Nana and Papa's

While I was in San Diego, Bryan and the kids spent time with Nana and Papa. Here they are enjoying a night at the golf club.

It is a good night when you can get Taylor to stay in a high chair for a few minutes =)

Opening doors at Nana and Papa's.

I think Dylan has found a new passion, FISHING! He loves it! Papa finally has someone in the family who shares his love of the sport!

I don't know how he managed to get cake at the fishing hole, but he always finds a way to get sweets.

Look at my big fish!

They caught quite a few fish that day and Dylan was really excited to tell me about how they hit the fish over the head to kill them. They even let Dylan hit them, which there is a video of, but I didn't think that way blog appropriate =) I was a little shocked, but I guess he is just learning about the cycle of life.

Papa relaxing with the kiddos.

A trip to Nana and Papa's wouldn't be complete without a trip to the zoo.

There was a "poop" exhibit at the zoo and they kids has fun playing with poop!

Weekend in Roche Harbor

This past weekend my parents took me and the kids to Roche Harbor. We have never been there before and it was a fun weekend away. We left Thursday and we got to the ferry over an hour early, but the ferry way already full. We headed back to town to grab some food and then we came back to get in line for the next ferry. In the picture above, Taylor is hanging out waiting for the ferry.

The kids LOVED the ferry ride. Taylor couldn't get enough of the wind and just would stand outside and giggle.

Taylor enjoying the breeze.

Over the weekend we drove around the island a lot to see the sights. Grandpa took the kids down to the docks to explore the boats. Here they are hanging out with the whale fin statue.

Grandpa treated them to a yummy donut for breakfast!

The poor kids weren't too comfortable in their vests.

This is the view from the condo at Roche Harbor. So pretty!

This is Mona the camel. Dylan was the photographer and he got some great pictures. It was a fun weekend of adventures, shopping and relaxing. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Mother's Day Tea

Today, I had the most wonderful day with my sweet little boy! His preschool puts on a Mother's Day tea every year and it was so special! When I arrived Dylan greeted me at the door and took me to our seat. He was so excited to have me there and he was being very snuggily and I got more kisses that day then he has given me in his whole life.

He had some wonderful crafts for me. He painted a pot and put beautiful flowers in it, made me a heart pin and put together a few other special crafts. My favorite was place mat where he answered questions about me. He said that I was 52 years old, my favorite food is watermelon (correct!), my favorite shows are cooking shows, my favorite color is pink, the thing I like to do the most is sit outside and eat in the nice warm sun (that does sound very nice) and he said that what he loves about me is that I sleep with sometimes...during the day (I don't remember the last time I napped with him, but obviously it was special). It was the most heartwarming things I've ever read and I LOVED it!

Me and my cutie enjoying our treats.

Next we went upstairs and the kids put on a performance for us. They danced and sung songs.

They also played the xylophone for us. At the end we got on stage and danced with them. I had a huge grin on my face the entire day and it was so fun to have some special time with my little man. I am so fortunate to be raising such an amazing young man and I love him so much!!!! Best Mother's Day ever!

Easter 2011

We had a busy and fun Easter week and weekend. Our first event of the week was visiting the Easter bunny. My parents met me there to see the kids with the bunny. Taylor was okay until Grandpa set her in the bunny's lap and then she started crying.

The photographer was able to get her to calm down and we got a pretty cute picture of the two of them. (This isn't the actual picture, but it gives you an idea of how it turned out)

Taylor loves spending time with Grandpa!

The next item on the agenda was dying eggs. Dylan dyed the eggs while Taylor was napping and he had a lot of fun dipping the eggs in multiple colors =)

He worked hard!

On Friday night, we participated in the underwater egg hunt at the Issaquah pool. I wasn't sure what to expect and it ended up being really crowded. Since Grandpa and Dylan spend so much time at pool together we thought it was fitting for Grandpa to do this with Dylan.

They spent lots of time collecting eggs around the pool.

Look at all my eggs!

On Saturday morning we went with the Goldberg's to their Church's pancake breakfast and egg hunt.

Taylor loves Payten and they had fun running around. This is how Taylor gives hugs, she leans her head in on people's chests. (The other way she gives hugs is getting them in a head lock and pulling them to the ground)

First, Taylor did the egg hunt with the smaller kids.

Next up was Dylan. He was off and running and found a ton of eggs. He was hoping they were all filled was animals, but he was okay with candy =)

Dylan and Grandma went back and found lots of eggs in the bushes.

Grandma and Grandpa's Easter basket for Dylan. He was SO excited!!

On Easter we went to the Kemppainen's house. Taylor loved chasing Vinnie around the yard.

The poor cat was definitely sick of being chased by the end of the day.

Aunt Lana bought Dylan and Taylor a special Easter dessert. These kids are definitely spoiled!

Taylor loved the treat! I used to eat off these plates when I was little. It makes me think of how fast time goes by. I am just trying to enjoy every moment.

Dylan's First Movie in a Theater

There couldn't have been a more perfect movie to take Dylan to for his first experience at a theater. When I saw the advertisement for African Cats, I knew I had to take Dylan to see it. "Big cats" are his favorite type of animal right now and he is obsessed! He had to earn this movie because we have been having a little problem with the language he is using (he loves to say stupid and shut-up when he gets mad and I was getting sick and tired of it. Luckily he would never say the words to me, but he would just yell them if he was mad). In order to see the movie he had to have 5 days without saying those words. He got a sticker for each day he made good choices with his language. To my surprise, he got all 5 stickers in 6 days and he still isn't using the words. Hopefully this means we've turned a corner =).

When we arrived at the theater Dylan was excited to get to our seat. He looked so small in the seat. His little legs seemed like they barely kept the chair from folding back up. We had a few teenage girls near us and Dylan was enamoured with them. He would laugh when they laughed (even if it was at a totally inappropriate time, like when they would show the male lion's balls). He would look at me and say, "I'm laughing mom". One time he burped really loud and it made everyone around us laugh. He said, "my body needs to do that some times". It was cute. He wasn't great at using an inside voice and he didn't understand why we had to be quiet. He was great at eating all the treats. I was cheap and brought popcorn and candy from home. I let him eat whatever he wanted and he ate an entire package of Red Vines expect for 2 pieces I ate. I should have monitored that a little better, but I didn't notice it until they were gone. Overall, it was a great experience and a fun date night for us!

We got EGGED!!!!

Dylan was SO excited when our house got egged. Here are a few highlights.

You've been EGGED!!!!

I saw this really cute activity on a blog the other day and I thought Dylan would really enjoy it. You take an egg carton and you fill it with plastic eggs that you've filled with fun thing things (we used candy, money and stickers). Dylan enjoying filling the eggs because he could test out all the candy while he was filling them =).

Then you print off these instruction sheets and roll them up.

We decided to "egg" two friends.

Next, we went into their yards and hid the eggs. We had to wait a few days in between filling the eggs and actually "egging" the houses because it has been raining so much. Dylan had a hard time waiting and everyday he would ask me if we could go "egging".

Then we set the empty carton on their doorstep with the notes and we rang the door bell and ran away. Dylan decided to ride his scooter and some how he fell off after our first getaway. His lip was bleeding and he leg was bleeding, but he was tough and we went on to "egg" the next house.

Here is Taylor in the getaway wagon. She was great at being sneaky! I think this is a new tradition we will do every year.