Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Happy 3rd Birthday Zeke!

Today marks Zeke's 3rd birthday. Happy Birthday, little buddy!
On Saturday, we had a small party with family and one of Zeke's friends. A few weeks ago, Zeke requested a tractor birthday party, so we ran with the theme.

We looked out the window to discover that some crazy hens had escaped from their pen and laid some (candy-filled) eggs in the yard. Zeke and his friend had fun discovering all the hidden eggs. The parents and grandparents had fun eating some of the candy.

Then, we played Pin the Wheel on the Tractor. Everybody won.

Finally, it was on to presents and cake.



I'm no cake boss, but I did have fun decorating my first "shape cake".


All in all, it was a fun party. Today is his "real" birthday and we'll continue to celebrate Zeke's life all day long!


Monday, November 7, 2011

Happy Birthday Zadie and Ezra!

Ezra and Zadie have turned ONE! What a year it's been! We had a fantastic weekend celebrating the first full year of life for our busy twins. Since our home is having some work done (more about that in a different post), we have been moving around quite a bit in the past two weeks.

For their birthday party weekend, we stayed at The Cliffs resort up near Branson, MO. We baked cupcakes, went swimming in the outdoor pool and hot tub, watched movies, and opened presents. Zeke helped me make cupcakes.
I hope to do a reminiscent post about each baby within the next week, focusing on all the fun aspects of each of my precious one-year-old babies! In the meantime, here are a few pictures from our birthday party weekend!
Cupcakes!

Lots of cuddle time at the resort!




Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!
This year we had Bob the Builder (a construction worker).

And.... Puppies!!!

We started the weekend with the Northwest Arkansas Moms of Multiples Club annual Halloween party. It was so fun to see all the cute costumes on some area twins. Of course, the singleton siblings were also adorable. Fun families, yummy food, a cupcake walk, little balls and lots of crawling space. We had a blast!


Today, we carved some pumpkins and went trick or treating in our neighborhood. It turns out that we live in a "destination neighborhood" for trick or treating. Who knew! It was so fun to see a couple hundred kids and parents out in their costumes. Next year, we'll know to buy more candy- we ran out in 40 minutes!




Sorting his loot...




Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Labor Day Fun

We had a fantastic Labor Day, and spent some great quality time together. We started out in the morning with a women and children visit over at my parents' house. My aunt Kathleen and uncle Terry were in town for the weekend from Florida, so it was great to be able to spend some time with them.

While the women and children visited and took a little walk, the men hit the golf course. Tom had two holes where he chipped in the hole. For you non-golfers out there, this means he got it in the hole without needing to putt it in from the green. This requires a great deal of skill and concentration. Pictured here is a guy that is not Tom, but he is demonstrating what great chipping looks like.


Zadie was all smiles as we grilled out in the backyard. We're considering a September camping trip with the kids. To try out the idea, we set up the tent in the backyard. The kids loved climbing in and out.

We grilled brats, sliced up some watermelon, and played in the tent and yard. I don't know if it would be practical to bring high chairs on an actual camping trip, but it was great in the backyard. I got some nice snuggles in with each of the kids.





After dinner, we piled in the minivan and went to Braums to pick up some ice cream. We came home and partied till the sun went down. Zeke got a chocolate ice cream cone, and Tom and I got some blizzard-type things with Reese's. Yummy!


We hope your weekend was as nice as ours!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

June... Where did the time go???

So, June is over. How the heck did that happen? Hmmm. It turns out that three kiddos keeps a family pretty busy. Plus, the weather's been warm and our weekends are filled with family fun instead of internet blogging. Enough excuses already. Here are some highlights from June.

Lots of outside kid time. Backyard pool parties, sandbox play. The babies are in the background of this picture doing pretty much what they did all of June. Ezra hangs out on his belly, hands, and knees, rocking without moving anywhere. Zadie lies on her back with her head up, ab-cruncher style. She doesn't care for her stomach, though she did finally start to roll mid-June.


We've been taking a weekly class called Financial Peace University. It's a program by Dave Ramsey that helps people become debt free and work their way to wealth. It's no overnight solution, and requires quite a bit of sacrifice and tough budgeting. Dave teaches us that right now, we need to "Live like no one else, so that later we can Live like no one else! " Currently, we're in the first part of living like no one else. Selling things on Craigslist, spending only cash, cut up all credit cards, very careful budgeting and planning... No huge secrets, but it requires a way of saving and spending that our generation isn't necessarily programmed for. We try to keep it fun though!


We like the small group that we meet with each week. The class involves watching the dynamic money guru, Dave Ramsey do a one hour video and then discussion with our little group and facilitator afterwards. It's been a nice way to get to know some sweet southern folks. Nana and Papa have graciously volunteered to babysit while we go to class, so we've also enjoyed having a grown-up activity to do.

For Father's Day, I took our special guys (Tom and my dad) to the annual Wing Fest in Fayetteville. I won a 4-pack of tickets on a radio giveaway, so it worked out perfectly to celebrate with BBQ sauce all over our faces. Yummy! Of course, I forgot the camera at home. (This was a very lucky weekend in which I got 4 free wingfest tickets, 3 free large smoothies, 2 free cloth diapers, and 1 free art print. Cool!)


In late June, we were so happy to have visitors! My brother, Chris flew in for some quality time, and the Zabell family (3 generations worth!) drove down from MN for the fun. My cousin's little daughter, Hannah, is also 2. She and Zeke had a blast together, however I have hardly any pictures to show for it! We went golfing, swimming, day-tripping to Eureka Springs, and loads of fun visiting.


Here is a cute picture of Hannah dancing with Zadie. Unfortunately, my finger created a little shadow when the flash went off, but I still think it's a cute pic.

On June 23, while the whole crew was still here, we celebrated Tom's 33rd birthday. Tom wanted to celebrate his day in style, so of course we took him to Chuck E. Cheese. There was digger riding and mole whacking. There were tickets, and of course pizza. Super fun.



Other than big family events, our days are filled with the "routine" things. Changing diapers, washing and drying diapers, feeding kids, chasing kids, picking up toys, applying sunscreen, feeding kids again, working, sleeping. Repeat. The days seem to fly by!



Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

We wish you all a blessed Easter Day! We enjoyed a special Easter Brunch this morning with the Nelsons. Zeke even gave the Easter bunny a "fa-five" (high five). Have a great day everyone!

Happy Easter from the Ozarks!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Zeke

Today, Zeke turned 2! We had a fantastic day filled with family, birds, fish, and cupcakes!

Highlights included some little birds from Grandma Jean and 2 new goldfish in a tank from Nana and Papa. I made cupcakes that had some Mickey Mouse wrappers on them. Zeke kept calling him Sticky Mouse. He loves his new fish, and we had a great time watching the first ever full length movie as a family- Finding Nemo. What a great day. Happy Birthday, Zeke!






Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween 2010

This year was Zeke's first "real" Halloween! Last year in Honduras, he was sick and we didn't leave the house. So, this year he got to dress up and even have a couple pieces of candy!




Here we are as a family of 3 standing outside of Brookestone Meadows, the super-nice rehabilitation facility that Grandma Jean is staying at for a few days while she practices walking with her new hip. I look like the Great Pumpkin. A few people asked me if "it" was "real"- my giant belly. I assured them it was. I hope to never wear a costume this large again in my life!
Here is a much cuter picture of my guys on Halloween. Zeke dressed up as a train conductor. His favorite phrase was "Choo-choo!" He also calls out "All Aboard!" in a super high voice every once in awhile. Thank you PBS hit series Dinosaur Train for teaching us all about conductors!

In addition to having a fun time visiting Grandma Jean, Brookestone Meadows had a special trick or treat party for families of patients and staff members. It was so fun to see all the other kids dressed up and walk door to door with Zeke!


Zeke loves suckers. Here he is enjoying his first Halloween candy.

Here he is going to get more candy from someone else! Trick or Treat!