Candy solutions and Julia's day in the kitchen

This morning I decided we needed to organize this crazy mass of candy we've accumulated this past week. We had some containers to use for our "favorites" and the rest is leaving my house! (As you can see, no worries, there is no shortage of sugar here!) So, Ryan learned a new word -classification- and he was actually eager to help me with this project!

"Lass-effects-ation" as Ry says!

In an effort to be resourceful, we made banana bread with the bananas that have been hanging out here a day too long and crushed up some of the Hershey's chocolate bars for a sweet treat in the bread. (Well, that and the fact I wholeheartedly believe that chocolate should not be an optional add-in of the banana bread recipe!)

Ry's favorite part of the morning!

Something funny (ok, it's funny now..maybe not as much this morning!) happened during our little activity this morning...I had both kids sitting on the barstools (which still makes me a bit nervous with Julia, but it is easier with cooking activities for them to help stir and dump ingredients and such!) and so I was half paying attention to them, and half paying attention to the mixer in my hand and I stuck my spoon into the bowl and must have just knicked it right and WHAM, the spoon went FLYING across the kitchen (very very lucky it didn't hit a child they would have had NO reaction time at all to protect themselves, it all happened SO FAST!). Anyways, I look over at little Julia perched so cute on that stool and she is completely splattered in dough. I mean, one eye is shut with the stuff and it's all over the rest of her face and hair! (WHY did I not take a photo?!) Actually, I didn't even think to grab the camera because as soon as she got over the shock she was totally traumatized. I spent the next 20 minutes reintroducing her to the mixer until she was comfortable being in close proximity to it again!

The weather here was SO BEAUTIFUL today. I mean, like PERFECT. AMAZING. You get the point. Ryan has recently been telling me "Mommy, I want to ride my bike in the woods." Well, I am totally taking this literally, telling him, "Ry, wouldn't that be tough? Wouldn't you run into trees and it would be hard to ride on the ground in the woods? It would be different than our cul-de-sac." Silly me. Then the other day driving in the car as we pass the bike trail that goes through the woods, he points and says "See, like THAT, Mommy. I want to ride my bike through that woods." So, today, he got to ride his little tricycle through "that" woods.

I am not even kidding, we weren't riding more than 3 minutes when he pulls his little bike over and says, "I need some water." Needless to say, he did go on to ride a good distance, but we ended up towing his bike out the back of the bike trailer and he was a passenger with Julia!

We rode to the park, and the kids had a blast swinging on the tire swing together. (And I am wondering how we have never done this particular swing before?!?) While they were swinging, a little girl came up and asked to get on with them. Julia was screaming "No, no!" (Such a friendly child she is!) Finally, Jill, age 6, joined my two on the tire and Ry asks her, "Where is your baby? Here is my baby (and he nods in Julia's direction)."