Labor day

On Labor Day we headed to Central Park for a picnic. It was a beautiful day and we ended up having a wonderful family outing.

This was our picnic area.  It was the perfect place for the boys... huge rocks to climb on and a perfect tree for climbing.

Of course Barty was wherever the food was.  "Want some?!"

That little spot under his eye is a mosquito bite.  He gets really bad reactions to them.  It's sad.

I love this picture.

A bagpiper graced us with his presence and music.  He was pretty good.  Asher couldn't get enough of him.  Thankfully, he never stopped playing long enough for Asher to 1. ask him endless questions and 2. ask him if he could play it.

He was mad because I took the water bottle away.

Still watching him

still watching

Someone is supposed to be sleeping.  This seems to be a recurring picture.

At the playground after we had our fill of rocks and trees and bagpipe music.

This little boy took great care of Bart. :)

Granny Ostegar

My Aunt sent out this picture of us with our Granny Ostegar.  I think it's such a darling picture.  From left to right: My brother Joel, my cousin Chad sitting next to Granny, Whitney is up front on the floor, cousin Christian is on the other side of Granny, cousin Kari then me in the pigtails.  Isn't our 70s couch rad?!  Thanks for sending this along Aunt LJ!

Horse cake

I made this cake for Asher's friend's birthday party.  She loves horses.  They are definitely not my specialty, but I did my best.  I have decided that I don't love making characters out of fondant... it's not really what I want to specialize in.  I am more about making things really pretty and classy, but it's fun to do these for my kids birthdays.  My friend asked me to do this pretty last minute, and it was my first paid cake.  It's not amazing, but her daughter was SO pleased with it.  When she saw it, she said to Asher: "I am SO glad that your mommy made me that cake!"  It was pretty sweet.  The cake was also really yummy.  I used the better homes and gardens yellow cake recipe (my favorite) and it was so moist.  I frosted it with chocolate ganache, which got lots of compliments.  I tell ya, you just can't go wrong with ganache!

Bart turned ONE!

Bart turned one back on April 27th.  We didn't do a big party or anything, but I made some cakes so that we could sing to him and he could have his first bite of cake.  We didn't even get him any gifts or anything.  Poor third children.  I promise, when he gets old enough to remember his birthdays, I'll be better.  Well, really it can only go up from here.  Just scroll down to get a look at his "cake".  It completely fell apart when I flipped one of the layers over to put it on top of the other layer.  I then proceeded to frost it, hoping that the frosting would help it hold together.  It was pretty tragic looking.  I am ashamed to even put it up here.  But honestly, so much of baking and cake decorating is trial and error.  This one turned out to be a big error.  It was good though. :)

Bart on the other hand, looks absolutely adorable, as usual.  He is now almost 17 months and is such a delight to have in our home.  Both Nate and I are completely in love with him.  It's pretty impossible not to love such an adorable kid.  He is so energetic and charismatic and HAPPY.  He loves his big brothers so much and wants so much to be just like them.  He is a crazy climber.  He is starting to take an interest in books, but still won't really let me read him an entire book.  But he likes to look through them on his own.  He also has a bit of an attitude... he definitely knows how to let us know that he is not happy.  It's in the phase where it's still pretty comical, but I have a feeling, it's not going to be long before it starts trying my nerves.  He has been experimenting with hitting which is just wonderful.  I told you, he can be a little stinker.  He has started jabbering non-stop and it is pretty stinkin' cute.  He loves to dance and clap to music, and has the cutest walk/run.  He kind of sticks out his stomach and lifts his feet and legs straight up in front of him.  Hard to describe but so funny.  I will have to get a video.  Despite him being a little bit of a stinker, he is such a sweet, cuddly little boy.  He loves to come up and hug people's legs and rest his head on our legs or shoulders if we're holding him.  He absolutely loves my friend Emilee.  We were at the park yesterday and she sat on the ground and he basically came running and jumped in her arms.  He is a total charmer and steals many heart while we are out and about.

Here are some pics from his FIRST birthday...

Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast

the cake

at least Barty's little cake turned out fine

He wasn't quite sure of his cake, but I think he warmed up to it after a while.

Want some??

Tribeca Film Festival

This was back in March or April.  We went to the Tribeca Film Festival.  It was pretty fun.  Basically though, anything free in NYC is just completely crowded, which often translates to it being not that fun.  There were some fun things for the kids to do, and a really cool park that the kids loved playing at after the festivities, and we met up with friends which helped it turn into a pretty successful outing. 

Clearly, Nate was having a fabulous time. ;)  He doesn't like crowds.

Bumps and bruises

I never posted a picture of Asher's stitches.

 A couple days after Asher's stitches, Sayer got this shiner from playing on a toy at the playground.  This was a couple days later so it was looking a little better.  Also that same week, but not pictured, Bart fell and hit a light socket (they are boxes, not flush with the wall) right between his eyes.  Thankfully it wasn't deep at all, but it bled plenty.  My poor little guys.  If only they would listen to their mother and not rough house.! ;)

More Chelsea Splash Park pics

I found these on my desktop.  There aren't any pictures of the actual park, but this is all of us on the way home.  I thought it was pretty representative of getting around in NYC.  Breanne also took a video of us down in the subway getting all the strollers down the stairs... it was quite the sight, but I couldn't get it to upload.

Goodbye curls

I cut Sayer's hair.  Nate made me.  He still looks super cute though.  And quite grown up.

Asher likes to take pictures!

He really has quite the eye, don't you think?!