Pyper's TALL Birthday cake

Pyper wanted a "tall cake" for her birthday. I found a fun idea and asked her what she thought. It was awesome! It had 6 layers, and each was a different color of the rainbow. I also used Em's trick with the instant pudding mix in the cake mix, and it was YUMMY! I should have taken a picture after we cut it, but my hands were goopy!

Happy Happy Birthday Pyper!

It's this fun little gal's birthday today.

She's 5.

She makes us all smile.

And she is loads of fun to be around.

She has a sparkly personality, and shoes to match!

(These may very well be my favorite part of her outfit, she said they were "Twinkle Toes".)

Some fun 5 year old facts about Pyper:

~Her favorite color is still purple.

~Fannie the elephant is her best friend.

~Her favorite foods are mac and cheese ("The kind Mom makes, NOT Easy Mac!"), broccoli, cereal, and chocolate.

~She is very caring and loves to give kisses and hugs.

~She has to snuggle when she wakes up in the mornings before she can start her day.

~She knows the value of sleep, and will often sleep in til 10 on Saturdays!

~She loves to cook, pumpkin cookies are her favorite thing to make. We usually end up making them on Fridays when she doesn't have school. We call that day "Stay Home With Mom Day."

Pyper, I love you very much and am so glad you are part of our family. You are my sunshine, you make everyday brighter just by being there! You are the BEST 5 year old ever!

What to do on a blustery day?

Stormy days always make me want to bake. Maybe it's because my house gets so nice and toasty warm when I have the oven cranked on. Maybe it's because my kids think I'm the BOMB when they come home to freshly baked treats. Maybe it's because kneading dough is a great way to take out frustrations build arm muscles. I also like the way it makes my house smell.

Today it smelled of baking bread (my favorite smell) and cinnamon. Since the tried and true bread recipe I use makes 6 loaves or a bazillion cinnamon rolls, I decided to do half and half.

Cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. They were so tastey! We really enjoyed them.....and most of us are still licking icing off our faces.

And I have fresh bread to go along with dinner tonight.

Just a funny

These two girls are kinda silly! I wonder sometimes what they are thinking.

In Singing Time today we learned a new song. Pyper was sitting in the chair in front of me chatting with her neighbor. The chorister was asking the kids the name of another song that they knew. I asked Pyper if she knew the name of the song..."I am a..." She turned around in her seat, looked me in the eye, and said "I am a MAMMAL!" Not exactly what I had in mind, but true.

After Primary, Lyra's teacher stopped me in the hallway. She told me she had a funny story that had happened in class. They played some games and were having a review of things that they had learned so far. The teacher asked the class if they knew the name of the place Adam and Eve lived. Lyra excitedly raised her had and told her it was called the "Forest of Jesus." When her teacher asked who told her that, she said her dad.

Like I said, those girls make me smile!

Super Girl

Pyper wanted to be Super Girl. I expected that maybe she would find a cape. Apparently, super hero uniforms have changed since I last checked!

I'm not quite sure what my favorite part of her outfit was, the head adornment or the "woo-woo's" she had made in the front ! What a girl!

Babysitting

We got to babysit Aunt Laura and Uncle Dustin's kids so they could have a much needed break. (*side note*Why do they call it babySITTING? Do you ever SIT when you have kids?) It's fun to have them over. Rand gets to play with "the kids" and there are ALMOST enough babies to go around! Bugga was Avie's buddy, I think it was because she was the only one who could hold her and make her happy! They played the computer together.
Lyra would nibble Avie's toes and she would just giggle.

Happy Birthday to me!

I got the best birthday "cake" this year! My family made a whole pile of cake balls and topped it with the awesome candle that Grandpa Brent sent me. It was fun!