The Stephenson Family: July 2010

... and busy (this could possibly be a very long post.) This summer Madelyn and I have been spending a couple of days each week babysitting these three kiddos while their mama goes to nursing school. Darius, Peyton and Maya. They have kept me busy and Madelyn completely entertained. I have really enjoyed spending time with my nieces and nephew, (and loved getting to know their little personalities). When I have not been busy babysitting it seems like I have plenty of cleaning and yard work to fill my time. (Speaking of yard work, we have been doing A WHOLE lot of it and I am excited to post the end of summer result. Give us another month or so.)

So between the above mentioned activities and other summer activities like weekend family trips, and other such things, my time has been pretty filled.

The below picture is up at Spencer's cabin in Paradise, Ut. This was taken after a day of boating. After we ate dinner we came to the stream to throw rocks. It was probably Madelyn's favorite activity, that and spotting cows as we drove through town. When she would see one she would say, "Anada one, cow!"

So, I didn't want to miss documenting Madelyn's 2nd birthday. She turned two on June 29th(Yes, this deserves a post in and of itself, but I really have been busy. ) We partied at grandma and grandpa Stephenson's house (we would have had the party at our huse, but we had just laid sod and didn't want to mess it up). She got to have her cousins and two of her little friends, Lukie and Elaina from the neighborhood, come. Among many other gifts, Madelyn got a bike that she was very exctied about. She is still pretty excited about it. She was constantly saying that she wanted to ride the neighbors bikes so we thought it was about time she got her own. And check out the cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute for no before hand planning.

This is Lukie, Madelyn and Elaina. M plays with these two kiddos the most. They are her best little friends in the neighborhood. I really won't be surprised if we are looking back at this picture when these kids are graduating high school.

Madelyn turned two and now she is growing up before my eyes. She is much more independent these days (as independent as a two year old gets.) She will play be herself more often than she used to and she is getting pretty good at make believe play.

I took the below picture after Madelyn had yelled to me, "Mommy, I show you." She was pretty proud of her tower of blocks.

Have I mentioned how absolutely girly this child is becoming. Lately she wants Cinderella, "seeping boody", and the "princess show" (which is Enchented). She loves putting on her dresses. If there is something specific that we want her to wear, and she doesn't necessarily want to put it on, we just have to tell her how cute it is and then she wants to wear it.

The other day we were watching Princess and the Frog and it was near the end where they get married. Madelyn said to Spence, "Daddy, they got ma-yeed," she paused then said, "I wan get ma-yeed".

Many a morning Madelyn will say "a paint a toe nails". She wants her toenails painted as often as we will do it. Spencer is the one the paints them the most often. Isn't that cute?

This is right after a bath and before she had her hair done for church.

Mom did the hair while Daddy did the toenails and then they moved on to the fingernails.

I love that she is girly. It is really fun for me. This morning I had on flip flops and Madelyn said to me, "No flip flops, these shoes". I looked over to see her pointing to a pair of heels, which I wore around the house until it was time to go to the store.

There you go, there is the last couple of weeks in a nutshell.

Now how is that for a hodgepodge post?