Party Pictures

We always have cupcakes on the kids' actual birthday, and I do a bigger cake for their party. I finally got to try out my giant cupcake pan. It is so fun!

I just love how excited the girls get when we sing Happy Birthday. Their eyes just sparkle.

We got Maggie and Cassie scooters. They were very excited! They have had fun practicing zooming up and down the hallway. Maggie only slowed down for one picture.

Cassie happily posed for pictures.

I don't know where this pose came from, but I think we are in for it when the girls are teenagers...

Nate also had fun chasing the girls with his truck.

Cassie wanted a pink princess cake again, and Maggie wanted a dinosaur.

And the aftermath. We decided to color the cake mix this year, green for Maggie and pink for Cassie.

They had fun, which is good. Now we just need the weather to get a bit warmer so we can scooter outside.

Mostly pictures

Things have been busy. I have been trying to get the house organized from being sick, the kids have all been sick (our first ear infections ever) and just stuff going on. Here are some pictures (I finally emptied the camera!) I need to get my sewing area organized, so that I can create....I haven't sewn since Christmas time :(


From Valentines Day. I copied Delphina's hairstyle. The girls loved it!




This is what happens when Maggie won't play dress up with Cassie. Luckily, Nate didn't mind too much. (Lino just shakes his head)

The tooth fairy has been to our house 4 times in about the last 2 1/2 weeks. Cassie lost one on the bottom, then the top front left tooth a couple of days later. About a week after that, one of Maggie's bottom teeth came out. Then two days later another on the bottom came out too! They are seeming like such big kids now... ::sniff:: Cassie, with her new smile:

Yesterday the kids all wanted some temporary tattoos put on. The girls thought that Nate looked 'like a grown up' with his. Lino had him do some "tough guy" poses.

Yeah, big tough guy.....


Lino had stopped at Whole Foods on his way home from work one night. He got two loaves of incredible bread. One was for sandwiches, the other was a garlic bread (so yummy). He made a sandwich, which he thought was a perfect one....

It was huge!

That is it for now. Gearing up for Maggie's and Cassie's birthday. Still trying to decide if I am brave enough to invite the class over for cake and icecream....Maybe towards the end of the month.

Party pictures!

After telling us for weeks that he wanted a Thomas the Train cake, Nate changed his mind when he saw the Stickers pan at the frosting store. I was fine with that, it was actually easier to do! The sheet cake is vanilla, the Stickers is chocolate. Buttercream frosting. I can make frosting, but with his party and the girls' party coming up, I bought it. In a 5 gallon bucket. Seriously, 28 pounds of yummy goodness....it tastes good and is so much less work.

Everyone was excited for cake and ice cream....

My dad. We couldn't find any party hats with Stickers. Nate was happy with the Ernie and Elmo ones.

I am pretty sure he is saying "Yes, way" in this picture. I don't know where he picked it up from, but it was pretty cute and he kept saying it all day.

My mother in law knit him a sweater and matching hat. I thought she used her knitting machine for it, but Lino said that he hasn't set that up yet, she did it by hand. I was amazed, the rows are all so neat and uniform. I would love to learn how to knit someday...

So, that is it. The kids had fun. Nate got some of the noisiest toys I have ever heard, which my dad thinks is funny.

No more wild hair....

I managed to get some pictures of Nate's hair after baths yesterday. Better than the 'bedhead' pictures from his birthday.

Certainly is different...I like this picture. He wanted to carry Yellow Bear and play at the same time...

Finally starting to feel better....there is hope!

So after a month of being sick and in extreme pain and not being able to do anything, I am finally starting to feel better. After my trip to urgent care, it seemed as though the antibiotics worked for a few days, but halfway through didn't seem to be effective. Blah. I was able to find a regular doctor, and she seemed to think that I had a few different things happen at the same time: sinus infection, migraine and stiff neck (she had never heard of stiff neck being a symptom of sinus infection)

She gave me some anti-inflammatory meds, and after I asked, some medicine for the pain. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but the neck/head pain made it nearly impossible to sleep and was really affecting how I managed to get through the day....which was barely. I spent the better part of the past month just existing on the couch, not able to play with the kids or do much of anything. So, I needed something.

Luckily, Lino had 3 days off in a row, which allowed me to take pain meds and sleep to try and shake this. Finally this past Saturday, I woke up with my head seeming a lot better (the headache is still there, but mild in comparison) and the neck pain nearly gone. Finally. It feels as though I lost a whole month, there is so much I didn't get done! Did I mention that while all this was going on, the kids and Lino have each been sick with some fever/stomach thing? Yeah, it has been fantastic.

Nate's birthday was Sunday. Lino went shopping after work on Saturday since we hadn't had a chance to go together. We always spend the kids' birthday days as a family, no parties, and I like it that way. The party with my dad, sister and Lino's parents will be next week (that gives me a chance to get the house back in order!

Nate liked his presents. As he opened the cards and presents, he would get all excited, "Look, it's this!" He got a Mater Shake and Go car, a fire station to go with the train Santa brought, a Transformer Bumblebee and Wii Mario Kart. (we totally scored on the Mario Kart....) We will need to exchange Bumblebee, since he wasn't made nicely, but in all, Nate was excited. This year, Nate was very excited about blowing out the candles, and he actually let us sing Happy Birthday at cupcake time! (I will do a big cake for his party, he wants a Thomas cake)

In between opening presents and making cupcakes, they wanted party hats. So, we made hats.

At bedtime, Nate was convinced that when he woke up today he would be 4. Not quite, buddy. Slow down with the getting bigger....it goes too fast for Mama.

PS- Did you notice his hair? He had 'bedhead' for these pictures, but you get the idea. We were forced to go short when we tried to trim his bangs. We cut too short. But, he was pleased, now he has short hair like cousin Leo, which he has been asking for since we saw them at Thanksgiving! I do miss his wild curly hair, but, I think the short is cute too.

Is Santa missing some reindeer?

I think Santa may be missing some reindeer. We found them. Hiding Transformer style in our driveway.

Nate got a big kick out of the Reindeer Car costumes that Lino brought home yesterday. Lino had seen these a few Christmases ago, but only now found them in a store.



So, the Big Red Car has been renamed the Big Red Reindeer for the next month or so.





Nate has taken to hiding under his or the girls' beds when he is sad/mad etc. Yesterday we were getting ready to go shopping and Nate wasn't in the living room with Lino. He wasn't in the bedroom with Maggie and Cassie. So Maggie checked under the bunkbeds, no Nate. Lino checked under Nate's bed. He was there. Asleep.

I don't think he had been under there too long. I am glad he hadn't gotten undressed, though. The floor was cold! You can see Maggie in the background...she crawled under to try and wake him up.

Speaking of Christmas, I have added some Christmas songs to my blog. Lino made fun of me, he thinks most of the versions are terrible. (And he likes Christmas music. He is already listening to the 24 hour Christmas music radio station....)

I love Christmas music. Really love it. Even the really religious ones sound really pretty. I have different versions of songs up there, and am trying to find more. I really like the Little Drummer Boy. Not sure why. I also like the silly ones. I am still looking for Domenic the Christmas Donkey.

The one song you won't ever hear on my playlist though is "The Christmas Shoes" (I don't even know if that is the right title). I just know it is quite possibly the saddest/worst Christmas song ever. I heard it for the first time the year my mom passed away, I was crying my eyes out about a minute into it and made Lino change the station. I can appreciate the sentiment of the song, but I won't listen to it.

Halloween fun

The kids had so much fun on Halloween. It was great to see them so excited. I was able to finish the costumes and was very pleased with how they came out.

The dinosaur (in Maggie's favorite colors) is purple waffle fleece with a green poly blend belly and spines. The pattern instructions weren't terribly clear when it came to the feet, and I lost a lot of sewing time trying to figure them out. I moved on to other parts figuring that the next day maybe it would become clearer. (Lino was able to help me figure them out). If I ever do another dinosaur, I know things that I would do differently, but overall, I liked it and Maggie loved it, which was good.


Nate's tiger costume is a jersey (cotton) print with orange fleece belly and ribbed knit for the cuffs. His was from a pattern by Simplicity, Costumes for Dummies. Those instructions weren't terribly thorough, and if I were a complete beginner, I wouldn't have known how to do some of the steps (it just skipped some parts completely!) If I ever do that hat pattern again, I will do the ears differently. They wound up being hand sewn on (I really dislike handsewing! I am just not neat with it....) But, the hat is cute, and Nate loved it. (I am actually thinking of making him some animal jammies, using this pattern as a guide!


Side view.

Back view, tails and wings. Maggie's tail is quite heavy! it dragged on the ground. Lino tried to wire it, but the wire was kind of pokey, and we didn't want Maggie to get scraped. The tail held up well, though, from all the walking, it still looks good.

At the neighbors house. They looked so cute walking down the street! I guess there were a few people who asked if Maggie was Barney. (she wasn't, purple and green are her favorite colors). Lino was able to deflect it by telling Maggie that they must not know as much about dinosaurs as she does. She agreed with him.....

Lino and Nate took this one. It was kind of cool that night, and Maggie was plenty warm in her fleece, Nate was double layered, but Cassie was kind of chilly by the time they got home! (though when Lino asked her while they were out she was fine! ) We did add a long sleeve tshirt to Cassie's for warmth. I had offered to make her costume, once I saw what it looked like, but she fell in love with the store bought one. It is very thin though, and I will probably wind up reconstructing it at some point.

Nate was a bit disappointed that Maggie and Cassie were taking mini cupcakes to school for a party and the cupcakes wouldn't come home. When I went out to get Halloween candy I picked up some cupcakes so we could have some, too. He was extremely excited, he loves cupcakes!

Because of Cassie's allergy, the candy we pass out is completely peanut/tree nut free/safe. She likes to help pass out candy, too. We also buy candy just for the kids, to trade with them when they get home. I filled an entire gallon bag with unsafe candy! (I did eat 2 Reese's peanut butter cups after the kids went to bed....it has been a long time since I have had any...and felt really guilty for eating them....) I sent the 'bag of death' to work with Lino today, to leave on the break room table.

It was a good Halloween. Next year, if they want me to make costumes, I will start earlier than a week before!