Our Chunky Monkey

So...I kept having to pack away Madi's pants because they didn't fit her any more around the waist. She was running out of pants to wear in her12 month clothes she has been in for a while now...so I broke out the box of 18 month clothes...which fit her better than the 12 month clothes did. Only problem is...the pants are about 3-4 inches too long. I might have to do some hemming. So....I sure hope no one has bought her a ton of 12 month clothes for Christmas....even though that is what I said she needed...I guess now she will be in 18 month clothes for a while. Madi will be 9 months old on the 12th...I suppose we just have a chunky monkey for our little girl.

The circle of life...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

For everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

No month in my life has made these verses more true. On November 5th, we experienced the time to be born and welcomed a new baby into our home. Aiden Daniel was born to Brad and Amber and is quite the joy in our lives. He is really growing like a weed and is already more than two weeks old. We are so happy to have this little life in our home.

Here is Daddy Brad, Great-Grammy Frisbie, and little baby Aiden on the day he came home from the hospital:

Aiden with Grammy Cone

Aiden with Granddad Cone

Again with Great-Gram

Uncle Brandon with his Madi and new nephew Aiden

On November 15th, we experienced the time to die with the passing of my Grandma Hitt. She had been fighting Parkinson's for several years and finally lost her battle with the disease last Sunday morning. I will miss her greatly. She and I had such a close relationship and I am sad that she is no longer with us, although I am glad that she is no longer fighting. I find great comfort knowing that she is finally in Heaven with Jesus.

Grandma would have been 90 years old next month, and would have celebrated 62 years of marriage on the 30th of this month. We are all truly blessed to have had so many wonderful years with her. Her obituary can be found by clicking here.

Her funeral was this past Thursday. It was a great celebration of her life and there were lots of family and friends in attendance. It was great to hear everyone's memories of my grandma, and to see all of the lives she had touched. Here are some pictures from the funeral and from the grave side service.



We had quite the collection of pictures, memory albums and artifacts to share with everyone at the funeral. It is really a hard thing to summarize someone's life, but it was helpful to us to share with the world all of her accomplishments during her life. Along with the pictures below are several of the dresses Grandma made for my sister, cousin and I. We got a new dress from Grandma every Christmas and Easter. Madison was able to wear one of Grandma's dresses for the reception (pictures are further down in the post).


While we were all dressed up for the funeral, we decided to take some Hitt family pictures.
Here are the four great-granddaughters. There is a running bet as to the gender of the 5th great-grandchild...no one has any doubts that it is a girl on this side of the family, as my dad was the last boy born.

My cousin Tabitha's three girls who are 5, 7, and 9:

Grandpa with his great-granddaughters. He sure seems proud of these girls.

Grandpa with his direct descendants, from oldest to youngest: Janet Cranston, Joe Hitt, Bruce Hitt, Tabitha Poplin, Jami Cone, Jenni Hitt, Sydni Poplin, Hayli Poplin, Nikki Poplin, Madison Cone, and baby yet to be named.

The entire Harold Hitt family, minus Brandon who had to be out of town for an education conference this week...we might just have to photoshop him in later. :) We added Janet's husband Roy, Joe's wife Allene, my mom, and Tab's husband Jeff.

Madi and her momma:


The Poplin family,

The Joe Hitt family,

Joe and Allene Hitt

Janet and Roy Cranston

The Bruce Hitt family...again imagine Brandon beside me.

Bruce and Tammi Hitt

Grandpa and his three kids.

We will miss Grandma greatly, we know she is better off now, but it still hurts to know that she is gone. My heart really breaks for my Grandpa, I would be crushed if anything ever happens to Brandon, I can't imagine how lonely and hurt Grandpa has to be after losing his wife of 62 years. He seems to be handling the loss very well, but I know it has to be hard.

To end this post on a brighter note, here are some more pictures of Madison. She turned 8 months old on the 12th, and she is sure full of life.

Here she is making faces for the camera while standing on Granddad Cone's lap.

Madi with her Daddy...and the Bronco's football. Lets hope they play better tomorrow. :(



Grampa Hitt was in charge of bath time at Great-Grandpa Hitt's house this week. The wash tub sink worked great for giving little miss Madi her bath.


Brandon comes home tomorrow from his conference in Nashville. I have missed him greatly this week and I am sure that Madi missed him too. It will be nice to have him home again. I am also glad that this will be a short week of school, Thanksgiving break starts Wednesday at 12:40. :)

Welcome Baby Aiden Daniel Cone

Brandon's brother Brad and his girlfriend Amber gave birth to Aiden Daniel at 10:24 this morning. Aiden is 7lbs, 10.2 oz. So far it sounds like everyone is doing well, although exhausted. Amber went to the hospital yesterday at noon to be induced. What a long night!

I will post pictures when I get to see him...thanks to the H1N1 flu that probably won't be until he comes home...unless they have opened up the viewing window. Let us hope. :)

Congratulations Brad, Amber and Aiden.

October Update: Lots of Pictures

Well here we are in November already and I realized that I haven't posted for over a month...so much for my goal of one post per week. :) Oh well. We have had a busy month around here and here is what October has had in store for our family.

The first couple of weeks in October, my parents had our camera on their trip to the East Coast to see the fall colors. So there aren't many pictures from the first part of the month. We stayed busy with school and activities. Brandon had his final couple of crowd control responsibilities at the football games. We are both done with that responsibility for this year. :)

Madison turned 7 months old on the 12th. She is really making gains toward mobility. She has figured out how to roll to get places and can scoot backwards on all fours. I really don't think she will crawl for long as she really prefers to stand, and if we hold onto her hands, she can walk all over the place.

After showing teething symptoms all summer, Madison finally has teeth. We thought she was just working on one tooth on the bottom, but this morning, I found two. Yea! They are just poking through the gums, so when I can get a good picture I will post it.

Here are her 7 month pictures, I just love her grin!



Brandon and I both caught the flu around the middle of the month. I did nothing but sleep for about 5 days and finally was able to go back to work after missing 4 days. Madi ran a fever and had a runny nose, but no other symptoms. Either she was just teething or she caught a mild case and was able to get over it quickly. We are all feeling better now. Yuck!

Last weekend was pretty busy. Brandon took his Robotics club to a training in Casper all day on Saturday. Madison and I hung out at Grammy and Grampa Hitt's house in the morning. We had to try on her Halloween costume to make sure it still fit. We bought it this summer while we were in Texas, and I was afraid I was going to have to make some alterations. Luckily it still fit. Whew!

While we were there, Samantha and her two girls came over to play. Madison sure enjoyed watching the other two girls and they had fun playing with her and her toys.

I thought this was a great picture of Samantha and her girls, Baylie and Daisy.




Last Saturday afternoon was my brother-in-law and his girlfriends baby shower. Their little boy is due on Friday and we are so excited to have Aiden join our family. The shower was a ton of fun and we had a great time. Here are the two future Cone grand-babies in comparison, Amber at 38 weeks and me at 16.


Finally last Saturday, Brandon and I attended a Halloween party. I went as a 1950's housewife and Brandon went as the milk man...we got a lot of laughs, and a few "you're pregnant again?" questions. We had fun, but somehow managed not to get any pictures...oh well.

Wednesday, I went in for an ob check up. Everything is going well and we both look healthy. We got to have an extra ultrasound because the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat, even though the baby was kicking the mic. This one is definitely going to be active! :) We go back on December 8th for a full ultrasound and to find out what we are having. We are all guessing a boy because this time is so very different from Madison's pregnancy, although we will be happy with either gender.

Halloween is Grammy Karen's favorite holiday, so we spent Friday and Saturday with the Cone's. Friday night we carved pumpkins. It had been a long time since I had carved a pumpkin and we all really had fun.





Madison had fun exploring the inside of the jack-o-lanterns when we were finished. She kept lifting off the lids and feeling the cool inside. It was fun to let her explore.


Saturday, Brandon, Madi and I went back over to the Cone's where we decorated Halloween cookies, played cards and passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters.



Madison was sure posing for the camera last night and I got some great pictures of her in her costume.




Madison got her first piece of Halloween candy last night too. She got to try a strawberry sucker, and boy did she think that was great. On second thought, I probably should have taken off her costume. But luckily it is machine washable. :)



Here is Madi enjoying the sugar rush after her sucker. :)


Overall, October was a great month. November should also be great with the birth of our nephew in the next week or two, my Dad's birthday and Thanksgiving to look forward to. I hope to get better about posting now that Madi can entertain herself a little bit more. :)