Talkin' Tuesday

It's funny how much personality oozes out of kids while they're playing "make believe." I mean, I knew Alyssa was bossy... But geeze! Apparently I had forgotten just how bossy she was! And kids take their playtime seriously. They don't mess around! She told me I had to measure three cups of "flour" (aka dirt) into the bowl and I only did two (just to see what she'd do) she totally caught it and politely asked me to add one more cup. I did a huge, heaping, overflowing scoop and she actually scolded me! She said that was way too much, then took the scoop away from me and said I couldn't help anymore, I just had to watch! What the?! She's 6!!! Then there was sweet little Lexi just minding her own business and digging next to us making her own "cake" (which was just a pile of mud) and she very sweetly offered to let me help her. Now, she can be bossy too. She's given Alyssa a run for her money! But I guess she was feeling sympathetic towards mommy at the moment. Gosh, I love my girls. They bring so much joy to my life!

A little later I went back inside to start lunch and one of the neighbors came out with her cute little dog. She's 12 and the girls just adore her.... Why am I even typing these mundane details?! Who freaking cares?! ANYWAY! I've been trying not to let any food spoil like I usually do every month! So I used some left over pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni and light string cheese to make mini pizzas. I used sliced, toasted hawaiian rolls as the crust. They turned out pretty tastey! I went to call the girls inside to eat and this is what I found:

Thats my little lexi-loo singing on her portable karaoke machine. I think it's called "paper jams"??? But she was just standing there singing her little heart out. I thought it was the sweetest thing =) 

I was pretty dang productive throughout the rest of the day. It's amazing all the things you can get accomplished in the two hours that the kids nap! I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself by 4:45pm when Mr. Wonderful walked through the door. Dinner was in the crockpot, the house was clean, laundry had been washed and all three of the kids were in one piece! Not to mention none of them were crying or fighting with eachother! Haha! Dinner ended up being sooo yummy and we even made homemade ice cream afterwards! I got the idea off of pinterest (duh) for homemade vanilla ice cream in a ziplock bag. (Here's the link: ice cream in a bag). We added mini chocolate chips to one batch. We omitted the vanilla and added a few tablespoons of canned pumpkin, a teaspoon of cinnamon & a few dashes of allspice to the other batch. Both of them turned out so good! We probably should have shaken them a little longer, because they were a little bit runny. But overall it was creamy & delicious! The girls thought it was the coolest thing in the world. They had fun helping shake the bags, too! I decided to make some pumpkin spice whipped cream since I had left over heavy cream and pumpkin. Somehow Alyssa talked me into making hot cocoa and I was surprised at how yummy it was to top the cocoa with a dollop of the pumpkin whipped cream. (...I don't know why I was surprised... I guess it sounds pretty good??)

The best part of the day, hands down, was at about 5pm, when we were all sitting around the living room playing Joel's new favorite game, peek-a-boo. He was cracking up. Like, real, uncontrollable belly laughs! This of course made everyone else crack up and we were just sitting around staring at him and laughing at how freaking cute he is. Life isn't perfect, but in that moment it sure felt like it!