little loves

Skyler:

• when I say "kisses" he opens wide and eats my face!  But, they are his kisses and love them
• when he gets his blanket, he nuzzles his nose into it, reminds me of a puppy
• his love for Baby Einstein - we've had a few rough nights recently (teething/ear infections) and it's the one thing that calms him down.  Not mommy, not daddy, but Baby Einstein is like glue
• I'm trying to teach him to go down the stairs.  The other day he went to the top of the stairs (I was waiting just below the first few steps) and kept laying on his tummy and trying to scoot backwards - but he ends up going down the hall, rather than down the stairs.  We're working on the "turn-around" part.

Danny:

• is constantly singing.  ALWAYS singing something.  His favorites are usually 1 liners from songs we'll sing together such as:

I will go, I will do!  The things the Lord "ommands" (commands) He wants me to obey! 

Frosty the Snowman, was a happy, single man.  (LOL!)

"Let's Play Music" is a class we're doing together and he'll break out in song and exclaim, did you hear that "Mi, Re, Do?"  I did!  (I love that)

• "best day ever"  vs "I hate my family"  I don't know how or why he has come up with this "hate my family bit," but he knows that it absolutely hurts my feelings and this is what he says when he's angry - which does happen often.  :-( 
• socks and shoes don't stay on this kid either.  So we have shoes in the car, and socks constantly in the family room, it seems to be a race to get them off his feet after an outing!

Cole:

• Pickle Juice - weird right?  This kid won't try chicken dinners, but he'll drink my pickle juice before we eat the pickles?!?!  
• LOVES to play with Skyler, and honestly does a great job too.  If I need help during lessons, he's my "go-to"
• I've noticed a new laugh from this kid, sounds just like my brother's laugh - I didn't know that laugh's were genetically passed along

Hunter:

• It's tough to be the oldest kid - the most responsibilities, the most mistakes made by parents, and he's such a great kid despite all of that!
• chips/salsa or a bowl of cereal.  Those are the "treats" to have on hand, and then he's a happy camper
• the drawings and artwork he does is amazing  
• such a busy and talented kid - piano, choir, chess club, cub scouts, homework, and finds time for friends and video games too.
• tells me that when he grows up he wants to have 2 or 3 jobs, so he can earn even more money.  He wants to be rich, so why wouldn't he do more than 1 job?  I asked, what if they want all your time at one job?  He replied, I'll just let them know that I'm only available for a certain amount of time because he has other jobs! 

Favorites

I meant to include this tidbit in my recent post about vacation:

Favorite Part of the Cruise:
Hunter: Buffets and room-service and dodging huge waves, and snorkeling.  He loved the fish, the coral reef and he seemed to go to another earth
Cole:  Swimming pools, room-service, snorkeling, and finding a sand dollar
Danny: playing
Mommy: no dishes or cleaning to do (that's a true vacation), snorkeling, and just being with family
Daddy: ??

Favorite Foods on the Cruise:
Hunter: Shrimp cocktails, croissants, ice cream for breakfast
Cole: Ham, hashbrowns, fried shrimp, crescent rolls, and ice cream
Danny: mini cereal boxes & ice cream
Mommy: sherbet every night
Daddy: Chocolate Melted Cake
(PS yes, I let them eat ice cream at breakfast.  Like I said before, I didn't pester them about any of their food choices)

Favorite Part of Universal/Islands:
Hunter: Simpsons Ride, Hollywood Rocket, and that Julia loved him (his cousin)
Cole: Harry Potter, Spiderman, Simpsons, and the Mummy all tied.
Danny: Spiderman and the Simpsons
Mommy: Harry Potter area and getting to hang out with Lara
Daddy:  Simpsons, Harry Potter, & Spiderman

VACATION!!

Yes, we splurged.  Yes, we did the unthinkable - a cruise with 4 kids.  Yes, Grandma and Grandpa came to keep the adult/kid ratio in control!  And yes, we had a FABULOUS time.  I have over 250 pictures, and I still need to get more pictures from Lara and Grandpa - but here's what I captured on our AMAZING get-away. 

The procession, from one place to the next - we are quite a troop.

Checking out the city that floats - Cole was smiling until I pulled out the camera.

See that Disney cruise over there, yeah....  that wasn't ours.

Our boat did have a water splash pad and water slides though!

We also found a hot tub - look at all those cute boys!!  I'm so LUCKY!  

Our living quarters - Shayne and I had Skyler and Danny with us.  Grandma/Grandpa had Hunter/Cole stay with them.  It was cozy - but doable!

Our first port was Freeport, Bahamas.  It was suprisingly a very dry, desert (rather ugly) port.  I was surprised.  We took a cab to "Paradise Beach" which was a slot of land that someone decided to call paradise and charge every person $3 for going there!  The beach wasn't impressive, but the snorkeling turned out to be a big success!  Shayne, Cheryl, and I went out first (Grandpa was happy to keep Skyler happy in the shade) - we saw amazing fish, coral, plants and then I saw a HUGE stingray!  I thought it was a stingray - but it didn't have a pancake flat nose - it was deep.  So we decided it must have been a manta ray - but when I look up images of manta rays, it doesn't match.  Whatever it was, it was HUGE, and a HUGE tail too.  Just swimming around and around.  I also found a couple turtles - but they saw away rather quickly.  Shayne took Hunter and Cole out snorkeling next, and they found some turtles too - but they swam with them and even got to touch them.  That experience was definitely a highlight for the boys!

Hunter made this sculpture

Danny, Grandma, and I went exploring along the shore line.  There were HUGE conch shells everywhere - and we got to see the creatures that live in them - reminds me of a bat, snail, and crab all in one.  It was WEIRD!!!

Danny is holding a sand-dollar, and that creature is trying to get away from him!

Look at that beautiful couple!

The gang and our boat in the background.

Our next port was Nasau, Bahamas.  This is the same place where "Atlantis" resort sits - and it was a beautiful place.  Much more of what I expected to see on this trip!  We took a taxi to the beach by Atlantis and spent the day enjoying the waves, sand, and even the seagulls.

Back on the ship, they had activities for kids and Danny LOVED his "class."  Every night he'd come back with painting on his face and prizes.  They had great employees in the kid area.

Now about the food, the best part of the cruise is definitely the eating, and eating, and eating.  The fancy dinner at night always provided opportunities to order 2 or more entrees and plenty of desserts too.  Hunter regularly ordered 2 shrimp cocktails every night - his favorite!  Here Cole is eating 3 different dinners - during this week, they never heard Mommy say "eat your dinner."  I figured they'd eat if they were hungry and I didn't have to prepare it - so it was my vacation too.

Hunter is too full to even touch tonight's meal.

After our cruise, we went straight to Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure.  We love this park and we were SO excited to take our family there!  Shayne and I had been there in 2004, and the newest addition is the Harry Potter section.  It was AWESOME - seriously, awesome.  Hogsmeade was perfect - in every detail.  The Harry Potter Broom ride (not sure of its technical name) was a blast.  And the line to get on the ride, takes you through the castle - I should have had a camera with me to snap photos on our way in, I'm positive I missed more than half of it.  

Hey, look who showed up in Hogsmeade!!  My sis and her fam!  What are the chances?!?!  

I should frame this, ALL FOUR ARE SMILING AT THE SAME TIME!!!

If you look through my 200+ photos with me, you'll see that Hunter and Cole are CONSTANTLY doing bunny ears - ugh.  CONSTANTLY.  Well, Spongebob got Cole back - love it.

Our family favorite - the Simpson's ride.

During the parade, MANY of the dancers stopped to talk with pretty Julia and Skyler too -yeah, we think our babies are cute too.

Cole enjoying a Butterbeer (Harry Potter specialty)

Shayne is helping Danny grow a couple inches here - to go on a water ride.  He made it!  Thanks to napkins and long pants covering up the raised ankles!

We all wanted a stroller to do this...

We couldn't have done all the rides without the amazing help of Grandpa - he did not want to do the rollercoaster rides, but was more than willing to stay with babies in strollers and sometimes, even the 4year old.  We LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa with us - everything is twice as much fun with them around.  And we loved having Aunt La-La and Uncle Greg meeting us there too!  They were soooo willing to do what the masses (kids) wanted to do and we led the gang around and around those parks till our feet fell off!  

Now for a vacation from the vacation....

tis the season...

Zombie Run, 2012

Halloween Party 2012

The highlight of the party was when Shayne was explaining the games and that there were $10 gift certificates for the winners.  Immediately, Greg hollers, "Shayne are these just $10 coupons?"  

I'm amazed that both Shayne and I kept a straight face for the next hour knowing very well that he had clipped $10 off coupons for the "prizes."  Shayne is the one who keeps us laughing and having fun - I'm so lucky!!  Happy Halloween!