halloween in hope gardens

We had our neighborhood Halloween party on the same day as our music class dress up day. Since I had learned earlier that day that Jonas' monkey costume was not going to work, we pulled a quick wardrobe change and pulled the fireman costume from our dress up clothes. He was much happier (at least long enough to get pictures and enjoy a few minutes of the party).
Thanks to my friend Rebecca for the chef's hat, I was able to pull my baker costume together in five minutes! (David showed up late to the party as a "business man." ha!)

The party host family...Rebecca (the Cracker Barrel worker), Alex (the mechanic), Gavin (the firefighter WITH his fire engine) and sweet Zack (the race car driver)

And of course, "the baker" had to show up with some yummy treats! I made vegan chocolate cakes so that my vegan friends could enjoy them as well.

And what's a Halloween party without bobbing for apples?!

Sweet London who was quickly calmed by the sweet witch! :)

Our friend Jessi brought three very delicious butters that I could not stop eating! (Thank goodness I am not vegan. :))

Another fun time in the Hope Gardens neighborhood!!

music class dress up

I signed up the boys for a music class this year with Music with Mommie. They have enjoyed it so far and have made some new friends. For our class this past week, the kids all dressed up. This was our first time to try out our Halloween costumes. Asher was excited about being a football player. Jonas liked the idea of being a monkey UNTIL he had to put on the costume. I couldn't even get him to put to hood on for one picture.

All the kids enjoying the music (although you can't hear it in this picture :)) and bubbles...minus one kid.

Here is the child missing from the above picture. Still quite unhappy with the monkey situaiton.

One of Asher's favorite things to do is to play the "big drum." It can get quite loud when all of them play.

Asher enjoying dancing with the scarves (not stars..ha!) and yes, that is the hidden Jonas, crouching monkey!

Well, at least one out of two enjoyed the dress up time.

gentry's farm

I took the boys to Gentry's farm with some friends to enjoy a pumpkin patch day. It was our first time to Gentry's and I was amazed at all the fun things we could do and we ran out of time to do them all. Our morning began in the corn maze.

Luckily, the kids were able to find our was out!













We are already looking forward to going back next year!!

farm birthday party

Jonas' second birthday party almost didn't happen. We scheduled it a week after his actual birthday due to David's dad, Ralph, having bilateral knee replacements in the hope that he could attend and even kept the invites to family only. Things got set back for Ralph, sickness invaded our home (including David's mom, David and Asher) and I finished up a week of playing nurse. However, the cake had been made! And, despite Asher having a fever, our family was still willing to risk it for Jonas' sake.
So we bought some balloons that I turned into farm animal heads.

I made a barn cake and with a few of Jonas' favorite barn animals (made of fondant) to go with it.

His favorite was the sheep (or baa baa as he likes to call it).

Both my boys go into their shy mode when the singing of "Happy Birhtday" breaks out.

However, there was no shyness when the cake was passed out to eat.

Asher and Daddy sporting their farm animal visors...and Asher's visor upside down pretty much sums up his entire party experience. Does this boy look sick or what? David and I would take turns sitting in the corner with Asher to keep him away from our guests. (We didn't find out he had strep until the Monday after the party...but I realize we still look like bad parents.)

The Party Guests!




I was so thankful my parents were able to make it down and were a huge help to make this party even happen. We all were pretty worn out and David's mom even came despite not being back to 100% from her sickness. I am thankful for our family's support to help us celebrate Jonas' second birthday and make it such a special evening!!

dessert place setting

I helped with a baby shower awhile back and wanted to share these pictures.


My friend who was doing the decorations wanted to incorporate these pretty pink napkins as part of the place settings, so I decided to make sugar cookies and tie in the napkin theme with the icing. We also used my grandmother's green napkins. I love the pink/green combination. I also made mini chocolate cream pies for dessert.

It's so fun to make mini desserts and use colors, like pink, every once in awhile, especially when you are a mom of two boys!

hatcher dairy farm

This past week we took a tour of Hatcher Dairy Farm. It is a local farm that has 4 generations living on it! We couldn't have timed this trip any better since it was Jonas' birthday week and he was wanting a farm birthday party theme.

A bull and pregnant momma cows...

one day old calf...





Let's have our turn at milking a cow....

Farmer John Deere...

the milking room...

mmmm....chocolate milk!

Highly recommend this tour if you are in town OR find a local dairy farmer near you and learn where your milk comes from!

happy 2nd birthday jonas!

This sweet boy of ours has turned 2! It suddenly feels like we no longer have any babies in our home. Jonas is running around and keeping up with Asher's every move. He lights up the room with his sweet smile and contagious laugh. It has been fun to see his personality come out (even if it includes his individual stubbornness).
We celebrated Jonas' 2nd birthday on his actual birthday, October 4th with just our immediate family (and Nana). David's dad was in the hospital for bilateral knee replacements so Nana has been staying with us for an easy commute to the hospital. We had a simple dinner followed by cupcakes from The Cupcake Collection. Jonas and Asher had strawberry cupcakes. Nana chose chocolate and David and I had marble (vanilla and chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream and cream cheese frosting). They were delicious!! This past weekend we had a small birthday party with our extended family....pictures to come! :)