Our Week - 3/4/13 - 3/10/13

Madden is a sponge these days!  This week he started doing "SO BIG" with his hands up in the air.  He is also learning "UP" and "DOWN" as well as "OPEN" and "CLOSE".  His favorite thing to do lately is throw various objects in the trash - from toys, to sippy cups, to cell phones.  We basically have to scope out the trash can every time we throw something away to be sure there isn't an important item in there.

Mariah has taken a liking to spiderman lately.  I'm not one to restrict her to "girlie" stuff, but I am surprised that she actually likes it.  I kind of think she just likes to watch it because I tell her she shouldn't.  Hopefully that's not a common trend... ;)

I got a promotion at work and started my new position this week in the Accounting department. It's a big change from Internal Audit, but I'm excited for what's ahead!

Mike attended a special retreat this weekend.  I am so thankful to have married such a strong, loving, devoted man.  He's the best.  I am so very, very lucky.

I keep track of Mariah's funny sayings on a list so I can recall them for my post.  I felt like I was writing something down every day this week, but I will limit it to my favorites.

• Sometimes we have to bribe her to come down stairs in the morning so we can get on our way to day care.  The other morning I told her I had a special surprise waiting for her.  She turned to look at me and said "What it be?".  Haha.  I'm still laughing about that phrase.
• "That's so fair!" - she was trying to say that's "NO" fair - but it had quite the opposite message :)
• we bought Mariah a package of underwear from Old Navy.  The other day she said she wanted to wear her "New Movie" underwear.  It took us forever to realize was she was talking about (Old Navy = New Movie, makes sense, right?).  Then, to make matters more confusing we got a movie on a Cheerios box.  So when Mariah asked to watch her "New Movie" we had no idea what she wanted.  We eventually got it all figured out.

Making Cake Balls

I am pretty sure that cake balls were invented by accident.  My theory is that someone was in a hurry and tried to spread frosting on a cake fresh out of the oven.  We all know how wells that works.  And when the frosting melted and the cake crumbled, they got upset and started taking their frustration out on the cake.  When it started to form a fudge-like texture they knew they might be on to something!

So we decided to make cake balls this week!  A box cake mix and a can of frosting make for an easy project.

Mariah was not quite patient enough to wait for the cake to bake, so we made a quick and easy version of a cake ball - crushed graham cracker and frosting, dipped in chocolate!  We put it on a stick and she decorated it with M&M's and sprinkles.  She loved it!

I finished the rest of the cake balls while the kids were sleeping.  Why are they so good?  I'd take these any day over a piece of cake.

Technically this picture is from a few weeks ago, but I just saw it this week so I think it counts!  My little buddy and I at my grandparents 60th anniversary dinner!