Must Bakes

I have a list on my fridge called "must bakes".  It's all the things I've never baked yet, but can hardly wait to try.  I've tried to keep it to five or so items at a time so as to not get carried away.  In all honesty, the list is unending.  And it always gets interrupted by normal favorite bakes likes Blondies. Who can say no to a good Blondie?  Some of the bakes in my near future are Oat and Pecan Pavlova with Blueberries and Mascarpone Honey Cream.  And eclairs.  And Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp.  But the past couple weeks, I knocked off two really great ones.

Here is my first attempt at French Macarons.  They are considered extremely difficult to get right.  Very finicky.  So basically, when mine (though quite flat!) had little feet, I called it a success for the first try.  I'm going to try them again soon, I have three adjustments to make that might help them out.  Just not until a few other bakes...

 Flat but cute.  And super delish.

 I also made Baklava a week or so ago.  I have never used phyllo dough before and I thought it was fun.  It turned out good.  I loved it.  My kids liked it ok, but were quite happy to see the aforementioned blondies soon after.  Not every thing I bake is for my kids.  Cooper said of my macarons, "I really love macarons, but mommy can you use different cookies next time with that filling?"  LOL!

Baking makes me happy.

Last Days of Preschool

This past week was Cooper's last week of preschool. It was a busy year going to two schools, but I think it was a good experience for him.  It gave him something active to do every day and also helped him get ready for full-day kindergarten this fall.

Last day of afternoon preschool (TTH).  This was his favorite class.  His teachers said he was sweet and a good listener and always wanted to follow the rules and do what was right. He went to this school for two years and his teachers said they'd miss him!

 Our little teacher gifts turned out cute.  The picture on the soap was Cooper's idea, "so they won't forget me!"

 Last day of morning preschool (MWF).  There were some ups and downs at this school, but overall I think he liked it.  He was super thrilled to show me his Alphabet Book that he worked on the entire year.  His teacher here told me he was always such a good listener and a good boy. She said she wished all the kids would help clean up like Cooper.

He's definitely ready for kindergarten.  I'll miss him at lunch every day, but I'm excited for him to go. I'm excited for him to learn to read.  I'm so proud of my Cooper.  What a kid!  Such a wonderful, funny, delightful soul.  I'm really glad to have summer with him before he's gone.  This summer is going to be packed with fun!  Just a bit longer for the other kids - we can hardly wait!!

In other random news, I keep wondering where Cooper is only to find him feeding the neighbor's goat.  :)

Park Day

It took a lot of convincing, but Cooper finally agreed to go down the slide with Oliver.  They had a lot of fun and went down together three times before Cooper decided he was done.  But it was so cute to hear them talking at the top to each other and hear them scream with delight on the way down.

 I think when you're the only two kids at the park, it kind of forces you to be friends.

 I had fun watching them.

 My cute little boys.

Camping Pictures

Oliver hasn't talked about anything but camping since they've come home.  He just loved it!  Every few minutes, he'll say, "Let me tell you a story from when I was camping!"  Then he tells me all sorts of random things:

"We weren't far from the truck.  The tent was little.  It had zippers.  It could only fit daddy and Cooper and Oliver and Ethan.  Just us.  I had a flashlight.  It was like actually ten minutes to turn my flashlight on.

 "I went potty so many times in the night.  I loved camping.  I loved Kool-aid for the drink.  We went on a boat and it had a leak.  Ethan got very wet.  What was the lake called again?

 I ate noodles for dinner and Daddy had milk for me.  I love milk."

 Cooper also had a grand time!

 When they got home Ethan said, "I'm actually really glad Oliver came with us, he made it really fun."  That made me happy.  Seems like Father and Sons 2018 was a success!

Thanks Todd, for making memories for the boys.

A Day with My Girl

Friday, I got to visit Madeline's school and support the jog-a-thon.  We had fun walking laps with Ollie and talking.  But that was just the beginning of a wonderful and long day together.

 There is this beautiful thing called a "Father and Sons Campout".  And that meant that Todd took all three of the boys with him and left Madeline and me to do what girls like to do!  That's right, we went shopping and out to dinner and out for treats and we did it for five hours!!!

 We went to Pier 1, Sally Beauty, Marshalls, The Dollar Store, JoAnns, Sharis for dinner, and Haggens for treats.  We may or may not have purchased a thing or three or four.  We giggled and sang to music in the car and ate too much sugar and had a wonderful time.  Then we stayed up really late watching a baking show.  It was really fun to spend so long with my girl.  I loved it!  And the boys had a great time too!  Oliver won't stop talking about camping.  Hopefully I'll snag the pictures from Todd soon and post those too.

Bike Rides and Flowers

It's been a long time since I rode my bike.  But for some reason, I finally decided to drag it out and clean it up and fix the tires and ride with my little boys.  I'm so glad I did.  We had such a great time and rode several days in a row.  I'm hoping we will again soon!  I'm grateful our neighbor has a long paved lane for us to ride on.  It's the best place around our house for the boys to ride.  

Plus the blossoms are just so insane right now.  Big and beautiful everywhere you look.

 Cooper also had Wheels Day at preschool.  His favorite day!  It was fun to watch him ride around the parking lot at the school and stop at all the little activity centers.  He had the time of his life.

It's such a nice time of year to ride bikes!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was really such a wonderful day.  I ate Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for breakfast and it was amazing.  I laugh as I type that because I made it for myself Saturday night to eat for breakfast.  But seriously, I can make a dang good pie.  Lol!  I've been craving it every day since.

My family was really sweet to me the whole day.  I had fun doing Madeline's hair for church.

 Sacrament meeting was my favorite part.  Madeline, Cooper, and Oliver sang to me.  Such sweet perfect faces up there singing.  Then, the entire Priesthood sang to me with Ethan accompanying the entire men's choir on the piano.  It was so awesome to watch Ethan play "I Am a Child of God" for all the men to sing.  They sounded amazing, and my heart was so full looking at my son and my husband and so many good men singing.  I cried. All the mamas did.  It was the best!

 Then I got three very similar picture frames, with lovely flowers glued on them from my primary kiddos.  I should have taken a picture of all three in a row.  It made me chuckle.

 Dinner was such a treat.  My awesome father-in-law made me dinner!  It was a really enjoyable bbq at his house with all sorts of scrumptious sides by Nana.  I felt spoiled not making any of the dinner.  But I did make the dessert because I'd been wanting to make a Pavlova for a long time.  Lemon cream, lemon curd, and raspberries.  I thought it was so delicious.  I want to make another one soon.  I have a baking addiction!

 We also enjoyed the perfect weather on a little walk.  Oh my, it was nice.

I enjoyed talking to my mom too.  She's the best mom.  I love her every day, but feel especially blessed on Mother's Day that she's my mom.  And I felt very grateful for my wonderful children.  I do love them and being their mother very much.  Sometimes I think they deserve better than the way I act, but I sure try hard.  And they all seem to think I'm pretty great, so I couldn't ask for more.

Random Things

He was pretty excited for his half birthday donut!

 Last weekend we rented a chipper to take care of our enormous pile of sticks and branches.  I spent the day helping with the chipper, but mostly praying no one would die or get their arm chewed off.  Sheesh, that thing is a scary beast.  And the whole time I kept thinking, "you can put the girl in the country, but you can't put the country in the girl!"

 Madeline and Ethan also played in a piano recital.

 They both did so well.  Such beautiful piano players.

 Ice cream is good.

And as a funny side story, a few days ago Madeline asked me when we were going to go to Utah this summer.  Then she said, "We should go for three weeks at the least and moving at the most!"  Ha!  Her siblings all agreed with her.  I just kept my mouth shut.  They talk like that on a pretty regular basis.  They have for the entire time we've been here.  Madeline then added, "But...we won't move...and we have friends here anyway..."  Yes we do.  And they sure are wonderful.  I like knowing that there are wonderful people everywhere.

Whatcom Lake Park Trail

I really enjoyed my family and the scenery of our walk this past Sunday by Whatcom Lake.  It was so beautiful and it was fun to take pictures of my people.  I like these pictures too, so wanted to post a few more.  It was a lovely moment in time.  Not too much complaining, just mostly happiness and contentment.  It was certainly an afternoon I'll enjoy remembering.

My Favorite People