Birthday Party

Zach and Tanner are turning 4 on Monday. Can you believe it? Where did my babies go?
I must admit, 3 has been very difficult age. Attitude and Independence are flaring. I am hoping that this next year will be a little different.
We celebrated their birthday today with a party. First the boys had a pizza party with family, and then had a great birthday bash with friends and family. Zachary loves sea turtles and wanted a turtle cake. I being very uncreative, and completely lacking in time this week, resorted to making sea creature chocolate suckers. And then made a "turtle" (carmel/nuts and chocolate) ice cream sandwich frozen cake. Tanner wanted a NEMO party with fish. He also asked for a green cake for the fish to eat and a white cake for himself. So, we actually had three cakes.It all worked out. The kids loved the pinata, we hung it a little too high I think. None of the little kids could break it, so Lincolns girlfriend Kim did the honors. They had a great time and then came home to more fun sledding with daddy. Oh my sweet boys...We love you! Happy Birthday

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Zach and the pinata

The white cake is coconut cream, the green is key lime..yummy!

Grandpa checking out the new book for the TAG reader. The boys love books!

Lincoln and Kim came!


Boys open gifts. Thanks everybody!

Tanner's very own white cake.

The men play a little ball

Sledding time.

Cold and Cold's

This week the family got hit by the germ brigade. All of us came down with colds. Mike is the only person that didn't get hit hard. The rest of us have been confined to the house. Its freezing outside (it got down to 18 degrees one day) so there isn't much to do anyway. The boys are always creative and got out the tents and tunnels. They love playing in there. They built beds and ate a lunch inside.
Asher liked crawling through the tunnels too. He wants to do everything his brothers do. He had to play inside the tent too! Not much to blog about,but I thought the grandparents would like these pics! Love you all!

Pennsylvania Farm Show 2009

On Monday we went with friends to the Farm show. We always look forward to the farm show here in Pennsylvania. Its a week long event with anything and everything farm related. There is great farm grown food, square dancing competitions, rodeos, animal auctions and of course, lots of Mennonite and Amish people. Its very cool.
Pa is 4th in the nation for milk production and they have the best milk shakes ever at the farm show. No wonder Milton Hershey started his chocolate factory here, which is famous for its milk chocolate, lots of cows to make lots of milk.
Honestly, I never thought I would think such a redneck-bumkin fest was fun, but when you have little kids who love the animals, it becomes a party. I do feel bad I attempted to make the men watch the square dancing, but hey, Mike clogged as a kid, and I thought it might bring back memories for him (ok, thats a lie...I just really wanted to watch it. Unfortunately, Im NOT lying about Mikes clogging!).
When we got there, I realized that my camera was missing the memory card, so these are pictures from Jenny (thanks!). Zach wasnt posing alot for pictures, but Tanner and Liam cheesed it up for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!


You might not be able to tell that behind them is statues made from butter




Asher was so good to just sit and watch

Tanner the farmer

Zach loves bunnies!

Tanner and Liam with a huge bison! YIKES

Baby Tips

I have so many friends expecting babies right now! A couple have asked me about a few things I use so, I thought I would share with anyone else who is expecting. Maybe it will help you out when looking at products.
Here are MUST HAVE'S in my opinion!

Sleep Sheep-
Its a sound machine that is portable. You can hang from anything. It takes batteries and is so worth the money. I got mine on amazon for around 27 bucks! Best money I ever spent. It has a "OCEAN" setting that Asher just loves (There are 4 settings). It will run for 45- or 25 min. Its so great, expecially if your little one has a hard time sleeping. Use from the time they are born and it will soothe anytime.

Sweet Pea Ring Sling:

Here is my favorite site, great quality and wonderful craftmanship. Your baby can be in a ton of positions and you can watch a video instruction online at her website about the product, which is nice. I opted for one with a zipper pocket in the bottom material, it makes a great purse when you need it for binkies, spit clothes and car keys. Highly reccomend!

NUK BOTTLES:
My girlfriend Jenny turned me onto these. Asher was so use to nursing that he didnt like any of the bottle nipples. But these are great for use if you are nursing at the same time.

Best toy:

My twins loved this toy! And now Asher is 8 mnths and he plays with it everyday. He loves it and it wont pinch fingers!

Gotta love these great items, what did other generations do without them? "I love technology, but not as much as you, you see. but I still love technology...always and forever".

Post New Years Fun

Mike was gearing up for the football game later that night
Here are some pics of our little activities last week.

Have you ever seen "Jon&Kate Plus 8" on TV? They live by us and I love watching the show to find out what fun gems they find in the area. I figure if she can take her sextuplets there, I can manage with twins. Featured on the show was a place called THE HANDS ON HOUSE. Its about 25 min from us. It a really fun children's museum. The boys loved it. There was lots to do and experience. The only bad part was that they charge parents to go in (the same price as the kids) and there is nothing for the parents to do. So its like paying to babysit your own kids...Lame in my opinion, but the kids loved it.

Anyone who knows Mike really well, knows he loves tropical fish (when we got married we had 3 fish tanks going at once, the biggest one was 55 gallons...never,never again. ). Mike found this really neat pet store (while pining over the fish tank he wants) by us that is totally interactive. So another day we drove over and let the kids play with the animals. Did you know that Iguanas will eat your hair?(dont ask)
They even have a touch-wade pool with ocean creatures. Tanner loved the rays, but Zach was not going to touch them for anything. It was a really fun week.

Mike getting some face paint from Zach

Tanner driving the tractor at the farm

Tanner was a cowboy in the dress up room

Are these items ORGANIC?

Gigantic light brite

collecting eggs at the farm

Bird watching in the tree house. Dont you love how Tanner's are upside down.

Tanner touching the rays

Such a fat bunny.