Project Life, Week 23

Now that my scrapbook room is put back together, I’m back to working on my project life album. I’m way behind again, but I’m feeling like I’ll be able to get it up to date pretty quickly; the hard part for me is choosing the pictures.

Visiting Chuck

A few weeks ago, while we were on vacation, Tony and I decided to take the two littlest kids to Chuck E. Cheese. We’d just had one too many days stuck inside due to the rain and we felt like the babies needed something new to do, so off we went.

They’re both still a little young for the whole thing, but they did have fun.

Dakota was game for anything. She wasn’t afraid of any ride in the place. She just thought the whole thing was awesome!

Harper, on the other hand, wasn’t as sure about the rides as she was. He was just a little nervous when the the seat started to rumble beneath him…just look at that worried face!

After riding all the little kid rides and climbing around in the tunnels, we had some pizza and headed back to Meme and Papa’s house. I wish there were more tunnels and climbing activities instead of all the games (half of which are never working) but it was still an okay way to spend a couple hours.

Fishing

My parent’s live right off a lake in South Carolina.

It’s nice for the kids to be able to just walk down to the dock and fish whenever they want. Usually it’s just the three boys (and my brother) that go down to fish, but this trip Zoe joined them.

I kept trying to get down to the dock to get pictures at dusk, but almost every night it was either raining or overcast or I was late getting Kota to bed. But, one night, I did make it…and boy I love these next few pictures!

That’s my brother down there.

This one is Landon casting his line.

I love the vibrant green(s) in the photo below, and the way the grasses are reflecting in the water.

While fishing isn’t my thing, I can certainly see it’s appeal. It’s very peaceful and calming out there. I can see how it’d be a good place to think and reflect and work things through.

But, the thought of touching fish just grosses me out, so I’ll just keep taking pictures. ;)

Lanny’s 12th

I was a week late in posting about Dakota’s first birthday and I’m feeling quite guilty about that, but I didn’t want to make things worse by waiting to post about Landon’s day, so here it is.

Landon had his birthday party at the beginning of June, so today was just a small family affair. He had to go to Huntington this morning for his regular tutoring session, but other than that, the day was his to do as he wanted, which means he spent the afternoon playing Mine Craft. :)

I asked him what he’d like to have for dinner and he chose Noodles and Company. He just loves to go there and get a big bowl of buttered noodles…such a Landon thing. Since he’s not a huge cake fan, I let him decide which cake he’d like. He ended up choosing a Cookies and Cream cake that I’ve made a few times before…and man was it delicious!

He got a couple nice gifts and that was about it, until the phone started ringing off the hook!

First my sister called to wish him a Happy Birthday. No sooner had they hung up and the phone rang again and it was Uncle Kyle. Just after speaking with him, Papa called, then Jaron and finally Meme. Landon was just beaming! He said he thought it was really nice of them to call him to wish him a happy day. The icing on the cake though (haha) had to be when the phone rang one final time and we could hear all the dogs barking in the background! How many people can say that they were wished a special day by 5 barking dogs?! Not many!

One more year until we reach the teen years. Unbelievable. I sure hope this boy knows how much he’s loved. He is crazy funny and terribly sweet and he holds a very special place in my heart.

I love you, kiddo. Happy Birthday.

She’s One!

A week ago today, our little Kota bear turned one.

ONE!

It is simultaneously awesome and depressing. I know that she’s my last  baby so that’s the depressing part…the awesome part is, well everything else. I feel like the last year has been one of the longest of my life; having two little kids at once is W-A-Y harder than having one at a time!

 

Koko is incredibly independent, feisty and quirky. She makes us laugh with her silly antics and keeps us on our toes. She’s learning how to defend herself when Harper tries to pick on her and she’s also learned how to get what she wants by looking at her daddy or me and giving us the crocodile tears. She knows that her big blue eyes and soft blonde curls melt us…she’s completely dangerous. 

She’s right on the brink of walking. She can take several steps and even turn around before falling and I know she’ll be full on running before we know it. She’s still got four teeth on top and three on bottom, but she seems to be cutting tooth number eight now. She’s still LOUD and babbles a ton, but she’s also starting to take more interest in words and communication. She knows how to tell me “all-done” in sign language and she’s also signed “more” once or twice. Her favorite thing to do these days is play outside in the water. She loves the water table, swimming pool and sprinkler(s) alike. She’s still somewhat difficult to feed and seems to be pretty picky, but she is eating more and more table food. I’m hoping we’ll be done with bottles sometime in the near future, but knowing this will be the last baby I feed by bottle and rock to sleep makes me less anxious for that to end.

 

I’m really looking forward to watching this little beauty grow and learn. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly it all goes…

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl.

When It Rains

While the weather outside was dreary we managed to find things to do inside. Zoe decided she was going to draw a summer scene on Meme’s chalkboard, and after 3 days, it was complete.

It turned out pretty cool, huh?

Harper discovered the doggy door that led outside and he was happy to go in and out for awhile. He also enjoyed “decorating” Buddy while he was asleep…Buddy didn’t seem to mind either.

Kota was happiest when we took her outside (no surprise there) and we spent many hours outside on the front porch swinging. She also got comfortable with the dogs and even thought Caesar made a good chair…and Caesar didn’t even seem to notice.

Landon, Zoe, Brandon and Jaron spent a lot of time together. They played video games, watched movies, went fishing and shopping (when there was a break in the rain) and really enjoyed each other’s company. It’s so nice that no matter how long between visits the kids are always so happy to see each other and things just fall into place.

Pool Party @ Meme and Papa’s

When we got to Meme and Papa’s house on Saturday, we found everyone outside working on the yard. It was pretty hot out so after unloading our stuff and saying our hello’s we all headed out to the pool.

We had only been there for a couple of hours when Brandon and Zoe showed up. They quickly dumped their stuff in the house and joined us in the pool.

Everyone had to work really hard to win over Dakota since she didn’t remember any of them. It didn’t take long for her to warm up to Kyle though and he was able to hold her long enough for me to get a picture.

Mom made friends with her by playing the “thank you” game.

It’s really a good thing we all went out that first day we were there because we ended up having the rainiest week in history. It rained nearly every day, and sometimes it was an all day event. There were more opportunities to swim but often it’d only be about half an hour or so and we’d hear thunder. We’d wait for the storm to pass, jump in and get used to the water only to again hear thunder. It was maddening!

On the Way to SC

We left for vacation this past Friday. It was probably one of the most miserable trips we’ve ever had as far as driving and traffic were concerned. We hit traffic from our house to well past Richmond and our 4 1/2 hour drive turned into an agonizing trip that lasted for about 6 1/2 hours.

Harper and Landon did wonderful on the trip. They watched movies or played games on the iPad or iPod and were generally pretty happy the whole way. Dakota, on the other hand, was miserable. She cried and cried for much of the drive. I got so tired of her crying that I resorted to taking her out of her car seat for periods of time just to get some peace. She was happy out of her seat but I felt terrible taking her out and risking her life as we flew down the highway. I’d let her out for a little bit to calm down then end up putting her back in her seat where she’d almost immediately start crying again. It was awful and everyone’s nerves were on end.

After what seemed an eternity we finally arrived at the hotel. The kids were so excited to be out of the car! This was the two littlest one’s first time in a hotel so it was a whole new adventure for them. Harper discovered the mirrored closet and it was instantly a game for him and Dakota to go in and out…they spent a solid 20 minutes playing in there while we unloaded the van and got our stuff situated.

Harper and Dakota playing in the hotel closet.

Our room overlooked the hotel pool and we decided we’d take the kids out to swim a bit before dinner. We were only out there for about 20 minutes when Landon and I heard thunder; it ended up being a crazy, wicked storm.

We were glad that we’d gotten out there as soon as we had but we sure could have used a little longer. Once we got back in our room we thought it we’d better figure out what we were going to have for dinner. Tony and I thought room service sounded like the best idea since it meant staying in the room where the kids could play. We were a bit surprised when we ordered 4 sandwiches and the bill was over $60, but I felt like it was still better than trying to sit in a restaurant with 3 cranky kids!

Tony took the two little ones out in the hallway to run/crawl around while Landon and I waited for dinner to get there. We were watching something or another on my phone and that somehow turned into taking pictures…

After dinner and the storm, we considered going back outside to play in the pool but ultimately decided it was best to just hang out inside and rest. It sure was beautiful out there though.

I was dreading the task of putting Dakota to bed since it was so out of the norm for her, but it went as well as it possibly could. She had her bath and bottle and immediately fell asleep. She even slept through the night without any problem and Tony and I couldn’t have been happier! The boys shared a pull out couch and that too went well.

As much as we were all dreading the next day of driving, I’m so glad we decided to do only half way the first day. It was fun to give the kids a bit of an “experience” on the way down, even if it was only to stay in a hotel and order room service!

*I should mention that Zoe and Brandon didn’t leave on Friday with us because they both had to work. The two of them got up bright and early on Saturday morning to make the drive down.

Project Life (Weeks 18-22)

=Week 18:

Week 19:

Week 20:

Week 21:

Week 22:

Project Life (Weeks 13-17)

I’ve actually been keeping up with my project life album, for the most part. It took me a little bit to figure out how I was going to go about putting this album together, but I think I’ve got a good groove going now.

I’m just about caught up to the current week and realized that I haven’t posted a good portion of my finished pages…so, here are weeks 13-17.

Week 13:

Week 14:

Week 15:

Week 16:

Week 17: