Happy 3rd Birthday to Charlie and Quinn! - The Cake

Rather then trying to squeeze two birthday celebrations into one post here is a series of posts for our three year olds celebration: 

The Cakes

We made chocolate cupcakes.  I have found a yummy and simple recipe for chocolate cupcakes.  It makes quite a bit so I knew we could fill our train molds and satisfy our princess cupcake request all with one batch.  The train mold seemed like it was going to be "easy".  We had successfully tested the process for the train cars with muffins.  Needless to say the train cars did not cooperate as planned.  Thanks to some teamwork and lots of frosting - I think we pulled off a train that Charlie loved.  Quinn had requested a princess cake and originally I was thinking we could do a cake in the shape of a crown/tiara.  I clarified with Quinn - she clarified with me that she would prefer "Belle", "Sleeping Beauty", "Ariel", "Cinderella", etc.  We turned to Etsy and found some cute, inexpensive cupcake toppers that allowed she and Dalby to choose their princess.  Happy campers and tasty cake!

The Ring

Dalby's new ring.....she loves it!  She wears it everywhere.  The only time she is not allowed to wear it is on gym days and during swim lessons.  When she first got the ring a few days ago she looked at her finger every few minutes.  It reminded me of how I felt when I first got engaged and continually looked at my hand, especially because she wears it on her "marrying hand".  Right after we bought the ring she and I went to the grocery store where she drove a car attached to the grocery cart.  A few minutes into shopping Dalby asked, "Do I look like a momma with my ring on and driving the car?"  For $3 we have helped her feel like one million.  

Happy Easter 2013!

We had a great Easter!  We spent our Easter here in Chicago and had a visit from Aunt Annie and the future Uncle Evan.  We had spent a few days in TN for Spring Break, rolled in on Friday and were greeted by Aunt Annie and Uncle Evan.  They had made dinner and helped us unload, unpack and brought gifts for everyone!  Saturday we colored eggs(pictures I can show you) and Dalby and I went wedding dress shopping with Aunt Annie (pictures I can't show just yet.) Sunday was the Easter egg hunt at home and at church. 

Uncle Evan and Aunt Annie took the kids outside to play for a bit while we made dinner.  This is the look I often get from Charlie when I ask for a smile.

Dalby's face is perfect.  They all loved their Easter Baskets.  They couldn't get over how much candy the "bunny" had brought.....

This was the first item Charlie ate out of his basket.  He would have eaten it all in one setting.  He talked about which part of the rabbit he was going to eat next....it sounded a bit disturbing if you didn't know he was talking about his chocolate bunny.

Quinn loved the jelly bean filled Easter eggs.  The Easter Bunny hid the hard boiled eggs but he also hid plastic candy filled eggs too.  We have found a new favorite candy for Quinn!

Now a football jersey that fits him.....he had been trying to wear the jersey that fits Daddy....

New shades....all of hers seem to be broken or "borrowed" by her older sister.

How Quinn normally wears her sunglasses.  

Before church.  This photo session started to turn into this type of photo session.

We had to slow Dalby down.  She was very successful in finding a lot of eggs.

More Easter gifts...

This picture is one of my favorites of Charlie.  It captures how he focuses and studies his cars/trains/tractors.  He is studying a "Bob the Builder" toy.  

A theme

This was a post I seemed to have forgotten to post.......this is from a few weeks ago.....the snow has cleared and now it is rainy and cold :)

There seems to be a theme emerging here on the blog.....the snow kept coming and coming and coming. It made it very clear I need a lesson in the snow blower. I went out three times and shoveled this very long long driveway!

Home Depot Saturday Project

We spent this past Saturday doing our first Home Depot project with some fun friends here in Glen Ellyn.  It was a race car - perfect - especially for our race car loving little boy!

Our race cars seem to "fly" a lot.....

Daddy and Dalby's stickers were a little more precisely located then Charlie and Quinn's but it makes each car unique....which in theory hopefully means less arguing over whose is whose....

Showing off their work!

Another Snowstorm

We had another snow storm.  This one came on fast and gave us a lot of heavy wet snow.....fun for snowman making, not so fun to shovel/snow blow.  The kids are loving the snow!  The snowman we made with this snow isn't square because we didn't have to pack several buckets full of snow just to get a little snowman.  Daddy rolled a snowman and put it right by the back steps so the kids could keep an eye on it.  That snowman is a bit of driving hazard but it will melt soon:)  The snowman below is in the backyard. 

Snow Flopping - Feb 2013

A snow slide built from Daddy's and Mommy's snow shoveling

Our first snowman

Followed by hot chocolate and a double chocolate donut-Now that is a Saturday morning!