This is the Day

Another Camping Trip

2012-01-28T11:39:00.002-05:00

Jordan's birthday fell on a long weekend this year so we took advantage of Jordan and Owen having Monday off go on another camping trip. Jordan is using his buddy's trailer for his boat now so we were able to take it with us! (Normally, the boat rides in the back of the truck but with all of our camping stuff and fire wood, it just doesn't fit back there.)
This was Holland's first time to ever ride in the boat and she loved it! She's already asking all the time to go back on the boat.

The view from our campsite...so pretty!

The kids were taking turns and switching out...Joshua had to get a ride too!

Out with his daddy.

The kids sipped on hot chocolate that evening while the burgers for dinner were grilled.

Hot chocolate for the grown-ups. :)

Just a cute little campsite peeing.

And now the next morning...
Happy Birthday, Jordan!
I don't remember why but Holland was upset and Josh was holding her hand to make her feel better. Now whenever Owen is upset, Holland will hold his and and say "hold hands; feel better Owen?"

We had breakfast sausage and banana chocolate chip pancakes. And I remembered to bring the syrup this time. :)

She needed another boat ride.

Owen hung out in this little area on the side of our campsite a lot this trip. He was building a "wall" for a game he came up with that he planned on everyone playing for Jordan's birthday party.

Smores face!

The little guys loved the bucket of worms.

Building boys.

The wall.

While Jordan and Holland were out on the boat, Owen went on the rented boat with our friends.

Once they came back, the wall game was played. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here's Gene playing. And that reminds me...I never even mentioned Gene came with us! Gene was one of Jordan's first friends when he joined the Marine Corps, although he is a civilian now. Jordan would have to drive 3 or so hours to come visit me on the weekends when we were dating so Gene usually came along for the ride and visit and then he ended up being the witness Jordan chose when we got married seven years ago. He was stationed with us out in California the first four years we were married, but I hadn't seen him since we left. It was so great to see Gene again and he hasn't changed a bit!

This is the wall once all of the grownups have taken their turn.

We brought out the cupcakes and sang happy birthday.

Soon after, we got dinner going!
Dinner ended up being some ridiculously good chicken that had been marinating for two days, grilled potatoes, our family had corn and carrots, and their family had the pot of brussels sprouts and whatnot.

Dinner was awesome and we were all super full. But that night while Jordan and Gene were out fishing and the kids were sleeping, Jeremy, Rachel, and I needed some dessert! I suggested making bread pudding with one or two slices of bread in the sandwich maker, but it eventually turned into this.

We scrounged up the leftover buns and sliced bread and mixed it with the normal stuff. I knew we didnt have enough sugar so I broke up some Hershey bars and threw them in. Then I cut up some marshmallows and mixed those in. And then a banana. And then the apples and bananas Rachel had just cooked in plenty butter. I'm sure there was other things I am forgetting. Well, we put plenty butter in the bottom of the pan and that mixed with the butter from the apples just mixed together and burnt really bad. It would have been edible anyway in the middle area but the butter had bubbled up in it and just gave it all a really bad, inedible burnt butter taste. It was terrible. Oh well. Next time we wont add the butter. Although I doubt there will be a next time.

Jordan liked to roast marshmallows by the 4s and 6s.

And the next morning...cupcakes while waiting on breakfast! I didn't get any pictures of breakfast this morning, but we had french toast from fresh baked bread and more breakfast sausage.

Gene chopped up some wood to get the fire going.

Showing off her poses.

One last boat ride to go return the boat!

Holland hopped up in the truck while we were packing up the site and buckled herself in. She had a great time, but was just pooped!

And a few last pictures with Uncle Gene before we said bye.

Fish hook!

Happy Birthday Jordan!

2012-01-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

Yes. I'm late as usual lately. Jordan's birthday was two weekends ago and we had a camping trip planned for it. Since Jordan is as impatient about gifts as a little kid, of course he talked me into letting him open his before we left.

We got him a portable iHome to stick his phone on so he can have music out in the garage or when he goes fishing and whatnot.

The case on Jordan's phone broke about a week before this and he was about to order a cheap new one from eBay. I told him to just let me get him a nice one for his birthday, but that was just to hold him off because I already planned on just getting him a new phone!
Jordan is very good at guessing gifts and it's very rare that I can sneak a surprise gift in. I was so happy that he was still telling Owen "this is a phone case with a weight added to the box" as he opened it!

Yay! I surprised him. I think the surprise caught him off guard because he was a little giddy. Don't tell him I said that. :)

He was so busy playing with it that he totally forgot the real reason he was so anxious to open gifts was because of...

This! He had guessed I got him a "wiggle board" quite awhile ago so he's been asking for it way too much!

A few days after his birthday, he received a package from my mom with a case for his new phone.

Saints, of course. Couldn't expect anything different from my mom. :)

And then that same day, Owen received his box of gifts from my mom which had another gift in it for Jordan...

a bottle opener ring!

And it has not come off this finger since. :)

Happy birthday, Jordan!

Sea Monkeys

2012-01-25T16:13:00.000-05:00

Owen received the Sea Monkeys he asked Santa for in his stocking. After that, he told us several times a day that he was ready to go home...all so that he could get those sea monkeys going! After adding the "number 1" packet the water on the day we got home, and letting it sit for a day, the Sea Monkeys were ready to go!

He added the Instant Life packet and gave it a stir.

After looking and looking, we came to the conclusion that there was actually no "instant life" quite yet. A few days later, though, we were all so excited to see little dots in there swimming all over! Owen has really been enjoying having these guys here and wakes up everyday to see them and comes home from school every day to see them!

Christmas Package

2012-01-24T07:09:00.006-05:00

The kids were so excited to see a package at house when we got back from our trip! Despite a very long day of travel, they had to open it right away! This one came from my sister's family in Texas.

There was a cool gummy bear night light,

some neat plates (which we've been having a lot of fun with!)

and a dog pillow!

Thank you for the fun things Michelle, Gary, and Gabby!

Advent

2012-01-23T11:01:00.000-05:00

Last year I was able to post each day for Advent, but this year I don't think I ever even got to it once. So this is just my end of the season, everyday-of-Advent post.
Owen talked to Granny while he opened up the first door.

A mailbox!

Holland loved helping out every day and eventually we just had them taking turns each day. This time it was some mail.

A mail bag.

An angel.

We had a little friend come over since his mom had to work late, so Joshua helped out this day.

It was more mail.

Santa!

A desk for Santa.

Santa's chair.

Santa's list.

A cute little stamper and pad.

A little gift box.

An elf.

A guitar and recorder.

A little car.

A little baby doll with a gift box.

We packed up all of the advent stuff and brought it with us for our trip to Louisiana. Granny was able to watch them open up the rest of the doors!

A sail boat.

(Trying to get kisses from Boston)

A basket and some lettuce.

We had my cousin Eli over one day so he got to open up a door, too.

A reindeer.

Santa's sleigh.

A harness and carrot for the reindeer.

My niece, Fiona, was over on Christmas Eve morning so she helped open up the last door!

A Christmas tree!

And here are just a few pictures of the whole setup...there are a few things in there I didn't get a picture of them opening.

As usual, this kids enjoyed the anticipation of Jesus' birthday with our advent calender! The post office was so much fun to assemble every day!

Lousiana Trip

2012-01-22T16:15:00.000-05:00

I had my camera out the whole time I was there; but, apart from Christmas, I think I used it all of three or four times. I really wish I had thought to take more pictures. Oh well. We were busy enjoying all of our visiting with everyone!
Here are a few of the pictures I did take.
We tried out a few different donut places...the kids really loved these on this day!

Paw Paw Burt and Uncle Beau cooked us some really good eggplant/chicken/meatball parmesan. My brother's little family came over for dinner and we had a great time!

Owen and Holland spent a little while making foam ornaments with Granny.

And that was it until it was time to say our goodbyes to leave and head back to Arizona!
Holland got in a few last kisses from Boston. She went from being so scared of him when we first got there to not being able to ever get enough of his kisses!

Owie was not in the best of moods when we were saying goodbye. :(

Holland had to make sure I got a pictures of her dog and dog house.

And just some pictures with Granny before it was time to go.

We stopped at my grandparents to say bye to them and my little cousin, Eli, and then we were on our way!

We had such a great visit home...I just wish we had more pictures to show for it! Thank you to everyone who took time out to visit with us. We can't wait to see you again.

Christmas Day

2012-01-21T08:05:00.000-05:00

The kids were so excited to get up on Christmas morning!

Ignore our cramped room mess!

Despite the fact that Santa had already come to our house, they were still so excited to get their stockings at Granny's!

Owen had a very specific list that he was asking for...a compass, sea monkeys, and a "parachuter guy."

Holland received all sorts of girly goodies. It is so fun now that she becoming more of a little girl with her little girl tastes rather than a baby.

Once we were done with that, we all got ready and headed to Jordan's mom's for Christmas with her family. I was terrible at taking pictures. Really this whole trip, but I should have done better on at least this day. Oh well. I was happy to see that Jordan had taken a few pictures for me.

I did get a few pictures of those little guys in their mom-made Christmas outfits.

Both Christmas eve and Christmas day were so great this year. It was wonderful to visit with family we have been missing but unable to see for over a year now!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-20T15:59:00.000-05:00

We had a busy day on Christmas eve this year! We woke up early and my mom and I started cooking! After getting dressed in their mom-made elf shirts that they were so excited to wear, Owen went outside to help Paw Paw Burt set up the wagon for Fiona.

He was so cute with his gloves on!

Holland helped out while we cooked with tasting all of the chips we had out. :)

We had my grandparents come over as well my brother, his girlfriend, and my niece.

My favorite part of the trip was finally getting to meet Fiona! I waited almost a year to finally meet her and her chubby cheeks did not disappoint. :)

The kids' could not wait to get to some present opening.

My mom maid Fiona and Holland adorable little Raggedy Ann dolls.

Grams (my mom's mom) made the shawl Holland is wearing. She actually made her two of them and Holland loves wearing them because she thinks they are Tinkerbell wings.

JJ took the girls for a ride in Fiona's new wagon.

JJ, Amanda, and Fiona had to leave after that to move on with their Christmas Eve rounds. We headed out as well to meet Jordan's dad, grandparents, and brother's family but I forgot my camera! Jordan's grandparents treated us all to an awesome buffet at a casino on the coast. We enjoyed great company and great food while we ate and then afterward when the kids opened their gifts. It was so much fun watching all of the cousins play together and have so much fun!
We left late, and after the sort of long ride back to my mom's, the kids were ready for bed and ready for Santa to come!

First, some cookies for that guy!

And then to bed! But first, a little acting like Nowu!

They were so excited to go to bed!

Christmas with the Neighbors

2012-01-19T22:14:00.000-05:00

Because we were about to leave for our Christmas trip to Louisiana, the kids exchanged gifts with their neighbor friend, Joshua, a little early.

Owen got the perfect gift for him...a big moon nightlight for his room!

Holland received a little kitten that purrs and meows and that sort of thing. It followed us around on our flights to and from Louisiana and I'm pretty sure that most everyone we visited in Louisiana got to meet her cat too!

Joshua is always digging in the playdoh at our house so the kids picked out a cute playdoh set to gift him!

Thank you, neighbors! You know our little family so well!

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-30T11:41:00.000-05:00

With our Christmas trip coming up and no yet announced date for the housing "Winter Wonderland" Christmas event, I was getting worried it would happen during our trip and we would have to miss it. We had so much fun last year so that would have been a real bummer! Luckily, the week before we left we received a flyer letting us know it would be that weekend. We just made it!
We've learned our lesson as these events on base that it's best to always arrive a little early if you don't want to wait in huge lines. We arrived a little early but, I'm guessing because of the threat of rain and crazy wind, they were running a little behind on setting up. That was ok, though, because Owen loved watching the guys use the snow machine to build up the sledding hill! (Doesn't my little guy look so big here!?)

We got to see Santa without waiting in line! Owen became a pro this season at letting Santa know exactly what he wants!

After that, the kids a few rides down the snow hill.

Actually, Owen took a few rides. I didn't get a picture of Holland coming down because she totally freaked out on her first try and wouldn't do it again. Oh well.
There was plenty yummy food...

that we got to share with great friends! (The best picture I could get of the friends...)

Holland ate the heck out of a turkey leg.

Owen enjoyed some hot chocolate

and Holland did too.
This picture is a little creepy but I had to add it because it cracks me up!

Owen then went for a few more sled rides

while Holland crunched around in the snow.

Our last activity of the night was to decorate a few Christmas cookies.

We headed home after that to let the kids eat their cookies and then head to bed.
I am so glad we were able to make this event again this year! We'll definitely miss this short-lived Christmas tradition next year.

bikes

2011-12-30T11:20:00.000-05:00

Owen and Holland were so excited to take out their bikes the day they got them on our Early Santa Visit.
We took a walk/ride over to the parking lot for the field in our housing area (where Owen used to play soccer and t-ball).
I'll have to get a video of Owen on bike because he has so much fun spinning it all over! But for now, here are a bunch of pictures...

The kids' friend Joshua came along!

You can't tell in these pictures how fast he was spinning!

Kindergarten Christmas Program

2011-12-29T21:07:00.000-05:00

Owen had his Christmas program for kindergarten at the beginning of the month. After his cute one last year, I was so excited to get to watch him again!

And some videos...Owen is in the Santa had in the very center of the middle row.

Santa's Early Visit

2011-12-26T15:10:00.001-05:00

Santa came a little early to visit our house this year! The kids were anxiously awaiting our pre-Christmas Eve traditions.
Jordan and Holland made Santa's cookies, which thanks to Owen's choosing, were snickerdoodles this year. Of course I had to get a pictures of them putting the cookies out and, even though Owen is blinking in this one, I had to share it because Holland was sneaking a cookie when I took it and I didn't even realize it.

I let her get a couple more bites of her stolen cookie...

before I tried again to get picture.

Owen didn't want to cooperate with the whole "put your arm around your sister" thing.

Santa took care of those cookies and huge glass of milk...

and left some gifts behind!

So excited to wake up in the morning

and after seeing Owen's excitement, she was ready too!

Bikes!

Owen's whole Christmas experience was dependent upon receiving this Criss Cross Crash Hot Wheels set from Santa. He was a happy little guy!

So happy to get her Rapunzel doll!

He didn't waste any time!

We took the kids to the dollar store to let them each pick out two gifts for each other. They got to practice a little bit of gift giving and they were both so excited to watch the other open up the gift they chose!

Holland chose a big airplane for Owen,

this was a Tinkerbell stamp set from Owen

a watch Owen chose for Holland

and a bug catcher from Holland. You can see how happy they were to exchange gifts with each other!

Santa brought him a remote controlled helicopter last year and lasted about 4 months (much longer than we expected!) so he was so excited to get another one from Jordan and I this years!

Jordan didn't get a picture of the opened gift, but it was a nice set of silcone bakeware he got for me.

Her own Leapster!

Holland had to have Rapunzel ride her bike with her!

Once the kids opened their things from Santa and from Mom and Dad, they took a little break for playing.
Grandma had some of the kid's gifts sent to our house in time for the kids to open them on their early Christmas, so they also got to open those after a little while with Grandma and Paw Paw George watching on Skype!

We had a great early Christmas day!
Thanks for sending the kids some of their gifts, Grandma and Paw Paw!

Christmas Tree

2011-12-24T05:26:00.001-05:00

Setting up the tree and decorating for the holidays this year was so much fun with two little helpers! So much so that I didn't stop very often to take photos but I do have a few to share.
Owen and Holland and the job of setting up the small tree. They both really enjoyed unpacking all of the the tiny ornaments from their small boxes and finding special places for them on the tree.

Of course, Holland could not do this job without the help of Owen's 2nd place Speed Stacking medal he won a few months ago.

I did make sure to get pictures of our tradition of having Owen (and now Holland) placing the star up top the tree. First, Jordan had to give some instruction.

And then Holland got to stick it up there.

And then we realized she went for the wrong branch, she got another try.

And then Owen had the job of putting the angel on top of the small tree (which we'll ignore was actually place on top by me at the very beginning as can be seen in the very first photo. :) )

Meet Nowu!

2011-12-23T08:29:00.002-05:00

Right after thanksgiving...

(Yes, my lack of pictures taken on Thanksgiving is making me represent that entire holiday with these two pictures of pilgrim cookies I made for Owen's family feast at school.)

we had a special package arrive on our doorstep, sent by Santa himself!

The kids were so excited to see their very own elf! They were greatly anticipating the arrival of an elf after watching The Elf on the Shelf special on TV.

Owen couldn't wait for me to read the story of The Elf on the Shelf to him.

In order for the elf to get his magic, he must be named. Owen chose "Noah" but in true kindergarten spelling skills, he excitedly told us all the way Noah is spelled...N-O-W-U!
After coming back from his visit with Santa at the north pole on his very first night, Nowu chose the very simple spot to sit on top of the entertainment center.

Owen showed off his sitting-like-Nowu skills.

The next night, Nowu cuddled up in the fridge with a pair of Owen's underwear!

I didn't get pictures of Nowa's hiding placing everyday, but the kids had so much fun looking for him every morning all throughout the month!

Marine Corps Birthday Ball 2011

2011-11-18T15:53:00.001-05:00

We attended the the Marine Corps Birthday Ball last night! This was our sixth ball and, unless something crazy happens, it was the last one we will go to!
I had been wanting to make my dress for a few years now and once I realized the dress selection in Yuma was really bad, I knew this year was the perfect year! Despite starting on it about a month before, I finished it around midnight the night before our ball! Talked about stressed out. The hem was the last thing I got done and I was so tired so please excuse my shitty hem. :) Apart from that, I loved my dress!
I brought my whole camera bag so I could have all my lenses because I wanted to get plenty pictures of the ceremony, but I was just enjoying myself and didn't feel like taking pictures once we were there. Oh well!

I had the baby sitter take this one right before we left.

My friend Rachel's husband is in the same unit as Jordan so tonight was his ball as well. He was out of town for schooling so Rachel just came with us! I can tell every year that Jordan wants to go hang out with his friends but that he stays with me out of obligation. :) So I knew it would work out for me to bring a friend!

Waiting to go in...

I didn't take any more pictures until after the ceremony and dinner.

I was wearing no shoes at this point...
I got up with a friend that was sitting at our table to go to the restroom and as I'm walking I feel something weird happen to my shoe. I didn't want to stop right there and check because I was in the way for everyone sitting down so once I got to the door I looked at my shoe and realized my sole was gone! I look back and realize it is laying on the floor right in the middle of all those tables! I had to do the walk of shame back in front of all those people and pick up my shoe sole! So embarrassing! So yes, no shoes at this point...

I don't get very many pictures of myself, and even less than that of candid shots. So even those they pictures are pretty bad, I had to add them! And just because they are funny...like this one of me looking at Jordan like he's stupid. He had already had quite a bit to drink so he probably said something that made no sense.d

Or maybe it was me fussing him for having his collar unhooked because the next picture was him hooking it.

And then finally we were ready!

You can see the gone look in his eyes in this one. :)

We took the cheapo rude route and brought our own camera into the photo room. The photographer was very nice about it, but I was still super embarrassed.

Mostly because Jordan couldn't settle himself long enough to get a decent picture!

We finally managed to get one and headed out of that room.

We had a great time at our last ball and we'll definitely miss going to these every year!
A few other balls we have been to:
2008 2009 2010(for some reason, I can't find a post on that one...)

Camping Trip

2011-11-15T23:55:00.003-05:00

We finally took a family camping trip! I was always very nervous to take Holland when she was a baby so for the time we were in Georgia it was always Jordan and Owen alone. Once we got to Yuma, we really didn't have any clue of a good place to go. Now that we've been here awhile and know the area a little better, we figured we'd try a campground out on one of the lakes Jordan likes to fish. It was was actually a military campground so we were nervous it would be pretty lame, but we were super surprised and happy with our site! Our site had it's own road straight to it and it was on a little peninsula sticking out into the lake. There were trees and bushes completely lining the road to it as well as the site, except for a few small openings to the lake where we could fish! It was awesome and I am already wanting to go back!
We got Holland a new fishing pole a few weeks ago, but this was her first time trying it out. We tied the little cast practicing fish on it and she played with that thing the entire weekend...hardly touched any of the actual toys were brought for them. I took these pictures a little after we first got out there.

Our neighbor friends joined us out there for the first night. I don't know if I've ever actually given them names on here other than "neighbor friends" so here is Rachel and Joshua.

Owen found this piece of wood shaped like an axe when he went with Jordan to get firewood the day before we headed out for camping. It was very important to him that it was brought along.

The kids all enjoyed Go-Gurt and juice boxes all weekend.

Josh and his daddy, Jeremy. Jeremy is one of Jordan's good fishing buddies.

Owen goes camping for the s'mores. Everything else is just a bonus.

Despite it being quite cold that night, both kids slept very well. They got to bed a bit late and got up at their normal time, though, so they were tired the next day!
This was the first picture of the next morning. Of course it's Holland drinking her chocolate milk. The waking thoughts of this little girl every morning are of her chocolate milk. And she still has her outside face.

Owen brought along a couple small Lego sets so he had fun building with those while he waited for breakfast to cook. He's trying out his helicopter's propeller here.

A camping trip for us isn't a camping trip without sausage with breakfast.

Owen using lots of patience dealing with little hands on his Legos. :)

While we waited for breakfast, we took a few family pictures.

For the first morning, it was sausage and raspberry pancakes.

I don't know when this little girl got so big...

The boys played well together...Joshua loves Owen.

Holland and Owen doing some "fishing" together. Owen is actually pretty good at fishing...I even had him baiting my hooks and all that, but here they were just casting their weights into the lake.

A clam!

More pictures with the clam! This little guy can not have a fishing trip without bringing home clams. And then they have to live in the sink in his bathroom. Ack!

Just the view from one of the openings at our site. This lake is in the mountains so there were pretty mountain views every where! In Yuma, we're stuck on flat ground, looking at the mountains that surround the city. It's nice to actually go past those mountains every now and again...helps alleviate the feeling of being "stuck" in this little town. On our last night there, we were actually talking about how being on the lake with green everywhere was a little break to forget we live in Yuma.

Doing some real fishing with his own pole.

Jordan caught the first fish of the weekend. They were catching these little guys and putting them in the livewell to be used as bait for the catfish at night.

Everyone had to check him out.

Holland couldn't stop watching the fish in there!

Rachel caught the next one.

And all the little guys were still interested in checking it out.

We switched out Holland's fake fish with a hook and Jordan tried to teach her, but she didn't like the waiting for a fish part. She is more of a cast it out and reel it back kind of girl.

So after a few minutes of bored looks, we switched her back out.
That night, Jordan put one of those fish on his hook and cast it out. We were warned a big storm was coming so we got everything tied down really well, and everything picked up to be ready. The kids were so tired that we put them to bed before 6pm, they fell asleep within 5 minutes or so, and slept straight through until the next morning! So Jordan and I had a little while to enjoy the campfire in peace while we waited for the rain. Sure enough, the rain drove us in the tent around 8pm and that little fish was left out on his line in the water.
All that to say, the next morning we woke up and upon coming out of the tent, Jordan could hear his reel making little clicks. He reeled it in and saw he had a catfish! It put up no fight at all so he must have been on there quite awhile.

Jordan got him off the line, got a few pictures and then through him back out.

Owen helped Jordan get the fire started. We were so happy we thought to stick the wood under Jordan's truck...it rained almost the whole night through with crazy wind and all that. Had the wood not gotten picked up, I'm sure we would not have had breakfast that morning.

Owen made me get yet another picture of his clam. This was after he put it back in the water...apparently the clam had spent the night with us in the tent.

Holland's hair was doing this funny little thing in the front...Owen said she looked like a quail. :)

More clam...

That morning, after the sausage was cooked (of course!), I made french toast. I've been making our bread for the last year or so and this camping trip was no different. The day before we left, I made cinnamon raisin bread and then used that to make bread pudding. I chilled the bread pudding and then cut it up into squares. I then wrapped those squares in foil which could easily be tossed into the fire pit for warming. They made for a great campfire dessert! I also made this loaf of our normal white bread the day we left specifically for french toast! I knew it would be so good cooked on the fire that I wanted plenty extra so I used the whole loaf and stuck the extras in the ice chest to bring home. Yum!

Owie eating his last meal out there...sad it was about time to head home.

And just a few pictures of our site...
This was at the top of the road leading to the camp site. The peninsula started about where I was standing for this picture.

This was the very front of the site.

And this was one side..

and the other.

And this was looking back down the road from our site. The only thing we could see from our site of other people was that cabin up on the hill.

I'm so glad we finally got out and took a camping trip here! We had come to the conclusion that all the tent camping here was lame and desert-y...I'm so happy we took a chance on this place and we can't wait to go back!

Halloween Package

2011-11-04T08:19:00.002-04:00

I think this will be my last Halloween post for this year!
We came home last night to see a package sitting by the back door. I couldn't find a name on it so I opened it up to see what it was from and saw it was for the kids so I taped it back up and gave it to them! It was then that I noticed it did have a name on it and it came from my Aunt Dawn. Their last package from my aunt was filled with lots of fun goodies and and Owen remembered that so he was so excited to open it up and dig in...but first the obligatory picture-with-the-box.

I had to get a picture of her with the Tinkerbell crayons because she was wearing her Tinkerbell jammies (which I made with a piece of fabric I purchased one day when she notice the Tinkerbell fabric in Joanns and threw a huge fit when I tried to put it back). Little girl loves her some Tinkerbell!

Thank you for all of the fun goodies, Dawn! The kids have been enjoying their stuff all day today!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T11:46:00.000-04:00

Halloween was so fun for us this year! Both of the kids were old enough to really enjoy all of the activities they got to do and they were also both so into their costumes.
Holland first wore her witch costume to story time at the library a few days before Halloween. I actually remembered about that the day before so I ran to JoAnns to get all the fabrics and, luckily, I already had her hat and socks so I just spent that evening making her witch's dress!
Both of the kids got to wear their costumes to the Trunk or Treat event on base. We did this last year and the kids had a great time, but this year they made it even better!
They were so excited to get ready and get on their way...

Owen chose to be a vampire but I told him that if he wanted to be a vampire, he had to be the real kind like Edward Cullen. :) So that is who he was, and he was so excited about it!
This was my first go at making Owen into Edward Cullen. I went a little heavy on the white and then the glitter I had gotten was wet and just made his white splotchy. Oh well.

They were so cute watching their pigs race! Owen's pig won and he completely flipped out with excitement. It was so cute to watch, and I really wish I had gotten a picture.

We met up with our neighbor friends there and Holland bummed a ride in their wagon.

Once we came home, I tried to get a decent picture of them in their costumes but they were tired and pooped and Holland was just not having it.

Later that evening, we did the whole pumpkin carving thing. We had gotten two pumpkins from our housing office, but one ended up broken so we just had one to do.
When we are in the kitchen, Holland has to be on the counter so she took her spot up there to watch Jordan dig all the insides out.

He tried to get her to help, but she was so scared to touch the stuff! Poor little girl.

Just like last year, we let Owen draw the pumpkin's face. He chose a vampire this time. And for the picture, he decided he should make the same face. :)

Although you can't tell from the bright flash, I got the white much better on Halloween night and I got a new glitter that didn't leave his white splotchy. Most people didn't get who he was on there own, but when they did figure it out themselves, it was always awesome!

Holland's monster neighbor friend took a turn riding in our wagon.

I forgot to throw his khakis in the dryer in time so he had to wear khakis from last year. They were a little short. :)

Their first house of the night.

I didn't very many pictures while we were out, but I had to snap this one at home...she was so cute with her little witch legs propped up, eating her nerds.

And one more of Edward before he headed up to get a shower.

The kids had a great Halloween this year, and it sure sounds awesome to say it was our second one in Yuma...that means it's our last one here!

Halloween Goodies

2011-11-02T12:53:00.003-04:00

We received a Halloween package from Jordan's mom last week!
Excuse Holland's hair...Jordan has been working a lot lately and we usually just see him for mealtimes. He had a few minutes to open this with us before he had to head back to work and I had just gotten her out the bath so her hair brushin' was put on hold. :)

Of course these are the first thing they have to check out.

And then she noticed the Tinkerbell candies...

Bringing me my new cookbook.

And Owen was excited to see the crabby patties!

Thank you for all the Halloween goodies, Grandma!

It's About That Time Again

2011-11-01T12:50:00.001-04:00

Owen received a package in the mail from my mom a few days ago.
Holland knows the picture-with-a-package routine!

So enthused.

A new advent calender!

He had so much fun opening up the forest advent calender two years ago and the police set last year so he can't wait to get started with this one!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:06:00.002-04:00

From Edward Cullen and my little gray-haired witch!

The Homemade Sprinkler

2011-10-30T12:57:00.001-04:00

We were trying to find new things to keep us occupied during Owen's week off of school for fall break. The kids were wanting to go to the pool, but I'm honestly just sick of the pool! They've gotten bored with the water toys they've been playing with all summer so I came up with this:

I taped a milk jug to the hose and called it a sprinkler!
The kids loved it and played out there for a good few hours!

We had a lunch of corn dogs and grapes out on the back porch...and in the pool.

We tried our best to enjoy the summer despite the insane heat, but I'm ready for these pool days to be done for year. We are anxiously awaiting some cool weather!

A Few Park Visits

2011-10-29T13:01:00.001-04:00

Now that the weather is cooling off, we've been trying to get out and enjoy some parks.
We visited this one in the evening and had a dinner picnic. Owen was eating while I took these pictures and by the time he was done, it was dark so I didn't get any pictures of him. But here are a few of her swinging...little girl loves to swing!

Swinging with her friend, Joshua.

Owen had off of school last week for fall break so I tried to get them out the house in the cool mornings (the high was still 100's). We went to a few parks in the mornings but I only got pictures at this one. We never stayed at any of them very long because all of the plastic that wasn't in the shade at every park was too hot to touch.

Day for Kids

2011-10-28T12:06:00.001-04:00

There was an event on base last month called Day for Kids that had all sorts of fun (free!) stuff for the kids to do. I was busy helping the kids participate in all the little activities so I didn't take pictures through all that, but these were taken when they were playing on the playground right before we headed home.
There were balloons and bracelets and he has a mouthful of popcorn!

Owen won a kite for answering a question right and the cone is a bird feeder he made.

Holland won these bubbles for being able to sing her ABCs. While Jordan and Owen made the bird feeder, Holland made a cute little bracelet, but she didn't want to wear it.

Just a shot of the area...

and a little more area.

A Package from Granny

2011-10-27T22:17:00.002-04:00

Owen and Holland received this package this package from my mom on one of the days Holland was sick. They were so excited and Holland even perked up for a little while to check it out.

"Huh!? What is this!?"

A night light that projects planets on the ceiling!

Exciting!

He had to go check it out in his room before we continued digging into the box.

Erasers!

Tinkerbell!

My mom made this super cute Tinkerbell shirt for Holland. She put so much time into stitching that Tinkerbell by hand!

And Holland couldn't stop posing!

And then she needed a break to go back to her being sick.

And then she was ready to try on the other dress Granny made for her!

And then some more posing.

Thank you, Mom, for the goodies for Owen and the super cute dresses for Holland!

Grandma's Visit

2011-10-27T01:45:00.001-04:00

We got to enjoy the company of Jordan's mom the week of Labor Day. She arrived in San Diego so Jordan took the kids for an overnight trip and left me home to enjoy a couple days of peace and quiet. Their San Diego visit was cut short, though, because Holland ended up with a fever and was just feeling quite blah. I don't really have any pictures from the visit because we spent pretty much the entire time in the living room taking turns rocking Holland and Owen had school all week. I did get this one right before she left, though.

And I got this one when we went to have dinner at Outback. Which was a funny story...

We were at Outback because the power had gone out at our house...actually the power had gone out from Phoenix to San Diego all the way south to Tijuana. No one knew when it was coming back on and the Saints game was coming on so we headed out to find a restaurant that had generator power and was showing the game...Outback. We had interesting things happen like that all week...it was very weird! Owen's school was canceled for the day after the power outage because some people were still without power. Jordan had some things going on at work and had to work pretty late most days. We had two dust storms come through. It would have been unusual if we had just gotten rain at all, but we got the heaviest rain I have seen in awhile...including living in Georgia. It seemed like a tropical storm! Which was funny in itself because Toni had flown out of a tropical storm in the south to get here. We had to wait that storm out at Wal-Mart, which we had gone to to get Holland's prescriptions filled. We had those prescriptions written at the emergency room just before that because Holland was feeling bad enough that day that I knew she needed to get seen...she ended up being diagnosed with croup and an ear infection. Before we took her to the ER, we had tried to go home but were unable to get into our house because the MPs had it all blocked off. No one in our little area was allowed to go in their house because of some sort of domestic violence going on involving a gun. So that was a particularly strange day added into that whole strange week. I know I'm missing some things, but those are all I can think of for now.
Thank you for coming to visit, Toni! Despite not being able to do anything we had planned, we still had a great time and enjoyed your company!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-10-05T10:59:00.003-04:00

Well I'm a little late but my birthday was last week. On the day of my birthday, Jordan gave me a few gifts in the afternoon and we went out to eat at Chili's. I don't have any pictures from that day because, of course, Jordan didn't take any. The next day I received a package from my mom in the mail. Holland was napping and Owen was at school and I was too excited to wait to open it so I propped the camera and took some pictures myself!

I always tell Owen to make a face to show me how excited he is, so here is mine! From a sewer to a sewer, a nice new iron is an awesome gift!

A funny story about why this came a couple weeks too late...
Jordan had to wear his nice uniform to work the week before my birthday. To get it ready, had to iron it. The water here is very hard so my sewing iron has a lot of build up and I didn't want him to use it on his uniform and ruin it so I told him to use our extra one. The extra one is barely used but it was pretty cheap. Well, he ended up burning a hole through his shirt with the iron. So he then went a bought a new uniform shirt and burned that one too with the cheap iron. He got so mad that he went outside and threw it across the yard. When I realized that he had thrown it, I got the giggles and couldn't stop laughing about it. For the next hour, anytime I would picture him throwing the iron, I just couldn't help but laugh! Jordan rarely gets mad and loses his temper so it was just so silly to picture him mad at the iron...enough to throw it to teach it a lesson. :) Anyway...that's my story of why this awesome new iron would have been even greater a couple weeks earlier.
From my mom, I received a nice new Rowenta iron and some marshmallows.

And my birthday goodies...
There's the stuff from my mom and Jordan got me some new bake ware I have been wanting and a few Cricut accessories. My mother-in-law came to visit recently and brought me her used Cricut. My birthday gift from her was money to get some new cartridges for it, but I haven't actually gotten them yet so the machine is in the picture instead.

Owen asked me to get a picture of him hugging me. That sweet little guy.

Jordan forgot to make me a cake on birthday so he made up for that the day after so that night we had cake.

He made a cream cheese pound cake while I was at my ASL class and then surprised me with it when I came home.

You couldn't even taste the candles. :)

And that was my birthday! It was mostly just another day, which I guess is what happens the older you get. Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!

Cookie Dough and Rain Playing

2011-10-03T22:58:00.001-04:00

This little girl will beg and beg to "lick" the entire time I am using the mixer.

And she has absolutely

no problem at all

getting that thing clean.

If you've never tried licking one of those, it's hard to get it to look like that!

We got a little drizzle of rain a few days ago and Holland was in a bit of awe!

Rain drops!

She wasn't too sure about it at first (it rarely rains here!) but eventually had a good time running through the back yard.

One thing I have learned here is that most of the time dust storms and rain storms go hand in hand. A dust storm had come through right before the rain so the covered porch area was still covered in dirt. This is just a little idea of what everything gets covered in...this was after her little feet were dancing around in it.

Random

2011-09-21T23:51:00.000-04:00

Wow...time sure does fly. I know family checks the blog expecting pictures and I promise I'm not giving up on it. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day.

But anyway, it's been awhile since I have put together a post of all the random pictures I collect on my camera (since April to be exact!), so here's one to catch up on those.

Holland loves Oreos. We don't have them here very much because when I do buy some, she is just so obsessive over getting an Oreo all day. Occasionally I do pick some up and this is her preferred method of eating them...
I had given her one while I was doing dishes..she comes back a few minutes later and sets this on the counter:

Which I open to see:

Little girl knows the best part!

These were from before school started...
they love to play Legos together!

There was a military child fair on base a few months ago. We were planning on going as a family but Owen was having a few behavior issues that day. I warned him he would not be able to go if he continued to not obey. As much as I hated to not take him, I had to follow through when he was still not listening so I left him home with Jordan and just took Holland. She got to make a bracelet, got popcorn and cotton candy, won a little duck, and got to play many little games. At this age with her (a few months ago) we still mostly focused on Owen having fun at events like this. It was nice to just have her alone and be able to slow down to her pace and let her pick what she wanted to do.
I didn't get very many pictures because, of all days, it rained that day and they had to move it indoors. The lighting was bad and I didn't feel like pulling out the flash, so I just enjoyed spending time with my little girl instead of with my camera. These are the couple I got...
The line on the bottom right is a balloon she got and the little butterfly on the left is her bracelet she made.

She won some Nerds and was so anxious to eat them so we got some nachos and sat down to have a nachos and Nerds snack.

My awesome husband surprised me with a serger for Mother's Day. I don't even have a picture of it opened, but I had to get a picture of the packaging it came in from Amazon!

I mentioned Jordan's friends that had come to visit in my Easter post but never got around to posting a decent picture. If you don't remember and don't feel like clicking through, Jordan had two friends stop by on their way through Yuma on I-8. They were Marines stationed with Jordan in Georgia but once they got out, they decided to go on a motorcycle road trip. They were on their way here from the Grand Canyon and I believe headed to San Diego when they left.

Owen helped me make fudge one night.

Yum!

Lovey little kids.

Snuggling with dad.

Jordan is going gray...every time he would come back from a deployment, there would be a noticeable increase but it seems like the last year it's been coming in really fast!

When we got back from Disneyland, Holland had a renewed memory of Uncle Beau so she became very fond of his pictures on the fridge.

Since she always wanted to hold them...

I just went ahead and moved them down to her level so she could help herself.

My mom gave us this snow globe when we got married.

I've kept it on top the bookcase, out of Holland's reach. Skippy had been enjoying the top of the bookcase for naps so I moved it down so he wouldn't knock it over. Apparently it wasn't Skippy I had to worry about though because the very next day Holland found it and happened to drop it on the small area of tile we have here.

I hated having to throw it away, but I did keep Jordan's head...do you see it??

Cereal

Silly guy

Just cuteness.

Just hanging out with Jordan.

Holland's first finger painting.

Owen and his friends like to playdoh when they are at our house. Of course Holland has to join in too!

I am no where near caught up on here, but I'm going to try! And then hopefully I can keep up with it...but we'll see on that one. :)

Puppets

2011-09-16T01:24:00.000-04:00

We spent our morning a few weeks ago making finger puppets that Owen had picked out at Jo-Ann awhile back. Just some pictures...

Doing the Robot

2011-08-26T00:26:00.000-04:00

This is probably one of my favorite videos of Holland because it shows off so much of her personality and the things she likes to do!
Holland is obsessed with doing the robot, which she used to do fairly well, but has now turned into some odd knee rubbing and arm waving. Personally, I think it adds a whole new level of cuteness, but I'm biased.
She loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! We sing around here quite a lot, but lately that is the only song she's interested in.
And her imagination is really coming out so she loves to have conversations with dolls and whatnot, speaking for them and also to them. But they always get that high pitched voice she gives her dog in the video.

Kindergarten

2011-08-19T03:28:00.000-04:00

My little guy, who I could have sworn was learning to walk just a few weeks ago, has started kindergarten! His first day was a week ago, but I still spend my days watching the clock, waiting for my chance to go get him.
Owen was very bummed all summer about not being in school; he enjoyed preschool so much! Because of this, he was so excited to start kindergarten and talked about it all the time. He was very excited the week he started and then he was super excited the night before and that morning. But once we got there, he kind of lost it. He had a rough morning while we were there, but he was totally fine once we were finally able to get out of sight. Other than the last couple days with the tiredness of long days at school catching up, he has been doing really great and is back to being excited about school.
These pictures are from his first day...
Ready to leave!

Big little guy headed to the garage.

Buckled up for safety! (Holland insists on buckling her chest clip on her own...if she forgets, Owen will remind her, "You need to buckle up for safety, Holland!" I love him.)

Pretty guy.

This was the beginning of his rough morning...he did not want to stay in that line!

That's him at the end of the closest line...with his hand up crying.

Pouty face in his class.

After about 30 minutes of him chasing after us every time we would try to leave and then throwing a fit, the teacher finally had him stay and we were able to leave.
His reward for a great first day at school was Cold Stone!

And I had to add this because it's funny and so Owen. When I'm telling him something that he doesn't want to hear...correcting him or just explaining something that boring him...he does this craziness with his eyes. It's funny in the picture, but in the moment it sure does piss me off! :)

I'm so proud of how well my Owie is doing at school, but I sure do miss him during the day!

A Little More Swimming

2011-08-02T09:48:00.000-04:00

I took these on Saturday right before we were about to leave the aquatic center.
I wish I had taken this one earlier in the day because by this time Holland was just pooped so we were only having her swim about 3 feet. Little girl is getting it!

Owen told me that Granny told him that we needed to get a video of him diving so I suppose this is for you, Mom! They are usually using a different diving board which is a good way off from the nearest ladder, but today they were using this one with a very close ladder. I wish I could have gotten a video of him swimming a littler further, but oh well! It doesn't help that he cheated by jumping of the side towards the ladder!

I am so proud of both of them and how much they have been learning this summer! It makes me especially happy to see their confidence that was definitely not there a couple months ago!

Yuma Rain!

2011-07-31T08:12:00.001-04:00

For the first time in a few months, we got to see rain last week! By rain, I mean a heavy drizzle but we'll take it! Owen got his "rain coat" on, Holland put on her boots and we headed outside! Before long, the neighbors came out to sit with us and enjoy the rain as well so we had a nice little rain and popsicle party!

This is what we get when we let him pick out his own clothes!

See that little spot on the bottom of her left eye? A gnat! Holy cow, they came out like crazy after a little while and they ended up driving us inside.

Owen enjoyed walking around with one of his favorite neighborhood buddies and her dog.

I just wanted to add that last picture one more time in its normal colors so I can remember how cute she was in her colorful outfit.

We were so thankful for a little bit of rain and especially the overcast sky that came along with it! It was such a great little break from the heat and sunshine!

Summer Evenings

2011-07-30T22:11:00.000-04:00

This is how we have been spending many of our evening lately...
Now that we have grass and a garden in the front of our house, we have been enjoying plenty time out there. Around late afternoon, the front porch gets shaded enough that I fill their turtle sandbox with water, pull out the fan and get an adirondack chair for myself from the back yard. Despite the fan and shade, I still sweat my ass off but at least we get out the house for a little while without having to pack up to go to the community pool! And just a little added thing, I have to say I have never felt this much heat. I'm from southern Louisiana so I definitely know about humidity and being hot but this actual heat coming from the sun and being reflected off of everything around you is just crazy. I will never get used to the wind burning my eyes because it's just so hot. And that is why even sitting in the shade with the fan going is still hot. And even though all the playgrounds on base are shaded, that is why I never take Owen out to play at them anymore lately. And so that is why this little time in the front yard is so enjoyed by the kids!

I love the faces Owen makes when he's concentrating on something...like these faces when he was splashing:

Swimming

2011-07-26T02:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks to daily temperatures usually over 110 (we've gotten up to 118 so far!), we've spent most of our summer at the pool! I've been taking the Flip with us a lot, but I never get around to posting the videos on here. I really wish I would have been sharing them, though, because it's so much fun watching Owen get better and better at swimming every time we go. I uploaded these videos to YouTube on June 23 so they were taken within a few days before that. I'll post more on here as I get them uploaded...he's come so far since these! And I'll have to get a video of Holland swimming without her floaty...she's obviously no where near Owen's level but she's really trying and wants to swim so badly!

Jordan's Catfish

2011-07-19T18:22:00.001-04:00

Jordan was so proud of this catfish he caught, that I thought I'd share some pictures.

This picture doesn't do it justice...it was really wide!

I think it came in around 40 pounds.

Jordan and his buddy cleaned it up and brought it to work to fry. They fed about 30 or so people with it!

Boys and Their Toys

2011-07-19T00:27:00.000-04:00

Owen was so excited to show me the new trick he and Jordan came up with..

Holland didn't care at all. She was content to sit on the porch and play with her stickers. I have a few adorable pictures of her doing that in her little dress and rain boots, but I didn't realize she was sitting "un-ladylike" until I looked at the pictures. Jordan deemed them inappropriate for the blog. I guess my little girl is not a baby anymore. :(
So here's a picture of a flower in my garden right next to where she was sitting.

She was having a yogurt snack. :)

Package from Grandma

2011-06-26T08:28:00.003-04:00

Jordan's parents took a cruise to Alaska a few weeks ago and came back with some goodies for the kids! They were so excited to get a package from Grandma!

This was a puzzle for Owen that Holland claimed. It's one of her favorite things to play with still!

Chocolate...she knows me well

An Eskimo for Holland.

A train whistle.

That's an ulu and cutting board set for me with a cookbook.

And Owen checking out Jordan's pocket ulu.

Thanks for thinking about us while you were on your trip! We love all the cool souvenirs!

Watch Out for Gaurdman

2011-06-25T10:24:00.003-04:00

"Do not do anything dangerous! Do not litter! That will hurt the...Earth!"

Disneyland Vacation: Beach

2011-06-24T07:26:00.000-04:00

We woke up the next day and headed down to San Diego to have some beach time. We were planning on spending two days there on the beach and maybe a third, but by the second day we were just so pooped and the kids were reaching their tired-from-no-naps-for-a-week limit! We ended up doing some shopping with my mom and brother that second day and then just heading home in time to have dinner in our own dining room.
A few pictures from our day at the beach...

My mom and I walked off to go change in the restroom and came back to Jordan burying Brett!

All Holland cared about were here cookies...

After he finally managed to make it out...

Between her Oreos and my mom's Good 'N Plenty, she was a mess! And she obviously still does her outside face.

Owen spent a good bit of his day catching sand fleas. Boys...

And that is all I have for pictures!
What an awesome vacation we had! The kids were amazingly well-behaved and cooperated with us so much. That in itself would have been great! I love the memories that were made and I hope Owen will always remember at least a little bit of our first family vacation.

Disneyland Vacation: Days 2 and 3

2011-06-23T07:35:00.003-04:00

One our second day of park visiting, we headed to Disney California Adventure!
Walking with Granny again! Our hands were pretty much forgotten during the trip...holding Granny's hand was the cool thing to do. So this was Holland running away from me...

to catch up to her.

Jordan and Brett went to ride some big people rides so my mom and I took the kids to the challenge trail. Their young, energetic selves loved all the climbing nets and bridges..my mom and I were struggling to keep up but somehow managed. :)

Such a sweet brother!

My mom and I totally misjudged the line for the Toy Story ride. We ended up waiting well over an hour which was a pretty big bummer, but oh well! The kids enjoyed watching Mr. Potato Head doing stand-up while we waited.

There most favorite part of the day was the Disney Junior Live show! Owen sang along and participated when he was feeling brave, but Holland was just so into it! She was dancing and singing and clapping and just having a good time!
Handy Manny

Little Einsteins

Jake and the Neverland Pirates

and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

As we were leaving that, we ran into Handy Manny! We only waited a few minutes and then the kids got to meet him!

Holland immediately hugged him and wouldn't let go! She was just in heaven! This was the best I could for a picture...Holland hugging Handy Manny and Owen still excited over the crepe paper he got from the Disney Junior Live show.

I was so surprised to see how sweet he was with Holland! There was a line and other kids waiting to meet him, but he never rushed Holland's hug. He was just patting her back and giving her love. I eventually had to pull her off and Handy Manny just started blowing her kisses when she was looking sad. So sweet! I didn't get that, but this was their final parting glances...

We then headed over to A Bug's Land and rode some of the kid rides. We all got to ride together in the snack box! Owen was scared so he had to make sure their buckle was done just right.

He wasn't too sure about that.

On Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.

And back at our hotel after a long, but fun day! Geez I love those kids!

The next morning we got up and ready for another day at Disneyland...we brought along Woody and Jessie today!

My mom wasn't with us that day so we didn't have any help (gasp!) so I didn't really get any pictures. But here were a few from our last few minutes in Disneyland!

Even though the parks were way more crowded than I ever imagined, we still had such a wonderful time! I always said I wanted to wait to take them to Disney until they were older, but I'm so glad living back on the west coast for a short while gave us the little push we needed to go to Disneyland while we're here. They're both at that age where everything was very magical to them and they were just in awe so often!

Disneyland Vacation: Day 1

2011-06-22T07:51:00.001-04:00

We finally took our first real family vacation last week! We've always used Jordan's off days to go to Louisiana to visit, but a look at the price of four plane tickets made our decision to just take a closer vacation instead pretty easy. We spent the first part of the week at Disneyland in Anaheim and then headed south to San Diego afterward for the beach! The kids had a blast and it was a wonderful (much needed!) break from the everyday for us. We were actually lying in bed one night, frustrated with the day, and talking about how we needed a vacation and by noon the next day Jordan had his leave request put in and our hotel and tickets were purchased! Talk about couldn't wait! The only reason we scheduled it for three weeks later was because I needed time to sew their outfits! Then the awesome bonus surprise was that Jordan had planned for my mom and younger brother to meet us at our hotel on our first day there...what a surprise! I was shaking for a good ten minutes when they showed up! Thanks for flying all the way across the country to come hang out with us on our vacation, Mom and Uncle Beau!
I forgot the battery charger for my camera and it was already running pretty low, so I didn't take very many pictures, and when I did, they were just really quick so I didn't get the best of pictures. It was a blessing in disguise, though, because I got to be truly in the moment with the kids rather than always looking through the camera. On the other hand, I had a fully charged video camera with a totally full memory and did not take one video. That does make me sad because I really wish we had videos! I was just too busy enjoying the moment to think about taking it out the bag. Oh well.
Pictures!
For the first day, we went to Disneyland and the kids were Tinkerbell and her tinker fairy friend, Bobble; although everyone kept calling Owen Peter Pan all day.

Walking with my mom!

The goggles were clearly not made to be worn over his eyes, but every now and then he would put them on. :)

Waiting in line...

All those were taken while waiting in line for the Finding Nemo submarine ride. Both kids loved this one!

A random marching band...

Disneyland was very crowded. Way more crowded than I could have ever imagined it would be. So we didn't see very many characters. The only one we actually waited for was Tinkerbell and that was so that I could get a picture of the kids in their outfits with her. Little did I know just how magical it is for the kids to meet their favorite characters! I wish the lines had not been so long so they could have gotten to meet more of them! But anyway, before meeting Tinkerbell, they got to meet Iridessa.

Waiting a little more to meet Tinkerbell...

As I said, everyone was calling Owen "Peter Pan" all day when he was actually Bobble. Jordan decided the real test of my costume making skills would be to see what Tinkerbell called him. Well, I have to say, both Iridessa and Tinkerbell called him Bobble and were actually talking to him as if he were Bobble! It was adorable!

And just a little video my mom took on her phone of the kids first seeing Tinkerbell. I'm so glad she thought to get this because it was one of Owen's favorite moments from the whole trip!

I was having trouble getting Owen to settle down and stop messing with Holland at bedtime in the hotel the night before this. I ended up promising him a treat the next day if I didn't hear him again. Sure enough, he was out in a few minutes and he was rewarded with this Haagen-Dazs ice cream cone in Downtown Disney!

What a great day!