Cake 1 or Cake 2?

Cakes are currently coming out of our ears! If you need a cake for any reason- even if it is just to feed to your dog- let us know and we will get you a cake. Expertly decorated by the 7 year old, of course.

In two weeks Audra is taking part in a cake decorating contest. In front of judges and an audience, she will have 30 minutes to decorate a cake. She has come up with a design, but is working on the final touches. Then she will have to practice it a few times before the competition. Like I said, anybody need a cake?

Here's the two designs of the same theme that she is considering- which do you like best?

 Her friends helped her put the finishing touches on the second cake:

Can you tell what they are supposed to be? Hopefully the judges will admire the fact that she came up with all of this on her own- no Pinterest for her. I am excited that she is willing to give this contest a try- she didn't want to, but after much coercion reluctantly agreed. I think it's great for her, and I do think she is excited- at least she has definitely shown a lot of enthusiasm in creating the design of her cake. We'll see how it all turns out.

Lego Roadshow

Today we took the girls to the mall where they are housing a "Lego Roadshow." It was awesome! The girls loved it. But, I do think Ben and I enjoyed the Lego sculptures more than the girls.

 Dani, I thought of you as we saw these!

 They had a Lego table set up for kids to play which was fun for the girls.

 Afterwards the girls wanted to be The Statue of Liberty- it was really cute.

It was a lot of fun- and we were all pretty amazed at the caliber of talent Master Legobuilders have.

Got Chicks?

Yesterday I shamelessly invited myself and the girls over to a friends house because they are raising chicks for 7 weeks. After they finish their 7 weeks they are giving the chicks to their neighbor who wants them for eggs, so we needed to check them out before they had to give the chicks up.

The girls were in Heaven! Well, Camille was a little scared and shy and wouldn't hold or pet one, but that was fine. She liked walking around them and observing them, just not touching them.

Audra and Claire, however, had no problem holding them!

They decided that they want to raise chicks. I told them they needed to convince Dad,  not me. So, they spent quite a bit of time in their room coming up with a presentation about why they should be able to get chicks. This is the list they came up with:

1. We're not going to keep them that long.
2. They are so cute
3. That you aren't going to be here that much (because he is at work)
4. That we are going to pick up the poo and not you
5. We aren't going to force you to hold the chicks
6. We are not keeping them on the carpet.
7. There will be a fence
8. We are going to put them only a floor (meaning a non-carpeted floor)
9. We are going to use sleds as a wall so that they don't run away
10. We are going to watch them.

Why do they want them?

1. Because we can play with them
2. Because we can't hold the caterpillars and we can hold the chicks (more info on the caterpillars the girls are currently raising to come)

I actually think the chicks would be awesome for the girls. It's a short term pet, and I have a friend who would take them from us once they were a few weeks old. The chicks have a very calming effect on Claire,and might really help her. Dad hasn't decided if he is convinced yet, though, so there may still need to be some convincing.

4-H Strikes Again!

The girls have been doing awesome with 4-H. We have cake coming out of our ears as Audra continually practices using all the different decorating tips, and Claire has finally finished her first project: A stuffed cat. Claire did it pretty much 100% herself and it turned out great.

Bang Cut

When I came back from my recent trip to Seattle, as soon as I got in the car after not seeing the girls for 3 days Camille yelled in the cutest sing-song voice, "I'm eating my hair!" And, sure enough, she was eating her hair.

She loves to eat her hair.

A couple of days later I asked why she ate her hair and she said, "Ummmm!" Maybe I need to change her shampoo to puke-flavored or something?

Audra suggested that I just chop off her hair, but I can't get rid of her curls! I will cry when they are gone.

But she did need her bangs cut. We got that done the other day.

After

Before

And just a fun bedtime picture.

You Can't Make This Up!

We are supposed to be finishing up our school day, but the girls  have more important things to do: Learning about bunnies.

There is a bunny in the backyard. The girls have given it carrots, but the bunny isn't eating them.

So, they came up with the brilliant plan of having Claire dress up as a bunny to go up to it. She couldn't stand because then the bunny might realize that she wasn't a real bunny, so she crawled over to the bunny:

She put socks over her hands and shoes so the bunny wouldn't realize she was human.

As you can guess, her plan didn't work. They decided she is too big, so their next plan is to dress Camille up as a bunny.

I love this age!

Weeping, Wailing, Gnashing of Teeth

When everybody left yesterday there was great sobs of horror heard throughout the land!

We took them to the airport during Camille's nap. When Ben got her after her nap and she saw nobody was there, she asked, "Where is everybody?" Ben told her I was taking them to the airport, and she ran into the bathroom, slammed the door, and stayed in there pouting for 30 minutes.

Audra and Claire cried ALL. NIGHT. LONG. They were so sad! Melissa's girls also cried- except for Tabatha who is too cool for missing cousins.

It was a great time while they were here- we miss them already!

Be Careful If You Come To Visit...

Because you might be put to work!

Everybody left this afternoon, but before they left we went to JoAnn's and got some new fabric so that Melissa could help me reupholster some chairs. I think we did pretty well- and it was surprisingly easy.

The neighbors down the street were throwing away these bar stools. They cost $50 each- I know, because Ben and I were looking for some exactly like this. We pulled over and brought them home. I didn't want their germs on them, though, so we redid them. The new one is on the right.

These poor chairs were completely falling apart- I had to duct tape them together. Now they look much better!

Throw Back

Since we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, I was reminded that almost exactly 8 years ago to the day Ben and I went to Manitou for our "Baby Moon" right before Audra was born.

Here we are 8 years ago:

And 8 years later- it seems like everything has changed (except for Ben's hat, apparently)!

Garden of the Gods and More

Melissa and the girls have been to town several times and we had never taken them to Garden of the Gods! Blasphemy, I know. We decided to spend the whole day down in the Springs. We spent the morning hiking Garden of the Gods, where we also had a picnic lunch, then we drove to Manitou Springs and visited the cliff dwellings, and then walked around tasting all of the different natural spring waters. We ended the day with dinner at The Mason Jar.

There are a MILLION pictures- but, seriously, with the scenery around us- how could I not take a bajillion???

Nobody really cared much for the spring water.

But the kids did enjoy the penny rides.

We had the stroller to carry our water bottles.

After 18,000 steps, we were exhausted and ready for a delicious dinner!