Chocolate World

Today we went to Hershey's Chocolate World. They offer a free, 12 minute ride through a simulated chocolate making journey. We were the only ones on the ride (slow season I guess), so we rode it twice. Tony got a kick out of it! I even thought it was interesting and entertaining, I didn't realize what a process it is to make chocolate.

The 3D movie was out of service, so other than shop in the HUGE gift shop, (Rach your kids would have LOVED this gift shop) there wasn't much else to do there. And other than the gift shop it turned out to be a pretty cheap day too. I was disappointed that they didn't sell clothes in little kids sizes, they had a T-shift I wanted to get for Tony that said, "I traded my sister for a Hershey Bar!"

Here are the pictures from the ride:

Hershey kisses

Chocolate Syrup bottles being filled

Reeses Peanutbutter Cups

the singing cows... informed us the milk makes chocolate Moootricious!

After Chocolate World, we came back to the hotel for nap time. (Nap time really messes up your day, but it cannot be avoided with our kids.) We planned to go to the zoo after they woke up, but it was nearly 3:30 when they woke up, and the zoo closed at 4:30, so we went shopping instead.

They have an outlet mall here (no sales tax!) and I was hoping to buy myself a few things... instead I bought a bunch of stuff for my kids. Why does that always seem to happen? Then back to the hotel for a swim in the pool, which seriously was the highlight of the trip for the kids. We think we could have just gone to a hotel 5 miles from home and they would have been happy!

We have eaten all our meals in our hotel suite, (it's just easier that way) and thankfully there are some really good restaurants within walking distance. Todd and Tony are picking up dinner now, and Bella is trying to go to sleep for the night.

Tomorrow is the big drive home... hopefully the kids are just as good on the way home as they were on the way here!

The Sweetest Place on Earth!

Yesterday when I came home from work at 9am Todd announced that he and his dad were going to a farm show in Hershey, PA to see some demonstration/explanation of a new fertilizer they may want to use this next farm season. I said they should take Tony, he loves chocolate and how fun would that be to go to the Chocolate factory and see how they make chocolate.... and somehow that turned into let's all go to Hershey! I made a few phone calls and did some rearranging of my work schedule so I was free the rest of the week, and Todd, me and the kids loaded up and were on the road by 2pm. (When Todd's dad found out the whole family was going, he decided he'd stay home. I can't imagine why he wouldn't want to ride in a car with 2 little kids for 9 hours :)) Anyway, we got in late last night and this morning we went to the farm show. I say morning, but by the time we got up, got dressed, ate breakfast and got to the show, it was nearly lunch time. So today was Todd's day (at the Farm Show) and tomorrow is for me and the kids. We are going to the Chocolate Factory and I can't wait. I hope it is fun for Tony, I know Bella could care less, but with Tony's love for chocolate, I really hope he gets excited and understands it all. Well as much as a 2 year old mind can!

Here are a few pictures from the farm show.

Tony had to crawl up and into every tractor there! He didn't seem to mind being there, so long as he was on a tractor.
Bella trying to take a nap, and smelling her blanket. I don't know why, but both my kids do that, they have their favorite blanket that they must have in order to sleep, and they smell it for reassurance that it really is their blanket.
Well she couldn't sleep I guess the farm show was so exciting she didn't want to miss a thing. I finally gave up on the nap let her out of the stroller to get some exercise too.
I was so impressed that he could get up in the tractor all by himself, that when he did it the second time I got my camera out to record it and some guy decided to start talking to me right when I was taping it, it was so annoying. I didn't talk back to him, hoping he would realize what I was doing and stop talking, but he didn't. Just kept on talking.... that's a farmer for ya!

If tomorrow is anything like today, I will have some down time during nap time to blog about the Chocolate Factory!

Tony's 2yr old personality!

My 2 year old is still small enough to bathe in the kitchen sink! I only do it because he asks so nicely "bath in sink!" well he isn't really asking, but more or less telling me that is what he wants. How can I say no to this cute face? I also used this picture to enter him in the Regis and Kelly Beautiful baby contest. The voting starts March 1, so don't forget to go vote for him.When we were in Cabo he loved the beach. He'd say "beach" relentlessly until I agreed to take him. He wasn't fond of the ocean so we played in the sand a good ways from the water, and he would tell me to go get water in his bucket and bring it back to him, only to have him dump it immediately and say "more water!"
The pool was fun, of course who wouldn't love a pool that was 92 degrees? I'm thinking swimming lessons at the Y might be a good idea.
I rarely get a good shot of him, he tends to turn away from the camera now days, but this time I think it worked to my advantage. I love this picture.
Reading is one of his favorite things to do. He tends to pick the same ones and read them to death though. We have a book case with about 75 books and we read the same 10 over and over again. In this picture he is reading with his cousin Taylor.

This picture cracks me up, because he is wearing his dad's shoes, on the wrong feet, eating ice cream in his pj's. That ice cream I swear was spiked with something, cause he did not sleep well that night, up laughing and playing in bed with Grandma until the wee hours of the morning. Finally Mom and Dad had to step in and MAKE him go to sleep, he put up the biggest fight I've ever seen, demanding various things to distract us. Finally around 2 am he fell asleep. That was our last night in Cabo.
He became fast friends with his cousin Taylor, who conveniently lives just down the road from us. I see many play dates in our future. Although he did start to hit and push her a bit, so he will have to outgrow that or she wont want to come around him.
He loves his little sister Bella. He likes to try to pick her up and lay on top of her. Most the time she is a good sport about it, so long as she doesn't get hurt.
Here is Tony "going to the side". His Aunties taught him this, all you have to do is say, "Tony, go to the side" and he starts walking sideways. It always makes us laugh.
Again, refusing to look at the camera. He does it on purpose too, he's a very smart boy and he likes to play games.
Eating breakfast in the window in his favorite pj's.
Other things about Tony that I don't want to forget.

He talks in almost complete sentences now, minus the occasional pronoun, or adverb.

He refers to himself in the third person, which is so funny. Today he told me "Tony drive" when we were getting in the car. While we were in Mexico we didn't have a car seat for him, so now that we are back, he puts up a fight every time we go somewhere.

I do believe he now understands everything, well 90% of what I tell him. Yesterday we were at the store and I said we were going home to eat lunch and then take a nap. So I asked him what he wanted for lunch. I mentioned about 10 different things, pizza, grilled cheese, nutella, yogurt, peanuts etc. everything was answered with an affirmative "NO!" so then I started offering him things I knew he couldn't say no to; chocolate cake, ice cream and still "NO!" So then I said, "okay then, I guess we wont eat lunch and just go to bed for a nap" he replied with "cereal." Now that's what I call a smart boy. I think he honestly thought if he skipped the lunch we'd never get to the nap, since I said, lunch and then nap.

He finally eats better, to say good would be a stretch, but there are a few more things he will eat now, like peanut butter, scrambled eggs, and grilled cheese. The sweet tooth is still strong as ever, and chocolate cake is at the top of his list. He was just shy of 24 pounds at his 2 yr check up, putting him in the 8th %.

He likes to tell us what to do. Mama sit. Dada wake up. Mama come here. Mama don't do that. Bella No. Brewster No.

He also likes to tell us what he wants to do: See KK (aka his cousin Kristen), ride penny horse, go grandma. And he is persistent too. I think he got his stubbornness from his dad. Mama watch Barny on Farm.

Speaking of Barny, here is Tony watching it in the El Paso airport which we were stuck in for several hours.

And yes that would be Todd and Tony playing on the airport floor! Yes, we were that sleep deprived and frustrated to even care that it was an airport floor.



And last but not least, his famous words are "Too tight" and that is his response to ANYTHING he doesn't want to do, eat, or wear.

Lovin Cabo

Bella can pull herself up now. And thanks to my blog archives I can tell you that she did this one month sooner than her brother did.

Sunrise at the villa.

We've been in Cabo for 2 days now and I am loving the place were staying at. It is a house with a pool overlooking the ocean. The ocean is just a short walk down the driveway and your on the beach. The waves are too rough to actually get in the ocean, but we've been down to play in the sand. We were told there is a cove with calm waters for swimming just a few minute walk away, but we haven't explored that far yet.

The pool was nice and warm when we got here the first day, and the next morning it was BRRR cold, so the boys figured out that the heater was on a timer (probably to save the owners money) and they turned the timer off and turned the heat up. By the end of the day yesterday the pool was 95 degrees! It was so nice, but I made them turn it back down just a bit. We decided on 91.

At the end of the pool they have a "kiddie pool" which is really a hot tub with the heat off. We specifically asked if it was a hot tub and they said no, so we are guessing we aren't supposed to crank up the heat, but leave it to the boys to figure it out, we got that part up to 99 degrees.

They have a chef here that you can hire to come into the villa and cook for you but the prices are high so we planned on doing most of the cooking ourselves, but after the first trip to the groccery store and eating grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for our first dinner here, we decided we might want that cook after all. It also just so happens to be low season here, although I don't know why, it's perfect weather, but we haven't seen hardly anyone around, the beach is empty, it's like our own private vacation. So the good part of that is that we were able to work a good price out with the Chefs, and our second dinner her was way better, we had beef fajita's, fried rice, beans, fresh guacamole, and homemade salsa, (and they even made me a special vegetable stirfry without the meat). In Jamaica where I've been before and we have a cook, we buy the groceries and they cook the food. Here, they bring it all with them. It was really nice and stress free and so good. Way better then going to a restraraunt with 3 babies.

The kids are having fun, Bella and Tony are getting along with Taylor. They play together in the house with the very few toys we brought along. They all seem to like the tractors the best of all the toys, they usually fight for it. As for all the books we brought, they all seem to want the same book, a book that Taylor brought called "My little word book". They all 3 want to read it. So one book and a few tractors would have been suffice on the toys. Outside they are usually attached to an adult, but they all love the water.

Time change still hasn't kicked in yet, Bella starts our day at 6:30 and Taylor shortly follows, then Tony hears the two of them and wakes up too, and before long the whole house is up. We are usually done with breakfast and on the deck by 8:30. It's not bad though, cause it gets dark here early, usually by 6 the sun is set.

Anyway, speaking of Bella, she is sleeping in the laundry room, poor girl, but we have a 3 bedroom house, and Todd's mom came along to help with the kids so her and Tony are in one room, Brett and Jen and Taylor in another, and Todd and I were supposed to sleep with Bella, but Todd got the bright idea to stick her in the laudry room. Which actually is a good idea, but it kinda smells like detergent. Todd claims babies don't have a sense of smell like adults do so it wont bother her. I don't know if I believe that, but it is nice having her sleep there. His theory is based on the fact that they don't complain about a stinky diaper. So now it's a 3 bedroom villa with a bonus room!

Well I hear babies stirring so I better wrap this up. I hope you all appreciate the effort to blog, once you quit doing it, it's so much work!

Here are a few pictures, it takes a long time to upload them, so I just picked a few.

Bella
Tony's waterlogged toes.
Tony and Nana playing in the sand.
Taylor
Todd in the "kiddie" pool with Tony and Bella.
Tony lovin on Bella at the hotel in Chicago the night before we left.

As promised...

Yesterday was Todd and I's 4th anniversary, tomorrow is Tony's 2nd Birthday and the party is today. The majority of the evening was spent making this lovely cake and getting things ready for the party. I have a feeling we will spend many anniversaries doing much of the same, with one tiny exception; I wont be decorating any cakes. Yes this was a one time crazy idea I had, and I learned my lesson. From now on birthday cakes will be bought. I am not very happy with the way it turned out, very novice looking, but considering Todd accidentally threw away the instructions and I had to use a picture off the internet to copy with no instructions, I think it will do just fine. Especially since I also ordered an Elmo cake from a real cake baker who has a little more talent than I do.

For the love of Barney!

Don't ask me why, but for some reason, out of the white snowy sky, (yes it's snowing here), I feel like blogging today. Hmm, wonder if it could have anything to do with the fact that right now I have no kids, no husband, no house to clean or bills to pay, and no job to do. Yep, I am in a hotel Starbucks sipping a Nonfat Gingerbread latte and totally enjoying this rare quiet time to myself with no other obligations. Todd has been in Grand Rapids for Farm Bureau meetings this week, and yesterday I pawned the kids off on my mother in law and drove up to do some shopping and have dinner and stay the night. Todd has meetings again this morning and then we will head back to life with obligations, after making a quick stop at Costco.

Christmas is coming so fast, I can't believe it. I still haven't gotten a tree or started my shopping. I really need to get on the ball. Yesterday I had planned to do some shopping, but by the time I got to Grand Rapids I only had time for one stop. The cake store. Let me explain...
This Monday is Tony's 2nd birthday, and for his cake I wanted a Barney cake. Not just a cake with a picture of Barney on it, but I wanted the actual cake to look like Barney. My MIL has a friend who made an Elmo cake, which I saw on Facebook and it was so cute, looked just like him. I asked her if she could make me a Barney one, which of course she could, only problem being she does not have a Barney cake pan. So determined woman that I am when I get my mind set on something, I did some Amazon searching and sure enough found a Barney cake pan, for $19.99 plus $9 shipping. Since it was Thursday and the party is Sunday, I wasn't sure that it would arrive in time. Since I knew I was coming to GR for the day I called a cake store and found out that they had a Barney pan to rent but not sell. Well GR is a good hour + drive and the rental is for 2 days only so I wasn't sure that would work either. Todd has another Farm show to attend in GR next week, so I asked if there was anyway we could keep it for a week. She started chuckling on the phone, and then proceeded to tell me that the last time the pan had been rented was in 2005, so she was pretty sure a week would be just fine. "I guess Barney isn't that popular" she said. Well maybe not, but to my Tony, he is #1. Everyday we must watch Barney, many, many, many times. I have several episodes saved on the DVR so we can watch it anytime he wants/demands and he knows it. He will bring me the remote control and say "Barney". If I ignore him or pretend I didn't hear him, he just says it louder and louder until I give in and turn it on. We try telling him that Barney is sleeping sometimes, but that doesn't work too well. I don't really like Barney myself, but he has a good message for kids, teaching them to play nice and morals and all that stuff, so I guess if he wants to watch it he can. I just wish he liked other cartoons too, for a little variety.
Anyway, back to the cake, so I get to the store and I walk in and the whole place smells so good, apparently it's not just a cake store, but a cake bakery too and the aroma from the frosting and cakes baking in the back filled the store. I think it had a hypnotizing effect on me, cause when I got there I did something totally crazy! First of all the cake pan was not at all what I had wanted, it was more like a cake with Barney on it, and I really wanted the cake to be Barney! So I started looking around the store to see what else they had, they had all kinds of cool kids cake pans. I tried to look and see if there was anything else that I could get to take back to the cake baker to make for him and I spotted a CARS cake pan. Tony does love CARS, so I decided that I would buy the pan. And then I started thinking crazy, how hard can it be to decorate a cake, it had a picture on it for me to use as a guide, why do I need to pay someone else to do this when I can do it myself? I asked the lady what she thought about it, I told her that I had helped my sister decorate a cake many years ago and we used a star tip. She said if I could use a star tip then I would be just fine. So I bought all the frosting dye colors, frosting tips, couplings, bags, and clear vanilla, butter and almond flavorings. I walked out of the store feeling really excited about making this cake, but as soon as I got out of the store and into my car, I started having doubts. (That is why I say the store smells had me hypnotized.) So I will probably most definitely be calling my sisters to help me. Hopefully we can pull it off and make a nice cake, but I still think I might go ahead and have the cake baker make me an Elmo cake too (just in case)!

Wish me luck! I promise to post pictures of the cake and party afterwards!

I'm back (for now)

Well it's been a while since I've blogged, but blogging should not be a chore, so if I don't have time to do it, I'm just not going to. But tonight I just got the kids to bed, Todd is watching football and I just sat myself down in front of the TV with my laptop to watch Grey's Anatomy and yes blog.

Here is a little of what's been going on around here:

For Halloween we had the cutest little girl bunny and a boy without a costume. Well sort of, I actually bought him an Elmo costume because he's almost as popular as Barny is around here, (I actually looked for a Barny costume but couldn't find one) unfortunately as much as Tony loves Elmo, he apparently doesn't like the idea of being Elmo! Every time I put it on him he screamed, so he wore an Elmo sweatshirt instead and it was good enough to get him lots of "CANNY". In fact, we have so much CANNY that it has taken over the house. It is constantly on his mind and he never forgets where it is and asks for his CANNY many many many times a day. Seriously, I can't wait till the CANNY is gone.

In other new, my dad went home a week and a half ago, so that means that the patio is finally done. I am really looking forward to using it next summer. I think that once I get to use and enjoy the patio a little bit, I wont mind as much about the expense of it all. Well truth be told there is one set of steps left to do, but that will have to wait till next year, or maybe even 2 years. My brother has been harrassing me for pictures, but since it is dark out, I can't take them right now, but will try to add them tomorrow.

My business is slowly getting going, finally getting some work, but it's so much harder than I thought, and there have been days I've wanted to just quit and give up before I put anymore money into it. But since the insurance is the biggest expense of it thus far, and I'm committed to a year for that, I decided to stick it out for a year and see what happens. I'm so glad I have a partner in this, she keeps me motivated.

Farm work is slowing down drastically for Todd, which is really good timing, cause Todd's parents just left today for Australia for 3 1/2 weeks. So that means I no longer have a babysitter readily available. It's going to be a long month, cause not only does Todd's mom watch the kids when Todd and I are both working, but she also gives me lots of breaks for shopping, errands and the occasional dinner sans kids for Todd and I. Thankfully though it just so happens that my mom is coming tomorrow to watch my sisters kids for a week while Rachael and her husband are on a "medical conference" in London!

And speaking of kids, Bella is growing like a weed, she eats so good. I am making all her baby food from scratch instead of going the Gerber route. She eats everything I give her! So far she has had zucchini, butternut squash, acorn squash, pumpkin, peas, potatoes, apples, peaches, banana and cereal. Feeding her is really enjoyable cause she actually enjoys it. Tony on the other hand is so frustrating to feed, he eats about as much as a bird. Lately his diet primarily consists of fruit loops, yogurt, pretzels, peanuts, nutella sandwiches and chocolate milk. Oh and CANNY. Hopefully he outgrows this stage soon.

He is also suddenly very clingy and jealous of any attention NOT given to him, and bedtime is a nightly struggle, so I have a feeling this might be the start of the "terrible two's". Bella is constantly on the move, rolling all over the place. I don't think it will be long before she's crawling, time to get the baby gates back out!

Yep, things are hectic around here and these two kids are certainly the cause, but they are so worth every bit of it!