A birthday visit to Two Toots

Two Toots is a local restaurant that is an absolute treat for the kids!  The restaurant is right by the train tracks and also has a model train inside that delivers all your food orders.  The music played is 60's and they serve old fashioned milk shakes and malts.  Every seat - booth or counter - has very close access to the train.  After your food is delivered the waiter/waitress then walks over to the train horn and gives two toots.  For awhile after we moved to town people would ask what restaurants we had tried and I could answer, "Two Toots, several times."  Ryan was out of town for Q & C's exact birthday and since we had done presents and cake the weekend before we decided to head to Two Toots for a special lunch.  The kids were surprised to find out that after swim lessons we were headed out to lunch.  So not only was it a treat for them it was wonderful to go out after lessons and before school.  We had a fun time!  

 What you can't hear is "Two Toots" of "Happy Birthday" on the speaker.  Also, you get a quick glance of the cupcakes, which are covered in sprinkles and a rather loud, multicolored whistle.  So we can blow the whistle and argue a bit over which color each of us has....somehow we always seem to lose those whistles a week or so after our visit.

Q & C Presents

Our original plan for present opening was to have a nice birthday dinner and then open gifts.  I am not sure why we thought that would work....  First thing....I mean we weren't even out of bed...Charlie got as close as he could to my face and said, "Open peasants now?"  and the constant negotiator Dalby.....maybe just one?  Quinn made sure to add her two cents asking for all the presents......multiple times...as only Quinn can....Ryan and I decided that present opening would be fun.  Present opening for two feels a bit like Christmas morning.  All the presents were a hit!  Dalby "helped" a lot....coaching, assisting with opening and then on several occasions grabbing the gift(in excitement) from her brother or sister to get a closer look.  Overall she is really wonderful as they get gifts but she does offer a lot of five year old advice:)

The many faces of Quinn

 A way to transport all those cars all around the house.

Quinn's new baby...complete with purple pacifier, purple bottle and a pink blanket.

 Packing the essentials.

 Scooter pick up at two different Targets - More on the scooters in a later post.

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!