Cupcake mania

We have been enjoying some treats. Emily got permission from her aunt to use her delicious cookie dough cupcakes as an item to sell in their girls camp fundraiser. She wanted to practice so she made some Saturday. We weren't able to finish them so she decided to take them to the pot-luck lunch at Church on Sunday. They were a hit! So much so that she got home from church and made another batch to take to the Bishop's Youth Discussion that same night. Wow! That was a lot of cupcakes. 

(As if that wasn't enough... we had the missionaries over on Tuesday (after these pictures were taken) and she made another batch of these delicious treats! They are so good and she is truly becoming a wonderful little baker!)

Barnyard

Tolerant (old) Anna, the rooster.

The kids can pick him up 

and carry him anywhere.

The pigs are getting used to us already!

What sweet little piglets!

Boys love diggin' holes.

Ben has been working on this hole for a while. He actually had it pretty deep but then his dad had him fill it in - until I stopped him. After winter, he decided to dig it out again and this time he went far enough that water has collected at the bottom. We call it a well and we make sure it is covered so no one accidentally falls into it. He has caught a few mice and a mole and a frog. Mostly he just likes to dig... He has grand plans (ideas) of building an underground bunker and I wish I could help him make it happen. Some times I think it's just a way to get out some pent up energy and often he takes out his frustrations from school by digging. It is quite a hole. He has rigged up a bucket system so that he can actually get some water out for our gardens so that is helpful. 

I will freely admit that it is not only Ben who enjoys digging holes. Our yard is pocked with holes because the girls enjoy digging as well as getting muddy and dirty and filthy. (If you ask Camdilyn she sometimes gets fifthy.) Mostly recently the holes are in the chicken yard so that is okay.

Truly Giant

We finally gave Emily the giant teddy bear she has been asking for and she loves it. But so does Naomi. Emily will mention Ted and Naomi will point and jabber and pull Emily to the stairs so they can go up and get Ted. She loves to sit with Ted or cuddle with Ted on the couch. It is really cute! Probably because the bear is twice her size. Emily took these pictures of her enjoying some reading time with Ted.

Puzzles and Piggies

Kemiah wanted to show off her skills...

I think the puzzle got put away in big sections.

Kevin decided to get pigs again! 

He took the girls with him to pick them up yesterday.

Yes, they are Babe and Wilbur, again.

Yes, they will be in our freezer by the end of the year.

Yes, we all think it is great to have them again.

The girls are working hard on getting the pigs used to them.

Giant girl eating butterfly

She looks pretty happy even though she is

being eaten by a giant butterfly!

Maybe it's just going to give her a ride.

They were having fun playing together and so I had to capture the moment - even if I'm not really sure what the butterfly is going to do to them. I love their little smiles!

New hatching of chicks

It's that time of year again, so we tried another hatching of our own eggs. This was a poor hatching with only 6 chicks making it out. The kids were so excited, though.

We did crack open the other eggs to see what happened. You can't really know but we had a few that didn't even form, a few that only formed a small bit, and then some that were completely formed and just didn't hatch. I still don't know why that happens. Oh well. We will try again soon!

Surprise Cake!

Marissa wanted to try a different cake for the girls camp fundraiser so we tried a surprise cake! It was a lot of work but I think it turned out nicely. She did pretty much everything on her own with a little help from me, but not much.

Surprise!

We filled it full of M&M's!

4 layers is a big cake so we tried to cut small pieces.

It tasted great and everyone enjoyed the surprise!

Naomi and the rooster

It is no surprise that Naomi loves to go outside. She sees the other guys go outside and she'll take me over to her coat, jibber jabber something and pat her coat or knock on the door to the arctic entry. She is ready to go outside. So today she enjoyed herself and loved petting the rooster. The rooster is our old alpha male who was beaten by a younger rooster so he is no longer in with all the other chickens. He is the rooster who would protect the kids from Jack (the mean rooster that died a little while ago). Jack would start to attack the kids as they gathered eggs or filled the feeder. The kids would yell or call for Anna (the other rooster) and he would run at Jack and chase him off. It was amazing and wonderful and we all love our special rooster. It will be a sad day for all of us when he dies.

Camdilyn loves dressing like Naomi - 

or any of her other sisters.

Harmonie wanted her picture taken, too.

Special time with sisters

Domonique loves it when she has alone time with Naomi. It doesn't happen very often (there are lots of other people and Naomi isn't always agreeable). So when I heard Domonique reading to Naomi and Naomi actually enjoying it, I knew I needed to capture the moment.

What sweet girls!

Lost another one

She begged for me to pull her tooth. Finally, I had her get some floss and a tooth pick. We tied the floss on and used the toothpick to get it under the tooth. She braced and I counted down... 3, 2, 1... and then I yanked. It came right out and fell out of the floss. It was lost! Fortunately, her big sister found it for us and she was filled with joy that is really unexpressible. 

Before...

(sort of... I forgot to take the picture so 

I put the tooth back and took a picture)

After...