We post a picture on here of a (hamburger) bun in the oven and you don't say anything?!! We got only one comment on that post and it was just vague enough that we're not sure if they got it or not. To be honest, we're more than a bit disappointed.
For those of you that are still at a loss, hopefully this picture clears it up.
Asher had a birthday on Monday. It was his 3rd. Such a big boy!
These are some of his birthday pictures. Since we had a big party for him on Saturday, his actual birthday on Monday was pretty chill. He didn't do a whole lot out of the ordinary for him aside from the phone calls, birthday songs, and pictures we took. Oh, and I guess we did get to eat dinner (his choice was Asher meatballs) in the den while watching Cars so that was pretty exciting too.
Putting on his shoes.
Addilyn read to him some of his new books. I love how he crossed his feet. He does that a lot.
Here he's eating his special breakfast (Crunch Berries) and trying to figure out how to hold up only 3 fingers. That silly ring finger just won't stay up! It's still a work in progress.
He tried out the super cool straw glasses Aunt Courtney got him. He enjoyed them quite a bit.
We don't have a lot of pictures from his actual party (we had Aunt Courtney take the pictures for us...because she's awesome). Here is the cake. As Asher cakes go, this was really good. It might be the lack of flax seed or egg replacer. Either way, it was so much better than my previous attempts at Asher's birthday cake. Yay!
"Cheese!"
The birthday song and blowing out those candles.
Playing with the box.
We'll start with the extras and work our way to the party pictures. 
Elias is happy. He's often happy and is generally very photogenic. Enough said.
Addilyn was taking a bath and Elias thought he'd keep her company. He also decided that while he was hanging out, he might as well have his slide with him in case he got bored. Good thinking.
Now for the party photos. This year was the year of the rainbow party for Miss Addilyn. She and Ollie celebrated their 5th year of life with a rainbow/rocket party. Aunt Courtney made the cupcakes. They were tie dyed. One design was this lovely rainbow (of which Addilyn ate 2).
The other design was these adorable rockets. I'll be honest...I preferred the rockets but that might be because I'm a sucker for some chocolate frosting.
Aunt Kendall decked everything out in rockets and rainbows. Here is just one aspect of the decoration. To keep with the rainbow theme, we had rainbow fruit kabobs as well. So good!
The birthday girl and boy.
The birthday song.
The birthday gifts.
And lots of fun was had by all.
The End.
As most of you know, today is the first day of spring. The weather has been trying to fake us out for a week or two now but today it is official. 
The tree in our backyard got a head start last week and gave us these beautiful blooms to wonder at. They are already gone but they were fun while they lasted.
The beautiful weather gave us lots of chances to explore Clay Center. We did our first of, what should be, many walks/bike rides through town.
With the coming of Daylight Savings Time, came a reprieve from Asher's overly bright breakfasts. He came up with a simple solution to the problem though so he should be fine when the sun rises that early again during the summer.
We are seeing more and more of Elias' climbing fascination. This was his conquest of one morning. He brought over Addilyn's booster because apparently the chair by itself just wasn't enough.
Addilyn got this awesome outfit from our seminary friends as they came through (twice) over their spring break. Isn't it adorable? She's pretty excited.
We had loads of fun exploring both Clay Center and Manhattan with Adam, Jessa, and Alicia and can't wait to see them again (even if it means that we have to move back to Chicago to do so).
Finally, here is Elias enjoying some chocolate hummus. I made it for Asher but he won't even try it. Addilyn and Elias both love it though. Who wouldn 't, though? It basically tastes like really intense chocolate frosting. He was trying to figure out how to get all of it off the concave part of the spoon.
Here is the promised post about Addilyn's art desk. It was Tyler's creation and labor of love. It started out as this:
This was the best "Before" picture I could find. We found this desk out by our dumpster in Chicago and decided it was too good to throw out. It certainly wasn't pretty but it was decent wood and would serve our purposes (as Tyler's desk) well enough.
Here is the first "After" picture. 
Another shot. Notice the tilt. Tyler made so it can be used at different levels. Addilyn seems to prefer it up as high as it will go. You will also notice the roll of paper that threads through an opening in the top. Addilyn has already gotten a lot of use out of this feature.
Tyler made spaces for lots of art supplies. The cup on this side is supposed to be used for water for her paints and he even cut the opening at an angle so it could be used more easily when the work surface is tilted up.
This was my one contribution to the desk. We wood burned in her name. For the first time wood burning, it turned out pretty good. And, as Tyler pointed out, it made for the first art project for the desk.
As we mentioned in our previous post, this is Addilyn's very first piece of art produced on the desk. Let us know if you'd like your own original piece because I'm sure Addilyn would be more than happy to oblige.
Addilyn did a lot of playing at her desk on her birthday. Here is the very first piece of art made at her art desk. We have prominently displayed it in our dining room.
For her party we invited over a few friends. Chelsie and Jason Crook and Addilyn's friend, Tori, were all here to help us celebrate. We started with what is becoming a traditional meal of barbeque meatballs and oven fries. After that, it was on to cake! Tori and Addilyn are admiring the cake.
This year Addilyn's cake was a rainbow cake. I'm not really very good at the huge theme parties so I just pick a color (or in this case, series of colors). Look how cheerful!
That is one flamboyant Pac-Man!
Addilyn professes to love cake. I'm not so sure though. She mostly ate the frosting. She at least did it in an interesting manner...by separating out all the layers and eating all the frosting with her fingers. It's her birthday and I guess she'll eat her cake however she wants. Thanks for the entertainment, silly girl!
Here's the birthday song!
And here is Addilyn "unwrapping" the desk.
