Cupcakes

The Twins Turn '3'

Well, it's hard to believe another year has gone by and Wes and Mia are now offiacially 3 years old. A couple of weeks ago it dawned on me that it might be fun to throw their first real birthday party as they have gotten really excited to go to other people's birthday parties. I wasn't sure if we would have enough people in town as their birthday falls so close to Thanksgiving, but we had a great turn out and it was a really good time. Chris set up a bounce house for the kids in our garage......yes Blocher's, it's your bounce house we used, we are still interested in purchasing it in case you might have changed your mind - hint hint! I set up some crafts at the dining room table, we had lots of balloons, and oh yes, some fabulous cupcakes. I decided to try my hand at some really awsome animal cupcakes from this cool cupcake book I got while Chris' parents were out visiting. Anyways, I think they turned out pretty good, see pics below. Wes and Mia then took a nap after their party and we met our friends the Neutzel's for pizza and a trip to the zoo lights. The lights were great, and I think the twins had a good time....they were pretty tired from the party. All in all a spectacular birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa Tepen Come for a Visit

At the beginning of November, Grandma and Grandpa Tepen came for a visit. They came bearing a couple of new books, which Wes insisted on reading immediately. Grandpa indulged Wes and Mia in the books first reading.......they were very happy, see pic below. One of the books had a button on the front that used to play the wheels on the bus go round and round song. While the book was still in excellant shape, the button no longer played the song. Chris told Wes and Mia that Uncle David broke the book. Fast forward 3 weeks and Uncle David called Chris to see how things were going. As soon as Wes and Mia realized it was Uncle David, they said "thanks for breaking our book Uncle David!" Poor Uncle David get s blamed for many thing around our house....sorry Uncle David :)

Grandma Tepen also brought out a special present for Mia. She gave her a locket that she used to wear as a young lady. Grandma helped Mia try on her new bling and Mia was as proud as a peacock. We will save the locket for special occasions until Mia gets a little bigger. She likes to have me show it to her regularly as she is always thinking of reasons that it might be ok for her to wear it. Thanks for the lovely gift Grandma Tepen :)

Also while Grandma and Grandpa were out for their visit, I had arranged for my friend Reynee to snap some family pictures for us. We got a lot of really great ones, here is one of all of us that turned out pretty good....

Happy Halloween

So our Halloween festivities kicked off on Friday with the kids having a celebration at school. They had a party and dressed up with all their schoolmates. We sent them in some play costumes (a cat and an elefant) as we were needed their real costumes to stay nice for a party on Saturday evening. They had fun dressing up at school - see pic below.

Satuday, we carved pumpkins and hit a super cool Halloween party at our friend's the Nuetzel's. Wes and Mia played with lots of other kids and got to paint a pumpkin. The pumpkin actually looked scary when they were finished because they had mixed so many colors together that the pumpkin was black/green......very Halloween looking. Chris and I went as Fred and Wilma Flintstone, and Wes and Mia were frankenstein and a witch. A good time was had by all.

Today, we are hoping to pass out some candy to the neighbor kids. Wes is feeling a little under the weather today, so we will have to wait and see about the trick or treating for him tonight. Hope everyone is having a fun weekend too - Happy Halloween.

Wasssssuppppppp

What happened to summer....looking out the window today, it is still here. Last year at this time we already had snow....today we hit 93 and broke out the water slide after work. Our neighbor kid Blake came over for a little fun. The water slide was a great purchase and they got lots of great use out of it.

The kids are amost 3 years old. Potty training is pretty much finished at our house. Havent had an accident in 2 weeks. We only use diapers when the kids go to sleep at night. Wes always wakes up with a dry diaper and goes to the potty right away. We will probably switch him to full time undies this weekend. Mia wakes up, or more likely doesnt feel like using the potty when laying there in the morning, with a wet diaper about every third day. It went pretty easy, especially once they started daycare with the 3 year olds about a month ago. Now if we can just figure out how to stop the tantrums....I'm thinking that....hell I'm done thinking for this year....

Just yesterday the kids and I were out on the deck playing catch with the ball and kicking it around the backyard. After a while we stopped and went back onto the deck. Wes decides he has to pee. We've been working on trying to get him to pee standing up. So, he decides to give it a shot...takes down his pants, walks over to the doggie water bowl and proceeds to fill er up. I was like....at least he didnt crap in it. Playing a game of monkey see monkey doo, Mia decides she has to potty too. Knowing she isnt supposed to pee in the water bowl, she heads on down to the grass....tries peeing standing up and when realizes that doesnt work very well, because her legs are all wet now, she squats down and finishes....i'm telling you, too much of that gondira gene in those kids starting to come out....

Diane's good friend Suzanne came over this past weekend bearing presents for the kids. Wes got a garbage truck that make all kinds of noises and actually empties a garbage can with the press of a lever. He loved it and hasnt stopped playing with it since he got it. Mia and Wes always say the trashman takes out the stinky diapers....not sure what we are going to do with all our trash now that they arent coming to our house anymore since we dont have stinky diapers. Mia got a new doll to play with and it came with a crib and stroller. Wes promptly broke the stroller by sitting in it. That night when it was time for bed, Mia took her old doll that was sitting on her bed, threw it out the door into the hallway and slammed the door shut.

Wes got his first bee sting today at daycare. He was a real trooper and only cried for around 10 minutes. There is only a little welt on the backside of his knee left.

Speaking of bees, last weekend we had a bee swarm in our backyard. There were probably a couple of hundred bees just flying around our deck. Not sure why or what they were looking for, i'm positive they must have smelled Diane...cuz bees love her and are attracted to her. She is the only person I know that can get stung standing in the aisle of Home Depot at 7 in the morning...true story, it really did happen....stung her on the boob....flew right down the front of her tee shirt. Teased her that she had 3 boobs for a while....but I digress. We were planning on going outside to play on the waterslide. I went out armed with 1 full can of bee spray and another fogger of insect/bee repellant....emptied them both, didnt get stung, and wittled the swarm down to a couple of dozen...maybe someone knows...why are bees attracted to ash trees? We have 3 of them in our yard, all of them constantly have bees and wasps flying around them.

Kids are doing great. Growing like weeds still. Talking up a storm....learning like crazy....moved into the 3 room at school 3 months early. They actually bring home homework every weekend. Cant believe that they have to do school on weekends already...last weekend was a mom's questionaire to fill out about the classroom and the activities they are doing and the bulletin boards, didnt get done....i read the front page and didnt know a single answer and gave up....pretty sure diane did the same thing because it still sits without the blanks filled in.

Feel free to come out and visit....basement is 98% finished, only have some minor touch up paint and the bar facing to go.

Can you say Mardi Gras !!!

Nothing like wearing a snowsuit on a 95 degree day, with your butt hanging out !

New toys, yeah

Fun in the sun.

Are there squirrels in Heaven?

It is with a sad heart to have to say good bye to my best friend from the past twelve and half years, Allie. It was a long battle with heart disease that even the vet said was a miracle at her 12 month appointment after she was first diagnosed. He gave her 3 to 6 months to live when she first started getting sick, her heart was functioning at 20% of capacity. She went on 3 different heart pills and kicked the disease's butt for almost 2 years exactly. Allies favorite thing to do was always chasing squirrels. Unfortunately she wasnt able to give em a run for their money since we moved into our new house. Hopefully there are plenty of squirrels to chase in doggie heaven. At the very least she will be with her best bud, J who also died not to long ago. Here is a couple of pics to remember her by.