Happy Birthday Maddox

Wow, I can not believe that my baby is 4 years old!!! Every year I have such a hard time knowing that he is slowly turning into a big boy. I love watching him grow and develop, but a little piece of my heart breaks knowing that he won't stay little forever. I love this little boy more than I could ever describe. He fills my life with love, joy, laughter, and a little frustration which makes me love him more. He has taught me so much!

This year we had a Super Hero Birthday Party. Maddox was so excited for his birthday cake and really wanted to help make it. And he did a really great job in doing so. We made a rainbow cake where you mix 6 different colors into the cake dropping it mound by mound into the center of the pan letting it spread out and settle on its own. Maddox stirred every color into the cake batter and did a lot of sampling (he was careful to lick the spoon after it was mixed so no worries adults, I don't think any germs got into the cake and if they did they were surly cooked out)! Then we put a crumb coat on the cake. The next day we put another coat of icing on the cake then put the fondant over the top. We served the cake with the all appropriate kids ice cream called play dough ice cream. I had made super hero capes for all the kids and put those in a bag with silly string. The party was great and much less stressful then planning activities for the kids to do. Here is a picture of what the inside of the cake ended up looking like.

Maddox has truly loved all his birthday gifts (even the clothes though you wouldn't have known that at the party). He was so cute! Every time he opened a gift he would respond with vibrant exclamations such as, "Oh WOW", "Oh my heck", "A GUN!!!", "Cool". I loved hearing him get excited over the gifts his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents had given him. We gave him a bike for his birthday and he as loved riding it everyday.

Making Fondant

This year after asking Maddox what kind of birthday cake he wanted he finally decided on a superhero birthday cake. The cake we found was covered in fondant and so I decided to give it a try. After talking to my sister Cali, who was also making fondant for her little boys birthday, I felt much more confident in the process. Making the fondant was super fast and easy and I thought for sure it was going to be just as easy when it came time to use it. Boy was I wrong!!! My fondant was so dry that warming it up wouldn't even soften it enough to knead. I ended up adding in a ton of Crisco and a bit of water to get it to a taffy consistency. Then I had to color each batch in hopes that I had enough fondant for each cake. While...adding more crisco. (Seriously it tasted great, but in the back of my mind all I could think about was how much fat I had added to it.)

With some of the extra fondant I had, I let Maddox play with it and make shapes out of it. He loved being able to eat his dough, but knowing that it wasn't something he should eat much of I told him not to eat too much.
"Why?" (typical thing for a 4 year old to say)
So I told him, "Well you will get a tummy ache if you eat too much."
"Why?"
"Well, it has too much sugar and fat in it. So if you eat too much it would make you sick."
About an hour later I started putting another coat of frosting on the cake and Maddox said, "Mom is that my cake?"
"Yup"
"DON'T PUT FAT IN IT!!!"
It was the funniest thing. Now when he eats something he says, "Mom, does it have fat in it?" Oh boy what have I done??? He even told the neighbors about his birthday cake and that it did in fact have...fat in it.
Oh my Maddox boy, I love you so much!

Here is a picture of the finished product! I think it turned out pretty good. It wasn't perfect, which I admit bothered me a little, but not bad for a first time job.

Feeling Like One of the Guys

I have been completely amazed with the kids in our ward. Maddox went into the primary this January and did great. For the first few weeks he went, but was still hesitant. Just before conference weekend the primary had an activity. When we got there Maddox was worried that he didn't have his church clothes on and didn't want to participate in the activities they were about to do. After taking an item out of a bag to see what group they would be in the sweetest nine year old turned to Maddox and said, "Hey Maddox, it looks like we are in the same group. Do you want to come with me?" Maddox's attitude completely turned around. He was excited and turned to waive at me. I was so impressed that a nine year old would turn and ask a three year old if he wanted to come with him before finding his friends.
When the primary came in with their reverence bucks to buy their prizes I looked out and saw little Maddox standing, looking up and talking to all the big boys who had befriended him. I was furthermore impressed when I saw that the boy had taken out his reverence bucks and counted both his and Maddox's. Maddox had had less reverence bucks then he did, so he divided the amount of money equally and helped Maddox make their purchases. They bought two of everything. After they were out of money they went to a table to divide up the items they had bought. They each had the same items by the time it was over and I couldn't believe the maturity of this boy who had not only touched my heart, but who had made primary an exciting place for Maddox to be. Since then Maddox has looked forward to seeing his new friend every Sunday.
After that primary activity we have had the neighborhood kids come to play with Maddox. The youngest of the group is Maddox followed by the kids 8-13 years of age. They are patient with him and so sweet. Maddox loves that they come over and feels like he is one of the big kids.

Here is a picture of the kids playing baseball.

Easter

This Easter was so much fun and completely different from the Easter mornings Brooks and I grew up with. When I was a kid there was five of us to find and collect the eggs that were hidden in one room. We would sit just itching to race each other to collect the most eggs. This year Maddox placed his basket on one side of the room and walked to pick up each egg separately before walking back to his basket. Needless to say, it took almost all morning long and two baskets to fill with the amount of eggs we ended up having. However, he did have a great time coloring the eggs with us.












Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Maddox on Easter Morning.











Striking a dance pose (we aren't sure why...but we think it is cute.)













Flexing those BIG muscles

Update

I don't know how this happened. I have known for sometime that I have needed to post, but didn't realize that it had been so long since my last one. We have had a lot going on and a lot of nothing going on at the same time. So here are a few posts to update everyone.

For St. Patrick's day my sisters and I decided to take the kids to the Bean Museum for earning their hearts in the month of February. Before we left Maddox and I made green eggs, green milk and read Green Eggs and Ham.


After breakfast we made our way to the museum where the kids were able to see all sorts of wild life and learn a bit about them. They were even able to see some that were alive after story time.
And I have to say, even though our kidos are still little and sweet, they hold a lot of spunk with a big personality to go with it! I just love this picture of Cortlynn. She didn't even want a picture taken which is not like her at all. We all had a great time at the museum and had a great time at the park afterwards! I just love that me and my sisters can get together as often as we do. I love them all so much.