Tater Monkey

Tate helping himself to some popcorn at Grandma's house over Christmas break. 



 Exploring everything on the table.  Such a curious kid. 

He loves to climb. We find him on tables or counters like this everyday. 

This was him yesterday.  He is standing on a table outside, looking through the window at me.  He would climb up and say "homie, mommy."  (Hold me) 

I would get him down and he would climb right back up and say it again.  Funny kid.



Brylee's Play Kitchen

We got this little kitchen/ cupboard piece from in-laws garage over Christmas. 

I had been eyeing it for a few years, and finally asked about it.

It was built by Brian's grandpa for Brian's little sisters. 

Lucky for me, neither of the little sisters were interested in it.

So with some time and a little TLC it went from this to....

This! 

I like how it turned out, and most importantly, so does Brylee. 

We had to have a Cardinal on it.  :)

I free handed the branches, made potato stamps for the flowers and green birds, and made a stencil to trace for the cardinal. 

It was fun.  I'm glad it is done and being used now. 

We don't need no stinking forks!

Tate dropped his fork on the floor.

Saw Brylee's hair pik on the table next to him.

Solved the problem himself. 

Mmmm, waffles. 

Boo Bears Birthday

Brian's birthday was on the 14th.  He turned 33!! 

Holy moly.

He made a big change this year...

He chose a different kind of cake for his birthday!!!

Every birthday, since I have been making his cakes, he has had the same kind of cake. 

Red velvet with chocolate pudding frosting. 

Not my favorite, but it's not my birthday, so I always granted his request.

But this year, he chose red velvet swirled with a cream cheese and chocolate chip filling,

and some homemade chocolate frosting. 

It was so good. 

(I'll have to add this recipe to the food blog- yummy!)

Ice Skating

Brian's school put on an "End of Tri" party at an outdoor ice rink. 

So we got to take the whole family for free. 

The kids LOVED it. 

They could not get enough, and did not want to leave. 

Of ourse Tate was too little, so he had to stay off the ice. 

I think he still enjoyed being outside, and drinking hot chocolate. 

On the way home we played the quiet game and Tate won. 

I couldn't believe how long he was quiet for. 

Very out of the ordinary for him. 

Brylee loved the ice skating too, just no pics to prove it.

How about that smile though!!

Uh oh...

Tate is an aspiring artist. 

His medium of choice?

Himself...

I can't seem to figure out where he gets it......

Fall

We had quite a few leaves to clean up this fall. 

It was actually sort of fun to get to work with the kids, and luckily it wasn't too cold. 

Fortunately we had LOTS of help!

We also had to pick the rest of our tomatoes because a frost was coming. 

We had lots of tomatoes this year, but only 2 or 3 ever turned red. 

So here is our big bowl of green tomatoes, that we never ate...