Finishing out February

So the end of February is in sight, but not so much the end of winter, hence more indoor activity pics. We had a family dinner at Matt's parents a few weeks ago and Brooke forced asked Will to read about 20 books to her. What a trooper. Thanks, Will!

The kids were very excited about the Valentine's Day gifts from Grammie Deb and Grandpa Brian that were waiting for them when we got home from St. Louis.

As usual, couldn't get him to stand still...

Brooke has been very into dressing up lately. She was on an "ice skater" kick for a little while. I'm not sure what character this was, but this is how she came down to lunch the other day. (Sidenote: Brooke came in as I was writing this post, saw this picture and asked, "Right there are you saying, 'Brooke's beautiful'?" - and she is, so I am.)

We've also been using the Easy Bake Oven a LOT. She loves making things in it and then giving them away. I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't hate it if she becomes a baker.

 

Sharing with Miles. I'd say they play together 1/3 of the time, co-exist 1/3 of the time, and fight 1/3 of the time. It could be worse, and the times that they play together are pretty priceless.

 

Being silly at dinner at Medinah.

Last night, Brooke upgraded to a twin bed (tear). Matt was putting the bed together and she was building a fort with the Styrofoam pieces.

Thanks again to Groupon, we went to a place called The Ball Factory with Katie and her kids last week. It was a really fun place that I think we'll go back to. Although hopefully there won't be as much need for indoor play in the near future.

Here's to March bringing warmer weather and more fun!

The Travel Continues...

Our Winter of Travel continued with a trip to La Jolla, CA, for the wedding of one of Matt's friends from high school. My family watched the kids this time (two nights with Tim and Krissi, one with my parents), so we had to fly into and out of St. Louis. We had an extra day on the front end of the trip (and actually the back end, too, thanks to another snow storm), so we took the kids to Monkey Joe's.

Miles was much more into the slides and bounce houses this time, but he also enjoyed "riding" in the coin rides they had.

 

While in San Diego, I was able to see MY good high school friend, Laura, and her adorable little girl Charlotte for breakfast. It was great to catch up!

Matt and I hiked at Torrey Pines later that day. It was beautiful and I'd highly recommend it.

 

Matt also played Torrey Pines with some of his friends the next day. Even I could appreciate how beautiful the course was.

And we finished off the weekend with the wedding on Saturday night. Everything was beautiful. Congratulations to Becca and Mike!

 

Here were some of the photo updates that I got. Helping Uncle Tim jam out. (Is that what the kids call it?)

 Hanging out at Luke and Lexi's "Mimi's" (as Brooke calls her - they call her NeNe).

Playplaces are invaluable in the winter.

And then all the other stuff that comes with hanging out with your cousins/BFFs for a few days.

They also got to see a couple of movies. I'm sure they didn't want us to come back. Thanks for taking care of them. We're spoiled with such great families!

Father of the Year

Matt's gotten pretty creative with our new set-up in the basement. When I was at an appointment the other day, I got this video.

And then this one. We think it's pretty funny, but realize it may freak people out. Rest assured that Miles thinks it's hilarious, too. Sidenote: Brooke took this video. Not bad!

The video of the kids seeing each other at Disney for the first time was too big to load, so here's one of everybody on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

February So Far...

 

In our recovery from all the travel and being out of our routine, we've had our fair share of vegging out. They (usually) really like to sit close when watching TV together.

This guy is getting more and more personality every day. He's also talking more, which is exciting, but also frustrating for both of us as I can no longer nod and smile when I don't understand him. He knows that I don't know what he's saying. He's very into "boy" things like balls and transportation, but loves to dance and belt out "Let It Go" with Brooke. He's still pretty cuddly, but can also be quick to throw a punch at whoever's in his way when he gets ticked off. (Not sure if I've said this before, but I'm pretty sure they get their tempers from my side of the family. In high school, I had what was know as the "Timmerman Snap.")

Oh, Brooke. She can go from hugging me and saying the sweetest thing to me one minute to glaring at me and using a tone that I think belongs to someone much older the next. Funny, I can remember doing the same thing to my mom...pretty much my whole life. So I guess it's time to buckle up and accept that she's a Girl. Interest-wise, she's been doing a lot of "motherly" things with her babies. She's also becoming more and more interested in letters and their sounds, which is a fun and funny time. I've also had some great conversations with her lately about God and Jesus, which is exciting to us. More than anything, I want our kids to know the amazing gift of unconditional love, grace and acceptance that He offers.

The plows on our street have been the source of some excitement at the windows. I was not nearly as excited when I got Matt's car stuck in one of their huge mounds in front of our driveway the other morning.

We had a play date with Grace, Tye and Dylan, complete with a "Frozen" concert.

This was Miles waiting for Brooke on her last day of speech. I think she went for 6 weeks, total. Some might say that she's at a good developmental age for her speech to improve quickly. I just say that she's a genius.

This is one of Miles' favorite signs of affection lately. What can you do?

This is the picture we submitted to Brooke's school for their pet notebook. Along with the picture, she said that her favorite thing to do with Ozzie was, "Play outside. He's my best dog ever!" This will also serve as her Kinderballet picture since I keep forgetting to take one when we're at the community center.

Spring has to be getting closer, right? Happy February!

Vegas

About 36 hours after getting back from Disney, Matt and I left for his work trip to Las Vegas and the kids headed over to Grammie Deb's and Grandpa Brian's. It made for a little chaos, but both trips were great and not to be passed up, so we did what we had to do. The hectic schedule was made more tolerable by knowing that we've been getting breaks from the miserable winter. Anyway, while we were away, we got great pics like this to let us know that the kids were doing just fine without us.

Miles' first time sledding!

(When he saw me putting this picture up, Miles said, "Deb's!" - I was impressed that he recognized it.)

From what I heard, they had a great time. In addition to the sledding, they got to go to lunch with Aunt Jamie and visit Grandma Audie. Brooke also got to bake cupcakes with Aunt Jamie (and Will - bonus!) and go see Frozen again. The day we were coming home, Brooke actually told Matt's mom that she wanted to stay there longer. 

Matt and I managed to get one picture of ourselves while in Vegas. We saw Daniel Tosh, a really funny (but not for everyone) comedian, had a few relaxing days and great meals, and actually came out ahead on our gambling. It was a winning weekend for everyone! Well, maybe not the Broncos...

Disney 2014

Last fall, I was reminiscing with Krissi about how much fun we had at Disney last year. She decided to do a little research and I decided to do a little convincing, and we found ourselves on our way to Florida a couple of weeks ago. 

My thought is that, while the kids are young enough that it's still such a magical place and we're able to swing it, why not? Plus, with Miles being almost two and Luke almost three, the kids were all at a really good age to fully enjoy the experience without having to worry too much about nap and feeding times. While I wouldn't say that 7+ months pregnant is an ideal time to go walk 10 miles a day, I would much prefer that to going with a little baby.

I'm telling you, the place is magic. Or at least incredibly well-marketed. There are activities for the kids from the minute you get off the "Magical Express" from the airport. They were having a blast with the hopscotch before we even checked in to the hotel.

We quickly dropped our bags  in our room and headed to the Magic Kingdom, where Brooke was reunited with her bestie, "Re-punzel" as she calls her (and I'll never correct her).

Snow White was also there and got to hear all about our travels that day ("We took a bus, then a plane, then another bus and another bus to get here!"). Bless these "cast members'" hearts for being as good with the kids as they are.

Miles wasn't too sure about all of it.

The next day, we started bright and early at Epcot. Matt and Brooke went on a roller coaster while Miles and I went on a more leisurely ride (this would become a theme of the trip - again, theme parks while pregnant aren't the best idea). Then we met up for a few rides before Tim, Krissi and the kids arrived. Brooke hated this Nemo ride.

We met a few more characters. Miles loved seeing them was happy as long as he was held while meeting them.

A couple of our only full-family pics from the trip.

They had a really cool aquarium there, too.

Chip and Dale. Again, Miles wasn't too sure about all of it.

Then, Lexi and Lukey arrived!!! I forgot to mention that we hadn't told Brooke that we'd be going to Disney until we got there, and then didn't tell her that the Timmermans were coming until we actually saw them. It was a couple of really fun surprises that we caught on video. Some day I'll post them to the blog. I figured this was enough of a photo dump for now, though.

Ah, the Frozen girls. They were at Epcot and we were expecting a long line, but when we got to where they were, we were told it was about a 4-hour wait. After much debate, we decided to take advantage of having 4 adults to switch off and endure the wait. We ended up *only* waiting around 2 1/2 hours (and for the record, I won the debate). The kids were thrilled. Although Matt's pointed out since then that Brooke hasn't really talked about meeting them more than any of our other experiences there.

Meeting Tiana and Prince Naveen. Brooke was wary of Naveen so she opted out of this picture.

Wreck-It Ralph. We haven't seen the movie but still loved this guy.

Miles warming up to one of the Chipmunks. Okay, I'm only going to spare you and only comment on the exceptional character meetings from here on out.

Our second or third time meeting Snow White.

On our second day at the Magic Kingdom, we put in 14 hours and capped it off with a Princess Dinner at Cinderella's castle. I'm so impressed with how well the kids did despite being stretched.

We also went to a Disney Junior lunch at Hollywood Studios. Krissi made these super-cute invitations for each of the kids. Brooke carried hers around all day. These were probably Miles' favorite characters to meet as he's seen them all more often on TV.

Matt told Handy Manny that he was his inspiration for all of Matt's handiwork around the house.

And on to the rides. As I mentioned, Miles and I (and Luke, Miles and I for that matter) got in some quality time while all the big kids were on the more adventurous rides. Here we are his first (of probably 5) time on Dumbo.

There's a little play area in the middle of the Dumbo line. Great idea! While we tend to worry about Brooke being more assertive for herself, I have to watch Miles like a hawk when he's around other kids. For instance, he pushed another little guy out of the way on this slide.

Brooke "driving".

We're #1! We beat Daddy and Miles!

"It's a Small World."

Even Matt was captivated.

Everybody riding Dumbo together. Aw.

Fireworks...or "hot" as Miles calls them. For our first few nights back home, he was looking for there to be fireworks in Wheaton.

Love this one.

The big boys were off riding a roller coaster. Not sure how Krissi ended up with 3 of the 4 kids...

Brooke doing Test Track - Matt's favorite ride of the trip.

Pretending to be scared on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Brooke's favorite ride of the trip.

Matt and Brooke have a shared love for roller coasters. Brooke is really scared of dark rides or rides with villains in them, but as long as it goes fast or has big drops, she'll do it. Example: She hated the Buzz Lightyear ride because of a scene with aliens, but loved Tower of Terror. Crazy girl.

"Enchanted Tales with Belle" Brooke played Chip.

And no joke, without volunteering, the two guys were selected to be the soldiers.

I take it back, Matt's favorite "ride" was probably "Beers Around the World" at Epcot.

These two girls. Love them and how much they love each other (usually) so much.

Sitting next to each other riding the shuttle. They felt like big shots.

The girls watching one of the parades.

And the boys are closely following suit. Although there's a little more pushing and getting into trouble together on their end.

Watching fireworks. I think Miles is thinking, "I just want to go to bed!"

On the choo-choo. We rode it more than once around the park.

This was the ONLY day they napped.

All four of them (obviously).

The boys watching the parade.

I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but Krissi did AMAZING planning for this trip. She was able to book all of our meals AND a visit for both girls together at the Bippity Boppity Boutique.

I could not believe what they were able to do with Brooke's hair! Her stylist said to me, "Well, I AM a fairy godmother in training."

Some days, I just want to freeze time. This was one of them.

Somehow, the only pic I have of them together madeover.

Love these two.

There was lots of dancing and singing. Everywhere. Whether there was music playing or not. In this picture, there was music playing.

It was so special to share the visit with Tim and Krissi. It really was a magical time and I'm so glad we went!