Who's there?

I'm sitting in my scrapbook room and hear someone coming down the hallway...
Me: "Who's there?"
Ethan: "Me (hiccups) and my heepups"

Happy Saturday!
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Already causing some trouble...

This morning Ethan was on the toilet and had finished peeing... he then shakes his bottom side to side and I kind of giggle a bit, trying not to laugh too hard because this is going so well, I don't want to ruin anything. He looks up at me with this face that he makes, eyes squinted a little, cheeks squinched up, lips together, head tilted to one side... "Ya, Gaga said me shake it, shake it."

After composing myself I had to go call Gaga (my mom, Em made up the name long, long ago). Her response... "I did not tell him to shake it, he's trying to get me into trouble already."

After a phone call to Nick because I figure he's the culprit... yes, he fesses up.
Love my guys!
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Around here...

Summer is in full force and we are doing what we can to stay cool and busy! Nick and I have enjoyed several date nights, and are planning on another this weekend!

We are in the midst of potty training. Ethan's been awesome and it's going really, really well! He likes his "airwears" (underwear), and is making a TON of progress! There is nothing that we have to leave the house for this week, so we're focused!

Ethan has also made the switch to a "big boy" bed. We milked the crib for as long as we could. Seriously, he had no interest in getting out of it and he LOVED to sleep in the crib. That was, up until a couple of weeks ago when he started showing up in our room five times a night and trying to get into bed with us. After one night of this, we converted his crib to the toddler version. He still came into our room, he just would go straight to the big comfy chair that we have in the corner and sleep there until we found him in the morning. Next came the gate on his door... that will stay, but he now has a toddler bed that will hopefully do the trick. We're trying this one until we go "full size". Although, last night he slept all night in his bed without making a peep or trying to escape. Maybe we did this a little late?

We chose a bedding set for Em's room and will be re-decorating soon, thanks to my mom who snatched up the last set they had for us while at the mall! Em and I have spent hours in her room going through and getting rid of things. She likes to keep everything. Everything. She forms an emotional attachment to every doll, stuffed animal, toy, paper, marker, etc. She has been awesome and we have two laundry baskets overflowing with things that she has decided to get rid of and we're not even finished yet. I am so proud of her! I'll post pictures when we're finished.

I started a sewing "class" today with a group of friends from MOPS. Not really a class, but just a group of us getting together with our mentor mom that can sew really well... kind of a tutorial. I can sew, but not well. My mom can sew anything and everything with perfection... I just never had an interest in learning how to sew something more detailed than a straight line until now. We're going to attempt to make aprons. I'll also post a picture when I'm finished... maybe.

Happy Wednesday!
A

How cute am I!?

Thanks to Hollie, I now have a super cute blog that is the perfect fit to me! I love the world of blogging and how it connects us. Without it, I never would have come to "know" Hollie, and I am so thankful to have "met" her!

In other news... there really isn't any. We're trying to stay cool and occupied, which is quite a challenge, but we're still having fun!

The library is a bit of a challenge with Ethan. He doesn't understand that he has to be quite, and loudly exclaims the name of whatever character he recognizes on the books.

The kids are loving playing Wii Fit and trying all of the new things. Ethan can even do some of the things and it is so cute! Emily helps him dodge soccer balls and it's really quite funny to watch her move his body left, right and center! He's trying to get the hang of jumping without taking his feet of the board, otherwise it shows a caution message and he gets a little upset. We're getting there!

Happy Birthday to Karla in Chile! We miss you! Love you!

Happy Thursday!
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Happy Father's Day!

We are blessed by many "Dads" and each one of them is very special to us!
And to this guy... there aren't enough words to express what a wonderful Dad he is! The kids and I are truly blessed by him!
We love you!
Happy Father's Day!

A great summer kick-off...

What a way to start the summer!!! We spent all of last week in San Diego, and we had the most amazing time ever! It was the perfect way to start off the summer, just the four of us, and just what we needed! This year has been especially busy for us... adjusting to Nick's school schedule and the time demands that come with it, me not feeling well for so long, then having surgery and recovery time, all of the school and family/ friend commitments that we have had... we needed a vacation!
I think the best part about our vacation was that the kids had a blast and they got along so well. They usually do, but they are siblings, you know... it was just so relaxing and I'm sure that they felt a sense of relief also! Most of the time, we didn't even know what time it was... Nick and I would say "What time is it?" to each other, to be answered with "Don't know, don't care."
Our resort was amazing (thank you, dear friends for the advice... we finally listened!), right in the bay with a private beach, amazing grounds, and the pool was awesome for the kids! We took the kids scooters and bikes and they rode around the resort for hours, while we walked behind them, just enjoying being there! When we ate at the bayside restaurant at the resort, the kids would ride their scooters and park them right by the entrance, then we would load up and ride some more! Most mornings Nick and I would sit in the grass and drink our coffee and the kids would ride around, usually in their pajamas, it was so great! We were less than a mile from Sea World... yes, we ended up going to Sea World... even though we didn't plan on it! We spent Tuesday at the San Diego Zoo and we had so much fun there, the kids loved it! Tuesday evening was special to us (see post below)! Wednesday afternoon we went to Sea World, and then we picked up Nick's mom from the airport and she went to Sea World with us on Thursday! She had never been and it was easy for her to fly over, and we are so happy that she did! We had breakfast with Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Zoe, Telly and Cookie Monster!
I couldn't even begin to tell you all of the great things that we did and all of the fun that we had, so I'll let some pictures do the talking! We took so many great pictures, I'll add a slideshow later.
The kids and I had breakfast with my dad today... always fun! We both talked about our trips, he and a friend were in North Carolina for the Nascar race last weekend, and we had a great breakfast! The kids were especially excited to see him after a couple of weeks!
Happy Birthday to me today!

Happy Monday!
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Something to celebrate...

Tuesday marked eight years since Nick's graduation from West Point, and along with that came his final release from his commitment to the Army... and we celebrated! He had a five year active duty commitment and then a three year inactive commitment, but they could have called him back anytime during those three years... needless to say, I have been waiting for this day for three years!
Our resort had fire places on the beach, so after we left the zoo, Emily and I did some shopping so that we could make s'mores by the fire on the beach!
We also had some fun taking pictures with the kids and the sun!


Goodbye Army!
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