BEST DAY EVER!

At the end of today, Ethan told me very enthusiastically..."This was the best day ever!"

I made homemade muffins this morning. Whenever I tackle a baking project Hunter and Elle, especially, want to be right in the middle of it. Elle started "helping" by putting the mixing bowl on her head. Hunter got very upset about that because he immediately realized that her hair was where his food was going to be.

They would take turns putting in ingredients and then take turns mixing everything up...being careful not to mix too hard. Once the muffins were in baking I let them lick the bowl, which has got to be one of the staples of childhood.

Grandma Diane made a brief stop by to drop something off. The kids were all very excited to see her. I was pleased that Elle looked so cute in her piggy-tails for Grandma. As usual, they were not long lived and she pulled them out in classic bozo fashion just in time for the park day with all the other kids.

Jenny in our ward organized a weekly park day for all the kids to get together and play. It was GREAT! The boys all ran around in their "pack". The moms all sat down in the shade and visited together and the littler kids stayed in the play area on the equipment or playing in the sand or using the chalk.
In all there were children from at least ten different families who came to participate.

The boys found some other boys at the park and decided to have a war. It was all very exciting for my boys, but apparently the other boys (not a part of our group) took it a little too seriously after a while and two moms went up to break things up after getting some bad reports. As our huge group of children came marching back over the hill, one of the moms commented, "Looks like the Mormon Battalion."

When we got home we had lunch and then started right in making Daddy's birthday cake. I called the kids in and told them that Daddy had asked specifically for a present to be that the house was cleaned up when he got home. They really did make a valiant effort to do a good job.

Once the cake was done we sat in the living room and decorated with our stock of balloons. I would blow them up and then the kids would tape them where ever they thought would look nice. Afterwards we sat down and drew a picture for Daddy. Elle's consisted of circles and lines. When I asked her what her picture was of she said, "Balloons!"

I'm so glad the kids could have a good day! I'm so glad Daddy could have a good birthday!