Daddy's Birthday

So, what do you think of my 'Easter' blog makeover?!

And, Andrew's birthday continues... (Hey... I warned you.) We like birthdays around here.

Andrews parent's were able to be here for his birthday, which, they haven't been with him on his actual birthday in a long time, so that was nice.

I made his favorite dinner tonight, and we had cake. We are going to go out on Saturday night by ourselves for his bday, and his parents will stay with the kiddos.
I was pretty proud of myself... I made him a homemade cake. Which, I can not really even remember the last time I made a cake. I mean, I cook, and bake, but as far as a birthday cake - I usually buy those.
So I decided to make it a little extra special and make it myself, with love. =)
It's a double layer marble cake with vanilla frosting, and, check out my decorating!
(I just want to say, Icing is really not easy to write with.)

Drew, up front and center with daddy to do the candles, since he slept through the birthday cake the other night.

We let him blow out the candles, and then I re-lit them and let Emma help.

Emma & her YiaYia

I also found this picture of Emma reading with Yiayia - it must have been several months ago. They love to read books together.

And, we ended the day in our jammies, cozy on the couch watching the kids bedtime shows.



Birthday Cake

I wrote this last night, and just as I was going to post it, Andrew turned off the wireless router, thinking that I was asleep. And... I was too tired to go in and turn it back on, so, here it is.

Today we started Andrew's birthday celebration. Birthdays seem to go on for a while around here. But, I think that's pretty normal, right? Seems like it. My parents will be out of town on his actual birthday, so we had his birthday dinner at their house tonight. Andrew's parents arrive tomorrow and they will be here for the week.

I pulled the kids around my parents basement in their wagon for a little bit - they love it. Their finished basement has sort of become the kids hang out these days, and when they get there and see all of their toys that they had forgotten about, it's like their birthday or Christmas all over again! So, it keeps them entertained. I can't wait until it's nice enough out to take them for walks outside... and not in circles around the basement! But, we're gettin' there I think. It was actually gorgeous out today - sunny, not a cloud in the sky but still a little cold. I am ready for Summer though.

 My munchkins in their ride...

Emma decided to take a break and read her book in the wagon.

Me and my Ems playing around - trying to get a decent picture. There were quite a few of these, and we never actually wound up getting a good one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

Emma gets really excited when it's time to do birthday cake - and no matter who's birthday it is, she thinks its her job to do the cake part. Can you tell?!?!

And... You may be wondering where my Drew man was during all of this - well....

Totally crashed out in Mimi and Pops bed. He didn't take his normal nap earlier in the day, and he started to fall asleep in his dinner, so I moved him into the bed.

But, he joined us a little bit later - as a Happy  Boy!

Ok so maybe not totally awake yet...

This next one just cracks me up!

Playin' a little Ball

This weekend we took Emma and Drew to swim again at the indoor pool. Since.... we're still not even close to being able to swim outside. It's just not the same, but... They still have a lot of fun anyway! I don't have pictures because I jumped in the pool with them this time.
But, after swimming, we were leaving the gym and Andrew went into the basketball court to shoot a few hoops. Who knew we had a future baller on our hands?!?!

Drew absolutely had a blast running up and down the court throwing the ball around. He also really likes to watch basketball games with his dad. He gets excited when I turn the TV on and a basketball game is on.

Shooting hoops with dad.

Or as Emma would say "Get buckets!"

Since the basketball was a little big for them, a guy that works at the gym came by and gave them each a smaller, lighter weight ball,

But..... Drew wanted no part of it.

He was going to stick with the big boy ball. Emma, on the other hand, was content with her little bouncy ball.

They had the entire gym to themselves and had so much fun. Drew was NOT happy about having to leave. When we were leaving, he kept trying to go back. His YiaYia and Papou (Andrews parents) got them a little basketball hoop, which we will set up when it gets a little warmer outside. So, it appears that will be a hit!

After that, we went to my parents for the traditional Irish dinner - My mom made corned beef, potatoes, irish soda bread... It was very good. And, Drew, our little Irish man loved the corned beef! That surprised me. I didn't think they would be into it, but he ate a bunch! He's a much more adventurous eater than Emma. Emma likes to stick to the basics. And if you let her, she would eat bread every day, for every meal.

Here are a few random pictures from over the weekend...

Emma was insisting on wearing her winter hats and mittens around the house - and, a little tu-tu skirt over her clothes. Looked very interesting together. And actually, this is her brothers hat. She kept getting into the drawer that we keep all of the hats and gloves in - and came out in a different hat and pair of mittens each time.

She's showing her WY Cowboy pride

She loves putting on her 'makeup'. Drew likes it too.... but I try to convince him otherwise. He doesn't quite understand yet.

Sunday was a rainy day.... They were watching it rain from the window in their bedroom. The window sits low, and is perfect height for them. Drew likes to watch the street, for school buses and trucks to go by. Although our street is fairly quiet, so he gets pretty excited when it has any traffic. And he loves watching the garbage truck come by and collect trash... or the landscapers. He's into that stuff.

And that's about it! It was a relaxing weekend... Mommy and Daddy were able to go out to dinner Saturday night. And, the remainder of the weekend, Andrew was pretty much glued to College Basketball games! But that's ok.

A weekend in March

I hope tomorrow is a long day.. because weekends just haven't been lasting long enough. I'm hanging on to my weekends as tightly as possible! And, not that I don't want to go to work, because I really do love my job, my department, and the work I do. So it could be worse. But, I love hanging out with my family and doing fun things on the weekend also.

Drew loves to help me cook... so I usually will get out a few measuring cups, spoons, a bowl, maybe throw a couple cheerios in there - and he thinks he's cooking. And, when it's time to stir whatever it is I'm making, he helps me with that.
So, one of the nights this week he really wanted to help me cook, and he wasn't satisfied with his pretend cooking on the counter next to me. So... I threw a few cinnamon maple graduate puffs in a pan and gave him a spatula (Obviously that side of the stove wasn't on) and I let him cook next to me.

Busy cooking his puffs!

Yesterday we had to do our regular errands and running around town... and Emma was crackin' me up with her sunglasses on upside down, and putting her chapstick on her chin instead of her lips. But, she was extremely sensitive to pictures yesterday for some reason - if she even noticed me starting to hold up my phone she would cover her face and tell me no pictures. Which, is not like her at all - she is our little ham.

So, I did snap a quick one when she wasn't paying attention.

My Little Irish Man

Today we had a little fun with some playdough!



Winter swimming, and a little re-decorating

Today we took the kids to swim in the pool at the gym. They love the pool and love swimming, but unfortunately with a few feet of snow on the ground over the last few months, they weren't doing much swimming. They are little fish in my parents pool all summer... and we can't wait for the weather to get warm enough to open the pool! So yesterday we took them to swim inside, and they had a blast.

Miss Emma in her robe & flips, getting ready to go out to the pool. She was cracking me up getting ready in the locker room....

At first she was a little reserved, and just wanted to stick with daddy. I think it had to do with the other kids that were jumping around and splashing. She isn't used to that when she has Mimi & Pop's pool totally to herself!

But... She let loose and wound up having a lot of fun

Little ruffle butt. I love it....

Drew, on the other hand had no reservations what so ever, and jumped right in. Emma likes to stay around the stairs and walk up and down them holding on to the rail, whereas Drew just jumps out into the water (expecting someone to catch him I guess) and likes to float around, swim and play.

So, that was fun for them. And we went to my parents for dinner after that.

That is definitely pool hair that has started to dry.

I had the urge to do some redecorating this weekend... I was kind of bored with the house. And, there were some things that were on the walls when we bought the house (like mirrors and shelves) that we asked them to leave, because it would have made huge holes in the wall to take down and the wall had just been painted the exact color that I would have painted it anyway. But, it was time to take that stuff down.
So I had a lot of fun on Saturday shopping for my new house stuff!! Nothing major, just little touches here and there to refresh the look.

I got new lamps for the family room -

This is the table lamp, and I also got a standing floor lamp that sort of matches it.

Some new throw pillows...

Oh, and no, they are not pink. I sent a picture to my mom and she thought they were pink. They are a taupe/brown but sort of silky so I guess the color looks a little funky in the picture.

I loved this thing - the background between the larger frame and the smaller framed mirrors is a beige canvas.

And, this wall used to have the white shelves on it, here's a before pic - (I didn't even think to take before pictures, so I have this one from my blog entry on the kids bday.)

and then we moved around some furniture, changed things from room to room, and I replaced a few other things on the wall. I was just ready for a little change. =)