Halloween 2012

For Halloween, Caden and Caroline were super heroes. We used the capes from their party and Amy made masks and bracelets to match. 

Super Princess Caroline

Super Cade-Man

To the rescue!!!

Fourth of July and Our First Fireworks

Our kids sleep schedule has been out of whack since the cousins were in town and it couldn't have come at a better time. On July 3rd, our kids were up until 10:00pm. There normal bedtime is between 8:00 and 8:30. After they went down so late, Amy and I decided to keep them off schedule for one more day so we could go watch some fireworks.

On July 4th, we left our house at 8:30pm to find a place to watch the Cedar Park fireworks. We didn't want to be too close to the action so we could make a quick exit and it would be less likely the kids would be scared of the fireworks.

We ended up finding a place right next to a fire station. A fire engine was outside with spectators on top. A fireman was nice enough to let the kids play inside the fire truck while we waiting.

 

 Caroline and Mommy waiting for the fireworks.

 Caroline and I watching the fireworks.

 The kids loved pointing at the fireworks saying, "Over there!" or "I like the green/pink ones!"

 

We had a ton of fun watching the fireworks. The kids loved it and did great. They were not scared at all. (We were a little worried the explosions would scare them.) We can't wait until we get to watch fireworks with them again. As for now, we are going to try to get back on schedule.

Father's Day Cake

For Father's Day, I picked out several desserts and asked Amy to make one of them for me. Amy decided to make an Oreo Cake that I found on Pinterest. (Yes, I'm one of half dozen guys actually on Pinterest and it is awesome. I pin stuff for the garage, desserts, and fun stuff to do with kids.)

The Oreo Cake ended up being quite a bit of work with a cake and multiple types of frosting made from scratch. Of course, Caden and Caroline helped. Caroline was very excited to wear her apron (made by Grandma) and chefs had. By the time this picture was taken, Caden was ready to take off his Home Depot apron.

 

Caroline decided to try the chocolate frosting they had just finished making and she loved it! Caroline must have stuck her finger into the frosting a half dozen times before we put a stop to it. I couldn't blame her for this, especially since I put my finger in a half dozen times before Amy put a stop to it.

 

 Here is the final product. It was delicious.

On a related sad note, I decided to take the leftover cake (more than half) to work to share with my team. I put it in Amy's cake carrier and went to work. On the walk to my desk, the bottom fell off the cake carrier and I was left holding the top half by the handle designed for carrying while my delicious cake was splattered all over the floor! I considered getting a fork and eating it directly off the floor (remember the Friends episode about the cheesecake)...

...but I decided to clean it up the best I could instead.

Easter 2012 -- Dallas

We were in Dallas for Easter this year. Here are some pictures of the kids opening their Easter baskets.

Caden was very excited to see he was given packages of M&Ms.

The kids also got a bowling set.

After opening Easter baskets, we went to church. After church, we went to our standard Easter and Thanksgiving location where we had dinner with the Eakers, Meiers, and Shanks.

Before lunch, we went out to take some pictures.

Here is a Shank family portrait with Angela, Allen, and baby George. I think George posed very nicely.

Here is our attempt at a family portrait. It is hard to get Caden, Caroline, and Amy all looking the correct direction.

There was all sorts of fun toys to play with at the Eaker's house. Caden loved this realistic tool set. Caden is very interested in tools right now. He frequently points them out in our garage, tells them goodbye, and loves when we let him touch the tools.

We had an Easter egg hunt for Caden, Caroline, and Sammy. Caroline collected by far the most mainly because Caden and Sammy wanted to open each individual egg to get at the interior contents.

The kids were a little delirious at this moment. It was well passed their nap time. Soon after this picture, we loaded the car and headed home. The kids quickly fell asleep in the car.

We had a lot of Easter fun.

Easter 2012 -- Austin

The weekend before Easter, we went over to Amy's parent's house to celebrate an early Easter with them. They had gifts for the kids (and one gift for our entire family).

The kids were given a small wheel barrel. They love it. Both enjoy filling it with stuff and pushing it around the house. 

Both kids also go a number of other things like these bunny ears modeled by Caroline.

The family gift was a jogging stroller. Amy had been eying a jogging stroller for awhile.

After breakfast, we took the new jogging stroller and walked to a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. This is the second time we attended this hunt and the kids had a lot of fun. Some of the fun was collecting rocks before the hunt actually started.

After the hung started, the kids had no problem gathering their share of the eggs. Here is Caroline showing off her stash.

Christmas in Austin 2011

After spending Christmas in Dallas, we headed back to Austin to celebrate Christmas with Amy's side of the family.

Here is our Christmas tree. The kids loved decorating it. They were very sad when we took it down a few weeks ago.
We started Christmas day with some breakfast. Here is Ella and Caroline starting their day.Per tradition, Grammie and Poppa bought everyone pajamas. The girl cousins got matching pajamas and the boys got matching pajamas.
The box Ella is holding is for a scavenger hunt. Last year, the Baker kids went on a scavenger hunt and were rewarded with a trip to Disneyland. They LOVED the hunt (and the trip to Disney). I think a scavenger hunt has become a tradition.This year, our kids were old enough to participate and they were ecstatic to be involved. Just look how happy Caroline is to be running around with her cousins.
They found another clue!After several clues, they found this box containing three boxes--one for Amy and I, one for Michael and Amy, and one for the Baker kids.Our box and Michael and Amy's box contained Kindle Fires. We love ours! The Baker kids got an iPod touch. They immediately installed some games. I thought it was hilarious when Will asked his dad for his Apple password so Will wouldn't need to bother Michael whenever he wanted to purchase games. :)

Here we are opening presents. Caroline and Caden enjoyed cleaning up the wrapping paper just as much as they did opening the presents. You can see Caroline throwing some away in the back of this picture.
Here is Caroline opening an Aqua Doodle. The twins have had a lot of fun drawing with the Aqua Doodle. Amy and I love it since it is a craft they can do themselves where the only mess is a little bit of spilled water.
The twins hanging out in a blue lazy boy chair.
The picture above reminded me of this picture from five years ago. Weren't Ella and Will cute? (And they still are.)
Well, back to 2011.

The Baker 5 bought the twins a really cool (and extremely large) roller coaster. Here is Michael showing Caden how to ride down for the first time.
You can see Caden did not like the coaster at all!
Now it was Caroline's turn. Caroline never shows the same excitement as Caden but she definitely liked riding down the coaster.
Even Ella enjoyed the coaster.
The twins have ridden the roller coaster more times than I can count and they are able to completely do it themselves. We made the rule that whoever rides down the coaster must also push the cart back up. That little rule has prevented many fights already.

One day, Ella, the twins, and I went outside to play. Ella is great with the twins. She is awesome at playing with them on their level. Here are some pics of the three of them going crazy in the backyard. They raced around, played in the leaves, ran in circles, and enjoyed being silly. It was a lot of fun to watch.
Cal has gotten into karate. (I think he took one class.) Here is Cal showing off his moves to Poppa. I think Poppa looks very impressed.
One thing the Baker kids really wanted to do was spend the night at our house. They got their chance on New Years Eve. That night, Caden and Caroline went into Amy and my room to watch an episode of Curious of George before bed. The Baker kids decided to climb in our bed and join them and of course, I took a picture.
We had a lot of fun with all the kids that night. Everyone was very pleasant and slept well. Amy and I enjoyed talking with the Baker kids. They are very funny.

We had a great Christmas. For several weeks follow Christmas, the twins kept saying we needed to "celebrate Jesus' birthday" and "when is Jesus' birthday?" They can't wait until Christmas 2012.