Bethany Sings ABCs

Yes, Bethany has been singing the ABC song for a while now. She does it all by herself. We have a few Leap Frog toys that have the ABC song on it. She loves to push the button for the song and then sing along. Way too cute! And smart! :)

Enjoy the video! Make sure you turn up the volume so you can here her sing along. I know I don't take enough video of the girlies, which I should. They are MUCH cuter "live" or "in person" :D

Bethany Sings ABC Song 082510 from Pelikan on Vimeo.

What's for dessert? Chocolate Sheet Cake

I hope you all have heard of Pioneer Woman. If not, then you have been deprived ;) She is THE best! Best in stories, photography, recipes, etc, etc. She has a blog but also just came out with a cookbook. Well, I peruse her blog AND just got her cookbook. YUM!

She has an awesome recipe for Chocolate Sheet Cake. Super easy and super yummy! Seriously! Carrie K also told me about the cake recipe. I just had to make it for dessert when we had Paul's family, aunt and cousin from ND and other cousin and his wife here local, over the other evening. Jayson, Paul's cousin, couldn't stop talking about the cake. He's a chocoholic too ;)

Seriously, MAKE THIS! If you have a family get together, a birthday party, a child dedication or baptism or just want something yummy to munch on after dinner then MAKE IT! Enough said :)
**Photo credits to Pioneer Woman

Happy Eating!

Slip-n-Sliding at 9AM on a Saturday!

Yes, that's what we did this morning! We got up, ate our usual breakfast of cereal then went out back to play in the water. The kids LOVED it! Good idea Paul!! Last time we brought out the Slip-n-Slide the girlies really didn't like it. I don't know if it was the water squirting them in the eyes or the not-so-hot temps or perhaps a wind blowing through. Not today. They REVELED in it! Lots of splashing, jumping, squealing, running and sliding! Very fun!

WARNING! There are a LOT of pics here. Mama just enjoyed taking pictures of the kiddos :)

Dad getting the Slip-n-Slide all set upBrielle enjoying the water spraying outBethany walking through the waterAnna crawling around in the waterAnna - "this is SOOOOOOOOO cool!!!!!!!"Bethany now crawling around ;)Suz walking through the water spraySuzan and Anna playingSuzan being silly, as usual ;)BethanyI just think this picture of Suzan is too funny. She looks like she is enjoying the water here :)Anna, thinking intently about something ;)The only picture of the 5 kids. Hey, it's the best I could get with all of them running around ;) Anna, Brielle, Suzan, Bethany and Jared (in the back, behind the water spray)Jared trying to move/shift the water spray aroundThen, Jared wanted to jump into our pool. I also thought "hey, we have grass all over us so yeah, let's jump in to 'rinse off'" ;) Jared in the pool and Anna, Bethany, Suzan and Brielle sitting on the ledge. We have a little pool "seat" area on that first step that the girlies like to sit on. And we love the Puddle Jumpers (basically a Coast Guard approved life jacket)! It keeps them a bit safer but the 2 of us are always in the pool with the 5 kids. The kids enjoy our pool! Out of all of them, Suzan is our fish in the pool! She LOVES playing "Ring Around the Otter" with Dad or Mama. She's great at blowing bubbles in the water, going or bobbing under water and kicking her legs while on her tummy or back. Go Suz!We might have to Slip-n-Slide every Saturday morning now ;)

Rain rain don't go away. Come again another day...PLEASE! :)

Each summer we always look forward to getting a monsoon, or AZ summer, rainstorm. Some summers we are fortunate to get a lot of storms and some, well, are a big goose egg :P Fortunately, this summer we've had a couple of rain storms (usually occurring in the late afternoons or evenings). Today was one of those days! First, it starts out all cloudy. Then, we get a haboob, aka a big dust storm, roll through town. Then, wind. Then, if we are lucky, rain. The kids and I finished dinner and were watching "Ruff Ruffman" on PBS TV. I watched the sky get dark. Then it got windy. Then, the rain came. Woo hoo! I asked Jared and the girlies "want to go out in the back and play in rain?" They said "yeah!" and I said, "well, let's go!" So that's what we did about 2 hours ago ;) The rain was light at first but then it really came down. And windy rain too. Oh, and did I mention that it's even better when the temps go from 105* to 83*? Yup! :)

The kids all drenched! Mama got wet too (but no pic of that ;) ). Anna, Bethany, Jared, Brielle and SuzanMy wet boy, having fun in the rainMy curly wet SuzBethany...she had to give me her "cheesy" smile too ;)Anna Banana having fun :)Brielle and her cutie patootie smile too :)Then the fun was over, I guess, and I got a few faces like this - Ha! ;) ...Bethany - "i'm all DONE with this rain mama!!!!"Okay Bethany, we'll go inside now ;) It was fun running around in the grass and rain and also sitting on the back porch glider watching and feeling the rain and wind blow around. Rain is so refreshing, especially here in the hot, dry desert!