Happy Birthday America...

Happy Fourth of July!!!

The boys spent the day the All AMERICAN way!

They had a blast playing baseball, running and fielding...

batting and hitting...

and playing catch!

Then we barbecued and sat on the deck to watch fireworks!

All in all a wonderful day had by all!

oh and let's not forget DESSERT!

Happy Easter...

We went to the Easter vigil last night at church and made it almost all the way through this year before heading home. -N- was excited to hear Father tell the story he has been learning about for the past 11 days and enjoyed seeing each piece in his picture book bible.

When we returned home after church, we made a recipe that my sister-in-law shared with me years ago, for Resurrection cookies and upon putting them in the oven and "sealing" it shut we went to bed.

This Easter has been an exciting one, -N- is old enough to talk about the real meaning behind Easter and it has been so much fun teaching him and watching him learn.  I chose to use Resurrection Eggs this year as a tool for teaching.  Though -A- doesn't quite understand the meaning he was just as eager every morning after breakfast to open the next egg and listen to the story. 

-N- would get out the egg and open it, we investigate what object was waiting inside and then read the gospel reading that accompanied that item.  As you open each egg it takes you on the journey from Palm Sunday through The Passion and on to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

-N- hated to hear what they did to Jesus and it made him sad that someone was pretending to be his friend.  The last day was by far the most fun, as on {Easter morning} he opened the egg to find it empty, just as they did the tomb, and -N- looked all around to make sure he didn't drop what was inside. 

After we opened the egg we headed out to the kitchen to discover the baskets the Easter bunny left for the boys and along side them were the Toy Story toys that th boys gave up for lent.

-N-'s basket

-A-'s basket

Oh the fun we had watching the boys check out their loot, and the we checked on the cookies we made last night and enjoyed them with breakfast, to find they too were empty just like Jesus' tomb.

-N-'s favorite gift!

-A-'s favorite gift.

Once we were done we packed up and headed to my parent's house for Easter dinner and an egg hunt.

A favorite shot, since -J- is visible in this shot too!

The Easter bunny added a little flair this year and gave -N- a matching game along with his hunt, giving -A- plenty of time to find eggs too!

We had a great day and enjoyed celebrating the season, hope you had a Wonderful Easter too!

Happy Valentine's Day...

The best gifts are the ones that come from the heart and are made with your own two hands.

See that amazing craftsmanship?  I absolutely love this gift and we will have it for many, many years to come.

Thanks Babe, Happy Valentine's Day!

"Butt Kickin"...

It is always amusing the things we do with our grandfathers.  When I was a kid, I remember going to visit my paternal grandfather and all of the kids would hide outside the front window in the yard, waiting ever so {Impatiently} for the perfect opportunity to strike. 

Once Grandpa sat down with his cup of coffee, we would sneak in the front door, tip toe behind Grandma and Grandpa's chairs to sneak a taste of Grandpa's yummy ever soooo SWEET and creamy coffee (looking back I am not sure there was actually coffee in that cup {hmmm}.  That was the goal anyway, we were usually met with an equally sneaky grandpa who would proceed to tickle us, give us wet willies and shower us with the love and affection that only a Grandpa can give.

Our kids are no different.  They have created a very special bond with their grandparents.  Once of which happens to be "Butt Kickin".  When Papa is around you can be sure that there will be some good ole' Butt Kickin to be had.  The kids pile on, get piled up and the laughing never seems to stop.

Not to worry though, it never gets "toooo" rough, see how -A- went and sat himself down right underneath it all!

The Gingerbread Man...

I have a mild obsession.  For years now, I have spent time collecting different versions of the age old tale about the Gingerbread Man {I may or MAY not have too many versions to count}.  When -N- began school this year I quickly signed up to be the room mom for the Christmas Party. 

As a teacher I made Gingerbread houses each year with the children in my classroom, at our annual Gingerbread Workshop.  Once -N- was born I became a Stay at Home Mom and have continued the tradition with my Moms group hosting a Gingerbread workshop at our house. 

So it was only natural to bring the joy of the Gingerbread Man to my oldest's classroom.  Each year, I enlist hubby and his amazing gingerbread house assembly skills, to make a ton of minitaure sized gingerbread houses made out of graham crackers and royal icing.  This year was a little trickier because it wasn't my classroom and the houses weren't staying at home, so the day before I went in and let the kids help assemble their gingerbread houses so we could decorate them the next day during the party.

It was a HUGE hit and the kids had a blast, expecially enjoying the yummy goodness as they decorated.

An Attempt was Made...

So this was one of four pictures taken last year for our Christmas card, sequentially it was the third one taken and after I quickly snapped a few, I reviewed them and we were DONE!

However, this year went quite a bit differently. Considering last year I could pretty much mold -A- into whatever pose I desired, since he was just learning how to sit up on his own, and -N- was so excited to be wearing the same thing as his brother, I should have known better.  They both cooperated amazingly last year for an almost 3 year old and a 6 month old. 

This year with an almost 4 year old and a 1 and a half year old we had an entirely different story...

My checklist:

Set up Christmas Tree------Check
Locate the boys' Christmas Outfits-------Check

Dress them in said Outfits------Check

Position both boys in front of the Tree------Check

Begin snapping pictures, in hopes of achieving a similar happy pose...

case and point!

Poor -A- has some serious drool rash going on, nothing a little Photoshop can't fix, all I needed to do was get the pose right and a little touch up work...

Ooooh I know maybe it's the angle, let's try some Portrait style shots...

Ummm, okay so maybe not.  Fortunately I was able to capture a couple, and I mean a couple as in maybe 2 adorable individual shots, so back to the drawing board.

(see what a little photoshop can do for some drool rash?)

Between my nausea and their overwhelming cooperation, who knows we may be going back to a preprinted sign and go kind of card, I guess we'll see.

UPDATE:  Yeah ummm, so what can I say, no Christmas cards this year, there is always next year though, right???

Happy Thanksgiving!

So as the holidays begin to role around I drop deep into the crafting world to figure what to make and this year I intend to have something homemade for each member of the family.  So I even have -B- in on the process with a list of projects for him to work on too.

This also means fewer pictures get taken and more time is spent being creative.  I aways have great plans to take pictures on Thanksgiving but some how the fun with family and all that yummy food tend to get in the way and I never even break the camera out of it's case, so unless we are with -B-'s family relaxing in IL we never have photographically documented proof of the day.

This year we were with my family and my parents made a decision to travel to Ohio to spend it with my younger brother.  We ended up heading over to my Aunt and Uncle's house with my grandmother to enjoy our good eats over there and boy oh boy were they YUMMY!

However, at the end of last week -N-'s school had their Thanksgiving festivities and I did remember to break out the camera for some candids there, so I'll share those instead...

Wearing one Authentic Native American Headress!

-N- shared his yummy cupcake, which -A- was very THANKFUL to enjoy too!

And this is Mrs. "B", -N-s wonderful teacher, whom we Love.

Happy Thanksgiving All!