September 2012 ... quickly

Daughter's dollhouse. Husband and I made it for her birthday .

After all their adventures in Tuscaloosa, I fear my kids will never love Auburn.

At the Birmingham Museum of Art as part of Daughter's birthday adventure

Son said, "let's be the same size for a picture."  close

She wanted Husband to make her a Sally Brown cake.  That's the head.

swimming in the hotel pool at the beach.

On this beach adventure, we took the kids to Fort Morgan.  They  loved it.

Bon Secour.  incredibly beautiful.

Son is THREE

Almost a month ago, we celebrated Son's third birthday.  We tried to fit in as many of Son's favorite things that we could into one day. We started out with a green airplane cake for breakfast and we didn't stop until both kids were sleeping hard in their car seats at 6pm! 

Husband created another great cake in his tradition of making great kid birthday cakes

He was THRILLED.  

Next he opened his gifts: a T. Rex book from Daughter and a dinosaur tail I made.

our first stop was free play at our favorite bounce house place. Two hours of this and  both kids STILL wanted more!

Then lunch at Nabeel's.

 Next, we stopped for two loaves of bread to feed ducks.  VERY hungry ducks.  We should have gotten FOUR loaves of bread!

the very hungry ducks following us

Son was feeding a duck that was so hungry it tried to eat his shirt.  He was done after that!  (and of course he's still talking about the very hungry duck that tried to eat him)

 Then we tried a new frozen yogurt shop in downtown Birmingham called Paramount.  We all gave it two thumbs up.  Fun place to stop in and it's so close to McWane, I know we'll be back more.


By this point of the day, I am exhausted and would have loved to go home, but it wasn't my birthday.  The kids were still going strong so Husband suggested Rail Road Park.  And my kids have NEVER turned down a trip to Rail Road Park

Pretending to be airplanes

Climbing to the "tippy top"

He finally sat down and took a break with me by the water.

Husband showing off for the group of girls on the right, er, I mean showing Daughter how to do a handstand. 

 My absolute favorite part of the day was when my mom called to talk to Son and wish him a happy birthday.  She told him she'd be over to visit the next day and bring his birthday present.  When they got off the phone Son said, "I wish Nanny would bring a dinosaur tail for Rylie for my birthday."  sigh.  He wanted his sister to have a dinosaur tail too.  So after lunch we stopped in at Hobby Lobby for fabric for a dinosaur tail for her.

now we have 2 scary dinosaurs in the house

We all had such a fun day and most of all our big three year old got to spend the day being king of the world.

What turning 33 looks like at our house

We went all our for Husband's birthday a couple of weeks ago.  Seriously, you only turn 33 once.  The kids love making big deals about birthdays.  They suggested balloons, a banner, flowers, birthday hats, Husband's favorite dinner, a cake and, of course, snakes and dinosaurs.  Yes,  last year they gave him a toy dinosaur and spider and this year it was a toy dinosaur and toy snake.  So, since they lack the ability to drive a car, cook a meal, bake a cake, and purchasing power for such things, I made it happen.

I'm not a baker (I have never made a cake except from a box and that does not count) so I always make a non-cake dessert for Husband's birthday cake.  This year I decided on a cheesecake.  I've never actually make a cheesecake either but Husband always says it's easy so I thought I'd give it ago.  I made a Hazelnut Cheesecake but used almonds instead of hazelnuts - for the main reason that we already had almonds. It was pretty fantastic.  And we used the leftover amaretto whipped cream in our coffee the next morning. That was a wonderful treat!

Phineas and Ferb also joined the party.  Notice Son and Daughter picked out pink and green candles.

CHEESE.  taking a break between dessert and dinner.  We should always have dessert first!

"Look, I made a Daddy tower."

He was so excited.

Eating their bread and ignoring the Eggplant Parmesan.

It's always fun celebrating Husband.

Happy Birthday, love.

Celebrating 31

The night before my birthday I was exiled to my bedroom while Husband, Daughter and Son worked hard in the kitchen making cupcakes.  Little did I know, they were making Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes with Ganache Frosting. (um, I just went up a dress size TYPING the name)

I never got caught up in the cupcake frenzy of late.  I don't watch cupcake television shows.  I don't go to cupcake bakeries and indulge in whatever the newest flavor is.  I just don't.  I'm not a big fan of desserts as a general rule so Husband always has to give a little more effort than I would assume he'd have to if married to a dessert lover.

This year he hit the jackpot and unless he's making a cheesecake, I want him to make these cupcakes for every birthday I have until I'm dead.   Seriously, click the recipe.  Make these cupcakes.  Fall in love too.  They are incredible.

So anyway, I knew they were making a birthday dessert and it was a surprise, but that's all I knew.  Except what I could get Son to tell me when he'd come in to see every once in awhile.  And I'd stand in the doorway of the kitchen and say things like, "What is going on in this room?" and "What smells so good in here."   

Daughter was such a champ.  She'd quickly shoo me away and tell me to go back to my room and read a book or take a rest.  It was pretty stinking cute.  She was a good surprise keeper and did her best to act like there was no reason in particular that she and her brother were wearing their aprons and huddled in the kitchen with Husband for over 2 hours.

Soon it was time to sing and blow out the candles.  and taste.  WOW.  Taste.  Fantastic.  

After eating our cupcake.  Don't be fooled, Daughter was just as messy as Son, but she washed her mouth and hands before the picture.

She's so silly

A 4 Year Old's Birthday Adventure

Friday night Husband and I stayed up late and he made/created/decorated a Peppa Pig cake and I decorated the dining room with as many balloons as I could blow up and as much crepe paper as I could hang.  And when she walked in Saturday morning for her breakfast party, Daughter was ecstatic.  After "Happy Birthday" was sung and candles blown out and birthday cake eaten and presents opened and played with, Husband got dressed to head to Tuscaloosa for the game and the kids and I got dressed to pick up Nanny and head to the zoo.

The Peppa Pig cake.  I HATE HATE HATE when Husband says he's not creative.  Look at this cake! Are you kidding me?  amazing. If you're familiar with Peppa, you know, this is spot on.

this was about half way through the decorating process.   I blew up 30 balloons and used 2 rolls of crepe paper.

Daughter drawing on her mini-magnadoodle that Son picked out

Son loved that Peppa's shoes were made of nutella

The kids wanted to pose with Big Al and Aubie. And that mostly happened.

SIDE NOTE:  I was amused the whole day.  Son wore his bama hat and sunglasses ALL day.  People would come up to him and say "Roll Tide" and he was terrified these strangers were getting in his personal business and yelling at him.  Fortunately, I didn't start a brawl in the zoo and we usually just ignored these people and kept walking.  He has no clue what that means.  That and "War Eagle" are not phrases we encourage our kids to say.  They don't even know names of teams.  We say "Mommy's team" and "Daddy's team" and talk about teams in terms of their colors and mascots.  Son wears "that red hat" as he calls it, because his daddy also wears a red hat.

On the lion

her favorite, the zebra

We walked through the petting zoo but it was lunch time so we couldn't really pet the animals.  And that was fine by Son.  On the way out he said, "dat llama not 'pit on me dis time. I stay 'way from him." 

Daughter, mid roar.  They were more interested in the plywood lion they could stick their head through than The Royal Family <-- a lion family - mom, dad and at least 3 babies

playing the drums

Daughter loves zebras but today she only looked at the zebras for about  30 seconds because they smelled horrible.  "Mommy, these zebras smell like old socks dipped in the ocean."  yes, thanks Peppa Pig. So she loved seeing this non-smelly picture of a zebra

my mom is the worst photographer I know.  seriously, I was looking at the camera and that was good enough for her.

We had such a fun trip to the zoo.  The weather was amazing and the kids had a fantastic time.  I'm glad my mom was able to go because it would've been a lot harder without her there.  After the zoo we went to Nabeel's for lunch and Daughter ate, ate and ate tzatziki. Well, Son did too.  It was mom's first time there and she enjoyed it too.  

The best  part of the entire day:
bedtime
Husband: night night, pea pie. I love you
Daugther: night night, Daddy. I love you
Husband: happy birthday.
Daughter: hap ... Daddy will you go away.  I want to tell myself Happy Birthday
Husband: ok, night night.
Daughter in a whisper: Happy Birthday, Ryland.  It was a great day.

Daughter is FOUR!

We're busy celebrating today!

Birthday Party Fun

My kids love ...

... a good party ...

... all three of them ...

Wordless Wednesday: Clown Town

Life is pretty fantastic when you're 2 - birthday roundup

Don't you just LOVE the way Son spreads dandelion seeds so we'll have even more to enjoy in the future? blah.

dunking

He was pretty interested in watching the NCAA tournament with Husband. Basketball seems to be his favorite sport of the moment.

(sigh)

I can't even begin to tell you how happy this picture makes me. I don't even care that Daughter is wearing a pair of her flood jeans and her hair looks like a bird lives in it. Or that Son is sucking those fingers. It's an amazing, perfect picture.

Son's cake. I thought Husband did a great job baking, building and decorating Blue. Daughter said it was an octopus and never really changed her mind on the subject.

Poor buddy. We had his party right after nap time. And he wasn't really awake or into it yet.

Daughter claimed Blue's tongue.

He asked for and got the nose.

FINALLY.

He perked up and started "hiding" in the hall and waiting for us to ask where he was. Then he'd burst through the streamers and laugh and laugh and laugh.