Monster Birthday Party

Tyler had a monster themed party this year! We had monster invitations (here), monster plates and napkins (after scouring the internet and several craft/party stores, I found them at Wal-Mart of all places!), and monster cookies and cupcakes!

I really enjoy baking, and had a lot of fun making these treats.  To create the monster cookies, I made my favorite sugar cookie recipe (here) and sugar cookie icing (here), then painted on some funny faces.

To create the cupcakes, Tyler "helped" me make funfetti cupcakes, then I piped on some buttercream "fur" and added some googly eyes.  The more googly eyes, the better!

He had a lot of fun opening his presents this year

And we all had a lot of fun trying to put everything together!

8/3

We took some pictures today to capture Alex turning 8 months old (though i'm of course a little bit behind) and Tyler turning 3 years old (though that's actually tomorrow, so I'm actually early!!!)! 

Alex is sitting up on his own, army crawling everywhere, eating cheerios & puffs, and loves exploring the house!

I told Tyler to pose for a picture, so he situated himself by the tree! He is definitely a little ham! He is growing up so fast! He's talking all the time, loves going to school, is a great big brother to Alex, and is really excited to be playing on his first soccer team starting in November.

Vacation: Part 2

Vacation was really relaxing. We spent most mornings on the beach soaking in the sun and playing in the sand, or going to the pool that was right next to the beach. We probably only got into the ocean once or maybe twice - Tyler was not a fan of the waves. And I'm not a fan of stepping on scary things. :)  Poor Alex was covered in sand head to toe.  Tyler loved digging in the sand though, and generally running around the beach. Here are some pictures from our beach time!

Vacation: Part 1

We went on vacation to Hilton Head the week of Labor Day.  It was a great time and a much needed break from everyday life!  We decided to break up the drive there into 2 days since it was about 11 hours (+a few for kid stops).  On the way there we spent our first night in Asheville, NC.  The next morning we went to Chimney Rock State Park.  The drive to the park was really cool - it turned out to lead you through "Apple Country" where every few miles there was a different farm/apple orchard.  We stopped at one and bought some fresh apples and treats - yum!  We then headed to the park.  You can see the "chimney rock" in the picture below, the park's namesake. 

There is an elevator to take you to the top of the rock where there is supposed to be a great view ... except when we got there we were told the elevator was under rennovation and we couldn't take it.  So we had a choice - carry Alex & Tyler up around 500 stairs to the top, or hike the other trails. We opted for the hiking. :)  Tyler walked for around 5 minutes or so, then of course wanted to be carried. We weren't prepared with a carrier for Tyler, so Ed had to carry him basically the whole time.

We finally made it to the end.  At the end was a beautiful waterfall that you could play in. I couldn't get too close because I was carrying Alex in a carrier and couldn't climb over the rocks to get to the base of the waterfall, but Tyler & Ed had a great time playing in the water and exploring the rocks!

After our hike, we got back in the car and headed to the beach! We finally got there in the early evening, and headed to the beach to expore.

The whole week was great! More pictures to come!

Fun in the Sun

We took the opportunity of having a Saturday morning with nothing to do to go up to the local water park at Winton Woods.  It was a lot of fun (and so affordable)!!  Alex (mostly) enjoyed his first water park experience.  Tyler loved it, especially the water slide!

Inch by inch, row by row, I'm going to help my garden grow

One hobby I enjoy (though don't get much time to do) is gardening.  I have a very long list of things I'd like to do to the landscape around our house, so every year I try to do one or two new things.  This year I planted tomatoes and bell peppers for the first time (so far so good, though deer ate most of my peppers!) on one side of the house, and along the other side of the house Tyler helped me plant a few packets of wildflower seeds.  I had pretty low expectations, to be honest.  I've never really grown anything from seeds.  But I got several packets free from work for an earth day event, so I thought why not try.  And they definitely exceeded my expectations! I think this is something I'll do every year now.  It's nice to have something really easy to grow and something that's easy to cut flowers from for the table - I love fresh flowers in the house! All I did was remove the top layer of dirt, Tyler helped me sprinkle the seeds over the ground, I replaced the top layer of dirt and watered it once. I let nature do the rest! I think it was a good learning experience for Tyler, too - he really enjoyed checking on them to see their progress and watch them grow.  He's very proud of his garden!

3, 4, 5!

I have some long overdue pictures to add!

Alex at 3 months! (April)



 And at 4 months! (May)

5 month pictures are on their way! (today)