A visit to Nana and Papa's

Jeremy is down in Twin Falls this week and Peanut had been staying with my folks at their place for the past week, so I packed up Monkey(who is actually old enough to pack up his own things now! Yea!) and Sweet Baby T and headed over the pass and drove to their house.
Sweet Baby T slept the whole trip with a little sip from a bottle fed to her by her big brother, and then she proceeded to fall asleep.  For those of you that don't know how long of a trip that is, it's 5 hours!  I drove with the two of them for 5 hours and it was AMAZING!  Love that baby girl!
We arrived Friday evening and then drove the 2 1/2 hours on Sunday to go see my niece J, in her dance recital.  She is so beautiful!  J took Peanut back into the dressing room with all of the big girls to watch all of the preparation before the recital.  Peanut loved it!
Tuesday we  went to Pike Place Market, and to see Uncle Bobby at his office.  Atleast we will tell Bobby it was to visit him, but really it was for the free parking since he works a few blocks from the Market!  Just kidding Bobby!  The parking was just a nice benefit!
It's been a good visit and I think the kids are having fun.  Sweet Baby T is along for the ride and doing well.  It's hard to believe that she is soon going to be out of the "newborn" stage.  She is blowing bubbles constantly and cooing more, she has discovered her tongue and is constantly trying to shove her fist in her mouth.  Still a really laid back baby and a happy girl all around.

Rainy Day play

Today's forecast was nothing but grim.  To top it off, we are at my parents house which the kids are a little bored with being inside.  The plus to this though is that they have a huge yard.  So as soon as the sun broke through and the rain paused, I sent them outside.  They were probably outside for about 20 minutes and I looked out the window because I suddenly realized that the sound I was listening to was a torrential downpour!  The heavens opened up and came down in HUGE raindrops.  I go to the sliding door to help the kids in and I find them laughing and completely soaked! Monkey's comment, "Mom!  I love playing in the rain!"

Broken studs and Star Wars

On Friday May 21, Monkey turned 7.  To say that he likes Star Wars is a mild understatement.  The greatest invention in his opinion is when Legos started making a Star Wars product.  He is in heaven.  He loves Legos and can spend hours putting together and playing with them.
His request for his birthday this year was a Lego Star Wars party.  If you have ever looked into this, you will find that you can get Lego things and Star Wars things but no Lego Star Wars!  I found a silicone cupcake mold of Lego bricks.  I was very excited about this!  I knew Monkey would think it was cool!  Usually, I make a yummy homemade cake, but this year I actually opted for good ol' Duncan Hines.  I am actually thankful I did.  My first attempt at making the Lego brick cupcakes resulted in a runny gooey mess and so it was on to round two.  My second attempt the cupcakes worked, but in getting them out of the mold the little Lego studs didn't make it out alive.  So, It was now midnight and I had yet to come up with a suitable birthday cake for Monkey's birthday party.  So what did we do, we went to bed and like any mom does, my brain went into overdrive in trying to come up with a Lego cake for the next day.
I used a bread pan for the "bricks" and York peppermint patties for the Lego studs.  After baking 6 cakes in all, it turned out well and as Monkey exclaimed, "Mom, this is awesome!", it was worth it!