The Dumpling!

Mr. Squish turned TWO! What a delight he has been! This little one has been a sweetheart for 2 years...lets see if he keeps his reputation-please!

Oh boy, here comes the cupcakes!
I think Grandma just might be as excited as Kendall!

Almost here!

Lets blow out the candles! He started to blow the second we started to sing.


My trusty assistant, Nathan was ever so kind to help me out in the kitchen. His creations were absolutely delicious!

One of the things Kendall got, was a big monster tent. Best thing ever! The boys have been playing with it for hours. All of their blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and every toy they own has graced the monster's presence. Nathan has even slept in it for the past 3 nights.

It"s Been Filled With?

FUN!!!

When you are turning 4, it's best to have a birthday Tanner style! You wake up and get to go to breakfast with Mammy, Papa, and Nathan and order the funny face pancake. Then you go to the store all by yourself with your mom and pick out lunchables, chips, capri suns, and fruit leather.

Around lunch time, you have all your brothers and cousins change into swimming gear and head to the most fun park we have to offer in Colorado. You eat your picnic, wade in the pools, splash in the stream, climb up all sorts of exotic equipment,and if you have time, run around in the splash pad.

Then you come home and help your mom make the coolest spider man cake ever, run around and around in the back yard to burn off some of the excitement that the giant mound of birthday presents has created and get ready to let the festivities begin!

(yes, this Mohawk fish is mine.)

A Date With the Dudes and the Ducks

A picnic lunch consisting of 2 Carl's Jr Cheeseburgers and water, 5 happy and active boys, 30 minutes of playing on some awesome playground equipment, a couple bags of bread, 70 hungry ducks, 1 beautiful afternoon, a half mile walk, 13 prairie dogs, tons of bees, 1,345 giggles, 8 legs a runnin', 5 tired boys, five 2-minute meltdowns, 1 trip home in the car, 5 boys asleep in their beds for a nap, and 1 life long memory.

What Would You Do For A Sweet Deal?

These are the pros. My mom and Sara.

I think our obsession with getting a good deal has gone a little to far...NEVER!

We went LATE night dumpster diving in the recycle bins for Sunday newspaper coupons and found we have a little gold mine not to far from our house. My mom sacrificed her body (HAHA, she is so dang CUTE!) just so we could replenish Sara's stock pile. My mom is our number one supporter for our addiction!

Sara is the ultimate sweet deal shopper, (Lisa is up there too).
I will forever remember getting books, Leapsters, dresses, shirts, jammies, jewelry, dino sipper sauruses, markers, endless delicious meals, stocking suffers, target combos, old navy bags, MOVIES, and games, either free or next to nothing.

My eyes have been opened to some new stores and I will never pass by a red clearance tag without thinking of her.

Little Champs!

I love the fact, that with a cousin, you have a built-in-best-friend for life.


When these boys are on, they are on! I love to look out the window and see them zipping through the backyard.

On the same broom, they wiz by acting like witches with a genuine cackle taking over their domain.

Dance Party!

There's only one thing that can top Disneyland according to the boys and that is .... a dance party with Papa!

The kids have been fine tuning their moves and perfecting them for Papa's approval.



Kendall loves to play all the instruments while he dances... just like Papa.


All this fun works up an appetite for a bowl of Lucky Charms before bed! Whew!

Youchers!

Modern medicine is simply amazing! Nathan fell and severed his ear while on an outing to non other than our favorite place in the world, Chick-fil-a. His ear was gushing blood and flapping in the wind according to his very "remaining calm" mother.

We took him to the pediatrician before we were going to go to urgent care to see if by chance they could fix it there. After they cleaned the cut they told us that it was in the perfect place to use GLUE instead of getting stitches even though the cut was all the way through, and they could fix it in the office.

Two Popsicles, some Tylenol ,and a dermabonded ear later, we were sent home with an ear that looks like some minor scrapes and bruises. They did an AWESOME job!

A Popping Cob!

Grandma brought the kids a poppable corn cob from Palisade and we thought we would conduct an experiment.

Some of us thought the corn would pop on the cob and some of us thought the corn would pop off the cob, straight into the bowl.

The outcome:
Off the cob and into the bowl with a few stragglers left on the cob!With a little melted butter and salt, it was a very delightful treat!

A Day With Sara!

Oh bummer! It's Sara's Birthday. Mammy had the day off and Justin took the little boys to the movies. That only means one thing....S H O P P I N G!

We ran down to the outlet stores, had a yummy lunch, went to the mall and a couple of other stores, wore our sports paraphernalia to Chick-fil-a-, got free sandwiches, and ate a to die for cake!


She really makes motherhood look easy! I always learn a ton from her!

This recipe is from her sister Kelsey, and it will make you gain five pounds just by looking at it but that little extra wrinkle on your thigh is worth it. Just shop til you drop and you just may burn it off. There are no guarantees though.

Oreo Ice Cream Dessert:
1/2 C. butter
1 1/2 C. flaked coconut
1 large pkg. oreo cookies
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

Chocolate Sauce:
1 C. evaporated milk
1 6 ounce package chocolate chips
10 ounce package of mini marshmallows

1. Melt the butter - add coconut (stirred & toasted). Remove from heat and cool.
2. Crush oreos in blender. Add coconut mixture and blend. Pat 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of the pan.
3. Cut the ice cream into 1 inch slices and cover cookie mixture. Chill in freezer.
4. Pour cooled chocolate sauce on top of ice cream and put remaining crumbs on top. Freeze for at least 2 hours.

Sunday Afternoon

We set off on a journey to a land far, far away. Okay, it was Chatfield reservoir 5 minutes from our house but it felt like we had left the country.

We made foil dinners, roasted marshmallows, hiked the wilderness, lost the areobe -aham papa, discovered neat sticks, cool beetles, and beautiful views.

We watched the sunset, listened to the boats go by on the lake, and enjoyed a peaceful evening together.

How To Eat A S'more...

Get serious about roasting it. You want to really concentrate so that it is the perfect shade of brown, or black if you are Kendall.


You have to get so excited about the fact that a piece of Hershey's milk chocolate will be accompanying your marshmallow that has been roasted to perfection!


It tastes so much better if you have someone that is as serious as you are about your S'more process. And like you, they can down 10 of these bad boys with no problem. Even if you throw up, you've just made room for three more.


You have to really dig into the Graham cracker. You have to lick every nook and cranny and can't be afraid of the gooey residue that will remain on your face. Really go for it.

Lick all the remains off you fingers, and if your tongue is long enough, you might be able to reach those hard to reach places on your cheeks. That is just a maybe though. Good luck.

A Drive-In Movie!

The boys have been working really hard this week to earn "movie money", (money I printed off the computer), so that they could buy their drive-in tickets, drinks, popcorn, and treats.

It's been a great reward system- if their naughty, they loose a dollar. They had to be extra nice and helpful because my concession prices were through the roof!


We spent an entire evening decorating their cars, cutting out moons and stars to decorate the room to make it feel like night, and we even strung up twinkle lights everywhere! I think I had more fun than the kids and we decided this needs to be a new tradition!


Their cars had wheels, lights, and Aunt Sara special steering wheels to make them extra fast! All nestled in and ready for the feature presentation: Bolt!


The boys were extra cozy with their favorite blankets, teddy bears, and pillows.

Justin set up the black light in the kids closet where they purchased their glowing tickets and then it was off to the concession stand where they bought their treats from Mammy, the cute concessionist in her little brown hat.