We Wish You A Merry Christmas!!

This year has been busy and full of exciting, fun, and some sad events. I will begin with the exciting news that Madison is going to be a big sister. Baby Olson #2 is due July 2nd. Mommy has been a lot sicker this time around and is hoping it will end soon. Maddie is starting to understand that she will be a big sister but not completely. If you ask her where the baby is she lifts up her shirt and points to her tummy. If I ask where mommy's baby is she will point to my tummy. This week she has been adamantly telling me that she is having a girl and I am having a baby boy. In a few weeks at our next ultrasound, we will see if she is right. For the past month after school/daycare she has been saying, "mommy's sick. Maddie's busy." This statement couldn't be more true.:)
Some fun events that took place this year included a trip to Florida last March. Maddie got to see the ocean and Disney world for the first time. She still watches her Florida video and loves all the Disney characters. We also went to a lot of weddings this year. Josh's brother Caleb got married in July and Madison was a flower girl. She loved wearing the pretty dress and did a great job. Although daddy had to carry her down the aisle. We also found out that Madison LOVES to dance. She danced at all the weddings and we had to drag her off the dance floor each time. In the evenings at home she also likes to dance and even has a special outfit that she puts on to dance in (striped shorts, long socks, and maryjane shoes). She enjoys picking out her own clothes now and comes up with some pretty crazy outfits.
The sad news is that my grandma Rosell was diagnosed with terminal cancer this September. She was able to stay at home with the care of my grandpa, aunts, uncles, and mom until she passed away a few weeks ago. Her funeral was so nice and showed just how many people she actually impacted in her community.
I will end with a quick update on each of us. Josh is still running his own business from home, Olson Medical Billing. He is still very busy and works a lot. He manages to have time to play football, basketball, and softball on church leagues year round. He also enjoys watching sports any chance he can get.
I(Charity) am still working at my same job as an autism teacher in Oakdale. This is my 5th year and now I am the veteran Autism teacher for elementary. I LOVE my job this year! I have great students and parents which make all the difference. I recently earned my LD (learning disabilities) licensure from BSU. Now I can teach a different type of special education if I choose.
Madison is 2 years old now. She is full of energy and personality. She LOVES people and attention. She is not shy. Wherever we go she makes new friends. She is smiley and happy and I think that draws people to her. She is spirited and independent. She likes to do everything by herself. She has been potty trained since this summer mostly because she wanted to be. She is talking all the time. She is always surprising us with the new words and phrases she is saying. Her latest saying is I LOVE MY diaper!, I LOVE MY nuk!, I LOVE MY daddy!. She is going to a new daycare this year and she is learning a lot and of course loves the other kids. She talks about all the kids at home. She still goes to her grandma's (my mom's) one day a week for daycare as well. I asked her one day if she wanted to stay home with mommy and she said, no I want to stay with grandma.
That is our Christmas update. We hope that you and your families are doing well! Enjoy your time off and have a very Merry Christmas!
Love,
Charity, Josh, & Madison

A Busy Fall

We have had a busy Fall that is why I have not updated the blog. Maddie has been busy going to daycare and learning. She loves to dance and is learning to sing. She was a monkey for Halloween and loved trick or treating. She was a good little trick or treater. We had a few Fall picnics on our new deck which she loved. We went on several Fall walks. She had to get all bundled up but enjoyed being outside. We also went to Josh's cousin, Robin's wedding. Maddie loved the wedding dance. She was having a blast dancing with all the adults. She is still active and likes to climb. Needless to say she keeps us hopping. Not much else is new. A Christmas letter blog will be coming soon.

Madison turned 2 years old!!!

Maddie is two now! She had a great birthday party with the fam! She LOVED all of her gifts. She got lots of purses and makeup (her favorite). She loves playing with mommy's makeup. She also got farm animals which she loves. Lots of cute outfits, Good Disney movies, baby dolls, and a big pony. She is a good mommy to her dolly's. She also really enjoyed her Elmo cake and cupcakes. She could hardly wait to eat them. She asked for cake many times before we ate it. I think her favorite part was being the center of attention with all the people who love her. She was so happy and excited all weekend! Thanks to everyone who came and for the great gifts! It was a fun birthday for Miss Maddie!

School and Daycare are back in session

Maddie will be turning 2 next week. That seems crazy fast to me but at the same time a long time coming. She has been potty trained for over a month. She has been really good about using different toilets and has had very few accidents. She is going to a new daycare this year and loves it. The first day we walked into the house a little girl said Madison is my new best friend. She told her mom that she wanted to give Maddie her old Dora trike. Maddie loves the trike and the little girl. She is learning a lot at daycare. She brings home books and curriculum she is working on. They have a preschool curriculum so she is learning many educational things which I love.:) She is also learning to pick up toys and share. I came to pick her up one day and she yelled MOMMY!!!! but she knew that she needed to pick up what she was playing with and put it in the bin and closed the lid. I was impressed! I love my little cleaner! She is also talking and repeating words a lot. She keeps asking me "What's that?" to everything she sees and then she repeats the words I tell her. She is also a good little mommy to her dollies. She lines them up on the couch and puts them nigh nigh and kisses them. She has even named several of them, Bob, baby, ugly baby:) etc. She is our entertainment around here. I also went back to work at the same job. It is my fifth year there. This year has been going great! I am glad that I stayed. I have new kids and a few less of them and boy does that make a difference. I feel like I can actually teach and make a difference for these kiddos. Josh is still working hard and often. He is also very busy with athletics. He is currently playing softball, flag football, and basketball. Some recent activities that we just did include the State Fair which Maddie loved because she loves those cows. We also went camping with Maddie and Angele and Scott for one night. Maddie did well. She enjoyed hiking and running around outside. We were all pretty tired by the end of the trip. :) That is about it for now. I will write again after the big birthday party.

Two more weeks

Maddie and I have two more weeks of summer left. Maddie has been potty training the past few weeks and is pretty much trained except at night and naptime. She really likes going potty in all sorts of places including port o potties at the park but only if they are not too dirty. She continues to be very independent and likes to do everything on her own. She is talking in sentences now and says things like "Where you going?" " What you doing?" and " I don't want too!". She surprises us with the new words she will spontaneously say. She also continues to be a very active and curious little girl. She is always running around. In the past month the highlights of our days have been most recently my cousin Kara's wedding and spending time with our Rosell relatives. We even got to go to the indoor playground with Olivia and Sawyer my cousin Tracey's kids. We were so happy to see them one more time since they are about to leave for Costa Rica for several years. We have also been swimming in quite a few friends pools and of course to the park as much as we can. Josh and I also just celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary by spending a night at a B&B in Stillwater. It was nice to get away and remember our wedding. Maddie enjoyed watching our wedding video. She recognized lots of the people in it.:) Well, I better get going so I can enjoy the last two weeks of summer. I hope you all are enjoying yours as well.

summer 2008

We have been keeping really busy this summer and having lots of fun. Maddie has gone swimming a lot and for boat rides which she loves. While on a St. Croix river boating trip she learned to salute and say "aye aye captain!" thanks to Grammy Penny. She also loved being in Uncle Caleb's wedding especially when she got to run up and down the aisles of the church and dance with the Caleb and Kelly. Maddie was the flower girl and did a good job. Josh carried her down the aisle and she even stayed for part of the service. I was impressed. She got to see her Uncle Jordan again too. She really enjoyed playing with him. We also recently went to Marketfest in White Bear Lake and she enjoyed the petting zoo with her friend Ade. The girls held guinea pigs wrapped up like babies and fed them carrots. It was quite hilarious. While we were there she jumped in the bouncy castle too. We also went to the Como zoo and Maddie went in the butterfly garden with her little friend Ava. Summer is going by too fast and we have so much to do still. We sure are having fun!

Madison's summer fun!

I posted a few more pictures of Madison's fun summer. She loved her swimming lessons and has been playing with her new climber, pool, and going to the park. She especially loves to play in her pink boots. Thank you grandma for those boots. That's all for now. We hope your all having a good summer!

summer vacation

We have been busy having fun this past week. Mommy is done with work and we are enjoying our time off. Maddie is in swimming lessons and enjoying every minute. She is a star student and is very happy to be in the cold pool water. She especially likes when the ducks come out. She is great at throwing her duck and then moving her arms to go catch it. We have also been going to the park where Maddie has mastered the little kids slides and now wants to go on the big kids slides. Shopping and eating out with grammy and bumpa and mommy's friends and going to the zoo have also been on our agenda. I loved the monkeys! Maybe because I kind of act like one sometimes. I really like summer vacation! one other update is that I will not be changing jobs. Due to some unforeseen circumstances I have decided to stay at my job as an Autism teacher in Oakdale. I think next year will be a much better year. We hope your all having a good summer so far. I will try to update this more often.

Spring 2008

Sorry I am not a very good blogger. I have been pretty busy and procrastinate on writing in the blog. We had a great time in Florida! Maddie loved Disney world and Micky and Minnie and the ocean. She still talks about it almost every day. It was so nice to be in the warm weather for a week. Maddie is 19 months now and is a very active girl. She likes to run not walk. She isn't interested in just sitting around playing with toys she wants to run around and see everything. She is very friendly and frequently greets strangers by saying hi or waving to them. She especially likes people with dogs or in wheelchairs. Sometimes when I take her on walks in her stroller she will say hi to the people in the cars driving by. She also loves other kids and does not like leaving daycare. Maddie is also talking a lot now and tries to mimic pretty much any word. She is great at saying people's names (Bumpa, Oel (Noel), unky punky (Jeremy), Kinsey, GG (Grandma), Jack, Cody, Magic, Macy, Marly) She says all of the animals names at daycare and all of the names of the kids at daycare too. She loves playing with her babies and we will often find them put to sleep under blankets throughout the house. Maddie also loves Shelby (our dog) and teases her with food on a daily basis. Surprisingly Shelby doesn't seem to mind too much. Nothing else is too new around here. Josh is still busy working at his medical billing business. I have a few weeks left of work and then I will be done for the summer. I did bid into a new teaching position for next year and will be teaching in a DCD classroom in the middle school . I am looking forward to the change. I am hoping next year won't be quite so stressful. I have to say every June my job seems like the best one out there because I don't have to work until the end of August.:) That's all for now.

Madison our little mimic

We have had a busy month. Maddie is continuing to grow in size and developmentally. She is constantly mimicking the people around her. She wants to do everything on her own. She is very good at letting you know what she wants and has mastered the words yes, NO!, and mine. She is talking like crazy now and is mimicking words we say. She says all of the daycare kids names. She is saying so many new words I can't really keep up and remember what they all are. She has discovered movies and lights up when she hears the word. She will go to the DVD player and turn it on and turn on the TV and get the remote to start her movie. All the while she will be saying movie with great expression. She is also excited to go to Florida. When we mention the word Florida she says"woo hoo!" and twirls her arm in a circle. We are hoping she will enjoy the trip. Josh and I are staying really busy with work, school for me, and taking care of a feisty 17 month old. She is such a joy and I feel so lucky to have such a fun little girl in my life. I will update again soon with pics from our trip.