Daddy's Birthday

Look at all those candles!

I am not sure why the kids have band-aids on their foreheads.

Caleb helped me make an Oreo Cake for Daddy's birthday.

Sarah helped me hide the presents from Daddy; Sarah likes to play hot and cold for Brandon to find his presents.  However, if you do this, make sure you count the number of presents before you hide them!

It took a little bit of remembering on Sarah's part for where all the presents were, especially since she moved them after she told me where she hid them!

Don't worry though, Daddy is the finder of all lost things!

Daddy got an Ipod Nano for his birthday present.

I put "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" and "I Fell in Love with the Farmer's Daughter" on

his Ipod for him!  Sarah and I were signing along to the music. . .

Sarah now wants her own "small pod thing" . . . and so it begins!

Easter 2012

We started our Easter celebration with the annual Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Moose.

Sarah wasn't very into hunting this year because it was a little cold, but Caleb really went for all the eggs!

By this point Sarah only had one or two eggs in her basket -

she just wasn't feeling very competitive today!

Grandpa gave her a motivational talk and she did find a few more eggs.

This is Caleb's game face. . . no one was getting in the way of his candy!!!

After the hunt is over all the kids get a couple cookies & drink.

More sweets - exactly what the kids needed!

Caleb was so excited to get ready for church; he got to wear his new suit just like Daddy.

Sarah was excited to wear her "clip clop" shoes (they have a small heal on them)!

It's hard to believe that Sarah is 6 and Caleb is 3 in this picture!

Caleb was done with pictures by this point - it didn't help that I took away his jelly beans before the picture!

Jelly Beans are his favorite candy.

Sarah made herself some bunny ears. . . too cute!

Look what the Easter Bunny left for us!

A new DVD, swim clothes & C-A-N-D-Y!

Sarah was checking the yellow basket she put in the bush - she filled the basket with everything a bird would need for a nest.  Unfortunately, the bird decided to build a nest in the other bush!

Hunting, hunting, hunting. . .

They are so beautiful!

Score!  They found money in some of the eggs,

although Caleb was upset by this & wanted more jelly beans!

Look at all those jelly beans!

It's a good thing I also enjoy jelly beans!

Then it was off to Grandma & Grandpa Voss house to hunt more eggs.

Note to self: next year remind Caleb that you can't throw "real" eggs just because they don't have jelly beans in them!

Grandma Susan surprised the kids with their new backpacks made with Mickey and Minnie Mouse fabric.  Perfect for our upcoming trip!

More celebrating at Grandma & Grandpa Canning's house.

Great Grandma Lill enjoyed watching all the kids hunt the eggs in the yard.

Family Fun Day

It's our family tradition to have a Family Fun Day after tax season!

The kids pretty much get to pick everything they want to do for the day - hopefully this won't come back to bite me in a couple years!!

This year they chose to go the Magic House in St Louis! 

The Magic House is definitely a family favorite; the last time we were there Caleb was still a baby, so this was his first time being able to enjoy everything!

Note to self: remember to charge the camera batteries!!!

This was the first musical instrument the kids played with; I wasn't sure if we were ever going to walk away!

You hold a small steel pipe up against the tubes on the wheel and as you spin the wheel it plays a classical music piece - not sure which one, I will have to check with Brandon!

The Magic House has touring exhibits every so often.  The one featured right now was The Magic Tree House, which is a series of chapter books that Sarah has been reading!  She loves to read and these books are really entertaining!  It is about a brother and sister who visit a magic tree house filled with books.  As they read the different books they journey to that point in time, for instance the Civil War, dinosaurs, etc.

Caleb loved playing in the Civil War section of the exhibit and Sarah enjoyed playing teacher in the school!  Here she is writing her name in cursive - WOW! She has a handwriting book at home with instructions on how to write in cursive and she has been doing pretty well!

The next section we visited was all about art.  The machine Sarah is playing with has you design your own art - you put your finger on a color, hold your finger on the surface, spin the surface and it colors the computer screen.  It was a little advanced for Caleb, but he enjoyed playing the the kinect toys.

The kids based their decision to go to the Magic House on the fact that they wanted to climb "the green thing that goes in a circle."  It is a beanstalk with giant leaves and you can crawl up (three stories) and down!  The kids loved it!

There was a construction zone the kids played in for quite some time!  Caleb loved filling a wheelbarrow with rocks and then dumping it over . . . he did this over, and over, and over!

This day was exhausting for us!  We found a slide (that was 3 stories high) that the kids could run up the stairs and then slide right down to where we were sitting.  This was great for a couple reasons - I didn't have to worry about the kids getting lost, they had to climb several flights of stairs to get to the top so it wore them out and I could sit down and relax for a little while!

The static ball was so neat! 

Sarah's hair is so wild!!

Caleb wouldn't touch the ball without me, but as long as I was holding him - his (and my) hair went wild too!

Fortunately, I had just enough juice left in my battery for one final picture outside!

After we left the Magic House we went to Uncle Phil & Aunt Emily's house for dinner and then went home - the kids (and me) took a nice long nap on the way home!

Tax season is long and hard on Brandon and the kids.

I sincerely appreciate all support, help and love I get from them.

I know one Family Fun Day cannot repay the last 3 1/2 difficult months, but it did give us a chance to reconnect as a family!

Fredbird

Each year the Mascoutah Khoury League has a kick off day where we take team pictures, have a hot dog lunch and Fred Bird from the St Louis Cardinals comes to visit!  Caleb was so excited all morning and insisted on wearing his new Cardinal outfit from Aunt Emily!

However, once Fredbird appeared Caleb changed his mind, but that didn't stop Sarah from wanting him to autograph her team hat!  We very patiently waited for the autograph & got a quick picture of us with Fredbird! 

Fredbird thought it was so funny to use my head as a writing surface.

Caleb thought Fredbird was a little too close!

Sarah thought it was hilarious!

After all the excitement was over, pictures were taken and our bellies were full,

it was time for a nice long, cold walk back to the van!

It seems like the kick off weekend is always cold!

At least the sun was shinning this year and it wasn't raining - that made it a great day in my book!

Caleb's 3rd Birthday!

Caleb only requested a few simple items for his birthday, which of course is during tax season, but I try to be accommodating for the Birthday Boy!  He requested the following:

• John Deere tractors
• cake
• cupcakes
• balloons
• party hats

I was sure I could make a themed party, but alas John Deere birthday party decorations are extremely difficult to find 5 days before the party!  I did find some cute animal party hats & blowers, which were a huge hit!  However, not so fun for Mom & Dad early in the morning - the kids wasted no time playing songs for us - did I mention it was only 7 am??

After I finally pried the blowers out of their hands, we went to church where Caleb got to put his pennies in the birthday cake!  I told Caleb that was the same cake Mommy put pennies in when I was his age, but he was not very impressed!  He was more concerned about whether or not he was going to get to eat the (plastic) cake. . . remember his requests??

After church was over we got a quick picture of Grandma & Grandpa Canning with all the Grand kids!  What a good looking group of kids!

It turns out Caleb picked a pretty easy birthday theme, as far as decorations I pulled out all his tractors and set them around the house and used green and yellow (thank you Grandma Susan for finding these) handkerchiefs.  Caleb didn't care for my choice of decorations, so they weren't there very long!

We had lots of friends & family members join us for the celebration - those I did catch on camera:  Uncle Kevin, Aunt Jane, Great Grandma Lill, Great Grandpa Bob, Great Grandma Lois, Grandpa ken, Mike and  Angie!

It was finally time for cake - Caleb blew out the candles with no problems!  Wonder if he wished for cupcakes or tractors???

Of course, after cake we need cupcakes!  After all it was a specific request!

After cake is present time!  He did great at opening all his own presents!  He got the same card about 5 or 6 times - the first card was from Grandpa Rollie & Grandma LaVon, so each time he opened the same card he thought Grandpa Rollie was giving him another present!  It was so funny!

The big moment finally came to find out what was in the red bag . . . Caleb looked at that bag all day and kept asking to open it . . .now was the big moment (well it was after Daddy untied the knot)!

What is it Caleb?  What is in the huge bag??

His very own red barn for all his tractors & animals, made especially for Caleb by Daddy!

Complete with a hay loft and sliding doors.

This project was 100% made by Daddy - I didn't even paint it!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Caleb! 

Mommy & Daddy love you!!!