A Quick Stop In

One of the great parts of living in the "city" with parents who live in the "country", is that when they to do any big shopping, they come down to where we are. Consequently we get little surprise visits more often. This stop in happened to be after Nana got a new cast for her hand that she had surgery on. All the kids love when Nana and Papa stop by. Lucky for them Colby was in rare form tonight. (ok so maybe not so rare) but Colby was on one of his kicks. He was just being silly and thought it was funny to imitate what Papa was doing. Papa would make a face and he would make a face. Then Papa would make a face and shake his head and hands and Colby would make the face and do this shaking thing that he does when he grits his teeth. It totally cracks me up! Of course if you laugh he keeps on going! Anyway he was enjoying putting on a show and giving loves... and then some. I love that my kids have the opportunity to get to know their grandparents so well and be able to play with and love on them.
Check out these little video clips of Colby imitating Papa, and then giving him loves. That is until he realizes that I have a camera on him and then he just wants to pose.

Gotta Love Camp Rock!

Thanks to Disney my kids have what seems to me like an endless supply of music and movies. Thier latest favorite "Camp Rock" is what I have been listening to way to much lately. I do love how much they get into it, so I decided to share it. Watching them dance around and sing and play like this makes them look to old to me. I am not ready for them to grow up so fast! Watch and I am sure you will see what I mean.

MEMORIAL WEEKEND

For Memorial weekend we went to the Lakehouse to hang with Nana and Papa, Edgrens (Brad, Rach and kids) their friends the Suttons and of course the Taylors. We were planning or I guess at least hoping for great boating weather(which is what we packed for), instead we got cold, cloudy skies and scattered showers. But did that stop us?.....Well yes, some of us. Follow below to see what you do at the lake when it's raining! Don't forget check out some of the video clips!

Well... you still go boating... dressed a little warmer!

And of course if there is boating, there must be tubing... or tube surfing...

But then you get cold, so you have to find places to get warm again. Hailey and Drew buddied up quick as they cuddled up under the drivers seat by the heater. Jade, Cambrie and Cole found another spot that was tucked away from the cold. Check out the clip...

As the crazies filed off the boat Drew showed Hailey how he keeps warm...

This is a must see!

If you are crazy enough to stay outside... there is still fishing, playing in the water,

and playing in the sand building forts!

Rachel shows the other end of the spectrum of what you can do... Most of the parents stayed huddled up on the deck watching and waiting/hoping the kids would say they were cold so we could all go inside. We had no such luck. Just look at them go, they were everywhere!

Although later we did find that were was still fun stuff to do inside... like playing pool,

or playing air hockey, or cuddling up for a movie with friends. (I don't think I've ever seen as many Diego's as I did this weekend!)

On Monday, the last day of the vacation, the sun actually decided to come out, so of course we had to take advantage of it!!!

The kids went digging, fishing and playing in the sand, Cole even made Jade into a Mermaid!

They enjoyed chips and salsa out on the dock, (it had the most sun)

Overall I think we still had a great time rain or shine. It was a lot of fun to be with our family and friends/cousins (ha/ha) I know my kids really look forward to the times we get to hang with the Edgren kids. They still aren't quite sure of the relation between them. To help clarify let me quote Cole-

Cole: "Dad are we cousins or just friends"

Brad: "Kinda both"

Cole: "O.K."

Well that really cleared things up, thanks Brad...

Thanks again to all for the fun time! We hope to see you again real soon!

Who wants to lick the beater?

This is Emily GY's off year for birthday parties so since they were over at our house the night before her birthday we made her a cake. While the other kids were off playing Colby and Callie wanted to be helpful as they always are, so we decided try letting them lick the beater and spatula. As all things typically go for Colby and Callie, what ever one has the other one wants and Vice-Versa- check them out sorting out the situation...

What Do You Do In 100+ Degree Weather?

On our first day of 100+ degree weather we did what any sane person would do...

WE GOT WET!

The kids had a lot of fun playing and splashing back and forth between the kiddie pool and the bigger pool. All the kids took turns on the mini slide, most the kids did it right, but Colby seemed to think it was easier to go backwards on the slide- check out his methods below- Hailey does it correctly being a little bossy and to show everyone how- then Colby does what he wants?

Cooper's Encounters with Colby

I always crack up at how much Colby adores Cooper. He has gotten a little better about handling him. He at least doesn't throw him when he sets him down anymore. I thought I would share some of Cooper's encounters with Colby so you can see a smidgen of what we see daily!- There is a few clips but they are all fairly short.

WE HAVE A PET!

Finally after years of asking for a pet, our kids finally got one. Although I think Brian was just as excited about if not more. We learned about the Tortoises on a Friday night when we went with our friends Ben and Holly to pick up theirs. Brian asked what they needed to survive, and when Jack (the breeder) said if you left them, they could survive at least a year as long as there were weeds in your yard, we knew that this was the pet for us. It was all I could do to keep Brian from buying one right then and there. With serious effort I finally convinced him to at least wait until the next morning so we could come back and pick one in the day light were we could see them all and choose. He was a kid in a candy shop. So Saturday we went back to Jack's house to pick out our tortoise. Luckily my mom had stayed overnight so she stayed at the house with the kids while we went. When I saw Cooper (as he is now named) I knew that he was the tortoise I wanted. He was still fairly small, but big enough to handle Colby. Jack said that at his current size he could get stepped on by an elephant and still survive. - Yes- but can he withstand Colby?!? He was out cruising around when we saw him and he didn't seem as shy as some of the others. Plus I liked how his shell was 3 layers of color. Anyway- now we have a pet. Now I don't have to feel so bad when my kids bring home those dumb questionnaires from school that ask you all about yourself- your likes... dislikes... pets...- I always felt guilty when I told them to just put (N/A)-not applicable. Now we have joined the ranks. We Have A Pet!-

Check out some of the footage of our first moments with Cooper!

We Love To Read! well...most of us do...

One of things things I love most about my children is that they truly love to read! They will sit and read for hours with anyone who will sit with them. I have watched their reading skills improve so much over this last year, they really just amaze me. In this case the captive audience just happened to be Nana and Papa and Daddy. Then of course Colby had his own show he was putting on with Papa. (check out his little clip)

Our Young Padawan- Cambrie- fights Darth Vader

While we were at Disneyland, Cambrie got chosen for the Jedi Training Academy. When he chose her, he said the force was coming to him in the form of a high pitched scream, and the person making that sound must be chosen. (She really did have quite a piercing scream, but we told her if she wanted it she would have to make some noise and she did!) It was a lot of fun to watch! She took it quite seriously too! Her friend Emily got chosen as well. Jade and Hailey didn't even want to do it, but they were cheering Cambrie on all the way!