Animal Kingdom - Day 2

This might have been my favorite day at Disney. I really enjoyed the safari ride and all the shows we saw at Animal Kingdom - The Lion King, Nemo and It's Tough to be A Bug. I also enjoyed meeting the characters at Camp Mickey on the character trails. For some reason, it wasn't crowded at all and there were no lines!

Disney Vacation - Travel Day/Day 1

Well we made it to Orlando yesterday with four kids three and under with no problems. After one of the most painful rental car experiences ever, we had made it on the road for the thirty minute journey to our rental house TWO HOURS after landing! I thought we were all going to kill each other - oh and we had missed nap time too - bad idea. We finally made it and absolutely love our house. After a trip to the grocery store we came home with the biggest mound of groceries I have ever seen - we just relaxed and let the kids make pizzas for us for dinner.

This morning we woke up, made the kids breakfast and could not keep them from the pool any longer! Even though we have a pool in our back yard, we walked the kids up to the neighborhood pool to check it out. It was a zero entry pool so the really enjoyed splashing around there for a couple of hours before we were all spa shed out and needed to head back to the house for lunch. We convinced the kids to lay down for their naps promising them that they would see Mickey tonight! Our plan is to go to dinner at Chef Mickeys tonight for our first Disney experience as the kickoff to this action-packed week!

Fall Update

I feel like I have been so busy the last month, that time has just got away from me. I wish that I could post more often, but usually I opt for sleep. Hope you guys enjoyed the recent pictures of the boys. They are growing so fast and are the best kids ever. They had their 3 year and 19 month checkup (we were a little late so that the appointment could be the same day) on August 26th. They both were doing great with their growing and skills.

The doctor was impressed with Evan's speaking skills, I still think Tim and I are the only ones that can understand him, but he sure does have a lot to say and he says it with passion. He also loves to point his finger to let you know he is serious. He also has mastered the skill of climbing out of his crib (which my little Angel Alex NEVER did before we moved him to his big boy bed). He doesn't do it all the time, but this is something that we didn't want to happen so soon! We think he will be a breeze to potty train, since he is so interested in Alex potty training. He still tries to go to the bathroom everytime Alex does and he sits on the stool and goes "potty" himself. He also pees on cue when asked, this is not a good thing, since he has had his diaper off in front of the potty a couple times and just pees in the floor. Oh well, I think he will get it when the time is right. It would be nice to not have to change diapers for awhile though! Evan is just 2 1/2 inches shorter than Alex - which is crazy! He is 95 percentile in height, doesn't get it from me. He is still just average weight... He can name all his body parts and count to at least 10 (thanks to Mary's time out routine). He has been in time out a lot over the past few weeks, mainly because he takes his clothes off at naptime and laughs histerically, again, doesn't get this from me. Overall he is a good boy!

Alex has also grown up so much in the past few months. We are so proud of him for his potty training - since May, he has done great. No accidents in public YET - he must have a bladder of steel. He also rarely wears a pull-up at nap/bedtime. The doctor said this is great for him to be able to do that. We are still working on getting him to use a "grown-up" potty, for now he will only go in the frog potty. Oh well, I will take it. The doctor also informed me that I may be pushing him a little too hard when I told her we were working with him to write his name - whoops, I will have to get on Mary for that one. He also has taken a great interest in spelling and asks me how to spell everything. He is getting good at trying to figure out how things are spelled by the sounds of the letters. In his spare time, he watches Toy Story 1 & 2, Cars, The Lion King, The Lorax or Green Eggs in Ham. He loves Buzz Lightyear and even though I really wanted to dress them up as Star Wars characters for Halloween, I might just have to do Buzz and Woody - it is time appropriate and so trendy right now... Alex has also mastered jumping off every piece of furniture or really anything that gives him height - his favorite jump is from the ottaman to the couch. Then of course Evan tries it and falls flat on his face. Great example to set for your younger brother - Alex! Alex is a great big brother to Evan and has made progress in the area of sharing and tattle-telling vs. taking matters into his own hands (i.e. biting/pinching Evan when Evan takes a toy away). Never a dull moment at our house!

We are all preparing for this busy fall we have coming up that I am SO excited about. We have Disney in mid-October, with Krista's wedding kicking off the month of November. Throw in a couple fun weekend trips, not-so-fun work trips for both Tim and myself AND my busiest deadline of the year, and we are to mid-November - just in time to start the Holiday Season (my favorite time of the year). I plan on taking three weeks off between now and the end of the year, so I am definitely looking forward to spending time with Tim and the boys and as many friends and family as possible!

Hope you enjoy the new pictures and I will do a better job of posting more regularly :)

Oktoberfest 2010

We went down to Oktoberfest again this year with the Reckman's and had good time. Got a few good pictures of the kids too... The were mesmerized by the German band! Notice how Mackenzie and Katie both smile sweetly for the camera and Alex and Evan glare at me.

Driving Daddy's Car

Although Tim and I hate when they do it - the boys love to "drive" their cars. Alex gets to actually drive and Evan is the passenger. At least Evan knows he has to wear his seat belt. They push every button and we usually don't fix it all and leave the hazard lights on and realize it later...

Wiggles!

For Alex's birthday present - Cioci Mary Beth and Uncle Brian got us Wiggles tickets! The boys loved it and were drawn in from the very beggining - they didn't know what to think of grown men dancing around with ballerina's and dinosaurs! We had a great time!

Rainy day on the porch

Michael left his umbrella at our house and Alex was obsessed with it. One Saturday morning, it started to rain, so we went outside on the porch and let the boys play. I did change these pictures to black and white, only because I was embarassed that Alex had on pink pants, that he borrowed from Mary's. Not only were they pink, they were capri's. These pictures also show just how badly the boys needed a haircut. They hadn't had haircuts since June!

Alex & Evan with their cousins

Alex and Evan loves their little cousins, especially Evan. I had to steal Lauren's picture of all four of them together and th

Bathtime these days...

Alex and Evan enjoy bathtime, but Tim and I do not. They love to splash us and make a huge mess. They also love to drink the water, that I am sure Evan pees in. We color the water with the color pellets. Alex's favorite color is of course pink. As you can see, we are so lucky that Evan hasn't figured out that he is actually restrained in his bath seat - without this little contraption - bathtime would be that much more painful...

Lilly and Di - They are already 6 months old!

Lilly and Diana are so precious and just the best babies in the world. It is hard to believe they are 6 months old! We had the girls as houseguests for Alex's birthday weekend and they were little angels! It is getting harder for me to tell them apart, so thankfully Lauren had the cute bloomers on them with their names on them! Thank you Matt and Lauren for making the trip to Cincinnati and sharing them with all of us! Can't wait to see them again soon!

Alex's Birthday Party Pictures