Whether the Weather be foul, or Whether the Weather be not

We spend a lot of time in our play room. It makes sense. It is the biggest room and houses most (read all but a few) of the toys and books. It is a kid's paradise if you ask me.... which I know you didn't, but this is my blog post so I'll do what I like.


There are only so many photographs I can take in that one room before I get board with the composition.


So I try to switch it up. Or lay it down. (or lay me down...)


I sort of think of this as "the world through Lydia's eyes" because I am pretty sure this is how she sees the world right now. You know, as a floor baby and all.

No wonder she looks at her big sister like she is larger than life. To her, she is.

mg

Heart Smiles

This makes my heart smile.


This too.


And of course this.

Aside from the night crying she is a remarkably easy baby right now.

I appreciate that oh so very much when dealing with the current state of my three year old.

Don't get me wrong. I love my three year old too.

BUT...


I love this baby.

mg

A Calgon Moment

We put the girls to bed at 7:30p.

By 8:45p both of them were screaming from their rooms.

I was dreaming of a quiet beach and a margarita.

It is now 9:25pm and Madeline is (presumably) asleep. Lydia is still crying.

I am going to try not to run out the door.

Until tomorrow. (Then all bets are off.)

mg

And so it begins

Today I walked out on dinner out with my parents. Just a week into three and this little angel is testing all of the boundaries and pushing all the buttons.

This story starts on Sunday. For mother's day I asked to go out to lunch at Steak n' Shake. Not fancy, but one of my favorite places none the less. Madeline spent most of the lunch testing the limits and turning around in her seat. Not wanting to ruin our lunch I did very little about it. We reminded her to sit a million times. Until now Madeline has been very well behaved in public. I didn't know how to handle her behavior.

Fast forward to today, I knew I had to act differently. My dad met us at the restaurant and my mom was set to join us when she got off work. Because I didn't think Madeline would wait we ordered food and began eating before my mom got there. Within the first ten minutes, I asked Madeline to sit down, turn around or get out from under the table a kajillion times. So I said, knowing full well that I would have to follow through, that if she continued with this behavior, we would leave without finishing our dinner and (more importantly to her) before Granny arrived to eat with us.

I gave her one more warning and when she crawled under the table I said it was time to go.

As you can imagine this did not go over well. It was kinda like this:

this photo was taken on Saturday and is a story all on its own...

Except we were in public. And I had Lydia out of her pumpkin seat (because she's getting rediculously heavy) so I had to figure out how to wrangle her and a crying 3 year old. And all eyes were on us. And I hadn't finished my dinner. Nor had Madeline. And I had plans to go to Target afterward. And I wanted to talk to my mom. And I didn't want to leave my dad with a mess at the table. And I just couldn't help but think this was just as much of a punishment for me as it was for her. And she cried louder and louder the more I packed up our stuff. And did I mention everyone was looking at us?

The crying didn't last long. She cried in the car for a while, but then calmed down by the time we got home. (less than 5 minutes) I think she understood that we left because of her actions. After a while I just don't think that she cared.

As a friend said to me last week, "Welcome to three. It's terrible."

And so it begins.

mg

The Cake

I have so much I want to remember about Madeline's 3rd birthday. So I am going to cover those things in a few posts starting with Madeline's birthday cake.

Days before the celebration Madeline asked for a giant cupcake for her cake. I had originally tried to find a bakery that would rent a mold like this one. But I was unsuccessful and the thought of spending the money on the pan just wasn't an option. SO.... I improvised.

I started with this cake recipe.


The recipe said to use a sheet cake pan, so I divided the batter into four 8" rounds. I assumed it would make a large cake, but when they baked they had not risen as much as I would have liked to I made a second batter and poured it into two 8" rounds.

I then stacked the original four cakes using chocolate frosting between the layers. It began to list to one side so I stableized it with straws.


I then cut the straws above off at the top of the cake, and then stacked the final two layers (the bigger ones) on top, again, with chocolate frosting between the layers. Then I placed an additional three straws in the whole cake to make sure it didn't slide off.


I iced the bottom sides with chocolate and the top half with vanilla butter cream icing.


Doesn't look like much does it? So I folded some paper to look like cupcake paper and hoped it looked more like a cupcake.


From this view I was skeptical, but this:


This was a little more believable. All that really matters is that Madeline liked it.


And she did.

To cut it I removed the top two layers and served them to everyone. On her actual birthday I iced the bottom four layers in chocolate. Two cakes for the effort of one! (or three...)


She liked that one too.

mg

Mother's Day

Dear Madeline and Lydia,

Thank you for teaching me what it means to be a mom. I only hope I am a good one. You deserve the best.

Love,

Your Momma

mg

Madeline's 3rd year

Clock wise from top left: June, July, August, September, November, January, May, April, March, February, December, October, and the center is May.

mg