The Birthday's

The first 5 photos were taken at the kids birthday party by my great friend Janine of Studio 16 portraits! She does an amazing job, and I love everything that she does. She is an wonderful friend, photographer, mom, and an all around fantastic person!

Happy 3rd Birthday my big boy!!

L and his fishing pole. He looks like he knows what he is doing already!

Happy 2nd Birthday D!!!

D's birthday cup cakes

Let me see if I can catch up here! Both kids had a fantastic party. All their friends and family were there, and they got some really fun presents. On D's actual birthday, Adam took the day off. Good thing since we had found a house and came to hand in the application for it. We had pizza for dinner and then I made Blues Clues cup cakes. I got her a Melissa and Doug Birthday cake wooden play set. She thought it was the best thing in the world. L was jealous the entire day, but we just kept explaining to him that his birthday was Saturday and then it would be his turn. I always knew it was fun to have the kids birthday's so close, but this was the first year that I realized that there will be jealousy that week!

L's birthday we headed as a family over to a art fair in a park and then headed over to an environment fair in a different park. He had a great time exploring with daddy at all the parks. We headed home that night for a special dinner and had Nemo cup cakes. We got him a Cars fishing pole. Daddy was more excited about it then he was I think!

The very next day was Father's Day! Talk about a very busy week!!! We got Daddy a fishing pole too, and I took pictures of the kids as part of a annual tradition! We went to the in-laws house for a nice little cookout.

Boy we packed a ton in that week!

I'm still alive!

I swear that I am still here and alive. In the last 2 weeks we had the kids family birthday party, each kid had their own birthday, we packed our entire house, moved to a smaller house, cleaned the bigger old house, and held a garage sale at a friend's house. I am tired!! But I promise over the next few weeks I will post about all these things!

Kids Birthday Cakes

So tomorrow is the kid's family birthday. It's the one where we invite all the family and a few friends that live a distance away over to a big party in the backyard. We are keeping it very simple. Hot dogs, baked beans, layered salad, fruit, chips, guac, and punch. Nothing too fancy, they are 2 and 3. But this year I decided to make the cakes. I know what you are thinking, don't you have enough going on? Yes, and let's be clear, I'm crazy! But I picked themes for each kid that were going to be pretty easy. Plus once I chose the theme, I browsed the good old internet. I did find some really awesome ideas here on this web site. They are all homemade cakes, but I'm pretty sure non-professional people. Really cool! As you can tell, I stole some ideas!

So L is having a Lightening McQueen birthday, and D is having a cupcake theme. For the treat bags, I found sippy cups at the dollar store, a 5 pack for $1, and Cars theme frisbees, a 3 pack for $1. I then got Cars and cupcake stickers to decorate the cups, and wrote each kids name on them. Put them all together in a clear treat bag with some extra stickers, and there you go!

Busy busy

We are going to be very busy this next week! Tomorrow is the family birthday party for both L and D. L is having a Lightening McQueen party, and D is having a cup cake theme. I'm making the cakes so I will have to post pics of them. Tuesday is D's 2nd birthday!! I can't believe my baby is going to be 2 already. And then next Saturday is L's 3rd birthday! So crazy!!

We also found a rental house that we are turning in an application for on Tuesday. We are keeping our fingers crossed that no one sneaks in before Tuesday and takes it. If we get approved then we will be moving asap! That means lots of packing and lots of purging of stuff. Can't wait! I will tell more about the house if we get approved!

Running

Adam ran his second half-marathon on Saturday. But the best part was that he ran it with a friend and his youngest brother and it was both their first races and the farthest they have ever run. We are so proud of all of the boys! Our friends Chad and his girl friend Liz (the ones with the horses), came up on Friday night so we could all make it to the race. Liz stayed with me during the race and helped me control the kids, which is not easy! The race started at the College Football Hall of Fame and ended on the 50 yard line at Notre Dame stadium. The kids made us late to see the boys start the race so we headed over to the stadium and waited. Chad was the first one to come in, then Adam, and then Zach. The kids got so excited to cheer them on. We had awesome seats!! We were second row from the bottom about 20 yards from the finish line. We could see everything! It was a hot, fun, long day, and again we are so proud of all the boys! Great job!!

That is Adam running to the finish line. He is in the yellow shirt and red bandanna.

Chad and Adam showing off the medals they got for finishing. The finish line is right behind Chad's head.

Adam and his baby brother Zach. At 18 he has finished his first half marathon, and run the farthest ever in his life!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

This is for all my friends out there that can't eat gluten products. These were sooooo yummy that I don't have a picture to show you. The recipe came to me through my mom who got it from her boyfriends mom and she makes these for her granddaughter. My mom thought I would like the recipe because I have a brother in law that has this same problem. So here it is, and it comes highly recomened!

Lauren's Cookies


2 eggs
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar

(that's it!!!)
and if you would like you can always stir in some chocolate chips!

Beat eggs, then sugar, then add peanut butter. Add chips if desired. Drop on ungreased cookies sheet and bake 10-12 min at 350.

How super duper easy is that!!!

Celebrate Burt Day!