Easter Sunday: Day 5 (Last day)

Well, this is the final day post of our vacation. On our way home we stayed in Albuquerque at a Casino called Route 66, it was really nice, and the kids really liked staring at all the bright lights. I am sure they were REALLY freaked out when we woke them up at 12:30 am to take them inside this flashy place, and someone took our car away (free valet). But they took it in stride and fell right asleep once we had the pack-in-plays set up. Kendall went downstairs to lose some money, and then i proceeded to do that in the morning before we left....awww fun.Aidan and Layla tearing apart the real nice basket of goodies they got. Really cool, they loved it. I am still slowly feeding them their Easter candy, keeping it to a minimum daily, lucky for me they can't really beg for it unless they see it...tend to forget.
Emily and Ashyln posing for the camera with a few of the Easter basket goodies! They are such silly little girls, i am real glad the kids got to know them better. I always wished i could've know my cousins more, but they were always so far away!
Layla pulling out an egg from the lawn chair, she really took the to the Easter egg hunting, she knew to pick up the eggs and place them in the basket she was carrying around oh so proudly! Aidan on the other hand....
He figured out how to drop the plasic eggs on the cement to break them open, then he would sit there and pick up the jelly beans one by one to eat them. When he found a hard boiled egg, he would shake it, drop it, nothing would happen so he would move on to the next egg. What a silly boy! He wouldn't carry a basket either, didn't need to since he was eating as he went!
He did enjoy finding the eggs though, with a little coaxing on my part of where to look, such as under the patio furniture.

Here is Layla admiring her basket full of eggs (i would put Aidan's eggs in there too, the ones he didn't break immediately). She was pretty good at carrying that basket, at one point she was carrying two baskets around the house proudly. They looove jelly beans, so i give them those periodically to encourage their good behavior, if they are being very nice. Otherwise they just don't get any candy at all.

The trip was fun, i am so thankful we were able to go, make it, have a great time and we all made it back in one piece (minus Layla's first scrapped knees!). It was a wonderful first vacation, and i am sure the kids enjoyed themselves too, but the relief they had when they were home i am sure was nice too. They took looong naps and slept in an extra hour on Tuesday morning after we got back late Monday...so now lets see, it is snowing about 4 inches on the ground already, i think now is the time they may really miss the warmth!

A Day at the Zoo: Day 4

The kids got to go to yet another petting zoo, this one depressed me a little bit, because most the goats seemed tranquilized or drugged up because they just laid there so the kids could pet them. Sad. Aidan here is trying to show Layla how to pet the goats, however, she was more interested in this rejected goat that was off in its own little corner. The only thing was this goat did not want anything to do with Layla, he kept walking away from her when she approached him, and he would proceed to go chew on a metal broom...little odd. Leave it to Layla to find the outcast goat to chase around.
Can you find the tiger in this picture? :) Since this zoo takes in rescued animals, many of the big cats are not allowed to be out together. They pick and choose which one will be out in the exhibit alone since they tend to fight otherwise. It was nice to be able to support a zoo that actually reaches out to help rescued animals that will not be able to go to any other zoo since they do not get along well with others.
I just like this picture because the one Rhino raised his head to look straight at me, the funny thing about this zoo however is they had a raccoon habitat...those dang things get into our garbage here in town...hehe, i guess they aren't everywhere!
Taking a break with crackers and water. The kids were annoyed they had to be in the cart most the time, but when we gave them the chance to walk around they refused to hold our hands and tried to run off, so this is how it had to be till they learn.
My Aunt Kay is who brought us to the zoo, before we went to the zoo we met her at an Irish pub restaurant, Rula Bula, it was pretty good, and a neat atmosphere. It was really nice to be able to visit some of my family, since most live so far away, plus it is the first extended family that Layla, Aidan, and Kendall have met on my side. So that meant a lot to me too. We had a good time, and afterwards drove to where my cousin Doug works to say a quick hello. Here she is showing Layla the turkeys.

Well, here is a family picture from the trip! :) I told Kendall i wanted a picture in front of a cactus and well he finally gave in when we found one at the zoo. The kids of course are not looking at the camera as usual when we are all together, but hey, we are all together. What a nice looking family :)
Again, here is Layla, Aidan, and I with my Aunt Kay. I am glad we got some pictures together. She will be headed up to this area in May, where my cousin is Graduating. I hope i can make it too, but just will have to see what comes up.
Aidan looking serious as he sits on the lion on his first carousal ride. He was unsure of it at first since #1 he was very tired and hot, and #2 it took about 5 minutes before they even started it, and my kids are not the most patient. But once it started going, they both didn't want to get off when we had to, Layla clung to her Giraffe saying "noooo" in that scratchy, winy tone. I guess we will have to find a nearby carousal for them!
Layla giving a nice wave to my Aunt Kay as she rides by on her Giraffe. She absolutely loved it, she kept on petting the giraffe softly on the neck, i wonder if she thought it was alive like the ones we had just seen?
After a long day at the zoo, the kids came home to play with their cousins before going to bed. Here they are with the doll house that their Aunt Nichole gave to them, that used to be Ashlyn and Emily's...they LOVe it. Emily is showing them the house.

Arizona Day 3

The night before i had promised the girls that i would play Barbie's with them, i didn't mind, i use to always play Barbie growing up when i was inside...of course i never let any of my guy friends know since i was a pretty big Tom boy. Karen and i had just as many Barbie things as Ashlyn and Emily, crazy how a doll can still be so popular, along with those Bratz dolls now? Anyway we had a lot of fun, my "playing" consisted of dressing the many naked Barbies that were just thrown in their Barbie tub...yes it does bother me now i guess? You can see Layla is playing with us girls too, Aidan was for a bit, but by the looks of this picture he is throwing his hands up in the air as to say "what is so cool about a bunch of dolls???"
Ashlyn must have changed her mind about me not being cool as Layla, because today she dressed like me as close as she could! Emily wanted to wear a jean skirt too, so here are the "triplets" posing together for a picture...aren't we just darling? :)
Many people do not know but Kendall isn't actually a complete Nebrasken (Thankgoodness...JK!) He was actually born in Chandler AZ and lived there for the first few years of his life, maybe this is why he loves the heat so much? Who knows, but we were able to drive over and get a picture of Kendall's first house, pretty neat. He doesn't remember it too much but it is still special to have a picture, and to know it is still there! My first house my parents still live in, so i really don't have to worry about that yet, although this house we are renting right now will always be special since Layla and Aidan lived here their first 2 years, however, i imagine in the next 5 years the University will have bought all the houses near here and bulldozed them to use the land for their own use. I have made sure to take a picture to show them when they are older in case anything does happen, and just to have. Yea i am a nerd like that.
After we visited the house and ate lunch at a pretty good Mexican food restaurant, we headed to a nearby farm with a petting zoo. The train wasn't running at this time so that was a little disappointing, but the kids didn't even know, they had a blast petting the animals (looking at them in Layla's case) . Aidan ran right up to the goats and stuck his fingers through the fence, they just nibbled, luckily they are use to hundreds of people sticking their hands through and do not bite. I guess it IS a petting zoo, biting animals wouldn't be a plus. Kendall and i snickered how we went to 2 petting zoo's for the kids, and it is all animals that we see almost on a daily bases here, drive to west of town and people actually have these animals in their yards. :) The kids still loved it, Layla got to see a little sad looking Donkey, so i tried to explain that is what Eeyore looks like if he was a real animal.
This was pretty neat, it was the loading shoot for the goats, but at the end of it there was a slide, that took you right into the pen with the goats so you could really interact with them. Of course Layla and Aidan weren't allowed in with these goats since they were pretty active, but Layla did enjoy dragging her daddy to the top of the slide to look down and point at the goats below.
Future train Engineers in the making? The kids loved this little wooden train that was pretty long. They would crawl in and out, or ring the bell on the front over and over. There were some peacocks straight in front of it so when the kids would fuss or be cranky (it was pretty hot and it had been a long day) the male got protective and flung out his beautiful feathers...i guess kids crying do make pretty things now and then!
Here is my second Engineer, hehe. Very cute, she really enjoyed the train, but i decided it was time to go when she fell underneath the train and got her leg stuck...how i do not know, because it was a whole lot harder getting her OUT then how easy her leg slid underneath. Our kids are pretty predictable when they are tired, besides fussiness, they often cannot walk, run, or just move properly anymore, they become extremely clumsy, bumping, falling, and tripping on everything possible...i guess they get so tired they can't think!

Arizona Day 2

Our second and first full day we decided just to hang around the house and enjoy the rays, and relax since we had spent so much time moving around driving there in all. The kids didn't mind and enjoyed just playing in a new place, new toys, and with their cousins who they are fascinated with. I noticed why we were there and now even, the kids are really trying to talk more, i guess being around two little girls that could talk well, they felt they needed to learn too! They also are trying to be more independent. Having younger children around older ones i think is good for development, great for Aidan and Layla who are eager to learn and copy about everything that they can in order to communicate better with us!
Aidan and Layla found Emily and Ashlyn's baby strollers and LOVED to push them around and around the house. Aidan got sick of putting the baby back in, so he finally tossed it out and went babyless. He would lift up the stroller and bang it on the ground, or run into things purposely...what a boy huh?
Layla was a lot more gentle with the stroller, and had to have something in it to push. She started with one baby, sometimes had two, and at one point she had a baby and Eeyore stuffed in the stroller to push around. Very darling, i have to rub it in that i told Kendall that we should get Layla a stroller like this for her birthday and he laughed...but now he see's they love it, guess Aidan needs one too!
Kendall and Ashyln enjoyed playing the Wii Nintendo why we were there. We just purchased one before leaving but didn't have much time to play, so Kendall played here. He also played a few games of Mario cart with Emily trying to teach her a few tricks too. I really like how the Wii, even though there are ways to play it sitting down, it is a lot more fun to stand up and actually follow through with the motions, i hope it really encourages kids who think they must play video games to at least stand up and play!
The neighborhood that Kendall's family lives in has a few play areas for kids. Being from a colder climate, i thought it was a neat idea since there is sun all year around to have a netting over the whole playground...maybe this is the sun...maybe it is the lack of trees? Either way, it was nice to have some shade out in the desert! We made the kids either walk and hold our hands or we carried them, here is Layla looking pretty cool in her sunglasses walking with me and Eeyore.
Ashlyn and Layla were little twins, dressing alike! I mentioned to her that i must not be as cool as Layla since Ashlyn use to dress like me before Layla and Aidan were born...hehe just kidding but it was pretty darling!
Aidan wasn't having his sunglasses as much as Layla, but he still enjoyed the wood chips on the ground, moving them from within the play area on to the cement sidewalk next to it.
Here is one of the 3 dogs that were there, and the only one the kids were not allowed to be around. Bailey wasn't too fond of the kids, especially Aidan, this was a known fact before, he is a sweetheart to me, it is just kids that bother him...there were times that if the glass door hadn't been between him and Aidan...ohman.

The rest of the day was relaxing, it was always nice to have the kids in bed by 7 (8 our time here in Wyoming, we kept them on the same schedule as best we could). I find on trips that we make, as long as we keep the kids on a similar schedule as at home, they adapt a little better and it isn't as stressful on them. Schedules are amazing to have with young children and babies, mainly since it gives us a set time for everything, and they are use to it. It was time for the adults as soon as the kids went to bed, so we just got to hang out, watch movies, whatever we wanted away from the babies demanding our time.

Arizona Spring Break Day 1

This past week, Kendall and I took the kids on their very first real vacation. By real i mean more than a weekend and somewhere that we do not get to go very often to just have a nice time. We decided to visit his brother, sister in law, and 2 nieces down in the Phoenix AZ area. The weather was GORGEOUS! i took a million pictures so i am going to post by days, and maybe combine a few, so if you think this is boring, wait until next week to check again...haha! We really enjoyed the 85 degree weather, the kids loved being able to just go outside without being bundled up or blown over by wind.
We left on Tuesday night around 9pm, it was a quick decision since we had planned on leaving Wednesday at 7:30pm...but i am glad we had an extra day! Kendall drove straight through the 15 hours, and did not fall asleep well into the night Wednesday. Here is Ms. Layla Wednesday morning when she woke up, she is wondering where the heck we are...haha At this time? New Mexico.
Aidan really was half awake here but he just kept shutting his eyes, he had been awake from like 1-3 am just staring out the window...poor little guy.
We finally got to our destination around 2 in the afternoon on Wednesday. It was real nice to be able to RELAX! Here are the cousins all together, Layla, Ashlyn (6), Aidan, and Emily (3). I think Ashlyn had raisins and that is why the rest of the kids are crowing her!
They had a really nice trampoline there, with a net around so the kids couldn't fall off. They loved jumping on it, i will post a video later hopefully of Ashlyn teaching them to fall on their butt for a "butt bounce" i think is the term.
They also liked being pushed on little tricycles, or anything really. They even got a ride in the girl's power wheels. Very cute, and they had a blast, i am really glad it was so nice for us there!

Pregnancy Trend?

This past weekend Nikki and i traveled to our hometown to one of our good friends baby shower. We all have been good friends since Highschool so we were excited to go and support her! It was a lot of fun and i am real glad we were able to go!
Here is Nikki, Haley (she is due on our graduation May 10th!) Me, and Tracy. Tracy, Haley and I were all great pals in High school, and they both cheered with Nikki. We are all keeping our cell phones on during graduation since Nikki, Haley and I will all be walking...Hope that baby stays in there at least a day longer!

This is a year ago almost exactly, if you see here, Tracy is the pregnant one, but again we are all there and happy to support each other!
Lets go a another 8 months into the past, and here you see me the pregnant one, Haley and were all supporting each other again at Tracy's wedding! Were there with our friend Lauren from Highschool, and Nikki would have for sure been in this picture if she hadn't been working thousand of miles away in Alaska.
Since there is this trend, our next picture all together will be of none of us pregnant but at Nikki's wedding supporting her! :) I just found it crazy that we all within 3 years will each have kids, never imagined years ago in Highschool! Plus they are even, Tracy has a little girl, Haley has a boy on the way, and well i have one of each... Heck i swore i would never have kids, and Haley we all had bets wouldn't until her 30s! haha The things that change!

Laughter: The Best Medicine

Ok, i can't say too much about this video, Kendall was just hitting his knees and acting silly...the kids loved it...Enjoy.

Easter Bunny

Saturday i got to hang out with Layla all day and Kendall had Aidan since we both had things to do. I will try and blog more about our day of being single kid parents....Anyway, Layla and I were at walmart and found out the Easter bunny was there, i then remembered my sister had mentioned something but i thought it was Easter weekend. So Layla took a picture with the bunny, she wasn't scared at all and almost smiled even! Luckily they were their Sunday too so we took Aidan back for a picture alone and then one of them together, i took a picture of the picture with my camera so not the greatest but i wanted to share it with everybody who can't see the original! :) Enjoy!
Aidan sat on the bunny's lap pretty good until the second picture when he reached out for us, they didn't have the first picture for some reason, they gave me two of Layla, oh well it was free i am not going to worry about it! :)
Here they both are sitting nicely and both looking at the camera!!! Amazing!
Here is the almost smile...and the beloved Eeyore too...haha i think Kendall grabbed him for the picture of Aidan and Layla together. He is currently in the wash i had to sneak him away when Layla was distracted with Breakfast, so as long as i have him back by nap time we may be in the clear of any meltdowns due to lack of best friend! It is a whole lot easier with Aidan's blanket because their are 2 of them and he likes them both...

New Purse + Model

Here is Layla modeling my new Louis Vuitton purse that Brian sent to me:) Pretty neat...ok so it may not be 100% real authentic...but we can pretend because i think it is adorable, and it perfectly holds 2 diapers and a pack of wet wipes!

Happy Birthday Kendall ("DA!")

Today is Kendall's birthday! He turned 24, and we all are wishing him a wonderful day! I wish i could've made him breakfast but leaving at 7:30 in the morning for class, i think he would like to sleep in longer since he doesn't have to go to work till 10 on Thursdays. So instead i told him whatever he would want for lunch i would make it happen, he decided chinese...easy enough! Phone. Dial. Order. Done. Tonight we are planning on eating some cake that i baked and the kids sprinkled, and having a nice steak dinner with Gary and Nikki, and have invited others over if they want to grill with us. Kendall however is unaware of this plan, and i know he doesn't check my blog much so Ha im writing it! :) He deserves the best. I also tried teaching the kids how to say happy birthday, unsuccessful, Aidan ignored me, but Layla however learned how to say "Happy" really good so i told her to tell daddy that when he got home...sure enough she turned to him and said "Happy!" when he got home! :)

Kendall taking Aidan to the "table cloth" convention. hehe.
Aidan enjoying the slide while Kendall holds onto him. He is such a fun dad!
Aidan visiting daddy's office, he kept trying to type on his keyboard. He was running all over the place. We surprised Kendall by just walking in, he had no idea we were coming :)
Layla pushing the groundhog stuffed animal she found at Kendall's office in her daddy's chair. They knew right where his office was even though they haven't really been in it before...they ran straight there.
Layla doing her Ms. America wave every time she passed Kendall or I while spinning on the merry-go-round. She would either say sweetly "hi!" or "bye!" very very cute.

A Day With Layla and Aidan

Layla and Aidan eating their breakfast nutrigrains while watching their daddy intently as he shaves his face while wearing just a towel. They were amazed by what he was doing.
Layla doing her best "pucker up i am going to give you a kiss" face. When she gives a kiss she full out puckers those little lips, very cute...i actually asked her this morning "Layla, how are you today?" She turns around with her puckered up lips and gave me a kiss...i took that as she is doing great!
Lately, the favorite two syllable word that Aidan enjoys to say the most is "apple" he says it perfectly. Layla enjoys talking about "Mickey" (mickey mouse), always kissing him, "rock" ing him and dancing with him.Here he is admiring a piece of apple before he bites into it. These kids are going to never go to the doctor if "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" is true, haha!
Layla really enjoys coloring, she is pretty good about not sucking on the crayons. Aidan on the other hand tries to eat the crayons before coloring, during coloring and after. He also was caught tearing his paper up and eating it...i guess he isn't the artist of the family at this moment. Most the crayons we have contain small teeth marks. Must get the crayon eating from his Uncle Brian ;)
The kids love going into our room, it is like an undiscovered treasure land...their little hands grab everything they can reach, pull open drawers, and pick up hangers to clack together. Here is Aidan demonstrating how to clack hangers together. Notice his sock missing? He lost that while jumping on our air bed...and Kendall gets mad when he finds my socks under the covers...
Again, they love to jump on the air bed, they giggle and dive face first into the covers and pillows. We literally have to lay them in the hall screaming and crying because they throw fits because they do not want to leave this wonderful place.
Here is Aidan being a total sweet heart. He just clasped his arms around my leg and held on with the biggest hug. One of my favorite pictures! When he wants to be, he can be the best little cuddler ever! Notice they are now finally dressed for day! I chose this shirt because it matched the one Kendall wore to work! :)
Bubble chasers...the kids really enjoy trying to touch and pop bubbles. They go absolutely crazy!
All of this before their nap at 1! Here is my sweet little boy asleep wrapped up in his favorite Christmas blanket which has become an "eeyore" to him, he does not go anywhere without it. Reminds me of Linus from Peanuts, and myself, i use to drag around a pillowcase that i was in love with, still have it too even though it is completely faded, torn up and permanently stained from who knows what!
Sweet baby girl Layla has been sleeping on her face a lot lately. She loves having her "friends" (stuffed animals or babies) in her crib, she wakes up and plays/talks to them until we come and get her. Look what she is holding on to that is peeking over her shoulder? Yep, her Eeyore. Aidan on the other hand throws most of the animals that i put in there, or he will pass them over to Layla who wants them.
Here is Aidan with gel in his hair, before i could grab the camera he still messed it up a bit, but hey it still was pretty cute since Kendall puts gel in his hair also...just like daddy!
Layla wasn't as enthused with getting pig tails in her hair...but they are oh so cute when they are in!
Here is a daily activity, watching students walk by to class, they will point and get real excited. They also like it when the mail lady comes to the door with our mail, she always waves at them. I will ask them what else they see outside and the reply s? "tree, truck, car, and house". We have had these awful crows hanging around lately, they seem to get into our trash constantly, so i am that crazy neighbor woman that runs outside with her child's plastic golf club to chase them away. Sometimes i let them be if they are not in the trash but just hopping around the yard so the kids can yell "bird" over and over.
Emily got us this adorable little cup full of candy and confetti with a fish on top for Valentine's day. After the kids shook it down from on top of the TV i was afraid that the glass cup would fall and hit them next time so i put it in our room and forgot about it. For about 2 days, Layla periodically throughout the day would repeat "fish" and then smack her lips like a fish and knock on our door. We were confused as to why she was so sure a fish was in our room. Finally i opened the door, she ran in and pointed strait to the fish on top of the cup....what a memory!! So, that is how this fish came about, she now asks for me to take it down from on top of the TV to give it a "kiss".
Well, the day ends here at an afternoon movie, if it was up to the kids they would watch baby Einstein or Cars...yes they loooooooooove the movie cars, that is what they are watching here, and by the looks of Layla's face it must be a mouth dropping part. The rest of the day is playing and going to bed with a bath and bottle. I am usually at work so i miss this for 4 of the 7 days of the week.