Archive for 2008

Story time is always fun. As you can see, Madeline’s really getting the hang of things.

Madeline Reads “Madeline” from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.

Just getting this one in under the wire…Madeline says “Merry Christmas!” (actually it’s more like “Mary Frismas” but who’s keeping score?) Here’s a quick video that highlights some of our activities from the last couple days! You can also check out some “photos on the right. We hope Santa brought you everything you asked for!

Christmas 2008 from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.

This Saturday, our little family ventured over to one of our favorite places, Linvilla Orchards, to chop down our Christmas Tree. As you can see from the photos, Madeline was very excited about this. We took a hayride out to where they grow their Evergreens and within about 10 minutes, found our perfect little tree!

When we got back from our hayride, we were pleased to see a bonfire going, complete with marshmallows to roast, and hot apple cider. Madeline especially liked the hot apple cider, she would giggle and laugh from her belly every time I’d give her sip!

This was so much fun it may just have to be a new Karsch family tradition!

Birthday Gal from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.

Let the onslaught of birthday presents begin. This morning we let Madeline play with her new kitchen. Hilarity ensues!

Madeline’s Kitchen from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.

this one’s for popper:

on your marks from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.

It’s become a tradition on bath nights to race up and down the hallway. Madeline loves to run!!!

Tonight we carved our pumpkin for Halloween! It is pretty neat looking. Madeline was very excited and she even was exploring the “insides” of the pumpkin. She started to lose interest when the scooping out part was done though, but she was very happy to see it all lit up once all the work was finally done!

So,it looks like we’re officially ready for Halloween now! We’re just hoping to get good weather for Friday. And if things go right, we may even be in downtown Philadelphia for a parade that day too!

Last week, on October 1st, Madeline had surgery on her ears to get tubes put in. Madeline has suffered with one ear infection after another since she’s been about 6-7 months old, so this was really overdue!

She did amazingly well and we are very proud of what a big girl she was through the whole process. She brought her lovie “Monkey” along to the hospital with her and he even got his own hospital bracelet!

Monkey AND Madeline are both doing well after their little stint at Dupont Children’s Hospital. Thank you Doctor Barth and Staff for being so great to us during our brief stay!

Congratulations are in order for our good friends Chris & Bridget as they welcome their beautiful baby daughter into the world! Good luck, guys! Madeline can’t wait to meet her!

I’m sure you’re sick of hearing about our trip to the beach, but it was so great we can’t stop talking about it! As you can probably see, the photos are up. I put together a little slideshow which you can view below. If you don’t like my choice in music and would rather provide your own soundtrack, check out the slideshow on flickr.

Fenwick Island Slideshow from Steve Karsch on Vimeo.

We are very lucky that Jennie’s Uncle Joe and Aunt MaryAnn are generous enough to let us use their place down in Fenwick Island. It’s a great place in a very quiet location and it has a long hallway that Madeline loves to run up and down!!! We headed down on Monday, grabbed a quick bite and immediately hit the beach to see how Maddie would react. To say she loved it is an understatement. After some initial hesitation, she was right in the water with us, splashing around and riding the waves! Nonni and Pop-pop joined us later that afternoon for some beach fun.

Tuesday was more of the same (BEACH! OCEAN! WATER! SAND!) I had fun digging in the sand with Madeline, probably more fun than she had. That night, she went to the park with Nonni and Pop-pop while Jennie & I went out to Smitty McGees for some team trivia! We were in 2nd place after the first half, and would’ve ended up in 2nd place overall had I listened to Jennie on the final answer! Oh well….we didn’t really need any Smitty bucks anyway!

Wednesday we had a nice breakfast out at Warren’s Station courtesy of Nonni and Pop-pop. Madeline kept asking for “more egg”! That kid loves eggs. Uncle Greg came down to join the fun as well! Once again, another great day at the beach although the water was cold. This was the only day that the water was almost too cold to go in…We had amazing weather all week and the water temps were nice.

Thursday was essentially our last day, and what a marathon it was. It was also probably the best day water temperature-wise; absolutely beautiful! Oh, I forgot to mention the dolphins! Two years ago Jennie came down to Fenwick (when Maddie was negative 3 months old) and were lucky enough to see dolphins about 50 yards off the shore. Well, the dolphins were back this year. We saw them every day except Wednesday (must’ve been the cold water). Of course, Madeline was excited. I’m not sure if she actually saw them, but she sure enjoyed saying “DOLPHIN” over and over. Thursday night we all went out for a nice dinner at Macky’s. Macky’s is nice because it’s RIGHT on the bay (literally….our toes were in the sand as we ate). After dinner, we headed up to the boardwalk for some rides. Madeline rode the bumper boats and the train and carousel, which is amazing because she was going on no nap! By the time we got home it was 10pm, but she was a trooper and sang her ABCs the entire ride back to the house!

Sadly, Friday it was time to go home. We had lunch at Harpoon Hannah’s and proceeded to head home. Madeline slept the entire ride home.

What a difference two years makes. When we were here when Jennie was pregnant, I read 4 books in 5 days (Odd Thomas, Sea Biscuit, Ruffian and The Big Horse). This time I barely had time to sit down but it was awesome! Hanging out with Madeline is a total blast and it’s such a rush to see the joy and wonder on her face!