Our Day...

Every morning I ask Caden what he wants for breakfast. Usually he tells me that he wants french toast, eggs or peanut butter toast. Today he wanted Thomas the Train. He was so excited about it that I decided to make a 'breakfast Thomas':

Had I really been thinking, I would have used scrambled eggs as the steam. The orange just doesn't cut it, sigh. Thankfully I have many years ahead of me to perfect our breakfast fun! Luckily, Caden LOVED it and ate breakfast better than he has eaten in a long time. Infact, after he ate Thomas, he even wanted seconds. I asked Caden what he'll want to eat for breakfast tomorrow, and he said "Pappadaddy!!" Watch out, Grandpa!

After breakfast, Caden made sure to tell Maya all about his life. She loved it. They are best friends in the making.

We had a fun playdate with Tarek today. We painted big boxes and made them into cars. Those boys and their cars. We cut out holes for their arms and bodies and the boys drove their cars around the house. They play so well together.

I finally got my camera out to get a picture of Maya smiling. I was asking Maya where her smiles where, and Caden informed me that they were in her mouth.

Caden was right, the smiles really were in her mouth. Look at that face light up! What a gorgeous girl!

Mom Talk

I haven't been very good at blogging since Maya was born. Life with two has been crazy, busy, hard, wonderful, fun and so rewarding! I LOVE being a Mom of two. Maya is the most smiley, happy baby I have ever met. She has definitely added a lot to our little family. She has a huge smile, her entire face lights up and her eyes even curve up in their own little smile! Caden has taken on the role of big brother like a champ! He loves to make Maya smile. He tells her stories about Indiana Jones, Yoshi and Lightning McQueen. He never stops kissing her. He has just realized that instead of holding one of Maya's hands, he can actually hold both of them at the same time. "Me hold baby hand...TWO!"

I read an article on the Today Show last week about how once you have kids, you give away so much of yourself that the only thing you have left to talk about is your children. That is true, as you can tell from all of my blog posts! It probably does gets boring only hearing me talk about my children, but I probably won't find much more to talk about for the next 20 years. And thats okay :) There is a new movie that just came out that I am dying to see. It is called Motherhood (<--- click to see the trailer). Anyways, enough of my rambling. Hurry up and start updating your blogs, family! You are slacking off! And you all have interesting things to talk about :)

Maya's Blessing

As you all know, Ben blessed Maya on Sunday. He did a wonderful job, the blessing was beautiful. (Thank you to all of the family that was able to attend and support us!)

Maya looked adorable in her little blessing outfit (a special dress, bonnet and booties that Ben's grandma made for a Matthews girl... it had been in the box for more than a quarter of a century just waiting for a little girl!!)

Maya has such a calm, sweet spirit and we feel so blessed that she was sent to our little family!

Introducing....

Maya Lee Matthews

October 10th, 8:48am

7 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches long

Welcome to our family, Maya!

We sure love you!

Ready!

Here is a picture of the "Mini-Muffin Tin Advent Calendar" that I have been working on all week. I made it for the display table for this year's Super Saturday! The calendar is made using a mini-muffin tin, the candy for each day goes in the muffin hole! It is great because the decorations are magnetic and you just take them off during the year and you have a muffin tin!

(These pictures aren't the greatest quality- the sign at the top says "Christmas Countdown")

I have had a lot of enrichment stuff to get done before the baby comes, but now that this last project is done, I think (I hope) that enrichment is under control for the time being! So with that out of the way, freezer meals ready, crotchsicles awaiting, a super clean house and Caden feeling better, this baby is now welcome any time :)

Thank You!!!!!

Yesterday Caden woke up sick. He had been up lots in the night and pretty much screamed all day. He is getting his two year old molars and seems to be having a really rough time with it! I want to say a HUGE thank you to Dad who brought me kids tylenol and watched Caden so that I could shower... all before 9am! You are wonderful, Daddy!!

Also, last night for Family Home Evening, Dad, Mom and Rebecca came over and cleaned my house from top to bottom!! My floors are washed and vacuumed, bathrooms scrubbed, cupboards cleaned, windows and mirrors washed- EVERYTHING is clean!! It was such a great feeling to wake up this morning to such a clean house and it will feel even better bringing a newborn home to it! This morning Caden said "Ma-ma" then pretended to scrub the floors, then said "Pa-pa" and "Ka-ka (Becca) and pretended to wash the walls! Thanks for your example of service!!

I am SO grateful for family. Thank you for serving me. I love you guys so much!

One More Week!!!!

Here is my pregnancy shot at 39 weeks-

Things I WON'T miss about being pregnant:

Random strangers rubbing my belly, heartburn, pain and discomfort, waking up in the night to pee, peeing every 20 minutes, my ever changing body, waddling, people commenting on my body, having to sleep on my side, my lack of clothing options, swollen feet, feeling incredibly unattractive, having a hard time bending over, constantly being kicked in the ribs...

Things I actually WILL miss about being pregnant:

Feeling the baby kick and move around, the heat-pack Ben warms up for me every night, one-on-one time with Caden every day... and thats about it :)

1-2-3-GO!!

This video is a few months old now, but I love watching Caden in it. He LOVES when Daddy comes home from work! Usually, he's been waiting by the door for about 10 minutes by the time Ben comes home. Caden always has something in mind for them to do (spinning around, playing the Wii, building Lego) and can't even wait for Ben to take his shoes off! Ben is such a great Dad!

Caden has been growing up SO quickly this past month. His speech has improved a lot- he is constantly trying out new words and phrases and you can tell he feels very proud of himself! My favorite speech "improvement" this past month has been that he has stopped calling me mom ("maaah") and started calling me mommy ("maah-ee"). He is such a stud!

2 years old!

I can't believe that my little baby is TWO years old!

Caden is so full of life and has such an intense personality! He is so caring and just loves being around people. He always wants to make sure that everyone around him is happy.

Caden loves to have fun. He has such a love for life. His laugh is so contagious.

He is so active and always on the run... but when he does slow down,

he gives the best cuddles in the world!

I love this kid so much!

Mmmmm....

Yesterday I made 8 dozen cookies. Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk cookies. What am I doing making 8 dozen cookies when I have sworn off sugar, you may ask?! I don't know. I think it makes me feel normal to be able to bake even though I can't eat what I've made.

So, I will continue to spend my time opening zip-loc bags full of cookies and sniffing until my nose hurts. Yes, that's what I'll do. Thankfully there are a lot of people who can use an uplift and who have a better metabolism than I do, so I have places to send these cookies when I can't take it any longer :)

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies

(For pictures and a recipe for maple frosting, click here)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup self-rising flour (I used all-purpose flour and added 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Directions:

Whisk together flour and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter.

Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.

Add flour/spice mixture to sugar mixture in three additions. Alternate with pumpkin in two additions, ending with flour mixture.

Stir in chopped pecans and chocolate chunks.

Drop on cookie tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies.

Let cool.

Enjoy!

Shaving Cream Fight!

Gas to drive to Utah: $200

20 bottles of shaving cream: $40

Shaving cream fight: Priceless!

The last few weeks!

I keep checking all of your blogs just to get disappointed with the lack of updates! So here is my attempt at doing better with blogging. Hopefully I'll be able to stalk your blogs soon and not be disappointed :)

I had a cake order for Michelle Dahl (remember her from elementary school?) I had to deliver it all the way to Banff. The cake turned out great. I was really happy with it, it wasn't a difficult design but it was different than most cakes I've done which was refreshing! I also made 75 cupcakes which turned out well too. The whole order went so smoothly and I've finally found some recipes that I really love (I love making them and Ben and Caden love eating them... perfect!) After we delivered the cake, we hung out in Banff for the evening. I think Banff is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I wish I could get up there more often.

Last week Ben was off work for the entire week! We had such a fun vacation! No responsibilities (meaning church stuff, of course there was still laundry to do, meals to make, floors to clean, you know... mom stuff). We went to the zoo, LICS, riley park, out to eat, had a picnic, went to a movie, went boating, shopping and lots more. It was so fun to just be able to be together with no stress. I do have some cute pictures from the week, but I can't download pictures onto my computer right now!! I have so many pictures I need to update this blog with.

We also had another ultrasound last week. The tech was convinced that we are definitely having a girl! We are so excited! I've been looking at names ever since! I really didn't care what the sex of the baby was, but its just so nice to know and be able to start planning! (Let the pink shopping BEGIN!) The best part about the ultrasound was that the baby is measuring perfectly! I have been measuring small so my midwives sent me in to make sure the baby was okay. I was so relieved that she is! Also, my placenta has moved far enough up that I don't need a c-section! WOOHOO!

Caden has initiated going pee in the toilet two days in a row now! Mostly because he is in love with this book ... also the praise he gets after he goes pee or poo sure helps! I need a new toilet though because his little one leaks every time he pees (stupid sale items). I always end up cleaning up the pee while cheering for him. Being a mother can be so glamourous!

Caden is getting a little confused with what's real and what's not lately. He had so much fun boating last week that now every time we read a book and he sees a boat, he tries to climb inside the book and cries "BO! BO!". He has also attempted multiple times to climb inside computers to play with Lightning McQueen or to lick pictures of ice-cream cones on signs. Haha, he really is at such a fun age and I am constantly so impressed with how smart he is!

Ready... or Not!

A few weeks ago, I had a big realization... that whether I am ready or not, in less than 3 months I will be a mom to TWO kids. Realizing this scared me so much that I lost a lot of sleep that night! Since I have been home from Utah I have been tearing my house apart trying to get ready for a baby. I have a busy summer with a lot of wedding cake orders (Side note: I finally raised my prices to what they should be... and people are still booking, woohoo!) so I am trying to get as much done as I can now. I don't want to be stuck with an 8 month whale-belly and still have lots of work to do.

The biggest thing I've been working on is getting my basement cleaned out. If any of you have seen my basement in the last year or so, you'll understand why I haven't had time to update my blog lately :) It was a mess! I should have taken a picture before I started attacking it. It is such a good feeling to get a mess FINALLY cleaned up. In one day, I had to take 9 trips to the garbage bin (with both of my hands full of garbage bags, boxes, etc). But I still have a LONG way to go down there. Once the basement has been cleaned out, I am going to buy a big area rug and make the basement into our new study and playroom. After that, I will be able to get the baby's room ready (our current computer/ junk room).

My laptop is so full that I don't have any space to upload any more pictures! So next I need to clean out my computer, haha, and make space to upload the pictures from our amazing Utah trip! I can't wait to show everyone the pictures from our shaving cream fight :)

Okay enough about cleaning. BO-RING!

The Week in Pictures

It's been a busy, fun week! I have over 100 pictures from this past week alone... so I thought I'd show you some of the fun we've been having this week!

I threw Becca a P.Party. I won't go into too many details because I know that Dad reads this blog, haha. We had a really fun dinner, all red. Red jello, red spagetti, red punch, red grape tomatoes, and red strudels for dessert. It was a really fun night!

We've been enjoying some beautiful weather! It has been so nice to spend so much time outside, especially for Caden. The picture above is Caden enjoying an ice-cream cone at Bowness park. We went to feed the ducks (which he LOVED!) and play at the park. Caden gets so excited when he gets an ice-cream cone because "Signing Time" talks all about ice-cream cones. He screams if I try to help clean up the melted ice-cream from dripping all over his hands. It usually takes him an hour to finish an ice-cream cone but he is just so happy the entire time, it's adorable! 

Kati Anne went to grad! As you can see, she looked absolutely GORGEOUS! I went to her hair appointment with her and it was really fun to be there with her and see her getting ready! She had a fun night, check out her blog for more details on it!

We went to the Zoo! Mom and Dad were so cool and agreed with me to let Becca skip school on Friday so that she could come to the zoo with me. David and Mom came as well, and we had a great time! Caden and Becca went on the train that drives around the zoo, and Caden still won't stop talking about it. I am so excited to have a zoo pass this summer. We've already been having a blast with it! (Check out Caden's cool new sunglasses in the pic above, he thinks he is so cool because Uncle David wore sunglasses to the zoo as well).

David turned 27! Happy, happy birthday! He got some really cool presents and of course, an ice-cream cake! After dinner and presents we went fishing down at Bowness. I was so excited because I haven't been fishing since we were in B.C. right before Caden was born. We didn't catch anything but we did see some fish jump. Caden loved playing with a fishing pole!

I love this picture of Caden. Please note that he is holding a dandelion while with the other hand he is wiping himself. BAHAHA. He hasn't peed in the toilet yet, but he loves to sit down on the toilet and knows that he is doing something pretty cool! 

As you can tell, I have really been enjoying my new camera! There is so much to learn on it though, I am grateful for the auto setting :)

This week won't be as fun as last week! I am doing a lesson in Relief Society this Sunday, and a wedding cake on Friday. I am excited because it's my first SQUARE wedding cake. I will post some pictures when its done! 

"Let me see that belly from the SIDE!"

In case you don't understand my title, think back to the exhilerating times we had doing pre-natal workouts in Arizona... yep, now you can definitely see my belly from the side! I am now 20 weeks, so half way there! When I was pregnant with Caden I couldn't stop counting down the weeks and days until my due date. But this time, I am happy for the time to go as s.l.o.w.l.y as possible! I am in no hurry to be a sleep deprived, milk-making machine. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited to have a little baby, but now that I know what really is involved in taking care of said baby, I am happy to just grow a healthy baby, slowly, for the next 4 and a half months! 

12 weeks

19 weeks 

(and don't worry, I've learned never to make that face in a picture, ever again)

Why GIving Matters

Lara recommended this video to me, it is absolutely amazing. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, I definitely recommend that you watch it. 

BAHAHAHA!!!!!!