Bear With Me

Sorry I haven't posted much lately.  The Fiene boys are very cute, but they are also rambunctious, messy, needy, and create several loads of laundry a day.  They have had me on a pretty tight schedule lately.

Some day soon I'll blog about Anders' birthday, Halloween stuff, and a catch-up post from this summer.  Yep, that is how far behind I am.  But they are cute, aren't they?

Oh, Brother!

Some things just never change.

Gus and John- 2009

Gus and John- 2010

John and Gus- 2012

Fall Festival

One weekend in September, Hans packed up all of the boys and took them to Zionsville to visit his parents.  I had to work for part of the weekend so I was unable to join them.  But it was glorious to have the house all to myself.  I had grand ideas of cleaning and going to bed early.  Too bad I couldn't get to sleep until about 2 am and then had the dog wake me up promptly at 6.  Oh well.  Hopefully I'm given the opportunity to try that again.

The boys had a lot of fun.

Can you tell?

It was the weekend of the fall festival in Zionsville.  Hans has many wonderful memories of the festival and was excited to take the boys.  I even entrusted my camera to Hans to document the occasion...too bad he couldn't find his keys and therefore could not use the camera that was secure in the locked car.  But I guess that is why they made these cool things called phones that have cameras on them.

 I believe this was also the last weekend that Christain was going to be living in town.  He moved to San Francisco a few days after this.

 Waiting for the parade to start.

 I wasn't there, but I'm almost positive this ended with someone crying.

After the parade there were lots of rides to ride and candy to consume.  I am told that the "greatest dad in the world" allowed them to eat a lot more candy than the "mean ol' mom" would have.  That's okay, I didn't have to be in the car with them for the 3 hour trip home.



John's Birthday Party

Because John turned 6 the first day of first grade, we decided to hold his party off until September to let things settle down a bit.  When John put his guest list together, he had two boys and about eight girls on the roster.  When I asked him what kind of party he wanted, he quickly replied, "Star Wars."  Great.  A Star Wars party full of girls.  But I think the kids had a great time and that is all that matters.

When deciding what food I should make, Hans thought it would be a good idea to make edible light sabres.   Then the idea of cookie bowls came about.  It was starting to look like one big sugar high.

I made a cookie bowl for each kid.  We loaded each bowl with ice cream and candy.  I know all the parents loved us.

Making cake inside of the light sabre handle sounded like the best thing to do.

 Then the cones were dipped in grey candy melts in order to become the handle.

We even made paper wraps to go around the handles.

 When the kids arrived we set them up to decorate their own light sabre. 

 They got to pick red, blue or green.  They dipped a pretzel rod in melted candy and rolled it in sprinkles.

Having the kids make them was a lot let stressful for me since it didn't matter if they were smooth and completely covered.  If I had done these I'm sure I would have stressed about them looking as close to light sabres as possible.

 While the light sabers were setting, the kids played.

 They all really enjoyed our dress-up bin.

 After pizza and playing it was time for cake and ice cream.  All the kids grabbed their light sabres and cookie ice cream bowls and stopped briefly to sing Happy Birthday to John.

 Opening presents is always fun with John because everything is his favorite thing.  He is possibly the greatest gift receiver ever.

 This card was my favorite part of the party.

This card was decorated by John's soccer buddy Ashley.

 This is Ashley.  Isn't she cute?

 This is John listening to Ashley tell him what all the pictures were.  There was a picture of her and John holding hands and kissing.  Ashley also said she was wearing a wedding dress because they were getting married.  Ashley commonly refers to John as her future husband.

This was John's reaction.

Love. It.

After sending all of the kids home on a sugar high, Debbie and Pam took my boys to the zoo and I took a nap.  It was a fun day.

The Dog

If it wasn't for moments like this, I would have gotten rid of this dog a long time ago.  I think he knows this and makes sure to favor his boys.

The Things We Do With Grandparents

Aside from building a playset and taking a picnic to the park and flying a kite, my mom finds all kinds of fun things to do with the boys.

 Painting is always on the list.

 We save all of our painting for Grandma.  I don't really like to pick up the mess.

 The boys get worn out and thus need rest...rest is always good.

 Bubbles!  I'm pretty sure those boys would go through that whole yellow jug of bubbles in one sitting if I let them.

 Dress up in the most unusual way.  Girl shoes and a Darth Vader mask.  Gotta love it.

 They get ridiculously dirty and eat all of their favorite foods.

They love on each other...although I don't think Anders is feeling the love.

And they get their picture taken a billion times.  The boys sure love having grandparents come to visit.

A Picnic

I am so far behind in blogging.  Maybe it is because July and August were crammed full of stuff.  September has been equally as busy, making it hard to keep up with everything all the time.  Before we went on vacation, John and Gus decided they wanted to wait to get their new backpacks for school until Grandma and Grandpa Huebel could go with them.  One of the first things we did when they arrived was go to Toys R Us and pick out backpacks and lunch boxes.  After all of that hard work picking out the perfect lunch box, one can't just let it sit there unused.  So Grandma and Grandpa decided to have a picnic at the park.

 This kid is nuts about swings.

 This dog is just nuts, but we love him anyway.

Then the boys got to fly a kite with Grandpa.  I have wonderful memories of flying kites in the church parking lot with my parents.  It was a great day.

Another Zoo Trip

Debbie and Pam are at it again.  Well, to be honest, they never stopped.  They decided to take the boys to the zoo so Hans and I could celebrate our anniversary ON our anniversary.  Which is the first time that has happened since we were married.  Seriously.  We've been out in celebration for our anniversary before, just not on the actual day.  Not even for our first.  On our 6th anniversary we went to A Day Out with Thomas.  Now that is my idea of a good time.  I digress...

After church Debbie and Pam packed up the kiddos and took them to the zoo.

 Riding the tram.

 John had to ride in a different car.  I'm am always told by John that everyone else who ever takes them anywhere do things a "whole lot funner" than we do.  My response is always, "Well that's because they love you more than we do."  This makes John mad because he knows I'm being sarcastic and he does not appreciate it.  I wonder how he feels about his dad's cartoon thingys.

 I've been to the zoo several times and, for the life of me, I have not idea where this picture was taken. 

After all of this fun activity, they met Glenn, whom Anders calls "Len," to eat.  John requested they go to R Place for a dinner honoring his birthday.  And since Glenn, Debbie and Pam love him more than we do, they gladly obliged.