9 Years of Bliss!

Today is Darin and I's 9 year anniversary! Time truly does fly when you are having fun. I am so greatful that I found the man of my dreams.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Zack Sings at Church Again

Today was Zack's last day of Sunday school and so it was time for another performance from our star! He was so cute and did a great job. And if you sat on the opposite side of where my family normally sits (which is where I went to take my pictures) then he was right up front this time rather than hidden behind the tall girl in back of Zack.

Sorry the picture keeps jumping on the video. I was trying to take video and pictures at the same time. The above two pictures are the only ones that turned out well because I was shaking so much.

By the way you can't really hear it but the teachers do tell the kids to take a bow at the end. :-)

Zack loved his Sunday school and his teacher Miss Laurie.

It was hard to get him to come to Brynn and Rowan's baptism a few weeks ago (pictures to come soon) because he wanted to go to class. So we compromised and brought him out only for the baptism itself and then brought him back. I think that's sign of a good teacher!

He's going to miss Sunday school and mass is going to get a whole lot busier when he's back. :-)

Counting at 19 Months!

Don't believe me I have proof! We've been counting a lot these days to take turns with toys and Kiley is a quick study, as you can tell from the video.

Two Great Ideas to Pass Along

I have two great ideas that I have used this past week and I have to pass them along to all of you parents of toddlers:

1. My son is a cheat playing Candy Land. I say this with love but it is the truth. "How?" do you ask, "can you cheat at Candy Land?". Well, as Grandma D and Grandpa Al can attest to, you bend all the people cards so you know when Princess Frostine is the next card to pick or the dreaded Mr. Mint, etc. So I was tired of this and found out you can buy replacement cards online. Then, (and here is the brilliant part if I do say so myself!) you laminate them! FedEx Kinko's, or FedEx Office as they are now known laminates things. And yes, it may have cost me the same as the game itself but now he can't cheat! It will also keep the cards in great shape for years to come! :-)

2. The second thing is one I can't take credit for. I learned this last year but just put it into play this year. One of the other Moms and I were talking in ECFE last year about transitioning kids out of the crib and into the toddler beds and I was complaining that you can't find bed gates for toddler beds so they won't fall out of bed. She said to use a swim noodle under the mattress pad on the edge of the bed! That way they can feel the bump and be warned where the end of the bed is. Brilliant! Well we had Zack in the big boy bed at that time already and had a gate on. He needed the gate anyway because of how squirmy he is in his bed, (see "Odd Sleeping Places" on the right if you've forgotten his pattern). But now he's not so squirmy and we are going on a few vacations this summer where it would be nice not to drag up the gate so I bought a noodle and he hasn't fallen out yet. He thinks it is so cool too because he can get in and out of his bed where ever he likes. I am totally using this idea for Kiley when we take down the side wall of her crib. HOPEFULLY that won't be for another year. But she is climbing out of her pack n play already so who knows!

Easter Festivities

Our Easter celebration continued at my parents place in the evening.
Zack posed for a few pictures. So GQ!

Then it was time for a pic with the big kid cousins...

...Rowan and Brynn just aren't quite big enough to be held by the big guys yet. :-)

Then it was off for an egg hunt...

...Kiley took a break to sit at the big kids table and dream about what it would be like to sit there for dinner... :-)

...then got back to hunting eggs. She found some I didn't even see! Of course Zack was a pro.


Then Great-Grandma had a surprise for the kids. These bunnies sing, "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" and hops! Quite a hit with the kids! Thanks Great-Grandma! I've already had to replace the batteries on ours.

Time to decorate some eggs.

And Kiley got to have a snack at the big kids table.

My Grandparents got to enjoy their Great-Grandkids a bit too!

Kiley actually found a book and brought it over to Great-Grandpa to read and asked to get up on his lap! She knows Mommy has told her what a good story teller he is!

The kids opened their Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa. The kids all got hats.

Zack got a cool "Skylow" helicopter that was a HUGE hit! Not sure where the skylow part comes from but that is what Zack calls it. Pictures to come or check out Mo's blog too. She's got some great pictures and a video.

Kiley decided to rock Brynn a little before she got down to opening her eggs from the hunt.

And Darin and I enjoyed spending time with our newest Goddaughter and Godson (Baptism pictures to come soon too). Rowan thought Uncle D had a very tasty finger!

It was a wonderful evening and all the kids did a great job playing together. A very memorable day! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for everything!

Zack's Helicopter

Zack's helicopter was quite the "High" light of Easter. Zack did a great job sharing his toy and giving everyone a chance to pull the string on the helicopter. Even Kiley got into the game. They all loved chasing the "copter" when it was in the air and thought it was hilarious when it would get caught in Grandpa's evergreen trees or on the neighbors garage roof! Good thing Grandpa has a handy tool for hanging Christmas lights that also came in handy for recovering the toys!





Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa. We've replaced the string now 3 times and went last night to get a different kind of string to see if we have better luck. It's really not the toys fault. Zack keeps playing with it for hours on end. It's bound to break with all of that pulling. It's a well loved toy!

R.I.P Nemo

We have some sad news to report. On Sunday when I was putting Zack to bed I discovered our goldfish swimming on his side. Mommy hadn't cleaned the bowl recently and it really needed it. Oops! I felt bad and it's no excuse but it was a really busy weekend and slipped my mind!

Zack was sad and said he couldn't sleep because of Nemo's death (although he is becoming good at procrastination these days for bedtime) so I asked if he would like to go outside and bury him with me. That seemed to do the trick. Now however he is asking a few questions about death and how long Coko will live and how long we live etc. He is definitely trying to process this event. And yes, in this house, fish go to heaven too.

The goldfish, to our credit, was a year and a half old! Grandma Trish gave Nemo to Zack for a Halloween gift back in 2008! That is the longest I have ever kept a goldfish alive! It was huge too! He was about 3" long and an inch high.

One note: This does not mean the fish needs to be replaced!!!

Happy Belated Easter

It feels as though we have been running around all over the place, or maybe it's just that having two busy kids makes me feel that way sometimes so I appologize for not blogging in recent weeks. There is so much I have been wanting to blog about but haven't found the time so bare with me if in the next few weeks I back track a bit.

I wanted to start out by wishing all of you a Happy Easter. We hope your Easter was as much fun as ours was.

Our celebration began on Friday as we decorated our eggs. Zack was looking so forward to this day and had a count down going.

Kiley was quite excited to help too!

On Saturday we actually went back to my old "hood" for our adult egg hunt with my Edgemont family. (Pictures to come this week).

Saturday night Zack and I put out our baskets (proudly made by me :-))...

...and the next morning the true fun of Easter began!

Kiley found her basket first, filled with her favorite things, bubbles, a new baby doll and an Elmo book...

...she insisted Daddy read it to her right away! :-)

Zack was at first all about finding his eggs...

...Kiley even found one or two as well.

...then the hunt was on for his basket. He got a Skippyjon Jones book, (thanks Emily for giving him his first book at Christmas! He really likes them) a few art supplies and his favorite thing right now is board games, which he got Yahtzee Jr.

Zack was then off to help Coko find her basket while Kiley decided to read her new book to her new baby. :-)

Then it was off to church in our Sunday best, (Thanks again Rosenau's for Kiley's outfit! It was a huge hit!).



After church, (and a nap for Kiley) we were off to Grandma Trish and Grandpa Tom's for the rest of our Easter festivities. Pictures to come tomorrow.