Fall Baking in June

Well, June seems to be promising with the first 2 days of it so far drenched in rain. Perfect timing for our ward's Hawaiian Luau this Friday that Courtney and I are in charge of, (sarcastic) yea!!

The kids looked outside in the gloominess and when it rains in our house I open all of the blinds and let the natural light in so we can see the water falling down. I love the rain. I love that I don't have to turn the sprinklers on. I love that I don't have to have the A/C on in June. I hear the rain smells nice too. I love that it is a little hint of fallish weather and for that we must do something about it...bake!

I let the kids pick out a recipe out of one my grandmother's cookbooks that she sent me. When I realized I didn't have enough butter to make the ones they picked out I suggested my French Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookies. They heard chocolate and were in! Hahaha.

I moved Scarlett to the kitchen so she could join in on the fun. Then we got started...

I have secret aspirations to open a dessert shoppe, but not with 3 little ones in tow...
maybe one day, maybe one day.

Even though Lucas always has firetrucks on the brain, he is an excellent at following recipes. He is really good at cracking the eggs too...I have yet to see shells in the bowl, he is very careful about it. It must have been all of those episodes of Ace of Cakes we used to watch last summer! :)

Here is Bridget revealing our Secret to the recipe...French Vanilla Pudding!

Don't forget the Chocolate Chips Lucas shouted!
She isn't even on the seat of the chair! Hahaha.

I went to open the door for a dutch oven delivery and I come back to this...

I asked Lucas what they were doing and he said liking the white powder. The dough is dangerous because of the wet eggs! (I felt dumb for asking after that)

The doorbell rang again so I went to open the door to the post man and Lucas was taking pictures...I thought nothing of it until I hear Lucas yelling at Bridget "Scarlett loves those cookies Bridget, let me take a picture"

Nooooo!!!!! We had a talk about how if you don't have teeth you can't have cookies, or food. Hopefully chocolate doesn't affect children like it does dogs! :) At least it wasn't a box of raisins, like Lucas did to Bridget last March when she was like 4 months old!!!

After nap we played some games and watched Bolt for the 45th time. My kids love Bolt, but not as much as the Blue Toy Story or the Red Toy Story (#1 and #2)
I can't wait for #3 to come out in June next summer! Wa-hoo!

We also finished the invites for Lucas's Big Party in July. We will deliver those on Sunday! :) They are so cute! :)

What a great day and all of this before Nathan came home. CRAZY! Really this was a distraction from getting stuff ready for the activity on Friday! Hahaha.

Play Dough

I had a great time at Chrystal's! So did the kids, but I especially had a great time.

First the kids made salt dough hand prints.

SUPER CUTE!

Then we "cooked" our own play dough to play with. Lucas picked gween, because green is his favorite color...why? Its the color of money of course. (Grandpa Horn should be proud)

Bridget picked yellow because "Buzz" was on the package. (Buzz Lightyear)

Oh then Chrystal pulled out the play dough mat. I had never seen one before. I thought it was so cool! :)

After that the kids played outside, then in the basement where I got to ooh and aah at her CRAZY COOL Craft room, I am not going to lie...I am Jealous! I wanted to take a picture just so I could show Nathan how I want mine! :)

After that it was time to go, I was sad to leave. The kids were fine. I then saw what I thought was a hairless baby squirrel but actually ended up being a dead bird according to Brandon the resident bird expert. :) I can't wait for our next craft day! :)

Recipe:
Traditional Play Dough
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food coloring (or use a packet of Kool-Aid for scented dough)
Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring (or Kool-Aid) last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

The best part of the whole thing according to Lucas "we get to take the play-dough home? that was so very nice" Thanks Cleverley's for another Awesome Art Day!

A Treat

This morning we opened our door to this!

A special treat from our ward's neighborhood treat phantom! They did this last year at Christmas time, but this year I guess they are starting early! :) I thought Sunday's session would be a perfect time to make, bake and decorate cupcakes for the two houses we are supposed to hit by Tuesday, so that is what Lucas and I did today.

He was very excited to sport his new apron! This one is from Auntie Steph. He loves to cook and clean so this was a perfect little suprise gift for him! :)
He wanted to make chocolate cakes with wite frostin', so we did and in honor of Noggin's October song we topped them with Candy Corn.
Lucas assured me that he needed to taste 2 cakes to make sure they were all okay. I thik they turned out pretty cute.
And now for the song...
I dedicate this song to Bridget and Gwendolyn Smith, who this song mostly applies to! :)

Family Night

We had a delicious dinner, and Lucas was in charge of treats this week, so he opted for a less difficult treat. 5 Chip Oaties. We made them and then Bridget passed out and Nathan had the lesson. Here are a few of the pictures...

** Note to self...do not open the chocolate chips till the very end**

YUMMY they turned out great! We made 8 dozen, enough for Nathan to take to work tomorrow! Hehehe :)