41 where traffic was being sent North on 231. The line of cars as we exited on 231 was stopped and Chuck decided we should go South and try taking 42 over. We needed to go 20 miles before we could get back on 70 or take US 40. We drove about 12 miles and decided we had made the right choice and would be outsmarting traffic. Just after that we came to a field that was flooded on both sides of the road and the water was rushing across. Chuck turned us around and we headed back towards the original detour.

On our way back Chuck wanted to see the Cagle Mill Dam. So, thinking it would be just off the road we were on, he turned off and we drove a few miles on a gravel road and found the dam. We will be interested to go back and see what it looks like when there hasn't been so much rain.

By this time, it was about 1:15. We set back on our way and made it up to 40. It looked surprisingly clear so we turned west bound and were headed for Terre Haute again. We drove for several miles and were confident it wouldn't take us too long. That is until we came to Brazil. Well, we never saw Brazil because the line of cars were at a dead stop and were not moving any time soon. At this point, we decided to call it a trip and head back.

Now, it doesn't sound too bad right? It gets better (and funnier). We then went back and ended up at that same exit off of 70 in Cloverdale for lunch. Both the girls were ready to eat by now, so we ate at Chicago's Pizza. Great pizza, so we were glad for that!

After a stop for lunch, we were ready to head home. When we got back onto I-70 we saw the traffic that was being diverted onto 231 had worsened. The line on 70 was backed up for 4 miles to take the detour. Glad we didn't have to sit in that!! We were about 1/2 mile from the entrance to our neighborhood and we, yet again, encountered high water. So, we had to turn around and take a different road home.

So after 4 hours and 15 minutes, a half a tank of gas and 135 miles of travel we had only full stomachs to show for it. We were sorry we didn't make it to Terre Haute, but it certainly wasn't because we didn't try!!

This picture is from the Indianapolis Star. People submitted their own pictures and this one happens to be in our neighborhood. The fence you see on the left is the fence along Wicker Road that edges the golf course. They had to shut down the exit to our neighborhood and Wicker Road because of high waters. They have all receded and are passable, but looks like it was pretty bad right after the storm!

After we returned home Sunday, Chuck mowed the lawn. Maddie wanted to go outside so badly and when he finished, we went out and turned the sprinkler on for Maddie. She isn't a big fan of water, but Chuck got her to get into it a little. These are just a couple of pictures of her playing.

Amelia is a month old!

2008-06-09T06:46:00.000-07:00

Friday Amelia was officially a month old. She had her one month appointment with the doctor and is doing great! In just 2 weeks she put on 2 pounds. Now she is 10 lbs. 1 oz. She is doing better with sleeping at night. We still get up twice with her, but are almost getting used to it!

First Family Roadtrip

2008-05-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

Our first family roadtrip came much sooner than we had planned for. Chuck's grandma passed away on the 18th, so we needed to go to South Bend for the funeral and all that goes with that. We left midmorning on Saturday and returned in the afternoon on Monday. It was a quick and busy trip, but the girls handled it all really well.

Maddie was content in the car with her DVD player. She watched Go, Diego, Go (Or Go Go and she calls him) pretty much the whole way there.

We let Maddie sit on my lap, Brittney Spears style, for a little while. Just kidding, of course. We had to stop in Argos and feed Amelia. Maddie enjoyed sitting up front with all the buttons.

On Monday we cooked out with Chuck's family. Maddie got to ride in a kayak with Daddy. She liked to try and row herself.

This is an up close look at Maddie in her Spideman life jacket. She really enjoyed wearing it!

A couple of cute pictures from around the house

2008-05-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

These are just a few pictures we thought were cute.

Amelia got her first bath on Sunday May 18th. She did a pretty good job with the whole thing. We were surprised by how calm she acted towards the end of the bath.

Maddie is still enjoying being a big sister. She likes to be right there with sissy and gets REALLY excited when she gets to hold her.

Isn't this a sweet picture? Grandpa and Roberta sent this outfit and she happened to have just had her hair still in place.

Even though Amelia isn't sleeping in her room yet, she seems to be really comfortable and at home in her bed.

Jill's 28th birthday

2008-05-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Chuck did a great job of planning for my birthday. My mom was in town (who Maddie now calls Bugga rather than Grammy!) and watched the girls while we went to dinner. Chuck didn't tell me where we were going and we ended up at the Rathskeller downtown (which was appropriate since last year we were in Europe for my birthday). What he also didn't tell me is that several of our friends were meeting us as well! We had dinner and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the whole group before some had to leave.

After that we went out to the Biergarten and listened to music and enjoyed some drinks. It was definitely a fun night!

Here is a picture of Bugga and Amelia. Thanks for taking such good care of our girls!!

Our first (official) family outing

2008-05-14T07:48:00.001-07:00

Monday we took Amelia to the doctor for her 1 week check-up. She is back to her birth weight of 7 lbs and her cord has come off already! The Dr. was pleased with what she saw and Maddie enjoyed showing off her new sister. After that we ventured to Target for a few things.

However, our first official outing as a family came Tuesday. We packed up and headed downtown for lunch at the City Market. It was really nice to get out. We started out outside, but had to go inside because it was just a little too breezy.

We sat and had lunch....even Amelia who was ready to eat at this point.

Maddie ate her hotdog without the bun. However, when she was done, she began eating her bun and was calling it a burger. She really liked her "burger". This was a first!!

After lunch, Daddy let Maddie pick out a cookie. As always, she said "mmmm, good". She certainly is a daddy's girl!!

A visit from the cousins

2008-05-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

The Cousins

Amelia got to meet her Gormong cousins for the first time today. We cooked out and played for several hours. Amelia slept through most of it, but it was a fun time!!

The girls had a fun time playing today. We had a few minor sharing problems, but overall it went well! Imagine what it will be like when Amelia and Rebekah join in!

Rebekah makes the GREATEST facial expressions. We were calling this her "old man" face. Too cute!!

We need to get a boy in this crew......

Welcome home!

2008-05-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

Our first family photo!!

Maddie continues to enjoy her sissy. She came to the hospital Wednesday in her "Big Sister" t-shirt and asked immediately about her sissy. She and Grandma spent a few hours with us in the morning. Aunt Randi brought lunch and visited with me while Chuck went home with Maddie and his mom for a little while.

We were released from the hospital on Thursday around noon. It was a weird sight to see 2 carseats in the back of the car! Amazing how fast we managed to fill up the Envoy!!

It was really good to get home. Maddie likes to be right there with Amelia to "help". As you can see, she has been practicing on her babies to be ready to help!

Our first night was busy. Amelia didn't want to be put down to sleep (although she will during the day, go figure!). She has had a good day today and we will try and get a little more sleep tonight!

Happy Birthday Amelia Ruth Carnes

2008-05-07T02:07:00.000-07:00

Somehow it has been 2 months almost since our last post. Things have been so crazy that it takes the birth of a baby to make us update this thing!!

Tuesday, May 6 we welcomed Amelia Ruth to the Carnes crew. As with Madelyn, this was a little earlier than planned, but only by a week (We had been scheduled for induction on the 12th). We had what we thought would be a routine visit to the Dr. Monday. We soon found out Jill's blood pressure was up a little and since she was 38 weeks, she would be put on the schedule for induction Tuesday morning.

We spent Monday night at the hospital. They began the induction at 7:30 followed by the epidural at 10. At 11:30 we pushed (only 3 sets of 3 pushes, might I add) and at 11:54 we had a healthy 7 lb. baby. Amelia was very cooperative and made this (dare we say) almost too easy.

This experience has been completely different than what we had with Madelyn. She has been able to spend all of her time with us and we will only be spending 2 nights here in the hospital. We are so thankful to have things go this way for Amelia (and of course ourselves).

Maddie has been staying at our house with Grandma (Carnes). They came up after naptime Tuesday to meet her new sissy. She LOVED the baby. She held, hugged, kissed, poked, fed, and even tried to tickle Amelia. It will be interesting to see how she reacts when this new baby comes home with us for good.

We will continue to add pictures and updates as we can. For now, enjoy these couple of videos!

More fun photos

2008-03-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Maddie got a care package from Grandpa and Roberta. She had fun going through the clothes. Thanks guys!

With the weather finally warming up, we decided to get Maddie some bubbles. We had no idea she would enjoy them this much! Check out this video and these photos.....

Maddie found these things when we were cleaning out what will be Amelia's room. I got this coat for her before she was born...it is a 3-6 months from Children's Place and if the sleeves weren't so short, she would have worn it this winter. Someone mismarked this coat for sure!

Too much fun.....She isn't actually sleeping in the hallway. She was pretending because baby was tired.

Maddie posing for senior pictures.

Maddie decided to help Mommy grade some papers. She almost enjoyed trying to color on people's papers a bit too much.

Bathtime fun with Maddie

2008-03-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

Since Maddie's hair isn't quite long enough to put up in a pony tail yet, Chuck had some fun styling her hair in the tub.

After her bath, she likes to wrap up in her towel and make the trek to her room. Thank goodness the bathroom is near by because sometimes she doesn't quite hold onto the towel!!

Our Big Kid

2008-03-07T20:04:00.001-08:00

Ok, so it's the case right now that we don't post very often on here, but you have to understand that we're really busy now. Baby 2 is on the way in only 9 weeks, Madelyn is getting bigger (and faster), Jill is chasing the 5th and 6th graders, and I'm taking classes at IU (sorry, Boiler nation). That said - here's a post - mostly pictures of our beautiful girl.

Here's Maddie in her rainbow shirt, playing with Jill in the living room. Love that smile.

Maddie Lou in her favorite Dora PJ's. Love that Dora.

Playing outside in the nice weather last Sunday. Love that weather.

Check the video below - Jay Banning will like the music, it's his favorite song.

She's a Dancer!

2008-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Just some fun photos!

2008-02-02T06:54:00.003-08:00

I figured I would put a few of the fun pictures we have gotten lately. As you can see, Maddie is a firecracker! We are looking forward to adding to the clan in May......by the way, we are thinking Amelia for her name!

Maddie eating breakfast with Daddy before we head to daycare.

Maddie thinks that anytime the fridge door is open, she needs to have a seat. Silly kid. This time she was having her apple there to keep it cold.

Cooking with Maddie.

This coat always akes us think of the famous phrase from A Christmas Story...."I can't put my arms down!"

And introducing the latest super hero, Captain Jimmy! Look for her comic books soon!

Boiler Up!

2008-02-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

We decided to start Maddie off early and take her to her first Purdue weekend on campus January 19th. It is certainly time that she tries to match her daddy shirt for shirt that says Purdue on it. I don't know if Joe Tiller himself could beat that collection, however!

We spent Saturday afternoon at the Purdue vs. Illinois basketball game. Maddie started out great and really enjoyed all of the excitement, but around half time she had more interest in running around than staying in her seat. But, we tried it, she had fun and the Boilers won 74-67.
We headed back to the Union hotel on campus to check in and give Lou a nap. Actually, I think we all ended up napping for a bit. However, nothing could keep us from one of our favorite pizza haunts in West Lafayette: Bruno's! Maddie LOVES pizza, so we knew she would like this place.
After dinner we walked around the union. It is crazy how things can change in just 5 years. Wow, that makes us sound old, I suppose. For those that remember the Union, the food court area was completely redone and now includes several chain like restaurants including a cereal bar called Loops. Pappy's Sweet Shop was also redone and is a tremendous improvement our old days at Purdue!

On Sunday we had breakfast at Papa Shin's favorite restaurant: Christo's. We would go there when he would come down for a football game. Unfortunately we didn't get a snapshot before we left, but trust me dad, other than the decor, nothing has changed about that place!

It was a fun weekend. Below is a video of Maddie's favorite pastime on the trip. She found a "friend" to play with and got quite a kick out of it!

Christmas Day and after

2008-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning we got up to find that Santa had come to see Maddie.

She really got into opening gifts at this point, which this video shows!

We spent Christmas day at Mammaw and Pappaw's.

This is way bigger than any of Maddie's sippy cups! It is actually for Chuck, but Maddie seems to like it.

Maddie really enjoyed the new bag Uncle Joe and Aunt Randi got her.

We left South Bend on the 26th (after a nice Barnaby's lunch with the family - a South Bend staple). We came home to get some painting and room moving. For those that hadn't heard, we are having another girl (with a due date of May 19th). We decided to move Maddie's room down the hall to a bigger bedroom and what was Maddie's room is now the office. The new baby will go in the middle bedroom, but we don't have any pics of that because we haven't quite decided on a color.

The office (directly across the hall from our room).

Maddie's room (the last room in the hall). It is a mauve color and looks so much more grown up. She did a great job of filling it with toys after Christmas and it is great for her to have enough space for everything!

Christmas - Part 1

2008-01-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

We have been busy travelling this holiday season. We began in Grand Rapids the weekend before Christmas. Randi and her clan met up with us at Dad's for our celebration. The girls had fun being together and playing.

We then traveled to South Bend late in the afternoon on the 22nd. We spent Christmas eve with the Carnes family. The kids had a blast playing with all their new toys.

Maddie got a new shopping cart from Uncle Chris and Aunt Brandi. She likes to go "shopping" for things around the house. Her favorite blue light special to get are remote controls.

Maddie and Caitlyn "sharing".

While together, we celebrated Chuck's birthday. Maddie helped Daddy blow out his candles.

Thanksgiving Kids

2007-11-30T18:49:00.001-08:00

We went up to South Bend for Thanksgiving with our families, and unfortunately we only have kid pictures to show for it. They're cute pictures, but please don't be upset if you were planning to see Jill and I's smiling faces. I know you're disappointed. Get over it.

Here's Madelyn and her cousin RJ at my Mom and Dad's house in Elkhart. They were getting ready to go outside and play.
Here's Maddie saying goodbye to cousin Caitlyn, Uncle Randy, and Aunt Meredithe.
Maddie and cousin Rachel, hamming it up at Mammaw's house.

Downtown Indy on Friday Night

2007-11-30T18:31:00.000-08:00

Every year the city puts Christmas lights on the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in the circle, creating the "World's Largest Christmas Tree". Every year we have to go check it out. The best part about that is that there is the happiest place in Indianapolis, on Market Street just outside the circle - Giorgio's Pizza.

Madelyn normally is a big fan of the sausage pizza, but tonight she was more interested in the cheese pizza. She enjoyed this piece. I love this place, but every time we go I have to laugh that our favorite New York style pizza is in Indianapolis, but in the Big Apple we went to a Sbarro. Go figure, right?

After the pizza we went over to the circle to check out the decorations. Maddie was excited to see all the horses with the carriages. I think my girls would like a carriage ride...
Jill and Madelyn playing at the monument.
At the South Bend Chocolate Company. South Bend Chocolate in Indianapolis. We toured their factory last winter up north. Yum. Maddie likes the whipped cream.

Halloween, Weddings, and Other Stuff

2007-11-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

Back in September we were up in Granger visiting our peeps, and Maddie had the chance to ride in a real Cadillac with her cousin Kayla. It was hoodie weather. I like the look on their faces in this picture. Maddie is thinking "Help!", and Kayla is thinking "Did anyone see me back into Mom's truck?"

Alright, take it easy. She got in there on her own. This is no way reflects our parenting skills (or lack thereof). Chase is a social butterfly, he just was having company at his house. Now when we say "Get in your crate" we have to make sure the kid doesn't beat him to the punch.
Jill and Madelyn on Halloween, with our friend Lisa and her nephew Brayden (and Toby the Dog). It's a bit hard to tell, but Maddie was a ladybug. One lady actually thought she was Brayden's "little brother". Is there really a poor boy somewhere whose parents put him in a ladybug costume? I guess there are boy ladybugs, but c'mon... Two Saturdays ago we went up to South Bend for Brian and Sara's wedding. This picture is not from that one, because our camera died after 10 minutes, so it will have to live on in our memories :). Last weekend we went over to St. Louis (Troy, MO actually) for Jay and Kendra's wedding. I was a groomsman, so we took Friday off and stayed over there for the weekend. We had a good time, but I think Maddie had the most fun dancing it up on the floor. Don't ask about the pink vest and tie.

Covered Bridge Festival

2007-10-14T19:47:00.001-07:00

Today we packed up the car and headed down the road to the Covered Bridge Festival. It takes place annually in Parke County, which is on the east side of Indiana, between Terre Haute and Lafayette.

Festival central is in Rockville.

There is a road on the east side of Indianapolis called "Rockville Road". Guess where it goes.

A small town diner in Danville. I would make a Matlock joke here, but I can't think of anything from the Andy Griffith Show.

Jill and Madelyn in front of the covered bridge in Bridgeton. This bridge was actually destroyed by arson a few years ago, but it was rebuilt in 2006. We have another picture from 2001 with Jill sitting in the Jeep in front of the original. I don't know if you can open the picture to enlarge it, but all of the covered bridges have the phrase "Cross This Bridge at a Walk". We did drive the Envoy across two of the bridges in Parke County, one of which was built in the 1860's. I bet they didn't have 4,000 pound SUVs in mind when they designed them, but it held up (a few creaks and groans notwithstanding).

Another shot of the Bridgeton covered bridge. This picture was taken from a window in the Old Mill marked "Best View in Town: FREE". If you look at the mill in the next picture, it was the 3rd window in from the left, 2nd up from the bottom.
The scene in Bridgeton. The festival was all on the south side of the bridge (the far side in the picture), while most of the parking was on the north side, so you walk across the covered bridge to get to the festival.

Good Girl

2007-10-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

Maddie seems to be doing a lot of "talking" these days. She will say no, yea, wow, cheese, chase, momma, dada, and Boiler up (okay maybe not quite that). There is one question that she will answer the same way consistently. Watch this video and see!

Yesterday I went to the store to get groceries. Maddie loves to help put things away, although she usually ends up helping more to unload them!

We are heading over to the Covered Bridge Festival in Rockville. Chuck is in desperate need of a funnel cake and Maddie and I are wanting to get pumpkins! We will put some pictures up when we get back!

Happy Girl

2007-10-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, Maddie is up and walking now, and we recorded a few videos just to put one on here, but for some reason Blogger isn't letting it upload, so we'll keep trying.

Here are a couple recent pictures for everyone. Sorry we haven't updated as frequently, things have been pretty crazy since we both started our new jobs.

Maddie in her favorite (ok, our favorite) PJ's.

Helping me fix the sink. We replaced the original faucet with a nicer one - because the original one was leaking :(

A sign of the times at the Notre Dame/Purdue game last Saturday?

An homage to a portly roommate?

A social commentary to those enjoying litigation?

Maybe all of the above?

Little Miss Cool Pants in her Peyton Manning jersey.

Boiler Up

2007-09-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Madelyn is a happy girl - because it's game day, and her Boilers are playin' tonight. We had to put her to bed before the kickoff (9:00 p.m.), but we let her sleep in the Purdue t-shirt (gotta support the team). As you can tell, she had a fun day getting ready for the game.

At the time of this post, Purdue's ahead of Minnesota, 31 to 17.

Are you ready for some football??

2007-09-09T18:43:00.001-07:00

Maddie is! She has her Peyton Manning jersey AND Purdue jersey ready to go! We had a hard time getting her to hold still for a picture in them, but you can see them here!

Boiler Up!!

Check out the dance Maddie does at the end of this video....She's Too Cute!!

Going to the fair, going to the fair....

2007-09-09T18:27:00.000-07:00

In case you weren't aware..........

Randi, Joe, Rachel and Rebekah made a trip to Indy to go the Indiana State Fair. It was a really fun day and one of the first days in awhile it hadn't been 90 degrees!

Maddie and Rachel always have a good time together.

Maddie, Daddy and Tina

Maddie had the opportunity to get her picture taken with the award winning pumpking. It weighed in at 1,468 pounds. Man, I would hate to carve that one!

Now we can add video!

2007-09-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

We are just experimenting with the video upload a little bit.....

Here's Maddie practicing good dental hygiene.

Man, it has been a long time!!!

2007-09-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long since we have put pictures on here! Hopefully this will satisfy everyone!!

These pictures date back to early August, just before school started. I was able to go and be with Joe and Randi as they brought Rebekah home from the hospital. So tiny she is in her car seat!!

That same week Maddie and I went to do some fun things before it was time for her to go back to daycare full time. This is Maddie making friends in the pool at the YMCA.

We also went downtown to the city market. Maddie left her hat on the whole time and had so much fun seeing all the people and scenery.

It was a bummer to go back to work, but Maddie is glad to be back at daycare with all of her pals!

Welcome to the family Rebekah Mae!

2007-08-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

Chuck, Madelyn and I made a short, but sweet visit to Terre Haute last night to meet our new niece/cousin Rebekah Mae Gormong who was born Friday at 4:04 pm. She came a little early and is only 4 lbs 10 oz, but she is doing great and has been in and out of Randi's room!

Rachel is pretty excited about being a big sister. She did a great job visiting with Rebekah several times with Grammy.

Maddie loves her new cousin! She doesn't quite know how to be gentle yet, but we will work on it.

One Year pictures

2007-07-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

On Maddie's birthday I took her to get her pictures taken. She did awesome, especially since it was nap time! Anyways, here are a few samples of what we had done. You can view all of the pictures by clicking on this link https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0807110471JCP and entering Jill Carnes in the customer name. We ordered quite a few pictures for everyone, so don't order any until you get yours from us!

Happy 1st Birthday Maddie Lou!!

2007-07-13T04:34:00.000-07:00

At 7:47 this morning, Maddie is officially 1 year old! It is so hard to believe, but it has been a wonderful year. To celebrate, we went to South Bend for the last weekend to have birthday parties. We spent Saturday with Chuck's side of the family. It was a hot day, but we made do. We had a cookout and then cake and presents....everyone's favorite photo opportunity!

After that we went for a pontoon ride. As you can see, all the kids (young and old) had a good time!

Sunday we headed to church with Jill's side of the family and then had a cookout at Mammaw's house. Again, it was a lot of fun. Maddie got a little more into the cake smashing, but can you believe that after all this cake smashing, she didn't eat but one bite of it?? I guess that is a good thing that she isn't a sweets lover yet!

Sunday evening Chuck had to leave and go back to Indianapolis to start his new job Monday. I stayed on until Tuesday. Monday I had lunch with Alanna (who I have been friends with since the third grade...that means almost 20 years! Oh my!) After that, Randi, Mammaw, Rachel, Maddie and I went to Battell Park to play in the "shower park". It was fun. Maddie is becoming a water lover and Rachel had a fun time running around!

Monday evening we had dinner with Mom at a favorite local haunt....Doc Pierce's. Yum. It was a great trip and great to see everyone. We hope to do it again soon!

We are getting Maddie's pictures taken this morning, so be sure to check back for some photo previews again!

Zack and Kayla's Stay

2007-07-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

Yo...What's up? (Just thought this was a cute picture)

Zack and Kayla stayed with us from Sunday to Thursday last week. We tried to find lots of fun things to do, but had to reassure them that we aren't always this fun! Or maybe we are......

Sunday we started off by going to an afternoon Indianapolis Indians game downtown. We got lawn seats, packed a cooler and some sunscreen and enjoyed a day at the ballpark! The kids had a good time and the Indians won 8-7 that afternoon.

Monday we went to the zoo. It was a great day there. We went early and were able to see lots of the animals moving around. We first saw the sea lions being fed and then were able to watch an elephant get a bath. We were saving the new Oceans exhibit for last, but the kids were hungry and wanted to leave and come back later (which they later did). We went to lunch at Junkyard Dog's (a great hotdog place by the race track).

Tuesday was a little more uneventful. Chuck and Zack went to play golf with our neighbor Justin and Kayla and I stayed with Maddie while she took a nap. After that, Kayla and I took Maddie on a few errands and Chuck took Zack to the batting cages at Great Times. We all met up for lunch at Chili's (the new golf course). That evening we just hung around the house.

Wednesday was the 4th of July and we spent it doing one of the country's greatest past times....BOWLING! We all did great. The first game was for us girls! I beat Chuck and Kayla beat Zack. It was fun. The boys did get there revenge and eventually beat us, but we will still claim that one victory!
After our bowling, we headed home for some dinner and waited until it was time to go downtown for the Freedom Blast. They launch the fireworks from the top of the Regions Bank Building downtown and put on a great show! We all really enjoyed the show. Maddie even managed to fall asleep during the loud booms!
Unfortunately Thursday came and we had to think about ending the fun. Chuck made good on the promise to take the kids back to the zoo for the Oceans exhibit. They both got the opportunity to touch a shark and see the polar bears up close! It was great. After they came back, we left for South Bend that afternoon.

Where have we been??

2007-07-12T12:24:00.001-07:00

Life has been extremely busy and even a little bit surprising lately. For anyone who isn't aware already, Chuck made a pretty big career move recently. He has left his job of four years with Miebach Logistics and has taken a job with Ryder in Plainfield (just near the airport here in Indy). His last day was June 30th and he took a week off before starting his new job this past Monday.

So, during that week, we had Chris, Brandi, Zack and Kayla down. They came on Friday the 30th and we drove to Owensboro, KY to spend the night before a big day at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. Chuck was in heaven as soon as he found out they had a Funnel Cake Factory there in addition to the free soda. The boys started out the day on a big wooden roller coaster, but then we spent most of the day in the water park.

Even Maddie enjoyed it!

After a long day at Holiday World we drove back to Indy. Chris and Brandi left Sunday,while Zack and Kayla stayed for some Indianapolis Fun!

Baseball Games, Bloomginton, and Swimming

2007-06-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to two Indianapolis Indians baseball games at Victory Field downtown. The Indians are the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They lost the game Tuesday, but Thursday they fared a little better, and were winning 8-3 when we left in the 8th inning. On Tuesday it was just the 3 of us, but on Thursday we went with our friends Dustin and Shayla. Maddie's not exactly a baseball fan yet, but she does enjoy crawling around the grass in the outfield lawn area.

Maddie's first time swimming was at our friends' Stacey and Brad's house. It was Jill's 4th beginning-of-summer teacher party. She did well in the pool there, maybe because the water was nice and warm.

We went down to Bloomington Saturday morning to check out the Farmer's Market. We were impressed by the town in general, seems like a nice place - even if it is the home of the Indiana Hoosiers. The Farmer's Market really wasn't anything to get excited about, being the expert on Farmer's Markets that I am...

We also tried to take Maddie swimming at the Y, but apparently she thought that the water should be as warm as the bathtub water she's used to. That didn't fly. Every time some kid ran by and splashed water on her, she cried until we took her out of the pool. Hopefully it doesn't end up being one of those traumatic experiences :) Keep trying, I guess.

A Visit from Randy, Meredithe, and Brenna

2007-06-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Randy, Meredithe, and Brenna made the trip to Indy from South Bend. They got here around noon Saturday, and the first order of business was to head up to the Indianapolis Zoo. It was amazing to see how much Brenna has grown up since we last saw her. She had to let us know that she saw "Horsies and Cows and more Horsies" on their way here.

First things first, we had to get the girls all changed and covered in sunscreen (it was a hot, sunny day).Brenna and Maddie had some time to bond. Too cute.

Randy was begging to ride the carousel, so we had to let him. Oh, and Brenna went too.

We all had a great time, and hopefully we'll be able to do it again soon.

The many faces of Maddie Lou!

2007-05-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Recently Maddie has learned a new trick....she is pulling up and standing at different items. Seems like she will be "cruising" pretty soon!

I am sure you are all used to seeing this happy, smiling face by now. She wears a smile almost every day and we are so happy that is the case.

However, on occasion (and more often than we would like lately), we are seeing this face. She does this if she wants something or you have taken something from her. It is accompanied by a fake cry/laugh. Unfortunately it is still the cutest thing in the world!

The Queen City

2007-05-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend we packed up the car to head down to our friends' Terri and Joe's wedding in Cincinnati. We stayed at the Millenium Hotel in downtown Cincinnati, which Jill had booked through Priceline. Maddie really liked the view from the 12th floor, and you could even see the festivities for the Taste of Cincinnati going on below. The wedding wasn't until 6:30, so we went down to the street to sample some of the city's cuisine. My first instinct was to find a funnel cake, but apparently it's not a Cincy specialty. Oh well.

The wedding was fun, we saw some old Purdue friends. Joe was a classmate of mine in Industrial Engineering, and Terri was one of Jill's neighbors. Unfortunately the camera was having some issues during the wedding and reception, so we don't have any pictures from that :(

The camera was working again on Sunday, so were able to get some pictures of our trip to Madison, Indiana. It's a cool riverside town on the Ohio River, and they were having an outdoor art show on Sunday, but most importantly...they had funnel cakes (not just an art show afterall...). Originally we had planned to watch the Cincinnati Reds play the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it was 85 degrees and sunny, and we figured it was too much for Maddie. So, we did some extra driving to see the little town of Madison. We checked out some southern Indiana art, but there was one piece that stood out among the rest of the exhibits... The only question is, who gets it for Christmas?

Recap of Days 3, 4, and 5 in Europe

2007-05-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - Munich

Day 3 was a full day in one city - Munich. Home of BMW and the 1972 Olympics. We watched a movie called "Munich", and it wasn't really pleasant (kidnapping and terrorism), so we were hoping our time there would be a tad more peaceful.

The day began with us getting up at the hotel, walking a half block to the subway station, having a bratwurst for breakfast, and going to the Deutsches Museum, a "Smithsonian-like" museum devoted entirely to science and technology. Nerd heaven! Jill was dragging a bit in the museum, after perusing exhibits devoted to engines and boating, but once we arrived at the hands-on physics displays, I practically had to drag her out of there. We all like to play, I suppose :)

Next on the agenda was a trip to OlympiaPark and the BMW Museum (adjacent to BMW world headquarters and one of their major manufacturing operations). A BMW shareholder meeting was being held in one of the great OlympiaPark structures. Those buildings are like no others I have ever seen.

After arriving back downtown, we went to the Viktualien Markt - something like a German farmers' market. After that, it was some pretzels and beers (c'mon, it's Munich!). By the way, I should mention that Munich was very clean and nice, a picture perfect European city.

Day 4 - Munich and London

We woke up on Day 4, boarded the train to the Franz Joseph Strauss airport in Munich (way out of town!), and boarded our EasyJet flight to London, England. The flight was only about $20 each - not a bad deal. With Germany's gasoline rate of $6.50 per gallon, renting a car to make the trip was pretty much out of the question (I guess you'd never drive from Munich to London anyway, just wanted to make that point).

We arrived at London's Stansted airport around noon, and took the train into downtown, near our hotel. Right away we could tell everything in London was much older than it's Munich counterparts (buildings, subway and express trains, etc.). Also, there are no trash (rubbish) cans in London. We had to be creative later on to find a home for our Burger King rubbish in the train station, because there aren't any trash cans there. Can you imagine a train station with no trash cans? Ok, enough about that.

London may not have trash cans, new trains, or old-school European buildings, but it does a bunch of really great tourist attractions - that even us Hoosiers have heard of. We checked into the hotel, grabbed our London street map and walked over to Buckingham Palace. It was really impressive, from the golden gates, to the trotting guards on horseback. We then walked over to see Parliament, Big Ben ("...look kids, Big Ben, Parliament..."), and went for a tour of Westminster Abbey. England's most famous are entombed (or just immortalized) here with intricate statues and crypts. In fact, contrary to our previous opinion, there isn't really much room in the middle of the church for a typical service, maybe only enough for 50 people or so, due to the fact that so much of the church is taken up with statues and memorials. We saw the final resting place of many an English King and Queen, as well as that of Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens.

After seeing the Abbey, we rode the London Eye - a 450 foot tall ferris wheel hanging over the River Thames. It was originally built for the celebration of the passing of the millenium, but it was so popular that is has remained indefinitely. After the Eye "flight", it was on to the hotel, for some fish 'n chips (fish that still had skin on it - under the breading???) and some rest.

Day 5 - London (Jill's Birthday)

Our full day in London began with a traditional English breakfast of salty bacon, a fried egg, and baked beans (it was the free hotel breakfast). We probably gained 5 pounds eating German food, and lost it choking down English food.

We started off at the Tower of London, so we took the underground (or "The Tube", as they call it) in morning rush hour traffic to get there. My cousin had previously lived in London, and it was his advice to go very early to the Tower, because most tourists go later in the day. He was exactly right, because the entire castle was nearly empty until right about when we were leaving. While there we saw the history of the Tower, and of course the famous Crown Jewels.

From the Tower of London, we took the train over to Notting Hill to find something for Jill's birthday lunch. After searching for 30 minutes, we ended up at a Pizza Hut. We're ashamed of this, but trust me - it was the only option (and it gets worse later, I'm afraid). After leaving the Hut, we went to see some foreign embassies, and to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace (as the sign put it "...former home of Kings, Queens, and Diana, Princess of Wales"). They love Diana in the UK.

We walked through Hyde park, and strolled our way over to the famous department store Harrod's. It's owned by the family of Dodi Al Fayed, who was killed in the same accident as Princess Diana, and there are a few "shrines" dedicated to the couple throughout the store. This place was really neat, and we even found a Paddington Bear for Maddie there (which we probably should have bought in Paddington, which was only 2 tube stations away).

After leaving Harrod's, we had our obligatory London cab ride to the hotel, and got ready for Jill's birthday present - our trip to see Wicked - the show about the secret history of the Witches of Oz. It was a great show, but unfortunately we could only get a picture of the outside of the theater :(

On Day 6 we came home, got delayed for 5 hours in Charlotte, but finally made it to Terre Haute, to see family and our little one. Then today we came back to Indy, and it's just been truly great to be back in our own house.

Thanks for checking us out.

Greetings from Europe - Recap of Days 1 and 2

2007-05-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

As you most likely know, Jill and I are currently on "the other side of the pond" over in Europe.

My company, Miebach Logistics, has an Annual Meeting for all the global offices to come together and discuss how things are going, to review some installed client projects, and to have some fun. Our company has 15 offices in Germany, Poland, Spain, India, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, and of course, USA. We toured the main spare parts center for Volkswagen, as well as the pharma company Boehringer Ingelheim. The meeting is in Frankfurt, Germany (where Miebach's headquarters are located), and I came over last Tuesday. Here's a couple pictures from the proceedings.

Day 1 - Jill arrives in Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Maikammer

Jill joined me in Frankfurt on Sunday morning, and our friends Michael and Sibylle picked us up. They live with their 3 kids in Maikammer, Germany. Michael works in Chur, Switzerland, for the Wurth Group, but he used to work in Indianapolis with us at Miebach. We spent Sunday with them, and went to see Heidelberg Schloss (castle). We went out for dinner in their hometown, to have some food typical to their region (Rhineland Pfalz) - Germany's wine country. Forgot to mention - their next door neighbors are owner-operators of a winery, producing a variety of white and red wines. We stopped over to visit with them and had a chance to do some tasting :)

Day 2 - Strasbourg and Munich

Monday was spent touring Strasbourg, France with Michael and Sibylle. We checked out the Notre Dame Cathedral and had some French cuisine for lunch. It rained while we were there, but we made the most of it by putting up the umbrella, and forging ahead. In the afternoon we found our train to Munich - at the Karlsruhe (Germany) Hauptbahnhof (main station). The ride was quiet and smooth, and we arrived in Munich around 8:00 p.m. After checking into the hotel, we strolled down to the Marienplatz, to see the famous Glockenspiel. We then went down to the Hofbrauhaus to try some beer and pretzels, to wind down after a tiring day.

By the way, check out www.gormong.blogspot.com to see what our girl Maddie's been up to. We'll post the remaining days ASAP.

What a Weekend

2007-04-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

We are at the close of a very nice weekend. The weather was perfect, the baby was happy, and we got to see our friends. What more can you ask for? Our friends Jay, Kendra and their daughter Hailey came over from Springfield, Illinois, and we met up with them and Brad, Stacey, and their son Brayden at the Indianpolis Zoo.

Maddie and Daddy outside at our house - enjoying the sunshine.

Maddie and Mommy at the Zoo. Check out the expression on Madelyn's face. I'm thinking it says, "let's get on with it!" She loves a stroller ride, but I'm not sure she really picked up on the animals. Doesn't matter though, it was still fun.

QUESTION: What's the best type of bear?

ANSWER: This one.

Hangin' out in the trees with the Red Pandas. Sleeping in a tree on a nice day...what could be better?

Ah yes, that's better than sleeping in a tree. Maddie doing her best Red Panda impression. Talk about "Partied Out."

Thanks for checking in with us, have a good week. Oh, and by the way, Purdue Defensive End Anthony Spencer was taken in the first round of the NFL Draft yesterday. It was Purdue's first 1st-Round draft pick since Rod Woodson in 1987.

Go Purdue!

2007-04-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

Today we took advantage of the nice weather and hit the road to go up to West Lafayette and check out the Purdue Spring Game. The conclusion of each spring's football practices is marked by this game, used by the coaches to gauge the team's progress, and by the fans to decide what to bicker about on the team message boards. Due to the rampant injuries, the coaches decided to have a controlled scrimmage instead of an actual game, so we only stayed for about 45 minutes.

After the game we took advantage of the nice weather and spent some time walking around campus. It was a picture perfect day to be outside. It's hard to believe that only 5 years ago Jill and were still in school here, without any idea of what it would be like to be a parent.
University Hall at Purdue. This is the oldest building on campus, and also the "tallest". Rumor has it that University law states no building on campus can be built taller, so when they constructed the adjacent Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education (Jill's former building) they had to somehow designate the top floor as being in a separate ZIP code (and supposedly the Math Building is on stilts to make it a "bridge" instead of a building).
The Spring Game is all about convenience. When you come to any Big Ten football game you know parking and access will be an issue. The Spring Game allows free admittance and parking right by the stadium. We were able to find this spot only about 15 minutes before the game began. That's the new press box in the background.

Thanks for checking in with us.

Hello and Happy Belated Easter!

2007-04-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

This is more of a written update, rather than pictures, but they are all good, right?

We hope everyone had a great Easter. We spent our first holiday in Indy this weekend. We have designated Easter our "Indy Holiday" and we really had a nice day! My Purdue roommates, Cara and Christa, and Christa's fiance, Keith, came to join us for lunch. It was a super nice day being all together.

Maddie surprised us this weekend with a few new things she can do! She has the sweetest little wave now. She holds her arm straight out and just waves her fingers up and down. She also started saying Mama. Not to me, but just in her babble. This was a pretty big step!

Today Madelyn was in for her 9 month check-up and the doctor was really pleased with Maddie's progress. She is completely "average" with a weight of 18 pounds and 15 ounces and height of 28 inches. She is doing more and more crawling every day and if we ever figure out how to do video on here, you can see for yourself!

Chuck and I are doing well. After our trip we are just trying to adjust to being back at work. Only four and a half weeks until our trip to Europe, so that is something to look forward to. For those of you that don't know, Chuck is going to Frankfurt, Germany for his company's meeting on the 8th of May. I will be leaving Maddie with Aunt Randi and Uncle Joe on the 11th and flying out on the 12th. We will be visiting some friends near France and then going to Munich for two nights. We will then fly to London for two more nights and returning to Indy on the 18th of May. We are super excited! Now that will be a birthday for me to remember.

Okay, so enough of the update. I will throw some of our favorite pictures in just for those of you sitting there saying "Where are pictures of these completely awesome people??" Hope everyone is doing well and thanks for checking in on us!

Maddie tried to help decorate the eggs, but would rather eat them!

An outfit from Grammy (Shinevar). She also has her beany lamb from her Easter basket from Mommy and Daddy. At this age, it is hard to find stuff for the basket!!

A spring dress from Grandma (Carnes).

An outfit from Grandpa Shin and Roberta. She wore this Monday. You can't see it really good in the picture, but it has a "backpack" on it with a real pocket. Still not sure what to store in there.......

Washington D.C. - April 1st and 2nd, 2007

2007-04-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm sure anyone who checks our blog frequently knows that we're on vacation with Randi, Joe, and Rachel. We took off from Indy on Saturday morning at 5:12 a.m., and after stopping so Miss Rachel could "leave her mark" on Ohio and Pennsylvania (motion sickness), we ended up arriving at our hotel in Gaithersburg, Maryland at 5:10 p.m., just shy of 12 hours. Jill drove the red-eye leg of the journey, handing over the wheel after breakfast in Columbus, Ohio. We got some weird looks in our Purdue gear at the local Cracker Barrel. The trip was happily uneventful, and it was fun to drive through some of the Appalachian foothills.

After spending the first night at the room, we got up on Day 2 and drove down to Arlington, Virginia, to hook up with my cousin David and his family. They were nice enough to act as our D.C. "tour guides", and we all headed over to the city - 3 babies in tow. Madelyn was happy to meet Jake, Chang and David, and Rachel had a good time exploring their condo in Arlington. The picture above is obviously taken in front of the White House, on the Pennsylvania Avenue side.

On Day 2 we saw DuPont Circle, the White House, the Treasury Department (and many other Departments), the Blair House (official guest house for visiting heads of state), the Ellipse, the Washington Monument, the World War 2 Monument the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the World War 1 Memorial, the Cherry Blossoms along the Tidal Basin, and the Jefferson Memorial.
The Cherry Blossoms were nearly in peak bloom, which was a lucky break for us considering they can be there as early as mid-March, and as late as late-April. One look and you can understand why this is a special time for the city to celebrate these 3,000 trees donated by the Japanese government. The picture above is David Ellison, his wife Chang, son Jacob, and myself, Jill, and Maddie.
Maddie liked all the monuments and open space of the Mall. Our first day was a little cool, so she had to leave her jacket on all day, but I think she had fun. In this picture she's parked in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the West side of the Mall.
Mommy and Maddie in front of a blossoming Cherry tree. The Washington Monument is just over Jill's left shoulder (it seems to pop up in every picture:).

Day 3 weather was considerably better than Day 2. We all had short sleeves and got some sun (the girls had SPF 60). We did a LOT of walking today, and I'm pretty beat as I type this post from all of it, but it was definitely worth it. We saw the Smithsonian "castle", the Mall, the National Gallery of Art, the National Archives, the National Air and Space Museum, the Capitol Building (above), and Union Station.

Since the American History Museum was closed for renovations, some of the most popular exhibits were in the Air and Space. These included Dorothy's shoes from The Wizard of Oz, the hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing at Ford's Theater, Thomas Edison's first demonstration light bulb, Alexander Graham Bell's first phone, and Jerry Seinfeld's puffy shirt. I was most impressed by the Air and Space exhibit on the Wright brothers. Their original Wright Flyer is on display - hard to believe that the original has survived to this day. Also on display was the Spirit of St. Louis and WW2 fighters from the U.S., Japan, Italy, Germany, and the U.K.

"The Thinker" was on display inside the National Gallery of Art, as were many paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, and Renoir. Great success!

Maddie playing with Daddy in the Mall. It was a perfect day to be outside. We spent some time laying in the grass relaxing in the beautiful weather. Madelyn found some chocolate in the grass, and decided to sit in it. Savages in this town...
Rachel was very willing to help, as always, as you can see here. Although in this shot, I think she was testing Aunt Jill's patience :) She had a really great day exploring and seeing lots of new things. I asked her if she saw the big Capitol Building down the Mall, and she said, "Yeah...look, a rock!" Ah, being two.
The girls with the girls in front of the Smithsonian Castle (administration building). They have a nice garden area south of the building.
Maddie had a chance to get acquainted with Jacob at David & Chang's house in Arlington. They played well together, since they're within a few months in age.

Thanks for checking in with us. It's been a fun trip to far, and we're off to Hershey, Pennsylvania tomorrow, to learn how chocolate is made and maybe sample some if we're lucky. I'm scared of the Chocolate River, but maybe that's just fictional...

Ready for Summer

2007-03-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful day in Indy. We got up to about 78 degrees today and sunny! Maddie and I spent some time outside waiting for Chuck to get home. We got her a new sun hat and some sunglasses. She really didn't mind the sunglasses! We played for a half an hour and she didn't try to take them off. We can't wait until this weather is here to stay!!

Last weekend

2007-03-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Friday we went downtown and had dinner at Girogio's Pizza. It was nice out, so we walked around for a little while. Here are a cute pic of Madelyn (they are all cute, though, aren't they?)

Saturday Maddie went and stayed with Uncle Joe, Aunt Randi and Cousin Rachel. She spent the night there and Chuck and I headed to The Dutch Mill in Logansport for a surprise (30th) birthday party for our friend Stacey.

It was a fun evening...I even did karaoke for the first time (with the others, of course).

Nothing beats Chuck's rendition of Back in Black. It was way better than AC/DC's version.

"The Teachers"

A trip to Cincinnati

2007-03-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in March we went to go see our friends, Joe and Terri. They just recently moved back to Ohio from South Carolina and are getting married in May!

We had a "day o' fun" in Cincinnati. We started off the day by going down to the Newport Aquarium, which was in Kentucky.

It was a cold and windy day, but we didn't let that stop us.

Maddie enjoyed looking at the shark tank with her Daddy. She really looked around a lot when we were there.

After the aquarium, we walked around the mall on the river walk. There Joe and Chuck played some video games.

The final stop on our tour was a grocery store. Now, I know this sounds like a dumb thing to do, but you have got to go to Jungle Jim's if you are ever in the Cincinnati area. They have everything and I DO mean everything. Check out what Chuck found there.

Finally, the "Award Winning Bathrooms". When you open these doors, they lead to some beautiful and normal bathrooms. Pretty clever, though,eh?

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

I have had the pleasure of having two days off of school thanks to the snow, ice and wind that hit Indy late Monday night. Chuck was home yesterday with us, but had to go into work today. Normally snow isn't this exciting, but to give you an idea, this is the largest snow fall (9 inches) in one day that we have had since 1919 (4 inches).

Chuck had to shovel out a spot for Chase to "do his business". He stands there and then jumps on top of the snow and does it. We never said he was the smartest dog ever!

Maddie and Chase have been playing together a lot more. He is really good with her; even when she pulls his tongue or fur. Too cute!

Maddie is all dressed for her first Valentine's Day. She got some new bath toys from Mommy and Daddy for the big day!

Entrepreneurships in Central Indiana

2007-02-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

Big news people. I hope you're sitting down. But you are using the computer, so there's a good chance you already are sitting. I had to tell you just in case, because this...is...big...

I have decided to start my own business. I have quit my job as an engineer. I'm thinking about starting small. Maybe just a small town market, on the southwest side of Indianapolis. I think it would be best to find an old building and try to focus on sales of groceries, produce, plants, and fruit baskets. I'm told its a good idea to have a propane exchange, to make sure to bring in the grilling crowd. I have already rented out the site and put up the sign, and will kick things off on a high note with a special on Colby cheese for $2.99/lb... Who wants a T-Shirt?

Actually, I'm not the only who has quit their job and started a new career. Jill is no longer a teacher. She has left IPS to open a downtown bar called Jillians - a place to "Eat, Drink, and Play". Sounds like a nice place. As you can see below - she has already opened her business as well. Her sign is nicer than mine. It lights up.
This spirit of entrepreneurship most likely came from my mom's side of the family. Back in 1934 they left South Bend with only $300 in a Conestoga wagon and headed South to open the Greenwood Park Mall. You may have guessed before that this mall was named after the city of Greenwood. It's not.
Not be left out in the furry cold, the dog may have had the grandest ambitions of all. He has decided, not surprisingly, to open his own bank. It's called Chase Bank (how creative). Since we first brought him home from Martinsville, you could see that little twinkle in his eye. He's always been interested in money, I wish I could count the times I've come home early only to find him sifting through my wallet. We also have a sneaking suspicion that he's running a late-night poker game with other neighborhood dogs, why else would he have to go outside 45 times a night? Now he has a place to put all his cash. Good dog.
In a surprising move, Jill's Dad has decided to move down to Indianapolis. We originally thought it was to be closer to Randi and Jill and the kids, but apparently there were grander ambitions involved. He bought a local carwash chain, and will run it with the new motto - "Car Washes so Fast You'll Freeze". That's just the winter slogan.
There can be some contentious times at B.C. Welding up in Granger. In an unprecedented partnership, Dad and Randy have decided to move down to Indianapolis to focus on their working relationship. How better to come together than over piles of man-hair? This is next door to Chase's grooming place. Check the shears for fur.
The Gormongs, not wanting to be left out in the cold, have decided to come to Indy to join in the fun. Joe is known for his skill behind the coals, and Randi is quite the pool shark, so it only seemed the natural combination when they decided to open Joe's Grille, a pool hall with a great selection of Terre Haute's finest grilled meats.

In perhaps the most interesting of entrepreneurial moves, Roberta has also come to Indianapolis start her own dentistry practice. Here in Indy, every dentist's office has to have the doctor's name, followed by "Vote DDS", of course signifying their support of Article 342 of the Indiana State Code (the right to bear air-drills). Unfortunately though, "Roberta" was already taken for a dentistry practice name, so she had to settle for "RobertB", in order to be next in the phone book listings. Check out her office below.

Colts Win!

2007-02-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

1 week ago our Colts faced the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl in Miami. It was the first Super Bowl for Indianapolis, and the entire city was going crazy for the game, and our friends invited us over to watch it. Unfortunately we couldn't all make it. While Jill and Madelyn were going over to our friends place to watch the big game (and big win), I was going to Indianapolis International to head up to Toronto for a work trip. We had set it up back in mid-January, when we thought Peyton Manning and our Colts were only another postseason choke-job away from going home early. As we all now know, that didn't happen this year. This year not only did the Colts, our home team make the Super Bowl, but even more amazingly the Bears made it too.
Jill taped the game for me on the DVR, so I had a chance to watch it once I got back home from Canada on Tuesday (we got snowed in Monday night), including all of the commercials (I liked the one with Carlos Mencia, teaching the ESL guys how to ask for a Bud Light).
The city did a good job of decorating the dome and elsewhere. Every one of the big buildings downtown was adorned with the Colts horseshoe, Super Bowl Champs, or other gear.
Lucas Oil Stadium. Couldn't be Lucas Field, or Lucas Stadium. Lucas Oil Stadium. Oil. Indiana. Those go hand-in-hand. Regardless of the corporate-purchased name, the new Colts stadium is currently under construction and will be ready for the 2008 football season.

Family Pictures

2007-02-01T17:53:00.000-08:00

We went this weekend to JC Penney for Madelyn's 6 month pictures as well as our family pictures. You can click on this link to see them all https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0807108448JCP. Just enter "Jill Carnes" in the customer name. We get them back on the 10th and will get them to you all soon after! For now, here is a preview:

I'm a big girl now!

2007-02-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

This past week has brought a couple of fun things for Maddie. She has gotten to be too big for her tub bath, but not quite big enough for the seat it converts into. We got her this neat seat that she seems to really enjoy! She tried to play with the couple of toys we gave her. Guess it is time to get her some more toys!

It is about time for Maddie to start learning how to use a sippy cup. We tried it the other day and she proved to not quite be ready for it. She did okay for a sip and then wanted to just play with it. We will keep trying!

January 13, 2007 - 6 Months Old!!!

2007-01-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

The past six months have really flown by! Our little girl is doing so much now. On the 11th she was finally able to make it from her back to her stomach. She gets so excited that she ends up on her back again. Madelyn and I went for her 6 month check-up today. She is now 15 lbs. 10 oz. and 27 ¼ inches “tall”, as her daddy likes to say. The doctor was happy with her progress, as we all are!

Chuck and I have been doing the crossword from the paper together each evening (being the dorks that we are). This particular time we had to have Maddie give us a hand. She was really into it!

Just a few more pics from Christmas

2007-01-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

I thought we should post a few more pictures from Christmas because Chuck left out my FAVORITE picture of my two special people.

Here is a picture of just half of the Carnes grandkids! Cute aren't they?

For Chuck's 27th birthday we hit some of South Bend's finest attractions. We started off the day with lunch at Barnaby's and then went to the South Bend Chocolate Company for their awesome, but heavily un-guarded tour.

We then went bowling at Regal lanes with Jason, Chuck's parents, his brother Chris and his family as well as my cousins Steven and Kelsey from Arkansas. For those of you that bowled with us, I apologize for Kelsey's inability to put down her cell phone!

The next stop on our tour was dinner at Hacienda for dinner with several of our friends and family. As you can see Maddie was really into Daddy's sombraro.

The final stops on the tour were "The Buns" and Coach's (I know it has a new name, but no one seems to want to admit that!)

It was fun to meet up with old friends and new.....Check out Chuck's new pal.

This Just In - Kicking off 2007

2007-01-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

This is our daughter, during a "Daddy Feeding". You can see that I have to work on my technique a bit, because it is apparent that the majority of the sweet potatoes end up on the bib. I happen to think this is a really cute picture, but I guess we are supposed to making sure Madelyn gets some nutrition out of her feedings, so we'll keep trying I guess...

This is Madelyn and Pop, at their house in Elkhart. It's not often that Dad can actually out-smile someone in a photo, but congratulations kid, he's done it with you.
Ok, so the pictures are completely out of chronological order, but it's not the order that counts, it's that we put in the good pictures and say some stuff about them. This is Alanna, Maya, and Madelyn at their house in Mishawaka.
Pap and Madelyn hanging out on the grandma-couch (Jill's words, not mine :). It appears that she's saying "come get me", but actually she's trying to show Pap how big she is by waving her arms in tight circles. She learned this from watching late night Richard Simmons infomercials with her father. Talk about out of order. This is the fateful feeding, just before the top picture. I tell people she likes sweet potatoes, but maybe I just like giving them to her. She likes to spit them everywhere. Jill has more luck with this. Maybe it's not luck...
Ah - the look of Christmas excitement in the face of your child, it's beautiful. Madelyn was lucky enough to get this "gumball" machine twice, once at the McKee Christmas (shown here), and once at the Carnes Christmas. She likes the gumball machine since it lights up and makes noise. It's fun to watch her discover new sounds and objects.

We can't believe she is going to be 6 months old next Saturday - the time sure does fly by.

Well, thanks for checking in with us - please leave a comment if you have time - it's a fun way for us to see how everyone's doing.

Friday, December 15th

2006-12-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went up to the best New York pizza joint in town. It's Giorgio's, and it's located on the circle in downtown Indianapolis. This picture (above) is the Randi, Jill, Madelyn and Rachel walking down Market St. to the pizzeria. Joe and I were in charge of photography, so it looked like the paparazzi was there. I think the girls liked the attention :)
This is the view (looking west down Market St.) of the Indiana Capitol from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis.
Maddie was happy to tour the circle and check out the "World's Tallest Christmas Tree". It was a little cold, but we all had a good time, and of course had to stop off at the South Bend Chocolate Company for a shake before we went back home. I guess it just reminds us of our former home...
Joe and Rachel on their way to see the reindeer outside the Hilbert Circle Theatre (it's where the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performs). Yes, the reindeer are real. They always have two of them on display outside the theatre while their Christmas show is going on.
This is the monument, all lit up. 2 weeks ago we went downtown with our friends to see all the decorations, but some of them had been damaged in a windstorm, and none of the lights were on.

Sunday - December 10th

2006-12-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday, December 10th. We are fully into the holiday spirit now. The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care, and are even being filled with goodies.

The Colts are on TV, but unfortunately they don't look real good today. Jill has made about 300 Christmas cookies, and I have eaten about 30 of them already (that's 10%, but what percent is remaining? What percentage of the remaining cookies have I eaten if I eat another 30?). Sorry about that, I took the GMAT test last weekend, and I now have story problems stuck in my brain.

We haven't posted pictures in a while, which you have no doubt noticed if you check the site often. In the past few weeks our baby has had an ear infection, so we're all fighting to get through that. She has been feeling better lately, though.

These pictures are from last night - we were trying on our Christmas wardrobe. Well, Madelyn was trying on her wardrobe, we were just helping :) I personally like the diaper look, but it will be cold outside, so it's probably not the best fashion choice.

This is Maddie's new favorite pose while on the ground. She has a hold of her feet at all times. She even had her left foot in her mouth yesterday. I had seen pictures of babies doing this, but Maddie hadn't done it yet, so that was pretty cool.

Maddie and Mommy before bathtime. You can see from her expression that Madelyn was kind of skeptical of this whole bath thing...

Check out the enthusiasm. Somebody's excited about getting her picture taken.

You gotta love it.

Thanks for checking in with us.

November 19, 2006 - First Solid Food

2006-11-19T18:16:00.000-08:00

Last week Maddie had her 4-month visit with the pediatrician. She measured 13.1 pounds, and 25 inches tall. That put her in the 40th percentile for weight, and the 90th percentile for height. Our kid is tall and skinny :) What could've predicted that? Seriously though, the good part is that she is showing steady growth, and her head circumference is on track as well (75th percentile), so her brain seems to be growing steadily as well. The reason for this post, and for mentioning the Dr. visit, is that she will now start trying "solid" foods. I put that in quotes because infant-formula rice cereal is about as solid as goose poop through a screen door (that one's for you, Dad). It's not exactly Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

Here we are mid-feeding. Notice the "this tastes great" expression she is making. Looks more like some kind of punishment. The Doc said that we're not trying to get her to take many calories this way, it's more to get her used to eating from a spoon. There were some frightened looks, but no crying, so we considered this a success.

Here we are post-feeding, all cleaned up and smiling at Mom from the high-chair. You might be able to see that her hair is starting to come in up top. Can you see it? Ok, so maybe you have to see it in person, but it's really coming out more and more. Really.

A Few Cute Pictures

2006-11-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

Thought everyone would enjoy some new pictures! We went to Chicago last weekend, but much to everyone's surprise, we didn't take that many pictures! We went up on Friday night and stayed in Schaumburg. In the morning we went to Lou Mitchell's (one of Chicago's best breakfast places). We got there early (or at least what we thought would be early) and there was already a line out the door. Luckily it moved quickly. While you wait in line they bring you fresh, homemade doughnut holes!

All three of us had our breakfast at Lou Mitchell's, but Maddie decided to have her lunch break at Water Tower Place.

The rest of these are random pictures, but still cute!

She will put anything in her mouth!

Who can resist that smile??

Maddie in her robe after her bath.

Happy Halloween!

2006-11-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Maddie's first Halloween. She did her part in greeting the neighborhood kids at the door. We ventured out to say hello to the Dees family across the street (future babysitters, we hope!) as well as Justin next door. By that time she had fallen asleep. That's okay...no sugar for her this year!
We gave her high chair a try and she liked sitting with us while we ate!

This is a pair of Halloween jammies that Roberta got her way back in March. They fit perfectly!!
The girl loves her candy!

October 21, 2006

2006-10-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

Maddie stole her Mommy's candy. She's got a good grip on that thing, but we thought it may be a little early to let her eat it. She'd probably be up for a week straight with that sugar injection, but the good part is that she doesn't have any teeth to ruin.
Breakfast Club is a great tradition at Purdue. You see, the kiddies get up early and go to have some drinks, but the best part is the outfits. It's an understood tradition that costumes are necessary. Here we have the best costume I've seen to date. A.C. Slater. He had the Jeri Curl, the cutoff Bayside jersey, and of course stone-washed jeans.
Way to represent.
Rachel showed Gran what a good little builder she is. Future Purdue engineer? Keep an open mind Gormongs...:)
Boiler Up! The girls were ready to cheer on the Boilermakers, but apparently it didn't work. Jill and I went up to West Lafayette, and the game was pretty ugly...
Maddie and Pap on the couch together. She got to spend some serious quality time with everyone.

Just hangin' out with the kiddies.

Pictures from Shannon - Ann Arbor - September 9th

2006-10-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

Back in September we went up to Ann Arbor to go to Jason and Meredith's wedding. I just got these pictures from Shannon (he was having some camera issues), so I'm posting them now. Here's Shannon and Amie at the reception...

Here's the family-unit.She's not exactly flower-girl material yet, but Maddie still had a good time (we think?). I really like the above picture of our family, since it's pretty unusual that we're all dressed up at the same time. Usually it's a Purdue t-shirt and a onesie, although I think I'm growing out of my onesie...
Here's a nice picture of the newlyweds. It was a great time, and we all had fun. Unfortunately the outdoor wedding was a bit interesting as the sprinklers in the Union's courtyard came on about 10 minutes before Meredith came down the aisle. Luckily they got the water turned off and the ceremony went off without a hitch.

What have we been doing???

2006-10-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

It seems like each day brings new craziness! We have tried to stay on top of this thing, but it has been difficult. I figured I would put some pictures on to kind of update you all on what we have been up to. Unfortunately, it hasn't been too much!

Maddie and I went to have lunch with Daddy on Tuesday. This is her in her carseat. I had just asked her if she was ready to go see Daddy. I guess she was! She has been in a really good mood (and so have Chuck and I) because she has been sleeping almost 10 hours at night! She goes down between 10 and 11 and is up about 8! It certainly makes for very happy parents!

Last weekend Pop and Grandma came for a visit. We spent Saturday morning at the Indiana Fall Boat and RV show. Maddie loved it so much that she slept the entire time! After that, it was home to watch Purdue lose to Notre Dame (but hey, they are still 4-1). Maddie was finally able to wear her Purdue shirt. It was a little big, but that's okay, it is the spirit that counts! Boiler Up!

Tummy Time

2006-09-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

Each day Maddie spends some time on her tummy. She is now rolling over from her stomach to her back. By looking at this picture, you would think she really enjoys tummy time!!

Maddie got a new swing today. Now she has one that can travel with her. She seems to really like it!