Ringing in the new year....

with cake...on a stick....covered in candy and sprinkles....YUM! I spent the final hours of 2010 in sweatpants in my kitchen making cake pops (I'm wild like that!). Mike was in bed at 10:30 pm...my kids were sawing logs....and it was just me, Ryan Seacrest, and a kitchen covered in cake and sprinkles! I really was just looking for an excuse to practice making these little treats before I attempt them, again, for Nattie's birthday at the end of this month. They were kind of a lot of work, but they tasted good and I thought they turned out pretty cute for my first attempt. We enjoyed eating them today with Papa and Nana.

I made a strawberry cake and used chocolate cream cheese icing (kind of like a chocolate covered strawberry)...yum-o!

A-dub turned four months old this week...he's growing like a weed! He has his check-up on Monday, so I'm anxious to find out all the new stats. He is, honestly, an angel. He eats like a champ, goes to sleep so easily (I lay him down awake and he rarely even cries...just sticks his thumb in his mouth and goes to sleep!), and spends the rest of the hours of the day smiling and yelling (a high-pitched, really funny scream...just for fun!). I love his laid-back little personality.

Here is wild-woman...poor thing has had a fever for almost three days. She slept until 10:30 am this morning and when she woke up she asked for "meddies" (medicine). Once the Tylenol/Motrin kicks in, she's back to her spunky self!

She got a boy babydoll for Christmas, and I guess the Christmas story must have made an impression on her... she's been calling him "baby Jesus" all week. :)

I can not believe she is almost two....only a few more weeks. We've been talking about her birthday for awhile now and I've been asking her what kind of party she wants. I throw out ideas and she responds with an "uh huh" or "un uh." She is in love with Sesame Street, particularly Elmo, so when I asked if she wanted an Elmo party, she got super excited. If I make any other suggestion now, I am quickly corrected with a loud..."ELMO!" Ok, ok, Nat...Elmo it is! (Luckily, I've been there, done that. Ben's second b-day was Elmo too...already have the cake pan!)

We all look tired and grubby...but it's rare that I get a picture with all three kids kind of looking...so I'll take it!

Silly boy.... Tonight, Papa and Ben were playing with Walkie-Talkies. Ben was upstairs and Papa was downstairs and they were pretending like they were policeman trying to catch bad guys. Papa told Benny that there was a criminal on the loose who had robbed a liquor store. He described me and told Ben to find me and check my breath for liquor (you know, to see if I was guilty!). Ben found me and I had just eaten a cake pop, so I had candy breath. Ben looked at Papa and said "Did she rob a candy store?" :)

I could really go for a Hawaiian vacation with cool bendy palm trees right about now. Although, shortly after I took this picture, he drew a shark in the ocean right in front of me...so, maybe not.

Just a few pictures of Papa and Nana playing with the kiddos this afternoon...

Happy 2011!