The Kids

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers







Saturday, November 28, 2009

Family & Christmas Pictures

We braved family pictures again.  Kai is still in the phase that he does not like pictures.  He was ok for the family picture, but all the others were a stretch to get.   That is why Kai does not have a Christmas picture with Gabi and Koa.  Oh well.  At least we got some pictures.  Enjoy!

















Monday, November 2, 2009

Daytona Beach

We had a great start to our Florida vacation. Heather and Dan invited us for the night to their timeshare in Daytona Beach. They had been there for a few nights, we just joined them for the last night. It was beautiful. The kids were able to play on the beach, swim in the indoor pool, and hang out with their cousins. It was great!




This was the view from our hotel room. The room was really nice. It had two bedrooms, and a family room and kitchen. There was plenty of room.



Heather's family had not met Koa yet. This is their first meeting. Looks like Koa likes Auntie Heather!



It didn't take long for the cousins to go off and play. Here is Gabi, Zack and Ashley.


Grandmom came along with us too! The kids love their grandmom, it was nice to have her along. (She helped out a ton with my kids!)


This was a blow up haunted house in the lobby of the hotel. the kids had fun playing in it whenever we went down.


We went down and ate lunch at Johnny Rockets. The food was good, I can't say the same for my kids behavior. :) That is why we don't take them to restaurants.


Isn't this cute? Gabi and Zack are holding hands, and Kai and Ashley are holding hands. It is nice to have cousins their same age. The older ones are exactly three months apart, and the younger ones are 6 weeks apart.



Zack loves trains, and he brought some along to the hotel. Kai immediately noticed this train, and played with it most of the time that we were in the hotel.


Kai checking out the ocean. He was not a fan of actually going in the water, but he did enjoy the sand.


This activity kept him busy for a while. He would pick up sand in one place....


and go dump it near the water. He is a funny kid.


Gabi was not shy to get right into the water. Here she is jumping over the little waves.


Uncle Dan was great to play with the kids in the water. Gabi got on the boogie board and he would do circles pulling her around. She loved it!


Kai's other favorite activity was chasing the birds. He probably would have gone all the way down the beach if Grandmom didn't go get him. :)


This was Koa's first time at the beach. He was very happy. Right after this he grabbed a big handful of sand.


Gabi going to the water to rinse off the sand.


Kai was drawing pictures in the sand.


Ashley and Gabi playing in the water.


While Grandmom was holding Koa, one minute he was up and playing and the next minute he fell asleep. He slept in the stroller for a good 45 minutes. Those waves crashing were good background noise.


The cousins playing together.

This was hilarious. These boys were right next to us and were chasing each other. Kai started following whichever boy was chasing the other. He was just squealing with delight. The boys thought that it was funny also...they were very good sports. Then the boys started chasing Kai and going "Boo!" Kai enjoyed it for about a minute, then stopped and pointed at the kid and said "NO!" and pointed to the other boy. He was trying to tell the boy to start chasing the other boy and not him.


Later when we went to the indoor pool the same boys walked down the hallway. They saw Kai an went and got their Grandma and then joined us in the pool. Kai enjoyed watching them splash each other.


Mommy and kiddos on the beach.


Koa enjoyed getting in the water in the indoor pool.


Kai isn't a big fan of the pool either. He clings to whoever he is with in the pool. But, we did get him in the water.


Zack is a great swimmer. He can swim across the pool by himself. With Gabi seeing him, it gave her some confidence. She was even jumping off the side of the pool into the water.


Mommy with all three kids in the pool.

The morning that we were leaving Kai noticed some birds out on the balcony. They were not leaving, so we decided to feed them.

First we tried Cherrios. The birds ate them up really quick! We ran out, so we tried...


Fruit loops! The birds weren't as excited for them. Within a minute there were 6-7 birds on the balcony. They must have called them to tell them we had the food.


Mommy with all three kids before leaving. It was a great mini-vacation. We were glad we could go.


Once the website lets me upload some videos, I will post them.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween 2009

We had a fun Halloween this year. We were able to go pumpkin picking with Grandma and Papa and Uncle Jeb and Auntie Jen. It has become a tradition, which we love. Then the kids and I went to Florida and were able to go to Sea World with Auntie Heather, Zack and Ashley. They had a Halloween celebration. The kids wore their costumes (well, Kai refused to wear his), and went around the park getting candy. It was lots of fun. Then on Halloween I took the kids to Walmart to do a little trick-or-treating, then we had our wards trunk-or-treat, then around the neighborhood to a few houses. The kids had a fun holiday! Here are some pictures.


A quick family picture by the tractor. Kai is in the stage that he doesn't like to take pictures.

This was supposed to be just the grandparents with the grandkids, but again Kai didn't want to be in it, so Nathan had to sit in.

That is Nathan's new school in the background.

Gabi found her pumpkin!


Grandma helped Gabi around the find a good pumpkin.

Kai got a fun ride back to the front of the pumpkin patch.


Koa enjoying his first pumpkin patch.

Cute Auntie Jen and our adorable neice, Hannah.


Kai just ran and ran around the pumpkin field. Grandma was nice to follow him around.


Kai slowing down to check out the pumpkins.

Gabi showing off our pumpkin stash once we got home. There is one for each of us.



Next, is our Sea World adventure.


Since Kai would not take any pictures with the characters, I had to do more candid pictures of him.


The three of us with some of the characters.


Gabi with the witches.


Gabi, Ashley and Zack with one of the princesses.


It is hard to see, but the kids were chasing bubbles.


More bubbles. This was a cute maze to help find Abby's wand.


Gabi with Abby


Kai was checking out the candy he got.


Trick-or-treat! The kids got candy, markers, pretzels, peanut butter. They did pretty good!


Kai surfing on Shamu's back.


All four cousins together: Gabi, Zack, Kai and Ashley.


These characters on stilts were fun. Here is Gabi and Ashley.


Another candid shot of Kai. He really liked these pumpkins.


These star fish were cute. They were dancing around.


Now, on to trunk-or-treating with our ward.

Trying to pick out the best candy.


We were happy to have Uncle Michael with us. The kids all love him!


All three kids. We even put a basket with Koa and people were putting candy in it. We later used it at our car when we ran out of candy. :)


Auntie Jen and Hannah were there with us also. So cute!

Can you guess what Hannah was? Casper the Friendly Ghost! :)

Our happy puppy dog, Koa.



Another happy picture with Michael.


While trunk-or-treating, one of the cars gave Koa this package of dried fruit! Score!


Kai was really good to stay in the stroller, but really liked saying Trick-or-Treat and getting his candy.


Koa and Hannah together. Koa is just four months older than Hannah. She is so nice and petite! Koa will always be the bigger and protective cousin!


Daddy and Kai.


After Gabi and Kai went around they had fun handing out candy.


Koa giving Hannah a horse ride. :)


Gabi and Kai out door to door trick-or-treating. At this house they just had a bowl out for the kids to take a candy. I think Kai took 2-3. :)



Gabi's Halloween School Performance.
Gabi's class had a cute 10 minute performance for the parents.


Gabi was not at school for about a week and a half leading up to this performance because of our trip to Florida. She did very good remembering most of the songs. Even the song she had never heard, she did pretty good!



This was the end part of Gabi's favorite song.