Pizza Picnic

I had to share these pictures I took today of the boys and their pizza picnic. While outside enjoying our spring weather (I told you the temperature would be on the rise!), riding bikes and playing with friends, we planned an impromptu pizza picnic in the driveway for lunch. I was teased by Chris for choosing the driveway as he indicated we could be "more civilized" and have the boys eat inside ... they are boys, after all, and they didn't mind one bit - they were excited about the prospect of eating on a blanket in the driveway, and they all looked darn cute just sitting in a row eating their pizza and grapes. Plus, what better way is there to keep the mess at a minimum than to eat outside?

Here in mid-bite, Hayden and Carter sit and eat, with a little bit of sauce around the lips, but a picture so precious I had to share. Aren't they two of the cutest little boys you have ever seen?

Our little monkey, sitting on the other side of the blanket, enjoys his juice like a big boy.

Here are just a few more shots I took of the kids enjoying their pizza picnic outside ... the perfect recipe for fun!

Hayden Rides On

Daddy gets him balanced.With a little push, off he goes!
He rides on his own!

This evening a very exciting event happened in our family ... Hayden took his first ride on his bike without training wheels! We were all so excited as we watched him ride effortlessly down the sidewalk without those two little wheels to use for balance. He's been ready for a while to try riding on his own, and today he figured it was time. A few weeks back, Chris had to replace the inter tube on one wheel of his bike and when he put the bike back together, he purposely put the training wheels back on slightly off-centered to help Hayden learn to start balancing on his own. Each time since, we had noticed Hayden doing better and better at balancing on just two tires and at times it seemed as if he was riding on his own, as neither training wheel touched the ground. Today was the same ... we were outside and I was watching him ride and told him he was ready to go on his own. So he asked his daddy to take them off, and with a little help getting started, off he rode ... no help, no out-of-breath daddy running behind him ... with us and our neighbor friends looking and cheering him on, he just rode the bike, on his own, down the street, as if he had always done it. What a champ - we are so proud of him! As he rode, you could hear him chanting "woo hoo" and see him beaming with pride as he recognized the enormity of his great accomplishment. Hope you find yourself smiling, and maybe even cheering on, just as we did watching our little boy take this big leap forward and ride on his bike with just two wheels! YAY - way to go Hayden!

Yummy Muffins

I wanted to share this muffin recipe for anyone out there who hasn't yet heard of these six week bran muffins ... they are so easy to make, so YUMMY to eat, and the batter can sit in your fridge for up to six weeks, so you can scoop, bake and have warm muffins at the ready. My mother-in-law introduced this recipe to me a while back and I then found this one that includes applesauce rather than oil ... My boys, as you can imagine, eat them up ... all three of them ;) and it's definitely handy to have for those mornings when you want to bake something, but don't have the time or energy to pull out ingredients first thing upon waking. If you have a child like my little monkey, who wakes up saying "mama, i wanna eat bretfist", these muffins are for you! I bake the muffins a dozen at a time, and I found it works best if you just use spray in the muffin tins rather than paper liners - we found it hard to get the muffins out when you use the liners and the muffins are warm ... you can't eat them as fast! :) Hope you enjoy these as much as our family does!

Six Week Apple Bran Muffins
Ingredients
· 5 1/2 cups Raisin Bran cereal
· 3 cups sugar
· 5 cups flour
· 5 teaspoons baking soda
· 2 teaspoons salt
· 1 quart buttermilk
· 1 cup applesauce
· 4 eggs, beaten

Directions
Combine dry ingredients (except for cereal).
Add wet ingredients. Mix in cereal well.
Cover tightly and refrigerate up to six weeks.
Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Fondue Feast

Our Fondue FeastTopped off with chocolate!Hayden (yes, in Santa PJs) and Tim dipping for dessert!
Hayden dips some more
Noah's "moshmewo"

We celebrated Valentine's Day together, first with breakfast over at Grammy and Grampy's house, then went to our neighbor's to celebrate their youngest daughter's second birthday. The most anticipated part of our day, however, was our fondue feast with Chris' cousin, Tim, and his wife, Lindsey. Our planning started over a week ago, when I had this idea as I drove home from work to do fondue for Valentine's Day. We pulled out a cookbook I've had for years with many different fondue recipes and began planning for our evening feast ... we ended up doing three pots: one with a sweet bar-be-que sauce for dipping in sausages, meatballs, Little smokies, as well as veggies; one was a "pub" fondue, a cheddar blend, and the other was a classic Swiss. We had everything from carrots and cauliflower to bread cubes. All three turned out delicious, though the Swiss was slightly "gluey" it still tasted great, and we had a wonderful time dipping and eating and dipping and eating ... even the boys got into it a bit, Noah slightly cranky from being woken up from his nap though, and Hayden trying to warm his carrots over the steam from the pots. I tried to get more pictures, but I realized they were all of us shoving food in our face and I was the brunt of a few jokes because I kept trying to snap pictures of everyone instead of enjoying the fondue. After cleaning up the pots, we set out to get our chocolate fondue ready with all the accompaniments ... strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, angel food cake ... it was a perfect ending to a special day together. You can see the boys enjoying the chocolate fondue, using the fondue spears I think was the highlight of their night. We loved having Tim and Lindsey over to hang out as they are such a special part of our lives; we are truly thankful, and very lucky, to call them family as well as friends. Next time I will try to get more of us in the pictures, but for now you get the idea ...

All Bundled Up

To those of you who live in colder regions of our country, you may find these pictures slightly humorous considering we live in Arizona and typically are able to wear flip-flops year round. The past few days, but especially today, we have had a cold blast come through keeping our high temps in the 60s, which for us desert rats is downright CHILLY! Though not to be discouraged by the cold weather, we bundled up the boys complete with hats and mittens and went for our morning walk. They managed to stay warm, I think, even though part way through our walk they were both without their hats and the mittens were gone .... Noah also continued to inform us that he was "fweezing." It was cold and I even donned a scarf with a few extra layers myself, as with the wind chill factor I am sure it was in the 40s ... I realize I probably don't even come close to knowing the true meaning of the world cold, but when it's above 80 for the majority of the year, anything below 70, for me, is sweatshirt temperature! For now, we're enjoying the winter-like weather because before we know it, the mercury will soon be on the rise!

The Lion King

Before watching the Arizona Cardinals play an excellent football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hayden and I, together with Grammy (Daddy was going to join us but had a contract flight over the weekend), went to see The Lion King production in Tempe. A few years ago, this show came on tour, and Chris and I had the opportunity to see it then. When I heard it was coming back, I was very excited about another possible chance to see it onstage. It ended up that Jan surprised us with tickets after Christmas, and I can't even tell you how glad I am she did. This show is simply amazing and is hard to describe in words ... the costumes, the music, the backdrops - everything about it is simply wonderful and if you ever have the chance to see it, I highly recommend it. Hayden was simply mesmerized by all of it and did such a great job sitting still, only getting antsy towards the very end. He loved watching Timon and Pumba, as well as "Czar" as he kept calling Scar .... Jan brought binoculars for him to use, though it ended up we had such wonderful seats, he really didn't need them. He now loves listening to the soundtrack, and remembers parts of the show when he hears certain songs from it. What a wonderful memory to create with my son and mother-in-law - so thank you, Grammy, for the great treat and time together!

Welcoming in 2010!!!!!

In keeping with tradition of staying home to welcome in the new year, we were joined by friends Jen, Ellie, Lia (poor Bill was home sick!) and Heather, Lance, Tatum, and Carter for some yummy appetizers, sweet treats, and delicious drinks. The kids had a blast playing and running freely through the house while the rest of us just enjoyed spending time catching up and sharing stories of the holidays. Just before Jen had to take her girls home for bed, we hooked up the borrowed Wii from Tatum and Carter and watched Ellie bowl a few rounds with Tatum and a little bit of help from Auntie Melly. Lots of fun, laughter, and cheers were had and the games continued on through the evening. As the night wore on, our little Monkey conked out about ten while his big brother managed to stay awake to ring in the new year. Though Kate had to work, she was home just after midnight and was able to share a bit in welcoming the new decade.

As I look back to all the new year celebrations I've had, the ones I hold most dear are those shared with my family and our family's friends. It has always been one of those nights that my parents, brothers, sister, and I shared together at home with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents stopping in to eat, drink, and celebrate too. I love starting my own traditions with my family and being able to share it with some of our best friends makes it that much better.

It's amazing to think we're on the brink of a new decade and in just a few months Chris and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary. It seems like not so long ago I was in the midst of planning my wedding while now I am trying to figure out how to plan our anniversarty trip to Hawaii. Whatever happens though in this new decade, I can only hope the years are as good, or maybe even better, than the last ten. This I know for sure, God will continue to bless us as He always has!