what we've been up to......

well, i'd say we're due for an update, yeah? we've been busy-i'll use that as my excuse for the lack of blogging.

we've been to a few birthday parties- here we are hanging out with maggie

and riding on the zebra we finally figured out how to get on
making some cookies with our friend rylan

watching rudolph with our friend rylan {note- rylan mentioned he did not have a good time at our house- he does look miserable above, doesn't he? he then asked if he could come back the next day. you know, to have some more "no fun"}

trying our hardest to figure out the sit and spin.....still haven't got it

gave up and opted instead to determine how to destroy noah's tracks- fastest would be best

side smile and train tracks......pretty standard

what is it about pigtails.....

.....that makes her look like such a big girl?

{we're a little perplexed by the leaf blower here.....}

choo-choo......

sometimes i like to get creative. scrapbooking occasionally {very occasionally these days}, picture taking, blogging, etc. you catch my drift. i should have stopped there. but, i didn't, and so we come to this post. the post about the time i thought i should make noah a cake but didn't realize how much time and work and time and time and more time it takes to create such cake or cake{s} as i subjected myself to. and really, to several of my co-workers too. like michelle. and karalie. and patty. {who doesn't have a blog, but she should!} what initially started with an idea to make a thomas cake, somehow that turned into a thomas cake, and many small cakes decorated with candy and placed strategically on licorice tracks. in all honesty, it sounded simple. bake a few cakes, star some frosting {using big stars of course as to speed up the process}, put some candles on it and we're good. um, i was W-R-O-N-G. wrong in how to bake said cakes, wrong in the idea that shortening can be exchanged for PAM, and hugely wrong in the time it takes to decorate ONE cake, let alone many a cakes. let's start from the top.

first, i admired this thomas, as well as the beautiful picture on the front of the little train pan. they are pretty aren't they. and the detail, wow. this is going to look great!

i had specific instructions. make cake mix according to box, then cut tops off of cakes. turn over and they'll just slip out. OR NOT. what i failed to tell my amazingly cake talented friends is that i need very specific instructions. things like- no, sprinkling flour will not be enough, and no, pam is not a substitute for crisco, and no, you can't take them out of the oven, edit pictures for an hour or so and then come back. i am a cake mold making/decorating virgin, and i knew none of this. lesson learned when my engine came out looking like a pile of coal. sweet, that's just who noah asked for at his birthday party. thomas, james, gordon and some coal. well, the coal is here. the trains, not so much.
round two. {side note- it is now roughly midnight thursday night} success!! {well, success for a first timer anyway}

now, being the experienced cake baker that i am, i lathered on the crisco. with.my.hands. loaded on the flour, poured the dark chocolate batter in and hoped for the best. she came out beautifully. only lost one chunk, which i also learned can be fixed with any mass amount of frosting. WHOO HOO!!!!! {it is now 1:30- and both cakes are finally baked, cooled and stored for friday's decorating}

also grossly underestimated cake decorating time. by roughly 3-4 hours. i allocated about 2-3 hours friday morning to decorate these beautiful cakes. and in that 2-3 hours i also accounted for chit-chat, child disciplining and snacking, and even a few breaks. WRONG AGAIN. we could have easily spent another 2 or 3 hours touching up, smoothing out, candy-ing and perfecting these cakes. but in the end, all was well. and this new little 3 year old was all smiles. which is all that mattered.

thanks for all the help michelle- i couldn't have done it without you!

baby joe dirt

sometimes when i upload pics onto the computer, i come across some that not only i haven't seen, but that i didn't even know were taken. case in point here. aaron dressed up as joe dirt for auntie lisa's halloween party, and in turn got himself a baby joe dirt in the process. that's right, that's ainsley in there rockin' that 2 toned, straggley, ratted mullet.

ahhhhh, yes. lovin' my baby joe dirt and all her mullet glory!!

halloween {a.k.a. the day my kiddos REFUSED to cooperate for pics}

halloween.......we had a ladybug and a train this year {shocking, i know}. surprisingly, noah wavered between bringing thomas back and dressing as the big man in red, santa himself, for quite some time. i'm not sure what exactly finalized his decision, but he was none to happy to find out that "sissers" would not be dressing up as santa, but as a ladybug as i had planned. in the end, neither were in the mood for pictures- so this is the best of the best- which doesn't say much at all! my apologies to the grandparents!!!

{would NOT leave her stinkin' antennae alone all night!!!}

an altercation with an acorn

this big, pretty, full of acorns tree is in our neighbor's front yard. noah loves to take a bowl outside, fill it with acorns and pile them up on the porch so he can "feed the nice squirrels that i love mommy." very kind little guy, huh.

fall = leaves and acorns falling from said tree often and let me say, when they drop from the top, it stings a little.

here we are happily collecting snacks for the squirrels.

and then it happened. the altercation that is, with the acorn. this is noah in disbelief over the fact that "the tree threw an acorn on my head. the tree should 'netter', 'eda', 'eda', 'eda' do that again." there was even some yelling at the tree. {that's never, ever, ever, ever}

and here this little lover of nature is actually kicking the tree that "threw" the acorn at him. there was no reasoning to be had after this either. he is sure that the tree intentionally threw the acorn at him. ummmm, ok. maybe next year when we're 4 we can try again.

and we haven't collected anything for the squirrels since.

birthday catch up

as mentioned, thanks to a few yucky colds that were recently acquired by both kiddos we had to re-schedule noah's birthday train party. however, since grandma and grandpa came anyway, we decided to make the best of it and have a small little birthday bash. he did pretty good up until after dinner and by then he was pretty much done. there's a sad, tired little guy in those cake pictures below. here's hoping he stays well for the re-do here in a few weeks!

noah catch up......

3 already? really? i checked with him again today, and he says he's 3 so i guess it's true. he's such a little man these days. taking care of his "sissers" and such.

he's a side smilin' little man,

a happy go lucky little man,

lover of all things outside {regardless of the temperatures- or present clothing attire} little man

mommy's little man kinda guy, little laugher, potty training refusing,

sometimes backwards doing little man. who's 3. a little man who has taught me more in the last 3 years than i have learned in my entire life. so thankful for this little man. {but surely could appreciate a potty trained little man anytime now!!}

ainsley catch up.....

this little miss is getting too big way too fast. she's no doubt the sweetest little sister, snuggliest little girl and sometimes, just sometimes, sports an attitude like nothing else. a lover of her pink lovey, she takes it everywhere. holds it and snuggles it like we do her.

she's cruisin' around like she's been doing it forever,
starting to make her opinion known,

and slowly, but surely, discovering just exactly who she is going to be.

she loves all things that are her brother's

even his new thomas helmet {which of course, he hates!}

has a smile that will melt your heart,

and the deepest, happiest laugh that makes us laugh right along with her each and every time.

fall catch up

grandma and grandpa h. came and visited for noah's birthday weekend- and lots of fun we did have. had to cancel the big birthday bash thanks to some lingering colds and yucky coughs, but we'll get to that in a few weeks! grandma and grandpa brought a cover for the wagon that we think will be perfect next summer. we love taking walks in the wagon- and this just makes it that much better!

a trip to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon was lots of fun. we found a few pumpkins perfect for carving, snapped a few "token" pumpkin shots and called it good. we love having grandparents visit!!