Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My Birthday!

I know you are dying to see more pictures of candles and cakes... but let Ali's face in that shot below be a little gift to any of you who are obliging me :).  Sweet Glenn worked pretty hard to get that cake for me and it was a fun blast from the past to have an ice cream cake again (I got them almost every year as a little girl... they were my favorite).  Perhaps putting too much out there in the cyber world, but 30 was NOT my favorite year.  I have been thrilled to turn over to 31... and it has been a much better year to date :).  How could life not be good with that cute crew around?

Max took this photo!  LOVE Ali's face- cracks me up!)

Glenn's Birthday!


F.U.N., creative, talented artist/editor/storyteller, loving, patient, kind, unselfish, amazing listener, creative and excellent gift giver, strength of our home, dear father, and perfect husband... 
 It is a joy to celebrate our Glenn.


Yes, that is sadly pizza instead of the feast I had planned.  I, unlike people on TV, cannot  make three different cupcakes in  45 minutes...


Happy Birthday Love!

The Judge

This year my sweet Glenn turned 31.  Have I mentioned he's incredible lately?  Because he really is.

We've been watching a bit of Food Network lately and have seen our share of a show called Cupcake Wars...  unfortunately, we're left with cupcake cravings after every show.   I figured a birthday was the perfect time to endulge, so I presented the birthday judge with his plate of 3 cupcakes to critique (orange pound cake with an orange infused buttercream frosting,  a homemade Hostess Cupcake with ganache, and a spice cake with Cream Cheese frosting).  Mine paled in comparison to the show's creative outputs... but we really enjoyed them!   For the record, the birthday judge definitely favored the orange pound cake cupcake... (He even used the accents when critiquing!  Love that man.)


Since we made our Disneyland trip our gift this year, we kept it simple on the gift side-- although I was quite proud of myself for cleaning his car (cleaning our cars is forever on my to-do list, but seldom checked off!)... now if I could just do the same to the minivan!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

JONAS!














This little boy cracks me up, makes me smile, and warms my heart.

On Tuesday, he turned 4 and started pre-school all at once.

Poor Ali is kind of linked at the hip with her big brother, so she prepared as if she was going to pre-school too, despite my efforts to get her to understand.  She took the split rather well.  We followed it up with some rare good girl time.  When we picked Jonas up, she kept saying, "Jonas, I missed you!!!"  and singing him 'Happy Birthday'- it was sweet!

This Jonas is one dear soul- creative, imaginative (lots of stuffed animal friends... Up Dawg, Tigger, Baxter the dog...).  He jumps and climbs and dances around most of his days and spends the rest of his time cracking me up with his whims.  "Mom, I want three apples and three sandwiches for lunch."  "Mom, I want a blanket of frosting."

His heart is always grateful.  His prayers are dear and very specific about items and people he is grateful for.  He's grateful for happy days and happy playtimes together.  He is, by nature, a happy soul.  I am so very fond of him.

For his birthday I caved in and went to my nightmare land... Chuck E Cheese. I literally walked around with a pocket full of sanitizing wipes... gratefully no pink eye episodes yet!   Jonas has since asked every day to go back.  He has no idea what a compromise it was for me to allow one visit a year to that germ-o-sphere.  Eek.  I can't discuss it any longer.

We also celebrated by watching old home movies of Jonas growing up and making a bug cake... per his request.  He's in love with his new Tigger, playdough set, and toddler lap top... but his favorite gift was a styrofoam axe from his uncle Trevor!   It is hilarious to see these kids going around the house hacking at each other and laughing!  So morbid, yet funny...

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Christmas 2011


This year for Christmas, I got to steal my family for a California Christmas!  We had a fun week of the climbing on the roof, going to the zoo & Six flags, eating on my mom's china, attempting to catch a movie (futile effort with kids!), watching Meet Me In St. Louis, wrapping to Christmas music, chocolate chip pancakes,  a trapeze class, going to the gym, having fun with Trevor's fish-eye lens (Glenn!), cookie making, and lots of present opening!  It was so nice to be together and see these children who are growing WAY too fast!
When did my little brother become a full-on grown up??? Blows my mind and impresses me all at once.  I adore this guy.

It was Gabriel's idea to add the face in chocolate chips.  We were proud of the results :)

Malachi and Grandpa playing



I came outside to see Trevor and Jonas on the roof!


Ali taking Malachi for a "drive"... I L.O.V.E. Malachi's face in this one!


Camille's famous thumbprint cookies-- these FLEW off that plate!



I made my mom's famous Bavarian mints, covered them, and set them outside to cool.  I checked on them an hour later to find a cat's behind scurrying quickly away from the crime scene.... sadly, no one got any Bavarian mints, except the cat.

My Mom's china :)





Cory and Camille's German Aupair, Kai- he was a great addition to the family and makes a killer meatball.





Glenn made me a surprise ball for my stocking- YES!