Favorite Past Time

It's no secret I love pictures and one of my most favorite things to do is look back through them on my computer. I could spend hours look at them. I am always so amazed at how much the kids change in a short amount of time and I love the memories that come to mind as I look through them. Often times I get the kids sitting next to me laughing at the pictures with me or we reminisce about what was going on in a particular. I hope they always look back on their childhood as being a good one and appreciate the memories that are made through pictures. 

I have a few very favorite pictures that of course have been posted before, but I thought it would be fun (maybe only to me) to post a few throughout the week.

I love this picture. It was taken almost exactly two years ago. We had just been in our new house a few month and  had just painted it. Jase of course has grown up a ton since then and Kylie has now lost her "baby face." Jeremy looks the same although he would probably tell you he has a few more gray hairs now. The one thing for sure that has never changes is how much I LOVE these guys!!

Trendy

Over the last few months I have started this new thing, you may have heard of it... 

It's called exercise.

And my exercise of choice is early morning running. As we have tried for baby number three once again we have run into infertility issues. This time around I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Disease and with a recent heart-breaking miscarriage I am more motivated than ever to do all I can to have a healthy pregnancy. I have changed up my diet quite a bit and taken on this crazy thing called running, and much to my surprise I love it. I never ever thought words like that would ever come out of my mouth, but the feeling I get when I have finished a good long run is amazing. And having the faith that only good things will come of my hard work makes it so worth it too. I have been surprised at how easy it has been to build up my endurance. Every time I go, my goal is go a little bit farther. I'm not extremely fast, but I was told that endurance is the way to burn more calories and quite frankly, if I'm getting out of bed at 6:30 every morning and strapping on my running shoes, I better be burning a calorie or two! 

Kylie is still asleep when I leave and usually isn't up when I get home, but she has picked up on my pursuit of trying to be one of the cool athletic kids and begs me every night to wake her up so she can go with me. She is always disappointed when I tell her I go way too early and way too far for little girls, but I promised her that today we could go on a little run. She jumped right out of bed when I went in to get her this morning and threw on the clothes she had set out the night before to wear. The poor girl has terrible shoes for it, but she was SO fun to run with! First we ran around the block then she wanted to run around the church and then around the block again. We ended with a little stretching and I told her every run has to end with a healthy breakfast so she choose Cheerios instead chocolate cereal. She has already told me her plan for next week's run which includes the park and the dirt path behind it. If I didn't already have enough motivation this girl would definitely do it for me!

Picture Day

Yesterday was picture day at Kylie's school. I plan on getting our family's pictures taken in the next little while so I only bought her class picture, but she looked so cute and since I am a professional photographer and editor and have an awesome camera I though I would snap a few myself... and of course she was more than willing to be my model.

Kindergarten seems to really be agreeing with her! She loves her teacher and the things she's learning. She comes home most days talking about a new friend shes made. She has already informed me of a few boys who have crushes on her and chase her around the playground at recess. (But that's a secret) She has started up her dance class again and really loves it. She's great at memorizing things and has picked up easily the names of the dance moves she is learning. Ballet is her favorite and she often gets the reward for dancer of the day. 

She continues to make us laugh everyday with the things she says.  The other day I was doing her hair and she told me she was "not a fan" of braids anymore.   Also her new favorite word is "realize"  and she uses it as often as possible.  She loves to tell stories and could go on and on and on about something described in great detail. 

There's not too much to complain about when it comes to this girl. Life seems to be going well for her, if only school wasn't so darn early in the morning things just might be perfect!

I Have a Goal...

and that is to have this crazy man potty-trained by the time he goes into Sunbeams...

but at the rate we're going, he'll go into scouts in a diaper! 

This is going to be a lot harder than it was with Kylie. In his defense though, we haven't bought any "big boy underwear" yet and we insist he uses Kylie's pink potty-training toilet. We haven't got extremely serious about it, but anytime the words "Jase, lets go potty on the toilet" are even mentioned he promptly throws himself on the floor and acts as if his life is about to end.

...and thats probably why "big boy underwear" hasn't been purchased yet!

Grandpa's Motorcycle

My parents are currently on a two week motorcycle trip to Yellowstone and a bunch of states around it and our house was the starting point for them. So naturally the kids were dying to go for rides. Grandpa was nice enough to bring the kid size helmet and take them for several rides around the neighborhood. Kylie showed him her school and there were even big plans to have my dad take her to school on it on Tuesday, but then we realized my sisters would have to take the helmet back with them so she wouldn't be able to. My dad is a very cautious driver and the kids love when they get a chance to ride. I mean really, there's nothing cooler than Grandpa with his motorcycle...just ask his grandkids!

Oops!

I forgot to post the pictures of Kylie meeting the characters after the show. The lines were pretty long, but we were able to sneak in a see Ursela and then we preteneded to see the Ariel and Prince Eric.

 The lighting was horrible so the picture's quality is terrible, but I love the look on Kylie's face...I guess that must be her scary face.

Kylie really really wanted to meet Ariel and Prince Eric, but we had a big group with us and I felt bad having them wait while she meet them, so I reminded her that we had lunch with Ariel in Disneyland and talked her into just letting us get a picture of her with them in the background.  She was really nice about it and we were still able to get home at a decent hour! :)

The Little Mermaid

This past weekend was a blast!! It's not very often we get my whole family (minus one of my brothers) comes up to visit us for a weekend, but when we do there's nothing better!!...at least not for me, but I'm not the one fighting for a decent place to sleep at night. We had people spread out everywhere, making beds out of whatever they could find. 

Friday night, just the girls had tickets to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn, which was AMAZING!!! They did a fabulous job. We absolutely loved it. Kylie was thoroughly entertained the whole night and loves being there with the big girls. My cousin Jamie organized it all and it was so fun to be there with a few of my aunts and cousins also.

We had great seats and the background and the mountains are just beautiful there. I love Tuacahn and I LOVE when I get the chance to spend time with my mom and sisters. There are by far some of my most favorite people in this world!!

I may or may not have taken some pictures I probably shouldn't have, but really they did a great job especially with all the underwater effects. The sea creatures were beautiful and when it was dark they did some really fun things with neon lights. It was very impressive! I am really hoping we can make this an annual event. Tuacahn has a great line up for next year and they never seem to disappoint!

Filling Our Days

Definitely one of the great benefits of having kids not too close together is the one on one time I get with each of them. Kylie and I had about two and a half years together  before Jase was born and now we get to spend most afternoons together while he naps. Jase and I have had our time together the two years Kylie went to preschool and now everyday she is in Kindergarten and I LOVE it. I love being able to focus on one kid and doing exactly whatever they want to do, most of the time without interruption. 

Jase has done pretty well with Kylie being gone everyday. He did have a little meltdown on Friday when she was leaving because he really really wanted to go with her, but other than that we've really enjoyed ourselves. 

 He's a pretty FUN kid to play with too!!

I mean, who doesn't love a good game of "tickle monster"? 

And what about playing in the baby saucer that is way too small for you, while wearing pink earphones singing to yourself over and over again the words, "the radio, the radio, the radio"

And when we can stand it outside we've spent some time digging. 

It's been a good first week around here and who knows what we'll think up next!

Kylie's Big Day

It's finally here, the day we've all been waiting for...Kylie's first day of Kindergarten!! 

And I mean really, could she be any cuter?? I was grateful when she woke up this morning and jumped out of bed all smiles.  She was pretty nervous last night and both her and I  had a few tearful moments, but with the help of Grandpa and Grandma H. we got her pepped back up and she was excited again to go.

 She got in the car after it was over and said, "Mom, that was the best day ever!" Then proceeded to tell me all about gym class and recess. She told me about her coach (who is a boy) and playing on the playground... It will be a great year if that's all they do!!  Of course that wasn't all they did, but she loved it and I really am excited for her to start this new phase in life. She's one smart cookie and I know she'll have an awesome year!

From One Generation to the Next

Almost every morning this summer Kylie and I have laid in my bed from 9 to 10:00am (yep...that is how our summer has gone, don't judge) and watched 2 episodes of Full House reruns on ABCFamily. 

I absolutely loved this show growing up. I remember my brother and I always joking about making sure the TV was warmed up right before it aired each week.  

 I turned it was on one morning and Kylie and I have been hooked ever since.  When time allows (which is most days...again don't judge) we snuggle up under my covers together and watch in amazement as the Tanner family solves many of life's biggest problems in a half hour's time. 

We've enjoyed ourselves and it just one more thing to add to the list of things I am going to miss when she heads off to school next week!!