Happy Birthday Ethan!

Well, our first born is 4!  How did this happen?!!  He is such a blessing to our family.  He's just always been a easy kid, super smart, and a ton of fun.  We decided to take him and some friends to Monkey Joe's for his Bday party then back to our house for cake and presents.  If you haven't heard of Monkey Joe's, it's just a big room full of all different kinds of bounce houses.  Ethan had never been to one and I don't think he stopped smiling the entire time we were there.  Pretty sure this was the best day of his little life so far, if you ask him :)  I love that his little friend Alex came up to me and said, breathless from playing, "Brittney, this is GREAT! who picked this? This is GREAT!" and ran off to play some more.  It was great way to celebrate the life of our special blessing.  

After Monkey Joe's we headed to the toy store and let Ethan pick out his own big birthday present...which thrilled him and his friends to death.  He picked out a remote controlled Dusty airplane and his friend got to each pick something from the dollar bins.  We then headed home for cake and presents.  Happy Birthday Little Man! 

Alex head first down the slide

Ethan on the left with Alex

Wesley down the slide

Claire in mid jump

There are the little monkeys

Silly faces

Ethan's Disney Planes cake mommy made him

Presents!!!!

Conversations with a Toddler

Getting out of the van one night....

Ethan, "MOM, THE MOON IS FULL!!!!!"
Me, "You're right Ethan.  It is a full moon"
Ethan, "It must have eaten dinner"



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Ethan, "Mom, Ellie says she's going to marry me in the Temple when I'm big." short pause "I'm going to be four soon and that's big.  We're going to get married in the Temple when I'm four"

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Claire, "Cows.  Eat.  Grass."
Me, "That's right Claire.  Cows eat grass."
Claire, "Bummie. Poop. Grass. Ground"
Me, "Yes Claire, the cows then poop out the grass onto the ground."

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"I love you a bushel and a peck"- Apple Picking Fun

Every year we head to a local orchard to pick apples.  This year we had already made plenty of applesauce from apples we'd collected from a friend's apple orchard, but we just couldn't stay away from our traditional trip to Stuckey Farms orchard.  We ended up with a Bushel and 1/2peck of apples that we peeled, sliced, froze...which we've never done before.  We've already made one apple crisp with our frozen apples and it was D-lish!  The kids really got in to picking apples this year, and of course loved riding the tractor around.  Can't wait to go back for our pumpkin picking!

  

Our attempts at sibling pics :)

Friday Family Faves....Creamy Asparagus Pasta

A delicious dish full of whole wheat pasta and asparagus covered in a light creamy sauce.  We LOVE this dish at the Peterson's....and it's quick and super easy.  The pic I took definitely doesn't do it justice!

Ingredients:

2 bunches of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pint whipping cream (for lighter dish, you can use Fat Free Evaporated milk)

1/2 c. shredded parmesan

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Additional parmesan for topping 

8oz whole wheat spaghetti, cooked and drained.  

Directions:

1. Boil asparagus ~3 minutes.  We like our asparagus with a little crunch, if you don't like the crunch then boil longer.  Drain, set aside.

2.  Melt Butter in large skillet, add garlic.  sautee ~30sec to 1min to infuse butter with garlic...careful, do not burn garlic.  Add asparagus, stir to coat, and cook additional minute.

3.  Add cream and 1/2c. parmesan, simmer ~3 min until cheese melts and cream begins to thicken.

4.  Top over cooked noodles.  Add lemon juice.  Stir to coat.  Top with salt and pepper to taste.  Finish by topping with additional shredded parm and serve.  

ENJOY!

The Family That Runs Together, Stays Together!

Well, it was Rock N Roll 5K time again!  This year we even added a kids fun run so Ethan was able to join in the family racing.  Of course, I'm in my first trimester and my running has gone from 8.30min/mi to 10min/mi, if I'm lucky, and Justin has had some major back and ankle issues going on, so needless to say, we did not place this year...good thing they gave out participation medals :) Ethan LOVED his 1/2 mi race.  He got an awesome medal and all the kids got a pedometer too.  He didn't win any of the raffle prizes but he didn't care...He loved RACING.  Claire was too young for the kids fun run, but she did have gymnastics that morning so she was still active and a great cheering section...she even helped Mimi on the kids race course direct the kids.  It was a fun-filled, physical, family day that we topped off by going to our local Back to the Fifties Festival.  Can't wait til next year!

Stretching with Coach Megan

Pre-race smiles

Ethan And Daddy coming around the bend

At the Back to the Fifties festival.  Our Library had a Superhero themed scavenger hunt and a Superhero Mask Making station...And, yes, Ethan wore his bib number and race medal all day.

A Little Man is on His Way!...Melissa's Baby Shower

This past weekend, I hosted a baby shower for a friend.  It was such a blast, and I'm so grateful for all those that attended.  The theme was "A Little Man is on his Way", so there were lots of mustaches and tie decorations everywhere.  It was so great to be able to throw Melissa this baby shower, since she has thrown 2 for us!  We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet the "Little Man"

Baby Shower invite...the rest of the invite had a sweet little tie and also all my RSVP info on it so I had to crop it :) 

The serving table included butter pecan cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, white chocolate popcorn, mustache straws, mustache props, mustache white chocolate suckers (thank you Allison Bewley for making them, You're amazing!), and a diaper cake topped with mustache pacifier....and everything was handmade...even my cake stands!  I'm no Martha Stewart.  In fact, I usually don't even enjoy crafting, but I had so much fun with this and very excited on how things turned out.

The Shower also included tie garland, tie onsies, a tie wreath, and of course a "Guess the Stache" game...again all homemade.

And the guests arrive!  

A house packed full of Melissa's Family and Friends...so grateful!

Our surprise guest!  A friend who'd moved away a few years ago, drove in for the shower in secret!  What a fun Surprise for Melissa!

Present Time!

An ENTIRE TUB of goodies from Brenda.

Of course some Colts gear.

I had Melissa's children over one week to decorate onsies with fabric markers for their new baby brother.

Beautiful hand made blanket from Pam, made by her mom.

Superman shoes Ethan picked out for the new baby.



Thanks everyone for celebrating with us.  It was a fun, joyous day!