Happy 2nd Birthday Princess Madelyn

We've been celebrating all week it feels like but today is Madelyn's birthday. We had two other Mom's of twins over for a playdate today to celebrate - B/G twins a little bit older (2 1/2) and B/B baby twins. Madelyn LOVED the babies. She wanted to hold them, poke their eyes out, hug and kiss and I'm sure that mom loved Madelyn's snot getting on her boys. The photo is me holding a cupcake, trying to keep the boys out of the candles while trying to get a photo of Madelyn blowing out the candles without touching them. This is called talent!!! The first time Andrew blew out the candles so I had to light them again b/c Madelyn was very upset. She eventually got each one blown out.

This evening Madelyn and I got to go on a mother/daughter shopping spree for her birthday. I heard about some good sales at The Children's Place outlet so off we went. I love that store. Where else can you buy new clothes that are stylish for youngster's for a couple bucks each PLUS get 20% for the birthday month? Most items were $2 and $3 each. I got all four kids some clothes, 2 bags full, for about $60. Madelyn and I had lunch in the food court and watched the Merry-Go-Round. She didn't act like she wanted to ride (and I'm not starting with rides yet b/c each time we go I'll get whines about riding if I don't let them ride everytime we go) but she loved watching the horses go up and down. We walked around the mall, in and out a few stores, and back to The Children's Place b/c I just love that store. We met a family that looked like ours (except they are African American) - 7 yo son, 3 yo twin sons, and a 2 yo daughter. The girls played together while we waited in line at the register. Those were the only twins I saw but I saw three other mom's of twins I know in that store shopping that were shopping alone. For anyone that has many kids, that's the place to go to rack up on inexpensive clothing.

Madelyn and I really had a good time. She is sooooooooo easy to shop with. It's so much easier to push a single stroller through isles than double or triple. She likes to shop and look at people and doesn't whine and scream unless she's with her brothers. Is it a girl thing? Is she always gonna like shopping? If so, this could mean trouble later on in the teen years. When we would leave a store, she would say "bye-bye" to the workers and blow them a kiss. She's such a show-off. I look forward to more shopping days with her.

Birthday's are finally over for the year except mine and Tony's but we don't count. Four birthday's in two months is a lot of presents, cake, cupcakes, ice cream, and lots to clean-up in a short period of time. I do feel like our babies are definitely toddlers now. They have lost all the baby look to them. I'm going to miss those baby years but I have lots to look forward to in the future.