Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning

We're hoping to put our house on the market in a couple of weeks which means tackling some large cleaning/repair projects around the house. One of the big ones involves our tiny backyard. Ever since we got Bailey we've dreamed of having grass in our small backyard. Unfortunately no matter how much sod we buy, it turns into a mud pit in a few short months, EVERY SINGLE TIME! So in an effort to make it look nice and not be a mud pit, we put down bark this time. Bailey loves it, Maddy loves it, and it looks great and holds up to Washington spring rains. Success!!

Cooking Soup

Maddy has been really really into helping us cook lately. If she even sees you in the kitchen, she runs and grabs a dining room chair and pushes it up to the counter and exclaims "my cook too!" Sometimes its hard to find things that a 2 year old can safely do, but usually we can find something that keeps her engaged and excited. This past weekend I made Coconut Curry Chicken Soup and of course she wanted to help. For those of you that like Thai or Indian food, you'll LOVE this soup. And its a Cooking Light recipe, so even better.

Maddy helped peel the shallot, measure the sugar, and pour in the coconut milk. She had a really good time! As much as she typically likes ethnic food, she did NOT like the taste of this soup. Oh well, maybe next time!

Here's the finish product (thanks for the photo Cooking Light, yours looked much better than mine)! 

Arizona

Whew, what a hectic month we've had. Ted traveled for work, then we all traveled to Arizona as a family to visit Ted's parents, then I traveled for work. Oh yeah, and in the middle of that we have been preparing our house to sell. I'm really really trying to stop saying I'm busy, because I strongly believe that it's not a contest and busy doesn't really tell others what's going on in your life but let's be honest, starting this post with hectic, is only a synonym for busy. I need to work on this obviously :)

I've been meaning to post these pictures from Arizona for 2 weeks. I edited them, compiled them into a collage, and then put them into a folder. And that's where they've sat.

We had a blast in Arizona. With all the busyness :) in our life lately, it was sure nice to sit around peacefully in the sunshine and just relax, all while catching up with Ted's parents (his Mom is doing great by the way). We took tons of photos, went for long walks, drank fresh squeezed orange juice, drank grown up drinks by the fire in the evenings, and even got some extra sleep. It was glorious and I wish we had been there for twice the time we were.

Reading

Maddy has been really into reading lately. She's started memorizing a few of her favorites so it appears as though she can read as she turns the pages. Our favorite is when she reads "The Best Mouse Cookie" and says "the bigger the drop, the louder the plop!" She's so proud of herself and her reading.

Tonight she grabbed a book while I was folding her laundry and laid on her bedroom floor and read for a while reciting all the pages of "One Rainy Day."

Funny Things Maddy Says -
I know I haven't shared anything in a while but the other day she totally made us laugh. We were driving on a somewhat windy road, not going especially fast, but turning a lot. All of a sudden she shouted, "DON'T TIP OVER MOMMY AND DADDY!" Apparently all the turning had her worried about her safety as we moved from side to side. Ha ha!

Frozen Yogurt & Cookies

The way this post title starts, you'd think we only eat sugar :) Ok, so that  might be true the past few days. Maddy has developed quite a sweet tooth, but luckily is generally happy with a small amount of candy/cookie/ice cream.

This week Ted was away for 3 days at a work conference so Maddy and I were on our own. We had a few challenges, the main one being that I typically leave at 5:30am to get to UW in Seattle for work. With Ted being gone we really had to problem solve to allow me to be at 2 extremely important meetings/presentations and Maddy being able to get to daycare and not have to wake up at 5am. Thank goodness for the best babysitter ever, who slept over Wednesday night so she could handle the morning routine on Thursday. On day 2 we needed a reward so we went and got frozen yogurt at one of those places where you get to put on oodles of toppings. We had a blast and it was just what we needed to break up the night.

Today Ted had to work (geez, is that guy ever home) so Maddy and I spent the day together. We got a lot of household things done (meals made for the week, house cleaned, laundry, etc.) but even managed to fit in some fun like gymnastics and COOKIES! I had bought some prepared dough a few weeks ago so we finally made them today. Maddy had a blast and even more so eating the cookies!