Carrot Cakes and Camp Outs

Dear Bubbas,
We had such a good day today! Today was the day that we finally were able to make our carrot cake. You were so excited! I told you last night that we were going to make it first thing in the morning and sure enough, the minute Connor's eyes opened he said, "is it time to make cupcakes?" Both of the boys call cake and pancakes cupcakes. Kaylee was thrilled when she saw me pulling out all the ingredients and she immediately wanted to sit up on the table to get closer to the action. As I was pulling out everything we needed I could hear you giggling and getting excited. You did a great job helping me put all the sugar, flour, and eggs into the mixer but you laughed when we got to the carrots. I shredded them and then I let each of you pour the carrots into the batter. You could hardly believe it! We were really going to put carrots in the cake! Today when we turned the mixer on Kaylee squealed with delight and clapped her hands. She's beginning to love cooking! The boys requested that I make a "man" cake, and it just so happened that I had a Bob the Builder pan, so we made a Bob the Builder cake. You were just as excited about the Bob the Builder as you were the actual carrot cake.
I've found that cooking with you three is like being on a cooking show. You need to have everything measured out, set out, and ready to just pour into a pan. It would be ideal if you could put the cake batter into the oven and then turn around with a cooked cake in less than two minutes!  Each time we cook together I get a little bit better at preparing everything in advance, but this go around I didn't realize how antsy you would get while waiting for me to shred four little carrots up. During the time I was shredding carrots, Kaylee got her hands on the salt. It was a huge mess. It didn't help that Connor and Hunter were giggling. She thought she was being pretty funny shaking that salt all over the table.
The cake came out decent enough. Between our gas oven, and the cake pan it didn't cook very evenly. It tasted good, but it looked awful! You three were thrilled and so that's all that mattered. All three of you passed when it was time to eat it though, which didn't surprise me at all.
If our morning wasn't fun enough Daddy came home and let you have a camp out night! He made a fire and let you roast your own marshmallows, and make a s'mores. Then we put on the Prince of Egypt and let you camp out on the living room floor watching the movie. You were so excited to roast a marshmallow, but you didn't really want to eat it. You had some bites, but were more interested in the process of making them and not eating!
The best part of the night for me was getting to snuggle with Kaylee in the recliner during the movie. She never lets me snuggle her for long because she's always trying to keep up with Connor and Hunter.
It was a great day start to finish! I love you three so much.
Mommy

Such A Great Day!

Dear Connor and Hunter,
Today was such a great day. Your Daddy took the day off work to spend with us because it was your very last day as a Choo-Choo (your preschool class). You got dressed and wanted your hair done. You like your hair spiked up. We also had some left over colored gel from your haircuts the other day so you got to put colored gel in your hair for the big day. Connor chose blue and Hunter chose green. You looked very handsome. We dropped you off at preschool and went back home to wait for party time. It was worth the wait.
When we got there the whole class sat down in front of the parents and sang to us "Jesus Loves Me" and "ABCs". It was very adorable! Then it was time to eat. You were very excited about all the snacks.  You were especially excited about the choo-choo train brownies we made. You kept telling your teachers that you made choo-choo snacks! While you were eating your snack your teachers called you up one by one to give you your certificate for passing the choo's class and the flower you planted a few weeks back. The flowers are still growing, but they were in a clear container that said "Grow With God." You were thrilled to get your certificate and your flower! You gave Ms. Amy and Ms. Michelle hugs and a card that you made them. Your cards were super cute. Hunter told Daddy to write," Thank You. My favorite part of preschool is coloring." Connor told Daddy to write, " Thank you for taking care of me, I'll miss you. My favorite is playing with toys."
Your teachers were full of compliments for you. They told me that you are the sweetest boys. You always obey. You listen and try your hardest all the time, and you are very smart. They also told me that you tell them all the time that your Daddy reads you the bible and that you love Jesus. Melt my heart.....
We came home and had naps and hung out. Basically rested up because you had your last t-ball game of the season tonight! You played great, of course! Daddy told you both not to take toys with you and to leave them in the car because you needed your hands to play baseball. About halfway through the game I noticed that Connor had Winnie-the-Pooh sticking out of his sock. Genius! Hands free and still able to hold his comfort object. That made me smile so much.
At the end of the game your coach gave you a ribbon and a medal. The medal was so cute! He put it around your neck and you were thrilled! I believe the medals are now in your stools, safe and sound. This week I'm going to make frame with pictures from the season and your medal to hang in your room by your bed.
It was such an exciting day for you two! I'm sad that you will never again be a choo-choo, but I am so proud of the way you've grown physically and spiritually this year.
I love you and love you
Mommy

 Making friends during the Choo Celebration! 

 She wants to be part of the team so bad! 

Those Eyes

Dear Kaylee,
You have the biggest, most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They are big like mine so unfortunately  many of your peers will comment on their size rather than their beauty. However, they are in fact beautiful. You have the prettiest eyelashes, and you bat them continuously. They are such a deep brown. I can't tell if you get the color from Daddy or my mom. Both Daddy and my my mom have great eyes so it could've easily been either of them!
These eyes, in all their beauty, are used to get your way. Over and over again I fall into the trap. You have a way of saying exactly what you're thinking with them and it's so stinkin' cute you almost always get your way!
You also have the world's cutest pouty face. I'm going to try my hardest to get some pictures of it before you grow out of it, assuming you do eventually grow out of it! You stick your little pursed lips out, crinkle your eyebrows while looking down towards the ground. So, SO cute!
You don't use a lot of words yet, although I think the reason is because you get what you want without using them. Clearly you know more words than I think you do because today I heard you crying in the playroom and then the little pitter patter of your feet running into the room to get me. I asked you what happened and you told me through sobs, "He POKE me!" It was very clear. When I asked Connor if he poked you, he said "I pology". After much prodding I figured out that "pology" meant apology and he had said he was sorry.
You are testing out the word no lately. It doesn't get you very far, but you still like to say it several times a day to see what will happen. Sometimes I think you say it to test me, other times I think you say it to impress your brothers and make them laugh, which they always do!
Connor tells me to "look at me Mommy!" about twenty times a day and you've picked that up. You just yell really loud, "AAAAATCH." Then I get to watch you do something cute like go down a giant bounce house slide, or attempt a somersault.
You've fallen in love with your comforter in your crib. It's a crib size comforter so it is on the smaller side, but it's still big for you to be hauling around the house as your blanky. You love it though, so how can I say no?
You love shoes. LOVE them. You want to pick the ones you are going to wear everyday and if it were up to you the shiny white church shoes would never leave your feet. I typically let you pick whichever shoe you want to wear because they're all cute! I do however, keep this personality trait in mind as I'm buying you clothes and shoes and I don't purchase anything I don't absolutely love for fear you will absolutely love it and I'll have to see it on you every day for the next month! Luckily, you're young enough that you still like what I like.
You are such a blessing to this family. Tonight at t-ball you snuck away to sit on the boys carpet squares with them (they use the squares to line them up in their batting order). You were sitting in between Connor and Hunter and they were both loving and kissing on you. You soaked it up for a few minutes and then insisted they treat you like the other kids and let you sit there on a square un-pampered. As I was watching the three of you sit together, hugging and kissing on each other, I felt so incredibly blessed. Thank you for being such a sweet, loving little girl who always makes us laugh.
I love you,
Mommy

 Kaylee is yelling at me to watch her in this picture!

After going through a huge rain puddle, Kaylee noticed a leak under the car! 

 

See those pretty church shoes?!