Things We Love About Daddy

Here are the things the kids told me they love about their daddy:

Victoria: "He teaches me how to be nice to my little sister and brother and he puts me to bed and makes me not have nightmares."

Karissa: "I love that he helped me ice skate." (like 1 1/2 years ago, I'm surprised she even remembers!)

Austin: "Ahhh, Jay-uhn." (he was saying his name)

Happy Father's Day!
The kids wanted to do goofy poses, but did them for different pics. Here's two being goofy.

And the other one!

Chicago

Last Monday the kids and I took a quick trip to Chicago. We were supposed to go with my dad and meet my sister and her family there on their way out here for a visit, but since he shattered his shoulder about a month ago, the trip was cancelled since my step-mom needed to help him instead of my sister drive out for a vacation. Luckily, we weren't left high and dry. We were also planning on meeting my aunt and her daughter who are from Dallas and were visiting the other daughter who lives in Iowa City with her 1-year-old and hubby.

After the 4 hour drive, which the kids did very well with, we drove into the city on Lake Shore Ave., about one road's width away from Lake Michigan. It was beautiful! The first thing the kids said when we came upon the skyscrapers overlooking the lake was, "Can we live here?!"

As soon as we could, we jumped out of the car and played on the beach. It wasn't a planned stop and was only 65 degrees, not my idea of swimming-in-a-lake weather, but the kids had a blast! Victoria actually got on the water a little. Karissa and Austin didn't touch the water, but were overjoyed at being out of the car looking at it with the skyscrapers behind them.

After our fun detour at the beach, we met my aunt Terry, Danielle, Celeste, and baby Ellia at the park zoo.
That evening at our lovely hotel, we took a dip in the pool and Karissa really got attached to her new BFF, Danielle.
The next day we went to the Shedd Aquarium and saw the bottom floor, which was free that day. It was crowded, but enjoyable. The kids really liked the jelly fish.

Here's one of the many pictures Victoria took of fish. This one came out without the glare.

Since we were expecting the entire aquarium to be free, not just the bottom floor, we left earlier than planned when we discovered the extremely high prices of the upper floor. We will return one day and experience that, but probably with Jason so he can enjoy it too. So, we just left and had lunch on the museum square. We left for home shortly after that to make it in time for a better-night's sleep so Victoria could have fun at her end-of-the-year party at school. We were there about 24 hours, not counting driving, but it was fun and we don't regret it!

Peaceful

My good friend, who is moving soon (boo-hoo!) helped me add a nice touch to our upgraded living room. She has a vinyl cutter and we used it to cut out these quotes that just adhere to the wall. It was easy as can be and a very nice touch! Here's our nice TV on the stand, with all the extra clutter that was on the other one, nicely hidden. The old TV now sits happily in the basement.

I've finally put the kids' pictures back up after painting, now that we have the TV and stand in place.
Everything just seems more peaceful now in there!

Speaking of peaceful, Jason and I got to spend 8 hours away from the kids yesterday! My other good friend, who has had a special bond with our kids, offered to come watch them while we went out. She didn't want to just watch them for a couple hours, but she wanted to "make them lunch, and dinner, put them to bed, and play with them". I quickly agreed. She's an empty- nester, though you wouldn't know it. The kids had a blast with her and we had fun on our own!

We started going to lunch at Baja Fresh and didn't even mind the 15 min. wait since we had no kids to chase around while waiting. We then went to the temple, and enjoyed a peaceful time there. On the way to our next destination we stopped at Costco to look at a few things. Very peaceful without kids. We went out to Ann Arbor to a restaurant called The Real Seafood Company, a very fancy restaurant we've been wanting to try to a while. Over the two hours we were there, we shared a cup of New England Clam chowder, the best house salad I've ever had, a crab cake, and a plate of paella; including mussels, clams, lobster, shrimp, sausage, veggies and rice. Some yummy rolls were served as well. It was slow, like we thought it would be, but again, so peaceful! Afterwards, we walked around Ann Arbor and enjoyed watching all the people as we walked passed each other.

When we returned home, two kids were in bed, and the third ready to go as soon as we got home. I missed my little kiddos, but sure enjoyed a peaceful day with my hubby!

Choo, Choo- Look Who's Two!

Austin turned 2 on Thursday. It's hard to believe that he's already two! He's been slowly easing into the "independent" stage the past month or so. One of his favorite things to say is "No, I do it!" He likes to say that when he gets in his car seat, brushes his teeth, pushes the button on the blender with me, and even when he helps me stir while cooking.

A little over a month ago he decided he was done with his crib. He just climbed out (for the first time ever) and refused to get back in for naps or bed. We already had a "big boy bed" in the room, so the transition was easy, for him at least. I've accepted it now and it's not that bad. He doesn't nap all the time now since he can get out of his bed and play, but it's fine. It also takes a few minutes longer to put him to bed because Jason or I have to lie down with him for a few minutes. He always says "Bi bo be" when he wants me to lie down with him longer.

He has also decided he likes the big swing now and not the baby swing. He prefers to hold Karissa's hand in the parking lot when walking into a store, not mine, but I'm still allowed to hold Karissa's hand on the other side.

He calls Karissa, who he adores, "Diga" and Victoria, who he thinks is the funniest person on the planet, "Adora". He loves to hug and kiss each of them when they are sad, it is so cute! He is such an affectionate little boy! He follows their lead and will hug perfect strangers who come to our door. He also likes the little baby girls in our ward. He is especially fond of a little 7-month-old girl named Genny and always says, "Baby!" when he sees her.

He loves having his daddy around now. They are pals!

On his birthday, we went to playgroup at the park in the morning, played with friends at our house while I had a meeting here, opened presents, had pizza and cake, and watched part of a movie.

He loved getting bubbles for his birthday, one of his favorite things to do.
He also loved this dump truck and another excavator truck that he got from Gramms and Abuelo.

We got him these Thomas pjs, which he picked out himself. He was so excited holding them in the store. I tried to convince him to get the shark ones because they were shorts, not pants, but he saw these and would not budge! He also got this little lawn mower that blows bubbles when pushed, besides making a loud lawn mower-type sound.
As soon as he saw his cake, he said "Choo, choo!" He knew exactly what it was! He picked out the peach rings for the wheels, rather than choosing the store-bought cookies, much to his daddy's dismay!
Happy Birthday my cute boy!

It's About Time!

Our TV is very old. It's so old that last year I actually watched myself in a home video at age 3 dancing in front of the very TV I was watching myself dance in front of! How weird was that! I really don't remember if the TV is older, or I am. Either way, it's a little over 30 years old. We inherited it from my Grandma Carrie when we got married 12 years ago, grateful not to have to buy one. We thought it would probably go sometime and we'd buy a new one then. Well, it just keeps working, minus the remote, which broke years ago. We just got used to turning the volume up on the actual TV. Since we have satellite we could just use that remote to change the channel.

We decided over a year ago that it was time to replace it anyhow, but we wanted to wait and buy one for Jason's graduation gift. Then, we wanted to wait for the Memorial Day sales. So, on Saturday we went out and bought an LED HDTV.

Here is our lovely old TV that Victoria has now named Oldie. It will go down to the basement.

And here is our nice new one, we even bought a nice stand for it to put the blue-ray and videos in. We are still in the works with getting everything connected, but it sure does look a whole lot nicer! Victoria has named it Beauty.

Check out the difference between the two! We'll have to post more pictures with the final touches! Stay tuned...

"Mom" School

Karissa just finished her first year of preschool, or "Mom" school as we have been calling it lately, since all the moms of the preschoolers have been taking turns teaching at their homes. She has enjoyed it, but is ready to go to Plymouth Children's Nursery, the co-op where Victoria went, in the fall. Karissa will be going to a bilingual class, which we are all excited for.

Here's her last-day-of-school picture...

...compared to the first-day-of school.
Here's a mini-Olympics activity we had at the beginning.

And a nature-scavenger-hunt turned play-at-the-park at the end of the year. It's been a fun year!

Girl Scout Camp

This year Victoria has been a Daisy in girl scouts. With kindergarten being only half day, I thought she needed a little something extra that wouldn't keep her too busy or cost too much money. It has been a great experience overall for her!

Here are the patches she has earned so far on her vest: the cookie sale, food drive, police station tour, recycle, Alice in Wonderland play, and Fall Fun. She has earned almost all her petals and still has another year of Daisy's!

Yesterday she went to a camp for the whole day and had a great time. Here she is showing me a squirrel's home.
She made a little s'mores craft, after eating the real thing, of course.
And here she is with some of her buddies from her Thin Mint group at camp. They also happen to all be in her class at school.

She's excited to do girl scouts again next year!