Banana Split Brownie Pizza!

Gracie went to a cooking class last week. She LOVED as she does love to help bake and cook things. At her class, they made banana split brownie pizza. Parents were not allowed in the class but afterwards she came out with a smile on her face and chocolate on her lips! They made a recipe card in class so the other night we set out to get all our ingredients. If you are interested in making it, here is what you will need:

brownie mix, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, and hot fudge.

To begin, heat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Make the brownies as directed.

Gracie poured our ingredients in a mixing bowl.

She even cracked the eggs all by herself! No shells found their way in our bowl either! She couldn't wait to lick the bowl! Spread the brownie mix in the pizza pan. Bake the brownies for 20-26 minutes. Cool completely.

Then you have to slice teh strawberries and cut up the pineapple. Yes, I let her use a knife but it was a butter knife. Spread slightly softened ice cream evenly over the brownies. Top with strawberries, bananas, and pineapples. Drizzle with hot fudge. Enjoy! It was yummy! And Gracie was very proud of herself. We invited Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Amy over for dessert. It was a hit!

The Arboretum!

Yesterday we headed to the Morton Arboretum. The weather was beautiful and we were meeting friends there. Gracie was so excited to meet up with her BFF, Scotty. We hit the water right away and Gracie showed Scott how to walk on the rocks.

They had a ball wading through the water. In fact, Scott had so much fun with the water that his mom had to remove his shirt because it got a little too wet. Check out this stud! No wonder Gracie likes hanging around him! Presley and Evie weren't much for playing the water so they sat on the rocks and watched everyone else. But they did have fun walking across the bridge. Is little Evie a ham or what? After that, it was time to hit the playground now that everyone had cooled off a little. Scott and Grace had fun climbing around. And then going down the slide. Evie loved the slides too. But guess who was too scared to go by himself? Daddy to the rescue. After that it was time for lunch. Presley had fun hanging with his little lady, Miss Shelby. He thought it was great fun to tickle her and make her smile. But what one does, so does the other.....so Evie got in on the action too. Then we found the fountain that you can throw rocks in. Actally you are not supposed to throw them, but push them in. We got in trouble for that one. Whoops! We moved to climbing bridges after that. And then we had fun playing in forts. Presley got the great idea to peek his head in the window at the girls. They thought that was funny too. And Gracie and Scott had fun climbing the forts too. We attempted a picture of the kids before we left but as you can see.....it was near naptime and everyone was cranky and tired. It was great to get out and enjoy the weather with our buddies. We are really going to miss hanging out so much now that school is starting. I guess we'll just have to start penciling in for next summer:(

Hangin' at Home!

Yesterday was the kind of day where we didn't have much planned and the weather was beautiful! We opened our windows and headed outside to play. We made a hopscotch and played with bubbles. We went for a walk where we pushed strollers, pulled wagons, and rode bikes. It was perfect.

Gracie has been taken an interest in hopscotch. I drew one and showed her how to jump it. I didn't teach her where you are supposed to throw a rock or something. I think that's how you play it if I remember correctly. She loved it and so did Evie and Presley.

But they are also in love with the bubble machine and they run and chase them. That's one thing Presley is not scared of....bubbles! He can even say the word! Evie was trying to eat them.
Here are some cute videos of us playing with bubbles and of everyone doing hopscotch.

If you are bored of reading my blog, don't worry....come next week, you won't see much of us!

Gracie's First Time to the Dentist!

Today was big day for my Gracie Girl! She made her first trip to the dentist! She was super excited and couldn't wait to go! I choose a dentist that was close to our house and specialized in pediatric dentistry so it was super cute and comfortable. She hopped in the chair as soon as we got there.

The hygenist said that she was going to clean her teeth. So she did. Gracie did great with the sucky thing too. She was a pro. Gracie sat very still and did what the hygenist said. They didn't mind me taking pictures either. After cleaning, they flossed her teeth too. That's something I do not do so I better get on that. I barely floss my own teeth! Ha! Oh, I almost forgot about the magic glasses she got to wear so stuff wasn't spraying in her eyes. She got sparkly pink Dora ones. And for being such a good girl, she got to pick 3 prizes from the prize drawer! Oh by the way, she even cooperated for x-rays! Then dentist Dr. Tom came in and counted her teeth and checked them out. He spot some cavities due to using bottles/sippy cups so we have to go back for a consultation next week about getting them filled. Great! That made me feel like an awesome mom. First time at the dentist and she has cavities. We brush our teeth everyday twice a day. They assured me that they see this a lot and told me what we can do to prevent this from happening more. We need to work on using "big girl" toothpaste too. She needs the flouride so we got to work on this spitting thing. They also told me she already has a big overbite so be prepared for orthodontic work in the future. Awesome. So we'll say how it goes next time. I am just so proud of my little girl and that she did so well.

Mickey D's Please!

The other day my friend Jessica and I had a great idea to take the kids to McDonald's for lunch. I had coupons for some free happy meals so that was a bonus! It was a treat for my kids because we rarely go there. We ate lunch first and I was amazed that both Evie and Presley ate ALL of their chicken nuggets. Gracie ate 2 which if you know Gracie, that's pretty darn good. She had to eat 2 of them in order to play on the "park."

Bedtime!

This is one of our nightly bedtime rituals now it appears. When we tell Evie and Presley that's is "night-night" time, they dash up the stairs, grab a book, and head for big sissy's bed. They read their books, get up, put it away and grab another one.

It is really cute to watch. But man do they how to make their bedtime later....

Good Night!

Beach!

This weekend our friends Annette and Kevin invited us to thier beach club! Yeah! We jumped at the chance to do that. We love this kind of stuff, It was really nice because a bunch of other friends came too and we all brought something different to eat so we had a big picnic! Yummy! Anyways, this girl couldn't wait to hit the water. Thankfully my friend Dana brought some extra water wings because they are Gracie's new BFF's. She does really good with them too. Look how proud she is to be swimming by herself!

It wasn't long and her and her friend Allie were off and racing throught the water.
They don't get to play much but they are starting to really play good together. I think they'll be good friends just like their mamas! After some lunch, we hung out by the picnic area for a little bit. My little ones weren't into swimming too much. I think they were just hungry little monsters as usual. Miss Evie wanted to ham it up for the camera. And then Grace had to get on that too. Presley? Yeah, he wanted nothing to do with the water or the sand. He threw a fit when he had sand on his feet to he had more fun playing with sticks. We hit the beach one more time after lunch. This time Evie was ready to be the fish that she is. She did have fun and thank goodness we brought some toys to keep them busy too. Gracie also had fun playing and swimming with Sean. I think they will be good friends too. They had fun chasing each other through the water too! Thanks Annette and Kevin for inviting us! We had a blast!