The Vanny Gazette

Happy New Year and Happy Groundhog's Day!!

2012-02-02T05:20:00.000-08:00

I guess I never put up the pictures of our New Year's celebration. We made hats (a Nickerson family tradition) and then watched the ball drop from a previous New Year's on youtube, had our grape juice toast, and had the kids in bed at 8!

I have discovered pinterest where I found these cute little Groundhog's Day muffins (you can also use pudding cups etc.) that we had for breakfast today. We experimented with different faces and ears. It was fun and festive! And below are the sandwiches that I made for their lunches.

And here Nicholas is showing off his four fine teeth! He now enjoys pancakes, waffles, spaghettios, deli meats, pretzels, and more!

The First Snow and more

2012-01-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

(JJ reading a Choose Your Own Adventure Book to the boys.)

(Zombie necklaces made from clay)

Wistful Nicholas

2012-01-02T12:10:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas! We had a blast visiting JJ's parents in Chicago. His brother and family were there as well.

Our cute little nephew doesn't have any brothers of his own and so he loved wrestling with Garrett and Garrett really enjoyed being the bigger wrestler.

Mark and Martha had lots of fun activities for the kids including a little treasure hunt complete with clues and notebooks for recording them.

Garrett and his sweet little cousin really love playing with each other. This time they had this game where one of them was Santa and the other was an elf. It was really cute to watch.

On Christmas Eve, everyone was kind enough to do the Star Walk and Santa Claus Cooties before opening presents.

Opening gifts was tons of fun and we were spoiled!

Martha made darling pajamas for the entire family!

Once we were all in our PJs, we read The Real Story of Christmas. The boys fell asleep and the in the morning Santa had come!

We watched the Grinch,

talked Uncle M. on his mission via Skype,

had the annual Christmas program, toast, and nativity re-enactment,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December

2011-12-22T06:47:00.000-08:00

For our countdown to Christmas this year, we used this little cupboard with doors for each day. When the kids woke up, they could open the door and find either a little candy or a note with a clue to go find a small gift/treat/activity. Quite a few days were clues to find books because I took a bunch from my parent's house when we there that they were getting rid of. We also made sugar cookies, gingerbread houses, reindeer donuts, snowman donuts, marshmallow snowmen, paper snowmen, snowflakes, and sugar cube sculptures. Other activities included Nativity Go Fish, Christmas Bingo, a trip to the zoo, monster shrinky dinks, and lunch at McDonalds.

2011-12-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Trouble

2011-12-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

2011-12-12T03:33:00.000-08:00

How my tooth came out by:Gabe

2011-12-03T06:57:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Three of my siblings were able to come for the week and we had so much fun seeing them. The kids loved the attention and I really enjoyed staying up late and playing games. I even got to play a little tennis one day. This was really fun for me even though James and Phil beat me soundly. (I made sure to remind them that I have not played in years and that I could have taken them both at the same time in my day! :)

The VanYperen Brothers vs. The Nickerson Brothers. I think the VanYperen boys won in the end due to the fact that they could probably continue to fight indefinitely.

Garrett as a California Raisin (this is a little games we used to play as kids). Garrett loved this and begged for it over and over even though he looks quite serious in the picture.

Gabe enjoyed showing off the Art Museum that he created in his room.

On Thanksgiving we had all of the traditional foods including a few new recipes that I picked up from JJ's family like Ganmama's Cornbread Dressing and Thanksgiving Blessing Mix.

We also added a new tradition this year - a turkey pinata!!

And I moved the Tree Trimming party up a few days so that my family could participate while they were here.

Gabe got this science kit at career/college day at school and he is obsessed! It is quite a messy toy but fun to see Gabe so excited!

Nicholas is still not crawling but he loves to get up on all fours and never has any problems getting to where he wants to go.

I am so glad that they were able to meet and adore Nicholas. He really is at a darling stage and enjoyed the attention!

Emergency Preparedness

2011-11-11T04:11:00.001-08:00

First of all, I just wanted to point out the button on the side of my blog for the Emergency Essentials website. Anyone that would like to add this button to their blog, will receive a free $10 gift card to Emergency Essentials. You just have to send an email to them with your blog address to verify. Awesome!

Second, you can also get a $10 gift card for trying out and reviewing their new food storage analyzer. I did this as well. At first I just did it just to get the free gift card but it is really cool and I definitely recommend trying it. It got to me go through my food storage and see what I have (which is always a good thing). Then, it was super simple to use and didn't take long at all. You begin by entering who you will need to feed with your storage and then you can enter items that you have bought from emergency essentials (#10 cans, mre's, etc.) plus canned goods or items purchased elsewhere. It immediately gives you a report of how long your storage should last and even the percent of RDA it contains! It even tells you some of the nutrients you are low on and gives suggestions to fill the hole. The report also tells you the number of cans/pails/pouches and the weight of your storage!

From there, it will save your information so that you can update it as you add to your storage. You can make a wish list and order right from the same website if you want.

All in all, this is a MUCH better way of keeping track of what you have and what you need than a list in a notebook somewhere that you can never find! :) And best of all, it is free!

Beginning November

2011-11-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some crafts Gabe made recently.
I went in to check on Garrett and found him asleep with Goodnight Moon propped up against his Star Wars helmet.
Nicholas gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He should be crawling in no time. (It is funny how I kind of don't want him to yet. He is already able to get into stuff and soon there will be no stopping him.)
On Saturday morning, the boys made masks and then sat outside with a sign selling them. One nice guy from down the street did buy one. I tried to talk Gabe into lowering his price by explaining that $1 is a lot of money for a paper mask but he insisted that his masks were very good and worth $1.

Nicholas had his first food on Nov. 1st. It was rice cereal. He is a champion eater like those that came before him (maybe even better.). Now he eats rice cereal and bananas and loves it!

And here are some more pictures of the boys in the same outfit. There is just something fun for me about seeing them like this. The first one is Gabe. Then the second two are of Garrett. It was so amazing to me that he could just be sitting there and then suddenly be asleep. And the last one is Nicholas. They really don't look much alike at all!

School Pictures

2011-11-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

Goodbye Halloween!

2011-11-02T05:10:00.000-07:00

(Warning - Lots of pictures!)

A few more crafts....

Pumpkin carving (Nicholas played the recorder while we carved. The boys each drew the face that they wanted and JJ did it perfectly!)

Garrett's preschool Pumpkin party where he wore his Bumblebee transformer costume that he got for his birthday a couple of years ago.

Mummy Meatloaf. Doesn't look nearly as good as the picture but still tasted good and learned a few things for next time. I didn't have sliced olives for eyes which could have added a lot to the look.

On the drive to Garrett's school, I have really loved seeing the trees change color and I just had to snap a shot of the view. Louisville does have a gorgeous fall season. The picture does not really do it justice.

At the boys final soccer game the kids were invited to dress up for Halloween so long as they could see their jersey and didn't have a mask or cape. We went all out of course and then we were the only ones that did anything besides one little girl with a tutu over her uniform. Oh well!

We were invited again to Montgomery Farm with some friends for a bonfire. It was tons of fun! They have a rope swing into some hay, a playground, and a haunted hayride (Garrett did it but Gabe opted out.). JJ played his guitar for us and we had hot dogs and smores of course! It was a lot of fun!

Ready for Trick or Treating! I stuffed Nicholas into the pea pod costume even though it was quite small. He got lots of oohs and aahs!

I love this little sweater! The first one is Gabe (4 months), then Garrett (4 months), and finally Nicholas (5 1/2 months).

Texas and such

2011-10-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

We had such a great trip this past weekend to check out a job opportunity in Texas. I have to admit that I am quite sold on the area!

It was particularly fun because we were able to leave Gabe and Garrett with Mark and Martha in Chicago and we were able to stay with JJ's Uncle Neal and family. We are so grateful for their hospitality and it was so fun to get a chance to see their darling kids. They were so sweet with Nicholas. Miles just loved him! He would giggle and giggle at Nicholas' squishy little arms and funny little face! I wish that I had taken more pictures but I was busy enjoying myself!

The big boys had a blast with Gus and Mumsy. They did all kinds of fun things like scavenger hunts, halloween crafts, and even made funny moustaches. Today Gabe said, "Mom, I liked it at Gus and Mumsy's house." If you know Gabe, you know that this is high praise. He does not say anything just to be nice. Thanks Gus and Mumsy for making this trip possible and much less stressful!

The drive home seemed much longer than the drive there and we stopped every couple of hours to run around. The kids loved climbing trees at the rest stops.

Against my better judgement, I let the boys take pictures in the backseat with my camera. The camera survived and here are some of the pictures they took.

Our ward Trunk or Treat was last night. Gabe's costume was in the top three!

A Beautiful Weekend

2011-10-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

We started out a fun weekend with Fall Festival at Gabe's school friday night. Then, Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day! We began the day with soccer games and then went to Bernheim Forest for their annual Colorfest! It is so much fun! The kids got to learn about different bugs, animals, and plants at nature booths. Then they ran through a hay maze, walked on a rope bridge, played different instruments, and went on an I Spy hike. But I think that their favorite part was the Nature Art area where they built with rocks and then with branches (they were quite proud that ours was the biggest teepee-like structure!) and finally they made a crown and a dream catcher/web.

(I wish that they were wearing cuter clothes but it didn't seem worth the fight to have them change after soccer.)

And then on Sunday we made these Banana Ghosts. You put banana halves onto craft sticks and freeze them. Then you melt white chocolate and spread it over the bananas and add the face. We couldn't get the white chocolate to spread nice and smoothly so they were not the prettiest banana ghosts you've ever seen but still fun to make and eat!

(I think next we are going to try Georgia's idea. The boys' thought it sounded fabulous! Thanks Georgia!)

And here is a classic 'baby in big sunglasses' picture.

I also have been wanting to record some of the kids favorite books. Gabe has been reading up a storm lately! He still loves the Magic Treehouse books but has also started devouring the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy and the Geronimo Stilton books. He is starting to get into the Beast Quest books as well.

When I read to him, he has enjoyed the Ms. Piggle Wiggle books and The Twits and George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl.

Of course, they both love Halloween books. Some of their favorites are The Perfect Pumpkin Pie, The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything, The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin, The Haunted House, and Ten Timid Ghosts.

Garrett now likes to choose mainly board books for some reason when it is his turn to pick. Some of his current favorite books are Pete the Cat - I love my White Shoes, Yummy Yucky, Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaur, Grover's Own Alphabet, and New Tricks I Can Do.

Halloween snacks and more

2011-10-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

Bone Breadsticks
Nicholas is scooting around a bit and he pushes up on his arms really far. I was trying to get a picture of him doing this.

Garrett was showing him what to do.

And he would push up for a second...

and then get excited and and drop down laughing.

He thought it was a very fun game. :)

Yay for October!

2011-10-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

My boys LOVE Halloween. They think and talk about it pretty much year-round. But I only join them during the month of October and only allow Halloween decorations up during this month. So, beginning October 1st, it feels like we eat, drink, and breathe Halloween. Here are a few things we have made.

Monster finger sandwiches.

English Mummies

Apple Bites (It is kind of hard to see but this is an apple slice and the teeth are slivered almonds.)

Skull Sandwiches

And to end on a cute note, here is our little NickNugget. He just went for his 4 month check up (he is a few weeks late). He now weighs 16 lbs 6 oz and is 26.5 inches long. This puts him in the 75 percentile for weight and 90th for length. He is quite a bit smaller than the other two at this age. They were already about 18 lbs.

Funny things

2011-10-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

The boys say the funniest things all of the time and I want to do better about recording them.

So for today -

This morning after Gabe got on his soccer jersey and shorts, he said, "I love the way I look in my soccer clothes. I think I look smart. And I am smart at playing soccer." ( Gabe has never had a problem with self-esteem.)

Garrett couldn't remember the word for glitter and so he described them as "sparkly dots". Isn't that a good description?

At school, Gabe is learning to use a computer. This last week I guess they were using Microsoft Word and were learning to insert clipart. Gabe asked if he could use the computer and when I came back a few minutes later, he had inserted a picture of a pumpkin and typed this beneath it in red letters:

I like pumpkins.

They are the best!

You see them every Halloween.

They are orange.

Sometimes they have faces.

They have stems

Sometimes they have green stems and sometimes they have brown stems.

Field Trip, etc.

2011-10-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

A few more crafts....

And a few more bugs, including Locusty 2 that Garrett is holding and a TON of caterpillars that the boys found.

My sweet husband with my sweet baby!

And, finally, Garrett went on his first field trip to Slow Poke Farm. He has anxiously awaited this day especially since Gabe still talks about this trip that he went on 2 years ago.

First, Garrett got to ride a big yellow bus which was very exciting. Next came a hay ride and corn maze.

Then they got to pick their own pumpkin! It was also funny to see the different styles of pumpkin picking. I pretty much had to look at every pumpkin in the field with Gabe and he was the last one out there still debating on which one he wanted. Garrett wanted the very first he saw and I made him look at some other pumpkins but we quickly ended up back at that first pumpkin. It is a sort of ugly one but that is okay. :)

Next came lunch, corn grinding, and feeding some animals. Unfortunately I think we were the third group of the day and the kids were just chasing the chickens around and throwing corn at them. The chickens were obviously not hungry and the corn just fell onto the already corn scattered ground. :)

Nicholas was such a little angel and just rode in his carrier smiling at everyone the entire day. This was nice because he has become a little more demanding at home and not sleeping as well but at least he does great in public!

Some friends gave us this cute little exer-saucer when they moved and Nicholas loves it!

2011-09-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

The boys started soccer last week and they are both having fun. They have different playing styles but are very fun for me to watch!
Nicholas kept getting himself into this position for about a day until he figured out how to roll over. Now he flips himself back and forth all of the time!

Above is a picture right after he rolled over for the first time!

This is a robot the boys made from a broken ceiling fan.
Gabe taped these monkey ears onto Nicholas. :)

A few pictures...

2011-09-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some fine face sandwiches.

A pretzel and marshmallow snack.

The boys have also made some very cool little crafts and friends with rocks, leaves, and mulch.

Nicholas has very strong legs. Maybe I just don't remember or maybe the older two were just too fat to really move at this age, but Nicholas really surprises me. When I put him down somewhere, he just scoots himself all over the place. Here was lying under his mobile and then he scooted himself up to end of the crib. Sometimes he will make his way all the way around the perimeter of the crib.

Sometimes I am a little sad that Nicholas is almost 4 years younger than Garrett because I worry that they will never be buddies the way Gabe and Garrett are. But Garrett loves Nicholas so much and already talks about how Nicholas will be his friend. (Nicholas is wearing his Horn family reunion onesie. Thanks for getting those for us even though we couldn't be there. I just love the cow on them!)

A couple of random pictures from the week. Garrett made this monster thing and then made it look like it was holding Grandma and Papa by using their picture magnets to hold him to the fridge.

We wanted to play this Space Race game but couldn't find the original chips. Here is what we found to use instead (It is a little hard to see but Garrett was a monster finger, Gabe was a Zombie finger puppet, and I was a little construction worker guy).

3 months and going strong

2011-08-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Nicholas is officially 3 months old! At his check up, he weighed 15 lbs 1 oz and 25 inches. This puts him in the 90th percentile for his height and weight. (His head is only in the 25th percentile. Hee hee!) My other boys were already up to 18 lbs and stayed in the 99th percentile. So Nicholas is chunky but not gigantic like the other two. He is so cute and so sweet! He does smile alot (especially at his brothers) but for some reason I really like these pictures where he is just staring. You will also notice that quite often there are one or two boys right in his face. Above, he is posing with the trophy that Gabe made him that says "Top Best Baby."

Happy Birthday to Garrett!

2011-08-23T17:44:00.001-07:00

Garrett is 4!! He is such a wonderful kid. One of my favorite things about Garrett is that he can play with anyone of any age and have a lot of fun. I just love that he is willing to play different types of things depending on the playmate and he is sensitive to others' feelings. He is sweet and sometimes tells me or other girls that we are beautiful or that he likes our clothes. He loves his brothers so much and truly can't keep his hands off of Nicholas.

To celebrate me and JJ's anniversary, Garrett's birthday, and JJ's first official interview, we decided to go to Lynn's Paradise Cafe. It was a lot of fun with yummy food too! It is decorated with all sorts of crazy statues and fake flowers, etc.

My little Buddha Baby Garrett. He was always so fat and happy!

First Day of School (twice)

2011-08-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

The first two days of school were cancelled due to a big storm that caused an extended electrical outage. I heard about the first day being cancelled at church but I just assumed the next day would be in and got them all ready for school and only figured it out when we got to school. So, we have two first day of school pictures (you can see that their attitude about school didn't change). Gabe thought having school cancelled on his birthday was the best present ever. I may or may not have felt differently. :)

Even though he was not at all excited to start, Gabe had a great first few days at school.

Happy Birthday to Gabe!

2011-08-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well, Gabe is one year older (and hopefully wiser too!). I cannot believe that my little guy is 6 years old!

He wanted a graveyard cake and luckily we had a few skeletons laying around to decorate with. The boys really had fun making it.

Since the boys birthdays are a week apart and they were getting the same thing, we let them both open their gifts. They loved the crystal mining set from Gus and Mumsy and they were awesome for helping pass some time when the first two days of school were cancelled (more about that later).

And they have both been dying for these remote control spiders. They are the sort of toy that I hate because they seem to break easily and don't always hold a kid's interest but it was fun to see their excited reactions to opening them. It also turned out that both remote controls controlled both spiders so that can't even play with them at the same time. Quite annoying!

Now, a few words about the birthday boy-

My Gabe! He is an incredibly smart boy and he knows it! He definitely feels his emotions and shares them. His joy and excitement really are contagious. He comes up with the best ideas for games and crafts and Garrett just hangs on his every word! I am so proud of all that he is and I love watching him as he learns new things and grows. I love my Gabe!

Baby Gabe!

So, I walked into the kitchen and found.....

2011-08-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

....these guys staring at me from the counter. Isn't life funny with kids?

And this is just to show off Nicholas' little sailor outfit that he wore to the pool this past week. Isn't he darling? He is just the sweetest thing and he loves to chew on his hand (or anyone else's that he can get to his mouth) but he still completely refuses and even gags on a pacifier. Silly boy!

Oh Canada!

2011-08-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

We just had an incredible trip to visit my parents in Canada (I also must mention that this was JJ's first time out of the country!). I took about a billion pictures so I am going to try to put a nice sampling on here.

We were also super lucky that JJ's brother's family lives in Cleveland which is almost exactly halfway between here and my parent's house and they were kind enough to let us stay with them. It was so fun to hang out with them and their darling kids! They spent almost the whole day looking for bugs and Jill was such a good sport!

The trip there was pleasantly uneventful but the boys were quite squished in the back. This is how they had to sit to watch a movie. Poor little Nicholas in the middle!

We also stopped off at Niagara Falls. It was pretty incredible! The kids liked looking at the falls for a minute or two but they mainly enjoyed looking for dead bugs and climbing on these rocks.

It was so great to finally make it to my parents house. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and letting the kids play outside in the yard.

(This was my little sister Stella's house bed. The boys took turns sleeping up on it and inside it. I love seeing stuff from my childhood!)

(Kinder eggs - we liked trying these and other Canadian things like ketchup chips and french fries with gravy. Many things in Canada are exactly like the US but then many things are just a little different.)

(The kids searched all through the yard to find these funny statues hidden everywhere. They were left by the previous owners of the house and my parents left them because the kids really like them and have fun finding them.)

Then on Monday we went for a little hike and picnic where there was plenty of weed picking, rock skipping (sort of), bug finding, and rock climbing .

We went swimming at a neighbors' house and then headed to Blue Mountain (a little ski resort village place) where we stayed for a couple of nights. It was so much fun! When I ask the kids what their favorite part was, they give me a different answer each time because it really was all so much fun.

They got to ride on the Mountain Coaster that took them up the mountain and then down. (This is what the little carts that they rode down in looked like) Gabe was terrified at first and when it was done he admitted that he had a little fun and later told me that he actually loved it. Garrett was excited from the beginning. Papa also took them for rides in kayak and they were very excited about that as well. On the way home Gabe kept talking about how it was his first boat ride ever.

There was also a little pond with tons of frogs in and around it. There was even a little sign saying that you could catch them if you were gentle and let them go after five minutes. They boys spent literally hours on both days that we were there catching them. I am so glad that their daddy and their Papa were willing to help with this because I am just not a fan of touching squishy creatures. During this frog hunting, Gabe told JJ that "frogs are so cool. I think that must be what life is all about!"

We also spent a day at a beach. The boys swam, floated, built a sandcastle, and made some waterways with Papa.

On the way back from Blue Mountain, my dad, JJ and the big boys stopped to have a hike and see the caverns.

We stopped off for another night at JJ's brother's house on the way home. Again we had fun seeing them and Garrett and Jill played and played. When it was time to go, Garrett was very sad and even kept asking us to leave him there. We got a little ways down the rode and Garrett said that he needed to go to the bathroom. When I said okay, he said "Yay! We get to go back!". He was sad again when we just stopped at a gas station.

The trip home was again pleasantly uneventful. Here the boys are making forts with their blankies.

It is always sad to leave family but I am happy to be home and so grateful for the fun we had! It really could not have gone better!

Bug Study Kits

2011-07-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

The boys are showing off their "Bug Study Kits." These are basically boxes with one end open and saran wrap across the top. There is a sheet of construction paper on the bottom that can be easily pulled out of the open side to remove and replace dead bugs to "study." Garrett is holding up his favorite beetle.

These boys are hilarious!

Some Nicholas

2011-07-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

Is there anything cuter than a squishy little baby!

A real smile! (not sure why this picture turned like this)

Poor Gabe

2011-07-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

The boys knocked down an old piece of fence in the backyard that just happened to have large rusty nails sticking out of it. Gabe managed to step on one that went straight through his shoe. He was pretty terrified but he is doing much better. Here he is showing off the nail hole and the lego cane that he made.

Some pictures...

2011-07-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

My little angel baby!

I have been trying to catch his darling smile on camera for a while but usually I would end up with pictures such as the one above.

Finally, here is one where he is sort of smiling. (But it doesn't do his cuteness justice!)

The boys first lemonade and cookie stand that they set up during our neighborhood's yard sale day.

A few carrots from our garden. They are so fun to pull up!

One night when I went up to check on the boys I found them like this-sleeping in the same bed.

Happy Fourth of July and more!

2011-07-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Garrett is holding Boxy 2, a little box turtle that we found in our yard when I was mowing. Unfortunately his shell was cracked. He seemed fine but died the night after we found him. The boys were quite sad. You can also sort of see our garden behind them. We are loving the peas, strawberries, and tomatoes that are very plentiful this year.

Nicholas scratched his face a little bit so I put some socks on his hands to keep him from doing it again. The boys thought this was the funniest thing they had seen in a long time and had to hurry upstairs to get socks for their own hands.

More Junk Genius robots. The kids pretty much don't get tired of making these. They also love looking around at parks and everywhere we go to find more pieces of junk to use.
3D graveyard zombie art

Happy Fourth of July! We enjoyed a breakfast at church, baseball at the park, fireworks, and a cookout at a friend's house.

My Three Sons

2011-06-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

This and that

2011-06-28T04:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took Nicholas for his 1 month check-up. He is definitely following in his brothers chubby footsteps and weighed in at 12.4 lbs with a length of 22.75 inches. This puts him snuggly in the 99th percentile! :)

I realized that I never posted a picture of Nicholas' first bath so here he is. He is the first of my babies that seemed to actually like his bath right from the start. He still enjoys his bath and loves the sound of the bathwater.

Other random thoughts and events.....

We have been enjoying some delicious strawberries and snap peas from our garden and just saw our first bush bean growing yesterday. Our tomatoes are also starting to ripen and we recently planted some pumpkins. Our carrots carrots should be ready to pull soon as well. Unfortunately some of them probably won't make it because of some naughty rabbits that frequent our yard. We have a nice "cage" made from chicken wire that we place over the garden but the boys forgot to put it back on after picking strawberries last week and I looked out the window to find one of the rabbits enjoying the leaves of the carrots and bean plants! The nerve of some rabbits!

Sometimes Garrett can't think of the word that he wants to say and sometimes it is easy to help him figure out what he wants to say but sometimes it can be difficult. The other day in the car he said, "I want to feed those guys that go cock-a-doodle-do again." Hehe.

And back right after Nicholas was born and my mom was here, Garrett was trying to ask for something. First he just said that it was red and green and so I asked him to tell me more about it. So he said something about it being "like juice" and I said "well, is it juice?" and he said no. I had no idea what he was talking about and he didn't seem to be able to give any more information but my smart mom asked if it was a kind of food and when he said yes, she figured out that he wanted watermelon.

More summer fun

2011-06-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

We went to a really fun free activity at the library called Junk Genius. I guess this guy does birthday parties and is even opening a workshop. For this activity, he brought a bunch of bins of junk such as old blocks, broken toy pieces, bottle caps, etc. The kids each got to pick 10 pieces of junk and then they had people there to help them use a hot glue gun to put together their creations. The kids absolutely loved it and we have started a Junk Genius box at home to collect items to use.
Here you can see the boys looking for bugs over by the fence and behind them is the camouflaged hideout made from branches I trimmed from our trees.
Using mud and shells, the boys created these fabulous mud castles.
And here is Garrett's flower robot.

Some random happenings...

2011-06-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

First of all, Nicholas turned 1 month old yesterday! It is incredible how some days (and nights!) seem to drag by but the weeks seem to fly. He is still a very sweet baby and likes to be held. He sleeps pretty well and is a good sport for all of the attention that his brothers give him. I thought that as the newness of having a baby wore off, the boys would start to ignore him but they are still pretty much in his face the moment he wakes up and constantly want to hold him. Gabe tells me every day that he really thinks that Nicholas is the cutest baby ever. He also said that sometimes he thinks it is a dream that we have a baby. Garrett then added that he is glad it is not a dream.
This is Garrett's flower robot that he built.

Here are a few of the crafts that we have been doing.

And here are the bulletin boards that my mom helped me cover to display all of the masterpieces.

I just read a book called 5 Spiritual Solutions for Everyday Parenting Challenges by the Eyres and just loved it! I got some good ideas from it and did this fun Family Home Evening to implement some of those ideas. First we talked about how we are all children of God and made ourselves crowns to show it. Then we discussed how we should talk to other children of God (i.e-our brothers, fathers, mothers.). Next we talked about "starting over" when a situation goes in a way that we don't want (whining, fighting, yelling, etc.). We did some role playing where someone was not talking or acting nice and then someone says "Let's start over!". The kids really got into it (they loved pretending to yell and hit :)). Anyway, it was fun!

And here is Garrett's poor blankie!

Pretty Exciting!

2011-06-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

So, Gabe lost his first tooth on June 10, 2011! It was extra exciting because it happened at Cousin's Camp (in Chicago with JJ's parents that the kids call Gus and Mumsy and cousin Jill) and Gus was the one to help him! When Gabe told me about it, he said that he was scared but then it didn't hurt at all! And he was just "looking at Gus like it was a dream!"

Gabe has also been working on wiggling his other front bottom tooth and this morning (June 17), JJ pulled it for him. Once again he is thrilled and has already written the tooth fairy a note asking if he can keep the tooth again.

Garrett really wanted to be in all of the pictures but Gabe wanted one by himself. So we took one of both of them and then Garrett pouted for the individual shots. Notice the darling tooth pillows that Mumsy helped them make at Cousin's Camp. The mouth is a little pocket for your tooth! So cute!

Nicholas' First Zoo Trip

2011-06-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

We love the zoo! (On a side note - you may notice that Garrett's shorts look quite large. That is because somehow Gabe put on Garrett's shorts and Garrett put on Gabe's. I tried to get them to change but both agreed that it was too much trouble.)
This is our sweet Nicholas looking around at the new surroundings.
Nicholas is there in the stroller even thought the boys begged to have him sit on the rhino's nose. :)

Nicholas' Blessing!

2011-06-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

We blessed Nicholas this past Sunday at church and were so grateful to have some family able to come and share it with us.

School's out for the summer!

2011-06-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here is Gabe on his last day of Kindergarten! He is holding the little chalkboard gifts that he made for his teachers. He had a fun last day and came home with tons of certificates and even a trophy for being one of the Top Accelerated Readers. He was very excited about this and has been telling everyone that he got his "first trophy ever!"

And summer vacation means riding bikes and playing in the sprinkler!

And relaxing and sharing a drink with your brother. Our air mattress wasn't holding air anymore and so we had to get a new one while my mom was here. She had the great idea to let the kids play on it before we threw it out since they always wanted to jump on it when it wasn't allowed. They definitely got some good play out of it!

Some more Nicholas!

2011-05-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

He is a thoughtful baby.
He likes his swing! Yay!
The boys adore him!
And so does Grandma!
He can't wait to meet the rest of his loving extended family and friends!

Welcome Nicholas!

2011-05-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to welcome Nicholas Jay VanYperen on May 19th at 6:48pm. He was 2 days past due and I was beginning to think he may never come! But it turns out that he just wanted his own birthday (since mine is the 18th) and he wanted to wait for a sunny day (which we hadn't had in over a week).

He weighed in at a very healthy 8 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. He is cute as a bug!

The boys were very excited to come visit him at the hospital and really hated having to leave without taking the baby with them.

They also loved the hospital bed and cartoons!

April Showers Bring.......

2011-05-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

MUD!!

and planting time,

and spring!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there! Especially the mothers in my life that are such great examples for me.

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday. JJ and the boys did a fantastic job of making me feel loved and special. It started with JJ getting up with the kids so that I could sleep in. Then he made me this fabulous and fancy french toast. Impressive, right!?

It was full of all kinds of fabulous and fancy ingredients including this vanilla bean.

Garrett presented me with this beautiful pink flamingo (which will find his home next to our square foot garden in the backyard!) and Gabe gave me a box of rose shaped soaps. I love seeing the gifts they carefully choose from the Dollar Tree. I also got flowers and some magnificent cards.

I am hugely pregnant and not feeling all that photogenic. So I have avoided putting up any pictures of myself for awhile but I will just get over it for one Mother's Day shot with my handsome boys.

JJ got the boys ready for Church so I only had to worry about myself and it was wonderful! Later at Church, we joked that all of the families were late, loud, and messy because the dads were in charge (but in reality JJ did a great job. We were on time and he probably did a better job with their hair then I do!).

At Church, the kids sang a cute song in Sacrament meeting and of course I teared up to see both of my little guys singing. Later, all of the women received a beautiful little book with pictures of the Savior and lovely quotes. Then the men took over primary for the last hour so that all of the girls could go to Relief Society. All in all, it was a wonderful day! I am so grateful to know so many wonderful mothers and for the opportunity to be a mother.

As a side note, my due date is approaching and we are anxiously awaiting the time when we can meet our newest little one. But we are also hoping that he will hold out until Saturday when my mom comes to help out. Yay! So far, we think his name is Nicholas (or Nikolas) but we are not 100% committed yet and we are still working on a middle name.

Happy Derby Weekend!

2011-05-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

I think that we will always celebrate the Kentucky Derby no matter where we live because it is fun! And because I got this cute horse cookie cutter. :)

Gabe had to make a Derby float for a little parade at school. We had fun doing it and Garrett made one too!

And today we made horse cookies and had some races - two things that never seem to get old!

Easter 2011!

2011-04-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

I love Easter! It means spring is here (or coming!) plus bunnies, candy and eggs and celebrating new life and Christ's Resurrection.

We spent the week before Easter making Easter cookies and crafts (I need to take a picture of some of the cute crafts.). The night before, the boys put their baskets where the Easter Bunny was sure to see them. Gabe even left an egg shaped card for the bunny and a note that says "My favorite flavor is chocolate." Hehe! We also put out some flour to see if we could get some good footprints.

In the morning, they were very excited to find full baskets and eggs hidden all over the house (it has been raining for about 2 weeks straight!). They especially loved the fact that the clever Easter bunny even snuck into their room while they were asleep to hide eggs there.

My favorite part was forcing the boys to wear matching ties and take pictures. It was a struggle and we didn't get any perfect pictures, but it was still worth it.

Moments after these were taken Garrett ran out to get in the car to go to church but couldn't pass up a quick climb of the wet and muddy fence. It was not pretty. Oh well, boys will be boys, right?Happy Easter!

2011-04-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

2011-04-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

Friggy Froggy

2011-04-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

The boys found this cute little tree frog a few weeks ago and we kept him for a day or so but had to let him go because we couldn't get him to eat anything. They loved him dearly though! They named him Friggy and made up songs about him and pushed him on the swings. They are still hoping that he lives somewhere in our backyard and will come back for a visit as it continues to get warmer.

Creative boys

2011-04-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

(Yes, that says ebonic clown?!)

Reversible car seat blanket thing....

2011-03-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

I just finished this cute reversible car seat blanket. I have been seeing them everywhere and they looked simple enough to make, so I found a blog with step by step instructions and made it! It is by no means perfect but I love it and I love the feeling of making something cute and useful!

Here are the instructions that I used:

http://www.sweetnsassygirls.com/2010/02/how-to-make-a-reversible-car-seat-covertentcanopy.html

Kid Ideas

2011-03-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

We have been trying out a few new reward systems that have been working really well so I want to record/share them.

First, is an idea that we got from Gabe's school. Each child has a light that starts out the day green (good) and can then be changed to yellow for the first offense/broken rule and red for the next offense or for a worse offense, and so on (there are other colors for worse offenses or more offenses but we haven't really had need for those at home.).

We sat down and figured out our rules and the consequences of light changes. Basically, when they are on a yellow light or red light, they cannot watch tv or have snacks, etc. Once they have been changed to a yellow or red light, they have to follow all rules for the rest of the day to get back to a green light (or, I have changed them back early if they have been exceptionally good and kind to others.).

If they end every day for a whole week on a green light, they get to pick something from our treasure box (my mom made this treasure box a long time ago and gave it to me recently. Isn't it cute!). The treasure box has little treasures like bouncy balls, plastic bugs, monster finger puppets, etc. If they get a red light at all during the week, they do not get to pick from the treasure box. (I have reserved red lights for really bad things or continued offenses once already on a yellow light.)

Usually the threat of a light change is enough to snap them into shape. I think that a lot of the success of this is that it is taken very seriously at Gabe's school and so he is already trained to react to it and Garrett pretty much follows Gabe's reactions.

Next, I got a jar and filled it with small candies, temporary tattoos, etc and it is our Caught-Being-Good Jar. When I notice someone being especially nice to someone else, quickly forgiving, helping out without being asked, or anything that warrants it, I tell them that they have been caught being good and can go pick a treat. I like this a lot because it is not at all about punishment, just rewarding nice things. It seems so much of being brothers is being rough, tough, and competitive. My hope is to get them in the habit of trying to be nice.

And finally, my mother-in-law made us these cute little mailboxes with chore cards. The cards have a chore on them and the amount of money that they will receive for doing it. When I want a job done, I put the corresponding card into the boys' mailboxes and raise the flag. They find the card, do the job, and put it in my mailbox and raise my flag. I record it and they get paid each Saturday. The kids find this way more fun than me asking them a million times to do it while they whine and procrastinate (and so do I!).

Getting ready to be a big brother!

2011-03-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

Garrett helped us bring the crib down and get it all set up! It was hard work and he was very proud.

Soccer with Daddy!

2011-03-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

JJ has had another couple of busy months with work but found some time to play soccer with the boys the other day. I just loved watching them and it was so nice to be outside. We had a couple of beautiful days (it even reached 80 one day) but now we are back in the 30s and we even had some snow/sleet today. I guess a spring tease is better than no spring at all! :)

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

I didn't actually get any pictures of St. Patrick's Day but it was a lot of fun and I wanted to record it. Throughout the week we did some different St Patrick's Day crafts including Shamrock cookies and leprechaun traps (Gabe made his particularly tricky by writing Leprechaun Home on it) .

The night before, we set the traps with a cookie and some Lucky Charms before going to bed. The boys woke up to find that the tricky leprechauns had been in the traps to eat the treats but had somehow gotten away (we suspect help from friend leprechauns or possibly the use of magic). But they did leave the kids some chocolate gold coins in place of the treats they ate. They also got out all of the green blocks and built some fun creations, moved around some furniture, taped clovers all over the house, and turned our milk and toilet water green!

For breakfast we had green pancakes and for supper we had green eggs and ham.

As I always say, I love holidays!

Mardi Gras Fun

2011-03-12T05:18:00.000-08:00

I am not sure why the boys refused to smile for the pictures. They had a lot of fun making their masks and beads but I guess their designs were serious business. We also had King Brownies (instead of King Cake) and the boys each found a baby in their brownie!

Sleeping

2011-03-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

Favorite Character Day

2011-03-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

Last week Gabe had a favorite character day. He had a long list of things that he would rather be but luckily I was able to convince him to go with The Cat in the Hat.

I offered to make Garrett a hat too but he said that he was just a black cat because it is scarier (more use out of our ninja costume black clothes!).

Valentine's Day 2011!

2011-03-08T17:50:00.002-08:00

I really like Valentine's Day. Not that we ever do anything too terribly exciting but it is a good excuse to make heart shaped treats and tell everyone how much you love them.

I also just love how my kids get so excited about the fun little things that we do (I am sure that will change as they get older and they won't even care if their pancakes are heart-shaped or not).

We made some other fun Valentine's crafts and some cute Valentine's for the kids' friends but I guess I didn't get pictures of those.

This year Gabe was really funny and kept telling me all day that he just loves me. He even told Garrett that he loved him and I got this sweet picture. Brotherly love moments are few and far between right now so I really appreciated this one (so did Garrett!).

Gabe also kept asking me why his heart felt so "funny and loving." I wish I could get him to keep those feelings year round!

Things I Enjoy

2011-02-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

So, I must admit that I do not enjoy playing pirate swordfight, smash brothers wrestling, or monster tag with my boys.

I do, however, love building things, making things, and reading to them. I am very grateful that they enjoy these things as well as their rough pretend play.

Garrett and I have been doing a lot of building with Lincoln Logs lately. Here is Garrett showing off two buildings that he built all by himself!

Gabe brought home a book from school about making puppets and he has made dozens of them! Garrett and I also joined in the fun. We are currently waiting to have an empty cereal box, some old socks, and paper towel rolls so that we can branch out to new and exciting creatures.

Sunshine

2011-01-31T03:58:00.000-08:00

JJ was out of town for a conference this past weekend so the kids and I decided to devote the time to fun!

We started out making salt dough valentines but then the kids got out all of the cookie cutters and we ended up with some nice Christmas trees, black cats, ghosts, clovers, and bats too. :)

When they were done baking, we painted them.

Later, we looked outside and realized that the sun was out and the temperature was approaching 50 degrees! So, we loaded up the wagon with a nice picnic lunch and went in search of a spot. We don't have a super close park but there is a cemetery just down the street and the kids love it so we stopped there for our picnic.

After lunch, we walked around for awhile and the boys wanted their picture taken with their "favorite stones." (Gabe likes the ones that are shaped in the classic tombstone shape. Garrett would just pick random ones as his "favorite") It is an cool cemetery with some very old graves.

Later, we decided that in order to take full advantage of the nice day, we had to go to a park also. This park had some nice playground equipment but the boys quickly ran past it to the small, cold, and wet ditch behind it.

Before we left, we walked around the walking track which took us past this lovely horse. The first time we came to Kentucky, I noticed these random horse statues everywhere. They are in front of stores and gas stations, government buildings and parks. They are painted all different colors and patterns. I love it!

Snowy Days

2011-01-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

We have been having quite a bit of snow for our area (nothing compared to those of you in Chicago area or Minnesota, of course!) and Gabe's school has been cancelled all too often. :)

Here are some of the ways that we have spent our snow days.

Giant Blanket Fort

Snow Angels

Making an igloo using special ice trays from Grandma.

Snow Ball Fights

Helping mom shovel the driveway (which turned into getting buried in the snow somehow.)

Names

2011-01-14T04:55:00.001-08:00

Now that we know our baby is a boy, we have been talking about names.

Garrett's favorite suggestion is Greenie and Gabe's is Luken. They have also come up with Robot, Skull, Blackie, and many others along those lines.

So far the boys do not like any of my ideas but I think that the baby is lucky that I will make the final decision. :)

Drumroll please........

2011-01-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

It's a boy!!!!

Science Center w/ Friends

2011-01-11T07:05:00.000-08:00

We had a ton of fun with some friends at the Science Center last week. Connor and Jackson are a great match for my Gabe and Garrett!

Water Fun

Career Option Fun

Educational Fun

They especially loved recording themselves as news broadcasters....

And then watching it play back.

A really cool place with great friends. What more can you ask for! Thanks guys!

2011-01-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is my OdaBan cleaner playing the role of reindeer.

Christmas

2010-12-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing Christmas and we are so grateful that we were able to spend it with JJ's parents and his brother's family.

First, here are a few of the things that we did with some of Gabe's time off from school before family got here. We made lots of holiday ornaments and crafts including these cute guys.

And our gingerbread house.

When JJ's parents got here, Mark spent the first few days of his vacation making these incredible beds for the boys. Aren't they amazing! The boys were very excited. We are so lucky to have such a talented and dedicated Gus! Thanks again Mark and Martha! We are loving them!

The kids loved spending time with their darling cousins, Jill and Cooper.

And of course they were excited to see "their dog", Molly.

And they got some much needed Gus and Mumsy time!

And here is JJ jamming with his brother, Tucker.

Then came Christmas Eve! My family has quite a few Christmas Eve traditions and everyone was very willing to go along with them even though I would have let them off the hook. :) After a delicious meal of Chicken Pot Pie Soup and homemade biscuits (courtesy of Martha and a tradition of JJ's family), we went for a short Star Walk (where we actually look mainly at Christmas lights.).

Them came the hot chocolate and Santa Claus Cooties. Followed by the much anticipated present opening! I didn't get any really good pictures of it but it was a lot of fun and the kids were appropriately spoiled and very happy with their gifts. Gabe started out handing out gifts but soon said that he "needed to take a break to open a few of his own presents" and he never made it back to finish handing any out.

Then we all changed into the pajamas that Martha made us. The family is growing by the year so she had quite a few to make but I think it is a great tradition. Especially since JJ's youngest brother is on a mission for our church away from home and gets to wear them and know that his whole family is also wearing the same ones.

Nest came playtime with new toys, including these really cool robot bugs.

After hanging the stockings and leaving milk and cookies for Santa, we went upstairs to read The Real Story of Christmas which is my family's final Christmas Eve tradition. It is a very long pamphlet and as JJ read it, the boys finally fell asleep just like I always did as a kid.

The magic of super long Real Story of Christmas almost worked on the adults too but it did not work on Jill. Here she is at the end. :)

And finally, Christmas Day! Although there was some worry about whether Santa Claus would come due to certain behavioral issues, on Christmas morning there were full stockings and toys waiting for the kids when they came downstairs at 7:45am! (This was either Christmas miracle or a miracle of the new beds because as many of you know, my kids do not sleep in like that....EVER!)

Gabe's big gift was a gear set to build with and Garrett's was a marble maze.

I didn't get any good pictures of the morning because I guess I was too busy just enjoying it all!

The rest of the day was spent playing with gifts and enjoying being together! We had a fabulous turkey dinner and later that evening we acted out the Christmas story complete with costumes. After which we enjoyed a program filled with the kids singing songs for us. I will try to load some videos later and hope that they don't show Garrett's complete and utter meltdown that occurred in the middle of it.

That's Snow Fun

2010-12-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-12-03T06:17:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving! My parents came down to visit and we loved having them! The food was delicious! It has always been a tradition in my family to have a bowl of olives on the table as the food is being prepared and you have to eat them off of your fingers. The kids caught on quickly. :)

JJ made the turkey on the grill. He did a great job. It was delicious and left the oven free for other things. My other favorite dish was the cornbread stuffing from JJ's grandmother's amazing recipe! Yum!

Gabe has turned into my little carnivore he devoured the turkey and was quite happy with the bone inside. He wanted to keep some bones so my dad helped him boil and bleach them so that they are not quite as disgusting. They are still in a bag on the counter. Yes, I realize that it is disgusting but Gabe loves them!

Speaking of bones, the boys tried their luck with the wishbone. It actually broke on both sides so that they each got the short end. We decided this meant that they both get a wish.

I really enjoyed seeing my kids spend time with my parents. They are so great with them. It makes me so happy! (And we are so lucky because I will get to see them spend time with JJ's family too for Christmas! Yay! I can't wait!) There is just something wonderful about knowing that other people love your children too.

We also had our first snow of the year!

Throughout the month, at school and at home, we did some fun Thanksgiving crafts. Here is where the boys listed things that they are grateful for.

Derby Field Trip

2010-11-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

I got to go as a chaperone for Gabe's first field trip this year to Churchill Downs.

We had a little presentation where the kids learned a little about the Derby and the rythms involved. Here they are singing a song they wrote together.

Then we played around in the Derby Museum. I was in charge of keeping track of Gabe and three other little boys. They were some of the kids that Gabe plays with at school and it was fun for me to see him with them. They had a lot of fun together and they seemed like nice boys (a little rowdy but fun!). Here they got to record their own voices giving commentary to a horse race. When I played it back for them, they just laughed and laughed. You can see that Gabe is literally on the floor laughing.

They got to play this video game that simulated a horse race. They had to bounce up and down on the saddle and control the horse with a crop and direction buttons. Gabe got 1st place in his race!

After lunch, the kids got to watch a real horse race!

Afterwards Gabe dressed up like a jockey and rode around the house. Funny!

Official Announcement

2010-11-17T11:00:00.001-08:00

So, some people may have noticed our new ticker! Yes, we are expecting our third next May! We should find out the gender at the beginning of the year. We are very excited!

How to Train Your Dragon

2010-11-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

Garrett found this fun hat and gloves in our winter stuff and has been pretending to be a dragon pretty much every day since.

On Saturday, he and Gabe played outside for hours. First, they made a dragon house with a sign to warn everyone.

Then Gabe closed Garrett in the fence and started training him. He would tell the dragon what to do and then he would feed him apple slices through the fence. He even charged me two pennies to come see the dragon up close and see all of his tricks.

The rest of October

2010-11-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

This milk jug skeleton was our last Halloween craft this year and I think he is really cute!

Now for the Halloween costume story for the year--

Both boys looked around for weeks and decided that they wanted to be ninjas this year. I found a pattern that didn't look too difficult and bought the first kind of cloth that would be needed. I was having a little trouble getting motivated past this point and then when I started adding up the other things that I would need to buy to finish them (interfacing, zippers, silver cloth, elastic...), I decided to check out my options. Both boys already had black shirts and I found $3 pants at wal-mart plus simple ninja style hoods. And voila!!! They loved it and wore them around constantly.

So, first comes the Halloween party at the zoo and both kids choose to wear other costume things that we had at home. Gabe was a pirate skeleton and Garrett was an elephant. Next is the Trunk-or-Treat at Church. Gabe puts together a pirate costume and Garrett goes as Wolverine (a costume that he got for his birthday a year ago and wears pretty much on a day to day basis.).

And finally, it is time for good old trick or treating. I was sure that they would want to wear their cool ninja stuff this time. But no, Garrett wanted to be Wolverine again and Gabe wanted to be a vampire. He had decided that a ninja was just not scary enough. Whatever! At least I didn't spend the entire month sewing the original ninja costumes. (Garrett felt the need to tell everyone that answered the door that he was Wolverine. It was cute!)

They had a blast and got tons of candy. I taught them about how you absolutely have to sort the candy to see how much of each kind of you got! :)

Goodbye until next year Halloween!

More October fun!

2010-10-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

The boys were quite proud to finally get to pick the pumpkin from our garden and then carve it with JJ's help. He did an amazing job of bringing Gabe's drawing to life!

And here we are decorating some eyeball cookies from a kit that my mom sent. It was lots of fun and the boys loved it! Thanks!

Colorfest at Bernheim Forest

2010-10-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

I love Bernheim Forest! It has beautiful trails and ponds and fun, free festivals!

You can sort of see the fairy house on the ground that we made back at the Bloomfest in the spring. We were so happy to see it still standing because most were not. ( Yes, this is the same fairy house whose construction caused JJ and I to get pretty bad poison ivy. Totally worth it!)

The boys got to race caterpillars up a string and then got a cool caterpillar to wear on their arm. They are also showing off their fall pins made of dried leaves and flowers and their painted faces.

There were some fun instruments to try.

2010-10-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

October fun

2010-10-14T12:19:00.001-07:00

Root Beer Bash

2010-09-18T06:04:00.001-07:00

Our friends hosted a Root Beer Bash last night and it was tons of fun! There was a root beer taste test and one of the twelve types was voted best root beer. The winner was Henry Weindhards and then the close 2nd was Route 66.

There was a chugging contest.

And games for the kids including a race where they had to run and down a cup of root beer and run back.

A root beer barrel pinata.

Root beer balloon toss (and yes they were full of root beer.). We all got a little messy but Gabe was by far the stickiest because he chose to bite a couple of balloons to get a drink.

Robot Rampage!!!

2010-09-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

We had Garrett's party today and it was super fun! We sang some robot songs and read some robot books.

Then the kids colored robot masks and glued buttons onto their robot bodies. We had a little parade and learned to talk and walk like robots. (I wish I had a picture of all of the kids together but things were crazy and it didn't happen.)
We played some robot golf.
And made some cute edible robots. (These were probably the favorite! So cute and easy!)

Finally, we had robot cupcakes (thanks to my mom for the darling cupcake decorations.).

And the party favor was nuts and bolts to keep up their robot strength when they get home!

Garden Happenings

2010-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Our cute little watermelon and our pumpkin!

Happy Birthday, Gabe!

2010-09-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Today was Gabe's party! He has literally been planning it for a year and it was a blast! It was a Halloween themed birthday party. And, I have to say, it was one of my favorites that we have done. There are so many fun Halloween ideas and I have always wanted to have a Halloween party but that time of year is always so full of other fun things going on. Plus, since we have two birthdays in August, I am not really ready for another party in October. But, this worked out perfectly because we decided last year after Gabe's birthday that we would do a Halloween birthday party this year so we were able to buy some Halloween stuff on clearance after Halloween for party favors and we used all of our regular Halloween decorations. The boys drew a few more fabulously scary pictures and we were all set!

We started out by decorating trick-or-treat bags and then going for a short parade/walk to show off their costumes (most kids wore their own but we had dress-ups on hand to supplement!). Here is the back half or the parade.

Next we did a few of our favorite Halloween songs, books, and games including.....

eyeball on a spoon relay (ping pong ball colored to look like an eyeball)

Mummy Wrap

and Monster Eyeball Mini Golf (this may have been the favorite).

We also did a cute flannelboard story called The Chocolate Chip Ghost. I got this from my mom a while back and have used it Nursery and other play groups. I love it!

Of course we had some scary skull and eyeball cupcakes. I ran into a few problems making these due to poor planning on my part but I thought they were cute and easy enough that Gabe and Garrett could help (kids helping also adds character to the finished product!).

Our final activity was trick-or-treating at a few different doors in the house for candy and party favors. Of course the kids loved this and immediately plopped down on the floor for the necessary examination of the spoils.

It really was tons of fun! As with all parties that I have done, I think of things that I could have done better to make it run a little more smoothly but all in all, I think it was definitely a success. It also really helped that Fisher's mom came back early and helped with the last half of the party. I have her to thank for having any pictures. Thank you, Meagan! I know all the moms were willing to stay and help but I always like to think I can do it myself and give their great moms a little break too!

I don't usually do much writing on my blog because I think pictures are more fun (and take less time) but since this really is my most consistent form of journaling right now, I do want to say a few things about my Gabey.

I truly can't believe that he is five and that he is going to Kindergarten. I know that it is very cliche but the day he was born truly was one of the two best days of my life (can you guess the other?).

The thing that I always say about Gabe is that he is intense. I usually mean it in sort of a bad way but it is definitely also a good thing. It makes him so much fun to be around (when he is happy. :)). He gets so incredibly excited about things and truly enjoys the things that he enjoys. JJ and I love to joke that he has a "zest for life," but it is actually true.

I love seeing how some of the traits that he exhibited has a tiny baby play out as he grows up. I swear that he has had a hilarious sense of humor since the day that he was born. And he has always been a morning person. He just naturally wakes up early and wants to start the day! He doesn't want to miss a minute of life by sleeping! This causes him to be pretty much chronically tired and I believe contributes to the night terrors that he has started experiencing again (he also had them when he was about two. These are awful and scary but that is a topic for another post.).

And again, he has been intense since the day he was born, coming two weeks early and ruining all of our plans because he couldn't wait to get started! This intensity does tend to cause him to play a bit too rough and get angry sometimes but it also has helped him do many things very well. He has been very good at memorizing things from a young age. He pretty much taught himself the alphabet and even how to write most of his letters. He memorizes songs and books (even some pretty long ones!) just by really focusing. Kind of like his daddy, he either does it all the way or he just doesn't do it.

He is very talented at most sports and is turning into quite a little artist. He had a few rough days at school but mainly he is enjoying and seems to be learning new things as well.

Although I don't think I would call Gabe sweet, he sometimes shows a sweet side and can be the best big brother in the world when he feels like it.

Gabe keeps me on my toes (and biting my fingernails!) but also keeps me laughing. I cannot imagine my life without him and I don't want to! He makes me angrier than just about anyone but he also makes me happier than just about anyone.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful boy!