Fun things to do

Last week, Grant asked if we could make sugar cookies. He has a counting book and one of the numbers has sugar cookies to count. We weren't doing anything so I said we could. Boy, was it a project but Grant had a great time. He couldn't quite understand why he had to wait for the dough to chill though. That lag time almost sent him over the edge but he hung on by a finger. Grant loves to bake and he was so anxious to try out the sprinkles I had in the cupboard. Of course, he was also very anxious to eat the cookies.

(Grant cutting out the sugar cookies...candy canes make great May sugar cookies)

(Cole had a great time watching and playing with the measuring cups)

(Once they were cut, Grant could barely wait for them to cool before frosting them. He had to be on the counter looking at them and couldn't help but touch them too. I heard more than once, "Mom, should I eat this piece of cookie?")

(The results of Grant watching the cookies cool. He made stacks.)

(Finally, we get to frost and decorate the cookies. Grant said they had to have chocolate chips because the ones in his book had chocolate chips in them. I bought the sprinkles last year at the Dollar Spot at Target. I have very few left after this activity. Grant sure had fun though.)

(You can never have too many sprinkles on a sugar cookie.)

(The finished product)

(Cole got a bird's eye view and tried numerous times to grab the cookies and cooling racks until mommy figured out to put the tray on the booster seat.)

I had my 31st birthday this past Saturday, May 9. On Tuesday, my friends Carrie Perrine, Sandra Nixon, Sara Adams and Amanda Christenson took me out to dinner at El Charro to celebrate. We left at 6:30 and came home about 10. Of course, without thinking about it I chose a Mexican restaurant for dinner on Cinco de Mayo. Silly me. We went to the restaurant and were told it was an hour wait. When I said we were going to go somewhere else the guy said to hold one and he would get us in. True to his word, we were seated within about 15 minutes. It was a hopping place but the food is so good and we had a private room where we could be as loud as we wanted. Don't worry, the music from the bar always won.

(Carrie Perrine, Lindsay, Sandra Nixon, Sara Adams, Amanda Christenson)

On my birthday, we went to Parker Canyon Lake to swim and play with a few of the residents Chad works with. We were there several hours before the rest of the crew so I took the boys swimming in the lake. Grant tried out the life vest and had a tough time keeping his feet down. It's hard to believe but it is possible to drown in a life vest. I had a floatie ring for Cole but he is so small that he was able to drink the lake water. It was nice to cool off. Matt Wade, one of the residents and the only other male resident, brought his fishing boat with a trolling motor. He took Chad, Grant, his girlfriend, Lucy and two others around the lake fishing for a few hours in the late afternoon. Grant had a great time on the boat and got to use his Barbie poll and play with worms. I stayed at the camp sight with Cole and another couple to relax. When Grant got back from boating he said he was ready for bed. I had to hold him off long enough to get a hot dog in him and get Ashley and Elliott to put up their tent. The rest of our group was camping that night but we did not. Grant went right to bed all snuggled up in his sleeping bag with his little battery operated lantern in the tent. Cole, like last time, would not sleep. We ended up staying at the lake until 11 PM. We had no idea what time it was until we got in the car to leave because no one had cell service or a watch.

On Sunday, the boys both slept in so mom and dad did too. I then put them back for naps at 10:30 AM and mom and dad went back for naps too. I woke up at 12:30 to a dead asleep house. Keep in mind our church starts at 1. I got in the shower and out before Grant even woke up. I had to wake Cole up. We got to church for the end of Sacrament meeting. We were still exhausting. Heat, sun and not enough water sure take their toll. I didn't take a ton of photos. I need to get them from our friends. I just took a couple.

(Grant in his new swimming clothes swimming in the lake)

(Matt's girlfriend, Lucy isn't a great camper so she had a huge airbed. However, they only had a small two man tent. Somehow that giant mattress did make it into that small tent but we're still not sure how.)

(This is the aftermat of a long day at the lake and a long day at church)

(Dad and Grant followed Cole's great idea)

Today, Grant, Cole and I headed to Pump It Up, a place here in Tucson that has several giant inflatable toys. The picture below is Grant going down one of the giant slides. To get Grant comfortable, Cole and I had to go down with Grant a couple of times. It's a big, fast slide for sure but even Cole liked it. Once Grant was comfortable he and his friend Jack climbed the stairs then slid down the slide on their bellies over and over and over. They would flip themselves off the bottom of the slide to get back to the stairs. They were two sweaty and tired boys by the end of the activity