Steve in "Be the Chef" at Benihana's

By the great suggestion of my sister in law, Melissa,

I bought Steve for Christmas the

"Be the Chef" training at Benihana.

Two of Steve's favorite shows to watch

are Top Chef and Iron Chef so to him this opportunity

made him somewhat giddy.

For those of you that know him, you

might find this interesting as my husband is

known for his extremely picky refined culinary taste.

(By the way, please don't take this as hubby bashing!)

It just makes this whole thing all the more entertaining and

provides a good background for this event. 

Steve's idea of a delicious dinner and perfect evening is to

steam a trough bowl of rice and fry up several pieces of bacon then

park himself perfectly centered in front of the television as

he watches the chefs make their best creations with

things like eel and squid while he feasts on rice and bacon....go figure. 

Steve, you are darling and so funny!

He was a bit nervous thinking he was going to forget things that
he learned the week before in his training while cooking for us
but he did great! You could tell he was really enjoying himself.

Steve even flipped some shrimp tails into his hat!

Here Steve did his favorite task, "The Train".

Here he is making some quite delicious fried rice. The meal really turned out fantastic.

So proud of our chef -We had a blast and a very yummy meal (really!)

Snow Much Fun!

  After watching the snow fall all morning long, Steve took a break

from working at home. We all bundled up and went down to meet

                 Hayden at the bus stop after school.

                                                         

Hayden is off the bus - happy and ready to play!

He told me how they let them go out and play at school that day in the snow.

He was overjoyed with the fun of the day.

Hayden immediately starts chasing E with a snowball. 

 

The boys threw snow at each other all the way down the side walk with laughs and

smiles the entire way .

 

Snow was literally knee deep for Evan.

Evan had really gotten the hang of this snowball thing.
He is going after brother full force and with a huge one at that!

 Love how after so many pics I had failed to realize

his little ear was not tucked under his hat. He was having

too much fun to complain about cold ears!!

Me and my favorite little snowmen.

Steve was so waiting for me to take the camera inside

so he could launch snow at my face.

I took my time - I knew what he was plotting.
He even sent Hayden to do his dirty work
later that night sending Hayden running inside
yelling, "Daddy fell!" I almost ran out in my
pj's but as soon as I saw Hayden's face
I knew better!
Plan foiled, boys :-)

snow angels!

This began day 2 of the snow fun. No school!

I was sad for Hayden to not have his school Valentine Party but

rest assured the principal had a recorded message that the parties

were rescheduled for Tuesday..whew!

 Below was the email forwarded to me as well. It made me chuckle a bit. 

I think I was the one that was stressing more than Hayden being a room mom and all. 

"Parents,
Valentine parties will be rescheduled for Tuesday, February 16th.
Tell your kiddos not to worry.
I don't want to cause any stress for them that will affect them later in life.

Enjoy the Snow!"
Mr. I

The boys took instruction from the
construction supervisor (boy next door)

to build their super fort. They did a pretty

great job as you can see the height was well 

above waist level for Hayden.

Hayden hides out behind the finished fort

waiting to launch a snowball as soon 

as our neighbor walks out of his front door.

Trouble......What trouble?

taste testing the snow...

couldn't have been happier - such wonderful memories...

..even for old sweet Lizzie

Cupcake Valentine Pops and Evan's Valentine Party

My sister in law, Melissa, inspired me to make Cupcake Pops.

She had made them several months back and they were so cute and delicious

that I just knew I had to find a good opportunity to make these!

Valentine's Day I thought would be the perfect chance to give these a try.

Bakerella is where the Cupcake Pops were found.

They are tedious but so worth it!

If you want to just do cake pops instead of molding them into cupcakes

you can do that too and takes much less time.

You can get creative and use your own flavors, colors,

and decor to fit your theme and taste.
Bakerella is fantastic!

I solicited my little helper to participate

in the making of the Valentines for his classmates.

He loves to dump stuff in the mixer.

(I wish I could have done them for Hayden's class

but the school only allows store bought treats, bummer.)

Oops, sorry buddy, I forget you can't open the mix
package on your own. I guess this look on your face is
que for me to put the camera down and open the bag
already!













Evan loves to be able to crack the eggs. Normally I won't
allow his to do this because I end up digging out a bunch of egg
shells but he pulled this first one off very successfully!
This was pretty much where Evan's part of the deal ended short of
starting the mixer and licking the bowl. (This was after I emptied the batter into the pan of course for any concerned readers that had one of the delicious treats.)

Fast forward many hours later to the finished project. I was so happy that Michael's had the perfect little heart candies to place on the top along with pink candy melts and Valentine themed sprinkles to complete the look.

After staying up until 2 am, there were still ribbons to be tied and valentines to be secured the next morning. I placed them as little "bouquets" for presentation in little valentine themed ceramic pots.
I loved how they turned out. I was a bit nervous with all the dipping and candy melts involved having never done them before but Melissa gave me some great tips before I got started - Thanks, Melissa!

The Valentine cupcake pops were a hit.

Now if I can just find the motivation to do ever do them again...

Evan and Will as usual ready for the hug pose.
You can't see it but both of their shirts said "Prince Charming."
Fitting title for this pair, huh?

 Evan and his favorite girl, Nicole.

Yeah, I was so happy Nicole's Mommy

was able to finally get a good picture of them.

Thank you for the pic, Cookie!

The teachers and room moms always take the
time to make the parties special.

 

Evan takes time out from the party for some tumble time - why not?

January Birthday Party Fun!

So January was the month of birthday parties-
Evan had two parties in one weekend for his classmates at preschool.
He so enjoyed spending time with some of his favorite buddies
and finally got to be the one invited to a party without his big brother
(or being the one left at home with Mommy or Daddy).
These first videos are of Evan and Will.
(You need to check out my friend Julianne's blog.)
Her take on Will
regarding Evan is so precious and also gets some cute pics of my E.
It is pretty neat that Evan and Will could be in class together
this year. For those readers that don't know,
Julianne is the older sister of Steve's best friends growing up,
twin brothers Jeremy and Joel.
Joel married us in fact and Jeremy was his best man.
Anyhow, just thought I would include that fun fact
before you could see these little guys together.

Evan simply adores Nicole.
He talks about her constantly.
Evan, Nicole, and Will seem to be quite the little
trio at school together.
I wish I was able to sneak a better pic
that wasn't on my handy iphone camera
but was happy to finally get a picture of them
together. Of course Evan was just delighted to see a pic
of himself with his sweet friend.
You can from their little faces, they had just
enjoyed some good ole chocolate birthday cake.

I love that Evan is still at the age where
he is not ashamed to sport a Hello Kitty hat
or wear Hello Kitty stickers from his party favor goodie bag.
These two always seem ready to pose for a
picture together.

Evan and Nicole looked on concerned with
what Will has to say.

And here is the trio.
Evan had told me recently that Nicole was his "girlfriend"
and Will was his "boyfriend."
Oh, the sweet innocence of three years old!
Anyhow, he enjoyed a truly wonderful weekend
full of bouncing, tumbling, singing, and sugar induced eating coma!

Dads and Doughnuts

Evan celebrated "Dads and Doughnuts" at his preschool with Steve.

I hadn't blogged this before but getting doughnuts
with Daddy is a special outing and time the boys share with
Steve almost every Saturday morning.
While Steve, being so wonderful, so kindly lets me sleep in
he takes the boys to get their delicious
breakfast, often with the boys still in their pj's.
He also uses the doughnuts as disciplinary
leverage those mornings so if misbehaving
happens in our house (*yes shocking but true!),
no discipline = no doughnuts.
When this happens Mommy knows quickly
as she wakes up to little boys crying in the other room.
It's the rule though, a good incentive for the boys
to behave for Daddy on Saturday morning!

Evan shows Daddy his cute little footprint
bookmark craft. Anything with their
hands or feet is always a keeper.

Daddy gets his usual- plain glazed. Evan goes for the chocolate - that's my boy!

While he is quickly growing into a big boy,
he still has just enough of those "baby hands"
that I am still holding onto.

Evan strategically places his stickers.
Usually when you leave this boy with stickers
he covers his jeans or sleeve with them
so it was good for him to have a focus.

Love to see Steve with a glue stick working their
little airplane craft.

Now this is the most entertaining part.
The way Evan eats a donut is quite the skill.
He does not eat donuts from side to side
but from top to bottom (icing to dough of course).
Often times he only makes it halfway through the doughnut
and then chimes, "Mommy, I'm doooonnne".
I love it!

My boys had a great time together.

Hayden Reading

Hayden is coming right along with his reading - so proud of him! He is getting better each day.

Christmas Pictures and Outtakes..

I thought it would be fun to post several of the photos taken

for the annual Christmas card.
The boys agreed to cooperate in exchange for ice cream.


Get your hat on, brother!

the angry chokehold pose

Cheese!

The happy chokehold pose

The stranglehold and kiss pose

Likely plotting their escape ...

I love this one.
Evan was clearly in done mode. Hayden was in goofy face mode.

This one was a keeper!
Can't you just tell from their looks
which one is a little more mischief? - love it!

This one also made the cut-
essence of Evan's sweet little face and expression.

This one was also a keeper.
I love that little dimple
that always shows on his left
cheek when he smiles.

cute goofball

It was so cold and so windy but the boys were great sports
and Daddy really got some good laughs
by flashing his belly.
Who knew that would be so entertaining?
Thanks, Daddy.

The cover shot - genuine happy boys.
I think they were singing some
song they made up called the "diaper song".
It makes them laugh so I just went with it.

Makes me smile.

Photo shoot over- We are free!
We are free!