For a Sweet Treat...

...go here to the Sister's Cafe. Yummy yummy.

Tuesday Shannon and I made the Oreo truffles featured below. So easy. It was a great time hanging out as sisters and making Valentines treats.

This yummy thing was for Valentine's dessert on Sunday. Look under Strawberries on the right side bar of the above link.
Love new recipes. So fun.

"I Help"

A couple of weeks ago I started sitting Madelyn in the kitchen window seal while I made dinner. One alternative would have been to hold her on my hip with one arm wrapped around her while attempting to cook with my free hand. before the "window seal days" Madelyn would push herself between me and the cupboard and say, "hold you, hold you" while slightly bouncing up and down and reaching up to me as far as she could.

Sometimes while I made dinner she would briefly play with her toys or have a snack at the table, but for the most part Madelyn just wanted to be where her mommy was, doing what her mommy was doing.

The first night of window seal sitting worked out rather well. Madelyn sat contently in the window seal and I gave her a snack and talked with her. She was happy being near me and I was happy having a little cooking pal. i loved that I was cooking with my little daughter.

Slowly she started to explore the window seal area. She now knows that the crackers and cereal are located slightly to her right in the cupboard that she can open because there are no child safety latches. She knows that she can get the canister of wheat open if she just holds onto the latch and shakes it, and that if she pokes hard enough in the candle her little finger will make a dent. From the window seal she can reach the hand sanitizer and soap and says, "hands, hands" while holding her hand under the dispenser and waiting for me to dispense some soap into her chubby, squishy, little hand. She then washes that chubby, squishy, little hand and proceeds to turn the water on and off, and on and off, and then trickle and full blast, and then on and off. You get the idea.

Last night she says, "I help". She squatted down by the half mixed biscuit dough and with a measuring spoon in hand she spooned flour onto the floor and counter while attempting to get it back in the bowl. She then got a chunk of the actual dough in her spoon and it flew with a plop onto the floor. I briefly got her to stop "helping" by reverting her attention back to the yummy cheerios that I had originally placed in the window seal. I hurried as fast as I could to get the biscuits into the oven so that there was nothing left to "help" with (good thing they were drop biscuits).

And so goes my life, one little mommy and one little "helper" right by her side.

Ohia Love

Well, it wasn't really Ohio that we loved. Other than the Airport, Wal-Mart and the local Costco we didn't see much of Ohio (from what I hear there really isn't much to see). What we did see was Ty (my brother), Meghan (my sister-in-law), Mckinlay (my darling niece), and one of the newest Loveless cousins, Eliza (another darling niece). We spent about a week running around with three little girls doing things like, playing with plastic food, watching my little pony movies and getting naps in when necessary. The trip was just fabulous. We were all a little sleep deprived (you know how it is trying to travel with a little child), but I really didn't mind. It was just so great to see Ty's family.

We made lots of good food which included an amazing meal for Ty's 30th birthday that was complete with an Ina Garten cheese cake without a single crack on the top. I was impressed with Ty and Meg's great food. I came home with four new recipes that i am so excited to make. (Maybe I'll share in another post... they are good.)

Meghan and I made matching Valentine outfits for the girls. I must say that my sister Meghan is one crafty woman. We were at the fabric store buying material to make blankets (which we also did while in Ohio) when Meghan suggested we make matching Valentines outfits for the girls. By that evening we had three little skirts with matching shirts. How fun and cute.
I loved hearing about Ty's day when he got home from work. I loved getting to know Meghan and my little nieces better. I loved that Madelyn got to make cookies with Mckinlay and Grandma. I can't wait to see them all again.

Thanks again for a wonderful trip. See you in May!

As of Late

As of late Madelyn will sometime insist on reading books herself as opposed to sitting on my lap and being read to. She just wants me to stand by her and replenish her book supply when she is finished with her current stack of books.

I do my house work in increments of minutes. Yesterday I was trying to sweep and wash the kitchen floor and it took me about three times as long as it would have if I didn't have a little helper who had one hand on the broom while I swept. Per Madelyn's instructions, we would sweep for a few seconds and then sweep the dirt into the dust pan and empty it into the trash...literally every few seconds. After sweeping Madelyn was done cleaning. No washing the floor for her. We then played kitchen and I would sneak away to try to finish washing the floor whenever she wasn't looking, but she would soon catch me and pull me back into the make believe world of plastic food and little plastic utensils.

A few days ago I put Madelyn at the table with some saltine crackers. I went upstairs for a few minutes to check something on the computer. when I was finished, I came down to crackers crunched all over the table and floor. The below picture doesn't do it justice. But the little angel helped clean up the mess. I don't mind her messes. She doesn't make that many (the below mess is a rare occurrence), and I love it when she will help me clean up when I ask her to.

We got to go to the aquarium with our cousins. Kylan (in the picture below) is a couple months older than Madelyn. I love these pictures of them together. I want her to be close with her cousins, so I love when we get to do things with them.

And last, but definitely not least are these pictures of daddy and Madelyn. Last Saturday morning Madelyn woke up earlier than usual. I went in to check on her and see if I could get her to go back to sleep. I was rocking her when we both heard her daddy come out of our bedroom. I heard him sit down at the top of the stairs and knew that he was waiting to see if Madelyn would go back to sleep or if he would get to hold her. Madelyn was looking at me as if to say, "So can I go get daddy or what?" I set her down and she went straight to her daddy who was waiting at the top of the stairs. I was happy that the camera was just a few feet away so I could grab this picture. These two love each other a lot.

Holidays

My husband is downstairs making a snow cone with the snow cone maker that he got for Christmas. I knew he would love it. I just thought it would be a couple of months until he used it. I should have known better. Madelyn is sleeping and I am obviously blogging.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We had breakfast at Carrie's house and then went sledding. You may notice that we don't have any pictures of Madelyn on a sled. She didn't really like the steep hill and opted for the playground instead.

After Sledding we went over to my parents house where we got Christmas dinner in the oven, made gingerbread houses and played games. Can't believe i didn't get my camera out. I was just so busy doing things.

After we ate dinner we exchanged gifts. I love exchanging gifts. Its the best part. The kids are great to watch. I had to laugh when Maci explained to Grandma that she already had the gift that Grandma had given to her. Good thing Grandma had a back up gift that Maci was very excited about. Madelyn got some little stuffed animal puppets. I am pretty excited to have a puppet show with her.

We drove home on Christmas Eve and spent Christmas morning at our house.

I can't get any of our Christmas video to upload right now so I'll just tell you, Madelyn got a kitchen for Christmas. We had a blanket over it and when we pulled it off she ran up to it and said, "wow". She loved it and we have had fun watching her eat her pretend food. Madelyn also got a hole bunch of books which she was very excited about.

After we had our Christmas cinnamon rolls we got ready and drove up to Spencer's family cabin in Logan. We got some cute home videos of all the little kids opening their presents. Grandma and Grandpa Stephenson did a good job of spoiling their three grandchildren. Madelyn's favorite toy was a baby doll set complete with a high chair, stroller, crib and baby food. She couldn't wait for us to get it out of the package.

It's official though, the holidays are over. I will wake up to Spencer kissing me goodbye when he leaves for work in the morning. Sad, this week has been so much fun just paling around as a little family. We did a lot of shopping this past week. We looked at cars that we may or may not buy, furniture that we wish we could buy and then the furniture that we probably will buy. We fixed the breaks on our car, hung out in our pajamas, played on the floor with Madelyn a lot, went snow shoeing and watched some movies. It really was a wonderful week together. Neither Spence or I want it to be over.

We have had a great holiday season and hope you had the same. We wish you a happy New Year too.

December to Remember

We've had a fun December.

Madelyn wore her Christmas outfit to church last Sunday. So fun seeing her all dressed up.We took a trip down to temple square. We made Caramels. Madelyn got to stand in the kitchen sink and eat all the caramel she wanted while I finished wrapping each piece.

Oh, and Madelyn thinks she needs to wear deodorant. Really she is tall enough now to open and reach into every drawer in our house. She couldn't see what she was reaching for, but when she pulled out the deodorant from the top drawer in the bathroom she knew exactly where it went. I guess she really is watching and learning from us.

28

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm now 28. I guess the reason I'm blogging about this is because I feel really good about being 28. I have accomplished some good things in my life. I may not have accomplished as much as I could have, but I'm happy with what I have done and where I'm going. I'm happy to be a mother to Madelyn and a wife to Spencer. I'm pretty content.

while I was laying in bed last night I thought about some of the life lessons that I have learned. I thought of a couple last night, but decided it would be appropriate to think of at least 28 since that is my age as of yesterday. Here it goes:

1. Being kind is an easy way to make your life go smoothly

2. Being honest with yourself and others is another way to make your life go smoothly

3. Getting angry only makes things worse

4. Keeping a journal is worth while

5. Being a good mom is something that one gets better at with time

6. We shouldn't be too hard on ourselves

7. Not all things worth doing are worth doing well

8. Life is more rewarding if you do learn to do some things well

9. Having good relationships with friends and family is better than being rich (not that I was ever rich)

10. There is always room to be better and there is always the possibility of it

11. We don't have to be perfect all in one day

12. Marrying the right person has made all the difference in my married life

13. I don't think I would be as content with my life if I wasn't married to Spencer

14. Ice cream is really really delicious

15. Taking time to relax is important and gratifying

16. Working hard is also rewarding and gratifying

17. Being perfect has more to do with being balanced than it does with fulfilling a check list

18. Its great to be able to look up to someone else and not feel like you have to be just like them

19. Truly listening to someone can be hard, but very rewarding

20. God and Jesus Christ really do live

21. There really is a Plan of Salvation

22. Not everyone believes items #21 and #20 and we should respect that

23. This life is going to go fast

24. My friends from high school will always be in my life and I'm grateful for that

25. Life is not always what you expect it to be

26. It is good to learn to be happy

27. I don't have all the talents that other people have and its OK to be OK with that

28. I have only learned 27 things in my life because I can't think of anymore