How to Make Mother's Day Cupcakes with Parker

Find Parker and ask him to pick his favorite cake mix

(he will definitely be more interested in picking out the icing)!

Parker picked yellow cake and chocolate icing. Add cake mix to mixer.

Crack the eggs for him before he adds them to the bowl!

Add water and oil.

Mix!

If you can't understand him Parker says the mixer goes "round and round and round and round... in circles Mommy!" When I ask him who we are making cake for he says "delicious!" I love the look of anticipation on his face. At the end he says "It's done Mommy!" Parker LOVES cake!

Make sure the batter tastes good!

Next we fill the cupcake pans. We like mini cupcakes. What a mess.

Now we get to lick the bowl. And the Spatula. And the scooper.

Caroline wants to taste too! Let's check on the cupcakes! "Mmmmm! Mommy I think they are done!"

Now we have to wait for them to cool. And wait. And wait!

We let Bastian help with the icing!

Pure Heaven...

Strange Visitors from the West...

Ok so it was just Todd's Aunt Donna and Uncle Ray but we had fun and it made us really miss California and all of our family and friends there!

When Bash was a baby he couldn't say "Donna" and always called her "Nonna" which Donna liked because it's sort of like the Italian term for Grandma.

Anyway, now all my kids call her "Nonna". Cute!

Here are some cute pics Nonna took and a few that I took.

A trip to Target can really make our day! Thank goodness our town was finally civilized enough to get a Target (6months ago)... since then my quality of life has gone WAY up!

Caroline in one of her tutu's. It just felt like a tutu kind of day! She seemed to agree. She likes to put it up to cover her face, showing eveyone her little bloomers. Yea!

The boys are enjoying the gifts that Grandma sent along with Nonna. We sure miss Grandma and Grandpa Scott!

Caroline is modeling the new swimsuit she got for her birthday from Nonna. So freakin' cute!

She is really trying to enjoy her apple with all 6 teeth! I think one of her brothers gave her a head start. I think she looks so much like her Mommy in these! Adorable!

We can't wait to see everyone at DisneyWorld in October! We miss you guys!

Families Can Be Together Forever...

"Families can be together forever. Through Heavenly Father's Plan..."
I like to sing this song to my kids when they are not being cooperative. I don't think they appreciate my singing very much.

I just wanted to get some cute pics of them in their matching chairs. My Mom has bought them all these adorable chairs from pottery barn for each of their first birthdays. Caroline's came the other day but evidently no one was in the mood for a photo op.

What can I say? They're cute even when they're not.

Sthoccer is Sthuper Cool!

This is kind of mean because Bash has a tiny lisp which I think is adorable and which he is rapidly growing out of, dang it. Anyway, he is totally crazy for Soccer (Sthoccer) and here are some great pics. In his first game he scored 6 times. 4 times for his own team and twice for the other, which I thought was very generous of him!

Bash celebrating after one of his goals. He really is a natural athlete, for which I cannot take credit. Todd is very graceful and athletic. Sadly, I am just a tad uncoordinated when it comes to sports.

Half time snack and the post-game wrap up. They don't keep score but I'm pretty sure we won!

Easter...er whatever

Easter is sort of a stressful day when you are in the primary presidency. You want to make sure the kids get the whole resurrection theme, but you also know they are all sugared up from the early-morning candy binge. Herein lies the dilemma: Do you attempt to teach them something deep and meaningful or do you take the "low road" and wind them up even more before sending them back to their parents? We tried both, which didn't go so smoothly and also explains why I look toasted in the Easter pics. I knew we were about to head home so I grabbed Jenny (second counselor and Nanny extraordinaire) and made her take a picture before their carefully coordinated outfits could get covered in chocolate. Sigh. Still waiting for those Easter-Egg hunt pics, too.

I love my adorable husband and daughter. What more can I say?

The Land of Super heroes, Pirates and Chubby Ballerinas

Here are some cute pics of the kids in various states of dress-up. They love to put on costumes. It's a real pain when potty training. That spidey suit is really hard to get in and out of.

I always thought tiny baby ponytails looked obnoxious and stupid. I just can't seem to help myself, though!

Parker makes the best monkey face!

Bash was dressed up for circus day at school.

Okay, so it's pretty obvious that I dressed her up like this.

I have a whole new appreciation for tutus as a fashion statement!

Parker makes an adorable pirate. I was showing the kids the real-life pirate on TV and they were really worried that he must have left his hat somewhere. I can't help but wonder about this new interest in reporting on pirates... does Disney control international crime too?

What a shamless way to promote a movie!

The kids also love star wars and any play fighting. Remember all of those reports that claimed if children watched violent programs they would act more violently? I really thought that was all bull. I now believe it. Spiderman, Transformers, Star Wars, and even Indiana Jones DVDs have all gone missng in our house, coincidentally.

(Relax, I occasionally "find" the movies and allow them to watch just to assure myself I am doing the right thing! )


More often than not, Parker's number one costume choice is the pirate hat (adorably too big for his head) and a batman cape.

One day I'm sure I will miss the days of super heroes and pirates.

A cold day in January

I think this is the most perfect snow angel I've seen. Of course, it was made by my perfect angel Sebastian. ;)

It's beautiful here when it snows... until it melts and turns to gray slush and muddy floors for Mommy to clean!

Here's Bash

And ParkBash has taken to sledding much better than swimming. Parker is the opposite. He hates everything cold and loves the water. Here he contributes to the snow shoveling effort in his own small way while his brother sleds!