Happy

 No more pictures Mommy!!!

Ok, if you insist. One more. :)

I haven't been updating a lot lately. Luckily things have slowed down after the holidays and life has settled into a nice little pace.  I think she is going through a growth spurt emotionally, mentally & physically.  I think she's looking older recently but she's also talking A LOT more! She's ramble off 7-8 word sentences and her memory is amazing. She is just the sweetest little thing.  Don't get me wrong she is awfully curious and rascally but her voice is as sweet as the melted cake I posted about.  If I tell her "Stella please don't ........."  She puts her arms around my neck so tight and kisses me with an "I'm sorry Mama".  She just has such a sweet disposition. 

My Mom just got her first "Marker" test back and it was low, really low.  That is good.

Mario's started out the year a busy bee so that is good too.

Life is good.

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake Andrea Scoma

If you've ever been on a Carnival cruise before you've probably had their to die for Chocolate Melting Cake. I know there are a lot variations out there but I LOVE theirs!!! They posted the recipe earlier on Facebook and I think we just may be making some this week!

Doesn't it just make your mouth water?

***Disclaimer***

Must be followed with at least an hour of cardiovascular activity to burn off the 6000 calories. Kidding. There's probably only a 1000 or so.

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

1 Lb. Dark Chocolate
1 Lb. Butter
10 Eggs
10 Ounces Sugar
6 Ounces Flour

Melt the chocolate and butter.  Mix the eggs with the sugar and whisk for a few minutes.  Add the flour.  Combine egg mixture with the melted chocolate and mix.  Then pour into individual greased molds.  Bake directly in oven at 400 degrees for 14 minutes.
Sprinkle confectioners sugar, and garnish with fresh fruit.
Serve with ice cream.
*Make sure eggs are room temperature and chocolate is warm enough while mixing.
Serves 12
(I'm going to half the recipe)

Beach Excursion

After Stella woke up from her nap today we took advantage of the blue skies and mild weather to take a walk on the beach.  This is the same beach I've posted pictures of a million times but it's been quite a while since we've actually walked down the point. I think the last time I did it was when my Mom was here and Stella was a few weeks old.  You have to climb over about 4 different sections of rocks. The above being the shortest.  It actually was easier then I remembered and Stella just walked over all except the last which I carried her. Once you cross the last rocks it goes straight out about half a mile. You rarely see anyone out there and it is beautiful.  Right after we started down the beach the fog rolled in.  It's not a very foggy beach and this is the first time I actually remember it being foggy there.  It rolled in thick but was still about 60 degrees and no rain that I could see so we just wandered on down the beach.  The sky was crazy though, so thick with dense fog in some areas then as we cleared the last section of rocks and got to the point it just lifted and there were bright blue skies.  It was kind of bizarre to go from spotty blue skies, to dark, to white fog, back to bright blue all in an hour or so.  It was beautiful though and almost mysterious since I am not used to that beach having that kind of weather. It almost reminded of the mysticism of Northern California beaches...

Down by the point is known for it's shells. There are shells as big or bigger then your hand down there and EVERYWHERE! Stella had a blast collecting shells. She would stop every 20 feet or so and just sit down and start playing with them.  It was such a nice walk. I love those moments with her, well in between telling her to keep moving. I swear she could sit in one spot for an hour alone. The point was also my Mom's favorite walk and I remember carrying Stella, only a few weeks old, down that beach with my Mom collecting shells. We've made lots of wonderful memories in our backyard and it will always be a special place to me and hopefully Stella!

Jumpy Jump!

I feel like I haven't posted in like a month, even though really it's only been a week or so.  Christmas was so wonderful.  The girls had a great time. Stella really got it. It was SO much fun. We have like 280 pictures from Christmas thru New Years which I finally just uploaded a day or so ago.  I'm still going through them but will post some soon. The last few weeks have been so busy.  We had family over Christmas Eve then went to Mario's dads' Christmas day.  Mario was home until the following Wednesday and only worked Wednesday and Thursday in between Xmas and New Years. New Year's we had some friends over for a sleepover with their kids and the girls had a BLAST! They played dress up, watched movies, watched fireworks, played at the beach and just had a great time. Needless to say when this Monday rolled around I was so ready to get back to some resemblance of normalcy. It took Monday and Tuesday to get everything back together and so here we are...

Stella. Oh Stella.

Where should I start?

Well my perfect sleeper has turned into a little nap monster. A few days before Christmas she figured out how to get out of her crib. We knew it was going to happen eventually and I was actually surprised the little bugger didn't figure it out sooner.  So now she's boycotting and I've turned into Super Nanny. Minus a few pounds and an accent. No offense Super Nanny love ya! With all the craziness of the holidays there were some days she didn't even get a nap and the days we were home I spend hours out the day sitting on the floor of her room tearing out my hair and putting her back in her crib every 30 seconds.  Some days she's won, some days Mommy has but either way at least an hour is spent in her room supervising nap time.  Ugh. Double ugh. I was hoping that once things got back to a regular schedule she would (fingers crossed) fall back into the routine but, no such luck. Monday it took and hour and a half but Mommy won. Tuesday we were down to 45 minutes and I was optimistic. Well after another hour and a half yesterday I was losing hope. Today...she won. After over 2 hours I couldn't do it anymore and I gave in.  We are going to put blinds in her room this weekend and hopefully making it darker in there will trick her. Probably not but hey it's worth a try.  The funny thing is she doesn't try at bedtime.  Not even a peep, even when she has had a nap.  Hence the hope that the darkness at nap time will make a difference. 

She's had potties for quite a while now. She knows how to use them but I have always said I wasn't going to try til after she was 2 and wait until the holidays were over.   Last weekend we got her Tinkerbell and Fancy Nancy panties.  We started first thing Monday morning. Let's just say we're about 50/50.  I set the alarm for every 15 minutes and sometimes she would go, then other times she would have an accident in those short 15 minutes. I just can't get her to tell me BEFORE she has to go. 

The naps, or lack there of, are harder to deal with for me then the potty training.  Up to 2 hours sitting on the floor in her room takes up a lot of time I used to get things done while she was asleep.  We had it SO good there for a while but between the nap boycott and potty training makes for a long day. So we've had some GREAT holidays and some frustrating toddler moments but all in all I am excited for 2011.  She is jabbering up a storm and says about 5 to 6 words straight.  Sometimes she'll just babble on for a minute straight although I think she may be speaking french then.  Before the holidays we started going to an open gym at the Gymnastics school here. They have all sorts of bouncy houses, trampolines, mats, balls, etc.  She LOVES it. They have a tumbling class but I think we are going to just do the open gym right now because the class is more structured and she really loves going to the "jumpy jump" and running wild.  As you can tell...