Hayden Doing a Little Bedtime Reading and Singing to Evan

Hayden is doing wonderfully with his reading.

This is him doing a little bedtime reading to Evan to the tune 

of Wheels on the Bus.

He also did a little improvising to Evan as to what else

the characters might be saying or thinking on each page.

Evan loved it and so did Steve and I.

Spring Break Lake Weekend with the Chandlers

We took a quick little Spring Break trip to visit my long time friend, Melanie Chandler,

at her parents home at the lake.
Melanie was one of my best friends in high school and we have never lost 

touch. Her parents, Betty and Randy, we also now consider friends
at this stage in our lives. 
Thank you for a beautiful weekend.

The boys could not wait to get out for a boat ride. 

Randy even let the boys drive the boat - 

the smiles were non-stop!

And just when they thought it could not get any better, they got a
chance to ride the 4 Wheeler!

Evan just kicked back and relaxed...

A pretty tulip from the Chandler yard and Red Bud Tree from the farm.

Evan finds the perfect walking stick while Betty guides the hike.

Melanie and the boys.

MSilly brothers....

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?