The Fair

I know I missed blogging about Zack's birthdy but I'm waiting to get some pics from a few people before I do:)

So, in the mean time, last night was the 1st time we went to the Fair as a family and we had a great time!!! Several things happened that made for an eventful evening, for example:

Rick and I had discussed weather we would say Zack was 4 or 3 at the ticket booth since 3 and under got in free. I told Rick I would rather tell the truth infront of Zack than tell a lie, he seemed to agree. We got to the ticket counter and the lady pointed to Zack and asked,

"Is he 3?"
Rick quickly answered, "Yes."
The ticket lady continued, "Well, 3 and under are free!"
Us sounding surprised, "No way! Really? Tha's great!"
(There goes the not whole let's not lie infront of Zack thought)

As we are walking to the entrance to hand off our tickets I have a little chat with Zack that went as followed:

"Zack you're 3 ok?"
"No, Mommy, I'm 4!"
"No, baby, you're 3!" Trying to sound as excited as possible, "You'll be 4 on Saturday!!"
Zack hangs his head down and with disgust says: "Awww, man! I gotta be 3 years old, AGAIN?"

It took all I had not to bust out laughing to loudly. Thankfully, no one asked Zack about his age and we proceded to enter the Fair feeling a little guilty.

Zack was super excited about the lights and music and all the rides. Much to our surprise he actually wanted to RIDE them!!! For those of you who know how cautious Zack usually is, you fully understand the utter shock I had! We went and checked out the Photo exhibit 1st (I had a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbon hanging. Nothing very exciting for me) and let Zack go to town! What was the 1st ting he wanted to go on??? "The circle!" 4 year old translation, The Ferris Wheel!!! Here they are in Zack's 1st ride in the yellow car:




Evan has been under the weather a bit lately and was completely content in his stroller so we let him sit the rides out. He didn't mind!

After that, Zack was off and running! He held Rick's hand and literally dragged him behind as Zack lead the way!



He went on a little kiddie roller coaster and then I ran him over with the stroller. No, I'm not kidding. As he skipped down the walkway (hanging on to Daddy with one hand, juice in the other) I, being the wonderful parent that I am, got too close to him with the stroller and caught his heel on the front of it which caused him to fly forward tossing his juice and scraping his knee and elbow! I know, Mother of the Year right here! As Rick puts it, I tortured him by taking him to the music stage where a country group was playing. We sat a rocked for a while to try and calm him down and a unexpected bonus, the music was so loud it completely drowned out the crying! I sent Rick off to go buy a bottle of water and get some napkins so I could rinse off his scrapes. Five minutes later he returns with the water, napkins and a three foot long corn dog!



Crisis averted, we pressed on to Zack's favorite ride, "The horsey" or as we may know it, The Carousel." I got a TON of pics of this one as I found it fun to play with the shutter speed and lights.

Next we went on to play his 1st Carnival game and he was awarded his first prize:


An Ice cream cone and a fried twinky later and we headed home:) All in all a FUN night and Zack's been asking me all day today if he can go to the Fair again! I think Disney World is going to be so much fun!! Four weeks to go!!! Horray!!!

~Dillon~

So we took our 1st official "vacation" with two kids last week:) I have family in South Carolina who had never met Rick or the boys and we figured we needed to make it up that way before we left the country next year!! It took me about a week to get everything together for everyone. Rick teased me about be over prepared but I'd much rather be that than under prepared!!!

We got up at 5:30am (yes, me) and got the car packed up before waking the kids. Our idea was to give them their drinks to take in the car and eat breakfast on the road. We left the house about 7:30am, an hour into our 12 hour drive, however, we hit a speed bump. Evan got sick!!! We pulled over and assessed the situation. He didn't have a fever and once I got him cleaned and his clothes changed he was acting just fine. We decided to press on. About a half hour after our 1st delay, it happened again! Ughh!! All I could think was that we needed to go home and forget the remaining 10 hours we had to go. After talking to my Aunt and Mom I decided to see if I could find some children's Dramamine. We found a drug store and waited about 30 minutes for the meds to kick in. (I gave Zack some too for an extra precaution) It was about 10:30 by the time we hit the road again. Thirty minutes later I turn around and they are BOTH ASLEEP!!! I grabbed the Dramamine box and read the words, "May cause drowsiness." Hooray!!! I had no idea:)

The rest of the trip went off without a hitch! We stayed at my Aunt's house for a few nights and then my cousins a few nights. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and inviting to the chaos that we always bring with us:) We visited my Granny Ruth in her nursing home three times while we were there. She had NO idea we were coming (I wanted to keep it a surprise) and it was so great to see her smiling!! Watching her watch her Great Grand kids playing was something I've been wanting to see for a long time and it's a memory that I will forever cherish. Zack introduced her to ALL of his Cars characters.

On Monday, we went to the Aquarium in Myrtle Beach with my Aunt Kathy, Cousin Chris and Kathy's grandson Hank. Zack was in HEAVEN!!! They had an underwater tunnel that you went through on a conveyor belt. Photographing was difficult to say the least since it's low light and also a moving object....while you're moving too! All I had was my point and shoot camera since we were hauling a diaper bag with us. These were the best I got:

This one is my favorite that I got of Zack while we were there!! I was trying to get just a pic of him looking at the fish being fed and the diver drifted into the picture at just the right time:) It was a complete accident but is still really cool!!! I love that she's upside down too!!!

Here's my favorite shot of Evan watching the fish being fed. He too was amazed by the diver!

Well, I guess that's it for now~

I ♥ Faces ~Kids Entry week 29

So I put in an adult entry this week and I've just realized that you can also enter a kids picture as well in a seperate category:) This makes me very happy!!!! This was the "other" picture that I was debating between. It's a pic I took of my two boys last fall and I love everything about it; their smiles, the sand, the warm colors due to the setting sun....Everything!! Plus I get to show off my babies:) I had a HUGE copy of this on matted and framed! This was one of the most difficult images I've ever had to capture with two little ones under the age of 3 at the beach:)

Don't forget to head over to the I ♥ Faces blog @ http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ to check out all the amazing entries for the week! Enjoy~

I ♥ Faces~ Week 29

Yep! I did it again:) Head on over to see the weeks submissions for "At the Beach." Not sure if my entry really fits what they were looking for but it's one of my favorites. I was debating between that one and my favorite of Zack and Evan together but the one I entered was unique compared to the other entries, so long as they don't calassify it as not "family friendly" enough. I guess we'll find out:) Click the button below....I'm entry #214 this week:)

~Eat, Play and Paint~

So today has been a fun day! The boys are always doing things that I think are adorable...I'm their mommy, EVERYTHING is adorable:) Anyway, I'm working in the office this morning and Zack comes running in saying, "Mommy! Evan's in the bathroom!" This usually means that the toilet seat is up and toys are going in. NOT PRETTY! I run in to stop him and this is what I find:



Hmmm......I can think of worse things for him to be doing!! You can see in one of the pics the drawer that has been pulled open to get his tooth brush out. TOO CUTE!

So I told the boys that after breakfast this morning we could pull out the paints and paint at the table. Zack was very careful where his paint went and tried so hard to make sure it did not mix in the holder. Evan on the other hand was really only interested in mixing up all his paint colors and making a bloody mess, notice the lack of shirt. I remember people saying that your kids will have totally opposite personalities but mine really hold true to that! Anyway, here are some pics from my little Picasso's!

As you can see, Prowler and Lady were thrilled with the day's festivities:) At least they've both learned the command, "Out of the kitchen!" :)

The joys of a home studio!

So.....every time I have people ask for studio shoots, I try to schedule them all on the same day. Setting up and breaking down all of the stands, lights and backdrops takes several hours and it's just easier to condense it all into one or two days. So, every time I have studio sessions, I always try to throw the boys into it too. You'd think that I'd be taking amazing pictures of my kids all the time but no....I wait to take theirs at the mercy of others. I have a feeling they will probably be thanking me later in life because of this:)

Anyway, my last attempt of a studio shoot with the boys was funny and challenging at the same time. Rick was trying to help, like he usually does, but it always just turns into a big mess...lol!! Anyway, here's a few of the ones that I did get to turn out ok. In case you don't know, I'm obsessed with black and white photography! I can't help it, I love the classic look of it:) Enjoy!

Well, like I said, I did my best:) It was entertaining to say the least! Ohh well, better luck next time!

I ♥ Faces

So I entered my first pic into the weekly I ♥ Faces blog contest. I am #25 on the entry list and it is GROWING like crazy!! I am so in love with this idea of sharing images with all types of other photographers based on a weekly theme. If you haven't seen this blog...go check it out!!! Along with my entry of course:) Check out some of the others too! Good times, Good times!!

http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

~Kids Cuts~

So this last week both of the boys got haircuts:) Zack is an old pro and has been getting his hair cut since he was 6 months old (the boy had a ton of hair then) but Evan on the other hand got his first hair cut which was HUGE for me!!! I was so afraid that his curls would disappear after he got a trim which is the only real connection appearance wise he has with me. I took Zack to his usual "walk in" hair place and we walked down to get ice cream afterwards like we always do. Here are a few pics of his little adventure:

Yes, I know his hair was WAY too long but he was so young too!!! 6 months old!

Zack's first Haircut 4/28/06

My Zackaroo after his most recent cut last week:)

We took Evan to Emerald Cut's hair salon to get this 1st hair cut. The girl who cut his hair, Angie, has been cutting my hair since I was 14. I was so glad she was the one who cut his hair for me:) I don't know why I was so emotional about it all but we made it through..haha! Here's a few pics to prove it.

Evan enjoying his juice after Zack's hair cut. He doesn't like ice cream....go figure!

Before

During- He did so great!

After:) He STILL has CURLS!!!

YEAH!!!!!! Forgive the quality of the images here....Rick had the camera...LOL!!

~Will they have children now?!~

We had two sets of visitors back in June:) Rachel, my college room mate was here first and spent a week with us. I am still trying to recover from our late night chats and am missing her terribly but I promise to make a me only trip to Miami to see her before we move to Japan next year. Zack and Evan totally loved all the attention they got from Miss Rachel, but I'm not so sure she felt the same:) There is a great deal of amusement in watching the "childless" interact with the insanity of our lives that we see as normal. Here are a few pics of them together:

This is the three of them hanging out at mom's pool

This is Zack "tooting" on Miss Rachel. He thought it was hilarious.....she did not:)

After Rachel left, we had Uncle Ed and Miss Ellen come visit us for a few days from L.A. We decided that the next time we visit it definitely needs to be for longer!!! Ed is Zack's "godfather" for lack of a better term. We're not Catholic but it was a role in our kids lives that we asked certain people to hold. Our thought was to have adult figures in their lives that were constant "non relative" people who were there for them at any point they needed someone. We picked people who we thought would be good role models for them and people who we would encourage the boys to go to if they had a problem or concern that they didn't want to come to us for. Uncle Ed is one of those people. We also asked Aunt Tasha to be Zack's "Godmother" and Aunt Catherine and Uncle Michael to be Evan's "Godparents" (I'll add pic of them on a later blog)


Anyway, we had a blast with Uncle Ed and Miss Ellen (his adorable girlfriend) and wish we could have had more time with them. We're hoping to plan a joint trip to Disney World with them after Thanksgiving this year. Here are a few pics from their visit:

Zack had only really spent time with Uncle Ed on one occasion other than this but it didn't take him long to remember him! He took to him right away!!

We had to take them to McGuires:) Ed and Ellen were so much fun to hang out with! With any luck we're hoping that Ed gets sent to Tokyo Disney the same time we're their too, not Disney obviously but Japan anyway!! How awesome would that be??!!?? I'm also secretly hoping that Ellen goes with him too:) Sorry, Eddie! IT MUST BE SAID:)

Zack kept wanting to cuddle with his Uncle Ed. I think it was a stall tactic any time he wanted to stay up later that he was supposed to......and it worked:)

Ellen is recovering from back surgery now too and we're thinking about her often and wishing her a speedy recovery!! Get well soon!!!

So, having said all of that, it still leaves one question unanswered??? Will our childless friends one day have their own little chaotic lives or will they continue to just pop into ours occasionally, head home to the silence, and thank their lucky stars that it's us and not them? I guess time will tell but I'm still holding out hope that when they do join us in the world of diapers and potty training that I will be able to pop into their world for brief moments and remember why we had the boys when we did and thank my lucky stars that we are so OVER that stage:) hehe

Adorable comment of the week!

So, I've decided to post a quick blog about Zack's most adorable comment of the week!!!

Saturday morning, I was getting ready to go to a baby sower and Zack comes running into my bathroom as I'm fixing my hair. "Mommy?" he says with his big green eyes gazing up as me. "Yes, baby?" I respond as usual. "Where are we going today?" he asks with a hopeful glimmer in his eye. "Mommy's getting ready to go to a baby shower today sweetie." I reply hoping to not get any protest back. A few seconds pass and Zack speaks up again, "But it's too small." I glance down at him to see if his face was giving any clues as to what the heck that was supposed to mean. Nothing! He looked just as puzzled as I did. "What's too small baby?" I finally have to ask if not for sheer curiosity. "The baby bath." he said, "It's too small for you!"

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I instantly started laughing (and crying) at the same time realizing that my sweet, curious, creative three year old is picturing "mommy going to a baby shower" as me in a baby bath tub!!!! How adorable is this little creature?!?!?!!!!