A Really, Really Good Day!

We took Macen to an Easter egg hunt where Grandpa and Grandma got to watch him fill his basket. Dad was even able to snatch an egg for Maddox. Then off to get some ice cream on this extra warm day.

Next we took the boys to the park where Macen delivered some excellent one liners on the way home. We assume he was delirious from the heat. He was so thirsty on the way home he stated "I might melt down" (thanks for the warning buddy) followed by "We aren't there for the party" (insert the first Gretchen Wilson party song that comes to mind here). There was a very large birthday party going on at the park but we had to let Macen know before we got out of the car we weren't invited.

After we got home, we spent some time on the deck. Mom and dad drank coronas and the boys played at the water table. We ended the evening with dinner outside which consisted of piled high nachos and margaritas. Of course James had the Buffett music going.

A perfect day!

Pinterest Craze

If you've been on pinterest you may have noticed there has been a cake batter craze going on...and I was intrigued. So I made a couple of things:

A little dry cake mix added to the melted marshmallows. I didn't really notice a cake taste to these and I added a little extra cake mix than what was called for.

Cake batter bombs - if you like to lick the beaters/bowl after getting the cake in the oven then these are for you. The inside taste just like raw cake batter.

And cake batter bark - I am not a big fan of white chocolate (gasp! You are shocked aren't you?!). But this, I love! I added about 4x the amount of dry cake mix the recipe called for and it tastes so good with the white chocolate. I added a tsp at a time and as long as the melted chocolate didn't change consistency.

There is a pin on the site adding cake mix to puppy chow/muddy buddies/monkey munch/whatever you want to call it. I refuse! Why would you want to mess with an already perfect recipe :)

Now we will move past the food part of pinterest. I found this pin back in January and it had been torturing me daily with wanting to try it.

It didn't quite turn out like the pics on the site. While the colors ran, they didn't run smoothly. Could have had something to do with the unsteady hand of a 4yr old. Macen also informed me it wasn't done because he could still see the white canvas. Since he thought it needed more covering and I wanted so badly for it to look like all the others, we bought another box of crayons. And I may have insisted I do all the holding of the blow dryer this time. I'm mean that way but it was definitely less messy this go around. I also learned from the first round that you need to hold the blow dryer at the very end of the crayon and not at the tips or the middle. Here is our end result:

Yes Macen still said it wasn't done because he could still see white. Silly boy!

Disney on Ice: Treasure Trove

Macen and I headed to Disney on Ice for our day out. This is one of those things we are grateful to be back in the US for. Macen got a light up sword (and I am learning you can never have too many swords). He enjoyed the show and danced up a storm at times. I thought it was great and can't wait to take both boys next year.

First Haircut

Maddox got his haircut and he looks much older now. It had gotten so long in the front and over his ears, I couldn't take it anymore. So we took him to our favorite kids salon at Zona. He did great sitting there for the lady and she was great with him.

Here is the big boy now:

Coloring Eggs #3

Yes we are eating a lot of eggs! Actually James and I eat eggs everyday but hard boiled ones are easy for James to transport and eat a healthy breakfast after his workouts/before class. So if we are already making hard boiled eggs, I decided Macen and I were going to have fun with them. We are trying new techniques this year since Macen is older now.

This attempt was a mixture of using rubber bands and tape. The rubber bands didn't work so well. Apparently I don't have the right size and they wouldn't stay on with a double wrap. However, using tape to make each of our initials worked very, very well. The rest Macen got to play with and dunk as he wished.

Happy St Pattys Day!

Chuck E Cheese

We made our first trip to Chuck E Cheese thanks to commercials. Macen as been asking to go ever since we've been back so we decided to meet Grandma there. Macen loved it except for the ride pictured below. He wasn't expecting it to jerk him from side to side or tilt him up. He locked his arms and maintained this face until it was over and then said "That was scary". It was pretty nice and we can't wait to go back very soon :)

8 months old

Another month has already sped past us but we definitely aren't taking it for granted. Maddox is now saying dada - very, very cute! In fact, he is quite infactuated with his daddy. His empathy emotion is well intact. We've had several incidents with Macen getting hurt and crying where Maddox joins him in crying. Quite funny as we try to hide our laughter from Macen. He now mimics the spider with his hands when I sing itsy bitsy spider to him. Maddox got another tooth so his 2 bottom teeth are showing well with all those smiles.

I'm not sure he will be learning his name anytime soon. We all call him baby or baby boy.

Maddox randomly sleeps through the night now. I have been decreasing the ounces he gets in the middle of the night so that may be contributing to it. Regardless, I still get up to pump and I actually don't mind getting up with him anyway. It's our quiet time and I have nothing else to do at that time
except snuggle him. In time he will be sleeping soundly and I will miss these moments.

Give me a cooooookie!

Maddox had his first Thin Mint and I think more will come! He loved it and cried when I took it away to clean him up. He is a pretty good eater and I love that. Hopefully I will finally have a little guy I can bake for.

Speaking of cookies and baking - this was made to celebrate Oreo's birthday last week. Jocelyn this is for you, lol! That would be cookie dough covered with oreos covered with brownie batter. Oh so yummy goodness you are so bad for me!

Coloring Eggs #2

This time we used a sponge roller on the eggs. Macen wasn't as thrilled about these since his fingers got messy. After awhile he was okay with picking up the eggs and getting color on his hands. He kept telling me they were dinosaur eggs.

Coloring Eggs #1

We did our first round of coloring eggs using Kool Aid. I've never used that as a coloring method before so I thought we'd give it a shot. Kool Aid gives the eggs nice earth tone colors. The lemon one didn't turn out at all. The grape gives a brown/gray color instead of purple but still kinda pretty next to the redness of the black cherry color. All in all a success I would say. I also didn't wipe the eggs with vinegar prior to Macen dipping them just so we could see any lines or such that appeared on them. Several eggs had lines around them which I assume came from the conveyor belt they caught a ride on before being "packaged".

And since we did use Kool Aid I convinced Macen to take a sip of one of them. Well low and behold, he liked it. Enough that he thought Mariah and I needed to taste some of the colors as well. Talk about some potent stuff when only mixed with a cup of water. Macen tasted several colors but then again this is the picky eater who likes to drink lemon juice straight from the jar.