Together

I am always trying to get at good picture of the children together, but it never really works out. Leah is usually trying to get away, or Noah is grumpy and doesn't want to smile for me. Well, today I did it! They were both SO happy today, so we went to the park and I was able to snap a nice picture of them together! Yay! Plus I got some cute ones of them alone, and the last one is just a precious little moment. I love these two so much!

U.S. Placemat

I call Doug the "Human GPS" because he always knows where he is going when we travel. He has such a good sense of direction, which is great because my sense of direction is always a little off. Doug has a huge fascination of geography. He knows where every state and country are, what the capital of every state is...it's pretty amazing. Plus he hardly has to think about it when I ask him where something is...he just knows.

Well, a few months ago I got Noah this handy dandy little placemat with the map of the U.S. on it. Doug, of course, was very happy with this purchase and immediately started to show Noah what it was by pointing to where we live and the names of all of the states...and Noah is totally taken in by it all. He is SO fascinated and just stares at it when he eats, especially when he is eating breakfast. I think that Doug is determined to teach him the names of all of the states before he starts Kindergarten...we'll see ;).

Where do we live?
Where does Aunt Suzi live? {Yep...that's right :)}.

Baby Stroller

At our house we have TONS of toys geared towards boys, for obvious reasons, and I haven't been very motivated to buy any girly toys for Leah because she is very content playing with what we have. And this is fine by me, but she is a little girl, and playing with girly toys is my cup of tea. I don't mind playing with trucks, and trains...but playing with barbies, and dollies, and having tea parties is what I know best, and I wanted to introduce Leah to the playing world that I know. SO, we bought her a baby stroller for her little dollie, but she finds it more fun to BE the dollie and have Noah push her around, or just sit in it and look pretty. I knew that she was going to break the stroller, as it is not made for a toddler to sit in, and it did {notice how the liner isn't completely intact}, but this doesn't stop her from wanting to sit in it. She will push it over to the back window, sit in it, and just stare outside for what seems forever {5 minutes seems like forever when it comes to a toddler that doesn't want to sit still}. I'm so glad that this is her new favorite toy...horray for girly toys :).

Dishes

After breakfast yesterday, I ran upstairs and came back to see this...
I've said it before, how Noah enjoys to help me clean, but he has never done the dishes before. I just stared at him for a minute and thought to myself is he really cleaning his dishes at his own free will? Wow. I'm impressed :).

Summer Vacation ~ Disneyland {and an Angels game}

After spending four days with the Kelly's, we decided to drive to southern California. The night that we arrived, Doug decided to take Noah to an LA Angels baseball game with his good friend John. I was a little nervous about how Noah would be during the game, but apparently he was very interested and was good about sitting in his seat, most of the time. I was glad that Noah was able to experience going to a MLB game with his daddy...I know that Doug enjoyed taking him :).

The next two days were spent at Disneyland. Yes, I know that we just went there five months ago, but we really love going there. Plus it is SO much more fun with kids and to see Noah's face when he went on Dumbo over, and over, and over again was priceless. It was definitely worth going again. Noah did remembered our last trip there, and he was even more excited on this trip because he knew what to expect. We went on tons of rides, saw lots of parades and fireworks, ate too many treats...it was so much fun. Leah was a good little princess and took good naps, and Noah told us at the end of the night that he was tired and wanted to sleep in Leah's stroller...we were very willing to let him get his rest. Going to Disneyland was a great way to end our trip.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Oh boy, did Noah have fun at the game! Look at that face!

We didn't tell Noah that we were going to Disneyland until we got on the shuttle to GO there. Now, if we would have told him we wouldn't hear the end of it until we went, so we decided to make it a surprise. Boy, was he surprised. He is literally asking us here, on the shuttle ride TO Disneyland, if we are there yet. Ya, I think it was a good idea to surprise him :).

First ride...the Matterhorn! It was his choice and he went on it twice with each of us. He was SO excited to be there...it was great!

Noah was so good at holding our hands and staying close to us. I was very thankful for that.

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I really can't put into words how excited he was...you can just tell by looking at him.

Oh...and Leah was excited too! She was really so good both days that we were there {except when she was tired, but that's to be expected}.

Noah looks like the macho big brother here.

Noah did take a nap while we were there, but he was woken up by the LOUD music at the Pixar parade. Boy, was he a grump for the next hour or so.

Leah enjoying the parade...she didn't know what to think of it.

Noah LOVES Toy Story, so it was no surprise that he wanted to go on the Buzz Lightyear ride. My opinion...boring ride, but the set up was really cool, so it was worth it :).

Leah was beyond thrilled when we took her out of her stroller to walk around. Here she is dancing around...she was that excited to be free from the stroller!

It was pretty hot during the day, but Doug cooled off by going through the misters. Nice.

The Carousel was definitely a favorite.

But Dumbo was THE favorite ride. We seriously went on it over and over again. They definitley need to have two Dumbo rides there...all the kids want to go on it, but it takes forever to get through that line. Noah's happiness made it worth it though, I guess ;).

DAY 2

It's a Small World is one of my favorite rides. It's just so cute!

We did not wait to see any characters on this trip, mostly because the kids didn't want to. This was the only picture that we got with Tigger in the background. It works :).

Us.

This Toy Story ride is SO much better then the other one. I think that Doug liked it more than the kids...we really are kids at heart!

This is my favorite ride! I LOVE it and I insisted that I go on it since I didn't last time that we were there. It really is the best :).

And this is Doug's favorite ride. He could go on the Screamin' rollercoaster over and over again. He loves it that much. I took this right as it was taking off...I love Doug's face.

We finished our last day by watching the Electrical Light Parade...it really is magical and Noah was amazed by it. He just sat there on Doug's shoulders and watched in awe. It was pretty dang cute.

That's it...that's our vacation. It was great to be together as a family and spend each and every day, in and out, together. I love Doug so much and I am so thankful that we were able to take this trip and have him all to ourselves. We miss him so much when he is away at work and school and this trip was well needed for ALL of us. It's nice to be together as a family and go places away from home. But it's always nice to come home and get back in the groove of things. I really will always remember this particular trip...it was wonderful! Until next time :).

Summer Vacation ~ Santa Cruz

I love the beach...love it! I almost like it more than the mountains {gasp}. I was thrilled that we were able to go the beach at Santa Cruz with the Kelly's. It was such a beautiful beach and we had such a wonderful time, despite Leah's major melt down {she was having a hard day, but we pulled through}. Noah loved playing with the sand and he informed Doug and I afterwards that the "Waves were way too scary for him." I guess that explains why he spent majority of his time playing in the sand. I'll always remember this day...it was a good one!

Noah and Leah started the day off right by tasting the sand...they didn't like it one bit.

Hannah and Georgia found some crabs on the beach. It was funny to watch them jump when it started to move around.
Leah didn't really know what to think about the whole thing. I think that fact that she was a little sick didn't make the beach adventure any better.

Noah stealing my shovel when I was attempting to make a sand castle...how dare he? Don't worry...I got him :). Good times.

Silly boy.

It was an amazing sight to see all of these birds diving in the water.

Look...he stopped to smile for me.

And so did she :).

The girls.

My precious boys. I love them to pieces.

Us.

The Kelly's.

Next up...Disneyland!!!

Summer Vacation ~ The Kelly's

We all needed a break, especially Doug since he has working full time AND going to school full time...oh did he ever need a vacation! So, Doug took a week off of work and we headed to CALIFORNIA! Yes, we really do LOVE going there, but this trip was a little different and a lot more special because we spent half of our trip with Doug's sister and her wonderful family!

I made the mistake of telling Noah the Monday before we left that we were going to see Aunt Suzi...BIG mistake. For 4 whole days, day in and day out, all I heard was"Are we going to Aunt Suzi's house now?". When the day finally came to go, he was beyond thrilled, although he had no idea how l--o--n--g of a drive it was going to be. I don't think that was prepared for all of the driving that this trip entailed. Yes, I brought a lot of toys, and books, and movies, AND treats, but the kiddos still got bored of it all. Thank goodness Noah is a good sleeper and can sleep anywhere, BUT Leah is a whole other story. That girl is so dang stubborn and only slept about one hour on the drive to Suzi's house! Oh my...it was a hard drive. BUT, we did it, and we were so happy to make it to their house. The kids crashed as soon as we got there, and the next day we had to wait for the kids to come home from school...then the fun really began.

We spent most of our time relaxing and hanging out at their house, which was fine by me. We had so much fun swimming, playing soccer, sitting in the front yard relaxing, riding bikes... And we ate TONS of food...Suzi is a fabulous cook and she made us tons of yummy homemade meals AND loads of yummy treats. Oh my...I ate so much at their house, but it was so dang good and so worth it! Leah had a bit of a cold while we were there, so she wasn't the most delightful child, but we got through it. Hannah and Georgia were so patient with her and I know that Leah really did enjoy playing with them. Noah just loved being with Sam and Patrick and being one of the guys. He still talks about them and wants to see them again soon {thank goodness for webcams!}. Not only did we play at their house, but we also went to the beach at Santa Cruz, but I will make a separate post for that and ALL of those pictures :).

I really can't put into words how wonderful of a time that we had with Suzi and her family. We love you all so much and miss you already. Thank you for having us!

Leah watching her crazy brother sing songs {I love the light in this picture}.
Noah singing...love it!
Leah loved counting and sorting the rocks of this centerpiece. Seriously, why play with toys when you can sort rocks?
Georgia and Leah...I love how little girls just LOVE being around the babies. Very cute!

I don't know what we would have done without the bottle on this trip. It was a lifesaver!

My gorgeous nieces...

Doug swimming in the pool...it was a bit too cold for me.

It was too cold for Noah too, but he had a grand ol' time playing with the hose. Go figure.

They are all so gorgeous!

Studs!

I had to throw this one in...I don't know what to say except that I couldn't stop laughing.

Georgia getting ready to go on a bike ride.

Noah and Luke...he was beyond thrilled when he saw that the Kelly Klan had a DOG! Noah was sure to give Luke lots of attention while we were there.

Noah loved playing soccer with everyone. Let me just say...Georgia is AMAZING when it comes to kicking the ball around. I wouldn't want to go up against her in a game...she's pretty dang good!
This is my attempt at getting a picture of the kids...ya...this is the best one. It has a lot of character :).

Next up...Santa Cruz.