Sunday, May 26, 2013

Soccer Boy

We headed to the park today, and Colton had a ton of fun playing soccer with Daddy.  He is getting very good at it!  He really enjoys it, too ... so we are happy to see him doing something he really likes!
Our little sports star ... he loves to get out and play!

While at the park, Khloe wanted to hang from the monkey bars.  Colton likes Billy to help him go around, but Khloe just likes to hang there and lift her feet up.  She's so strong!  Colton, of course, had to try it out all by himself, too ... monkey see, monkey do!
Colton just hanging around.
Our little strong one ... she is so adventurous!
Super Colton on the swings!  He's so cute!

On Friday, we headed to Orlando to go to Mei Li's 3rd birthday party.  The kids had so much fun, and we love to get the chance to hang out with our friends!  We really miss the Ellis family ... I just can't believe she's 3 already!
Celebrating Mei Mei!
Cheese!  And Happy Birthday!
Reading together ... just like when they were little. 
cuties!
Having some birthday party fun with Mommy!
Can you believe these two?  Growing up so quickly!
  
After the party, we went over to Brenda's house to visit for a bit.  The kids had fun playing together.  Poor Ethan didn't get much of a nap ... Khloe was a little loud going down for her nap and woke him up.  But they had fun playing after all of the naps were done.  We had supper at Chipotle, and then we made the long trek home.  It was a nice time!
Lifting weights at Aunt Brenda's house.
Ethan resting after a short nap ... thanks to Khloe and her loud mouth.
When we got home from Orlando on Friday evening, we decided that a walk would do the kids some good after being in the car for so long.  On our walk, we saw a rocket taking off from Cape Canaveral ... and this moon!  Isn't it gorgeous?
We have been taking it easy this weekend.  What we really need to do is go to get some groceries, but I don't know when we will do that.  We have Billy's cousins coming over tonight for supper and games.  It should be fun!  This is when I wish we had a grill!  Mmmmmm ... grilled corn, potato bowls, and grillers.  Sounds like a tasty meal.  We'll have to look into investing in one of those soon!
Khloe playing basketball ... she wanted Daddy to give her a hi-five after this shot!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

our busy lives

I haven't written in a while ... I even missed writing about Mother's Day ... which was lovely.  We have been so busy lately, and I feel like we just keep going and going every day.  I guess I am too pooped to write at nap time or bed time.  I just want to relax, as well.  I thought that today, I would catch you all up on the happenings of our lives before it all goes out of control.  It's only going to get busier as we head north in a month.  I better try to stay on top of it!
An evening family walk ... the kids found palms!
Khloe learning to play baseball.  She loved it!
Colton is getting SO good at baseball!  He hits it all of the way across the street!

Me and my Bud at SS.  Khloe was sick that Sabbath, so I got some Mommy/Colton time.
I had to teach that Sabbath, and Colton was the BEST kid!  He was such a good listener.  What a sweet boy!
That weekend ... we found that Lychees are in season!  Woot, woot!  They were FABULOUS!
We have been going to the water park, at least, three days a week ... if not more.  We have been to Busch Gardens, Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo, Monkey Bizness, the Dance & Gym Academy, the park for a SS picnic, and a number of playdates at our friends' houses.  It has been a blast, but we have all been exhausted!  Khloe and Colton have been taking 2-3 hour naps every day!  They are worn out ... and so am I.
Colton was thrilled!  He met the Penguins from Madagascar at Busch Gardens.
A bunch of monkeys watch the Chimpanzees!
My two monkeys!
Riding the train with Mommy!
Khloe on the train around Busch Gardens.
Colton drives his little lady around.
Khloe liked this ride for all of a hot second!  But she made it through! 
Big cheeses on the dinosaur egg ride.
My cutie cheeser!
Riding the carousel.
Colton picked the wildebeest.
The hippo water ride with his buddy, Mason.
Riding with Carson.
My cuties!
My boy LOVES to climb trees!  This is him climbing at our SS picnic.
A fun picnic outside on a beautiful FL day!  They LOVE to eat outside.
He was so proud of his creation!  He loves legos.
Time for a rest.
Colton is getting brave in his old age ... jumping/flying off of the mats into the soft block pit.
Racing with Mason.
She loves this gym!
This kid ... he loves peanut butter on celery!  Surprised me, for sure!
We spent the morning at Monkey Bizness with our MOMs Club!  She had a great time!
My monkey boy!
Of course, we were at Wiregrass Mall, so we had to ride the train!  Choo-choo!
On Mother's Day, the kids and Billy made it really special.  Colton brought me a dozen roses, and they gave me a cool cup of iced coffee and donuts for breakfast in bed.  Then they took me out to breakfast at First Watch.  We went with our good friends, the Adams.  Then we spent the day together.  It was so nice to be with family.  I love my kids and my husband ... who got me massage gift certificates for Mother's Day! :)  Woot!  I can't wait to use them.
Colton with my flowers.  So cute!
My cutie on Mother's Day weekend riding in the boat at SS.
Putting the felts on the board.
Me with my baby girl.
Mother's Day brunch with my family
We had dinner with the Adams that night, because we were watching the hockey game.  This is a Canadian dish ... poutine ... french fries with curds and gravy ... we couldn't find curds, so mozzarella had to do the trick!
This weekend, we are super excited, because Billy has 4 days off!  The weekend, plus Friday and Monday.  We are so happy to have him home for a long, long weekend.  We're going to Orlando tomorrow for our good friend, Mei Li's 3rd birthday! I can't believe she's three already!  Then afterwards, we'll go to visit with Brenda, Ethan (and perhaps, Gerson).

I'm super excited, because I will be running a 5K this weekend with some of my friends.  The Color Me Rad race.  It's a fun color run.  Check it out here www.colormerad.com.  I saw this run back in November, and I knew it was something I had to run.  I convinced Gwendy to run with me, and before I knew it, several of our MOMs Club friends decided to run it with us.  It will be so much fun!

I hope we get some yard work done this Sunday, as we have been putting it off due to the heat ... but that's not going away any time soon!  We are working on our flower beds, but we are just doing a small stretch at a time (since the whole house is surrounded by flower beds).  Unfortunately for our neighbors, we started in the back of the house, so we are enjoying the cleaning up and changes ... but no one else can see them!  We hope by the end of the summer, we've taken care of all of our flower beds.

Khloe has been cracking me up lately. She'll just bust out into song, and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" ... which sounds a lot like "winkle, winkle".  Or she will start yelling, "ALL ABOARD!" over and over again.  She is LOVING going potty on the potty chair, and she is thrilled with her new pull-ups.  I think she's ready to seriously start training, but I just don't want to go there until after our summer trip.  It's just too hard having a newly trained pottier in the car for as long as she will be ... on a plane to see my Mom in Oregon ... and at houses with no potty chair.  So, we'll really get to it after the trip.  She's peeing in the chair like a champ, but she just has to learn that she should ONLY pee in the chair ... and not both in the chair and in her pull-ups whenever she feels like it.  I think we'll work on that later.

Colton has been watching these youtube videos of people showing off their CARS toys.  So, when he plays, he'll show off his toys (to no one ... or an invisible audience).  I caught him reenacting part of the movie the other day, so I caught it on video!  He's so cute!

This cracks me up!  His singing is my FAVORITE!  I love the part ... "all night long".  He goes really deep for those lyrics. 

Our pool time ... well, it has led Colton to become more and more at ease in the water.  He has been loving jumping in and going under water.  He can't wait for swimming lessons to start ... which will be June 6.  He borrowed a friend's goggles, and LOVED them!  So, I bought him his own pair.  He barely takes them off when we are at the pool now.  He loves to use them to look under water.  I think he loves not getting water in his eyes.  Khloe is a brave girl, too.  She jumps in to the pool over and over again.  I think she'll need lessons next summer for sure.  I'm just so happy they love the water so much. They are just like their Dad!  Little fish.
Just eating lunch at the water park.
My cute dolly enjoying the sun and fun!
Flying Colton!
We love the water park!
Big jumper!
My goo-goo goggle boy!  He loves them!
He's a danger-guy now ... surfin' USA!