Zoo Lights

A tradition we started last year was taking the kids to see Zoo Lights. The Phoenix Zoo has 2.5 million lights on display. The kids loved it. On the bridge they have a display set to music and the kids loved dancing to the music and watching the light show. We always start the evening out with dinner at In-N-Out Burger. I would have gotten a picture but the boys were crazy running around outside. Claire of course was a gem and sat and ate all her food. Love that little girl. Hopefully this baby girl will be just as sweet.

Happy Halloween

It been awhile. It's amazing how 3 kids and being pregnant consumes you! We had a great Halloween. We started it out with a church playgroup party at my house, then we had a mom club Halloween party, Hall of Flame fire museum party, trick or treating at the nursing home, then Charlie's school Halloween party and finally Halloween day we got to go trick or treating. I was pretty tired of dressing the kids up. Charlie was a SWAT guy, Jack was Fireman Sam, and Claire was Minnie Mouse. On Halloween day Charlie decided to be a Ninja turtle and Jack wanted to be Spiderman. Claire loved getting candy and would not let go of her bucket. The bucket even left litttle red indents in her arm.

Swim lessons

I put the boys in swimming lessons this summer. There is a mom in our ward who teaches lessons out of her pool and she is amazing! Charlie and Jack completed 4 weeks of lessons and Charlie is now swimming all by himself. Charlie could be in the pool all day. He loves to jump and get dive rings off the bottom of the pool. Jack hates the water and cried for the first week but Erin got him to go under water, jump in the pool, float on his back and swim a short distance. When we go swimming I can't get Jack to do all the things Erin taught him. Jack still prefers to play on the step but he will swim in deep water now with a floaties on.

Jack swimming

Circus

We went to the circus on Friday. Before the show started we were able to go and meet all the clowns, acrobats, and get up close to the animals. The boys loved it. Their favorite part was the clowns. They were laughing so hard. It was just Charlie's humor watching the clowns kick each other in the bottom and drop things on each others head (Don't worry I told him not to try this at home). Charlie even got to try on some of the costumes. I couldn't believe how heavy the costumes were. Jon works downtown so he was able to walk over and watch some of the show with us. The actual Circus was really loud and the boys weren't as into it. They were more excited about the snow cones and cotton candy. I don't blame them. It was a lot of fun. I got a babysitter for Claire since it was so close to nap time. The boys loved having mom and dad all to themselves. The especially loved going to Dad's office afterward. The secretaries give them tons of candy and just fuss over them. It was a great day! Charlie trying on costumes Jon and the boys Charlie and Jack cracking up at the clowns Acrobats Clowns

Happy Father's Day

We had a nice Father's Day. Charlie was so excited to give Jon a tie he had made. Jack got mad a tore up the tie he made but he picked out a some sour patch kids to give Jon instead. Claire has just started saying "Da" which just warms Jon's heart.

Jack was my little helper making apple pancakes with apple syrup for Dad's special breakfast


For dinner we had Luke and Lauren over and we grilled Salmon with brown sugar, lemon and onions and homemade potatoes and other yummy stuff Jon requested.


Jon we love you and think you are the best dad ever!!! Like Charlie always says "I just luv ya." Jack loved telling you Happy Father's Day all day.

wildlife Zoo

We went to the wildlife zoo with Charlie's preschool class. I have been wanting to go because you get to do so many hands on activities with the animals. They also have an aquarium with hands on exhibits like stingrays and sharks and some different types of coral and starfish.

Here is Jon, and the kids feeding the giraffes. Giraffes have 18" long tongues that work like hands. It was cool but theirs tongues are a little slimey.

Family picture in front of the Giraffe. Claire has become miss independant and wants to do everything herself and walk everywhere so she is not to happy to be held in this picture

This black panther exhibit had a cage above our heads and when we looked up the black panther had jumped at Jon. It was actually scary to have the animal up so close. The kids loved it!

Charlie was scared to feed the parrots at first but he overcame his fear! I was so proud of him. Jack was fearless and loved feeding the birds. Poor Claire tried grabbing one of the birds heads and got bit.

Jack feeding the birds

We took a break and played on the playground while we took kids to the bathroom. I thought Charlie looked so cute relaxing on the bridge.

Of course my little fireman Jack had to go down the firepole. I just love that kid!

Claire was thrilled to find a baby goat.

The boys touching the starfish and other aquirium life. This was a very fun trip and the kids had so much fun.

Jack's 3

Happy birthday Jack! I have taken forever to do this posting but life has been nuts with all the family visiting. I can't believe are little Jack is 3. Of course he wanted a fireman party complete with a firetruck cake. The party was great and the best part was that Grandma Sue and Grandpa Jeff where there. Jack got a fireman water gun backpack. I bought two so he and Charlie could have a squirt gun fights. They loved chasing grandma all over the yard squirting her as she screamed. They had the best time. So did my mom. Jack got a little bounce house and a bell and horn for his bike. He was so excited about the horn on his bike. I am sure our neighbors aren't as thrilled.

Things we love about our Jack.

1. He is one of a kind
2. Nobody giggles as loud or as long as Jack
3. He loves firemen and pretends to put out fires and shouts "Bow-Bam"
4. He has so much energy and if you try to chase him he will fall down with laughter before you even get him

5. He loves Charlie and always tells everybody in proud tone that he's Charlie's little brother

6. He is pure muscle and is so easy to toss
7. He loves his blankets which he calls His Blue and His Other One and then he will lay down with his Lighting Mcqueen cup and drink his milk
8. He loves to eat and will always come up to you and ask if he can have a bite. If he likes it he will tell us that it's yummy for him

9. He is always on his little spiderman scooter of his little trike.
10. He loves to put things in his pockets. Large items like a size D battery
11. He loves bells or horns or anything that makes noise
12. He adores his daddy doe and loves his momma

Jack we love you tons and are glad you are part of our family!!!!!

PenFed

This is my favorite credit union. I just had to share their awesome deals. They have car loans for 3.99% and an awesome visa platnium card with a 2.99% fixed rate on all balance transfers for the life of the balance. Here's the link you should check it out http://www.penfed.org You can use the card to transfer your student loans. It's a good way to refinance since no one is refinancing student loans.

Green Onion Eaters

We were out in the backyard playing tonight when Charlie stated, "I'm a carnivore." We talked about that briefly and then discussed that we are really omnivores because we also eat plants. Charlie thought that was interesting so he started walking around the yard, picking leaves off of the plants and eating them. "Look, I'm eating plants." Of course, Jack followed his lead.

Jon wasn't sure that was such a good idea, so he went inside to get some lettuce to feed to the boys as a safe leaf. He came out with two green onion stalks. Apparently we were out of lettuce.

"Look boys, these are green onions. They are safe plants to eat. Try it -- it's a little bit spicy."

So the boys both ate a stalk of green onion. And they went to bed smelling spicy.

3 stitches

Thursday after preschool I went to pick up a little pink table I got for Claire. While we were there Charlie found an awesome teenage mutant ninja turtle car for a $1 which he immediately began driving around the driveway. I was talking to the lady when Charlie runs up to me crying. I bend down to see what the fuss was about when I felt something wet on my leg. I looked down and I have a bunch of drips of blood on my leg. I look again at Charlie and notice his chin is bleeding. I looked closer and it was a huge gash. I immediately added pressure and the lady got me a wash cloth to hold over the wound. After a couple of minutes it stopped bleeding and I put gauze and band aid on it. Charlie was very upset. He was also tired and hungry so were Jack and Claire. I called our pediatrician and she said he would need stitches since it was on his chin. I decided to go home and feed the kids and put Jack and Claire to bed. When Jon got home I took Charlie to Urgent Care. They have a place here call Good Night Pediatrics so Charlie had a great pediatrician who put 3 stitches in his chin. Of course he had to bring his new ninja turtle truck with him. He drove it all the way into the clinic and then proceeded to tell the receptionist all about it. When the nurse came Charlie had her laughing as he was talking all about his toy. What a funny guy. He's hurt but so excited about his new toy. While we waited for the doctor Charlie had me playing battle with the turtles. Charlie was so brave. He only cried a little when they numbed him up. I would have too it looked so painful. I couldn't believe how still he sat as they were doing the stitches. What a brave little boy!
The wound. Which Charlie says happened by falling on the driveway. I didn't know that could happen from falling down.

The stitches

My brave little guy

Happy Easter

We had a busy Easter weekend. Friday we had tickets to Disney on Ice. The show was in downtown Phoenix right by Jon's work so we were able to park at his building and walk over. Charlie was thrilled to see Buzz Light year and the Incredibles. Jack was a little freaked out and made sure my arm was securely draped over his body like a seat belt. Claire was cranky but luckily fell asleep in my arms for most of the show.
Charlie and Jon having a great time. Notice Charlie's stitches. I will post about that next.

Syndrome captured Mickey and Minnie and the Incredibles save the day. Our favorite character was Fro zone. He looked exactly like the character.

After Disney on Ice I took Charlie to preschool for his second Easter Egg hunt and party. Saturday morning we went to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. It was raining early in the morning which was weird. It hasn't rained since november. I felt bad for the Easter Egg Hunt planners. Charlie loved grabbing up eggs. Notice the boys have their pirate Halloween buckets for the Easter Egg hunt. I had already done the Easter Baskets so this was what we had.

Charlie with proud of his full bucket of eggs

After this Easter Egg Hunt Charlie went to a birthday party and then came home and we celebrated Claire's birthday. Sunday after church we had some friends over and had another egg hunt in our backyard. Here is Claire finding an egg.

Claire in her Easter dress

Jack with his basket. He had his Buzz Light year costume on for most of the day.

We had Claire's ice cream cake for dessert
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It was a great Easter Holiday.

Happy Birthday Beauty

Claire eating her chocolate cake.

I can't believe it's already been a year! It went too fast. We are so happy to have Claire. She brings so much love and sweetness into our home. Charlie absolutely adores her. He was so excited to get a baby sister. Every morning when Claire wakes up Charlie runs into her room. I let him go in first to avoid a complete breakdown on his part. Charlie will put some toys in Claire's crib and then climb in. It's so cute I hear Claire laughing and Charlie being silly. Claire is now standing and taking a few steps. She loves to growl and say Ah. Her little personality is starting to show and we think she is silly. She loves to roll around on the floor until she runs into you upon which she expects you to tickle her. We are so happy she's in our lives. Happy 1st Birthday Claire!

Car show

One of the partner's from Jon's firm was in a car show last weekend so we thought we go and check it out. It was alot of fun. Jack was so cute following Jon all over the place. He was very interested in the cars. Charlie on the other hand was being silly and was running all over the field with his little buddy.

Jon and his little shadow Jack and Claire.

My favorite car the Cobra.


Our fun group


At the end all the cars lined up and drove past us. The boys loved waving and yelling at the cars. The announcer was lame. He would introduce the cars and say things like that's a nice car. Look at that paint job. It was funny.

Angels

I just met another mom from our ward who is the president of a mom's club out here. This mom's club is awesome. They do tons of field trips each month and other fun activities weekly. So this month we did a field trip to the Tempe Diablo Stadium. The boys thought this was pretty cool. It was fun watching the boys run all over the field and play imaginary baseball. At the end they all got hats that were a little to big but the boys looked adorable.

The boys in the press box


Standing in the lockers. They loved this.


Hanging out in the bleachers trying to get a group shot.


Claire enjoying the press box



The boys were popping the bubble wrapper from the hat box. It doesn't take much to entertain a bunch of boys.

Pool Day

We went up to Luke and Lauren's pool for the day two weekends ago. It was so much fun. There was a cabana and BBQ right by the pool. It doesn't get much better than good bbq, friends and swimming. Jack loved running around the pool with a soccer ball and the occasional hot tub swim. Charlie dived in the pool and swam all over the place. Claire slept through the whole thing so I actually was able to swim and spend some time with everyone. Gotta love Arizona in March.

The boys in the hot tub. Jack's favorite spot.

Grilling by the pool. Lauren makes some good burgers!

Hanging out by the waterfalls.