Maddie is 3!!!

This picture says it ALL!

Auntie Jeka!



I made this sailboat cake for my dad! (he loves to sail, and I was so proud)



Love my girls!

Maddie wanted gramma Denise to make her a Bee cake this year (for her 1st birthday she made her a ladybug cake!) The wings were made of sugar! It turned out sooo stinkin' cute. (Thank you grandma and Laurel)

Maddie and my dad are 50 years apart, my dad's birthday is March 1st and Maddie's is the 3rd so we've always combined the party. We had pizza and cake (a birthday staple).

Maddie has been so helpful lately, whether it's putting her toys away when asked or helping clean the house, to helping with her little sister. It's been really great, not perfect, she has her days (don't we all), but pretty pleasant.

She loves to make Riley laugh and is the only one who can really make her do that deep belly laugh. Anytime Riley sees Maddie her face just lights up and she waits for Maddie to do something funny, it's pretty hilarious. She sometimes starts to laugh if Maddie just comes near her, it's so cute.

Maddie speaks very well and says some pretty funny things, for example, we were driving up the mountain a few weeks back and Maddie said excitedly, "Mommy! My ears aren't "plugged in" anymore!"

Maddie is very smart and NEVER forgets a thing! She always holds us to our word, so we know never to say anything unless we're able to follow through. I mean this girl remembers things from waaaay back, things that I've almost forgotten about. She'll be telling a story and saying something that happened a long time ago and I'll just be nodding and saying "Oh really?" and then when I repeat back to her what she had been saying to make sense of it all, I'll say, "Oh yeah, we did do that!" or "yeah, that person did say that!" It's pretty amazing!

I'm happy-sad that our little Maddie is growing up. We've really been enjoying her and the sweet sassyness she brings. It's hard to see her getting older, as a part of us just wants to hang on to her babyhood and keep her little forever, but it's fun to live vicariously through your children and find all the joy that the little things in life have to offer... and we've definitely been able to do that with both of our lively little girls!