{JaNuArY....iT's a WrAp}

I can't believe that January came and went and I haven't blogged a thing....I'd like to say that my excuse is that we were recovering from the holidays or getting back into our routine....but I don't really have one!  So here is what we've been up to this January.....

The first week of January we "lived" at Jeremiah's parents house to "dog sit" while they were away on vacation.  

The kids had a blast with the dogs.  They want dogs.  They love dogs.  They can't wait until we get to "babysit" the dogs again next week.  Did I mention they want dogs?  Yes they love dogs.  The End!! 

I love seeing how differently Ayden and Zoe play.  Boys and girls are so different from the very beginning and it's fun to see.  Zoe has some issue with leaving her princesses dresses on, so she always takes them off to leave naked barbies and princesses.....and she always lines them up in a special order so they are nice and tidy....from everything down to tiaras and shoes so small they are almost invisible.

Ayden is an engineer/inventor in training.  He is constantly coming up with new ideas for things.  He amazes us sometimes.  Like the time he begged Grandma Brenda for this box that was in her garage.  We brought it home....it sat in the garage while Ayden schemed up what he wanted to do with it.  He asked Jeremiah to make him an airplane out of the box.....he was so excited about it....and so animated (as he always is)  Jeremiah told me he felt bad cuz he has all these ideas, but it's a box....and what is he supposed to do?!?!  How on earth do you make an airplane out of a box were I think Jeremiah's exact words!  Jeremiah told him he couldn't do that cuz he didn't know how.  So Ayden said "here, I will show you...."!  He got a marker and drew some different things on the box.  He told Jeremiah to get the scissors and he showed him exactly where to cut.  After everything was cut, he told him exactly where to put the pieces.  VIOLA!!!!  This was the finished product!!  A box airplane....fully equipped with wings on each side....

And even a window in the front for our little pilot to look out of!!  Wow....now that was amazing!  :)

Zoe has a talent of just looking cute....espeically when she is sporting her new little sunglasses!!  When she wears these, she reminds me of a celebrity baby....like she should be on the cover of US Magazine!  She loves them and wants to wear them all the time....until somebody notices her in them and makes a comment....then she rips them off as fast as she can!  Ahhh....just one of her annoying  amazing qualities!!  :)

We went to La Quinta for the day a couple weekends ago when my Aunt Pam and Uncle John (my mom's brother & his wife) were visiting from Chicago.  It was a quick trip, but so fun to see them and the cousins.  Here is Grammy Con loving on her little Zoe and little Crew Boy!

Love this face.....

It was like Christmas all over again because Mr. and Mrs. Claus (Uncle John and Aunt Pam) brought gobs and gobs of presents for everyone!

Zoe got the "barbie on a bike" that she has been begging for the past couple weeks......

Ayden got a dragon that he LOVES.....

And all the kids got "Johnny Pamcakes" hoodies with their names on them!  My Aunt and Uncle own a Swedish Pancake Restaurant in Chicago.  The kids haven't been there yet, but they know the symbol and always say "that's Johnny Pamcakes"!  They call them "Uncle Johnny" and "Aunt Pamcakes"!! 

Aunt Pam was celebrating her birthday while they were here, so we had to have birthday cake for dessert.....

And of course all the kids enjoyed helping Aunt Pam lick the candles....

We went to the Happiest Place on Earth AGAIN.....and it is especially at this time of year that we LOVE our season passes!!  Nothing beats a 5 minute line at Disneyland!!

Some observations from this Disney trip.....

1.  Ayden went on Space Mountain for the first time and LOVED it......and then again 10 minutes later for the second time with Mommy!

2.  Mommy remembers Space Mountain being her favorite ride, but she must be getting old because she was so scared the whole time (wow that is a fast ride) and had to close her eyes and hold Ayden's hand.

3.  If you are at Dland with a child that is not tall enough to go on rides, they will give you a special pass to go on after the rest of your party gets off.....I think its called a switch pass or something.  So we did this often....Jer would ride with Ayden and then we would switch and Ayden and I would ride together.....it is awesome....you just walk right past all the people waiting and straight to the front of the line!

4.  Ayden went on Matterhorn for the first time.....and LOVED it!!  I sware that this kid has no fear!!  He has cousins that are 8 and 10 years old and scared of these rides!! 

5.  Zoe was so cute on the Snow White ride that we went on while the boys were on the Matterhorn.  At the end there is a spot that has a tiny tiny tiny slow slow slow downward part.....and when we went down that part, she lifted up both hands and said "weeeeee"!!  Up to this point, that defines "roller coaster" to her!

6.  But not for long.....because after Ayden and Daddy went on Matterhorn, Jer discovered that Zoe was tall enough for this ride.  We thought about it and decided might as well take her on!  She was excited to go!  She sat with Daddy and Aydee and I were in the front.  Jeremiah said as soon as it got dark, she covered her eyes and stayed that way through the whole ride!!  We made a big deal about it and told her what a BIG girl she was!!  I think if we would've done any different, she probably would've cried, but she didn't!  And she was excited!!  And she said she would go on again next time!!  :)  YAY for kids that aren't scared of rides!!  :)

7.  It is confirmed after going on the Matterhorn that I am officialy OLD.....I felt sick after the ride!  Ugh....it was fast!!  What a woosy I am!!  :)  Maybe the MOMMY will be the one that is scared of all the rides and NOT the kids!!

8.  We had a blast and are loving that Jeremiah has a pass too this time to join us!  What fun family nights!!

Here is Zoe covering her eyes on the Matterhorn.....

We finally caught the winter germs....we made it through all the holidays this year, but it didn't last!  For the past week and a half the kids have been sick....Ayden missed school all last week (poor ME) because of Croop and Bronchitis.....and on Saturday night we had to take Zoe to Urgent Care because she was in so much pain in her ear....sure enough....ear infection!

So both kids were on antibiotics and have become pros at taking their yucky medications!!

But things are starting to turn for the better and everyone (well almost everyone) is starting to feel better around here.  Jeremiah has the kids back on the bike trainer to train for that 100 mile bike race they have coming up!!  :)

Well......only in his dreams!!

And that is our January so far!  Hopefully a certain someone around here can get her act together and start updating the blog again!!  :)

{sUndAy BluEs aNd oLd friEndS}

I have to say...I am not a fan of the 1 pm block at church.  And on Sunday, we got switched to the 1 pm block for the new year!  I am not too excited.....this has to be the worst possible time to go because it interrupts naps....and with 2 little kids it sure makes for a LONG day!!

At least Ayden found a way to entertain himself....he put stickers all over his "owies" on his body (sorry for the undies shot).....

At least they decided to relax a little bit in front of the animated church movies we have.....

Have I mentioned I LOVE these chairs.....they really are the greatest purchase I've made for the kids in a while!  They love to snuggle up with a blankie and get all cozy on them....and it helps since our family room is big and the TV is so far from the couches.....now they don't have to sit on the cold tile floor....

The chairs also come in handy for naps....it doesn't look like the most COMFORTABLE nap ever, but regardless....it does the job.  This is another thing I am not loving about 1 pm church......we get home and it is almost dark outside.  The kids are tired.....dinner needs to be made and Zoe fell asleep in her chair since she missed her regular nap....guess we will be getting used to this for awhile....

But on the bright side, our Sunday ended up fun when our friends, The Bargerons, from Utah came over for dinner.  They are here doing the Disney thing all week and it was fun to get to hang out for a while!  These guys used to be our next door neighbors in Utah.....Jeremiah and Steve carpooled to work together while Marci and I sat outside on a warm summer day watching our kids play together.....and we spent many hours at each other's houses hanging out many nights during the weeks and on weekends.  So it was fun to see these guys again.....felt like a Sunday back in the olden days when we used to scrounge up whatever we had between both our kitchens to make a Sunday dinner to share!  :) 

Zoe was in heaven having Emma here....seems like we are friends with more people that have boys than girls....so she was excited to show all her dollies, princesses, and girly toys to....

Andrew, Jake, Ayden, Emma, Zoe & Zack.......

I am sure these 2 would be buddies if we still lived in Utah.  They are only 6 months apart and Zack was born about a week before we moved to Cali, so we still don't know him very well!!  :)  But these 2 remind me a lot of Ayden and Emma.....who were best buddies at this age....

This picture makes me laugh.....I can't believe that Emma is so much taller than Ayden!  Wow!!  These two are only 1 week apart and really this was the friend in Utah that Ayden probably spent the most time with.  They played a lot....but Emma was a little scared of Ayden because he had a hair pulling fetish back in the day and Emma was his #1 culprit.....who can blame him?!!?  Look at that long, beautiful hair! :)

Speaking of the Bargerons, we met up with them last night at Disneyland to share some turkey legs.....

And churros.....

Love having our season passes to make quick trips like this to see old friends!  Thanks for coming all the way to Cali to see us Bargerons......oh, I mean thanks for coming to Cali to go to Disneyland and make time to see us!!  :)  We had a blast hanging out.....

{nEw yEaRs 2011}

We went out to La Quinta this weekend to visit my Grandma and my Great Aunt who were visiting my parents.  Ayden is always begging Grandpa to get out the old "Polar Express" train, but it hasn't been working for a while.  They got it out last year, but couldn't get it working.  This year, the boys decided to get serious on fixing it while the girls went shopping.  Ayden got bored, so had to entertain himself by playing hide and seek....

Ayden was so excited to show us when we got home that they FINALLY got it working!!  Too bad it was broken again before we left!

We have had a tradition of going up to Big Bear for New Years each year and we were going to go this year too until we heard that this is what happened to the road we usually drive to get up the mountain....

Eeek.....so we decided to stay in La Quinta and bring in the new year with the old folks!  :)

We were still able to continue our tradition of making homemade pizzas on New Years Eve, so that was fun!  It's fun to involve the kids and let them build their pizzas just how they like!

Jeremiah explaining the rules of pizza decorating....."this side is yours, this side is yours, only put toppings on that you are going to eat, etc".

The finished product.....pineapple and ham....their favorite! :)

This is Zoe's latest smile....whenever I tell her to smile at the camera, this is what I get.  It makes me crack up!

The kids got their very own laptops from Great Grandma Emmy!  I thought this was funny when they were both sitting on the couch with their laptops.  Ayden kept saying "I'm going to go get on the internet" and "I need to check my email"!  Silly kids!

As soon as we were done eating dinner, we busted out the stuff for our "New Years Eve Party"!!  We're not those cool parents that let the kids stay up til midnight!  Yeah right....I can hardly stay up til midnight myself!  Here's Jeremiah all ready to celebrate....

And Zoe....we laughed cuz these little masks fit her face just perfectly....her eyes were perfectly aligned with the holes.....

For a few minutes, they went crazy with their blowers....they thought this was the greatest party ever!!

Ok, I guess Jeremiah and I had some fun too!!  We went all out cuz we knew we probably wouldn't make it to midnight!

Ayden and Zoe with Great Grandma Emmy!!

A group shot....

 

We came home on New Years Day and had plans to see Ayden's birthmom Crystal who was coming into town with her mom.  She showed up with bags and bags filled with toys for both Zoe and Ayden.  It was like Christmas #2 for them!!  They were so excited and loved everything they got. 

She is so sweet to include Zoe and get her things when she gets Ayden gifts!  Lucky kids!!  :)

It really was like Christmas all over again after everything was unwraped....

Crystal and Ayden.....

We had a fun weekend....can't believe it is the start of another year!!  I have lots of resolutions for the new year and lots of things that I am looking forward to!  :)