Never again

I am not a baker. I freely admit this. In fact, I cringe whenever the kids want to make cookies. I'll cook, and it will turn out decent, but for some reason my baking skills are quite lacking. I wonder if I would have payed more attention in Chemistry if that would have helped. Anyway, there is a science to baking, and I certainly don't understand it. I'm sorry if you were ever on the receiving end of my chocolate chip cookies. They were supposed to be a thank you...not a means to make you dead. Anyway, I came across these yummy looking chocolate chip cookies on Pinterest (I'll admit to being addicted...I think Pinterest is the greatest thing since sliced bread). Caden wanted to make cookies today and so I thought I'd give them a try. Well, I will tell you one thing...I am never going back to making regular chocolate chip cookies again. Cake mix cookies are the way to go. I've never had nice looking chocolate chip cookies. They taste okay, but they look horrible. These accomplished both goals. In fact, I'm so proud of them that I'm blogging about it..because I'm cool like that :) You should definitely try them sometime. If I hadn't just run out of cake mix I would totally make you some. It was sooo easy...and let's face it...I love easy things! Try them...you may like them (If I were super cool, I would quote Dr. Seuss right here...you know the part I'm talking about...it's in Green Eggs and Ham...go read it...it's an excellent book). And don't mind my photograph...trust me..they look good!

A little Sunday Fun...back in October

Catching up with everything we did in Oct. and Nov. is hard...but they were just such fun memories! Like this for instance. I was flipping through the Family Fun magazine and came across an idea to make plastic cup rocket ships. I thought it would be fun to do as a Sunday Family activity. So, Dan drew all the rockets (and he got really creative...everything from regular ships to princess ships, ninja ships, dragons, Castles, etc. It was cute) the kids cut them out and I put the elastics on the cups so they would blast off. The kids played with these for awhile and laughed and laughed when their cup flew in the air and did something funny. Isn't it great how the simple things are sometimes the most fun? Granted, these didn't last long...they got taken down stairs and stepped on and stuff, but hey, it created a memory for me, and I loved it.

Theater Class

When we first moved here I contacted my high school drama teacher and asked her if she needed any help with anything. I was hoping to volunteer somehow. Well, she e-mailed back and asked if I wanted to teach a community theater class. Hahahaha. That was my first reaction. I'm not qualified to teach a theater class. I haven't done theater in...well, forever. But it was an intriguing idea. So, I did it! I stepped out of my comfort zone and told myself that I was qualified to teach and that I could do this. I taught two classes. A beginning class (one I was able to bring Kember too...that was fun) and a Character and Dialog class. At first I really enjoyed the younger class and the older class really intimidated me but as time went on I had a lot of fun with the older guys. I only had girls in both my classes, but I would occasionally help out another teacher with her class that only had boys in it. The picture is from the last day of class and we performed our vignettes for each other and I got picture happy! I may not have been qualified to teach the class, but I really enjoyed it. It was fun to see the girls grow a little bit and try new things. In the younger class it was fun to watch a really shy girl who didn't want to participate gain a little confidence and start to join in the activities. She was a real sweet heart.
It was a little stressful because Caden normally had soccer the same day, and most of the other things we did tended to all be on these days, but the great thing was that if Dan had to work it was completely okay for me to bring my kids along. It was awesome, and I'm glad I was able to do it!

Little Coley's Birthday

Okay, so I realize that Cole's birthday was you know...almost two months ago...but it needs documentation, right? Right. So, here is documentation of my little boy turning 3. Which, by the way, I have a really hard time remembering. I keep thinking he turned 4 and I have to think about how old Kember and Caden are to remember. Mother of the Year award, I know. Cole was super easy to shop for. When I asked him what he wanted he said Knight stuff and shoes. Awesome! Since his birthday is around Halloween the dollar store had the Knight stuff and he needed shoes anyway! I found this out by grandma and grandpa...They bought him new cowboy boots and when we went to the store to try them on we realized that he was in a size four and needed, oh, a size 7. His poor little feet. Never once has he complained about his shoes being too small. I could put them on okay, so I never really thought about it. Well, hopefully now his feet feel better! Caden was really excited to buy Cole a present with his own money. He went and bought him a Lego set. I love having generous kids. It makes my heart happy. And it's something I need to learn. Funny how they are teaching it to me, and not the other way around. With the Johnson cousins going out for ice cream for Cole's birthday. Had to take a picture with the Tow-Mater truck. It's kind of cute...just like the kids in front of it!Just a little daddy love!We had family come over to open presents and eat monster cupcakes. I didn't go all out with anything, but it was still fun. We love living close to family.

Well, happy belated birthday buddy! Thank you for your smiles and your songs. We love you!

Oh my little Milee

How dare you turn one year old! You are growing up sooo fast. Even though we aren't doing anything fun or fancy for your birthday I just wanted to let you know how much your dad and I love you. We love watching you grow and develop. Quite frequently you will hear us yelling to the other "Come see this!" Your brothers and sisters especially love to come get me when you are doing something they think is pretty neat...and it happens everyday.
You have the cutest walk ever (and just for posterity purposes, you started walking a month or so ago), and you can tell that you are proud of yourself for doing it. My favorite thing is your laugh. It's distinctly unique and truly yours, and the best part of it is that you share it so freely with others. Anytime someone laughs you join in no matter the reason. Same thing with clapping. You really love to clap. You are a great eater (minus the fact that you throw everything on the floor when you are done...but that's to be expected I suppose). You are one of the most stubborn people I know (wonder where you got that from). You will not learn to do something until you want to do something, and then when you want to...it's almost immediate. You aren't speaking yet, but you are able to get your point across quite clearly. When you are thirsty you will bring me your sippy cup, throw it on my lap, point, and say, "Da". We are still working on the sign language, but I'm assuming it will be like everything else and you will get it when and if you want to. You have two bottom teeth right now, but a whole mouthful waiting to come in. I think I counted 4 on top that were close, and maybe one more on the bottom. You love to be held and you love to be entertained. My favorite is when you play with your siblings. You will copy Cole the best you can, and you will even play with their light sabers with them. That's super cute to see because the foam light saber is bigger than you, but you hold on to it and swing it around just like your brothers. For all you love playing with your siblings, you are pretty independent too. If no one is paying attention to you, you will find your own thing to do. You love animals and get very excited when you see one. You start pointing, bouncing, and loudly proclaiming "Da, Da, da!" Don't worry, you will get hair sometime in the near future. I promise. I went through it and Kember when through it. It will come. But you probably already know that because you already love to comb your bald little head. You do a pretty good job combing too! I love your cheesy grin, and can't wait to watch you grow into a beautiful young woman. Thank you for being apart of our family. We all love you.

Sunday Thoughts

Today in Relief Society we had a lesson on the signs of the times...or the second coming. I will admit to not really enjoying this topic, or lesson (the teacher did a great job...I just don't like the topic). I've decided I don't like it because whenever people talk about it, it all becomes speculation. Whole bunches of it. Don't get me wrong...I normally like speculation, except in a church setting. Church lessons should be doctrine...lessons should be prepared with church approved material...not speculations. It makes me uncomfortable. But there you have it. What I did get out of this lesson was interesting for me though. One girl made a comment (it really did fit to what we were talking about, it just doesn't seem like it on my blog) about how people don't really let their kids play outside anymore with the neighbors...and it's true...I don't. I need to get to know my neighbors. This has been something I've been thinking about since we moved in. So hopefully sometime this week I will make cookies and take them to the neighbors. Also, I was thinking a lot about since we don't know when the second coming will be we need to use our time wisely, right? Well, last night I got to thinking about putting first things first. I tend to do the not important things first, and then run out of time for the important things...so...I need to re prioritize things (and I'll deny I ever wrote this, but I should probably get up earlier in the morning too...which means going to bed earlier....sigh/groan). So those were the things I got out of church today, and just my own musings about my life. Isn't that the great thing about the gospel? Personal revelation...got to love it....now to follow through with it.

School Pictures

Kember got back her school pictures yesterday and I think they turned out pretty cute! She isn't smiling like we practiced, but it is far and a way better than her last years pictures. Those were bad...which is saying something because I think she's a beautiful girl. I don't understand why it costs so much for the pictures though...and why they have only a few package options. I really liked at her last school how I could just buy the CD for a few dollars. That way if I hated the pictures I wouldn't be out too much. Or if I loved them I could spend as much as I wanted reprinting them.

But here is my beautiful girl who is growing up way too fast. Love you Kember!