Park Fun

The past few days have been considerably cooler outside so we've spent lots of time at various parks nearby.  Anderson loves climbing, exploring, finding treasures and swinging.  Everett enjoys following Big Bro around and trying his best to do exactly what he does.

 Peek-a-boo!

I see you too!

Here are a few videos of our fun, including our adventures right before we got caught in the down-pouring rain!

Yesterday after picking the boys up from playschool, we stopped by another park for some climbing, running and races on the slides.  The boys had lots of fun and the weather was so nice!

Everett trying desperately to keep up with Anderson.

 

    

It's Time For the Flip-Locks

I was in the kitchen this morning doing last minute prep for taking the boys to school when a determined Everett set to work rearranging and pushing the kitchen chair.  I watched him and caught on to his wise moves quickly, but was still shocked that he was actually following through with this new plan.  At 16 months old Everett was trying to unlock the door.  Something Anderson has barely even had the need or desire to do at age 3 1/2.

Busted by Mom.

And to show you in pictures the difference in my two sweet boys....  When Anderson saw me taking pictures, he had no interest in his brother's mischief I was documenting.  He simply wanted me to take a picture of him.  Everett was pleased with that because he could get back to work on figuring out the silly turny-thing on the door.

BTW, Flip-locks are those locks that go up high on the frame of the door that you flip over so that the door can't be opened by short people.  We'll be getting some of those this weekend.

First Day of School Pictures

Here are the belated pictures of Everett & Anderson on their first day of preschool.

I failed miserably at getting a shot of the two of them together. 

Anderson smiled happily to show off his fancy rolling Cars backpack (which he calls his suitcase because up to this point he's only ever used it when we've traveled on airplanes).

Everett's only workable shot came when an airplane flew over the house. (He loves when this happens!)

Here's Anderson with one of his teachers, Ms. Melissa. 

Both boys had wonderful first days and continue to do great in their classes.  Anderson comes home daily telling us about the stories they hear and the things they do in the computer lab, chapel class, etc.  Everett goes in happily to his teachers each time and they tell me that he's such an easy-going guy.  Hooray for the start of a great year!

Hmmmm....

Who's the smarter brother in this picture?

He actually contrived this whole set-up on his own.  Big Bro got it out to use, but Little Bro snatched it up as Anderson quickly lost interest.  I was highly impressed with Everett's coordination in holding the umbrella and pressing the little button to drive his car at the same time!

A "Donut" for My Buddy's First Day

Tomorrow is the first of preschool for the year for Anderson.  I'm excited to get back into the swing of making fun lunches again (I even reorganized one drawer in my kitchen to hold all of my fun shaped cutters, bento containers, picks, cups, dividers, etc ~ why this excites me, who knows).  A few days ago I spotted this linky-do to another Mommy-blog (via one of my favs: eighteen25).  So, while I can't take credit for this awesome lunch idea, I love the way it turned out.

Anderson LOVES donuts.  They are a rare treat around here- maybe once every two months on a Saturday morning whenever Mommy Anderson can convince Daddy to make a trip to the donut shop.  However, Anderson (with his keen sense of direction that he received as a blessing from his Mommy) zeros in on the donut shop every time we drive past it in the car.  Even though he's only been inside two, maybe three times- ever, he knows the yummy goodness that comes from within.

So, as soon as I saw this cute idea for lunch, I knew I had to make it for Anderson's first day of preschool.

How?  Whole-wheat, 100-cal, blueberry bagel-thin filled with light cream cheese.  I used my various sizes of biscuit cutters to make it more "donut" shaped, although a bagel is pretty similar to begin with.  Then, I dabbed tiny dots of honey on the outside with my finger and put on some sprinkles.  SO easy.  Anderson was  SO excited when I showed it to him.

The rest of his lunch?  Raisins, yogurt-drops, gluten-free pretzel sticks (which are pretty yummy!) oranges and blueberries.  I layered everything so that once the lid was on, the "donut" stayed nice and snug.  What didn't make the picture was the Hershey Kiss that I snuck in when Anderson wasn't looking. I always like to surprise him with a sweet treat like a hidden Jelly Bean or chocolate.  <3

Snap on the lid and put on a sweet note for the teachers to read for him.  :)

And, of course, Little Bro gets in on the action too.  He gets the same lunch just modified for the teeth-impaired.  Bagel + cream cheese diced, pretzel sticks, diced fruit, yogurt drops with graham crackers, and a fav~ edamame.

Update on the Kiddos

These 3 Pictures pretty much sum things up around here.

 Everett is still our little stinker.  Here he is bright and early in the morning, still in his PJs, having some pancake and hamming it up for the camera.  I was tempted to put another picture on here that I have from recently, but I'll just describe it instead.  It's a picture of Everett with my underwear (clean!) around his neck just smiling away much like above.  He had literally launched a panty-raid in my closet and just proceeded on with his merry way about his day!

 

Anderson, Anderson, Anderson.  Why, my sweet Buddy must you fight sleep and napping so much? Sleep is not evil.  Someday, you will beg for more time to sleep.  There's no need to fight napping so much to the point that you fall asleep sitting up!  Silly Boy!

Riley!  Is that you?  Awww...Poor Riley.  She is still our first kiddo, but who would know, huh?  Here she is being her strange self and laying in the one spot of the house that is literally an oven.  In the morning hours, when the AM sun is shining through this glass door, this space is SO hot.  We usually don't have this door open at all during this time of the year, but whenever it is opened, Riley comes running to soak up some rays through the glass door.  She loves to lay in the sun, but of course not actually outside.  That would be crazy for a dog to go outside!

Pickles & Ice Cream Shower

One of the moms in our playgroup is about to have her second little one, so we threw a Pickles and Ice Cream Play date/Shower for her and the playgroup kiddos. It was, of course, chaotic as one would imagine a play date full of 3 year-olds and younger siblings mixed with a baby shower would be.  But, it was still loads of fun to plan and take part in the celebration.

Here are my creative culinary contributions:

Ice Cream Pop Rice Crispy Treats  (so easy to make and SO yummy!)  

Here they are wrapped and ready for display.  I think these will become a go-to treat of mine since they were so simple!  My Secret?  I used the pre-made, individually wrapped treats, trimmed the top corners to make them round, stuck in a stick, dipped them in chocolate and sprinkles.  Too easy!

Here was my challenging creation.  Let's be honest here.  As much as I wish it would happen, I am just not a baker, or at least a talented one.  I would much prefer to cook, even blindly without a recipe, etc. than try to bake and decorate a cake beyond canned frosting.  Anyway, I accepted the challenge.

These are strawberry cupcake cones frosted with cream cheese frosting and topped with a candy-shaped 'pickle' and sprinkles.  I'm not sure what was the most difficult part of this venture.... molding the candy pickles, frosting the cupcake cones, fighting gravity when all they wanted to do was topple over ( I didn't do it the "classic" way and bake the cake down IN the cone, it's actually up on top of the cone, like real ice cream), or transporting them.  Just think about that for a minute- how would YOU transport these when one of the variables is that the temp outside was 100+?

I won't bore you with the details, but they got to the party with only a few casualties and they were a huge hit, as well as mighty tasty.  (strawberry cake gets the shaft! ~ it's yummy!)

Here are some of the other cute decorations from the party that my friend and co-host Mendi did:

 Cute favor bags for the kiddos which included those fun foam ice-cream ball-poppers from when we were kids as well as yummy ice cream themed treats, ice cream bowls & spoons, and of course some pickles!  

Lots of fun games!  Guess the # of pickles, Guess the belly size, Baby Bingo, Pin the Bottle on the baby 

Pickle-Ka-Bobs 

The Mommy-to-Be with her older one