Summer fun (finally)!

 

We are so happy that the weather is finally good. We have tried to take advantage of the good weather this week, by going swimming twice. It got a little too hot for the kids, so they decided to hang out in the shade and enjoy an ice cream cone.

 

Here is a picture of Ellie just kick'n back, literally, and relaxing. I never knew that a lawn chair could be so comfortable, I am going to have to try this position out.

 

It was kind of hot and so Arianne decided she needed a drink and so she used a squirt gun to relieve her thirst. Aren't my children brilliant?

 

Arianne and Malachi invented a new way of swinging. Malachi is on his belly and Arianne is sitting on top of him. Looks like fun (for Arianne, at least). It might also be a good way to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Don't mind Arianne's nice hair-do. I really do do her hair, but within a couple of hours, she usually has taken anything that I have put in her hair, out.

Cookie Fun

 

The kids, especially Malachi, have been begging me to make "Christmas cookies" otherwise known as sugar cookies. Making sugar cookies is a rarity in our house, which is why they are called "Christmas cookies". But, I finally gave in. After making them, I realized why we don't make them very often, because of the huge MESS! Not only does it dirty the counters and a ton of dishes, but the floor was covered in flour and little pieces of dough. And of course the kids somehow managed to get covered in flour and frosting. But, we all had a lot of fun and it is a was a great opportunity for a lot of cute pictures.

 

Here is a picture of Ellie, covered in flour. She figured that she wasn't quite as dirty as she would like to be, so she decided to climb on the counter so that she could become, fully, covered in flour.

 

As you can see from these pictures, the kids are in different clothing, that is because I decided to split our cookie fun into two days,the cutting and baking on one day and the frosting on the next. I did it this way, mainly, so that the mess could be two, not so huge, messes.

 

Don't they make it look like so much fun...




I know I am a horrible mom, I didn't notice that Ellie was sucking on the butter knife until after I had taken the picture, but I still thought it was a cute picture.

These cookie are so delicious, if you like soft sugar cookies, so I thought I would share the recipe just in case anyone was interested.

SOUR CREAM CUT OUT COOKIES

2 cubes margarine (don't use butter)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. baking powder
5 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt

directions: Cream margarine (softened), sugar, and eggs. Add the vanilla and the sour cream. Add all of the rest of the ingredients. Dough will be sticky, so roll out in little pieces. Flour your board well. Roll dough out 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick and then cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 10 minutes on an non-greased cookie sheet. (when I take them out they are cooked through but they aren't browned at all yet, but bake as you prefer). Cool, frost, and enjoy.

They prefer to dress themselves

 

Arianne prefers to wear at least four outfits through out the day. Her favorite things to wear are dresses, skirts, and swimsuits (how much more girly can you get?). And as you can see from this picture, she doesn't even care if what she wears is a Christmas outfit in June, not to mention that she always has her shoes on the wrong feet and insists that they are on the right feet. Ellie, doesn't usually take off what I have given her to wear, but she does like to put layers on top of the clothes she already has on (someone must have told her that layers are in style). In the picture above she has added a onsie type shirt around her waste and has a jacket on that is meant for a nine month old. Malachi isn't too into dressing himself. Most of the time I have to set out his clothes and beg him to get dressed, but this morning he did dress himself. He found what is probably his favorite shirt (his Batman shirt) but is really too small for him and if you look closely there is a hole in the middle of the shirt, plus he put on his most worn out pair of shorts which are frayed all around the bottoms.

"How sweet"

 

Roger took this picture earlier today. I don't know that this has ever happened, where all three of the kids have fallen asleep in the same place (well, maybe in the car). Malachi and Arianne hardly ever take naps, so that made this moment even more rare. They were all looking at books together and they ended up falling asleep. The funny part is that Malachi ended up being the one that took the longest nap, which ended up being about three hours long (wouldn't that be nice).

Future American Idol?

Arianne is our little singer and dancer. She puts on performances like this all of the time. She makes up all of the songs that she sings or does her own rendition of songs that already exist. Arianne has quite the fun personality. I could sit and watch her little performances, for hours, because every one is so different.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Malachi!

 

I decided to have a 1/2 birthday party for Malachi on June 5th (which is exactly 6 months before his birthday). I always feel bad for Malachi, because his birthday is so close to Christmas, and then he has to wait twelve whole months until he gets presents again. He loves Christmas and his birthday so much (like every kid) and so all year long he asks how long it is before his birthday or Christmas comes again. I also gave him a party because the only birthday party that he has had is when he turned one year old (I know I'm a bad mom). And I thought birthday parties are more fun and easier when they are outside. Malachi had a blast. I think from now on when I give him a birthday party I will do it in June.

 

All of the games that the kids played at the party had to do with water. We played Malachi's favorite fishing game (when we go to church carnivals) where the kids throw their fishing line over a fishing wall and then the person behind the wall attaches a prize. We played a game where you see how many balls you can get into the bowls that are floating in the swimming pool. And there was a game where the kids threw water balloons at a target, which some of the balloons "accidentally" hit people.

 

Fun at the Dunes

 

Grandma and Grandpa Davies brought their four-wheeler up this week. On Wednesday we went to the St. Anthony sand dunes. Above are some pictures of Roger showing off his four-wheeling skills. I was impressed, but at the same time I was a little scared (maybe a lot)to ride with him, but he was nice and stayed on all four wheels when we went together.

 

top left: Malachi having fun sliding down the sand dunes, head first.
top right: Malachi and Roger getting ready to go for a ride (Malachi's first ride on dunes).
bott. left: Roger and Malachi just got back from their ride (Arianne wanted to be in the picture too). Malachi said that it was a little scary.
bott. right: The best of buds, Grandpa Davies and Malachi. After a couple of hours we got smart and had Malachi wear goggles all of the time, because the wind was blowing at about 30 miles per hour, so he was constantly rubbing his eyes because of all of the sand that was blowing in them.

 

When we got home from the sand dunes, I realized that I didn't get any pictures of Ellie while we were there (mainly because it was so cold from the wind that she was in our van most of the time with, Grandma Davies)so the next day I took this picture of all of the kids, so that I could have one of Ellie on the 4-wheeler.

Saturday Evening Getaway

 

Saturday morning Roger worked in the yard for several hours and I worked in the house. After all of our hard work, Roger came up with the fabulous idea of going to our nearest mountain (Kelly Canyon about 50 minutes away) and barbecuing. So, we packed up and headed out. It was so beautiful and refreshing to be in the mountains. After our wonderful barbecue that Roger put on, steak for mom and dad and hot dogs for the kids, we hiked around and let Malachi lead the way.

 

The kids, also, enjoyed our getaway. They had a lot of fun just running around and doing all the things that kids like doing, like getting dirty. Malachi's favorite thing was to climb on rocks and throw rocks (I think that throwing things is a natural instinct for boys).

 

We told Malachi not to go up this steep trail, so what does he do? He went up the trail. Roger and I both told him to come down, but he just pretended like he couldn't hear us. Finally, Roger yelled up to Malachi, "Don't let the bears eat you." The next thing we know, Malachi is running back down the trail.