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. (:

Easter

We had a very happy Easter together as a family.  Children make holidays so much fun. 
The night before Easter we were setting out our Easter baskets, eggs and a carrot for the Easter bunny and Nathan got the idea that he also wanted to leave the Easter bunny some chocolate milk (his favorite drink).  We went to bed very excited and when Nathan woke up that morning he immediately ran out to the front room and ran back to our room shouting with excitement, "Mom! the Easter bunny ate my carrot and drank my chocolate milk!" He was so excited about that he didn't even notice the Easter baskets.  We all went out together and both boys were so excited to see their baskets filled with some special treats. 

Surprise!

The boys finding their Easter Baskets.

The most exciting things for James in his basket were the few pieces of candy.  He immediately wanted the chocolate bunny open.  He followed me around the room like "would you open this already?"

Nathan had so much fun hunting for eggs and each one was very exciting.  He quickly started to fill his basket meanwhile.....

The most exciting part about the egg hunt for James was again the candy inside the egg.  Each time he found a egg he had to carefully open it and eat every single piece of candy in it before moving on to the next one.  I eventually had to slow down Nathan because after he had found all the really hidden eggs meant for him he started scooping up all of the easier ones meant for James because James was too busy eating all the candy to be bothered with the egg hunting.  Our Jamers sure loves to eat, especially candy!   

 

Two happy boys enjoying their Easter makes for a very happy Mommy and Daddy!

The Easter bunny always brings some new sand toys for the sand box.  Nathan and James couldn't wait to get outside to play with the new "scooper" (as Nathan calls it) and dump truck.

After the exciting morning we put on our Easter outfits and headed to church.  I got to help out in Primary and Nathan was so excited to have me there.  He looked so grown up sitting with his sunbeam class.  The Primary president was asking the kids some questions about their moms for something she was doing for Mother's Day.  After she talked to Nathan he ran over to me and said "Mom, you like flowers and rainbows!" (which is probably what his answer was to whatever question the president asked).  It made me laugh.  He knows I love getting flowers and he is always picking some for me when we are outside and who doesn't like rainbows? It was so sweet.  I was a little relieved that he didn't say something like she likes to wear he pj's all day (because I never do that right?).

After church we spent some time playing in the sandbox with the new toys and getting ready for our yummy dinner.  We also watched Finding Faith in Christ together because that is what Easter is really about.  Nathan was really into it and had a lot of questions.  It is easy to forget how much children absorb.  I always liken Nathan and James to little sponges because they take in so much so quickly and I was glad that we had some quality absorption going on.

It was a wonderful day and the best part was being together as a family.