From Winter to Summer

Yikes!  This is the longest I have ever gone without updating our little blog.  So much has been going on too!  Right now we are enjoying a lovely start to our summer break with warm and sunny weather!  I last blogged when we were smack dab in the middle of my favorite time of year.  The Christmas season!!

We had a great Christmas, spending time with both sides of the family while enjoying Christmas Eve and morning at home.

Adi got decked out with a new stroller, baby carrier, and baby.  She is so motherly and loves taking care of her babies.  On Christmas Eve, we went to church and then came home and listened to Christmas music and just enjoyed each others company.  

The kids got these awesome bath drops in their stockings and they use them every time they take a bath.  They love mixing the colors to see what cool and new color they can come up with.

Unfortunately it didn't snow at all this year.  Like, at all.  The boys didn't get to go skiing once!  We are hoping for a lot more snow next year!  We want to get Adi out on the slopes, so skiing can become a fun family activity!  Instead we spent a lot of time at home, indoors....trying to keep ourselves busy and entertained...

Braedon was in school full time this year, so Adi and I got a lot of one on one time.  I really enjoyed this time with her, but also missed Braedon a ton.  He has always been my little side kick;-)  

That girl.  She is hilarious.  And pretty awesome.

I feel like we spent a lot of time at the pool this winter.  The kids were in lessons from January to April.  They loved them and I'm pretty confident in Braedon's swimming abilities.  Adi...well, she spent a lot of time flirting with her teacher.

Adi has been in dance class on and off throughout the year and absolutely loves it.  She is constantly twirling, dancing, and singing all through the house.

Braedon's thing right now is Legos and Star Wars.  So our house is usually filled with lightsaber fights and a singing and dancing princess.

Adi is pretty much done with official naps.  She will take the occasional floor nap, couch nap, or car nap.  This girl goes, goes, goes, and then will fall asleep in about 2.5 seconds.

Braedon enjoyed Kindergarten this year, but complained of being bored often.  He is definitely our super smart, observant, sensitive kid.  He LOVES to learn and is now reading everything, writing, spelling, and catches on to all things math super quick.  He ended up testing nation wide in the top 1%, so he will be in the gifted program from here on out.  Starting in second grade, he will be in a special class full time.  I'm hoping his joy for being in school will come back.  As of now, he wants to be a doctor;-)  Another milestone for Baeo...he lost his first tooth!  The same tooth that came in first as a baby.

Braedon got his first broken bone this baseball season.  The poor kid only got to participate in one practice before he broke it.  He was a good sport about it and learned how to manage with his left hand.  

He was in his cast for about four weeks and was so excited to get it off!!!

Another big change that happened recently is Derek decided to leave Microsoft and is now loving his new job as program manager over mortgages at Zillow.  He is very excited for the future!

We also added to our family this year as we welcomed little Miss Bailey, a chocolate lab.

 She has brought so many laughs and such joy to our family.

 We were a little worried at first because Peyton seemed to hate her, but after about a week, she started playing with the pup!  Now I will confidently say they are best friends and both seem very happy!

Little Adi in her ballet clothes.  She took her first real ballet class about a month ago.

Derek and I went on our first big vacation post kids!  One week in Costa Rica with a little adventure and lots of relaxation was just what we needed!  

My mom and aunt came up to watch the kids and dogs for us!

So I think that sums up the last 6 months or so!  We are now in summer vacation mode and are loving it!  I'm not saying it's perfect, because there are days where it seems like the kids are fighting all day long, but then there are moments like these that makes it all worth it!

I love my little posse.  

Holiday Happenings

Holy moly, I can't believe we have less than 2 weeks until Christmas.  As you can see, I have gotten pretty lazy when it comes to blog posts.  I think that's because Facebook is so much more convenient for me to take a quick picture or write down a funny quote the kids say that I want to remember.  My goal is still to keep this blog updated and turn it into a spiral family journal for the kids to have when they go off to college, or whatever.  Hopefully college though.  So far I have no worries about Braedon, but Adi on the other hand.  Well....she's so pretty...;-)  Yeah, that was really mean.  Adi is doing just fine!

Since I last posted, we have gone trick or treating, celebrated Thanksgiving, and have been knocking things off our Christmas bucket list.  In addition, there obviously have been millions of little things in between!

Before Halloween we spent a day at Remlinger Farm where we rode lots of rides, picked out pumpkins, and ate hot donut holes.

The kids love this place and they always leave happy but exhausted.

Braedon has been Star Wars obsessed for the last few months.  Oh my goodness.  When this kids falls for something, he falls hard.  I have never been a Stars Wars fan, but let me tell you, I now know all about Anakin and how he turns into Darth Vader, how Padme had twins Luke and Leah before she, "lost the will to live," that the jedi's have blue light sabers and the bad guys have red...all about the Death Star...yeah, I can pretty much go on and on.  You may think that he has convinced me to like Star Wars.  Well I can honestly say... I DO NOT.  Maybe its the fact that I get nailed with a light saber  on an almost daily basis.  Let me tell you, those things are no joke and it hurts when you get clipped.  Peyton can agree with me.  She's been sleeping with one eye open for months.

Was I surprised when he said he wanted to be Darth Maul for Halloween?  No.  Now on the other end of the spectrum I have Miss Adilyn.  She is the girliest girl I know.  She would live in this Sophia dress if I let her.  I constantly see her checking out her reflexion in the oven, she is always properly accessorized, and she definitely has the capabilities of turning into a complete mean girl.  She has an opinion about everything, especially every outfit I pick out for her, which usually ends up with me storming out of her room in a huff to avoid doing something that would have CPS knocking on my door.

Most evening look like this.

Oh wait, wrong video:-)  Derek is going to kill me when he sees this;-)  I meant most of our evening look and sound like this!

Anyways, we had a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home where we enjoyed a mix of lots of down time and time to get some unfinished projects done.  Last weekend we got our Christmas tree and decorated it, which the kids always love.  Adi spent the rest of the night rearranging it to make it just perfect.

Every year I make a list of fun Christmas related things to do and we try to do one each night.  Some of the things on our list include decorating cookies, making a gingerbread house, drinking cocoa in front of the fire, listening to Christmas music, getting a picture with Santa....and a whole bunch more.  The kids love this little tradition and so do I!

So even though my posts and updates have been lacking, I can tell you we have still been busy having fun and getting into all sorts of Shenanagins!

Until next time...

Adilyn Paige

Even though Adilyn had her birthday about 3 weeks ago, I still never got the chance to really celebrate her on our blog.  I like to take the kids' birthdays as an opportunity to write down specifics about them that I want to remember forever!

First, her stats:

Height: 37 7/8 inches tall
Weight: 32 pounds

This girl is one little bundle tightly wound with spunk, energy, attitude, but also lots of love.  She is outspoken, somewhat bossy, and definitely follows her own tune.  At the same time, she gives the best hugs, tells the funniest stories, sings anything on her mind, but still loves her blankie and thumb:-)

She has a love for dresses and pretty much wears them day and night.  We have already had fights about what she is going to wear to school.  She has an opinion and knows what she likes.  She is 3.  Although recently, I have been able to get her into some leggings, just in time for the rainy, fall weather.

Adi is very motherly and loves to take care of her baby.  She will feed her, change her diaper, and take her for walks around the house.  It is so cute to watch her and her imagination grow.  She makes me laugh everyday.  Multiple times a day.  This girl is a crack up.

She started pre school this fall and loves it.  She is so independent and will pretty much do anything that she wants, all on her own.  She potty trained herself, completely.  Just like that.  Meaning I was planning on doing it sometime in June and she decided she was going to do it before then.  And I thought Braedon was easy to train.  She is patient and always figures out a way.

Adi's likes at 3 years old:

Playing with her dolls
Singing anything and everything
Dresses that twirl
Her blanket
Going for walks, lots of walks
Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches
Broccoli
Painting and coloring
Helping me clean the house
Chocolate
Little Einsteins, Curious George, and Caillou
Bubble baths
Bacon
Getting her nails done

Adi's dislikes:

Getting her hair washed
Having to do something she doesn't want to do
Most vegetables
Sharing her toys
Wearing pants

We love this girl to pieces!!!

Summer wrap up, Adi's birthday, back to school!

When I last posted, we were right smack in the middle of summer.  We were having so much fun living up our warm, summer days and we didn't slow down!  We went on a couple camping trips with a lot more pool fun, park dates, water fights, grilling, and ice cream eating in between.  I am going to leave you with a picture dump from the rest of summer.

Mini golf!  Baeo loved it and Adi was bored;-)

Visiting the Tri Cities.  Hanging with Grandpa P.

Camping at Banks Lake!

Grand Coulee Dam.

Adi turned 3!!

Camping on Orcas Island.

First day of school!!!