The Holiday Catch-up.

 In the past 2.5 weeks, we have....

1. Celebrated Jack's birthday and we celebrated it as superhero as we could.

My Jack turned 4 years old and for his birthday he requested a Superman cake.

"How hard could it be to make a superman cake" I thought to myself and I set to work with a box cake and homemade frosting. And what I learned is that making and decorating a cake is actually fun, but it can get pretty tricky (and wonky looking) when you let your 4 and 2 year old boys help with the process.

All that matters is that the birthday boy thinks it is neat...and Jack sure did.

Waiting patiently.

He knows what's sitting behind him!

See....superheros. 

The can has officially been opened....at least he still lets me pick out his clothes. Phew!

2. We (Jack very willingly participated) had ourselves a short (maybe 10 minutes) 4 year-old photo session.

I have figured out a special place in my house that gets the perfect natural light.

Now if I just had this...it would be even more perfect.

3. We made Pat desk snacks as a Christmas present from the boys. I think they are just the cutest snack jars!

These were truly super easy to make, especially when I have Jack and Iron Man helping me.

He helped me make them one day while Owen was napping. Let me clarify, I made them while he listened to/read Jack and the Beanstalk on the iPad and told me which food went in each jar. He insisted that the jar with his picture had to have the Nibs.

4. We celebrated Christmas on the 24th and the 25th, just the four of us! This year it was so important to us to start creating our own family traditions that we will carry-on for the many years to come. It was absolutely wonderful! On Christmas Eve, we played, we made homemade granola and delivered it to our neighbors, I prepared The Myers traditional meal (meatballs and cheesy potatoes) while all the boys napped, we went to church and then enjoyed the meatballs and potatoes for dinner. Delicious!

 

Before bed, we wrote a note to Santa, leaving him cookies to munch on.

Jack also threw the Reindeer Food out on our deck, in case they were hungry too.

Jack went to bed that night very excited about Santa coming. When his head hit the pillow, he closed his eyes and said, "Mommy, I am waiting for Santa Claus to come..you need to go to sleep too or else he won't come to my house."

Well, Santa Claus did come and I only have one picture to show for it (a cell phone pic). On Christmas morning, I decided to put my camera down and just enjoy the moment.

Jack with his  Spiderman skateboard (it was #1 on his list) and in his new Batman costume.

FYI-I'm pretty sure Santa got that cute Batman cap from here and the black mask from here.

O-bubs got one too, but it couldn't compete with his new Toy Story 3 figurines. 

Buzz, Woody and Jessie were in his hands the entire day.

5. We then traveled to Northern Wisconsin to spend a few days with Pat's parents, sister and my three nieces. The boys love their cousins and truly had such a blast with them.

We played in the snow a lot and relaxed a lot! 

It was fantastic.

We also celebrated Jack's birthday again while were there!

Owen loved up on his cousins the whole time. He especially took a liking to Ellie, who he called Tinkle for the three days.

Snuggling with grandma is a must and these two were seen on her lap quite often.

6. We had so much fun playing in the snow. In Michigan, we barely have any, so this was such a treat for the boys.

This is not the angle of the picture...the snow is truly up to Jack's waist and Beasley's body!

O is not a huge fan of being cold and within 15 minutes he asks to "go home". This is hard, because Jack could play outside for hours never requesting to go inside. 

But the mini-snowman made it more fun and helped buy us some time.

We also have had a terrible, awful, no good cold go through our family (so sorry to all those we have effected). Jack was the first to get it, hence the sad look on his face above. He was such a trooper though trying to have fun with his cousins through it all.

7. We then went to my mom's house where were able to play with more cousins.

And I can never resist a photo shoot with this darling, cutie pie!

Okay, so I know she is my niece and I am quite biased, but "Hello GAP, are you there? Miss Frankie must be a model for you!"

8. More playing outside and more silliness!

 

9. Due to that terrible, awful, no good cold and a developing ice storm we stayed in for NYE. But, the next night we met up with my girlfriends and their families for a Mexican Fiesta/Rose Bowl Party!

I decided to take pictures of all the kids at the end of the night when they were on the brink of the ugly, tired breakdown (well, my kids anyway). Bad idea, which is why I don't have any to share.

10. And now it's time to get back to reality! I am feeling the urge to purge and make these first few months of the new year more simple and organized!!

Be back soon....

we are playing with our cousins!

Merry Christmas!

May your holidays be filled with love, joy, health, laughter and smiles!

And just like that he's....

On December 21, four years ago we were living in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We had only lived in this new state for a few short months as your dad took a job with a new company and we were relocated there. This day marked the 38 weeks and 5 days that you had been growing in my belly. We were so excited and ready for you to make your appearance! Well, it was around 10:00 am on this day and I had just gotten out of the shower. I was blow-drying my hair, I bent over slightly and I heard a "pop" and my water broke. I guess that is when you gave me first notice that you were ready to come out into the world.

Being new at this, mommy and daddy rushed to the hospital to see if you were truly ready to come out. Little did we know, it would be another 14 hours until we were actually holding you in our arms. You took your sweet, old time maybe you were showing us your stubborn side (that you get from your mommy). After about 8 hours of no signs (no dilatation or contractions) of you, mommy's Midwife decided it would be best to give me some medicine to speed things up a bit to get you out quicker. This medicine worked and around 10:00 pm on this day, you were really wanted out! After pushing for 2 hours, Mommy delivered you at 12:21 am on December 22, 2006. We smiled, we cheered, we laughed, we cried as we held you, our first healthy, newborn son. The joy we felt at this moment is something we had never experienced before in our lives.

We had a few names picked out for you that we liked, but daddy decided you looked like a Jack. I agreed and so we named you Jack. Your MiMi and PaPa had driven down the day before to spend Christmas with us. They arrived to our house to see a note on the front door telling them, "The baby is on his way" and so they were the first to meet you. Being that you were their first grandson, it was very special. You were held and snuggled between the four of us non-stop. You were the best Christmas present we have ever received.

And now here we are on this day, four years later. We have since moved to two different States and have lived in two different houses. And through this all, you have always remained a pure joy in our lives. We have learned so much from you Jack. In watching you grow and learn, you have taught us the real meaning of  love, patience, understanding and happiness.

You are 110% all boy. You love to run, jump, dance, swim and play (and play hard). You love to sing, making up the words as you go along. You love to draw (color, not so much) and it's usually Superheros that you draw.

Superman

You are in preschool 2 days a week at a Nature Center. It compliments your absolute most favorite activity, being outside (in any type of weather). You enjoy school more than I even expected (and I expected a lot). Comments your teachers have told me are, "Jack is a friend to everybody in the class", "Jack always has something to share during circle time", "Jack has a big heart and he is very caring to all the kids in class" and "Jack loves nature walks, they are his favorite". Hearing this makes my heart leap! Now, you don't tell mommy much about school other than if you do or don't go on a nature walk that day. And you randomly belt out songs that you learn at school, which usually happens at dinner.
I love this.

When Owen came along 2 years ago, you were not too sure about having a little brother. However, today, you are so in love with him and he with you. You are showing us everyday what a great big brother you are and will be for the many years to come. You help him, teach him, share with him, play with him and give him hugs and kisses quite often. Our hope is that you will always be there for each other, one day becoming best friends.

Jack, I love you more than I could ever convey in this blog post.
You turning 4 years old makes me a little sad and I get a little choked up just thinking about it.
But, thinking about all the wonderful, joyous things you bring to my life puts a huge smile on my face.
I truly cannot wait for what 4 will bring for you and I am so excited to be a part of that!
I love you Jackers!

Santa Train 2010

We took a ride on The Santa Train this past weekend. The boys got a huge kick out of seeing Santa, sitting on his lap and having a little conversation with him. Jack told Santa that he has "been a good boy and he would like a Spiderman skateboard and a Batman Scooter". Owen told Santa, "Santa, Santa, ho-ho-ho....Mi-Mouse", which meant he would like Mickey Mouse. However, Santa is not getting him "Mi-Mouse" because the only Mickey Mouse he seems to make is that dancing/singing Micky Mouse and well, that is just freaky. 

Anyway, the Santa Train experience as a whole was only okay this year. Owen was a fidgety two-year-old the entire time and after seeing Santa, Jack actually asked if we could go home. Waw-waw-waaaaw.  

 But, they did get to see and talk to him and I was able to get this cute picture of them on his lap wearing matching outfits (cause I'm weird like that).

This Santa did however really take time with each of the kids on our train car. He talked to each of them for a good five minutes, which was real sweet. I asked Jack if he had any questions for Santa or if their was anything else he wanted to tell him. After thinking for a minute, he said, "Oh yes, Santa I just want to tell you that I love my family very much". Aww...I guess he knew who was really listening :) 

Flashback...Santa Train 2009

and

Here we go, only 4 more days till Christmas!

I just added make chocolate peanut butter balls to my list.

Jammies, Cupcakes, Reindeer and Bokeh...huh?

Jack turns four years-old in three days.

I'm not ready to talk about it.

I just cannot believe that my little boy is going to be 4!

But, like I said, I'm not ready to talk about it.

Instead, I just want to share what we did the morning of his last day of preschool before Christmas break and before his birthday. Poor bugger's birthday will always be clumped in with Christmas. Not if I have anything to say about it! I will always do my best to unclump it and make it special.

So, here goes....

We stayed in our jammies all morning...we played, we baked cupcakes and we made Reindeer food.

Jammies.

A little insight into these pictures... Jack asked me to take a picture of him with Owen.

Jack snuggled up real close to his baby brother and then Owen snuggled up real close to his big brother.

And then he gave him a kiss (unprompted, even).

Awww....love these moments.

Cupcakes.

 I wanted to make treats for Jack to bring to his preschool class in celebration of his birthday. To honor Jack's request of cupcakes, I went on an internet search for an idea and I came across these colorburst cupcakes. Perfect... they are fun, colorful, easy for Jack and I to make together, and contain lots of sugar and color additives (just what a bunch of 3 year-olds need...I totally kid). No, but seriously,  they reminded of the rainbow cake and the fruit and veggie rainbow pancakes I also came across awhile ago, something I always have wanted to try. 

The boys and I whipped up the colorburst cupcakes together.

Jack mixed the colors into the separate batters, I layered them into the liners and O tried to stir up some trouble by flinging his batter-dipped spoon everywhere.

Okay, so this cupcake talk is getting pretty lengthy. Sorry...moving on.

I'm pretty sure they watched them bake the entire 20 minutes.

And voila...rainbow cupcakes with vanilla frosting and Christmas sprinkles (it's all I had)!

I guess they enjoyed them because Jack came home with an empty pan and a frosting-covered face.

Actually, Owen and I shared one while Jack was at school and I have to say these were super yum!

Reindeer Food.

We made packets of Reindeer food for each of his friends at school.

This little project truly took like 15 minutes (at the most) and Jack loved it! Reindeer talk is very magical!

I printed off the labels at home, we mixed the food together (oatmeal, sugar and red/green sprinkles and sugar crystals) and then stapled them onto little plastic baggies. And there you have it, Reindeer food you can sprinkle on your lawn or deck on Christmas Eve.  

See...Magical.

And a couple nights later, I tried Bokeh with my camera, my Christmas tree and my little dudes.

My first try at it and it kinda worked, but with a snotty nosed O-bubs sucking on a random stick. My attempts after this failed as my camera kept focusing on the tree instead of my patient and willing subject, Jack. Hmm?

Real life this picture is, but I need to give it a try again. Pictures like these and/or these would be nice.