A day with our COUSINS.

We had such a great day yesterday. We had the chance to spend the whole day with our cousins from North Carolina, and two of their cousins while their mom's enjoyed a day off. We started the day off with a Treasure Hunt. Thanks to Jaynie's ability to read I didn't even have to help. After the treasure hunt we painted faces, and the little girls found the dress up box. I believe that Eliza and Emma spent 90 percent of the day dressed like fairies. Eliza informed me that she didn't like to keep her regular clothes on while playing dress up but since there were boys around she would keep her clothes on. What a modest little girl.

It took Claire a while to realize that the girls were not going to take her things home with them. She wouldn't pose for the picture so while the other kids said "cheese" she pouted.

After Facing painting came coloring and a chance for me to get lunch around. Who knew that nine little kids could eat 44 mini corn dogs. Okay 41 mini corn dogs, I did eat three.

Jaynie, Lance and Lillie were much to cool to color so they spent time playing pretend something or other, I could never really understand what exactly it was they were playing. I guess Emma said it best when she came to me and told me: "That boy and those two girls are crazy." It wasn't too long after the kids got there that Jaynie asked for her Uncle Zack. I told her that he was at work, but that I wasn't sure that they would get to see him today. All it took was for her to call him up at around 3:00 and he was home by 4:00.

This is the face painting that Lillie did on Carter. It was fun to watch the older kids really get in there and help out the younger kids. Carter attached himself to one of Lance's Nerf dart guns. We spent the whole day opening the gun so he could put the bullets in to shoot it. He even had to nap with it. He was always so polite about it. He would just quietly come up and wait till you had a moment and then ask you to open the gun. He is such a great little guy.

Adaline is so adorable. She came right to me and never cried the whole day. I believe that Emma painted her face. I think she still had it on when Stacie got back because she wouldn't let me wash it off. She is really independent. She would go where ever she wanted, and really kept up with the older kids.

This is the little princess Eliza and her blue elephant. I thought that her and Claire would end up fighting the whole day but, much to my surprise they really got along. They even shared Claire's prize painting book without one argument. It took her about two seconds to warm up to Uncle Zack. She even had to go get pizza with him. The girls loved on Zack so much that I think he got a big head. I can see now why Whitney loves being their dad. It has got to be like winning the lottery ever time he comes home.

This is Emma and her giraffe.

Lillie and her version of an elephant. Lillie is very dramatic. She really got into character when they were pretending. Jaynie did a great job with her face paint, don't you think?

Eliza with her play dough bird. She is such a sweet little thing. I could just keep her. At one point during the day she came up to me and said "I like it at your house." For an Aunt who doesn't get to spend to much time with this precious little girl, her saying that made my day.

While we were having our movie time complete with Italian Sodas and Popcorn with lots of butter just the way Jaynie likes it the girls could not resist getting up and dancing to Madagascar 2. It was so fun to watch. I am real glad that I had my camera right there.

We had such a great day. The kids have talked of nothing else all day. They keep saying they miss their cousins. Luckily they only have to wait two weeks until they see all of their Gifford cousins at the family reunion. Until then the memories of yesterday will have to hold them over. Thanks Stacie for the chance to have the girls here yesterday. It really was a great day.

Plastic Surgery gone bad?

So I took Claire to the Dentist today. She had two of her eight filling filled. The Dentist wanted us to pay to have her sedated, but at the cost of almost $1,000 just for the anesthesiologist plus about $200.00 for the Dentist, we asked if they wouldn't first try doing it in the office with just a local before we took such drastic financial measures. Well Claire did amazingly well. She laid there and did everything the doctor asked her to do, she didn't cry, flinch, or even move. She just looked up and the movie screen and watch the movie. However it is now 4:30pm they numbed her at about 11:00 am and her face still looks like she has been injected with too much botox. She keeps asking why she can't feel her face, and every time she smiles at me I want to laugh.

What is for Dinner?

So I will be the first to admit that I have gone off the deep end. I have had this sudden burst of cooking energy. It started when I made my first batch of pesto. Then I discovered the "Glorious Chocolate Cake." This weekend I tried making gnocchi and bolognese sauce with green beans. Pictured above. The review I got from Zack was "This is the best thing you have ever made." either it was really good or I am a terrible cook. The jury is still out.

This is what I am calling "White Chocolate Strawberry Cake" I took a white cake mix, white chocolate pudding mix, white chocolate chips, added 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup yogurt, 4 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, 1/2 tsp almond extract. Bake it at 350 for 35 min. Once it cooled I frosted it with 2 pkg of white chocolate pudding, 2 cup milk, and 1 16 oz container of whip cream. Put sliced strawberries in the middle and decorated it with the rest of the container of strawberries.

After feeding it to everyone I could find the reviews were pretty good. Personally I thought it was pretty amazing. Very rich, the chocolate chips added a little crunch and the frosting is just light enough. Hope that you will give it a try and tell me what you think.