Mommy's Birthday Cake

My birthday began in the best way possible, my wonderful husband and precious girls singing, "Happy Birthday" to me.  Shortly thereafter, the girls began asking about my birthday cake.  When I told them we didn't have one, they insisted on making one.  I told them to go into their play kitchen and make me a cake, but they insisted I needed a "real birdday cake".  I checked to see if we had the ingredients, thinking that might get me out of making a cake for myself.  Sure enough, we were missing items.  Around this time, my parents called to wish me happy birthday.  When I was telling them about how sweet the girls were and how they really wanted to make a "real" birthday cake for me, my mom told me she was going to go to the grocery store that morning and would gladly get what I needed.  I decided, if the girls and I were going to make a cake, I wanted a cheesecake.  So, after mom brought over our missing ingredients, we got busy baking.

Ready go get started
The girls thought it was sad that I didn't have a chef's hat to,
but not sad enough to share one of theirs with me.

Inventive girls figured out how to use their cups to smash
the graham crackers for the crust.

Adding Ingredients

More Ingredients

Measuring Milk

Emma Stirring

Ella Stirring 

Watching it Bake
(I think this is my favorite picture.)

Enjoying the results

Yummy!

It turned out so tasty.  I'm really very glad the girls insisted on making a "real" birthday cake for me.

P.S.  The adorable aprons and hats the girls are wearing were from their cousin's birthday party.  Even though our girls were unable to attend, she sent them hats and aprons anyway.  Thanks, Annie!

Awesome August Adventures

There's rarely a dull moment when you're living with two 3 year olds.  Here are some pictures of fun times in August.

Our Cowgirls

Emma

Ella

Ella playing dress-up

We went out to eat at a Japanese Steak House, and the girls insisted on using chop sticks.  I have no idea where they even learned about chopsticks, but they enjoyed trying to use them.  After a while, we had to insist they switch back to a fork because it was taking a very long time for them to eat.

First time for Ella with chopsticks.

Emma's giving it a try.

Watching Winnie the Pooh at the theatre

And of course, I have to add in some sweet sleeping pictures.

Mommy, Daddy and Us Gymnastics

This summer we decided to enroll our girls in a Mommy and Me Gymnastics class on Monday evenings at our local community college.  Since both girls participated, Mommy and Daddy both went to help.  It was a lot of fun.  The girls really seemed to enjoy the class and learned quite a bit.  We were very impressed with how well they did.  They were rarely afraid of any of the apparatuses, and were even able to climb up onto the 4 foot tall balance beam, walk the distance, and jump onto a mat by themselves on the last day of class.  Our teacher, Ms. Bre', said she has never had a Mommy and Me student willing to walk the balance beam on their own.   We are very proud of our girls for their hard work and willingness to try new things.

Unfortunately, since we were constantly busy helping the girls, we were unable to take any pictures.  We need to get copies of the pictures taken by grandparents on designated watch days to add them to this post.

Cousins Sleepover at Memaw and Datt's House

For Memaw's birthday this year, she wanted to have a sleepover with her 4 oldest grandchildren (ages 5, almost 4, 3, and 3).  And boy, did she pack a lot of fun times into this weekend!  We started out with dinner at Johnny Carino's, followed by an evening at Wonderland.  The weather was just perfect for an evening outside, too.  They had a great time riding all the rides.  The boats, carousel, helicopters, and cars were fun...

Emma, Cousin Annie, Ella
on the Helicopter ride

Emma and Ella in front, Annie and Price in back
going around in a Pink Convertable

But, this time the Frog Hopper was our girls' favorite ride.  They rode that one over and over and over.  

Seeing how high up they will go

Big Grins as they Bounce down

Riding on Daddy and Datt's shoulders after a very fun evening.

 After riding all the rides we could stand, we headed to Memaw and Datt's house where we dropped the girls off for the sleepover.  They watched a movie until falling asleep in the basement (way past their bedtime.)  But they were up early the next morning and ready for more fun.  Saturday called for a day in the pool.  Memaw had gotten them all some really neat suits with a floatation ring built in, so they could cruise around the pool on their own.  This freedom and independence made their day.  They puttered around the pool all morning long.  Only getting out when we made them stop for lunch.  Bryan and I arrived mid-morning to watch all the fun.

Emma

Ella

Emma jumping to Datt

A Big Grin from Ella

Emma really liked shooting people with the water cannon.

After lunch, we put our girls down for a nap.

After a nice nap they went back out to swim for a couple more hours.  Ella and Emma were so good to come in without complaining when we asked them to.  They rested on the couch and watched a movie until dinner time.

I hope Memaw enjoyed her birthday sleepover as much as our girls did.  They were tired for about 3 days after all that fun, but we all think it was worth it.