Cookies and games

A couple of days ago after we walked Kyrie and Asher to the bus stop, Cambria asked if we could bake some cookies. I thought that was a great idea, so that's what we did! She thought it was way cool that we were baking cookies first thing in the morning! :-)

After baking (and an outfit change for Bri, as per usual), we decided to play a game. Today she chose to play Caterpillar Color Race by Discovery Toys. I just have to put a plug in for Discovery Toys. They are SO great! I'm going to get the kids several more games for Christmas/birthdays this year. I have been able to find them for much cheaper on eBay as opposed to buying them directly through the Discovery Toys site. We played several rounds, but in these pictures, Cambria is the winner!

It was REALLY hard getting used to having Kyrie and Asher gone during the day. The house was far too quiet at first, and it took Bri and I a bit of an adjustment period to get the hang of all our free time. But now we really enjoy our mornings together! She's such a neat little kiddo, and I'm really glad I have 2 more years before I have to send her off to school.

Abraham Lincoln by Kyrie

This is a post that only other members of the Church will be able to fully appreciate. ;-)

During Conference today, Kyrie sat down to draw to keep herself busy. In between sessions, the kids started singing some of their favorite Primary songs. We had our Primary program a couple of weeks ago, so the song "Follow the Prophet" was fresh on their minds because that was one of the songs they sang. After the kiddos finished singing the song, Kyrie sat down again to write a story. When she was done, she told Derk she'd decided to write about Abraham Lincoln because they'd learned about him at school. She asked him if he wanted to hear what she wrote. He said he sure did, so she eagerly read it to him. When she was finished, Derk came into the bedroom where I was folding laundry and told me I HAD to come listen to what Kyrie had written. So out I went and had her read it to me. It was SO cute that I just HAD to share it!!!

She was just slightly confused...... ;-)

Flowers!

Ever since I re-purposed an old dresser into a craft center, the kids have all spent SO much more time crafting and creating. It's been so wonderful!! Cambria has even developed a new love for drawing, which she never had before. Now I'm pretty sure it was because she couldn't find what she was looking for when it was all shoved into a cupboard!

Today as I was preparing to make us some breakfast, she asked if she could draw while I cooked. I told her to go ahead, and she eagerly began to draw. She finally announced that she was finished, so I told her to show me what she had created. She said, "I drew you flowers, Mommy! See?!" Then she turned the paper around. Before when she'd draw something and would tell me what it was, it was super hard to make out. But this time, well, see for yourself!

The proud artist!

My garden of flowers!

Didn't she do an awesome job??? Overnight, she seriously went from drawing random, indecipherable squiggles that she insisted were ______ (fill in the blank) to drawing this! I just love this picture. The kids all have a chance to display their most favorite recent artwork on the fridge for all to see, and Cambria very proudly took this over to the fridge for her turn. :-)

"All About Me" by Kyrie

Today Kyrie brought this assignment home from school, and it was WAY too cute not to share!

I think it's large enough to read, but just in case, here's what it says (spelling/punctuation corrected for ease of reading):

"Hello my name is Kyrie, and I go to school at Gwyneth Ham Elementary in Yuma, Arizona. I have one brother, one sister, and two parents. What I like to do in my spare time is ride my bike or scooter, jump on my trampoline, watch movies, and bake. I am a very active person. I also like to play with my kitties. Their names are Isis and Zelda. I'm a very smart person, my mom and dad tell me. But I know they don't think I'm smart, they know I'm smart. And that is all about me!"

We love this girl!

Our new craft center

When I showed my pantry re-do, my sister-in-law Rebecca gave me an idea to put a craft area in my pantry since there's so much space. While that idea really intrigued me, I knew my kids would NEVER leave my craft stuff alone if I had it all out, so I decided against it. But you did inspire me, Rebecca! :-)

We've had a dresser that Derk's parents gave us several years ago sitting out in our garage. We've been using it to store completely random things that should be put somewhere else anyway, so I decided to move it into the pantry and give it a new life. With Derk being out of town this weekend for business, I took advantage of the extra spare time and got the project done. It was really quick and easy. The longest part was letting the chalkboard paint dry (it takes 24 hours before you can write on it). I can take full credit for this idea, which doesn't happen very often! ;-)

Before:

After:

I might rearrange the drawers as we see how this arrangement works, but it's working out great so far! All these things used to be taking up 2 cupboards in my kitchen, and now I have all that space empty and calling for me! :-)

Making the most of a business trip

A couple of weeks ago, Derk told me he had an upcoming business trip to Phoenix this weekend. I spent the next few days doing some research online to see what fun things I could do with the kids for those 3 days. I decided we'd do lots of fun homemade things that we don't always have time to do.

We started the weekend off by having a spa night! Even Asher wanted to participate. I did some research and found a site that had some pretty easy and cheap looking recipes. The only thing I had to buy was an orange -- I had everything else in the pantry and fridge already. The kids all did a face scrub made from cornmeal and orange juice, then they did a face mask made from yogurt and honey, and they relaxed with cold cucumbers on their eyes. Asher changed his mind and thought it wasn't very cool after all. ;-) After that, Asher played a game while we painted our nails.

We kicked off Saturday with a yummy biscuit breakfast. I've been making biscuits for several months now, and we all agree that they are much tastier than store-bought. After that, we cleaned up a bit, and then we made our own crayons. I've seen this on blogs all over the place and have been meaning to try it forEVER but keep forgetting. I just barely replaced the kids' crayons, and it was really fun to be able to re-purpose all those little broken bits from the old ones. I don't remember what site I used, but it's super easy. Just Google "melt crayons in a muffin tin," and you'll come up with lots of results. It was super fun, and the kids thought it was SO cool!

We were sure glad when Daddy came home, but we had a fun weekend!

Our kitchen makeover!

Our kitchen has undergone quite a dramatic change since we first moved in! I thought it would be really fun to look back on how it has changed from then until now!

Here it is when we first moved in. There's linoleum in the kitchen and carpet in the dining room.

The first project was to redo those floors. I also decided to paint the walls a yellow color at first.

I quickly realized I didn't like the yellow and changed it. Our floor plan is really open, so it made more sense (and looked way better) to have the kitchen be the same color as the family room. Then I finally was able to convince Derk to let me paint the cabinets! And here's the final transformation! There will be a curtain on the window in the next few days, but other than that, I'm not touching this room for a long time!