My mom, along with several others, have recently noticed a newly emerging quality of dear Stella’s.  My mom puts it like this, “Stella could sell ice to the Eskimo’s.”  Basically, she is a master convincer of sorts… a deal maker with skills.

Here are a couple examples:

1.  YOU PICK: One night last week I’m putting Stella to bed quite a bit past her bed time.  She knows it’s late, and when she goes to bed later, she usually only gets 1 story read to her instead of 3.  Before we even can discuss the issue of how many stories to read, Stella says to me verbatim, “Mommy, would you like to read 3 stories from my big story book, or only one small story?  You pick!”  Of course I say, “ummm…. one small story.”  Stella quickly responds with, “Nope, pick again.”  This tactic of her’s spills into every area of her life.  She attempts to make me feel like I’m the one with the control by giving me a choice, however, the choice I pick must line up with her desires or I must pick again.  Genius.

2. LETS MAKE A DEAL: Stella is always ready to make a ‘deal’ as long as the outcome outweighs the cost.  At dinner time, Stella’s main goal is to achieve dessert.  Dessert is NOT an occurrence after ever dinner in our household, but Stella tries to make it that way.  She will propose a deal with both mega cuteness AND intense assertiveness by saying something like this: “Mommy, 3 more bites of chicken, and then I can have ice-cream for dessert.  Deal shmeal?”  She learned this technique, as well as the term “deal shmeal” from her Daddy.  If I say no, the deal making is not over.  She will up the ante until she feels it is no longer worth her trouble.  Note: for ice-cream, it is always worth her trouble.

3.  I HAVE AN IDEA: Stella is full of great ideas… and great enthusiasm.  Mix those two things together and you’ve got yourself a deal maker.  When Stella wants to do something, she knows that if she presents her idea with enthusiasm, she has a better chance of success.  Here’s a scenario:  Stella knows that immediately following nap time, we need to make a dreaded trip to the grocery store… which she hates.  After a brief time of whining, she turns off the wimpers and switches to idea mode.  With wide eyes, a hop in her step, and the most excited tone she can muster up she says, “I have a great idea Mommy!  How about after nap time, you and me can snuggle cozy on the couch and watch a MOVIE!  Is that a good idea, Mommy?”  This puts a mother in a little bit of a pickle.  Of course there’s nothing more I’d rather do… I hate the grocery store too… maybe we can go tomorrow instead… Stella obviously needs some Mommy time… NO!  I am the boss and I will not let my 3 year old woo me with her great ideas!  Sorry Stella, but we need groceries.

I’ve got a smart cookie on my hands.  Lord, please make me smarter.  Love you my little dealmaker!!

Here is a video of Reese telling me what she wants.

Matt said to me just the other day, “She’s turning into such a little girl.”  By that he meant, not a baby anymore.  She’s quickly becoming her own little person with a personality, opinions, and desires.  Falling more in love with you every day Reese Solena!  You bless a mother’s heart! xo

One of MY main objectives while we were down there was to help my mom buy some new clothes.  Since as far as I can remember, my mom has never been a shopper, unlike me.  She is not very interested in fashion, and could really care less about having a large wardrobe.  A few staple items/outfits was all she’s ever had… and to be honest, those outfits were getting tired.  So, we shopped and were successful!

She got  a good amount of beautiful clothes that will help replace the old stuff that needs to be put to rest.  It was fun doing this with you mom!

Besides the fun of just being together, we had a great time swimming (as usual).  We made sure that the girlies got to go for a swim in the pool at least once a day.  To be honest, I think my mom and I loved the pool just as much as they did.  Stella’s swimming skills have improved a lot since she was last in a pool.  She has much more confidence than before, and is willing and able to try new things.  This time, she was swimming independently with water wings on.  She liked them, but was more interested in jumping in over her head over, and over, and over, and over again!  Reese wanted to copy her big sister in everything.  I would sit her on the edge and Reese would “jump” (fall) off the side and into my arms.  She loved to blow bubbles in the water, but still needs to work on lifting up her head to take a breath in.  Let’s just say that swimming did wonders for a solid nap time.

Stella on her way to the pool.

Meal times were fun with the girls.  We went to some of my favorite places in Naples, and my mom loved each of them.  One of her favorites, and not necessarily because of the food, was our outing to Tommy Bahama’s.  We all wore a dress to this restaurant (Stella’s request) because DANCING was on the itinerary for the night.  There is always live music at this restaurant, which makes it fun for Stella and Reese.  Stella came with dancing on her mind, and dance she did!

Stella got her groove on!

Love watching this kid dance her little heart out.  She is not afraid to show the world her moves.

After dinner we got an ice-cream.  It is NOT okay to visit Naples Florida and not get an ice-cream at Kilwan’s.  MMMMMmmmmmm, so good.  Stella and Reese thought so to.

FYI:  the lines on Stella’s face are pen lines.  Stella had a princess pen that she was using to draw with while riding in the car.  When we parked the car, we turned around to get out the girls and to my dismay she looked like this!  She hadn’t a clue that her face was covered in pen, so we didn’t say anything until we got home and showed her.  Apparently she liked how the pen tickled her face, and was equally surprised to see her face decorated so ‘beautifully.’

On our last day, we visited the beautiful BEACH!  My girls LOVE the sand!  In fact, Reese loves it so much that she eats it.  Grosse.  My mom had never swam in the ocean before that she could recall, so this was a special time for her.  Stella and her grandma has a wonderful time swimming in the salty water!  Reese spent most of her time examining sea shells, and eating sand.  Oh what fun!

I’m so blessed to be able to have done this trip with my Mom and daughters.  It’s times like these that you’ll remember forever.  Thank’s to all who helped make this “long time coming” vacation happen.  We had a blast!

On March 10th, my little Reese turned one year old!  This year has gone by faster then any other year, but it has been such a blessed year.  Reese had brought our family so much joy and laughter.  We are learning more and more about her every day, but here are some things we are sure of:

1.  Reese is FULL of energy.  This energy spills out of her with screams, laughter, body shakes, and smiles from ear to ear!

2.  Reese has an adventurous personality.  She tends to be drawn to the most undesirable things in our home i.e.) outlets, toilet splashing, jumping while climbing the stairs, the garbage cans, computer chords, etc…

3. As a result of her energy and adventurous personality, we have appropriately nicknamed her “Reese the Ripper.”

4. She is flirty.  She loves to grab someones attention with a squeal, a smile, a wave, and even the batting of her eye lashes.

5. Despite her chunky physique, she is not a big eater.  I know, it’s hard to believe.

6. She does not like sleep as much as most children her age.  Although she rarely fusses while being put down for a nap, she sometimes just plays the whole time in her crib, and/or wakes early in the morning and talks to herself until mommy comes to get her.

7. Reese is affectionate.  Unless she has another agenda, Reese is quite happy to snuggle, and give big hugs and kisses.  Fitting to Reese’s big personality, her kisses are VERY big (open mouth, slobber filled, and possibly even a little bite of cheek).

8. Reese is an extrovert (at least for now).  She is quite social , and loves to be involved in the action.  Being busy and a loud environment doesn’t seem to bother her very much.  She loves going into the nursery at Church.

When I think about Reese, I can’t help but smile.  I’m so thankful that God has blessed us with her.  Mommy, Daddy, and Stella love you SO much Reese, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! xo

Here is the cake I made from scratch for Reese’s birthday.  And yes, those are Reese Peanut Butter cups!  This is the best chocolate cake ever.  The recipe can be found in the Looneyspoons cookbook.

The recipe is called, “Died and Gone to Heaven Chocolate Cake:”

Ingredients – Cake:

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces (113 grams) unsweetened chocolate squares, melted in a double boiler and cooler slightly

Ingredients – Frosting:
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (35%) whipping cream
6 ounces (170 grams) semi sweet chocolate squares
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 package (8 ounces/250 grams) light cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Get three 9 inch round cake pans. Using one of them, trace and cut out three circles of parchment paper. Grease each pan with a little bit of butter, place the parchment paper circles in each one then lightly grease those too. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a seperate large bowl, beat eggs on high speed for 3 minutes. They should be thick and lemon coloured. Add buttermilk, coffee, oil, vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix on low speed to blend well.

Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Blend on medium until smooth then divide the batter between the 3 pans. Bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for ten minutes and then transfer the cakes to a cooling rack. Peel off paper.

To make the frosting, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the sugar, cocoa and whipping cream. Whisk constantly until mixture comes to a gentle boil then cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate squares until melted. Add vanilla, stir then let cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, set your electric mixture to high and beat the cream cheese with the butter until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture and beat on medium until well blended. Refrigerate frosting until spreading consistency is reached, about one hour.

When cakes are completely cooled, set one cake layer on your presentation plate. Frost. Add a second cake layer. Frost. Add last layer and finish frosting. Add chocolate shavings, raspberries or strawberries to complete. If you use berries, make sure they are super dry after washing. Cover and refrigerate. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before serving.

We made a trip out there this morning, and decided to bring a friend home with us today.  Stella picked out a betta fish that she named Charlie.  It is a beautiful blue and green coloured fishy.  Very handsome indeed.  It’s actually more likely a female, but who’s really checking anyways!  We had to purchase the fish, and a starter home that came with everything the fish needed to thrive.  The total cost of this was only $20.

Stella was very excited to bring Charlie home, and get him comfortable in her room.  Here is a picture of Stella and Charlie together.  Her smile speaks for itself.

The kit we bought is quite small and simple, but it’s really all you need to keep your betta fish healthy and happy (so I was told).  Here’s what the kit looked like.

Because the designed print doesn’t actually touch the water, I decided to use the print as a template.  I cut out the template using orange paper and let Stella create Charlie’s home decor with stickers, crayons, etc…

She was very pleased with her final product, which can be seen in the final picture found below.

Stella proudly watched Charlie become accustomed to his new home for quite a few minutes.  She talked to him like he was a little baby saying, “it’s okay Charlie, you’re alright.”  Charlie even got a few kisses on the side of his tank.  Let’s just say this is one very loved fish.

I’m not really sure how big of a commitment I just ventured into by introducing a fish into our family.  I figure that if Charlie seems to be causing us more harm then good, we can always adopt him out to another family, or send him early to fishy heaven.  But, don’t worry PETA, I don’t anticipate that happening.  It was a really fun adventure to do with Stella, and I’m sure Charlie will fit in with the MacDonald family just fine!

Here are some photo’s from this memorable event.

It all started with a good spray down with water.

She was not pleased with the whole layering technique…

…but after some instruction and encouragement, was able to endure the process by holding her hands together and being a tough cookie!

The lady put her hair in a fun little twist, which Stella was quite happy with.

This is the certificate that Stella got with her 1st professional haircut.  I found it so special that they even saves a lock of her hair for us to take home.

This is the before and after shots that they took for us.  Beautiful!  Thank you for being such a good girl during your hair cut.  Mommy is so proud of you, and I love you so much!

Our time together was refreshing.  We went and saw the movie “The Vow,” which was really good.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I would definitely put it on your list of ‘must sees,’ but be prepared to cry a little bit.  It’s one of those movies that pulls at your heart.

We decided to utilize YELP to help us find some good places to eat.  There was this Thai food place that seemed to be screaming our name.  Matt and I both love Thai food, and after a quick review we decided to give it a try.  It was called “Khao San Road” and was located in this little hole in the wall on Adelaide.  At first glance, we second guessed our decision, but then we realized that the place was packed, and there was a line of people waiting to get it.  That was a good sign.  After we were told we had about a 45 minute wait ahead of us, we were bummed.  BUT, since we had no time restrictions, we waited!

I cannot emphasize enough how worth while that wait was.  The food was the best thai food Matt and I had ever had, hands down.  Here’s what we ordered:  A coconut curry, chicken and potato dish, and a twist on pad thai.

I’m not a huge fan of pad thai in general, but this curry dish simply melted in your mouth with the most perfect blend of flavours and heat!  If you like thai food, you have got to try this place.

On Saturday morning we visited the St. Lawrence Market which was lots of fun.  The weather was terrible that day, which sort of played in our favor because the market wasn’t busy at all.  We were able to get a coffe and breakfast without any pushing or shoving, and even sit at a tabel all to ourselves.  This was my first time being at the St. Lawrence Market, and it was a fun place to go, even if you’re not looking for anything in particular.

I’m a major sucker for truffles, so Matt and I each picked out one.  I had a hazelnut crunch truffle which was SO yummy.  Thankfully, they were way to expensive to buy a whole box, or I may have been in trouble.  By the end of our morning we had also bought some delicious organic guacamole and mango salsa.   

We then headed over to the Eaton Centre to do some shopping and browsing.  It was fun to shop without the challenge of a double stroller or whining kids by your side.  We visited Chapters and bought a few magazines, each got a new pair of jeans, shared a banana and strawberry juice, bought the game UNO for a after dinner tournament (which I won), and simply walked and talked about life.

We grabbed a quick lunch at this place in the mall called “Mr. Green Jeans.”  I believe that Matt and I were still just dating or engaged when he took me here for the first time.  They have the best milkshakes I’ve ever tasted, so of course we indulged.  The nacho’s were pretty good too.

This event included a lot more talking where we came up with some good goals changes for life.  Matt and I are big believers on stopping and assessing the patterns of life every once and a while.  We come up with new ways to do things, new ideas to implement, and ways to change the things that just aren’t working.  These things apply to any area of our lives.

Saturday night was a bit of a let down in the food department.  We went to this place (that shall remain nameless) that was highly rated on YELP.  We got all dolled up, and headed out with high hopes.  Unfortunately, those high hopes were destroyed as we were served food that was simply o-kay.  I would have given it about a 6/10.

 Nonetheless, the conversation was wonderful, and our evening ended with a good old UNO tournament.

Sunday morning we packed our bags and checked out, and back into reality.  We had a splendid brunch at a place called “Lady Marmelade.”

It was traditional breakfast with Mexican infusion.

Not NEARLY as good as Stoney’s, but delightful nonetheless.  Before leaving the city we stopped at “Lit Espresso Bar,” which served us delicious latte’s while we read our magazines we had bought the day before.

Seriously delicious!

The weekend was perfect.  I am so thankful to my mom and dad who took the girls for the weekend.  But I’m even more thankful for such an amazing man who I enjoy spending time with.  I love you so much.  Thank you Matty, for being my best friend! xo

Here’s a video capturing a moment of laughter exchanged between the two of them.

Here is a sweet photo of Reese waking up her big sister from afternoon nap.  Reese LOVES to do this.  All I have to do is ask Reese if she wants to go wake up Stella, and she begins to kick her legs and wave her hands as if to say, “YES, YES, YES!”

Bath time is one of the girls favorite things to do together.  I think they both could spend an entire day in the bathtub together and still want more.  Reese loves to watch Stella perform for her and Stella loves to teach Reese every fantastic thing she can about water play.

Reese has recently learned to pull herself up using the furniture.  Stella loves that her baby sister is becoming a big girl because that means that Reese can participate in more play with her.  Stella often congratulates Reese when she stands up by giving her a huge hug (sometimes resulting in them both toppling over).

In fact, I’ve really noticed that Stella loves to encourage Reese in every way.  Sometimes she is consoling her when she’s grumpy or got an ouchie, and other times it’s simply a big sister gently teaching her little sister the rules of life.  For example, over the holiday’s Stella has indulged in eating some treats that she knows Reese isn’t able to try yet.  As Reese attempts to rip the treat from Stella’s hand, Stella gently removes her hand and says, “No Reese, one day you can have this treat, but not right now… you’re too little.”  SO sweet.

This morning, Reese had missed her morning nap and was a little on the grumpy side.  Stella got a little too close to grumpy-pants, and Reese grabbed Stella’s hair to use as leverage to stand up.  My sweet Stella kept her cool, called for Mommy, and never once attempted to retaliate against her little sister.

I know that there will likely be moments, and even seasons of war between our girls.  But for now, I am savouring every one of these precious moments.  Years down the road when they are in battle, maybe they can read a blog or two like this and be reminded of the blessing they have in each other.  Sisterhood is a gift.

Here’s the recipe:

The recipe for the wonton filling was SO good.  We found that it really tasted close to the flavor you get in wonton soup from a restaurant.  This part was what took the most amount of time.  The recipe called to make 30 of these, which equaled 6 portions of soup.

I had never used wonton wrappers before, but I actually found them really easy to work with.  My only negative is that this whole process was quite time consuming.

About 30 minutes later, and I had 30 pretty little wontons.

The broth was super easy and quick to make.

This is one portion of the soup.  It was quite filling, so the other four servings were packed in the fridge for quick lunches for the next few days!

Matt testifies: “It’s a winner.”

“For Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines.”  Hebrews 12:6

Re-phrase: Discipline in our lives is evidence of God’s love for us.

In the past couple weeks, I have learned more details concerning the life of David than ever before.  The text is so RICH with practical application and lessons for my life.  Last week, we went over 2 Samuel 11:1-27, paying attention to the smallest details of the story. If you haven’t read it before, I would encourage you to do so.  Here is my paraphrase of this particular portion of scripture:

It begins by stating that David (being King) was scheduled to go out to battle during this time of year, BUT did not go.  Once evening came around, he went on his rooftop to walk around and began lusting after a woman who he saw bathing down below.  This woman’s' name was Bathsheba, and she was the wife of one of David’s best soldiers (Uriah).  

NOTES: We may not know the exact reason David stayed behind, but we can be sure that is was not honorable.  Kings were suppose to fulfill their duties, and failure to do this was his first act of sin in this story. Secondly, he sinned by lusting after a woman that was not his wife, and then sinned again by sleeping with her.  

Question: How do I react to the temptation to sin.  Have I ever responded the way David did? I should I respond instead?

David sent some of his messengers to retrieve Bathsheba, and when she came to him, he had sex with her.  We find out here that her previously mentioned bathing was to cleanse herself from her monthly period which had just finished.  Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant, and sent word to tell David.

NOTES: Because Uriah was off at war, Bathsheba’s pregnancy would obviously not have resulted from relations with her husband, but from David.  There would have likely been at least a few people that knew she had gone to be with the King that evening, and news of this adulterous occasion would have spread like wildfire. 

Learning of this, David then pulled Uriah out of war and had him return home.  David tries to coax Uriah to go home and sleep with his wife on 3 separate occasions, but with no success.  The reason David wanted Uriah to sleep with his wife was because he wanted Uriah to believe the child was his.  He wanted to cover up the result of his sin, and be done with the whole situation.  However, Uriah was devoted to his duties of the kingdom, and would not forsake them in order to go rest at home.  He knew he had responsibilities, and was going to remain faithful to them.

NOTES: David sins again by attempting to cover up his sin of sleeping with Bathsheba and getting her pregnant.  He attempts this 3 times, unsuccessfully.  By this time, David would have been getting desperate to hide his sin.  No doubt he was anxious, and overwhelmed with the situation he had gotten himself into.  Every time David sinned in this portion of scripture, he did not turn to God in repentance, but continued to dig himself deeper into a pit of sinful self-sufficiency.  

Question: Have I ever attempted to cover up my sin with more sin?  What should I do instead?

With David’s first attempt at covering up his sin failing miserably, he resorted to plan “B.”  David wrote a letter addressed to Joab (battle commander of David’s army) which instructed him to put Uriah at the front lines of war, and then abandon him so that he would be overtaken and die.  Ironically, this letter was delivered to Joab by the hands of Uriah himself.  Joab obeyed the orders, and Uriah died in war.  

NOTES:  Murder.  David was so desperate to cover up his sin and fix this situation himself that he resorted to murdering a man.  If Joab died, then at least he wouldn’t have to face the man whom he betrayed by sleeping with his wife.  The pit in which David had dug himself was deep, but it goes even deeper still.

Question:  Have I ever dug myself a pit of sin so deep that I feel like I can never get out?  What do I do then?

Joab then sends a messenger to tell David the news that Uriah is dead, but he gives the messenger specific instructions to go along with the message.  He tells the messenger that if David becomes angry, and bombards the messenger with questions concerning how such a terrible and unlikely thing could have happened with his best soldiers, then he is to simply respond with, “Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”  So, the messenger goes and tells David the news.  David does not respond with frustration or anger and asks no questions.  He simply requests that the messenger encourage Joab by saying: these things happen sometimes.  Don’t get too get bent out of shape about it.  Just dust yourself off and overtake the enemy now.

NOTES:  I find this portion of the text especially interesting.  Joab did exactly what David asked him to do by placing Uriah in a “sure-to-die” positon in war, yet he tells the messenger that David will likely become angry and ask questions as to how such a thing could have happened.  Any good King would have responded in this way.  But David responds with relief, basically saying , “lets not think about this anymore, but move forward.  These things happen.”  In this moment, I believe that the messenger would have either known that deceit and foul play was present, or been extremely confused by his response.  Davids response is significant, because it reveals his relief.  He knew that as a result of Uriah’s death, he would be able to marry Bathsheba, and cover up his sin once and for all.  It took David many sins to get to this place, but he believed he was in the clear.  He was wrong. 

Question:  Have I ever become hard-hearted toward my sin, diminishing it in my mind to mean nothing?

Bathsheba hears of her husbands death and mourns.  After her mourning, David calles for her, and she becomes his wife.  Bathsheba bore him a son.  BUT, all the things that David had done displeased the Lord.  

NOTE: ALthough all seemed “fixed” in the eyes of David, God was displeased.  We cannot hide our sin from the Lord.  Because God loved David, he would discipline him.  David would soon begin to truly suffer the consequences of his sin.  

Question: Have I ever felt as though I got away with my sin without consequence?

In 2 Samuel 12, David is confronted with his sin head on.  He developed a broken and contrite spirit concerning his sin, and sincerely repents to the Lord.  The Lord forgives him (2 Samuel 12:13) and washes David clean of his sin, but consequences to his sin remain.  Over the years, David will suffer these 4 consequences to his sin:

1) The sword will never depart from his house.

2) Evil will stir up against David from his own household.

3) Someone close to David (his son) would sleep with David’s wives in broad daylight.

4) David’s son, born of Bathsheba will die when only a few days old.

LESSON: Sin will take you farther than you expected to go; it will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay; and it will cost you, more than you ever expected to pay. (Kay Aurthur)  I bet that when David first laid his eyes on Bathsheba, he never dreamed that he would end up where he did, or pay for his sin so greatly.  Sin is always diminished in our eyes to appear little and insignificant, but it is not.  David belonged to the Lord, and as such, God would discipline him.  Likewise, my sin is just as significant.  I need to be aware that when I choose to sin, I choose to welcome some sort of death into my life, in addition to God’s righteous discipline.  Thankfully, God will forgive me of my sin when I approach him in repentance with a broken heart.  Thankfully, God is bigger than my sin, and will use it to glorify himself.  Although David’s sin was great, and he suffered greatly, God used his sin to teach me about myself, and cause me to glorify God!  I’m thankful for David, because in him I see myself.  Praise the Lord for his ways are perfect!