Confusing Instructions

Gabby: "Did Grandma tell us to lay on the blanket or stay off the blanket?"
Sophie: "I'm not sure."

Gabby: "Lay on, stay off, lay on, stay off..."
Sophie: "We really need to learn English."


Gabby: "Sophie, are you under the table again?"
Sophie: "Yep. Was I supposed to stay ON the blanket?"

How It's Done

One Sunday afternoon in July Annika, Justin and I decided to make cupcakes. Kyle was taking a nap and Jamie was resting on the couch, battling the flu. Each helper cracked an egg into the bowl with only minimal shells included. Annika beat the batter with the electric mixer for one minute and Justin took his turn for the second minute. Both cooks filled their cupcake pan with a dozen cupcake papers and poured batter into each section. ("That must have taken forever" you are probably saying to yourself and you are right.) While the cupcakes baked, we tackled the task of coloring frosting. First Justin mixed red and yellow to make orange, his favorite color. Annika decided to combine red and blue to make purple.

Then Justin decided to see what would happen if he added a little blue to his orange. Finally eight or nine drops of red, just for fun. He ended up with a sort of "raspberry" color.

Annika considered stirring her colors only slightly to have a patriotic looking frosting but continuing stirring until her bowl was filled with purple sweetness.


I was impressed that both helpers stayed with their tasks until all twenty-four cupcakes were frosted.


Sometime during the project, Kyle woke up from his nap. He was a great help, ever ready with any kitchen utensil we might need.

The finished product was two dozen chocolate cupcakes with custom made frosting and sprinkles or candy on top. We gobbled them up in no time.

Thanks for your help, super cooks!!

Did I Mention..................

.......how nice it was to have help with the twins in July from their cousins? Annika was a pro at feeding and burping.

She was also very entertaining. Gabby and Sophie watched her doing gymnastics in amazement.

Justin told them all about popsicles. Thank goodness they didn't get upset when he didn't share. I am grateful that he didn't try to share! He was right, though, when he said, "I think the babies like me!" I know they do!!

Kyle was mildly curious about the babies. He soon realized that while everyone else was fussing over the girls, he could empty all of grandma's kitchen cupboards uninterrupted. They will be quite the three musketeers one day!

Annika was more than happy to change diapers as long as there was no "poop" involved!

Thanks, cousins, for all of your help with Gabby and Sophie while you were here. I miss you!

Outlaws

A trip to Lagoon isn't complete without pictures at Pioneer Village. Do we look mean or what?!?