Ridin' Around

The weather has been really warm the last little while and it couldn't have come at a better time. The kids have had cabin fever really bad this year and have been aching to get outside to play and ride their new bikes they got for Christmas. It has been fun to watch them ride up and down the street and into our little cul-de-sac.

Hailey got a new princess bike for Christmas, complete with training wheels (which she doesn't exactly love), pink paint, and the little frillies hanging off the handle bars. She loves to ride around and I'm sure it won't be long before we have those training wheels off - she's just sure that she's old enough and can handle her bike without them.


Zach got a new big boy bike for Christmas and absolutely loves it. Even though he rode his old bike without training wheels, he thinks this new one is really spiffy - he loves the green color and assures me that he goes much faster on this one than his old bike.


The two of them also take time to ride their scooter while they're outside too. Even though they've had them since Christmas of 2008, they still love them.


Zach can ride his scooter much faster than I think anyone his age should, but he's amazed me with how much control and reaction quickness he has.


Hailey of course loves her princess scooter. She just can't get enough of pink! I'm grateful for the 3 wheels on her scooter since she tends to pay more attention to what's going on around her then to where she's going sometimes!


Of course their favorite thing about riding their bikes is when their dad is home and comes out to ride his bike with them.


They usually go for a longer ride down the side street (which I don't let them do when they are by themselves) when Dad goes with them. They are definitely quite the trio to see riding down the street!


And of course I couldn't help but post a few videos of the kids riding their bikes. This first one is of Zach riding his bike super fast to show Uncle Taylor:



And here's one of Hailey - this isn't the best video, but you can see that she really is good at riding her little bike!



It's ironic that I'm finally finding time to post these pictures today - they were actually taken last Saturday - of course today it's snowing and it seems like the winter is never going to end! Hopefully today is one of the last snowstorms of the year because we are all anxious to be outside more and riding around on bikes and scooters!

Best Dressed Kids

I just had to take a picture of Zach in his new suit on Sunday. He was so excited about wearing it. He kept telling us he wanted a suit for his birthday - just like his Dad's. So after searching for the right color and size, we were able to find one. I have to tell you that he looked so sharp! In fact, as soon as we got it on, he wanted to head right over to the church to show his Dad who was in morning church meetings. Luckily, it was only about a 15 minute wait until it was time for us to head over and he ran right to his Dad to show him how he looked.

Doesn't he look sharp? Once he saw himself in the mirror, he said "I look just like a missionary - just like Uncle Taylor!" His uncle is currently serving a mission in Oklahoma City and he thought he looked just like him. I couldn't help but smile.


And Hailey was feeling left out, so we had to take a picture of her too - what a cutie!


And since I promised Nana, here's a picture of her jumper that you wanted to see. This was from the previous Sunday.


I have to say that I have the best looking kids around. Aren't the good looking and cute? I sure think so!

Zach's Birthday Celebration - Round 2!

Since we decided to wait until the weekend to celebrate Zach's birthday with family, it was like having a whole other birthday - dinner, presents, and cake/ice cream a second time - who wouldn't be happy about that?

I didn't get any pictures because I was busy cooking, but Zach wanted pancakes for his birthday dinner. Not the typical dinner you serve to everyone at a party, but everyone was a really good sport and Zach was ecstatic to have what is currently one of his favorite meals. He must have been happy, because he ate 4 big pancakes all on his own!

After dinner and some playing, we opened presents. He got ...

A new Uno game from Aunt Holli, Uncle Jon, Jacob, Jackson, Jocelyn, and Mylee ...


A new Trouble game from his sister Hailey ...


A new set of sheets, some legos, and some party poppers from his Nana and Papa ...


A cubs shirt from Uncle Jedd and Aunt Awa (Kylie) ...


A nerf target/gun set from Aunt Afton and Uncle Bubby (Michael) ...


And a new soccer ball, suit, and white shirt from Jeremiah and I. Here he is with all his loot - boy did he score big time!


After presents, we did cake and ice cream. I wasn't very creative in his cake this year, but he was more than happy with all the green. He had a white cake with sprinkles, green frosting, and blue and green lettering with blue and green candles on top.


It wasn't fancy, but he was happy, so that's all that matters.


Make a wish!


It was a great time. Thanks to all who braved the weather to come down - it made Zach's birthday really special. We hope all the swirling snow didn't slow you down too much on your way home! I think we're jinxed when it comes to weather and having people down to celebrate birthdays. On Hailey's birthday, there was a terrible snow storm and it made all of the travelers be in their cars almost twice as long as normal. I guess that comes with birthdays at our house! Thanks everybody for making his birthday special!

Someone at our house turned 7 years old!

That's right - look out world, there's a new 7 year old on the loose. Yesterday was Zach's 7th birthday and boy was he excited. He's been counting down the days for the last 2 weeks and he never thought it was going to come!

We started off the day with a fun breakfast - green crepes! You might remember from Hailey's birthday post in December that we had pink pancakes for breakfast. Well, back then Zach told me he wanted green crepes on his birthday and although he forgot all about it, I didn't. It was a fun surprise and he loved it!


Here's the birthday boy - completely happy with his green crepe breakfast!


Both Zach and Hailey had fun eating green food - they thought it was quite a neat experience.


At school, the birthday child gets to wear a crown all day with their name on it. Here's Zach's crown from school.


He also came home with a birthday book and a birthday certificate from his teacher wishing him a happy birthday.


Here are a few more close-ups of this birthday train. It's quite a fun a idea. He colors the train engine and then all of his classmates color a car that gets stapled to the train. It was really fun to see some of the pictures and notes that his class did for him. He really loved it!



After school and a quick round of homework, we decided to take Zach to a new place to eat. It was called Pirate Island and was so much fun! I meant to take some pictures of the neat decor, but it was really dark and I didn't want my flash going off and bothering the other customers, so I decided against it. But it sure was fun. When you first walk in, you see a pirate display with a skeleton, treasure chest, etc. surrounded by a moat of water. The whole place looks like the inside of a pirate cave and it's really neat. They also have almost a full scale model of a pirate ship. Once we were seated, the kids were enthralled with their kids menus, which happened to be pirate hats.


And what would be a pirate dinner without each child saying "arrgh!" - too cute!



They even had an arcade where you could play games. We thought about staying and playing there, but decided to move on to the Nickel Arcade we had been planning to go to since we figured we could play a bunch more games at the cheaper price.

The kids were a little bit upset figuring the new place couldn't possibly be as neat as the last place, but when we walked in the door, they were completely happy. So we set off playing driving games ...


motorcycle games ...


skeeball (where Hailey threw more of her balls in Zachary's lane than her own - hilarious!) ...


and air hockey. Of course, there was much, much more that I didn't get pictures of.


We ended up staying and playing for an hour and a half - much longer than I thought they'd last. In fact, if it hadn't been so late in the evening, they could have played much longer. They even won a bunch of tickets for playing the games and each came home with a couple of prizes.

On the way home, Dad decided we needed to stop and get a little treat, so we stopped at Macey's to get an ice cream cone. If you haven't been to Macey's and see the size of their ice cream cones, then it's definitely worth the trip. The cones that the kids are eating are their small size and are only 47 cents. The kids loved them - Hailey ate almost all of hers and Zach ate all of his plus the rest of Hailey's!


When we got home, the fun still wasn't over. Since we are having a family birthday party on Saturday, we decided to split up his gifts and give him half last night and half on Saturday. So we let him open 3 of our gifts and the gifts he got from his Nana and Papa in California.


Hailey was so excited to give him her gift - she picked it out all by herself. It's a lego set that makes a helicopter, boat, and airplane - something he's been saying he's wanted for a long time.


Here are the gifts he got from Nana and Papa in California - a fun new game, movie, and rocket balloons (thanks for that last one, by the way).


And here are the gifts he opened from us - the lego set from Hailey, a new leapster dinosaur game, and a new color wonder market set (both from Mom and Dad).


We were late getting to bed, which we tried to avoid since he had school today, but it was worth it. He had a wonderful time and could not stop smiling the entire night. And it's not over, we have more festivities and presents coming up on Saturday, so I'll be sure to take more pictures and post them.

Happy Birthday Zach - WE LOVE YOU!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Pictures taken on March 5, 2010

After thinking we already had the last of our big snowstorms for the year, we were lucky enough to have what might be our final one. The kids absolutely love to go out and play in the snow - no matter how cold or how wet it is.

Nana gave the kids a "snowman kit" back in January and this was the first time we've been able to use it when building a snowman. Every time since then the snow has either not been enough, been to powdery, or someone has been sick and we haven't been able to go out.

Well, this time we were all well, the snow was heavy and wet, and there was just enough for us to make a little snowman.

Here are the kids helping pack our little snowman together. As you can see, it's a very small snowman - being 7 months pregnant, I wasn't up to building or lifting anything bigger than that. Luckily, the kids didn't seem to care.


Here's our little snowman with all of the items to make him look authentic. We had a plastic carrot nose to use, but it was huge and would have taken up most of his face, so we opted for a button nose this time around. There was also a lack of twigs around, so this snowman is without arms, but you can do the same thing that we did - use your imagination to imagine some arms on him.


The kids were thrilled with our little snowman.


Good thing we went out and got him built when we did. No more than 2-3 hours later, almost all of our face and body embellishments had falled off. Later around dinner time, the snowman was more of a 2 tier snowman and the next day he was more of a single snowball. The next day, almost all of the snow was melted off of the grass and only a tiny pile of snow was left where the snowman was.

But the kids were happy and can't wait for it to snow again so that we can build another snowman. We may have to find a day when Dad's home so that our snowman is a little bit bigger. Of course that day may come next winter, but we've still got all our supplies for the perfect looking snowman!

End of Basketball Season

Sadly, after 2 months of practice and games, the 2010 basketball season came to an end. Zach had a blast and did really well. We were extremely impressed with how well he learned the idea of a team win - meaning he didn't have to make all of the baskets to do well. By the end of the season, he was passing more than shooting and we couldn't have been more proud of him.

As promised (in a post forever ago), I took some more pictures and video to post of him playing. Here they are of his last game:

The happy boy right before the game


Dribbling


An action shot


And a final picture of the team with their coaches and medals.


And I couldn't help but post a little video of him making a basket.



He did great this year and we noticed how much he's improved. We all can't wait for basketball next year.

WAY TO GO ZACH!

All About My Zachary

I've been compiling my fun list of things about Zach and I've been excited about doing a post all about him. He sure is one fun boy and just like his sister, is truly special to us. So without further ado, here's a post all about Zach.



12 Fun Things About Zachary:

1. He loves school, in fact he will go to school rather than almost anything else. When we were going to do the ultrasound for our new baby, Zach really had a hard time deciding whether to stay at school or be checked out to go with us. In the end, he decided that he wanted to see the baby, but it was cute that he had such a hard time deciding if it was worth missing school. His favorite things at school are PE, music, and computers and he loves his teacher, Mrs. Winters.

2. He loves sports - whether it's playing or watching (although he tells me that playing is a lot more fun). He plays basketball, soccer, and baseball in the local community programs. If you ask him which is his favorite, he usually will tell you the one he's currently playing, but that he loves them all.



3. He's very determined and a perfectionist (I have no idea where he gets that from!), so much so that sometimes he gets very upset if he can't seem to do something that he wants to do. It gets a little frustrating now, but we hope that will translate into a good determination when he gets older.

4. He loves to ride his bike more than playing or doing almost anything else. He got a new big boy bike for Christmas and it's been torture to not be able to ride it as much as he wants to - we can't wait for summer to be here!

5. He's very social and makes friends easily, but he's still quite shy and can be quiet when he first meets new people.

6. He loves to rub, pat, and love my belly to let the baby know he loves him so much. He's very excited that he's getting a new little brother and that the baby will eventually sleep in his room (he may change his mind about this when he gets older).

7. He came home from the dentist with his first cavity a few months ago and told me that the dentist told him he needed to start "fossiling" his teeth.

8. He's very emotional and always wants us to be proud of him. When he gets in trouble, there's always tears because he so much wants to be a good boy.

9. He wants to do everything just like his Dad - which I think is wonderful (his Dad is really a good role model for him). He gets upset when Jeremiah works late or is gone before he's up in the morning because he just loves him.

10. He's up at 7am every morning, no matter what time he gets to bed the night before. Actually, he's up before 7am, but we've taught him to stay in bed until he sees a 7 on the left side of his digital clock.

11. He loves to play video games - playstation, XBOX, or Wii. Although he will play by himself, his favorite thing to do is play with his Dad.



12. He always wants to help me out in whatever I'm doing. His latest fascination is in trying to help me cook dinner. He doesn't seem to understand the dangers of the stove, so we're working at finding other things for him to do so that he can help me out.

Yes, as you can see, we have quite a special little boy. He is continually amazing us at the things he does and the ways he tries to help out around the house. He's a bit crazy and silly, like his sister, but I love him so much for all the fun and wonderful qualities that he has and I couldn't survive without him.



We sure do love you Zach!