Double Birthday Cheer!

Yes - this is the lucky time of year that I am reminded of our TWO Christmas babies! Preston turned one on December 12th and Gunnar turned three on December 14th. We partied and had so much fun! Enjoy the pictures of the birthday cheer!

Preston got some presents of course - this one is from his brother. Gunnar picked it out at the store and was like this is for Preston Mom and I get a train (at least he was hoping) Preston loved his stuffed dog and squeezed and squeezed it. He loves stuffed animals! Preston enjoyed his birthday cake - but didn't want to get too messy. Good thing we had a half birthday so we could see him completely dirty. (Check out the older posts) We had a basketball game and then came home and continued celebrating with cake and ice cream. His cake was in the form of a number one - that we devoured quickly. Gunnar's big gift was a TRAIN Set - YEAH!! This is all that he wanted for a couple of months. And still if you ask him today what he got for his birthday or Christmas he says a train set! He played on it all day and was promised that he would still be there when we come back from church! What is a train set without a train cake! Gunnar liked his train cake and his favorite part was the oreo wheels!

It was a great week with the boys birthdays! We were grateful to have friends to celebrate with and party with. I did a count and in our home the nigth of Gunnar's birthday and we had 13 children with 12 adults - it was one big party! Here is a picture of a fire truck that we have that can be blown up and has balls. At one time I think I counted 7 kids in it at once - you can see the craziness ;)

Halloween Fun!

Halloween is such a fun holiday! When else do you carve a fruit into a funny face, dress up, knock on stranger's doors, and get lots of Candy! We were a reptile family - Gunnar was the dinosaur which was his second year as a dino! And then we had Preston who was our crawling little cute turtle!

Preston was one of the fastest crawling turtles that I have seen!

This year we got those fun face peices that you poke in for the kids to decorate their pumpkins - then Rhett and I carved the traditional pumpkin faces.Gunnar enjoyed getting the seeds out and made sure that he did not get dirty doing it :)

For Trick or Treating we were ready at 6:00 and had a blast touring our neighborhood. It is fun to show off your kids -

Gunnar did a great job knocking on doors and talking to strangers - I guess you do anything for candy :)

Buppert's Fun

Yes that is right! Buppert's Farm has become a tradition for us.

Every year we feed the goats, go through the corn maze and then pick out pumpkins for the fall holidays! Check out the fun picts we took.

These goats were so fun to feed - Preston especially liked to grab their goT's

Here's Gunnar at the beginning of the Corn Maze - the corn was really tall this year! We let Gunnar guide us through the corn maze and make all the decisions on where to go - we had quite the fun - but never really found the right exit but we did get out again just through the entrance :)

Isn't Preston a cute pumpkin!

Gunnar had a blast with the wagon - and he was so tough he even could pull the four pumpkins and his baby brother.

Potty Trained MAN! The G-ster

Yes that is right - Gunnar is potty trained!!

It has been 3 weeks and since I am writing this I am sure we'll have major set backs tomorrow but none the less I have to brag about my big boy! It is quite the ordeal to potty train but now that it is done oh boy I love it. First the number of diapers that I don't have to change anymore and second the number of diapers that I don't have to buy - it was expensive having two kids in diapers! Trick to potty training passed on by my Sister - you have a boy take full advantage of it and let them pee outside - Gunnar has really enjoyed peeing outside and learning how to aim - hey whatever works, right. And it's a lot less messier than cleaning a toilet. Our neighbors just laugh at us peeing off the deck :) Other exciting things that have been happening - trains - the horse island - clark ellioaks farm - and of course playing with Sophie - take a look.

He's got the wave down - Sykesville has this little train that runs every Saturday - it's free and lots of fun for kids of all ages - unfortunately they do have a cape and "adults" are not aloud. I guess we adults just have to take the metro :) What do you spy there in the trees - yes that is a horse! It is always fun to go to Assateague Island with the wild horses. We had a ball and even got to hit the beach too! It was one of the last days before the cold weather came.

Gunnar is riding on cheese! Clark Ellioak's Farm was filled with fun Disney Characters to climb on and what not - the old woman's shoe, little toot, and the three bears house. I would recommend it to anyone!

There was a boy who had a dog and Sophie was her name - E. S O P H "E" ! Gunnar sure loves this dog today he was pulling on her leash all day long and would climb on top of her and steal her toys and then throw them. They are quite the pair to watch!

Update on Preston Dean

Preston Dean is just growing so much. It is amazing. He is crawling every where - going upstairs and downstairs. Standing up and walking along the furniture and walls. Preston even tries to use the dog to stand up and walk with but the moving target makes it a little bit difficult. Preston now has two teeth - weighs 22 pounds and is constantly on the go. Someone once told me that he is just "full of life" that would describe him very well - full of life and doesn't want to miss anything. He "thinks" that he is so big and loves to do what ever his brother is doing. That is why when you come to our house and you hear him hollering usually it's at whatever Gunnar has. One of his favorite things is to talk on the phone - it is just a hoot to watch him. Usually it doesn't even have to be a real phone - he'll just take any toy and put it to his ear and start jabbering. We sure love our little Baby Deany!

The DUATHALON!

Yes that is right! Rhett Rhees was in his First DUATHALON on October 18th 2008. So here's some fun photos of the event!

First of course - prep. Rhett and Gunnar got the bike ready.

Gunnar was sure excited to help his Dad for the race!The time has come - get ready on your mark get set GO! Rhett first ran for 2 miles which he was awesome on and one of the first to get his bike. Here's our BIKER! They picked up their bikes and went for 10 miles - this is where Rhett had the hardest time but next year he'll be more ready.

Rhetter's G's Fan Club was on the side lines cheering him on.

And then back running for 3 more miles and to the finish line! Here are the boys posing with the finish line.
It was a fun day in Hagerstown and all who want to give it a try we'll be back next year for the Duathalon come with us. We hit the outlets on the way home and Harper's ferry it was all lots of fun!

New Camera and Two Children

Hello everyone - I have had a few people commented on if we were still alive and wondering when am I going to update my blog if I was alive. Well hello everyone we are alive! I do have two excuses for not blogging - one my camera broke but I did get a new one and now we have lots of pics with memories that I need to get on here but I have to figure out new software and the whole bit which is tough with the next excuse - two children. Yes Preston is older and mobile now and I have a whole new meaning to having two children. In the beginning it was easy - but now that he is moving I am constantly busy. I am now a referee between the two kids - Gunnar don't take the toy out of Prestons hands if he has it- Gunnar run if you don't want Preston to get your toy - Preston please stop knocking down the garbage can - between the two of you would one of you sleep through the night. So I hope that all of you can understand why I have been taking a break from blogging, in fact I rarely use the computer any more. But my life will get calm once again - things always get easier or you just learn how to get more on top of life! So give me another couple weeks maybe even three and I will hopefully have some new posts!