Playland Debacle

Almost every time we drive by the Burley McDonalds Madeline asks if we can play in the tubes there someday. We aren't frequent McDonalds patrons, but last week we got a coupon in the paper for a free strawberry lemonade, so away we went.

She was so exited when we first got there and couldn't wait to go outside to the playland. She took her shoes off and went to the entrance to the tubes. She stuck her head inside and laughed and laughed. But, she wouldn't go in. She assured us that she was too scared and could only go in with mommy or daddy. We showed her the sign that states you must be smaller that 4 feet to enter, and assured her that both mommy and daddy were bigger than 4 feet tall. After a good 10 minutes of coaxing, she finally went into the entrance.

Then she wouldn't go any further. The other kids pushed passed her to get to the top and tried to encourage her to follow. In a moment of bravery many, many minutes later, Madeline made her way to the top. By this time, we had been at McDonalds quite awhile, and it was about time to leave.

Then came the real dilemma. She wouldn't come down. She sat at the top and yelled down that she was too scared to come down. She had three choices: the big slide, the little slide, or back down the way she climbed up. She refused all three. We coaxed and encouraged from the bottom of the little slide, but to no avail. The other parents were laughing by this point. Finally after another good 20 minutes, Scott climbed up the slide and pulled her down. It's a good thing he was with us because my 35 weeks pregnant body was not climbing into playland.

I told her as we were leaving that we should probably wait until she's a little older to go back to play land. She said, "Oh, mommy. I'm not scared anymore. We can come back anytime". At least I know I'll have to set aside an hour or two, and be sure to bring Scott.

Birthday Week

Scott and I enjoyed our annual birthday week a couple of weeks ago. His birthday is only 5 days before mine, and we like it like that. Usually I make him a cake by his request (last year was an absolutely divine tres leches - who would have though soggy cake could be so wonderful?), and we always have so much leftover that it ends up being my birthday cake too. This year, however, he requested vitamix ice cream. So I asked that part of my gift be a cake made by him.

I made it easy on him by finding the recipe and shopping for the ingredients. Then I helped a little bit in the kitchen (I really, really wanted it to turn out). You see, this was no ordinary cake. I saw a recipe in the paper for Prince William's grooms cake. It's basically chocolate ganache with crumbled butter buscuits inside. Yum. And no baking involved. I'm not much of a cake person, but this was right up my alley. So, how did it turn out? It was one of the most delicious things I have ever put in my mouth. It was so dark and rich that I didn't even want more after my first piece. That's my favorite way to experience dessert - I don't want to be left wanting more.

I also had fun this year celebrating my birthday with my sister-in-law, Becky. There are actually three of us in Scott's side of the family that share a May 1st birthday. We had dinner and cake together, and enjoyed one another's company.

We have one more birthday to look forward to this year, the actual day of birth of our son in FIVE weeks (give or take). The time is really flying by now.

The Easter Egg Problem

We finally had our big hunt on Sunday evening. Pics to follow after I get them downloaded. It was a success. Madeline and her cousin, Zane, both ended up with a bunch of loot.

Yesterday after her nap, Madeline asked to eat the candy from one of her eggs. I said, "sure". She then asked for some help finding an egg that still had candy in it. There were none. I don't have any idea when she ate all of the candy - I'd only seen her eat two. But apparently she had.

Then her little face lit up, and she had a "great" solution to her problem. She said, "Well, I'll just go to the candy drawer and fill them all up again."

I'm sure you can imagine what my answer was, and her subsequent reaction. I couldn't stop laughing in amazement, though. It was a pretty clever solution.