A Really REALLY Fantastic Idea

What is the idea you ask? Its a dinner group.

My neighbor, and good friend, decided it would make her life a whole lot easier if she invited three other families to be in a dinner group where we would each take one night every week and make dinner for all four families, and then deliver that dinner to each family. Which means that three nights a week I would have dinner delivered to me and I would only have to cook once a week. Sounded great to me....and turns out that it is great!

We have been doing it for about three months now and I seriously can't say enough good things about it. Like I said, I only have to cook once a week! The four families are all within a few houses of mine, and each family is similar in size. We had an initial meeting where we discussed foods that family members wouldn't eat, and other than broccoli, onions, mayonnaise and pineapple (yes, pineapple...isn't that weird) we make whatever we want.

The meals have been really good. And the best part is the variety of food we are getting and the quality. Because we each only have to cook once a week it is a lot easier to make a nice and delicious meal with sides that actually go with the main dish.

Another great benefit is that our monthly grocery expenses have decreased. I do not have to buy as many ingredients where we won't be able to use the entire package, and because we have good left overs Spencer goes out to lunch less and we eat more left overs on the weekend instead of eating out or making new food (though we still enjoy eating out.)

Each family purchased some disposable Tupperware which we use to transfer food for a lot of our meals. And when I am not home in time for dinner, my fantastic friends deliver dinner to my fridge so it is ready for us when we do get home.

I meant to take a picture of my massive pot of home made Mac 'n Cheese (not my most sophisticated meal, but very yummy), but I forgot because sometimes cooking for four families can be a little crazy, but I would say that it is definitely worth it. And after doing this for a few months I am getting better at cookie larger quantities.

My dinner for tonight should be here any time. We are having spiced citrus chicken, and tomorrow we are having stroganoff. Sounds good to me.

So there you have it, being in a dinner group is a really fantastic idea.

Ode To The Dum Dum

Since Madelyn is not yet the poet she hopes to be one day she asked if she could show her Ode instead of write it.

If she could write an ode it would probably start out something like, "Oh how I love you yellow dum dum. You have made my day complete."

Our first "incident"

I really wondered when it would be. I figured we couldn't get through Madelyn's toddlarhood without her coloring on something.

It wasn't that big of deal because it was just chalk, but it was Madelyn's response that made me want to remember this "incident".

I was coming down the stairs from getting ready to go to my cousin's bridal shower and I heard Madelyn say in a very loud voice, "Color, pitty". I knew that meant she had colored on something, and since she wasn't at the table I was very curious to know where she had just colored and with what. Turns out it was the sides of the Island in the kitchen with the already mentioned tool, chalk.

I started with, "Oh no, Madelyn". That hurt her feelings. She put a pouty face on and looked at me from under her drooping head and furrowed eyebrows. She wasn't responding the way I wanted so I changed my approach to, "Madelyn, It is very pretty, but we are only supposed to use chalk outside." I could see the light bulb go on. her face lightened when she realized that it wasn't the art work that I didn't like...just the chosen location of the art work. She grabbed the dish towel hanging a few feet away and began to wipe off the chalk. I was pretty proud of her for understanding...and completely relieved it was just chalk.

(The North end of the Island)

(The South end of the Island where I found Madelyn)

Life Is Good...

... 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?

Happy 4th

We BBQed.

We played.We watched fireworks.
And we sparklered. Happy 4th Everyone!!!

"Bes Fwend"

Last week Spence and I met at the elementary school to vote. I of course brought Madelyn with me. We voted and then headed back to the parking lot to get in our separate cars to go home. because Spence was enjoying playing with Madelyn after a day of work he took the time to walk us to my car. He got Madelyn in her car seat, told her he would see her at home, shut the door and started toward his own car. She looked out the window and pointed enthusiastically at her daddy and said, "Daddy, bes fwend". I felt like she knew exactly what she was saying. It was way cute to hear that come out of her almost two year old mouth.

I have mentioned before, little kids love Spence. I guess his own will be no exception.

SanDiego

Our trip to San Diego was the first "Loveless Family Trip" in years where everyone actually made it (with the exception of one sister-in-law who is currently battling morning sickness).

It was so relaxing. I love the trips where you just stay in one place and there is plenty to do whether you go sightseeing or just hangout at the Condo.

The below pictures are taken at the beach in front of the condo we stayed in, which was located in Oceanside.

Initially Madelyn wasn't too impressed with the beach. The first thing she said was, "I wan go home, I dirty". She quickly forgot about how dirty she was and dug right in.This is in La Jolla where we went to see tide pools and sea lions. We mostly just entertained Madelyn. Her Daddy was the star of the show. She thought he was tons of fun. You may notice that there is a picture in the bottom right of Spence with something that looks like bird poop on his head. It is bird poop. Seconds before the bird pooped on his head he mentioned that he was sure that someone (we were with my entire family) was going to get pooped on by one of the dozens of seagulls flying around. It was him.

And we don't know the dude in the top left corner, but I thought that, though the picture doesn't do it justice, it was still worthy of posting. This guy had a friend and they did some pretty cool tricks. Disneyland. It was great. I want to go back. It was a pretty low key day for Spence and I. We didn't try to do too many rides with Madelyn. We just enjoyed the food and the things we did do...like Toon Town, which was Madelyn's favorite. Oh, and we ate a whole lot of suckers...the entire trip.We did a few other things like tour the USS Midway, which is a giant battle ship the carries airplanes.
We watched movies, played games, painted toe nails, sat in the hot tub...It was great. Total there were 17 grand kids, 2 grandparents, 11 parents, and one little brother and a girl friend (I didn't get pictures of everyone). I loved watching all the little kids run around together. You can tell they all love each other. I can't wait until the next family trip when we are all together. Who knows when it will be.