Madison Hope is 4!!!

While we were back in the States Maddy turned FOUR! It's a bit unbelievable even as I type it. It really hit me the other day when she said, "Mom, on my next birthday I'll be 5!" Can it be?!

Yikes- time is just flying by. How can my baby by four already? Seems like just yesterday she was born on that cold wintery day in Chicago!

I've tried to keep a little record of my girls, their growth, updates and birthdays so that I don't forget any of these fun little years and because I hope to print that portion of my blog someday ;)

First Birthday ~ We had a little birthday with some of our friends in Chicago.  

She was so itty bitty, but spunky!

Second Birthday ~ We had a "My Little Pony" party with a bunch of her little buddies. Such fun! Rose was only 4 months old ;)

All her lil' buddies at her party ;) Rose is the tiny baby next her!

Third Birthday ~ We had a little princess party with some of her new friends in Aberdeen, Scotland!

Fourth Birthday~ We had the privilege of having a little birthday party with family 

while we were back in PA. 

With mom and dad on her special day!

She loves her Tinkerbel doll from grandma and grandpa!

Cousins!

Maddy wanted an Ariel Doll cake, so I followed this recipe along with many other you tube videos.
Don't look too close or i'm afraid you'll be disappointed, ha ;)

I had no idea where to put the candles ;)

And then extra weird is that she wanted to lick the frosting off Ariel!

Maddy says:

*Maddy turns everything into a race and has somehow convinced Rose that losing is good (only for Rose). So they Race down the hall and Maddy yells, "I winned!" and Rose (touching the wall after Maddy) squeals with delight, "I losed! Maddy, I wan losed!"

*Maddy a the breakfast table this morning, "Mom, I'm just thinking about if I'm gonna steal Rose's toast or not. That's what I'm doing right now."

*I heard some rustling up in the girl's bedroom (30 min after I had put them down), I went up to find both Maddy and Rose covered in sunscreen! They were up changing their pj's when I asked Maddy what was going on, she said, "I just wanted to be ready if we are ever going swimming soon someday!"

*She's into the "What if's" before bedtime. "What if Rosie climbs into my bed? What if Rose talks and talks and talks while I'm trying to sleep? What if someone takes out all of your bones out of your body when you're sleeping and when you wake up you just fall down and can't walk downstairs? Haha -that last one is my favorite ;) I think it comes from the fact that she has been learning about bones in preschool/nursery!

* In an excited shout, "Mom I just opened the car door all by myself! I'm getting bigger like you!"

She loves:

* dancing

* singing (especially her own made up songs ;)
* dressing up - mainly in princess dresses, but really any dress will do!
* sweets, buttered pasta, cinnamon toast, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, cheese puffs, milk and apples
* playing ponies, princesses, babies, or kitty cat with Rose
* helping Rose with whatever she needs

Reading Rose a book while Rose tried to use the potty -she's a sweet sister!

* playing Cruella Deville with Tim or I
* nursery/preschool -her teachers - her friends - and learning - yay :)
* holding my hand
* crafting

Coloring the shapes I drew for her. She was being so careful and very proud of her work ;)

Being silly, putting the snowflake she had made on her head 

* hugging, kissing, and snuggling - she's still quite an affectionate girl
* Here daddy! She and Tim had a little tea party date the other day. Such special memories!

We're so thankful for you sweet Madison Hope! You make our world a happier place! Daddy, Rose and I are blessed to have you in our family! We can't wait to see all that you become. You are full of life and have a tender heart. We love to hear you sing, giggle, and play! 

You're the sweetest four year old we know!

A Puppy Party and a Trip Down Memory Lane

 Rose loves "dog dogs" so we decided to celebrate here 2nd year of life with a "Puppy Party"!

All dressed up and checking out the cupcakes!

Sweet sisters waiting for their buddies to arrive.

Tim promised Rose a treat if she smiled ;)

The spread! I found most of these ideas on Pinterest and Martha Stewart's Website :)
She actually had a whole segment on a Puppy Party! She has a great video to watch here. Hers was much more elaborate than mine, but I'm proud that I did mine on a tight budget of time and money!

How could I not serve Puppy Chow?!

Dog Bones (pre-made herbed puff pastry). I was going to make homemade soft pretzel bones, but just didn't have time. Can anyone relate with that?! So I bought some pre-made dough, cut it into approximately 4x2 in. rectangular strips, rolled each strip into a snake like shape, and then tied each end into a knot. Voila! Dog Bones.

Pupcorn (sorry for all of the lame puns - I just couldn't help myself!)

Malt Balls ;)

We just HAD to serve hotdogs!
And they were American made from Costco - so that made my heart happy!

And of Course - Pupcakes!

I basically followed Martha Stewart's idea, but made it a little easier. I frosted them with homemade buttercream, Stuck a little mini cookie on for the face, chocolate chips for the eyes, chocolate covered raisin for the nose, drew the mouth with icing tube from the store (I also ended up using that to put the nose on so it didn't look white under the nose).
 And since I couldn't find any cookies here that fit the right size of the ears (some people used "Nutter Butter" cookies), I followed Martha's video of making the them.

I just melted chocolate chips, scooped it into the corner of a zip lock bag (makeshift piping bag), cut the corn off, and piped small oval (isn) or bean-like shapes onto wax paper, let them cool in the fridge. I then stuck them to the frosting smooth side up for ears!
The shape of each set of ears was not exactly symmetrical, but they look just fine on the cupcakes I think!
I'll admit, that part was MUCH easier than I though it would be. I even made a little heart with chocolate and put it on a cupcake for Tim. I'm totally using this method again for decorating cakes and desserts in the future!

I made a doggy bag using this clip art template. I really just wanted to use brown paper lunch bags (because they are cheaper), but I couldn't' find them here. 

All in all it was a really fun party. Rose sure did love those "Dog Dogs"!
And that of course made me happy! 

Happy Birthday Rose Lillian Baylor!

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And now for a little trip down memory lane :)

August 30, 2010 ~ Rose's first day!

Tiny newborn feet!

6 months old 

12 months old and packing for Scotland!

18 months old and full of personality ;)

 2 years old. 

You have won our hearts Rose! 

You are a smart, observant, quiet, quirky, happy little girl, and we can't imagine our lives without you! You are a blessing from the Lord who made you! 

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! 

We love you! 

Happy 30th Birthday Tim!!!

Oh my word Tim-30! Really?! Haha- I can tease about him being SO OLD because I turn 30 in just a few weeks :) 

Seriously though, I am just crazy thankful for my dear husband. We've had some really great times together (and continue to ;) -He is my best friend and I just love his companionship! He is seriously the best Dad to our girls that I could have ever asked for and he works so hard at his job so that I can have the wonderful opportunity of staying home with our sweet girls while they are young. 

I could never repay him for that! 

We have been together since we were 16, so that's nearly half of our lives now! I love the history and life we have together. Don't get me wrong - it's certainly not perfect. 

No marriage ever is. 

It's hard work sometimes, but it is certainly worth it in the end! 

Here is a quick snapshot of our last 14 years together:

Age 16 - Best friends already, started dating by going on a double date 

with my twin and our friend Zach

Age 17 - Still dating (Although broke up nearly every summer :)

Age 18 - seniors in high school now, graduated,  headed off to freshman year of college together in WI (oh and we broke up for our whole freshman year too ;)

Age 19 - sophomore year - got back together - continued our studies and made some really great friends

Age 20 - Juniors - got engaged during Spring Break in NYC -very romantic!

Age 21 -Seniors! Wedding planning!

Age 22 - got married 2 weeks after college graduation! Moved to VA to begin seminary.  Tim started the business "Finishing Touches Painting and Pressure Washing" with Jordan Heijermans. I started my first year of teaching at GCA teaching 2nd grade.

Age 23 - Tim continued seminary and started teaching high school theology and Greek. I began coaching high school soccer, and moved to teaching 4th grade.

Age 24 - I continued to teach 4th grade,  Tim continued seminary and continued teaching high school theology and Greek. 

Age 25 - Tim took a year off seminary, but continued to teach. I continued to teach 4th grade and we both coached high school soccer girls together. We really enjoyed that break from seminary and got to spend lots of time together and with friends as we prepared to move to Chicago.

Age 26 - Moved to Chicago to finish Seminary at TEDS. Tim worked as a barista at Starbucks and I taught 3rd grade at HFLS in the city and began my Master's degree in teaching.

Age 27 - Tim continued at TEDS and started to work for the church part-time as well as a barista at Starbucks part-time.  I finished my last year of teaching and continued to work on my degree

 (do you think we love school or what?!) Then Madison arrived!

Age 28 - Tim graduated from TEDS with his MDiv - began working for the church full-time.  I stayed home with Madison and continued to work on my degree. 

Age 29 - Tim continued to work full-time at the church in a new role. I continued to stay home with Madison and continued to work on my degree while pregnant with Rose. Rose arrived on the scene!

Age 30 -Happy Birthday Babe! I'm enjoying the ride with you :)

Happy 28th Birthday Tim!

It's Tim's Birthday and I just wanted to say again how much I love and admire him. He has worked so hard for our family this semester. He has worked 15+ hours a week for our church, 20+ hours a week for Starbucks, and then took 15 graduate credits at Trinity. He has been amazing! It came down to the wire here at the end - he had big exam last Monday and a huge paper due today - on top of that he ended up working 80 hours at Starbucks in 10 days to keep insurance for himself and Maddy. But he pushed through and finished it all. This was basically his last semester of classes. Next semester he will go to one class at TEDS, while he writes his Thesis. The end is in sight!

All that to say, I am so proud of my husband. He is a hardworking man who I know will be a great father to our little Maddy (provided she ever comes ;) - I know this because he is already a fantastic husband! Happy Birthday babe!

Tim was really craving ribs, so on the recommendation of someone from our church we tried this place:

We had a really great time just relaxing and catching up after such a busy semester

As you can see, Tim really enjoyed his ribs :)

We got a seat right by the cozy, warm fireplace

On our way home, we stopped by the Cheesecake Factory to grab dessert to eat while we watched "The Office"

Tim chose their HUGE chocolate cake - his favorite. It was seriously good! Both of us together could not even finish it off. The rest is in the fridge right now, and knowing my cravings lately, it may be gone come morning ;)

All and all we had a really nice time together. Even though it has been a little frustrating waiting for Maddy, I am thankful that Tim was able to finish up his semester and that we have gotten a little bit of time to spend together. God is truly so good!

We go in for the ultrasound tomorrow at 11:45am to see the size of Maddy and where the amniotic fluid is at. Then at 12:15pm we will see the doctor to check if I am dilated anymore and discuss our options. So if you could, pray for wisdom :)