Thursday, April 21, 2011

Spring Break Vacation...Day 1

We decided to go to southern California for Spring Break this year. Our plan was to spend time at the beach and at Legoland. We headed down Friday night, later than we had planned, but that's okay, we still made it there before midnight. We stayed with Josh's aunt and uncle because they love to have company and they are awesome hosts. We visited for just a little bit and then we went to bed.

The next morning Vicki informed us that she had bought stuff for an Easter egg hunt, so we headed out to a park close to their house. Vicki bought all of us breakfast, so we enjoyed that and let the kids play on the toys for a little bit before we hid the eggs. I think they had a lot of fun, except Jaedyn didn't like the slide very much...


The kids were able to spend some time with their cousin Raeley...


After we were all done eating breakfast, Vicki and I headed out to "hide" the eggs. Our version of hiding the eggs turned out to be just throwing them all over the grass. Vicki had also bought all the kids a new sand bucket, so that's what they used for their baskets.

And they're off...


Jantzen was so excited about this pink elephant egg. He hasn't let it out of his site since. He's such a funny kid!


Josh tried to help Jaedyn find eggs, but she wasn't really into it. In fact, she was quite the little ornery pants for most of the egg hunt, I'm not really sure why, but she cried a lot!



Josh couldn't even make her happy by sticking out his tongue while making noises...


After all the eggs were found, the kids had to check out all the goodies they got because, let's face it, that's all the kids care about...the candy!





It didn't take Jaedyn long after that to discover that this egg hunting thing wasn't so bad after all. She dug right in to her eggs to see what they had inside...


We let the kids enjoy their eggs for a little bit, then we packed up and headed to the beach. I forgot to pack the kids' beach towels, but again, Vicki had already thought about that. She had bought each one of the kids a new beach towel for them to keep. It was kind of funny how my kids were so excited to get a new beach towel.

Here's our little princess all decked out in her new swim suit, hat, and water shoes...she's such a cutie! She wasn't to sure what she thought about this whole beach thing, so she stayed away from the water for a little while.


Jaron and Jantzen, on the other hand, got right into playing in the sand...


After seeing her brothers playing and having fun, Jaedyn decided to join them...


We didn't let the kids go down to the water until us adults went with them, so when Josh finally said he'd go down they were all excited. I don't think they realized how cold the water was going to be, but as a parent it's fun to see their reactions when they find out. They screamed a little bit, but I know they enjoyed it because they kept going back in...


Josh took Jaedyn in for her first ocean water experience...


You can see here how much she liked it, not at all!


During his play time in the water, Jaron found some sea shells. He was so excited!


Here's Jaron, Jantzen, and Raeley braving the water some more. They just couldn't get enough of the cold, I guess...




Jaedyn was fine by the water as long as Josh was holding her, but if he tried to put her down in it she'd freak out!



Jaron was really enjoying himself. Don't you just love his crab impression?


I did have to get a picture of me in here so I have proof that I was on this family vacation too. I found these super cute sunglasses for Jaedyn at Old Navy and just had to get them because they look a lot like mine. I thought she looked so cute in them. We're just a couple of beach diva's.


The boys had to leave their mark in the sand...I love their pose's.


After some play time in the water, the kids decided to play some more in the sand...



Jaedyn needed a break from everything, so she just chilled out with Vicki and John under the canopy.


After a little rest she went back down by the rest of the kids to attempt to play in the sand, but as soon as she saw the waves she freaked out again. She was really hating the water that day.


The good thing about her just standing there crying was that I could get a picture of her cute little "piggies" that I had just painted for the beach, aren't they so cute? She loves them!


Josh got in on some fun sand time with Jantzen and Jaedyn, they all worked on building sand castles. It was fun watching them all play because Josh was really getting into it and I know the kids loved that.



Here's the sand castle that Jantzen made...


Here's the sand castle that Josh made...


While Josh made sand castles with Jantz and Jaedyn, Jaron and Raeley did their own thing digging for sand crabs. Jaedyn thought this looked like fun, so she joined them.


Here is just a small sample of their catch, they got a whole lot more than this...


I'm not sure what Jaron was trying to make here, but he was obviously having fun...


The kids, including Josh, all had a blast burying Jaron in the sand and Jaron was a good sport to let them do it.


He looks all relaxed here...



Oh look, there's another picture of me!


Josh was brave enough to go farther in the water with the kids, I am a chicken...it was way too cold! He took each one of the boys in and would throw them up as the waves would come. Both the boys screamed like little girls! They secretly loved it, I know they did.


And what's a day at the beach without a signature silly face from Jantzen...


Finally Jaron was pooped and ready to go...


Overall, it was a great day at the beach with the family. Even though Jaedyn hated the water, she seemed to enjoy everything else and I know the boys had a good time. It was fun to have Vicki, John, and Raeley there to enjoy it with us.

Monday, April 18, 2011

13 Years!!

Today marks 13 years of marriage for me and Josh. We actually spent our anniversary at Legoland with the kids because this year it fell during Spring Break, but Josh did take me out last weekend so we could have a night out all to ourselves (a very rare occurrence at our house).

We went to dinner at PF Chang's. I was so excited to go because I LOVE Chinese food, but I was a little worried at the same time...Josh hates Chinese food and it makes him sick. I didn't know how it was going to go, but I hoped it went well...it did! Josh ended up liking the food and we waited all night for him to get sick but he never did...yay!! During dinner we tried to not talk so much about our adorable kids and focus just on us, but that made for a quiet dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love a quiet dinner (another rare occurrence at our house), but I think it's funny that the longer we've been married, the less we have to talk about that doesn't some how involve our kids.

After dinner, we got in the car and Josh surprised me with a new camera...I love it! Now I just need to take a class to learn how to use it better.


I saw a picture like this on a friend's blog and I thought it was a cool way to take a picture, so here I am with my new toy...


We were going to go see a movie after dinner, but we got done eating late so we decided not to. Instead we went to DSW to browse the fun shoes there. Guess what Josh found for me there...my yellow purse!! I have been wanting a yellow purse for the longest time and so he bought it for me and I LOVE it!!


No, our anniversary wasn't all about me. Josh got a new pair of church shoes at DSW that look pretty slick on him and he loves them. I also got him a drill set that he's been wanting for a long time. Can you see how happy he is to have them...


Even though we didn't do a whole lot on our date, we still had fun hanging out, just the two of us, we really need to get out more. I can't believe it's already been 13 years, time has flown by so quickly. I can't wait to see what the next 13 years bring us...good, I hope! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JOSH...I LOVE YOU!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Isn't This What Crayons are For?

Don't let Jaedyn's super cute face fool you, she's not so innocent all the time. Here is one of those times that makes you wonder...why?

The other day I caught Jaedyn playing with Jantzen's crayons, that's fine right? No, it wasn't fine after I saw what she was doing with them. She was coloring all over the TV in my room with them! I have no idea where she learned that, neither one of the boys ever colored on anything other than paper.

Doesn't she look so innocent here?...


She quickly listened to me when I told her "No, No" and put the crayons away...


Here is her "masterpiece"...It's pretty, huh?


Luckily Jaedyn hasn't colored on anything else that's not paper (knock on wood), thank goodness for baby wipes!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

My Little Spaceman

Tonight we went to literacy night with Nena and her kids at their school. I loved how the school did it. They had a different story in different sections of the school and they had something interactive to go along with them.

The first thing that the little kids did was hear the story "The Angry Ladybug". After the story they made their own ladybugs, they all seemed to enjoy that. They went to other stories too, but the moon one was their favorite. I don't remember the name of the book, but they had a space walk that the kids did and loved where they had to put sponges on their feet and walk in a room with flour on the floor and cushions under plastic that represented the craters on the moon. Then there was this astronaut that the teachers made...


Jantzen insisted on having his picture taken with it, he's such a funny kid when it comes to having me take pictures of him doing random things.