Keeping it Simple

I love my girls. Sometimes I forget that children don't need a big fuss to have fun. Luckily, my girls have been reminding me to find joy in the simple things this week. 

"When we treat children's play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that's to be found in the creative spirit. It's the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives." 
— Fred Rogers

Each morning after breakfast, we have been swinging and drawing on the sidewalk. Afton has gotten to be quite the artist. Can you guess what these are??

Afton and Maisy in chef hats! I was impressed that she did these all by herself. 

We have made our weekly trip to the library- Afton loves checking out books, playing at the puzzle table, and working on the computer. We didn't even make it to story time this week. Instead we moved at our pace, looking through books and putting on our own puppet shows. 

See Afton behind the tub? She puts on great shows!

On Tuesday, Afton said 'let's make sugar cookies, I want to use the rolling pin.'. I really enjoyed baking with her. Usually we only make rolled, homemade sugar cookies during the holiday season. So this seemed like a very special treat. I even let Afton do ALL the decorating. She has gotten much better with her 'sprinkle' skills- and Penny helped with clean-up. 

Here is the recipe we used, it is simple and makes a very good, moist cookie. 

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick butter softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients first. Beat butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla in mixer on medium. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredient mixture. Divide dough in half, wrap each half in waxed paper and refrigerate at least one hour. Roll out dough and cut into shapes. The thicker the dough, the softer the cookie after baking. 

Bake at 375 for 9 to 10 minutes. Let cool, decorate and enjoy. (I prefer to use cream cheese frosting!)

We've had a few 'cool evenings'- you know when it is only 85 outside. I love those! So we went outside and played in the hose and helped Daddy water the plants.

 I had to take a few pictures of Maisy's legs. I adore these pudgy little stems. 

And having family nearby helps with summer fun. Afton loves playing the piano at Grammy's. Maisy likes to be next to her, bouncing to the beat of Afton's unique songs. 

Finally I have come to 'terms' with my Maisy's sleep habits. She is the best baby- but bless her heart- she does not really sleep soundly at night. Maybe twice a week, she will sleep all night.  But she is so adorable and naps so well during the day.... I feel like I can't complain. I know everyone has suggestions, but really they don't work. For whatever the reason, she wakes up at night. And she cannot cry-it-out, it just upsets her more. One night she sobbed and sobbed, we followed the 'Ferber' plan, but it just did not work. After two hours crying, I got her up. Look at her poor face! 

 Maisy is perfect in every way, but this is just her 'one flaw'.  Like Suess said-- "A person's a person, no matter how small" and I accept that right now my small person just can't sleep all night!

Oh and something to make your heart smile this week: Amanda's dear Preston came home from a year long deployment tonight. Reunited at last!!!!