Halloween Party

Here we are as Barbie and Ken (with plastic arms and all).

The girl's picture is a little blurry and has a clown shoulder in it but you get the idea. Looking good ladies!

We had friends over for a Halloween costume party.  We ate played games and enjoyed seeing all of the creative costumes. 

Nathan's Apple Witch

Nathan made this at preschool.  He was pretty proud of it and is displayed on his bookshelf in his room.  They made a lot of fun Halloween crafts in school.  We have a wall in his room dedicated to all of his preschool work so his room was starting to look quite festive.  He is always so excited to show me the fun things he is making in school.  I love that he is enjoying school so much!

Nathan's Preschool Halloween Party

Nathan is loving preschool and enjoyed his first party!  The parents got to come the last little bit to hand out treats and get some pictures.  They also sang a Halloween song for us and the dance group did an Itsy Bitsy Spider dance (Nathan is in the tumbling group).  James enjoyed tagging along and watching his big brother.  James always misses Nathan when we take him to school and is always ready to take off his coat and shoes and join the group too.

Halloween at the Library

Nathan took this picture on the way to the library.

The boys loved the broomsticks they made out of paper bags.

We love the library and there were a lot of fun activities for Halloween this year and it is always more fun with friends!

The Costumes

Last year Nathan's friend Adam was a hamburger for Halloween and he thought that was pretty cool.  At first he wanted to be a hamburger for Halloween this year so we borrowed the costume and as the month carried on his mind changed a few times and he finally settled on the costume he wore two years ago..a fireman.  It  was easy enough for me because we pretty much had everything already.  It does make me laugh that this year the sleeves are a little short. (:
Because Nathan was originally going to be a hamburger I thought it would be cute to have James as a hot dog.  I made him an awesome costume and when it came down to it he didn't want to have anything to do with it.  He only wanted to wear his costume from last year...a dragon.  The pants didn't fit but the top did.  Again very easy for me because we already had it.  What was I thinking trying to plan costumes? (:  James loved his dragon costume and he wore it everywhere.  I did a lot of errands with a dragon in my shopping cart.  I thought he was the cutest little dragon there could be.
I like to try to coordinate costumes or go with a theme and while I thought my plan fell through with the hot dog and hamburger Nathan made the comment that he was the fireman to put out James the dragon' fire. (: Next year maybe I will just leave it up to them.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins and had dinner with our friends the Haskins.  The kids loved Mummy Hot Dogs again and enjoyed drawing designs to be carved on their pumpkins.  Once the pumpkins were carved and lit James was fascinated.  He just stared at the candles inside and had to check on them each night.

Halloween Treats

Mummy Hot dogs, Ghost Pie and Jack O' Lantern pancakes were some of the other Halloween treats we enjoyed.  The boys loved all of the festive food.  Just the other day Nathan requested an orange pancake for breakfast. 

Halloween Treats

Banana Ghosts: half a banana on a stick with chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth.  They were a hit with the boys and requested often.  
We also made some fun Halloween sugar cookies.  The boys enjoyed choosing which shapes to make.  We even made a Jack O' Lantern one with the cookie cutters from Grandma Marla.  They enjoyed eating them just as much as they did making them. 

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treating in our neighborhood and the Trunk or Treat
We had so much fun with the boys this year!  James was a little confused at the Trunk or Treat and couldn't believe all of the "tweets" he was getting.  He caught on really quick and wanted to eat them all at once.  James had a great time keeping up with his big brother for Trick or Treating and was running from one house to the next most of the time.  He was happy to carry his bucket almost the whole time.  I helped carry it at the end because it was loaded with candy but he wanted it back each time we knocked on a door so that he could hold it out and say "twick tweet".  Nathan was a pro this year and unlike James he loves to savor his treats. 

Our weekend...

We were recovering our little guy chairs and table and Nathan found a new way to sit in it.

James loves to be tossed high in the air.  He laughs and squeals and kicks his legs. I love it.

Little Gardeners

Last weekend we got our vegetable garden going and the boys were very eager to help.  Especially since it meant digging in the dirt. 


James is my little dirt magnet.    He loves all forms of dirt and is happiest when there is dirt around and a shovel.  He spends a lot of time in the backyard sitting and digging in the holes that Zoey digs.  Once we got the garden plot weed free and ready for planting he was fascinated by so much dirt to dig in and wanted to play in it each time we went outside.  Our plants better grow quickly to avoid being squished by a curious boy. I ended up putting tomato cages on almost all of our plants.    

Nathan is becoming a garden pro with this being his third garden he has helped with.  He was really excited this year and very proud of it once we got it all together.  On Sunday he told his primary teacher all about it because they were talking about seeds in the lesson. 

What we will be eating this summer:

Tomatoes (my favorite!)

Butternut Squash

Zucchini

Green Peppers

Cucumbers

Pumpkins (perfect for Halloween!)

Nathan was really helpful and the day before he and James even helped me get my flower pots ready.

James was just happy to be in the dirt. (:

Mother's Day

 I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I am so blessed to be a mother to my two sweet boys.  They bring me joy everyday and I cherish the time with them.  Being a mom isn't always easy but nothing worthwhile is easy. (:  


My sweet Nathan always ready to smile.  He helped Ryan pick out some beautiful pink flowers and was so excited to give them to me.  He is such a sweet and thoughtful little guy!

My cute Jamers always so happy to be with Mommy. He loves to be held and cuddled all the time. What more could I ask for?

Our Best Bites' Chocolate Mouse Crunch Cake......My Mother's Day present to myself. (:
Oh my goodness this cake was delicious and so fun to make!!!! It tasted just as good as it looks.
I just got a Kitchen Aid, which I have been hoping for and dreaming of forever.  Our hand mixer died, there was a great deal on Kitchen Aids at Costco and Mother's Day was coming up....perfect combination.  I of course couldn't wait to use it so I made this for our Mother's Day dinner and it was fabulous!

Easter

I love this time of year.  All the colors are so bright and fresh and you can just feel the warm days ahead coming (except when you wake up on May 1st and find 6 inches of snow).  Everything is new and blooming.  The grass is green and the days a little sunnier.  I love SPRING!

Our Easter Table

We had a yummy Easter dinner together.  We got a Hunny Bunny (in the center of the table) from Great Harvest this year. It was so cute, the boys loved it and it made for a fun centerpiece.  It was made from their yummy honey wheat bread and it was a great addition this year.  Maybe one year I will get a little crazy and try to make my own. (:

Our Easter Bunny Napkins

We never used them because they turned out so cute!

We had a fun time coloring eggs and opted to do it outside which was a good call because it was James' first time.  He was fascinated by it and you could just see him trying to figure out why the eggs were all turning different colors.  He didn't bother with the egg dipper he just plopped the eggs in with his hands.  By the time we were done his hands were dyed orange.  Nathan had fun too and just wanted to make blue eggs.  Blue is his favorite color and he loves anything blue right now.

Our rainbow of colored eggs. 
Not only did we enjoy making them we enjoyed eating them too.  Nathan is becoming a little bit of a picky eater and he gobbled this right up. Who knew? I was going to make him an egg sandwich one day and he just wanted to eat the egg plain and he loved it.  James liked it too which isn't a surprise. He usually eats just about anything. (: