Dancing Fool

When we got home this afternoon I went upstairs to change clothes. When I came back down, this is what I found...

Liam had pushed the chair all the way over to the girls' computer desk, climbed up and was trying to wrestle the mouse away from Lyssa.

After I took the picture, I went back upstairs to put the camera away and heard the music on the game Lyssa was playing suddenly get LOUD. I ran back downstairs to turn it down and found Liam twiddling the knob and dancing his little heart out.

That kid cracks me up.

C is for Cookie

I am ever on the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookies. We were in the mood to make a treat for Matt today so I decided to try a new recipe. I tweaked it a little bit to suit our tastes and what I had in the pantry.

They are perfectly soft inside and just a little bit crunchy on the outside. Just the way I like them. They were good enough I think I might keep working on the recipe to get it just right.

This is the way we made them tonight:

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1 (3.9 oz.) package instant chocolate pudding
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c. milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar and sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 12-14 minutes.

(If you don't want the cookie itself to be chocolate, substitute vanilla pudding mix instead. That's actually what the original recipe called for, but I only had chocolate and didn't want to go to the store.)

Liam really was enjoying his cookie, despite the face he's making in the photo. He's decided giving people angry looks is a fun game. As soon as you give the look back to him, he breaks out in the giggles.

Boys are weird.

Finally!

Liam is walking!

My back is loving not having to carry a 25 pound baby all around the house!

(Also...note the pot and lid - these are his new favorite toys. He carries them all around the house and has been known to cry if he is put down to sleep without them.)

Arguments

This was the argument at our house after we got out of the car last night.

Kenna: "Dad, I think that bright star by the moon is Venus."
Alyssa: "No it's not."
Kenna: "Yes, it is. Right there. That one."
Alyssa: "No, it's NOT. That's a satellite."
Kenna: "No, satellites MOVE. That's not a satellite."
Alyssa: "Some satellites stay still. It's a satellite."
Kenna: "No it's not. It's VENUS. It's a planet."

They went back and forth, louder and louder. It felt a little like watching the Monty Python sketch about the African and European Swallows.

Matt leaned over to me as we finished getting all the stuff out of the car and said, "Do you think other parents have problems with their 5 and 3 year olds arguing about stuff like this?"

If they do...I pity them.

Temple Square

If you have never been to Temple Square in the Spring, you are really missing out. It is absolutely lovely. They plan the gardens out in great detail and are constantly replanting to make sure there are always blooms to look at (so even if you don't go in the Spring it is still worth the time!). My kids absolutely love going up there just to look at the flowers and the waterfalls.

I was able to spend a couple of hours with the camera up there this week and this is what I came home with.






Plan a trip! It is definitely worth a couple hours if you live nearby.

Easter Message

Pre-Easter Preparations

Decorating Easter eggs is one of those things that strikes fear into my heart. Multi-colored dye with the potential of staining anything it touches, hanging around in liquid form, and actually meant for child participation. Scary! I feel the need to go break out the spot remover just thinking about it.

Apparently it scares Liam too.

We took precautions (note the large field of while in the photo – hooray for white plastic garbage bags!) and managed to escape without incident.

Matt got involved and made a very interesting rainbow spotted egg using the wax from a candle and soaking the egg in increasingly darker colors. Apparently the process required intense concentration…