birthdays and other things

Warning: long post and lots of pictures. :)

 Bridget's unofficial job is to empty the silverware. She thinks she's big stuff and tells me "I help'in you, mommy!"

 The word "help" is said loosely.

 We brought Bridget's little table and chairs downstairs for a few days and she and Carter had lots of tea parties. With marshmallows, of course, cause it wouldn't be a party without them!

 We had to move the toy chest over by the steps because Carter figured out that he could fit between the spindles. Except he usually couldn't get turned sideways and ended up getting stuck.

 And moving on to Bridget's birthday party! She has a current obsession with Nemo, so I thought I'd attempt doing Nemo on cupcakes. After spending several hours on the cupcakes, I decided they were too small for something detailed like that, scraped off all the frosting, clumped all the cupcakes together and did one big Nemo. It was much easier. That being said, next time I get into my head to decorate a cake, remind me of the HOURS spent, and suggest that I just buy one from Kroger and let someone else decorate it. 

She was thrilled with it though, so I guess it was worth it.  :)

 I know that Adam will appreciate this picture.  :)

 These guys got stuck in the living room cause our table wasn't big enough to hold everyone. 

 The other table.

We had pizza (Bridget's fav food...*insert sarcastic tone here* since she has so many foods she likes...ha!), chips, fruit, salad, cake, ice cream and strawberries. 

 She was just SLIGHTLY excited

 She got a doll pack and play from Uncle Daniel and Aunt Wendi, and a kitchen with all the accessories from both sets of grandparents and from us. 

I thought she'd have so much fun with a kitchen (since she does at everyone else's house) but sadly her favorite activity involving the kitchen is clearing it off after they've all been picked up. 

 We let Carter practice for his party!

 And....the next weekend we headed to Warrens, WI with the Knapp's! We stayed at the Three Bears resort. We had 2 cabins and they included tickets to the indoor water park. Bridget loved swimming with her cousins, and in true form, Carter disliked people. He did do better than I expected him to, for which I was very thankful! I have no pictures from the whole weekend, aside from the above picture of AMAZING snack mix I made to take along. 

 The next weekend this little guys turned one! His birthday was on a Wed, and we had his party that Fri night. 

 This kid rarely plays with toys. He mostly just likes to clean out. It's what he does all day. As I'm cleaning up the pots and pans he's empties he'll be in his room taking the clothes out of the dresser. While I'm picking up the clothes he's emptying the books off the bookshelf. And so goes the entire day. 

 Sorry, I forgot to turn the picture before uploading.

I made Carter a cow cake, since at the time a cow was the only animal he knew the sound of. It was much easier than Bridget's cake.  :) 

 And here's the little buddy cleaning out the tupperware...

 Reading books on a Sat morning. 

 We had some unseasonably warm days and we took advantage of them!

 One week we went to Radar Family Farms with some friends from church. It was our 2nd time there this fall, and since Bridget knew what to expect, she was quite excited to go! Carter got to stay with Grandma P and take a nap, and it was nice to only have 1 kid for a morning!

 Getting a ride in the barrels

 Bridget loved the animals and told me (several times) "it's a baby pig! He's so little. aww...."

 playing in the corn bin. 

 Bridget likes to stand on the little chair on the left, and then dive over the arm rest of the couch and our little climber thought he'd give it a try too! thankfully he's too short to get over the arm rest!

 playing with Uncle Luke

they love being baskets, esp when we push them around!