Marburger Farms

We went to a very quant little dairy farm today with our playgroup from church. There were a lot of us! We learned all about dairy farming and then some.
Abby was a great big sister...always keeping Jacob in check!

This is the cow that Jacob fed and let lick him all over, I had no part in it...obviously

Here he is feeding the cow all on his own. He love love loved it! When I told him we were going to the farm this morning he shouted, "All Right"!

The kiddos inside the very fragrant barn surrounded by about 50 cows.

Jacob constantly pointing and shouting, "It's a cow, It's a cow, MOOOO!"

Abby finally getting brave enought to pet a cow. She opted for the baby cow.

Jacob was contantly distruaght because he wanted to go inside the gates and cages so he could get right up and personal with the cows. He wanted to hug and kiss them, thank goodness for the cages:)

Abby made sure that I got a picture of her petting the cow, it was a very proud moment for her.

After the tour we were all treated to some super yummy vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate milk. It was seriously soooo good and I'm not a milk lover so that is saying a lot. It tasted like I was drinking a milkshake.

Notice Jaccob glaring across the table? He is strategizing on how to steal the sippy from the kid across the table. This poor little guy had the same Mickey Sippy that Jacob has and Jacob was trying to steal it from him the entire time.

Easter Weekend / Duquesne Incline

After all the furniture hauling (see post below) we went back to Pittsburgh to return the truck and do some necessary sight seeing. We chose to go up the Duquesne Incline to get a great view of the city. It's a small tram that takes you up the hillside to a great view and some quant restaurants. Jacob was soooo excited about riding the Tram!
From the top you get an amazing view of the city and the "3" rivers. I think we counted 15 bridges although I know there are more than that.

Andy, Jacob, and Clark checking out the view

We ate at a nice place on top of the hill with a great view of the city. Afterwards we went home and dyed Easter Eggs.

Easter Weekend/Furniture Find

I am loving Pittsburgh Craigslist. It rocks! I mean I have found the best stuff and the best prices I've seen anywhere. If the storage unit could hold more I would be all over it.

(Easter Weekend) Clark arrived late Friday night...I had already made an apt. to look at some furniture for Abby's room before I knew he was coming SO, on Sat. the plan was to look at the furniture put what we could in the van and then maybe rent a truck or something the next week to haul it to the storage unit. But, thanks to Clark...we used the ZipCar truck in Pittsburgh and were able to haul it all on Saturday. It was so nice to have Clark's help. I don't think we could have done it with out him. Not what Clark was planning on doing for 5 hours on a beautiful Saturday, but I'm gald he was a good sport.

Of course my awesome van! Yeah that's right I said awesome (LOL) hauled what didn't fit in the truck. I scored an entire room of furniture for Abby. I had purchased a night stand for her a few years ago at a consignment shop and have been looking for the past couple of years for the matching pieces. Well I scored! The pieces match perfectly.

It's kind of a girly French Provencal set from I don't know, the 50's-60's maybe. It's a creamy yellowish gold with gold details and scrolled legs and lots of girly touches. We are for sure going to give the pieces a face lift although Abby likes them just the way they are...of course!

This is a picture of what the furniture looks like. We got the following:

1. Full size bed, mattress, box spring, frame, headboard/footboard

2. night stand

3. 5 drawer tall dresser

4. long 6 drawer dresser with mirror

5. desk and chair.

Happy Easter

We had a small but great Easter today. Church was great, wonderful music, great lessons, and the children were pretty well behaved! Thanks to Uncle Clark!!! I think I need to fit him into my Sunday bag of tricks somehow. We had a small Easter Egg Hunt, Church, went to show Clark where our new house is being built, had a nice dinner, dessert, lots of craziness and of course we couldn't let Clark leave with out having seen Tangled, it just wouldn't be right.

The Easter Bunny hid an egg in the tissue box, what a crazy bunny.

It didn't take long for Jacob to catch on to the Easter Egg Hunt. He was running around yelling, egg, I see it, I did it. It was really cute. We were in doors (no yard) but the kids still had fun. The Easter Bunny left them a note this year and ate the carrots Abby left our for him. Uncle Clark told Abby that he thought he heard the Easter Bunny hopping around the house last night and that go her really excited, especially when she noticed that he had take 1 bite out of each of the carrots she left out for him...silly bunny!

The note went something like this...

Happy Easter

I noticed you didn't have an Easter basket out for me to fill up and hide SO; I hid all 42 eggs filled with yummy goodies all over your apartment to find. I also hid a few other treats I thought you'd like. I hope you have a wonderful day. Be good Abby and Jacob, I'll see you next year.

Love,

The Easter Bunny

Abby with her new "Tangled Book". She and Jacob were really excited about their new goodies from Grammy and Grandpa.

Jacob was really excited about his New "Car Car" book with Mac and McQueen.

Jacob and his new best friend, Uncle Clark. Clark is visiting this weekend from Philly. From the moment Clark stepped foot in our house Jacob has been glued to his hip. Jacob calls him "Cart"

The kids after church in their Easter Best. I love this picture because it's my kids in a nut-shell, they are nuts!

Here they are, finally a cute picture. It was a tad windy but overall a beautiful day.

Our Humble Abode "move in day"

Jacob was so happy to see his train table! He ran around screaming and dancing with excitement. It was the only "toy" unpacked at this point so it was a source of "contention" all day Abby looking in every box for her toys, it has now been almost a week and we still haven't found them. I even checked the storage unit. I'm missing a few other items as well.

Abby arranging the bookcase in her room. She is very particular as to how it is arranged.

Cookies and Creme cake to celebrate our first night in the apartment and NO, i didn't make it...the nice folks at Giant Eagle did and was pretty good.

Our Time at the Hotel

The highlight or our 4 day stay at the Hotel was the super fun and very warm swimming pool. The kids loved it. Abby is already a "fish" and Jacob seems to be following suit. I would take him under water and when he'd come up he immediatley said "again, again". He was blowing bubbles and kicking right away.I wasn't able to get a picture of it but Jacob wore, goggles, floaties, and his cute chubbies almost the entire time in the pool, it was really cute.
I was spoiled with prepared breakfast every morning, and going out to lunch and dinner on most of the days, except Sunday, of course. We had a prepared lasagna, salad, and french bread. The easiest dinner to prepare with limited kitchen supplies :)
While we had fun at the Hotel it was really hard to adjust to the time change. The Hotel breakfast closed at 10:00 and we barely made it. It was really hard getting the kids out of bed. And especially hard when Monday rolled around and we had to drive Andy to work. We had to leave at 8:00 am and that was a real struggle. Here is my favorite comment from Abby "Can't daddy get his own ride to work!" Thank goodness for the DVD player in the van! The kids watched "Tangled" to and from Andy's work for drop off and pick up. It's a 25 Min trip normally but with traffic it can take up to 1 hour. Andy's car is expected to arrive sometime this week...hopefully it is sooner than later.

Pennsylvania Here we Come!

After a crazy week of cleaning, packing, listing/selling/shipping Ebay and Bow stuff, we finally made our way to the airport. Abby was super excited and Jacob was just going with the flow. Here is a picture of us at the airport with all our stuff. Ther's me alone with 2 kids, 1 checked bag, 2 small carry on rollers, a big back pack, diaper bag, purse, and stroller. It was a long day with all our stuff, a 3 hour flight, a 1 hour layover / plane change, and then a 4 hour flight. I recieved NUMEROUS compliments on how well behaved my children were/are. I was thrilled because they aren't always such angels ... they did great!

Here the kids are sitting at the window looking at all the planes come and go. Jacob was "excitedly" announcing each planes arrival to the entire terminal. "Plane, Plane, I see it!" "Air Plane, Air Plane," ... repeated over and over until I said, "Yes Jacob that is an airplane, I see it." about 100 times.

Thanks to a portable dvd player, laptop, coloring stuff, snacks, and an always filled "milky Mickey sippy" things went very smoothly. We left Grammy's house at 8:30 am Pacific Time and arrived in Pittsburgh at 11:30 Eastern Time. More to come ...stay tuned

Valentine's Party

On Saturday I helped my sister Brooke throw a Valentine's Party for her step daughter Leah and her friends. It was a fun filled couple hours with crafts (don't these paper purses look real?), cookies, candy, homemade pizza, and lots and lots of screaming...(what is it with girls and screaming???) Below are a couple of pictures of the party. Click below for the purse tutorial.
http://missfancypants.typepad.com/little_miss_fancy_pants/2010/11/fancy-this-paper-purse-gift-tag-set.html

What a fun group of girls!

Our Christmas in a "Nut Shell" More to Come

Abby performed with her Kindergarten Class in their Holiday Concert. She actually sang! If you know her at all you will know that in all her Primary programs, Christmas Sing a Longs, you name it her mouth stays closed. Well, I was shocked to actualy see her singing. and yes the boy in the picture on the left in red cried during the entire thing.


Brook, Leah, Jaime, Mom, Abby, and I went to see Central Ballet West's "The Nutcracker". This was Abby's first time going and I thought she would be old enough to see it this year. And while she liked it she also fell asleep during the last act! I can't say I blame her, Ballet isn't really my favorite either. But to fall asleep during the Sugar Plum Fairies Solo is almost Criminal!

We went to the Oaklant Temple to see the lights and listen to some music (as best we could with a 2 year old!). It was cold and pretty but not as COLD as or at Lit Up as the Salt Lake Temple Square is. I definintely don't miss the cold just the lights.

Afterwards we went to see this very cool house in Manteca that has over 500,000 lights on it.

A Few Firsts!

This was our first Christmas at our home in 8 years, since we've been married we have always travelled to our parent's home for Christmas.

We got our first tree, "Thanks, Dad"! and put what ornaments we had on it along with a ton of homemade paper ones from Abby.



I bought a shelf and installed it over the fireplace since there was no mantel (thanks Todd). and hung the stockings on the wall because the shelf while cute was not that sturdy.



Decorated it with gifts of Christmas Past that were never until now able to be used, Thanks Lisa and Whitney.



I made Christmas goodies for the first time and actually gave them to people!



I had to buy wrapping paper and lights and stuff, Andy was thrilled...LOL!!!



I also used the Advend Calendar my mom made me for the first time. Thanks Mom.

Food for the Reindeer

Abby brought made some food for the Reindeer to eat while Santa is busy dropping off the presents so we had to (on her orders) put in on the roof Christmas Eve morning first think (notice Jacobs PJS). She was really excited about the whole thing.

Merry Christmas to All!

The presents are wrapped! Shopping and goodies are done! Bows have all been made!!!! Ahhh, now it's time to enjoy Christmas. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas this year and as a super early New Years RES, I would like to keep my blog more updated...we'll see how that goes. Here's the kiddos all dress up on Christmas Sunday.