Our sweet Maddie is three! Can you believe it!?! She woke up that morning at told me, "I'm never going to be 2 again!" Yep, she's excited to be a big girl. She is funny and clever. A spitfire. She's super smart (she knows her numbers and letters and how to spell her name). She likes to do things her way and in her time. She is determined. She has the cutest little laugh. She sings. All the time. She loves Frozen and so naturally is the song of choice (incorrectly-"let it grow"). She really observes people, even if you don't think she is paying any attention. The smallest details too (she asked why my friend was putting peanut butter on the bread with her hand--she was holding it--as I keep the bread on the counter). She loves everything girly-dresses and pink and purple and make up. She wants to be a mommy when she grows up and loves to play in her kitchen and with her babies. We have been working on potty training for about a month. She has a stretch of a few days that she does excellent and then a couple days that she will just have one accident after another. So we're still working on it but she is in big girl undies during the day and in a diaper at night. She likes to wear her hair in breads like "Elsa". She thinks Nate is hilarious and will laugh and laugh at the things he says and does. She loves to cuddle (especially after waking up). She is shy in new situations and with new people but warms up and then look out! She loves wagons, dogs, reading. She just learned how to swing by herself. She's super proud. She loves sparkle, glitter, toenail polish, and jewelry. She is stubborn, destroys so many things, is messy. She likes to tell me "I can do whatever I can do" (=I can do what I want) when I tell her to do something. She likes a variety of food but is a grazer and will not eat an entire meal in one sitting. She is a snacker. She loves the pool but only the kiddie pool, where she will sit at the edge having a tea party. She does not like to splash around in the water. She is very helpful. She loves to help me in the kitchen when I'm cooking and will get her toy appliances to "cook" alongside me. She helps with the laundry and dishes. She is very healthy--she hasn't been sick at all this past year. Her wellness visit went very well-her vision is great and she looks good (she refused to pee in the cup, can you blame her?). She is 40" tall (95%) and weighs 36 lbs. 4 oz. (90%).
Our big boy is off to school! He is going to Pre-K at CCS in the morning for a few hours, five days a week. It will be such a change not to have him around every morning! 
He was super excited for his first day leading up to it, but then on the way to school he kept saying he didn't want to go and wanted me to stay with him. Although as soon as he got there he went right to the table where Anderson was playing legos and I barely got a good-bye hug! On the way home afterwards he told me all about his big day and the things he learned. He talked about how they painted his hand and made a hand print on paper, how he had to color boxes with nothing in them (not the ones with animals in them--working on number 0), and sang me the songs he learned. He was so excited-he told us that he was going to teach us new songs everyday after school. In his backpack was a welcome treat from his teacher, Mrs. Rogers (who he already knew from church so it's nice he didn't have to get used to a new adult) and the papers he did. It was awesome to see the work he talked about--the hand print and colored boxes. As hard as it is for me to close the last chapter this new chapter is going to be so much fun! 
