Recent Happenings

It's been a while since I posted (mostly because I just haven't been good about taking photos lately), so I'll give a quick little update on some of our recent happenings.

STICKERS are our new obsession.  We are practically going broke buying stickers for these two to put on pieces of paper that ultimately end up in the trash.  But they are having fun!



Easter was a blast this year with a Saturday visit to Mimi & Buppy , a Sunday morning swim at the local hotel pool (the Easter bunny even made an appearance there if you can imagine that) and then Easter dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's (with a visit from Aunt Janet & Pierre).  Here we are lining up for our morning Easter hunt:

And our most exciting update is that we are finally riding the pricey bikes Mom & Dad bought for us!  After months of refusing to even try them out (after begging for them to be bought) - all it took was 5 year old Laurel from down the street to come cruising by on her bike.  M&A got sick of chasing her around on foot and decided they may as well learn.  Aidan still has the occasional memory lapse when it comes to steering and Maddie needs to get a little less frustrated when she gets "stuck", but all in all a positive experience.  Kurt & I even dragged our bikes, that haven't seen the light of day in 5 years, out of the shed.

 

Despite the new skill, Aidan's favorite activity is still digging in the dirt and just all around being a messy boy:

And lastly, we decided to grow some veggies & fruits ourselves this year.  Here are our "city pickers" deck boxes full with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots & strawberries.  Wish us luck in keeping all of the critters out of our bounty.  And wish us luck in getting M&A to eat what we grow!

Of course they each had to have their own garden and decorated them so there would be no confusion...

With the recent 80 degree weather, we've got summer on the brain and hopefully we'll remember to bring the camera along on our many adventures!!!

Maiden Voyage

Last year I purchased some fancy sleds with the intention of taking our then 3 year old twins sledding.  Despite the crazy amount of snow we received last winter, somehow we never managed to hit the hills.  This year has been pretty minimalistic in the snow department (not complaining); so this was our first chance to get out. 

We found a great sledding spot at a local playground; a bit of a hidden gem if you will.  The first hill was a doozy to climb, but it was a long, fun ride down.  The kids LOVED it! 

There was a second shorter but steeper hill as well.  Clearly our kids have a need for speed since that is where we spent most of our time.  We raced each other and rolled in the snow.  Towards the end they were pooping out a bit on the climb back up the hill and Kurt, being the wonderful Papa he is, pulled all 76 lbs of them up over and over again :-)

We were so glad the kids enjoyed themselves and were so proud of how well they behaved (first 2 hour period without any whining in a LONG time).  All in all it was a fabulous winter morning!

Super Fast!

We figured the less she saw the better :-)

Best Buds (the look on Maddie's face is priceless)

He's no slouch!

The kids were so sad to leave "the hill" and we all can't wait to go back - if we get anymore snow that is!

Christmas 2011

Kurt is on vacation this week and we are all recovering from a very exciting Christmas season.  Christmas Eve was spent at Mimi & Buppy's house.  The twins were all dressed up, holding hands, smiling and, OF COURSE, not looking at me.  Oh well, can't have it all!

Lots of fun opening gifts with their cousins...

A little before 8pm Aidan decided he'd had enough excitement.  He went upstairs and put on his coat, shoes & backpack and told us he wanted to go home.  While it caused a bit of a hub bub as we scrambled to get everyone ready to go - we were certainly proud of him for realizing he'd hit his maximum capacity for stimulation.  Such a smart little guy :-)

Aidan had a tough time getting to sleep, but we reminded him that Santa couldn't come if he didn't.  Santa left quite the delivery for us...

Grandma & Peepa joined us for gift opening.  Here's Maddie with her 'fur real pig'...

And Aidan with his Lego City...

The kids were very lucky this year.  Both in toys and because they are able to spend the holidays with all of their family members!  Mom & Dad had ALOT of organizing to do since we are now in the phase of toys with a million little pieces.  Happy New Year to all!

Gymnastics Show Extraordinaire

Mimi & I had the pleasure last week of attending Maddie's Holiday Gymnastics show.  It was an adorable little "show" her group put on during the last 20 minutes of her class.  Maddie was definitely the best at playing to the camera.  She knew I was taping her and would look at the camera after each move.  AND she was the only girl to remember to do her Ta-Da pose at the end.  Very cute :-)

Jumping from the trampoline into this foam pit is by far one of her favorite activities. 

If she can conquer her fear of the high bar, she just might have a career here...

Willner Bake-a-thon

Last weekend was our second annual Willner Christmas cookie bake-a-thon.  We have to have something to leave for Santa after all!  This year was a significant improvement over last with the kids actively participating (and enjoying) the process.  AND Aidan left us some dough this time rather than eat it all.  They REALLY got into it and ended up pretty messy.  But messy doesn't matter as long as we all had fun - and we did!

Maddie was a bit heavy handed when putting sugar on the cookies:

But it all worked out in the end.  The finished product:

And, of course, the aftermath!  Thanks Daddy for cleaning it all up :)

 

Happy Holidays to all!!!!

Ward's Berry Farm

Last weekend we took our 2nd annual trip to the Ward's Berry Farm pumpkin patch.  Only difference this year was that it was EIGHTY-FIVE degrees out.  By the time we left, our jeans were sticking to us. 

We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and were a bit disappointed to find that all of the large pumpkins were rotted (apparently it is a bad year for pumkins).  But we rallied and picked out a few little ones.  Then we climbed the haystacks and took advantage of the playground.  Another fabulous fall family outing!!!



4th Birthdaypalooza

In honnor of Maddie & Aidan's 4th birthday, we celebrated four times!!  On the day of their birthday, we spent some quality time together just the 4 of us swimming at the indoor pool and eating cupcakes. 

The day after the official birthday, we had their playgroup friends over for a pirate lunch/party.  Maddie & I spent the morning decorating while Aidan was at school.  And we picked Aidan up to find that his class had decorated a tshirt & crown for him.  The tshirt says "It's Thumbody's birthday" and all of his classmates/teachers put their fingerprint in paint.  Very cute!  You can also see Maddie decked out in her pink pirate hat ready to greet her guests...

 We took a short break that week from birthday celebrations.  Then this past weekend we held celebration #3 on Saturday.  We had all of the Willners over for a pizza party for the kids and a sit down dinner for the adults.  Maddie & Aidan really enjoyed the time with their cousins and we had a family photo shoot too!

We got some sleep and woke up bright and early for celebration #4 - which was a trip to Davis Farmland with the Maas/Lance side of the family.  Nothing beats seeing all of your cousins in one weekend!  Maddie wasn't too keene on the pony ride, but did enjoy relaxing with Peepa.  And we ended the day at Auntie Deb's house for even more cupcakes before Morgan had to head out for rehearsal for the Nutcracker.  And of course Vivie modeled her Kung Fu outfit for us too :)

Such a fabulous birthday for such wonderful children!  We're so grateful to all of our friends and family for celebrating with us and for all of the fabulous gifts we received.  I do have to say that next year there WILL NOT be 5 parties.  PHEW, we're exhausted...