I scream, You scream

We are mean parents! We don't let our kids have a lot of treats- except for Aryk, 'cause he's our favorite. ;) We made a deal with our kids a LONG time ago, that IF they eat their dinner they can have ONE treat. For example: ONE scoop of Ice Cream.

Ashton and AJ, occasionally ask if they can have an extra scoop of Ice Cream, we tell them if they eat an extra dinner. They both ate a good dinner one night in February, and Ashton asked if he could just eat all the ice cream left in the carton. It was about 2 or 3 scoops, and honestly, we didn't need to keep it in the freezer any longer. Mom thought it was too cold for Ice Cream, so she told him he could eat as much as he wanted, outside on the patio furniture (this was on Feb. 2, mind you.) Mom did tell him to put a coat on. So... AJ got excited, 'cause there was a second carton of ice cream (with A LOT of ice cream still in it), that he wanted to eat! So... same thing- Eat it outside, until you are too cold to eat any more, or finish it off.

Dad warned Mom that these boys would take a challenge like that and stay out, until the Ice Cream was gone. Mom was a little surprised at how long they were willing to stay out. Aryk didn't want to be left out, of course, so he got one scoop in a bowl, his coat, and out he went too. Ashton finished off his carton, Aryk didn't make it through the whole bowl, and AJ made a dent of at least 2 or 3 scoops out of his carton, before they all came in. Way to go boys!

I Scream, You Scream, We ALL scream for Ice Cream!

Halloween 2009

Who doesn't love dressing up and having a night of make believe and goodies?

Jeff was a hunter. Yeah... he had to try pretty hard. Alyson was a witch. Ashton was Harry Potter (Ashton's friend, Jacob, was the 'unknown phantom'). AJ was Anakin Skywalker. Aryk was SpiderMan.

We had yummy, fun food too. Check out the menu at My Kitchen To Yours. Hope your Halloween was full of fun and goodies too!

Clone Wars

As you know... My Boys (all four of them) LOVE Star Wars. The new Clone Wars is really neat for them too. Cartoon Network has a Clone Wars series. The boys made it a tradition, every Friday night, they sit down and watch these half hour cartoons. We were so excited for the second season of Clone Wars. We had a "Clone Wars" party! We ate Naboo Nuggets, Palpatine Pizzas, Ventress Vegetables, Yoda Soda, and Jabba Jell-o. Check out more at My Kitchen To Yours

The Spread

Aryk eyeing the food, waiting so patiently for dad to bring him his naboo nuggets.

AJ unsure he wants to eat anything with the name Jabba.

The boys (plus AJ's friend Zach) watching Clone Wars. An hour long season premiere! Too Cool! It really was a fun night, and I always loving playing food!

Easter

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter. We did, I think. I feel like we have been going so fast, and it didn't slow down for Easter.

Aryk loved his first egg hunt. He was picking up the eggs and shaking them. The sound of candy in a plastic egg, what fun!

Ashton and AJ made out pretty good, boy will the dentist be mad!

When the boy's baskets were full they dumped them into this storage bin. Aryk caught on REALLY fast. Who needs to sit and pick up eggs when the brothers are bringing them to me! Oh yeah. This is how it's done.

We were able to go to Grandma and Grandpa Likes' house for dinner and another egg hunt. We made this Easter Egg cake. Check out more at My Kitchen to Yours. This hunt is the best, 'cause they give loose change in the eggs! And some candy.

The boys received a few Star Wars toys from the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny also left a couple video games at Grandma's for them. Lucky Boys! I think we even managed to get in a small story about The Resurrection. We did go to church, so they heard it there too.

Aryk, Aryk, and more Aryk

I have been saving up pictures for a couple weeks. Aryk is a camera hog. He turned 9 months last Friday (March 6). He is 21lbs. I can't believe how big he is. He is crawling, pulling himself to standing, has two bottom teeth, trying to express himself through noises, and loves to eat and play!

Now that Aryk is pulling himself to standing, he is also trying to see out the window. Here is our little guy trying watch the dogs out the back kitchen window.

For Aryk's 9 month pictures, I thought it would be fun to try some Black and White. These are the different faces of our baby! These are some collages of the different pictures I took. Yes some of them are repeats, but hang in there. I was having fun with the photo editor.

This one is my favorite. I love his cheeks and lower lip! I could just squeeze them all day!

Ashton and I wanted brownies for Family Home Evening. So Aryk sat in his high chair and helped. Maybe I shouldn't have put him so close to the mixer! What a mess. But we are having so much fun! And luckily, no allergies.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Yesterday was Dr. Seuss's Birthday. The boys are celebrating ALL week at school. AJ's class had a fieldtrip to Seussical the Musical. Ashton's class had a read-a-thon and snacks. They have been doing craft projects. I got into the celebrating too. We made Cat in The Hat cupcakes for both classes. (We ended up with 64 cupcakes in all!!! WOW!) Check out What's Cooking? for more cupcake details.

On Friday AJ's class is having a read-in with Green Eggs and Ham as a snack. Whew!!! How much celebrating does one birthday need?

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Halloween Dinner

I LOVE to do fun and spooky recipes for our family Halloween Dinner. This year was a little different. We have a ward "trunk-or-treat" on Halloween, and we are eating dinner there. So, due to scheduling conflicts we had our Family Halloween Dinner a couple nights early. It was also different because I wasn't feeling great the day of, so we had the food, but not the excitement leading up to it, and no spooky table decor. But the bonus was, Ashton and AJ helped out in the kitchen to prepare our fun and spooky meal! I love having them help me in the kitchen! It takes a little longer, but it's fun. And when I wasn't feeling well, it was a BIG help! So, simple as it was, here was our menu:

Mummy Pizzas

Mummy Toes and Fingers

Mummy Guts and Teeth

For more details on our menu check it out at What's Cooking?

We hope you enjoy your Halloween!

Aryk's Eating Cereal!

We started feeding Aryk rice cereal this week. It has been fun! He has such fun facial expressions. Before you comment on if it's the right time, don't worry, he hasn't had any allergic reactions. Ashton and AJ both started eating cereal at 4 months. We didn't have any problems. They started sleeping through the night about that time. How nice... We started cereal, because he was ready. And I know it will help him sleep longer. He has in fact been sleeping better this week. But it's not consistent, yet.