Busy, busy weekend!

We were very busy this weekend but it was so fun!

Saturday:

There was a free event put on by PBS Kids at The Challenger Space Center, so we decided to go. Normally, I run as far away from "free events" as possible, but this one sounded interesting. We arrived right when they opened and it wasn't too crowded. The kids seemed to enjoy it, but I think they had more fun running around on the grass outside!


J the astronaut


Sarah the astronaut. That face...I don't even know..it cracks me up!



Lunch at Margaritaville...they kids had a cheeseburger (in paradise, of course) and Shawn and I shared the nachos. If you go there, you can just get the 'appetizer' nachos and share them with another person and it's a meal.


Relaxing after a big lunch.

Sunday:

We are so lucky that our church has a little (fenced in!) garden area on the property, so after service on Sunday there was a cookout. The kids ran around so much!



They were so flushed!



Sarah running...no photos but she was redder than J!



There was a water balloon tossing contest. J and I were eliminated early, when ours exploded at my feet.

Monday:

Woods Canyon Lake! The lake is about 30 minutes outside of Payson, and fun fact: when Shawn and I were much younger, we actually walked around the whole thing! It took us 4 hours.



The guys



The gals



Hiking through the forest!



I SAID CHEESE!


I was trying to get a cute (candid) photo of Sarah and Shawn by the water, but look closely at Sarah...



She's posing! She just saw the camera and did this. I have NO IDEA where she gets it from.



Ohhh...



Throwing rocks. The weather was a little chilly, but it felt great after walking a little bit.



The trees are starting to turn...



This looks slightly hazardous...



The day isn't complete without a family photo!



Picnic lunch by the lake!



Ronnie started coughing and J was patting him on the back. It was so sweet!



J and Grandma sat in the back.



Next stop - a cute little park in Payson! Sarah is FINALLY warming up to Grandma and Grandpa. YAY!



Running down the hill...



We saw "Elvis Duck"



Rolling down the hill..



A great shot with Grandpa



Silliness on the ride home



We had so much fun, that J not only fell asleep in the car (rare), but went back to sleep after I carried him in and laid him on the couch. To give you an idea, he hasn't slept anywhere besides his crib or carseat since he was an infant. He actually stayed asleep while Shawn and I talked, Sarah played and hollered...it was weird!

Sorry for the picture overload, but we had so much fun, I can't help but documenting all of it!

Busy, busy weekend!

Superheroes!

Is it a bird? Or a plane? Nope. Super J!


And here comes Super Sarah!



Bottom toes are Sarah, top are J's - he wanted his toes painted too, so we compromised and I painted one.

Kid Update

Sarah's officially 18 months! She likes doing her own thing - picked out this outfit herself.


What?

At her visit she was 28lbs and they measured her at 35 inches tall, which when I measured her at home, she was more like 34. So she's tall (off the charts still) but not as tall as they think. She easily fits into 3T clothing! (J, on the other hand, is comfortable in his 18mo shorts!)

She is talking like crazy! It's amazing. She recently learned "no" and uses it A LOT with her big brother. And it sounds like this: "NoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!" Pretty funny. She also says: wow, uh-oh, bubble, puppy, apple, mama, dada, grandma, up, go, 'da', ice, and more that I can't remember. I'm pretty sure she's talking more than J did at this age, but I can't remember that, either! She funny, she loves the water, loves her daddy, her blanket, her thumb, eating food (except for french toast, weird!), climbing, jumping, running races, and SHOES. We took her shoe shopping (she's in a size 7) and she cried every time I'd take a pair of shoes off her. I hope she stays that way, I would love to have a little shopping partner!


My little fish.

Jeremiah - what can I say about him? He's definitely asserting his independence more - the other day he was upset about being told to take a nap and told me to 'go away' and that he wanted me to leave him alone. This was the first time he'd said something like that when he was upset - normally he wants hugs and cuddles - but not this time!

He tells great stories, starting with "once upon a time" or randomly he'll say "Ladies and Gentleman!" Shawn and I crack up a lot, but he really dislikes it when we laugh at what he's doing. He also likes to sing, but you can't look at him, laugh or smile at him while he's doing it. The other day he told me that when he grew up, he wanted to be a moon, then a fireman. I love his imagination.


Cubbies!!

He really likes Cubbies and he picks up on the memorization verses really quickly! It's amazing. He also loves his preschool class at church and at Mops. I'm so proud of him - last year he cried all the time, and now it seems he's outgrown it and is embracing being away from me and making friends.

Dza Dza!

My dad (aka Dza Dza) came out to visit. It was great - normally he only comes from Thursday to Sunday, but this time he came from Tuesday to Saturday! We packed our schedule with lots of fun.


Nothing like forcing pics on the unwilling children.


Wednesday morning we headed to the zoo early, which was so much fun! No one was there, so the kids and Dza Dza enjoyed the splash pad.



We always have to ride the carousel. (For $1 each, why not??)


Just because I like this picture (my dad and I when I was little)


After the zoo, we headed to the Az Mills mall for lunch at the Rainforest cafe.

J was terrified of this talking tree at one time. Now he's "brave" and isn't afraid anymore.



J got a shoulder ride on the way out..


Thursday I had a MOPs meeting, so my dad stayed at home with the kids. They did great, he was exhausted of course. :)

After Sarah's naps, she and Dza Dza would take a little walk. She loved it.



Reading books...


Friday morning we drove out to the Mesa Swap Mart and had fun looking around.

This thing was called "Dave the Dinosaur" so we had to take a picture with it. (My dad's name is Dave.)



A quick trip to Costco after the swap mart. Sarah loves giving hugs right now.



More post-nap walks...


Dza Dza bought this fun Cars play rug for J. They kids love it.

Sarah's face in this photo is hilarious.


Saturday morning breakfast at the Farm.

Trying for some photos in the bright sun.



That's better!



Our final stop before we dropped Dza Dza off at the airport - the top of South Mountain!

The visit was so much fun. I think we spent enough money at our local ice cream shop, (my dad loves ice cream and we visited every night), to keep them in business for a long time.

Today

Today was just a fun family day. Church, lunch, naps, football, homemade pizza (that we all made - the girls made the dough, the boys did the toppings), visiting the local ice cream shop (Scooptacular), then a last minute pre-bed visit to the park. The park was great, both kids somehow managed to face-plant into the sand. I have no pictures, but I wanted to keep these memories somewhere...

Today is also a special day because it's one of J's best friends birthdays! Jayden, who J's known since he (Jayden) was born, turned three today. Yesterday we went to Chuck E Cheese for his party.


When J saw this picture, he said: "That's Jayden. He's my BEST FRIEND." Awww!!



Memories...Jayden (on the left), three weeks old, and Jeremiah at 3 months. My how they change!

Ketchup

Like the title? I'm so clever! Ha ha ha.

Lots has happened around here, mostly for Jeremiah, but a little for Miss Sarah, too. Here we go!

This past Saturday, Jeremiah spent his first night alone at his Grandma and Grandpa G's house. They did everything grandparents are supposed to do - let him drink some pop, have ice cream, stay up late watching movies, etc. And he did great. He slept really good (That was my main concern...of course we had to bring his fan, his 'heartbeat' - a white noise machine, his TWO nightlights, as well as all his stuffed animals/blankets.) He had fun and it was great for them to spend such a good chunk of time together.

Swimming at the community pool





Sarah wanted to go swimming too, but they only allow children who are no longer in diapers in the pool. (They live in a 55+ community). And speaking of that....

Now onto Sarah. Last week she decided she didn't want to wear diapers anymore. So I transitioned her to pullups and she was doing great over the weekend, but since Tuesday hasn't done so great. (You know what? I don't mind discussing this stuff in person but I really dislike blogging about it!) Long story short, I think she's leaning towards potty training but lost interest because it is kind of boring, plus I won't let her have any more little books (her favorite ones) because they kept ending up IN the toilet. Gross.

Word-wise, she doesn't have many. "Uh oh", "ball" (Sort of), "mama", "Dada", "Uh-uh" (for no), "da" (for yes). That's all I can think of now. She has loads of signs and uses them instead of words. She also is really funny - she makes great faces sometimes for the camera. She's also making this ridiculous pouty face whenever she doesn't get her way, and still throwing fits like nobody's business. She loves her blankets and sucking her thumb. She's almost figured out how to open doorknobs and can go up and down (although she likes 'help' down) the stairs on her own.

And, just now, she put her blanket on our dog Prince's head and laughed. When I laughed, she took it off and did it again. She thinks she's hilarious. Oh and she is SO NAUGHTY. Climbs on everything and thinks when I say "NO!" it means to do whatever she's doing and run away at the same time. Being in trouble just makes her laugh, so we're working on time outs. Not sure how affective they'll be though, since she just thinks they're funny right now.


This is her 'funny face.' It appears whenever the camera comes out.



Laying on the floor, with her blanket and her thumb. She might look tired, but she just likes laying around. I don't blame her!


And CUBBIES! Last night was J's first night at Awanas. This means being dropped off and picked up - and left there for two hours with no mom or dad in the near vicinity. And he did great! Shawn and I seem to have a recurring conversation about just how big J's getting. He's doing so much that even six months ago I couldn't imagine - he'd cry his head off at Mops last year and this year his teacher was amazed at how he not only didn't cry, but participated in the activities and had fun. It makes me so incredibly happy that he's no longer sad!! I think either moving up to the preschool room at church (he never ever wants to leave) or going to Ikea's Smal-land (where he plays on his own for an hour) helped over the summer. Or he's just growing up and becoming more independent. Who knows. Either way, it's bittersweet.

Awana

Last night was registration night for Awana at Laveen Baptist Church. They had a 'waterslide' - pretty much a tarp covered with water and baby shampoo - so we went to register J for Cubbies. Shawn grew up going to Awana but I hadn't heard of it until I was in my mid-twenties and going to church out here with Shawn. I'm excited for J - when I told him about it, he was a little nervous that he'd be dropped off and I wouldn't be staying, but when I explained it was like school, he asked what he'd be learning about. I told him "Jesus" and he excitedly replied: "I can't WAIT to learn about Jesus." It was precious.

It's a step in faith, leaving your three year old in the care of random people for two hours every Wednesday night. In addition to that, it also goes an hour past his normal bedtime, but hopefully he'll have a good nap those days so it won't bother him too much. Last night when we got home (around 730pm), I put him to bed and he was so wired it took him awhile to fall asleep.


All dressed up in his swim suit...



Waving at me from the slide.



He kind of ran on the slide, then onto the grass, then fell on his bottom. I had to explain if he wanted to 'slide' he had to stay on the tarp.



They gave out these goody bags, which are fun, if it hadn't been bedtime.



J knew there was candy in it, but I told him he had to wait until morning to have any...the first thing he asked for this morning? Candy. He's eating an apple and drinking milk first...

J is getting so big. Yesterday before we left for the registration he was talking and talking a mile a minute. It's amazing that a year and a half ago he was barely speaking and now he never stops. He cracks me up, he's adorable.

It's been awhile since I have posted a blog, I'm still in a funk so I don't have much to say.

Sarah - she's funny, but still oh so needy. Screams bloody murder if she doesn't get what she wants and she does it a lot. Shawn and I say she acts like she's a spoiled brat - which she isn't! She just loses her mind if things don't go her way. She's getting her incisors in right now, so she hasn't been sleeping well. She's started saying words like "Wow" and "ball" - her voice is oh so cute. She's still my good eater who likes anything that's put in front of her.

Jeremiah - he's sweet and funny. Every so often he'll say: "I have to tell you something, Mommy. I love you." It's adorable. He barely eats but somehow still has the energy to run around like a crazy guy no matter what. He drives me crazy because he talks so much! In the car, at home, all the time, it seems. And he can't just say "Mommy?" It has to be "Mooom-eeee-UH?!?!" over and over again. And the whining - oof. I'm looking forward to that stage ending. I wish we had him in preschool, I think he'd be doing so well but we didn't jump on it when we had the chance. Oh well! He just loves being in the preschool room at church and always balks when it's time to leave. We're going to Mops again this year so I think he'll have a great time there, and we'll possibly be going to BSF so that will be another place where he'll be in a learning environment. We'll see....

Flag

The kids woke up at 5am on Saturday (they do that every day, but we had a late Friday night with old friends, so it was extra-painful that morning!). Shawn and I are so tired of the heat, we decided to head to Flagstaff. We were out the door at 7am! We stopped in Black Canyon city at the Rock Springs Cafe for breakfast. Both kids were antsy but it the food was great!

Then we started the trek to Flagstaff. J fell asleep on the way there, but Sarah somehow managed to stay awake the whole time. We went to our favorite park, Thorpe Park and played. I wore jeans for some reason, thinking I'd be comfortable in 80 degrees. (I wasn't, but it was still 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix!)


Playing on the fire truck.



These two love the baby swings!



He thought it was so funny to swing and drink at the same time.



Great photo of Shawn and Sarah



New hair on Mama, cute BHBG

We stopped at Beaver Street Brewing Company for lunch, and then were going to head to Sunset Crater (yelp on Shawn's phone said it was only 6 miles away). We get on the road, I pull it up on Susan (the GPS on his phone) and it says we're 16 miles away. So, we decided just to head towards home. We stopped in Anthem to stretch, use the bathroom, get a drink and a snack and take some silly photos.


Sarah likes to do this face anytime you close your eyes when you're looking at her.



It never fails to crack me up.



J also made a 'mean face.'



And a 'nice face.'

Shaking off the funk!

Ever since we returned from Washington I've been in a funk. Not just a usual post-vacation funk, but a real, nasty, funk. It doesn't hurt that we all caught colds over the weekend (except for Shawn, who's starting to get sick now, of course). I think it's because I really, really miss being in Washington. I didn't realize how much I loved it there until this last trip, and I wish I could be back there now. It doesn't hurt that the weather here is less than pleasant so it makes Washington even more appealing.

So...to get rid of the funk, here are a few photos since we've been home.


Cuddling with Daddy



JUMPING on Mommy - my poor stomach!



They were holding hands walking around the kitchen. How cute!



She is obsessed with the mop. As soon as I open the pantry she runs to it and takes it out and cries when I put it back.