make and bake memories: May 2013

27 May 2013

{Our Week} - 5/20/13 - 5/26/13

Madden has fully learned how to communicate with us. Whether it's using words or grabbing our hand and dragging us over to something he wants to show us - he gets his point across! I love seeing his face light up when he asks for something (for example, cereal) and I get it for him. Such a big stage in development!

Mariah was not a fan of all the rain we had this week/weekend. She LOVES riding her tricycle and eventually convinced us to let her ride it inside the house. She has spent HOURS on that thing over the past few days doing loop after loop! I think she'd do it all day long if we let her! :)

Mike and I went to a wedding of a friend in Des Moines on Saturday. It was so nice and an absolutely gorgeous wedding and reception!

After I picked the kids up from day care one day this week there was an ambulance with lights and sirens coming up behind us. Mariah could hear it approaching and yelled "Mom! It's an ELEPHANT!" Then with a confused look she immediately said "No...ele...am... AMBULANCE! An AMBULANCE Mom!". I tried my best to hold back my laughter, I hate when words don't come out right :)

WHAT DIDN'T WE DO?

So many activities this weekend. No wonder we are all exhausted!

For starters, we spent Friday evening at Fejevary Park - the kids had a blast playing in the giant sandbox and the playground.

Madden and the beloved rake we had to pry out of his hands when we left

It came with him everywhere!

Mariah trying out the balance beam!

We even got to see a couple horses! Mariah is checking them out.

Saturday we made a morning trip to the library where the kids picked out a couple books to take to Grammie and Grampi's house! Then it was off to Des Moines for Amelia & Justin's wedding! Thanks to my sister for letting us crash at her place for the evening!

Sunday we had a baby shower for my cousin Sara and her husband Erik. Their little girl is due in August! :) We had a blast! Played some fun games and enjoyed good food and company.

Played the dirty diaper game! Guess the candy bar :)

Happy mom and dad to be! And lots of yummy treats!

Mariah and Madden enjoyed the occasion, too! :)

To be young and carefree again.... ;)

19 May 2013

{Our Week} - 5/13/13 - 5/19/13

Madden turned a whopping 17 MONTHS old on Tuesday. I cannot believe he's almost to the year and a half mark. Crazy. More words (and phrases!) were uttered this week by the little man, including hot dog and cupcake. He also shocked everyone when he sang right along with the Happy Birthday song when we celebrated my sister Lori's 24th birthday this week. We even caught him singing it to himself over the baby monitor the other day ;) It's too cute!

Mariah is getting to that funny stage where she could fall down and bounce right back up, but if you hurt her feelings or she does something wrong she gets very upset. I guess that's all part of the learning process you go through, right? Love that sweet girl :)

Mike is keeping our garden alive so far! It took a turn for the worse the few days after we planted, but recently has sprung back to life and the plants appear to be doing well. I am very curious as to what the future holds for our "little" garden.

I had a work trip to Chicago this week. It's always a nice change of pace from the day to day office environment. I even got the opportunity to go for a run along the Lake Shore Trail early one morning. Watching the sunrise with the view of the lake and the city was just gorgeous!!! I would happily run EVERY DAY if that's what I got to look at :) I also got the chance to meet up and have dinner with a good friend who lives near Chicago. Overall, it was a good trip!

Mariah has been really into "Air Bud" on netflix this week. The other evening she was searching around the toy room gathering items in a bag and then hopping on her scooter. I asked her what she was doing and she said "Mom, don't talk. I'm going to be late to soccer practice."

Turns out there's an Air Bud Soccer movie? Who knew!

Ice Cream and Playing Outside!

This warm weather encourages two things: Ice Cream and Playing Outside!

We had both items covered this weekend :)

Many attempts to get the kids to sit and smile...

This is tough work

One smiles, the other doesn't...

And SWITCH (I think they do this on purpose :)

"Let's both look completely uninterested" ;)

Reading a book together before bed <3

12 May 2013

{Our Week} - 5/6/13 - 5/12/13

First off - Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! What a wonderful day where the important people in our life show us just how important we are to them as well! :)

Madden's vocabulary is growing so fast I can hardly keep up! Some words this week include: "mine", "Lori" and "money". I love when he say's Lori - sounds like "Larry" hehe. My sweet little boy is getting so big. Just looking at him he seems taller every day. He's definitely in that "thinning out" phase - I even had to pull out all of the 12 month shorts he wore at the end of summer last year because his 18 month shorts won't stay up!

In other news we think Madden MIGHT be left handed! He seems to favor his left hand, but we will see! Mike and I always joked that we'd "encourage" our children to be left handed - but day-to-day parental responsibilities kind of made us forget about that. So it would be funny if it actually happened on its own.

Mariah was a big helper this week. She loves to be involved in everything we do - whether it's making dinner, cleaning or helping Madden. She's willing to do it all! I love the moments I catch her talking to Madden and saying stuff like "It's OK buddy! Do you want me to get you some more cereal?" I think the kids do have a secret language and they understand each other, but sometimes Mariah will sit there and say "YES OR NO Madden? YES OR NO?!" He usually just looks at her like she's a crazy person. Hehe :)

Mike, as some of you may know, does not like to dabble in hobbies and activities. He likes to be an expert at everything he does. For example - our developing garden (we finally got to plant today!). He has done weeks of research and I think knows just about everything to keep this garden thriving. I am thankful for that because I have a black thumb. I can't keep any plant alive, let alone grow food! I can't wait to see how this turns out! :)

I am still loving to bake whenever I get the chance. This week I even COOKED! Homemade brown butter tomato sauce with basil was the dish of choice. It was SO good and SO simple. I just might have to share it on here sometime! It will be the perfect dish to make with the 100 pounds of tomatoes we are going to get from this garden of ours ;)

"Mom, if I put money under my pillow the tooth fairy will bring me a nice, clean tooth!"
Backwards day? :)

Mariah: "I'm a crown lady!"
Me: "Oh... you mean a princess?"

The Niabi Zoo!

This weekend we met up with a friend, Rachel, her husband and their sweet little girl Elliot! We had such a good time at the zoo. Even though it was a little windy, the kids loved seeing the animals; especially feeding the goats in the petting zoo! The train was a hit, too! We're lucky to have a nice little zoo so close by.