Chocolate Fudge Cake

Poor Sadie. She had to wait two days to eat the chocolate cake that she had so desperately wanted just when they were unfrosted cooling cakes.

(Read "Cawc-Late" post below)

We celebrated Grandma Cook's birthday on Saturday. As soon as the cake was unveiled, she was right up on the counter wanting a taste.

Grandma managed to hold her back... for a little while. I was not too sure I should let her do what she was about to do... but it was Grandma's cake and it was up to her how Sadie got her first bite...

You can definitely tell she is a girl. She LOVES her chocolate! Especially Dark Chocolate!

Click on the headline "Chocolate Fudge Cake" for the recipe I used. It is delish. The cake is a little bland, but the frosting is so rich, you would not want the cake too sweet. (The chocolate shavings on top where my own addition. I had a bar of the dark chocolate left that I shaved/curled, that I decided to add to the top. I used Dove's 71% Cacoa) Excellent by itself, even more amazing with a little vanilla ice cream.

"Cawc-late"

I was making a chocolate cake today for my mom's birthday. Sadie was being such an angel. She usually throws a fit if I am in the kitchen and she is blocked into the living room. But today I told her that I was going to go make a cake for Grandma and I needed her to play in the living room. She kept coming to check on me and would rattle the gate from time to time. But never a whine or cry. I was so proud of her! Once I got the cake into the oven we had about 45 minutes of play time together. About 5 minutes before it was done she told me that she wanted a "nack". So I took her in the kitchen and set her up with a handful of cheerios and milk. After her "nack" I put her back in the living room and got the cakes out of the oven. When I went back into the living room she started to cry and reach towards the kitchen. I asked her if she wanted her milk, she told me yeah, so we went in together to get her milk cup, which she ended up refusing and started to reach for the cake. Saying "Cawc-late, Cawc-late". When I told her that she could not have any chocolate cake she started to cry like it was the end of the world. I was so impressed that she was able to recognize a chocolate cake, that was just round brown cakes cooling on racks, and called it "cac-late". I was only able to calm her down after offering her some chocolate milk. (I give her Carnation Instant breakfast.) She started taking a liking to it when Grandma Cook shared her morning glass one day a few months ago. And when she was sick back in December she would not eat anything. But had no problem with beverages. So I started giving her Carnation Instant breakfast just so she was getting at least some nutrition. (After all, they do claim it has more protein than an egg.)

She is such a cutie!

Sadie's Ponytail

Her hair is now finally long enough to put all the way back into a ponytail. Not just a fountain on top of her head, but a full ponytail at the back of her head.

She is too much fun! We had to have a small photo session. Of course the ponytail only lasted long enough for me to take a few pics. After that, she reached up and pulled it right out.

Click on the picture below to see our complete photo shoot.

(Along with two photos from yesterday)

Jan 2009

Sadie's First Dentist Appointment

I can’t believe Sadie is already old enough to visit the dentist! (Her first appointment was on Monday, January 12th.) But, she does have all eight of her front teeth, four back molars and her canines are about halfway in. I think she really enjoys hamburgers and sandwiches and needed them teeth… FAST!

One of the biggest concerns I had and why I wanted her to visit the dentist sooner rather than later, was just so I had a dentist on call if something happened. A few weeks ago she tipped a chair over and the seat hit her in the mouth. It cut her lip and she bled a little and cried a lot. But with the little blood and saliva I was unable to tell if it was just her lip of if she damaged her teeth. I wished right then that I had already had her visit the dentist. It was something I just kept putting off. Parents Magazine recommended having a dentist that is familiar with your toddler… just in case.

Her first appointment was more or less a meet and greet. She met her hygienist, Shanna. Whom she LOVED! Took her all of about 5 minutes to warm up to her in the lobby and was handing her books. After about 10 minutes, Shanna asked Sadie if she would like to go see her chair. Sadie followed her tight back and let me put her in the chair.

We were able to get her to open her mouth a bit with the bribe of a new tooth brush. (She loves having her teeth brushed.) When the dentist came in to say hi, she was a bit shy. (Sadie is not a big fan of boys.) I was very surprised though when she went to cling to Shanna because she was closer when the doctor came in. It made me very happy to see that Sadie already trusted her.

The dentist said that her teeth are coming in great. The spacing that she has right now is a good indication that her permanent teeth will have plenty of room to come in and not be overcrowded.

I am glad that I now have a dentist that I know I can call IF something should happen to Sadie. I also hope that this will help her to have a good relationship with a dentist. I have never been afraid of the dentist and I am hoping that she will never have that fear as well.

(I took my camera in hopes to get pictures… and completely forgot to take any until I was buckling Sadie in her car seat to go home. She has a second appointment close to her second year where they will try a little polish just to see how she does. I am planning to prepare her by using a electric toothbrush on her a few times a week. I'll take some picutes then. She looked so small in that big dental chair.)

Sugar Bowl 2009

We obviously had to watch the Sugar Bowl this year. Our undefeated UTES were going up against Alabama as the underdog. Lantz was hoping that they would win, but was not really sure that they would. Well, the Utes Whooped ‘Em! 31-17!! The best part about the game I think for both of us was that we were able to share the awesome win with our friends, Dennis and Trish! Obviously, both Lantz and Dennis wanted to go to the Utah Bowl Game, but unfortunately, New Orleans was just a bit too far away and the cost of the flight, hotel and ticket was just too much. But for them to be able to watch it together was just as good.

Sadie was not quite sure at first come Friday morning who the strangers were in the house, but it only took about 15 minutes and a bribe from Trish to get her to come around. After that she and Trish were best friends. She never really warmed up to Dennis, but then again, she is not that fond of boys… yet.

Sadie was not so sure what to think of all the hoopin’ and hollerin’ going on at first, during the game, but after she realized that she was not in trouble and that we were having fun, she started to get a kick out of it. She got put bed before the end of the game so we had to celebrate quietly during the second half.

The five of us had not only a great day on Friday, but the adults we were able to take advantage of Dennis’s and Trish’s visit and go play a little. Grandma and Grandpa Cook came and got Sadie on Saturday morning so we were all able to go to OMSI and play around with some brain teasers and look at some interesting stuff. We then went to Newport Bay Happy Hour right on the river. (This used to be one of mine and Lantz’s favorite places to go out to eat, pre-Sadie, we have yet to be back since she was born.) We had a great time it was a great atmosphere and great company. After dinner we went home to chill for a bit before going back to OMSI to watch a U2 Laser Light Show.

As much as I love little Sadie it really was a nice day not to have to worry about her. Although, come bed time it was hard to fall asleep when part of my nightly routine is to go and check on her before turning it myself.

Sunday morning we got up a leisurely pace and the four of us went to my parent’s house. I am not even sure Sadie missed me. She missed her Daddy and she missed Trish, but all I got was a passing glance. We got in a round of golf on my parent’s Wii and a game of Yahtzee. We then had a great dinner of Pulkogi.

Sadly after dinner we had to take Dennis and Trish back to the airport. But on a positive side, we got to bring home Sadie. Although, she was so exhausted when we got home, that we skipped bath time and went right to jammies and bed. All in all we had a great weekend and a very Happy beginning to the new year. We are so happy that we were able to spend it with such great friends!

Christmas 2008

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah... I know I am a bit late in posting this. But first of all I did just start the blog and second of all the pictures were on Grandma Cook's camera and I just got them from her today. Sadly there are not too many pictures, the camera did not want to cooperate. That and Sadie was just too much fun and we tended to forget to take pictures of anyone else. Sadly there are too many pictures of me in here. If you really know me you know that I HATE having my picture taken. We had a great Christmas! Sadie got her Christmas Jammies on Christmas Eve and got to wear them to bed that night and all day on Christmas, except during dinner.

Christmas Morning we had a nice breakfast before opening presents. I was actually very surprised after breakfast that Sadie was more interested in a box of wipes sitting on the air mattress then she was in all of the presents "Under the Tree" they were actually more like on the floor under the table that the tree sat on. We decided to use a smaller tree and put it onto of the table so that Sadie could not get to it. It worked pretty good.

Sadie really raked it in for Christmas. She got a Mr. Potato Head, a Dance & Sing Station, a ring stacker, a Magna Doodle, her first Baby Doll, a Playskool gear thing (for the lack of a better word... it teaches cause and reaction and encourages engineering skills), her own set of metal keys that have her very own key fob that makes car noises (I really did not like her having my car key because they seemed too sharp. The keys are real metal but have smooth edges) her very own "camera", and odds and ends in her stocking. One of the coolest things were lollipops that light up. Two of her favorite things in one, something she can put in her mouth to suck on AND push a button all at once.

Lantz got new Van Heusen pants and a shirt, the Aerosmith Guitar Hero game, a remote controlled car (he picked it out to play with Sadie... he used it for the first time tonight. She LOVED it. She chased that all over Grandma and Grandpa Cook's laughing!), and odds and ends for his stocking, most notable... an INCREDIBLE carmel apple with heath toffee bar chunks.

I got a Keurig single cup coffee maker. It does tea and hot chocolate as well. I have used it everyday since I got it! I love it! It is so convenient and leaves NO mess!! I also got a pair of white gold small hoop earrings (so I never have to take them out), a Ped Egg and the odds and ends in my stocking with a mouth water "Snickers" carmel apple! DELISH!

All in all we had a great Christmas! We hope that all of you had a great Christmas as well.

Mommy's Little Helper

I was trying to make dinner and keep her out of the cupboards.

Solution... give her a running vaccuum.

She is SOOOOOO Cute!

She vaccuumed the floor for about 15 minutes, just enough time to finish the final touches on dinner.

And take some pics...

Brand New Outfit!

Sadie just had to show off her brand new outfit!

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Stringham!

Run Away...

Sadie made her first escape from home yesterday. I asked her if she wanted to go "Nite-Nite". She proceeded to grab her jacket off the couch and bring it to me and managed to convey to me that she wanted it on. Once I got the jacket on she ran directly to the back door and tried to open it. So I took her out to the truck and put on her shoes, set her on the ground, reached in to grab her hat and she was off like a shot. She was down the driveway before I could grab my jacket. I had to maintain a brisk pace to keep up with her. She just kept running, down the sidewalk around the corner and halfway to Capitol Hwy (which for those of you who are not familiar with our neighborhood is about a block away, in Portland anyway, in SLC it is only about a 1/4 of a block away) At which point I was freezing and her hands and face were red, I decided it was time to turn around to go home and warm up. Well, she was having NONE of that! She would yell at me every time I tried to turn her around and would push at me when I blocked her path going the other way. I finally had to pick her up and carry her home. Which she was fine with until we got to the driveway. She started to fuss and push at me and cried when I took her in the house and took off her shoes. Had I known before hand that it would be an "adventure" to go outside, I would have dressed her more warmly so we could have stayed out longer. I am hoping for sun today so I can take her out again this afternoon after lunch.

Well...

We will have to see if this works any better than MySpace or Facebook. I created both of those sites to keep the family up on daily/weekly/monthly events depending on how often I actually got online and typed something. Well considering my last post of MySpace was when Sadie was 7 months old, I think I might be a bit behind. Plus it required any viewers to have an account. Where this will allow anyone to view and make comments! YAY! So hopefully I can keep the family in the loop being so far away. I am going to make an effort to make a post at least once a week. But only time will tell on that one.