Catch up!

To all of you avid readers out there (all 3 of you), I have to apologize for completely neglecting my blog. I have no excuses, well I do, but you don't want to hear them. So now I have over a month of fun stuff to catch up on.

Just before V-day in Feb we got to go to 2 birthday parties in one day. One was for Maddy, Jeremiah's cousin's daughter. I guess that would make she and Simon 2nd cousins? or something like that?

Anyways. I LOVE this first picture. The pretty princesses, the heart, the lovely pink frillies. . . and the boy with the baseball bat contemplating how he's going to smash it all to smithereens!Si got to toss around a football with his cousins and Ryan stayed busy by being superhumanly strong on the playground ramp. The ramp was slippery so he couldn't walk up or even crawl up like a normal kid does.No, he drug his little self all the way up the ramp multiple times using just his little fingers that fit perfectly into the little holes in the ramp. That's my boy! He's as headstrong as his mom. 

 

W enjoyed good food and great company and Maddy got tons of girly gifts, like the ever coveted Barbie Mustang. All Ryan wanted was cupcakes.

Jeremiah really hates when I take his picture. Hence the "don't you dare" smile.

Here's cute lil' Maddy, the Birthday Girl! She is only 4 months older than Simon. They had so much fun playing together, as long as it didn't have to do with girly stuff. (Although I think he wouldn't mind playing with  the Barbie Mustang.)

Ryan got candy from the pinata. No one told him you have to unwrap it first.

That night we took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for the utimate 8 year olds Birthday Party for this guy:Everett.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of this night. The kids wore themselves out running around playing every game at least five times. The favorite seemed to be the popcorn popper game. If you haven't played it you might want to go to Chuck E. Cheese for you next party.

We also made a trip up the mountains the last weekend of February. Everett had his baptism that weekend and Jeremiah was to give a take and do the confirmation. We got to the Hall's house just in time to get ready. I was the last one in the house and Jeremiah came back in with a worried look on his face. "What's wrong" I said. "This" he said. And he proceded to turn around and bend over. I was very confused until I realized that he had a huge rip in the crotch of his pants. He had ripped his pants when he was getting into the car. Being away from home with no one around that wears a size close to his, he had no choice but to change into his worn blue jeans. He was very upset at first but it worked out well because he was able to work his mismatching pants into his baptism talk! He's super cool like that.

Then: Booga Reds 

Simon's extra long straw

The handsome man of the hour: Everett, and his sidekick Ezra. (I have such cute nephews and neices)

And while we were there, it snowed! It was so beautiful but I wanted to hit the road early so we wouldn't get stuck in Round Valley. This pic is the field next to my parents house in Eagar.

It was big fluffy snow, my favorite!

On the way home we detoured through Superior. I love driving though these little AZ towns. You don't realize what gems there are hiding inside these towns. (If you get a chance, drive through the back roads of Globe! They have some crazy giant hills that I would never want to face on a snowy day. Good thing it rarely snows there. )

This is one of the cool buildings we found in Superior.

And this looks like an old mining building. I'll have to look up this town and see what history lies behind these buildings.

The best part of the drive home:

Random waterfalls coming down right next to the road between globe and Superior. This is the only shot I got but there must have been at least a dozen others. It was breathtaking. And to add to the dramatics, the whole area was blanketed in a light fog. Stunning!

What else happened this month? Simon tried to flush the entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet. I understand that it is a right of passage for kids to try this at least once but. . . .

Lucky for my Jeremiah did the dirty work. And I mean Dirty work! But after that our bathroom shined like new.

So there's our month of February in a nutshell.

Simon Says. . .

I know I'm a month behind on blogging. . . updates are coming! I promise!

Anyways, I had to share some "Simon Says" comments from today.

Simon lost his soda cup this morning. We rarely ever drink soda so when he gets some it's a big treat. He misplaced his cup and confronted me about it and asked me where I put his cup. When I told him that I didn't know where it was, his reply was:

"Maybe my soda cup turned into a little mouse and ran away."

Then he got out some construction paper and scissors and made me the cutest little card. When he brought it to me he was explaining what the "message" on the front of the card said.

"Mom, I spelled your name. It has a silent U in it."

Gag reel?

I always thought it would be fun to have my kids in modeling. Of course, since they are my kids I think they are adorable :) But I'm not sure they are Baby GAP modeling material.

Well, my kids have the fabulous oppurtunity to be my own personal Cantaloupe Corner models. Lucky little guys. Even if they turn out to be funny looking teenagers they can always tell the girls that they were models. lol.

We shot some new photos in the backyard today (I'm not the most creative photographer) and as always, the boys did a great job just being themselves. . . well, most of the time.
I think I spent most of my time chasing Ryan around the backyard trying to get far enough in front of him that he would at least be in focus. I would NEVER choose child photography as a career. yikes!

We did end up with a few usable shots that you can find listed with our brand new tshirt designs at http://www.cantaloupecorner.com/

I just had to show off the gag reel. So enjoy some of the silly pictures from our morning photo shoot.

I call this one "Meltdown"

Ok mom, can I stop smiling now?!

This is Simon pulling the whistle on the train.

Gotta love the faux hawk.

My model ran off but Zeus was happy to stay and pose for me. 

 Sorry Zeus, first of all you need a hair cut. Second, we don't sell doggy clothes. Maybe next time.

"If you need me I'll be in my trailor!"

Ok, in the last picture Ry's hands were muddy from the wet grass so here's his solution. Wipe the mud on the wall! (Better than wiping it on his pants.)

I couldn't ask for better models.

Cupcakes!

Who can resist a yummy cupcake?

I made these yummies yesterday for my mother-in-law's, and brother's birthdays.

I saw this recipe online somewhere, and now that I want to share it I can't find it anywhere!

So if you have seen these cupcakes online, let me know where they are so I can give credit to the genius behind these pretties.

 

To create this effect:

1.mix up a white cake mix as directed

2. put half the batter in a separate bowl and tint to your desired color (I used neon pink)

3. line your muffin pan with cupcake liners and fill half way with white cake mix

4. grab a gallon sized ziplock bag and fill it with the tinted batter

5. snip the corner of the bag and squeeze tinted batter in the middle of the white cake batter in the cups

6. if desired you can add a 3rd color in the middle of the tinted batter

7. bake as directed

8. decorate!

These are great for any occasion. You can even experiment with different cake mixes and colors! Maybe next time I'll make red velvet cake with chocolate or white cake in the middle. mmmm.

Love is in the air.

February is the month of LOVE and I have so much love in my life. From my hubby to my sweet boys to my friends and family, there is so much love to share!

For our Valentine's Day craft, Simon made Valentines cards for the first time! He got to cut glue and glitter to his heart's content.

Here are the finished cards. I helped draw the hearts in glue and tie the ribbons but he did the rest! He's a budding artist. Makes me so proud!

He even wrote a message and picture in the inside. (Translation: "I love you")

They even showed their love by helping daddy do the dishes.  :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Fun Photoshop!

I'm slowly learning the ins and outs of photo editing. I still have so much to learn but it has been so fun to see what I can do with the photo editors.I've been using a great FREE program called GIMP. It is a great photo editor if you don't want to spend $80 or more on Photshop Elements.

I took this picture yesterday at the park. My friend Danielle was sweet enough to let me use her adorable daughter Kate to model a new headband.

This is the "before" picture. She looks great but has a mouth full of pretzels. :)

And this is the "after" picture. She has such pretty blue eyes!

I just downloaded the coolest program called Picasa that makes it a million times easier to update my blog. I just click on the pictures I want to blog about and click "blog this", and viola! you have a new blog post!

So hopefully that means I will get out of my blog slump and start posting all the great stuff that is going on in our lives.