The Fresh Stuff

There is something calm and peaceful about a fresh clean coat of snow blanketing the ground. It makes me want to but some wood into the fireplace, put on some fuzzy pyjamas and watch it fall admiring the big flakes slowly falling. Especially when it's a nice spring snowfall and I know it isn't going to stick around past tomorrow!

Hog Ride

I would have to say that one of the most missed things from living in the Philippines is the freedom with the motorbikes. Being able to ride everyday or pilling on as many of us as could fit when convenient. Since Ryan bought the Harley the countdown to motorbike weather started. Finally seeing as the weather was a few degrees above freezing he thought it was time to take the kids for their first ride on a Harley Davidson. Thankfully I have a freakishly small head so my helmet fits the kids heads perfectly so they suited up in their nice warm jackets and helmet and were ready to ride. The kids absolutely loved riding on motorbikes in the Philippines and this was no different except for the rosy cheeks and pink little noses caused by that cold wind blasting their faces. The only one that wouldn't get on for a ride was Madison. She was super excited for her turn until she realized how heavy the helmet was and she was turned off. I guess that's the negative that came with Filipino riding, she's not used to wearing a helmet, eek. She did put it on, glare at us a while and then refuse to get on the bike with it on her head. Thankfully, after a few days of sitting on the sidelines and watching her brother and sister have all the fun she sucked it up and willingly wore the helmet so she could finally go for a ride with dad.

Rainbows and More Rainbows

This time three years ago I was holding my new freshly 'popped' out baby girl in my arms and enjoying that moment where you get to finally meet that little person that was beating you up from the inside for a few months. Now she's all tucked into her bed after a busy day of family and partying. Time really does fly by. I've always enjoyed my kids and they all are my favourite for different reasons but today we got to celebrate Madison Moffat Beattie being chosen for us, a perfect fit to our family!
As per her request we gave her a rainbow party to the extreme. This week as I prepared rainbow jell-o, rainbow pudding pops, rainbow cupcakes decorated with rainbow icing I was continually motivated by her excitedness as she would jump up and down with the smile only Maddy can have each time she saw a rainbow treat made for her birthday. So I continued to work hard in the kitchen enjoying that smile. I even had an extra burst of energy and arranged skittles into a rainbow to let the adults take a guess at home many it took to fill the jar (846).
I'd like to point out that I proved social networking can work to someones advantage with this party since I took quite a few idea's from pinterest to pull off the rainbow magic. All easy but time consuming since I had to make 30 of everything in case every cousin, aunt, uncle and grandparent wanted a taste. I have to admit I thought the JELL-O was pretty! and the frozen pudding pops didn't turn out too bad either.

We made kool-aid ice cubes so they were rainbow-ish and filled cups with sprite and dropped the ice cubes in and Ryan topped them off with Rainbow licorice as straws, how genius is he!? Of course the grand finale was the cupcakes. I added food colouring to the cake mix and adding each colour individually causing the cupcakes to cook like rainbows and topped them off with rainbow swirls. Again really easy, just time consuming ... I cannot say enough good things about Wilton's colour gel when dealing with icing. Such vibrant colours!

And so as my baby girl isn't a baby anymore I'd like to take a few moments and share why she's just so special to us:
A smile that melts our hearts - she has this look that our other kids didn't really have that I can hardly resist. She's always smiling (or screaming but mostly smiling).
She's our entertainer - Maddy LOVES attention and loves doing funny things to get it.
She's a dancing queen - She has always loved dancing and can't resist a good tune, she especially loves dancing in front of a mirror or watching her reflection in the television. It's hilarious.
She is so polite - She thanks me for every dinner, almost always says please and thank you and loves to help set the table.
She likes me to sing to her when I tuck her in - I've sung to each my babies even though I'm tone deaf but Maddy recently has been asking me to sing to her the "Child of God song" or "Family" or "Temple" song when I put her to bed. It makes me feel good inside to have her like those moments with me.
Her eyes always sparkle with happiness - I believe that my kids will never be able to deny they are loved. They are surrounded by people who love them and want them to be happy. Madison's eyes are always sparkling with an inner happiness and I can even catch that glimmer on the camera from time to time.

So, yay for Madison and her turning three. We love her and I can't imagine our little family without her being a part of it. She definitely is something special.