Sweet little girls...

I haven't had a whole lot to blog about lately... we're just having a very low-key summer and enjoying our new little girl. Claire continues to be so wonderful... she is still sweet and sleepy, and has recently started to focus on faces and has begun little flickers of smiles. I love her big eyes, newborn scent, tiny feet, and little squeaks. I feel incredibly blessed to have my 4 munchkins, and especially to have 3 sweet girls. Emma and Becca are actually helpful - Emma especially, is always quick to get me a diaper, pick out an onesie, help with baths, hold her and entertain her while I finish up with laundry or cleaning. I love my family!


It was fun to have Carrie and her kids come over to play for a bit this past week. For a little activity for the girls, we made ice cream in a bag. It was easy and yummy! The kids tossed the bag around and took turns squeezing and shaking the cream and ice. And it got much thicker than I thought it would. We made some vanilla while our friends were here and later that night before bed, we tried chocolate (I added some cocoa powder and a little extra vanilla extract).

Cute Alice taking a turn shaking the ice cream bag

Emma trying out making some chocolate

Dad's are GREAT!

I have incredible dad's in my life - my dad is the greatest... he is funny, a great example, and a wonderful grandpa. My father-in-law is also awesome and I can see where Ben learned how to be an amazing dad. Ben is everything I could have wanted in a dad to our kids... he is a great teacher, full of patience, and makes spending quality time with the kids his priority. Hooray for dad's!

Ben had to work on Father's Day, but fortunately he had Saturday off, so we just decided to celebrate it a day early. And with church at 9am on Sundays, it was actually nice to get to take our time doing Father's Day breakfast on Saturday instead. So, for breakfast, we had blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs (done 'dad-style' with jalapenos, onions, and cheese added), strawberries (sliced up by the girls), and orange juice. The kids had all picked out some goodies for him for gifts along with the cards and pictures they made. I got him a kitchen scale so that he can finally correctly follow Alton Brown's recipes - since his recipes usually refer to ingredient quantities in weight instead of by cups or teaspoons, etc.

Becca and Jake anxiously awaiting daddy's arrival at breakfast (we let him sleep in)

After breakfast we got all ready and headed to Desert Ridge to shop, have lunch, and play at their splash pad....

We love our daddy!!



I feel like this is what I'm always doing... nursing little Claire






Afterwards we headed home for ice cream treats (whenever they have popsicles or ice cream, I send them in the backyard to eat it - less mess and gets them out of my hair for a moment)


Ben's been trying to get into swimming (in hopes of eventually doing a triathlon or splash and dash) - so he then took the girls to the pool to play and then they got to cheer him on as he swam some laps. And reportedly Emma did the diving board 4 times on her own! I'm glad to see her making swimming progress, especially as she doesn't get much practice since we don't have a pool. Yay Emma! Later, for Father's Day dinner we had Cayenne Chicken with Avocado Salsa (first time trying it... will definitely make it again!), rice, mangos, and salad. Then Pineapple Upside-Down cake for dessert... mmmm. At bedtime, the girls sang their Father's Day songs they'd been practicing in Primary... since he wouldn't be at church the next day to hear them sing in Sacrament mtg. Their singing was really cute! I should have taken a video :)

So, on Sunday, even though Ben was working, we spent the evening at Ben's parents home for lots of celebrating: Father's Day, Lacy's birthday, and Midsummer's Night Eve (summer solstice). There were lots of presents exchanged, a yummy dinner, floating a cake, and reciting our favorite poems. AND, this was the first time we've had all 3 baby cousins together. Peter and Lacy had their first little baby girl (Scout) last week and she is darling. We put "the triplets" down on the floor to hang out together... we were so entertained watching them. Little Scout kept poking Caroline in the face and it was hilarious. :)

Claire, Caroline, and Scout

You're a Grand Old Flag...

Happy Flag Day! I like to think of Flag Day as an excuse to start celebrating the Fourth a bit early, but mostly it's a great day to teach the kids about our American Flag. I was proud that I even thought to dress the kids in their flag shirts (thank you Grandma Dangerfield!), but then at the last minute I thought up a quick activity.... I pulled out our little flags from the holiday stuff and we discussed how many stars and stripes there are and why. Then we colored our own 'accurate' flags. Afterwards, I had Emma write out the Pledge of Allegiance on the stripes, then cut them out, hid the pieces, and had the kids find them and reconstruct the flag in the correct order....






Good thing these kids like "school" type activities... they thought this whole flag thing was the best! :) And in case you are wondering what Claire does while we play - she usually looks like this...


I love burrito babies! :)

I'm so excited to have some cute pictures of little Claire that Annie Miller took for me. I finally got around to putting together simple birth announcements to mail out to family....


And just 'cause it's cute... here's a video of Becca singing her America song that she learned in preschool this year - she's obviously gotten a little fuzzy on the words in parts, but I just think her singing is darling :)

Claire gets visitors!

My mom and dad came to visit! This was their first time to meet baby Claire, so it was an exciting time to get together. The kids were especially anxious for their arrival - they waited by the window in excited anticipation...


We tried to squeeze in as much fun as we could while grandma and grandpa were here.... including a couple of neighborhood walks and an evening park visit...

Emma taking a break from our walk and showing off her modeling skills. ;)

Jake proving that he can model too... haha







Grandma and Grandpa were really good at entertaining the kids while I was often nursing the baby - they played quirkle, connect 4, did some puzzles, and read a lot of books. Here's grandma showing the kids the pictures off her camera... (you can see that they LOVE to listen to grandma's stories) :)


We played at a couple of splash parks (cause it's getting HOT!)...





Jake's favorite splash park activity is sitting out and eating snacks :)






We played downtown at the Science Center...













That's mom's HUGE eye :) They had this telescope type thing that you would look into on one end and it would show the image really big up there... we thought this was hilarious. :)

After the science center, we headed over to our favorite downtown ice cream/soda shop.... Jake was especially pleased with his ice cream selection....






Emma also got to go golfing with her dad and grandpa! Emma and Ben are set up to golf for free all summer at The Futures Course nearby.... they've been a few times and Emma loves it... especially when she gets to pick out an ICEE or a popsicle at the club house afterwards. :) And it was a special treat to get to have grandpa join in on the golfing fun this time around...



There aren't any golf carts on this course, so Emma was pleased to discover that she can get a ride on daddy's golf bag... haha.


We also were sure to spend a lot of time playing with tiny Claire. She is oh so sweet. :)








Speaking of tiny Claire, the girls discovered last week that she is just the right size for their doll play stuff. Claire looks concerned... :)




Thanks for coming to visit mom and dad! You were so much help to me while you were here. I didn't have to hardly do any dishes and the kids were so happy to have grandma and grandpa visit. Love you! :D