two four year olds=fun

Embry and Jasper have been looking forward to this day for so long! i've heard "how many more naps until my birthday?" or "when i wake up it better be my birthday" comments since their last birthday was over. I think this is my favorite age for the twins. but i've felt that way at almost every age so far. they say and do the funniest and cutest things all the time. yesterday in the car steven and i were talking about where we wanted to move.

and Embry interrupted and said "Can I live in my own house before my brain espwodes?"

this birthday we skipped out on the party..they didn't like that idea until we told them we'd make their day really fun. and we did! we woke up early to go to Bastien's soccer practice. then we went to Joe's Farm Grill for breakfast. then we went to san tan mall and let them play in the play area. we acted like it was time to go. then we said close your eyes and follow us to the next surprise. we walked over to build a bear and let them choose a stuffed animal and one piece of clothing. they were SO excited. I think Build a bear is ridiculously overpriced, especially times 2?! They've never been inside before. But i figured they are not going to love stuffed animals much longer and the build a bear experience is really fun. (Their stuffed animals are their Favorite toys these days-along with the batman imaginext toys) I'm glad we did it. cause i could tell they just loved it. Embry chose an army camo bear with a skeleton tshirt. Jasper chose a monkey with a white build a bear tshirt. then we came home and the boys gladly took a nap cause we were up so early. then we woke up and went to dinner with my parents. then came home and sang happy birthday and opened presents. Embry got 2 batman figurines (his request was "I want a lot of batmans") and jasper got a blue flash superhero figurine and a cookie monster figurine, too. (He said he wanted a "blue superhero") i like that they love figurines so much.. it's fun listening to their little imaginations when they're playing.

bastien rubbed all the balloons on the carpet then put them on walls

we dont usually serve cupcakes on the ground, but the lighting in the kitchen is so bad. cupcake toppers are my new fav bday thing. i'm so done with having meltdowns the night or 30 mins before their parties. (like bastien's ghostbuster cake & embry's brobee cake-both which steven saved) Embry wanted batman cupcakes & jasper, cookie monster. i found the topper rings online, and they were just as excited about them.

soccer

Bastien started his soccer practices this morning. Bastien wasnt too sure about wanting to do soccer for a while. I told him he could try it and see if he liked it. and I didnt talk about it again because that's never a good idea with Bastien. If you act too excited about somethings with him, he tends to even it out by acting the opposite way. A Bastien-ism he's had since he was a little guy. But yesterday, he saw i bought him shin guard socks & a ball and has been super excited ever since. He had so much fun this morning playing sharks & minnows and he even played some more soccer in the backyard for a while after we got home. He has practices the next 5 weeks, then 6 weeks of games. His teams name is The Tigers. The kids all voted on it. I could tell Bastien liked being apart of a team.

this guy doesnt happily last very long at parks. he spent most of the time trying to eat all the grass.

oh and right when we got there the twins both said they had to pee. i didnt say anything and then they asked "can we go to that tree?" and i just kinda quietly said "mmhmm" and then turned around and acted like i didnt see them do it. i never know the rules with this. i figure they are still really little, we're at a park with no bathroom, we just got there and i'm not going to pack up everyone, and it's super fast & easy cause they're boys, right? don't they have a free pass while they're little? :)

Embry & Jasper

steven bought me a camcorder before the twins were born, so we have so much footage of them! it makes me wish i had more of Bastien when he was a baby. i squeezed it all down to a 15 minute video for the boys to watch..they love watching home videos. Here's a 5 minute shortened version-i cant believe they will be 4 this month!

blueberry oatmeal buttermilk pancakes

that's a mouthful to say! when we went to my step mother inlaw's cabin last summer, she made some yummy blueberry pancakes. she said they were the kind where you let the oats soak in buttermilk overnight. i love me a good oaty pancake! i searched online for a similar recipe. i found one but tried to make it more healthy since there's really never a good reason to eat pancakes. these ones have about 150-175 calories per pancake but maybe less since i changed the butter to half and used applesauce for the rest of what it called for. i doubled this and put the rest in the freezer for the rest of the week. try it! you're gonna like it! :)

2 c. oats

1/2 c. wheat flour

3 T sugar (or splenda)

1 tsp bak soda

1.5 bak powder

1/2 tsp salt

2.5 c lowfat buttermilk

2 eggs

1/8 c. butter-melted

1/8 c. applesauce

1.5 tsp vanilla

1 bag of frozen no sug added blueberries

cooking spray

1. Large bowl-combine first 6 ingredients

2. small bowl-whisk buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, applesauce, vanilla

-add to dry ingredients

3. thaw bag of berries, before opening-smoosh blueberries to get it more juicy. (optional)

4. add blueberries to mixture.

5. cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6. spray pan with cooking spray and drop 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake

makes 15 pancakes

about 150-175 calories a pancake

tips..

-the first time i made these i burned half the batch. but i found that if you start the heat out somewhere between the low& med setting they turn out best.

-also the batter is thicker than usual pancake batter so make sure you spread out the pancake really well..or they wont cook all the way in the middle.

boys first helicopter ride

New Years Eve day Steven and Andrew were doing 15 min rides for family/friends. The boys were so excited to ride with Steven. They werent even scared one bit. The paranoid in me had to think about it for a while before i agreed-but felt okay especially since its their daddy! my sister Ana, her husband and 2 oldest boys got to ride as well.

my camera was being weird-i wish i got better pictures of Jasper right before and right after he rode because he was SOO cute. he was saying "I'm so excited!" before he got on and he skipped back to me after Andrew got him out of the heli. his face was the best.

Bastien got to go 2 times and we switched out the twins in the middle seat. Embry asked to take his bear. Steven said during the flight that he said "Daddy-my bears having fun"

jasper deep in thought about what just happened-while embry and bastien take off.

we were there from 9am-1pm and Finnick slept for about half of it. He slept through every windy/loud landing!

one of Steven's past students sent the boys wrapped christmas presents! helicopters with landing pads for the twins, a stuffed plane for finnick and a really nice remote control helicopter for bastien. that was so thoughtful and sweet of him.