DisneyWorld Recap and a few pics

Well, we actually took a family vacation this April and visited DisneyWorld. We were joined by G's mom, sis, bro, and our niece. We were sick for most of the trip, but still had a good time. It was especially fun to hang out with the family. Below are some pics from our trip.

Quintessential Disney Pic - the whole family


















The only ride A went on was one at Animal Kingdom with his cousin, Aunt and Grandma A.













Daddy and Uncle Justin trying to tame Z on the shuttle.













On our way to the parks!














Two cousins

Daddy's Shoes

A few weeks ago, the boys found two pairs of Daddy's shoes. This resulted in at least an hour of fun shoe time.

A even got the right shoes on the right feet. Can you see how proud he is to be in Daddy's shoes? Mom's just glad he doesn't actually fit into them yet. Let's keep those cute little kid feet for now.












Happy A.


















Who knew laces were so interesting?


















Z and shoe in motion.

April showers

Ah, the hammering of rain on the rooftops in the morning. A sure sign that spring is here. Then, there's the hail, which isn't really a sign of anything except extreme weather. That was our morning this morning. The good news is that we put in the french drain a few weeks ago, and it worked like a charm, even in torrential rains. Woo hoo.

But, of course, the even more exciting thing about serious rain is ... PUDDLES! I took the kids in the backyard to explore our puddles this afternoon and I think they excavated at least one decent sized puddle. I was sitting and knitting (only the ribbing left to finish on my first pair of socks), and I could hear Z going "slosh, slosh, slosh, slosh, pause, slosh, slosh, slosh, slosh" back and forth through the puddle.

And here are the photos to prove it.








Wiping mud away with more mud.


















The water spots on the pavement are from the totally drenched clothes the kids were sloshing around in. Yuck!












There was a mini-puddle in one of Z's little boots. I guess they really are water tight.













Sun washed, white washed kids.

Getting ready for Spring

The weather is getting gradually warmer and the kiddos are getting a lot more stir crazy. We recently joined a gym with a pool which both of the kids love. Z's not a huge fan of the Child Care Center just because Mommy isn't there, but A is content to watch Up! (aka Paradise Falls) on the huge flat screen TV. So, I'm slowly starting to prepare for my half marathon training. The KC Half Marathon is in mid-October and the training doesn't start in earnest until the end of June, but it doesn't hurt to get started now.

On a totally unrelated note, here's a few things that A likes to say these days:

- A loves to weigh himself on the scale in our bathroom. He always says "how much am I?" and stands on the scale. Apparently he asked Daddy to weigh himself, after which A told him he was fat. Daddy of course asked me if I say anything about being fat on the scale, and I said "not on purpose." So, now I'll be trying to remove the "fat" word from our vocab. Oops!

- I know that I use the word "interesting" too much, and now so does A. Everything is interesting.

- Both of my boys like to say "alright" when they respond in the affirmative. Z no longer just simply nods his head vigorously, he also adds in "alright" which is alright with me. I'm just glad the kid is starting to speak in words I can actually understand. Woo hoo!

- Finally, one of my favorite things right now is bed time with A. We usually read "A Fly Went By" (pronounced "a fwy went by"), and his bedtime song of choice is Old McDonald Had a Farm. I let him choose 4 animals to sing about each night, and recently he likes to request "swimming animals". So far the swimming animals have consisted of a duck and a frog. Although I love that A is into categorization, I wish we were experimenting with these concepts outside of night time.

Here's a few pics of the kids:

Z's first haircut and other well groomed guys

My guys have been growing out their summer 'dos for a while now, and it's been driving my poor mother nuts. However now that we've experienced a whisper of Spring and the bangs were almost in the kids' eyes, it's time for haircuts. I think the results are rather fabulous. Enjoy.

Shaggy Saturday 2/13/10 - Kids watching Daddy play a video game












Handsome hubby and A on 2/14/10 - What a great Valentine's Day gift












2/18/10 Z was a bit unhappy during the cut


















Playing at the library after the cut (oops! forgot to deal with the red-eye.)

Tiny Arms story

As heard in the car tonight between Daddy and A:

A: Don't throw a fit, Daddy.
Daddy: *Laughs.*
A: I'll take your fit and throw it in the trash. And you won't be able to find it.
Daddy: What if I look in the trash?
A: You could find it, but you can't reach it.
Daddy: Why not?
A: Because you have tiny arms.
D: I have tiny arms?
A: Yes.
D: How did I get tiny arms?
A: A lobster cut them off.
D: A lobster? Was this a big lobster?
A: No, it was a tiny lobster.
D: Wow, that must've taken a really long time for a tiny lobster to cut off my arms.
A: Yeah. Um. No. It was a huge and huge and huge n' huge n' hugenhugenhugenhugenHUGE lobster.
D: Oh, that's good.
A: Yep. The lobster just cut 'em right off.

Thank goodness for the imagination of the young. Love it!

p.s. In case you're wondering, "Don't throw a fit" is a borrowed phrase from one of A's preschool teachers, Miss M. He uses it a lot these days.

Z's first broken bone

We, as a family, are apparently gifted when it comes to tempting the fates. Two days ago, George was at work telling some of his co-workers that he wouldn't be surprised if we were in the emergency room with Z before the age of 2 due to his desire to ignore all things parental these days. He apparently repeated this, or a variation of it, at a birthday party yesterday. Last night, Z fell off A's bed and, based on a visit to Children's Mercy South Urgent Care, now likely has a fractured calf bone. But, they won't know for sure until it starts healing because toddler bones are weird and hard to view in x-rays. So, this week and possibly next, will be full of cranky toddler Z in his stylin' new boot. Photographic evidence is below. Caution is recommended in viewing however, because you will notice that it hasn't slowed him down in the least, and now he's more like a mobile weapon. And cranky. You want to come play at my house this week, don't ya?

Z offering you a Cheez It.













The two troublemakers together.













A checking out Z's new party shoe.













Still a climber. (Makes me think of the old Boy George song with the lyrics "And nothing can slow me down, oh no. I've got to keep on moving. Ain't nothing gonna break my stride." or something like that.)










Finally a quiet moment in his favorite chair with a book.