Wednesday, March 31, 2010

And just like that, the snow is gone!

Well tomorrow is April 1st and March just flew by, just like every months seems to do lately. I do think that the snow melted in record speed this year and I don't think that there is a soul out there complaining about it. We have been very busy trying to soak up the warm sunshine and taking advantage of every chance to be outside in the fresh air.

The kids are growing up and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I was sitting with my baby girl the other day and it struck me that she will be 2 soon! I can't believe it. She is growing up and ready to take on the world. She really thinks that she knows how to do anything and doesn't show a speck of fear. She dances to her own little tune all day literally. She is constantly trying to keep up with her brother, which drives him absolutely crazy, but the funny thing is that she can keep up with him most of the time. We recently took the kids to "How to Train Your Dragon" and she fell in love with the movie theater. The minute the lights turned off she started laughing hysterically and she did that throughout the entire movie. She did manage to throw 2 large bags of popcorn on the floor and in the aisle in front of us. She also got our her friends Asha and Elias into the action. I'm pretty sure the family in front of us was not very happy with us, but I enjoyed watching the kids have so much fun.

Gage is officially signed up for Komet Connection preschool next year. He will be going 3 days per week and he is very excited to go. He is currently enrolled in the 3 year old preschool 2 days per week and it has been one of the best things we have done for him. I can't believe the things that he has learned. The most important change that we have seen in Gage since started preschool is that it has helped him to be a little more assertive. He still is our sweet little go-with-the-flow little guy, but now he is a little less willing to let other kids push him around. Another thing that I have noticed is that he loves "learning" He has some learning books that teach numbers, abc's, writing, simple math and things and he will spend hours each day working on these books. He is always asking to do these and I can't believe how well he does with them without much help from us.

Since our computer has been at Best Buy (not really being fixed) I have tons of pictures on here. Starting with Boxcar Dylann. We have decided that should be her Garbage Pail Kid name since she is always writing on herself and seems to resemble the beloved Garbage Pail Kids from the 80s :)
We had a little neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. We do this every year with neighbors and it is a blast. This year the weather was perfect and the kids had a blast. They all ended the day with tummies full of pizza, dirt from head to toe, hands permanently dyed green, yellow, and pink, and smelling of summer and I'm sure that they are all sleeping sound in their beds right now.
The girl corner.
Shortly after this Dylann decided to paint her feet with the egg dye.
The big kids Gage, Jaxon, and Hailey with their neat finds
Its getting heavy
The little kids kinda roaming around and occasionally stumbling upon and egg.
A few days ago we went to the City Easter Egg hunt and to our friend's Cindy and Jim's house to color eggs. Dylann is very seriously thinking about how she is going to get into this egg to eat it.
Gage coloring his egg.
Dylann and her boys Elias and Andrew.
Meeting the Easter Bunny. Dylann had to give him hug and thought that they were BFFs
All of Gage's eggs
Getting ready to go and it was crazy!
Dylann is a dog whisperer. She can get any dog to do anything. This is her little doggy cousin Lucy. She loved Lucy. Oh and she had to show Lucy how to eat her bone and that is what is all over Dylann's mouth.
Fun times at the park. We LOVE warm weather.
Gage is my handsome little man.
Checking out the giant tree stump at the park by Grandma and Grandpa Kilen's house.
Gage being about as daring as he ever will be by jumping on these.
One, Two, Three, GOOOOO
Gage's dream came true and he actually got to eat lunch with some super heros!
Dylann taking Baby for a walk
Aww... This picture really shows how Dylann looks up to her big brother :)
And to end this super long blog:
The kids playing Ring Around the Rosie.
Yes we did have homemade pizza for supper too :)


Friday, March 12, 2010

Mexico



We went on our first trip since kids have entered our lives the first week of March to Mexico. It was wonderful! We spent 6 days being lazy by the ocean, drinking lots of fruity drinks, and snorkeling. It sure was relaxing! The resort we stayed at was beautiful! The weather was great most of the time we were there. It was warm every day, but it got a little cool at night. It was windy most days, but that didn't keep us out of the water. We spent most of the time just laying on the beach and we would get up every now and again to go snorkel. I wasn't sure if I would be able to snorkel because when I tried to snorkel when we were in Jamaica 7 years ago I freaked out in the water and didn't enjoy it at all. This time it was great and I loved it! We saw tons of colorful fish, a big nasty eel, some jelly fish, lots of turtles, and a nasty Baracuda. There was one person who said he had seen a shark in the reef one of the days and a lady that had seen a squid.
We did go on an excursion one day to Tulum with some Mayan Ruins. We started the day by doing a repel line and then went to the 3 zip lines. I am scared of heights and could have gone my entire life without doing either of these things and I felt like I was going to throw-up and pass out by the time I was done. I am happy that I did it though. It just means that I don't ever have to do it again in my lifetime :) After we did that we went snorkeling in a Cenote (underground river) then we went to the ruins which were amazing! It was beautiful.
We missed the kids like crazy kept saying to each other how much the kids would like this and that. Before we left we asked Gage what he wanted us to bring him and he said that he wanted 5 sea shells and one sea star. The sea shells were everywhere so that was easy to get but it was next to impossible to find a sea star. I remember in Jamaica it seemed like there were sea stars everywhere so I thought that it wouldn't be a problem finding one for Gage. Very wrong we looked all over while we were snorkeling and nothing. We looked in every little shop that we came across and nothing. Finally, at the airport, waiting to fly home we stopped in one of the convenience shops and low and behold there was a sea star. This was so worth all of the adventures, just to see the look on Gage's face when we gave him his sea star from the ocean!
Dylann was happy to get her turtle bracelet and was proud to wear it, but she soon forgot about it and wanted to play with everything Gage got, like usual. She loves to drive Gage nuts by doing everything he does. So it was literally less than a half and hour after we got home that they were fighting like cats and dogs and it felt like we had never left :)



One of the many turtles that we had seen snorkeling.
Eating at the amazing Italian Resturant
Aaron climbing the Mayan Ruin that was on the beach at our resort.
A little bit of Tulum
Proof that I did this!
Aaron had tons of fun on the zip-line
I'm ready to cry.
Aaron being silly.

Here is a little video of Dylann singing her ABC's while she is busy destroying the kitchen. This little girl loves to sing. She can sing Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday, ABCs, Thumbkin, Jingle Bells, Lots of songs from Yo Gabba Gabba, Dora, and Diego, You Are My Sunshine, and Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. I'm sure there are more that I can't think of too :)