Easter Outfits

This is looooong overdue, but I had a problem uploading the pictures for some reason until now.

I love shopping for our kids. I find it so fun to find frugal deals. A received her Easter dress from her grandparents this year, so we found Z a little suit to go with it. I found it at Target and had accumulated $5 gift cards, enough to pay for the suit!

We've had a few wonderfully talented friends who took pictures for us. These were taken by the Heatons. They turned out to be soooo adorable (I know, I'm biased).

Easter Baskets

The Easter bunny brought just enough gifts this year--candy, a few toys, and new outfits for the kids. I think Mr. Bunny thought the kids had already been spoiled with lots of new spring/summer clothes. :)

They got to pick out their favorite jammies to wear the night before (not MOMMY's favorite of course), and as soon as they woke up we discovered the goods.

Rise and shine! Candy for breakfast!

The weather has been in the high 70s lately. Easter was on General Conference this year, so we enjoyed cinnamon rolls (store bought--still no energy) and eggs for breakfast. It's become a fun tradition. It was so nice to spend the day home as a family, and listen to our prophet and apostles speak.

Easter Egg Hunt

We went to two Easter egg hunts this year. One at our church, and one at a friend's house for playgroup. I remembered the camera for the one at our friends' house. It was perfect egg hunting weather.
A was one of the bigger kids, so she got pretty competitive. But then her sweeter side kicked in and she helped Z out. Z stared for a while, watching everyone else get eggs. Then he got interested in what was inside and was motivated. It sure was cute.

Halloween 2009

We had a fantastic Halloween. It was nice weather, and both kids were able to walk by themselves this year--yeah! They were pirates on Halloween, but we bought some extra outfits on ebay that they wore to other parties throughout the month. Kids can never have enough dress up clothes, in my opinion. :)

Silverlake party

Carriage ride

HallZooween at the Cincinnati Zoo

Dressing up at home

Halloween night

"Aaarghh, matey!"

Our boy is Two

Zachary has been two since August! Highlights:

-Thomas the Train and trains in general are his favorite. So are balls--especially soccer balls--as well as Lightning McQueen, then Nemo. Any red car on the road is "Lightning McQueen".
-Anything ending in an "ry" gets mixed up. For example: strawberry is "strawbyerre" (straw-bee-air) and primary is "primyair" (pre-me-air). It's adorable.
-Strawberries are his favorite fruit. Carrots with dip, peas (green balls) and green beans (snakes) are his favorite vegetables. I find the more creative I am, the more likely he is to eat. :)
-He loves to sing. I'll find him making up songs. He is always in the right key when he sings along to something, thanks to his nerdy parents.
-His favorite thing to do outside is to find rocks.
-He loves to kiss anyone's owies better and cuddle.
-He is still in a crib (until he climbs out, he's staying in there!)
-He's known for having incredible tantrums, yet can also be extremely sensitive.
-He loves to rough-house with his dad.

Below was on his birthday. He had Thomas cupcakes. When he blew out the candles he started squinting and covering his eyes--he didn't like the smoke! His favorite presents were McQueen and Mater remote control cars and a train set.

He is all boy, and has been quite a wonderful, crazy addition to our house! We love you Zach!

Fourth of July

We had fun at the McRoberts house on the fourth of July with dinner and a *few* fireworks in the garage. It was pouring rain so we didn't do the big fireworks, but the kids didn't mind at all! (Now we're set for next year.) The highlight for the kids was finding a small frog...but nothing compares to the one we found in our flowerpot yesterday! :)

Me with adorable baby J

Baby frog

BIG frog

We. Love. Silverlake.

Monday we went to the newly opened outdoor waterpark at Silverlake. It was raining a bit but still in the 70's. We're crazy, but it was so worth it...no lines, no crowds.

The frog slide. I hit my head on the top and have a huge goose egg on my forehead.

Open wide!

These lily pads took me back to when I was a kid. And those water slides in the background? Fantastic!! The thrill of feeling young again. :)

A cold boy, ready to go home.

We love Silverlake and are so excited to go all summer long!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend! We went to the Miami Whitewater Forest in Ohio with our friends the Olsens. It was extremely humid, but that didn't stop us from havin' fun. We had a BBQ...

Discovered more flowers...

Played a little croquet.Zach hung out with his girlfriend in boy fashion, tantalizing and teasing her. She showed him who's boss. :)

Oh, wow, did these kids have energy!

This picture was taken by Ms. K Olsen, age 5. Not bad!

We got cooled off just a bit after the BBQ.

Or maybe more than a bit.

Then we had a little chocolate on the way home. Notice how it's on his foot too. :) Good times!