Whoa that's a long time!!

This Monday we celebrated our 8th anniversary!! Wow! I can't believe I have been married for 8 years!!! It has been an awesome and adventurous 8 years, full of lots of fun and lots of laughs!! We were spoiled this year, we got to take a trip to Chicago without the kids (thank you Steph!!!) and best of all, it was free!!! We had such a great time meeting with possible future co-workers and attending fancy dinners. We even went to a Bull's game (don't worry, we didn't actually cheer for them :)) We went shopping on the "Magnificent Mile", well I don't know if you can call it shopping if you don't spend money, but we had fun anyway!! We stayed in the Hard Rock Hotel which was so cool, we were on the "Prince" floor and had an awesome view!! I love that city!! So I just want to let my "hunny" know how happy and madly in love I continue to be after all these years, here's to a million more!!

Bad hair day...!

Araleigh woke up from her nap today with quite the 'do, so I had to take a picture. It's one of those that she'll hate me for later, but it's too funny not to share!

The Zoo in November?

The boys had Wednesday before thanksgiving off and since it was a pleasant 68 degrees, we decided to take advantage and go to the zoo! I've been wanting to take Araleigh for a while since she's all excited about animals now. It was a great way to get the kids out of the house so they wouldn't make me crazy, not that they ever do... It was great weather, until it started raining, but it was a warm rain so it wasn't that bad. Araleigh likes the rain, she sticks her little hand out to feel it and says "ane?" Pretty cute:) So, I think the Columbus zoo is a pretty good one, but in the off-season it wasn't quite as great as usual. We still had a great time with the animals that we could find, though. The zoo is full of these life-size statues everywhere, and the boys loved posing with such animals as a manatee, a shark, a komodo dragon, an eagle ray, an ape, and others that I can't remember. This shark kinda looks real, especially with the rain water underneath it, huh? Creepy...

Probably my favorite animal was this hilarious penguin that followed Trae and tried to eat his finger through the glass. It followed him around for a good 5 minutes, it was really funny. I guess it was hungry! Araleigh loved watching them swim around. She can't quite say "penguin" yet, but we're working on it.So I guess in the zoo's efforts to keep people coming in the off-season, they have Christmas lights everywhere when it gets dark. You can't see any animals, but hey the lights are pretty. They did a pretty good job with it, and the kids really liked it. Araleigh said "oooooo-ooooo!" a lot, so I guess she enjoyed the lights, too!So that's our Thanksgiving zoo experience, I'm glad we got out while it was still warm, I don't think that weather will be back this year. And the sun has officially gone into hiding as it always does in the mid-west, we will see it again in March or April... Anyway, happy turkey day!!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

That chant has been ringing through the halls of our apartment for about a week now... Hopefully it doesn't get in your head or anything! Well the kids sure had a fun time trick-or-treating, we have so much stinkin' candy here that I'm going to have to step up my workouts to twice a day...well worth it. What a blast! Halloween is such a fun holiday, so much energy and excitement, definitely one of the best times of the year! We met up with some friends from church to go trick-or-treat in their neighborhood since our apartment has very few kids. I could barely keep track of the boys, they had to sprint from house to house, as if the candy would disappear if they only walked! They had to stop and wait for us every couple of houses anyway, but oh well, they enjoyed it!! Toward the end of the night their bags were so full and Jax begged me to carry his for him, but Trae was a trooper. I kept telling them that if it was too heavy, we must be done. That kept them going a few more houses!Araleigh certainly enjoys sugar, no idea where she gets that... she couldn't wait to eat it so she actually bit through the wrapper. I had to take her bucket out of her reach after that or she would have eaten it all. But she was such a cute kitty, don't you think?? She had fun, feeding off the excitement of her brothers as usual! And giving us a cute "me-ow" each time we said kitty. So when we got home the kids were pretty excited to survey their hard-earned treats, it was so difficult to choose only one that they could eat, but after much deliberation and careful examination, they were able to choose. Then, of course, came the train...It is tradition for my boys to dump out their candy and make a "train" all along the floor. Each year it gets bigger and more intricate, see two years ago:

And this year:

It's a little more like a maze this year. This isn't even the whole thing, the camera couldn't fit it all in one shot... They sure have fun doing this each year, I wonder how long they'll keep it up???

It's Spooky over here...

Just wanted to quickly share a preview of our Halloween costumes! The boys decided that they wanted to be scary this year, opting for a vampire and skeleton. Yes, you can probably tell that Jax's is home-made, no, I am not super-mom, just handy with felt and tacky glue... Araleigh is a cute pink kitty, not so scary, I know. She loves to wear this costume while looking at herself exclaiming "kitty!!". They are anxiously awaiting trick-or-treating on Wed. night, hopefully we don't scare away the candy providers...

Pumpkin Patch!!

Last weekend we were able to attend a pumpkin patch with some friends from the Partner's Club at OSU! The kids had such a great time! The boys had fun getting lost in the corn maze and trying to find eachother, and then leading us around as if they had some idea where they were going... we were in there for a while!

They had a petting zoo, with a few bunnies, goats, and chickens. This was by far Araleigh's highlight! She loves animals! It is so funny to watch her get so excited when she sees small things moving around!

There was also a small "scarecrow maze" for the kids that the boys were able to navigate a little more easily. It had tunnels and bridges and it was a lot of fun to watch them go through it.

We finished up the evening by picking out our pumpkins, and then went on a hayride back to our cars! We are planning on carving them tonight with "uncle" Ryan, I will be sure to post the new pictures, hopefully sooner than usual...!

New earrings!!!

I pierced Araleigh's ears!! Well, okay, I didn't do it, the doctor's office did, but anyway, doesn't she look adorable?? I am really excited, I have been wanting to do this for such a long time! She has been just fine, they don't seem to bother her at all, so I am really glad I did it!

So I know it has been almost a month since my last post (as I keep being reminded) and I apologize! I don't have a whole lot of computer time now that I can only use the computer that's in Araleigh's room and when she's awake she is not exactly cooperative... as I am typing right now she is emptying the cabinet next to me...oh the price I pay to keep you people updated!!! She is getting more mischievous by the minute, I swear. Oh, here's a fun memory: Araleigh emptying the wipes. She seems to like to empty things... It's a good thing she's cute, I tell ya what! She is picking up on more words and getting more attitude, so that's fun. She is really good at telling me NO! In a loud, authoritative voice. I don't know where she gets it. Well she is getting mad at me now, I guess I had better turn this blasted thing off before she does it for me!

Where's Araleigh...?

I turn my back for one second.... well I guess she's not such a perfect child after all...!! I realize that I haven't really given any updates on my adorable girl lately, so I had better add some stuff about her! She is sooooo busy!!! I can't believe she is the same baby who used to be so happy lying on her back and playing for HOURS... now she can not sit still for 2 seconds! She is up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs, in the cupboards, taking the magnets off the refrigerator, emptying off the shelves, splashing in the toilet (uuugghhhh!!!), climbing on the furniture, and, well you know what I mean! She is so much fun! I love watching her explore and figure things out! She has recently acquired more teeth, a little easier this time thank goodness! She has a couple of words, although I don't know if anyone would understand them besides me! She says "more", "juice" ("joo"), "food" ("oofd"), "mom" ("mam" - like she was born in Chicago or something!), "dad", "Traeden" ("day-duh"), "Jaxon" ("jah-uh"), and when she's stinky she waves her little arm and says "pew". It's really cute. She gets REALLY excited when she's getting food, the girl loves to eat! She will squeal and shout and wave her arms in the air and bounce up and down for a simple grape. Yeah, she's pretty easy to please. She also has finally figured out what to do with baby dolls (oh there's another word - "buh-buh") and she loves to give them hugs as she says ahhhhh. She doesn't leave out her stuffed animals, they get plenty of love too! She loves to look at books and pretend to read them, especially cool books that do stuff!She also loves a thrill, especially when dad throws her up in the air or if we "drop" her in our arms! Sometimes she will pretend she's falling and say "ahhhhhhh!", just for fun. It's pretty funny to see her leaning sideways, squealing, with that look that says "look what I'm doing....!". She is really funny, she has such a sense of humor! She always knows what to do to make us laugh. She is super ticklish and loves to be tickled, although it is not easy to get an actual laugh out of her. Well I could go on about her all night, and I'm sure you can all relate to the statement "this doesn't even touch how cute and fun she is! I wish you could all just spend the day with her like I do to see what I'm talking about!" But she is such a joy, I am so incredibly blessed to have her!! Oh, and also, GO BUCKEYES!!!

1st Day of School!!

Yes, I realize that I am a week and a half late, but here are the boys on their first days of school! They have had so much fun! Jaxon is really excited about kindergarten! He loves having his own back-pack and lunchbox, he thinks he is so grown up! It's fun to see them jump off the bus each day, excited to tell me that they had a great day at school (although when I ask them what their favorite thing was, all they say is "I can't remember"...) I have loved the time to myself too - I forgot how easy it is to have only one kid all day! (Sorry all you moms with only one, one kid is really a breeze...hope that doesn't stop you from having more!) I get so much done and it STAYS DONE! I just have to block off the stairs and the cupboards and Araleigh is free to roam while I clean up. Of course, we get plenty of play time in, like I could resist a happy little baby tugging on my leg! And then when the boys get home, they are happy to play together and don't fight quite as much, so that's nice, too! It's great to see them having fun, and I love how eager they are to learn! Yay for school!

FINALLY!

Well Traeden finally joined the 99% of kids his age who have lost a tooth! It's about time!! He has had a really loose one for about 2 weeks, and we finally convinced him to let us yank it out. So, about 2 hours and 1 package of dental floss later... He was pretty excited to put it under his pillow, and the tooth fairy suprised him with 4 shiny quarters!! Man, that's way more than the tooth fairy ever gave me... anyway, it's an exciting time for Trae, now Jax is wishing he had a loose tooth. I told him to give it a couple of years, knowing our genes.

We're Baa-aack...!

Well we have returned to Columbus for another school year, here we go! It is good to be back, although I think we are really going to miss Michigan! It was such a wonderful place! I think we made the most of our summer, and who knows, we could be returning there... I guess we'll see when the time comes! Anyway, we got back a week ago and then headed out to Florida for a quick trip with the Smiths!! We had a great week in Florida! It was a lot of fun, we stayed in a condo, a really nice condo, right on the beach and basically we did nothing but swim and boogie-board for 3 days. It was great! Traeden has become a pro boogie-boarder, he was riding the waves with the best of 'em! Jax rode with me a couple of times, but the large waves made him nervous. He preferred playing in the sand and collecting seashells and sand-dollars! They also had a great time burying dad in the sand, and then once they saw how fun it looked they had to be burried also! Araleigh loved the sand, luckily we were able to keep her from eating too much of it, and she really loved the water! She had a fun time splashing us in the waves and crying "woooo-ooooo" as we would go up with them, it was pretty funny!

And as if the gorgeous beach wasn't enough, we had a huge pool to play in when we got sick of swallowing salt water. The boys had such a blast jumping in and diving for toys. They have become really good swimmers, although I don't credit the swimming lessons that I paid way too much for... They also had to do more dangerous jumps, such as jumping over dad's head...So we had a really great time, it was so good to have a family vacation before we start this busy year!

Only 2 more weeks...

Well we are almost done with our summer hiatus, so we are determined to make the most of our last days...! The boys participated in the summer reading program at the library and they had a big pizza party for all the kids who finished. The local firefighters and police officers brought their fire engine and police cruiser for the kids to explore. They had such a fun time pretending to drive the fire engine, pushing on the air brakes was cool because it made a loud noise! And you know my boys are all about noise! Plus it scared all the moms because they thought the truck was going to start moving...that was cool! They liked "driving" the police car and flashing around the spotlight, especially in mom's eyes... The police officer showed them his hand cuffs and taser gun, it was pretty cool to see how those worked.

Then they got to check out the front-loader, and pretend they were dirt, so that was fun, too.

After that we had to go get ice cream cones, because it was HOT! Yeah, it actually got hot here for a few days. And humid. That's fun. So there is a ton going on this weekend, I will keep up the posting!!

Snowbird

I just wanted to share some fun pictures of the second-to-last day of our Utah trip where we went up the canyon to Snowbird to enjoy a day of fun and thrills! The boys had a great time on the bungee trampoline and the large inflatable park, then we hopped over to the alpine slide! We had a great time racing each other down the mountain! I think it was against the rules, but I even took Araleigh on it! She totally hated it!!! The boys had so much fun! Then Traeden decided to be brave and test his cowboy skills on the mechanical bull!!! He will boast about how cool he is because he didn't fall off, but the reality is that it started storming and as soon as we heard thunder everything shut down, something about being under a large metal tent frame??? I don't know... so the rains came down for like the first time in Utah in over a month, ruining our perfect day, go figure. But we still had a great time, followed by some great ice cream, and some great family time!!! Don't ya dig the "tough guy" bandana? Thanks uncle Danny...!

Our vacation continues...

Well we are still having such a great time here in Salt Lake with the families!! We have been all over the valley, from East Canyon to Delta!! East canyon was a lot of fun, unfortunately I was having too much fun to stop and take pictures...sorry! We had fun on the jet skis and the boat, Uncle Scott even let Traeden drive the boat!! Now that was scary! But Traeden apparently was feeling pretty confident in his driving skills, so he convinced Danny to let him drive his scooter. He's so spoiled, I didn't drive anything until I was 14!

On the 24th we celebrated the wonderful settlement of this great desert with a trip up lamb's canyon (again, forgot to take pictures) at the Smith's cabin where the kids got to ride on the giant swing and collect fun sticks. We later had a family party and were able to spend time with all the cousins on my mom's side. Grandpa pulled out the slip n slide and the kids had such a blast zooming down the hill!Then this weekend we went down to Delta and the boys had such a great time playing in the water and swimming around with their cousins! We got in some great wake boarding, the lake was perfect, pure glass!!! And it was so warm! Man, I have missed the water!

And unfortunately I didn't get a picture (I know, big surprise) but there was a duck that was so hilarious, he had to just swim around in front of our cabin and quack at us ALL DAY LONG!! It was the funniest thing! He just wanted to be part of the family, I guess! But it helped Araleigh perfect her duck imitation - she is a very accurate quacker now! It was really funny! We are really having a great trip, it has been so good to see all our Utah friends and families!! More later....!

We found the heat!!

Well here we are in the scorching dessert, aka the Salt Lake Valley, it feels so good to be hot!! I know, I'm crazy, but 70 degrees in the middle of July just isn't warm enough for me! Out here it is breaking 100 daily! Now that's what I'm talking about! The kids are doing their best to stay cool, they went "swimming" in Grandma's hot tub (not heated) and had such a blast! They even put bubble bath in it just for fun!

We also had a second b-day party for Araleigh so that the fam could join in the festivities! She of course got way too many presents, and she had a great time! This time she got a chocolate cake and she enjoyed it just as much, maybe not as fast...I think she wanted to savor it a little more! We have been having such a great time here, now we're heading up to East Canyon for more playing! More to post soon!!