Got your back...

There is never a dull moment at our house!  Not with these crazy kids around!!!

Nifty Fifty

I remember very clearly being in 2nd grade and sitting in the back of the classroom with my teacher and passing off my 50 states that I had memorized...all in abc order.  Garrett was doing this in school a month or so ago and I have LOVED hearing him here at home, rehearsing his states.  He heard a song at school, which he promptly came home and asked to YouTube it so he could memorize it for the next day.  It makes me so happy hearing him sing it...mostly because I LOVED learning the states myself when I was little.

But, what makes me even happier is ETHAN singing the Nifty Fifty song - all day long!  He knows an impressive amount of them...some with his own 3 year-old pronunciation of the names, but he's really pretty good.  My personal favorite....Connetakick for Connecticut, Fontana for Montana, and the falsetto voice thrown in every few states!!!  It kills me!  :)  He skips over a few states here and there...but the next time he sings it, he'll remember those and leave out different ones, so honestly, I think he really does know them all!  I guess it pays to have an older brother!

Explanation

Sorry for my lack of posting...

This has taken over our lives, once again!  And we are LOVING every sweltering, super-hot minute of it!  :)

Too hot?

Funny how I changed my dinner plans...all because it just seemed too hot to have my oven on for too long today.  But the idea of making cookies for Garrett and his buddy when they get home from school...not a second thought about that same oven heating up my kitchen!  :)  Apparently my love for chocolate wins out over my air conditioning bill OR my dinner preparations!!!  

That being said, you wouldn't be able to resist either.  They're good.  Real good.

One of the greatest things about staying in Utah for a few extra years to get a Masters Degree out of the way for Steve, was the fact that we got to live minutes away from my little sister.  (My baby sister came to UT after we had left...so we missed out on the fun with her...sorry Dawnia!!!)  But it was so fun to have Dana close by...and NOT just because she passed this cookie recipe on to me, but because we had great times...lots of them!  One day we were dropping baby Garrett off at Dana's apartment, (see I told you it wasn't just for the cookies that I love her...it's the babysitting too!), and she came out with a plate of the best cookies I had ever eaten.  I demanded the recipe and have never looked back.  I even still use the same scrap of paper recipe that she wrote out for me that day...mostly because I love that it's in her handwriting and it makes me think of her the whole time I'm making them!  With my luck, the cookies probably wouldn't turn out as well if I transferred the recipe into my recipe book anyway!!! :)  

But, if YOU want to take your chances and try it from the 'typed' recipe...here you go!  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 cup butter 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1-2 cups chocolate chips Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together.  Add in the eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.  Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Add to creamed mixture and mix till combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 for 9 minutes.

Why????

And it starts...

Olivia - Where Dad?

Me - Daddy already left for work.

Olivia - Why?

Me - silently thinking that we are WAY too early for the 'why' stage...and really, she hardly talks anyway...this can't really be happening!

Olivia - Where Gar?

Me - (wishing little Olivia hadn't slept in this particular morning) - Garrett's already at school.

Olivia - WHY?

Me - (laughing) Are you seriously asking me why?  Do you really want an answer?

Olivia - (super serious) Yes.

So there you have it, I have a whole new set of 'whys' to answer these days!  :)

Almost There!!!

Ethan is almost riding his big bike all on his own!  Big, in the fact that there's no training wheels, not  because of the size!  It's TINY...perfect for my pint-sized child!!!

I told him that what I wanted for Mother's Day was for him to learn to ride his bike - all by himself - so we'll see if he masters it by Sunday!  :)  He's almost got it!!!

Logical

I asked Garrett to try on his swim flippers from last year to find out if I needed to buy new ones for swim team this season.  While I was waiting to hear the verdict...I look out my window and see him out on the trampoline...in his flippers!

Crazy child!!!  He loved it and had a great time making up new games and trying to find out the best way to jump with huge feet!  Never a dull moment at our house!