Do you want to go to gymnastics?

That was all I had to say all morning to keep Brielle in line! She wanted to go so bad she was good all morning with the single phrase, "do you want to go to gymnastics?" (I am not above bribing my kids to remind them that there is a well behaved child somewhere iside them! It will eventually be a habit to be good right?)

Thanks so some good friends of ours, we found a local gymnastics gym that does a lunch bunch and the kids get to play for 2 hours, for only 5 bucks! It was so much fun we will definitely be going often. The kids had a blast, and they both wore themselves out thoroughly. I love watching my kids have fun!

Popsicles

The kids had been asking to have popsicles for a few days, and today was just the day for it! It was warm and beautiful and we had lunch and popsicles outside. We are grateful for the beautiful spring here, even if it is VERY short lived!

What better to do on a windy day...

than go fly a kite!

Brian came home from work with a Batman kite to take to the park. Kaid loved flying the kite with dad! We had a great time. Thanks Dad!

Goodmorning!

When the day begins like this, it generally turns out to be a great one!

San Diego!!

When Uncle Chris offered the kids and I a ride to San Diego for a visit, I could not pass up the offer. Brian had to work, so it was just me and the kids. We stayed Sunday through Thursday, and had a great time! The weather was perfect, well at least for me. Coming from 110+, to only seeing 80 degrees once all week was divine!! I even had to keep borrowing sweaters from Brian's mom because I didn't think to pack one for myself! We spent Sunday relaxing and planning our week. On Monday we were up first thing and headed out to the zoo. I grew up going to the San Diego Zoo, so going back as n adult was a lot of fun! The kids had the best time seeing all the animals and riding the Skyfari and the bus. We had a great time, in just perfect zoo weather!

Can you see the snake Brielle is pointing to? It was putting on a show for us!

Kaid upside down being a monkey!

Watch out for the ferocious monkeys!

Brielle would not take her picture with the Koala unless I would hold her. Just like her mom! I still don't really like things in suits, it just creeps me out!

Kaid's friend the polar bear.

Nana and Kaid on the Skyfari.

Brielle and mom on the Skyfari.

Yes, Brielle is dangling from the bar! She could barely grip her little fingers over the top of the bar, but she got enough grip to lift up and swing back and forth. I think she was swinging higher than Kaid!

On the bus ride.

San Diego Day of Fun #2

On day two we planned to visit the aquarium and ride the ferry from Coronado to San Diego. We got up and out the door so we wouldn't miss the 10:30 shark feeding at the aquarium. The Scripps Aquarium is right on the side of cliff in La Jolla, and it was awesome! The weather was a bit chilly, but you won't hear me complaining about that! (I didn't even bring a jacket to I had to keep borrowing Brian's mom's Jackets!) We got to see all kinds of amazing sea horses, sharks, fish, jelly fish, some creepy eels, and all kinds of things I am forgetting. They even have some little tide pools outside that you can see creatures up close and personal. They even let you touch them!

After the aquarium and lunch, we had plans to ride the ferry, but Brielle had gotten so grumpy , that when she fell asleep in the car we decided to take her home. After naps we ended the day at the park! We love San Diego!

Getting ready to head out the door. This is the best picture I could get. Whenever I tr to take a picture of the two of them together, one of them is not looking. (sigh) One of these days I'll get a good picture of both of them!
Brielle is such a cheeser! Whenever I can actually get her to look at the camera, she does the cutes little cheese smile!

Nana and the kids in front of the giant whales.

You've got to be careful or you could get eaten by a shark!

Checking out the Nemo fish!

Kaid enjoyed playing with the sea animal puppets. He is really into imaginative play right now. I love it!

Brielle loved the big tank that they had. She sat with her nose pressed u to the tank saying, "look mommy, fish!" every time one swam by.

Kaid loved the tide pools. He had a great time seeing sea creatures and getting to touch them.

Brielle reaching in to touch the starfish. Her arm was too short, so one of the ladies picked it up so she could touch it. When she actually got her fingers on it, she wasn't so sure she liked it! It was really cute.

Taking one last look out at the ocean. The view was beautiful! We really had a great time at the aquarium!

San Diego Day of Fun #3

On Wednesday we decided that we would ditch any schedule, and play everything by ear. Oh and did I mention that the weather was to die for? We slept a little longer, stayed in PJ's have the day and had a ton of fun! While still in our PJ's we played with bubble's, were superhero's, and played baseball, all in the front yard while neighbors were probably thinking we were crazy! After we were all dressed and ready for the day (because for some reason everyone is under the impression that being dressed somehow makes you all ready for the day. What's wrong with PJ's all day? :)) My sister in law and her kids came over. Kaid and Brielle love playing with Jack and Charly, and so were instantly excited to be with them. They played happily at the house until we shuttled them to the park for a few hours, and then back to Nana's for some swimming. I am always surprised that little kids can swim in freezing cold pools so happily! A big thank you to Uncle Adam for taking them swimming!! We finally had to say enough was enough when they were convulsing with shivers and lips were blue! It just makes me happy to sit back and watch my kids have fun, and they were having TONS of it with their cousins!

After all the fun, it was naps for the kids, and painting pottery for the girls. Brian's mom, Dan's girlfriend Heather and I headed to a pottery shop to paint. It was surprisingly relaxing, and I really enjoyed myself! After pottery we stuffed ourselves at PF Chang's, so good, and headed home.

What a great day to end the vacation!

Nana with the kids having a picnic at the park. We love you Nana!

Brielle LOVES the slide! She must have gone down 30 times. That's a lot when you have to climb back up every time!

Kaid on the lookout. Protecting the slide with his Lego gun! Thanks Uncle Adam for building and fixing so many Lego guns this week!

Loving the swing! And don't worry, he still hasn't let go of the Lego gun!

Brielle sat in the swing saying "throw me out" (I finally figured out she had forgotten the word "push" so she was just describing what she wanted to have happen!) for almost 40 minutes!

Decided

Ok...so I am the #1 slacker of all slackers when it comes to blogging. I have so many wonderful things to blog about, but got very behind. I don't want to miss blogging some of the important things that have passed, like Kaid's 4th birthday and moving to a new house, so I keep putting off new posts hoping to catch up. But, it just keeps piling up and nothing gets posted. I don't even know if anyone even reads my silly little blog anymore! But if you do, I have decided. Decided that I will start new today. No more hoping that I will catch up. I will still be back posting, but only when I have extra time. So if you are interested you may want to look back. Occasionally there will be a new "old" post.

Breakfast with Santa

This year our ward had Breakfast with Santa. Kaid was super excited to get to see Santa so that he could ask for a Buzz Lightyear for Christmas. (This was his one and only chance, seeing as how I do not believe in waiting in line to see Santa at the Mall. Does that make me a bad mom? Maybe I'll work on that for next year...) Brielle had no idea who or what Santa was. I was anxious to see how she would react.

Standing in line, she kept looking at Santa and Mrs Claus, and then back at me, then gripping my shirt a little tighter each time. I could tell she was not going to enjoy this.
Nope, no enjoyment whatsoever! But I really wanted a picture so I tried to make her. Bad idea! Can you see how red she is? She was so scared of Santa!

But I did get a good picture of Kaid. He did chat with Santa for a minute and then ask him for Buzz Lightyear. Then to his great delight he even got a candy cane!

Here's to hoping she likes Santa a little more next year!

This Girl Loves Sauce!

She is most definitely my daughter. This girl won't eat things without something to dip them in, and she doesn't just dip, she scoops. She gets that from me and I get that from my dad. It's like the food is just a conduit to get the sauce into my mouth. It appears Brielle feels the same way! Just look how cute that girl is!

Here and There

Throughout the beginning of December I took the opportunity to take some random pictures of the kids and the family. I wanted to be able to have enough to choose from for my holiday cards. I did not know it would be so hard to get everyone to cooperate! Brielle has been in a camera funk lately. When I get the camera out she hides, cries, gives the dirtiest looks ever, or just plain ignores me. It's driving me crazy! Anyhow, I wanted to put a few of the good ones, or the ones I laughed at here. I love my family!

Brielle was trying really hard to get away from Kaid, who was listening to me and holding her there as tightly as he could!

This was the best I could get with them this day. We took like 10 pictures of this particular pose, and this was the best one. (big sigh!)

Look at my beautiful girl! This was the best smile she had willingly given in weeks.

The two most handsome guys around!

In spite of Brielle's sour face, this one turned out pretty good.

Not bad...

Ok...what is Kaid doing? By this time he was bored out of his mind! His fake smile glued to his face with his finger in his ear! And Brielle...