{We'Re ReTiRed}

Just kidding.....I wish we were!!  But my dad is officially retired this week and I am trying to live vicariously through my parents!!  HA!!  :)  I can't even imagine the day that we are retired....why does that seem so far away!?!?!

Anyway, now that my dad is retired, they moved out of their place on the beach and we are sad about it.  That means that we no longer have a place to go and easily park and walk right out on to the beach!!  Now we will have to be like regular people that deal with busy traffic to get to the beach and loads and loads of cars that are fighting for a parking spot and lots of crowds!!  YUCK!!  I am bummed!! 

Monday was Ayden's last day of Spring Break, so we went down to Redondo Beach to have one last visit with Grammy there!  We had lunch at our favorite "Ruby's Diner" right on the beach, played in Grammy and Grandpa's EMPTY place, and of course had to make one last visit to our friends at the park....."Turtle Friend" and "Dolphin Friend".  Ayden has been visiting these guys since he was a baby....he started calling the turtle "Turtle Friend" and became obsessed with him!  :)

We also checked out the boats in the Harbor and wanted to see all the crabs in the crab shop, but they were closed!  :(

We will miss you Redondo Beach and Turtle Friend!!  But we will enjoy visiting Grammy and Grandpa in the desert and the mountains now and seeing them even more with all the free time they will have on their hands!!  :)

{"oFFicEr" aYdeN}

Last weekend we went for a family bike ride with Jeremiah's parents and his brother, Kirt and wife, Stephanie.  We had a fun day, burned some good calories, were only about 100 yards from our cars and were talking about where to get lunch when BAM.....right in front of us, Jeremiah's brother got hit by a car that turned right in front of him!  I saw the whole thing happen and it was really freaky....mostly cuz I kept picturing that being Jeremiah a couple months ago.  Luckily he didn't get too hurt.....I told both these boys how lucky they are and they don't have any more "Get out of jail free" passes!!  SO BE CAREFUL!!!!

Anyway, the highlight of the day for Ayden was when the Irvine Police showed up and this nice guy asked Ayden if he wanted to sit on his motorcycle!!  He was ECSTATIC to say the least!!  He couldn't wipe the smile off of his face!  He had such a blast and the cop was so nice to him!  Ayden said "Mom, he is a nice guy....usually they aren't very nice!"  HA!!  We haven't had the best luck with cops being nice to us like the firefighters are nice to us! 

{haPPy eaSTer 2011}

It's fun having kids that are getting older and understanding holidays and what to expect!  This is the first year where we could really sit back and just WATCH the kids do their thing and not have to help them!  This was the first time we actually enjoyed having 1:00 church....it was nice to just sit around all morning and relax, let the kids search for eggs and their baskets, eat a yummy breakfast, and talk about why we celebrate Easter!!

The Easter Bunny sent us an email with directions for what Ayden and Zoe were supposed to do.  He thought he did a good job hiding the eggs, but the kids had no problem finding any!!  I think they only needed our help for 1 or 2!

Zoe with her 30 eggs....pink, purple and orange ones....

This little guy is getting too smart for his own good.  He told me, "I know that when the Easter Bunny or Santa hides something, it's really you and Daddy doing it"!!  WHAT???  I about died....he can't ALREADY have doubts about those things!  I haven't had to use the old "If you don't believe, then you get nothing", but I may need to soon!  I remember my mom saying that to me when I tried to tell her that Santa wasn't real and it worked all the way for me through college!!  :)

Ayden with his 30 eggs.....blue, green and yellow ones....

Ayden spotted their baskets hidden on the outside patio first.  We brought them inside and they were both super excited when they saw them....

Ayden is obsessed with ANYTHING Star Wars right now!  I wish I had this on video....but he SCREAMED and SCREAMED for a while about this one.....a new Leapster game.  He also got a Batman Leapster game, Star Wars Mad Libs, an Alvin stuffed doll, and gobs and gobs of candy....

More Star Wars......he got Star Wars Mad Libs.  Remember those??  I loved doing Mad Libs as a kid.  He is loving it too and a great way to teach the parts of speech!!  :)

Zoe loved her candy.....she also got a Dora Leapster game, a Dora activity book, and a Dora doll.....can you tell what she is obsessed with these days?!?!?

Even though church wasn't until 1 pm, we still managed to wait until the last minute to get ready....therefore, we were running late to church and didn't get any "pre-church" family pics on Easter!!  :( 

After church, we went to Jeremiah's parents house for dinner and more Easter fun!  I was able to get some pics of the kids then, but by this time, shoes were kicked off, gel was rubbed out of the hair and outfits were wrinkled!  Oh well....better than nothing!!  And STILL didn't get a family picture!!  :(

Love these cuties.....

Lately, I have been bribing them with "take a good smiling picture and then we can do a silly one"!!  It seems to be the only way I can get them to smile at the camera these days!!  I miss the days of having a little baby that couldn't move and would just sit there all day letting me take pictures of him and her!!!  HA!

Grandma Brenda hid little cutie oranges this year instead of eggs (good thing since enough candy had been consumed earlier in the day).  When you found your "golden egg".....

.....you got your Easter basket.....

The Easter Bunny also brought Ayden and Zoe two blow up shark toys that they can ride on in the pool!  They were super excited and already used them this week at the pool!!

Grandma Brenda reading new books....

Half of the Smith family....

Happy Easter 2011!!!

{EaSteR sUnDaY}

Absolutely love this....one of my favorite singers singing my most VERY favorite church song!!

HAPPY EASTER SUNDAY!!! :)

{sPrInG bReaK pArT 2}

Our Spring Break ended up much better than it started.  The kids & I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in La Quinta with my mom.  The weather was definitely "spring break weather".....88 degrees every day....it was perfect!  And great for swimming every day!  It was the first time we have been swimming this year....the kids need a refresher in swimming lessons from Coach Daddy!!  But they had a blast!  :)

They swam so long their entire bodies turned into prunes.....

Zoe trying to show off her prunes....

Zoe snapped this picture of my mom....cute picture of her and I love the colors....bright blue sky and pretty green leaves....

Almost bedtime.....kids are winding down in Grammy and Grandpa's bed watching a show.....

Oh Thursday morning, the La Quinta Easter Bunny dropped off baskets for the kids.  What a smart little bunny that knew he had to come early since they weren't going to be there on Sunday!  All the kids knew was that there baskets were somewhere in the backyard......so they went searching....

......and searching....

....and searching.....

I think someone found their hidden treasures....

Yes indeed he did.....and he was happy about it!!

Zoe needed a little help from Grammy to find her hidden treasure....

As soon as she saw Tinkerbell, she was excited....

Playing with all the new goods....

Relaxing outside during "happy hour".....the kids enjoying their orange juice and umbrellas....

It WAS HOT!!!!

Time to decorate Easter eggs.....

I am falling in love with Zoe's hair these days!  It is having a growth spurt and has grown a TON lately!!  Still as curly as ever.....

Making some Easter sugar cookies with Grammy....Zoe is ready to take a bite....

The kids met some new friends that were visiting next door.  So we wrapped up some of our colored eggs and Easter cookies and ding dong ditched them with a special card.  Ayden had fun drawing pictures on his card....

What a great way to spend our Spring Break!!  Can't wait to do lots more of this when school is out for summer!!  :)

{sPriNg bReaK}

It's Spring Break and we're supposed to be having the time of our lives......visiting the beach, enjoying the sun, swimming, playing with friends.....

But instead....it is cOLd and cLouDy here.....and we have a sicky boy on our hands.....

So we are doing a bunch of this today.....

When we are supposed to be at the park with our friends, James and Jakey....

BUMMER.....maybe tomorrow will be a better day!!  It better be because we are headed to the warmth for some swimming and fun times with Grammy!