My Baby is 12 Today - Happy Birthday Madison!

I cannot believe I am the mother of a 12 year old today.  I am making her favorite chocolate cupcake recipe with butter cream frosting and I am decorating them with little purple Eiffel Tower chocolate candies I am making (I will share pictures soon). 

I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite photos of Madison and 12 things about her.

1. Madison loves the computer and is fabulous at doing things on line and at making Powerpoint presentations.

2. Madison loves to read.  She always has a book in her hand. 

3. Madison has her own sense of style.  Gone are the days where I can buy clothes for her.  If I suggest something, she isn't interested.  Her wardrobe staples are skinny jeans, Ugg boots, graphic tees, and a hoodie.

4. Madison loves animals.

5. Madison loves babies. 

6. Madison loves France and anything French.  She would love to go to Paris one day.

7. Madison really should be in 6th grade.  She started school early.  It was definitely the right choice as she does really well both socially and academically at school.

8.  Madison has a super close relationship with her Grammy (my mother).

9.  She loves to make things especially friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss.

10.  Madison adores my husband, her step-dad, Chris.  99.9% of the time she thinks he hung the moon.

11. Some of her favorite foods are French toast waffles, bagels with chive and onion cream cheese, and red velvet cake yogurt.

12.  Madison loves to be creative and dream of businesses she can create, stories she can write, and TV shows she can produce.

A Great Weekend w/ my Mom

My mom flew in from Virginia Friday morning.  I let Madison stay home from school and we arrived at 8:30 to the airport to get my mom.  After we picked her up we headed to Target, then Best Buy, and then back to my house to drop off our Target stuff and my mom's luggage.  We headed to Papa Gino's for a pizza and salad lunch.  Then I took my mom to a local gift shop/boutique and then to Michaels before we headed home to relax.  That evening we went out for Mexican at El Parque and then I went to bed early because I had a horrible headache.

Saturday morning we woke up early to head to Massachusetts to meet up with two of my mom's sisters.  We then rode in to Boston with them for my cousin Lisa's bridal shower.  She had a beautiful brunch bridal shower at a restaurant along the water in Boston's North End. 

Here are some photos Madison took yesterday at the shower-

The favors were amazing.  They were wedding dress cookies with the bride's name on them from a Vermont bakery called a Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe.  I was so surprised to see my aunt had used them.  We had considered using them for our wedding...and even ordered samples, but out baker convinced us to go with her candy cupcake toppers (which ended up being horrible) instead.

It ended up being a fun, yet long day in Massachusetts.

Sunday afternoon we had reservations to celebrate Madison's 12th birthday at the Melting Pot in downtown Providence.  Then we did a little shopping at the Providence Place Mall before bringing my mom to the airport.

We always love when she visits and had such a wonderful time.  Now we are sitting in the living room watching a movie with the fire going (for the first time).

My 33rd Birthday Weekend

Madison went to a sleepover on Friday night.  Chris and I took advantage of a rare night alone and headed to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner.  It was amazing.   I had two margaritas and we took this yummy chocolate dessert home to share while watching Jackass 3D, which was dumb, yet pretty funny.

Saturday morning we spent relaxing.  I got two new books I have been eyeing.

 Then we had a quick lunch at Panera before picking up Madison who was exhausted from her sleepover.  I ended up getting the iPhone last week.  The three of sat and played Words With Friends against one another for about an hour before dinner.  Madison, who is just 11, has the iTouch and is pretty good at the game.  My husband and I are now hooked on it.  I got my sister playing it as well.

The three of us had dinner reservations on Saturday night at PF Changs...which was amazing.  On the way home we stopped at Skinny Dip for frozen yogurt which we brought home.  If you have never been to a Skinny Dip, you get to choose between about 10 flavors of frozen yogurt.  You fill up your own cup with as much or as little as you want.  Then they have tons of toppings to choose from.  I had vanilla ice cream, yellow cake pieces, white chocolate chips, and strawberries.

I had a wonderful birthday weekend.  I've got a short, yet busy week coming up.  We leave on Friday for my friend, Erin's wedding in New Jersey.  I haven't seen her since my bridal showed in April...so I am super excited to see her.