Dustin's Day

Dustin had a birthday yesterday!  Since it was on a Sunday it was a pretty chill day.  Mikayla showered him with gifts of things she didn't want anymore all day, along with an awesome colander and pipe cleaner hat, Maylee wanted to take a nap with him, we cooked lots of yummy food (except for his cake, which was a Pinterest fail!), and played some games.  It was a fun day to celebrate an amazing guy!

The cake was supposed to be a raspberry Zinger cake, but it was a flop (literally).  Luckily it tasted okay!

Sunny Days

The weather has been gorgeous lately.  We have been trying to take advantage by spending lots of time outside playing, going on picnics, taking lots of walks, and helping Dustin in the yard.  The kids are back to their Summer attire-diapers and undies-and they couldn't be happier about it!

All that playing makes for some VERY dirty kids and whole lotta baths!

This boy...

...is keeping us on our toes!  In the last few weeks he's learned to climb up everything (trampoline, play set, chairs, tables, bunk beds, etc.), been to the ER, had a nasty cold for weeks on end, learned how to throw himself on the floor for tantrums, is into EVERYTHING, puts everything under the sun in his mouth, gotten really good at running away from Mom when she calls him, mastered the art of extremely picky eating, become even stronger so he's hard to contain when he wants down (especially in church!), and is getting really good at stealing his sisters' things and running off with them.  But, he is also amazing at entertaining himself, cuddles at all the right times, loves to read books, tries to be a really good helper (he watches so closely and tries to mimic exactly what we're doing, especially when working outside shoveling, pulling weeds, etc.), is pretty tough and doesn't mind taking a fall, and is happy most of the time.

Princess Tea Party

Mikayla invited Maylee and I to a princess tea party.  Maylee was informed she must be dressed in fancy clothes to attend.  Surprsingly, Maylee obliged and put on a dress up outfit.  After that Mikayla insisted Maylee put on fancy shoes to go with it and Maylee went and put on her fanciest shoes.  Her cowgirl boots.  Mikayla about had a meltdown over the level of fanciness that was not present, but once I explained fancy means something different to everyone we were good to go.  Luckily, I was the waitress and in charge of making a butterfly snack so I escaped the fancy dress requirement.

Maylee escaped the "castle" and took off for the forest.  I couldn't get enough of her dress-up and boots.  Totally Maylee in a nutshell.

Then the queen came to rescue the lost princess and take her back to the castle...

And they lived happily ever after.

First Talk

Mikayla gave her first talk in primary last week.  She thought it was "the coolest thing" because she got a sticker telling her that she was to give a talk on the atonement in primary.  We've learned about the atonement in sharing time, then talked about it again in family home evening so that she could understand it better.  When it came time to write her talk she told us exactly what to say with only promptings such as "then what happened?"  I was totally impressed.  We went through her talk once together, practicing on the stool with her play microphone, and the second time around she had it pretty much memorized.  Her memory is amazing!

The day of her talk she wasn't nervous at all and said almost the whole thing by herself.  On the way home I told her she did a great job and she said, "I know!  I think we should have a candlelight celebration dinner because I did so good!"  And that's exactly what we did.

Here's her talk:

"When we come to Earth our bodies are clean and pure.  When we are older we sometimes do sins and it isn't pure any more.  If we make a mistake we should repent and ask Heavenly Father to forgive us.  We can repent because of the atonement (pronounced 'retonement' by Mikayla).  The atonement is when Jesus felt all the bad things we've done.  He prayed for us to be forgiven.  Mean people made Jesus die on the cross, but he was resurrected.  Because of Jesus Christ we can all live with Heavenly Father again."

This and That

Here's a picture update of the last few weeks...

Daxton doing what he does best.  Playing outside, eating, and looking cute.

Rainy day fun.

I chopped Maylee's mullet and gave her a "bob" in hopes that her hair will grow in thicker.

Early morning cuddles.

The girls are obsessed with playing Sleeping Queens right now. Mikayla made a sign that said the name of the game for our game night.

Getting ready for a family hike that still hasn't happened yet.

These girls play together and fight together SO well.

Daxton and Maylee speak the same language.  "Dirt."

Spelling, spelling, and more spelling for this little lady.  Add a little arts and crafts into the mix and she's in heaven.

The kids are at a really fun stage right now.  Mikayla is into learning as much as possible and is especially loving writing and learning to spell.  She is into all things fairy and sparkly.  Maylee has turned into a total ham.  Between her awesome facial expressions and funny comments she keeps us laughing.  She is the best little Momma to her dollies.  Daxton is an independent dude and his little world revolves around being outside playing with sticks and dirt.  It's a happy {crazy} life!