Funny Story

Background: While we were in New Jersey at my AMAZING brother, Mike and his family's house, we learned that 3 year olds can learn the Articles of Faith. I thought it would be too difficult for them but Matthew's cousin Shannon who is a couple months younger then Matthew knew some if not all of the Articles of Faith. We decided that Matthew was going to learn them as well, so we have been working with him. He normally gets a little candy after he recites them. At Christmas since there was always some kind of candy out on the counter, it reminded Matthew NUMEROUS times that he wanted to recite his Articles of Faith. I was constantly hearing "We believe..." So anyways, Matthew knows the First Article of Faith as well as some others.
Last Sunday in primary, the person that was suppose to do the scripture wasn't there. The Primary President asked Matthew if he wanted to go out and say the "scripture" for the month and she would help him. So the kids normally say the scripture and then say where it came from, i.e. Luke 2:3. I thought once he got to "We believe ... in God ..." he would know what was coming next and not need any help. Well, he would only say what was told in his ear, "We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ." Then she told him to say "First Article of Faith" which is where that came from, but Matthew has it in his mind that when someone says "Say the First Article of Faith" they actually want you to say it so in the microphone he starts saying, "We believe in God," afterwhich Sister L, bends down to his little ear and stops him and says, "Say the First Article of Faith." Again, Matthew proceeded, "We believe in God the" again she stops him and says, "no, say, The First Article of Faith" I am sure Matthew was COMPLETELY confused at this point but again he proceeded with what she wanted him to do, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost". Sister L then said, "Thank you, Matthew" and let him sit down. I was dying laughing inside because I knew exactly what was going on. Ahhhhhhh, I just love my little boy.

Tonight, Chris remembered again why he has to put the kids to bed and not me. Of course this doesn't happen every night but tonight I just loved holding my little boy. He was SO cute and cuddly. Since I love to sing, he and I just sing and sing together. The bedtime routine is 3 songs since he is 3 years old but I tend to make all the Article of Faith songs count as one of his songs, and tonight all the verses to Follow the Prophet was only one song. Finally after we sang all of our songs, it was time for prayers. Previously, he didn't want to say the prayer, unless he was with his cousins Kenneth and Shannon, (see such great examples), but tonight he wanted to say the prayer and has wanted to say the prayer on all our meals and bedtime for the last couple nights. It is so sweet listening to what he is thankful for. He has been saying such cute meaningful prayers. I just hugged and kissed him and didn't want to put him to bed. Chris just shook his head and said, "see this is why I have to put the kids to bed, it takes you too long." He had to do his last potty stop and then I just held him and kissed and hugged him, as I told him I loved him over and over, and listening to his sweet little voice saying, "I love you so much, mommy." Matthew finally had to say, "Mommy, put me to bed." Then I held him tight as I put him in his bed. I just love those moments when I can't hold, hug, and kiss him enough. He is such a sweet boy and I am so glad that I get to take care of him.

Cute Girls

During preschool I get to babysit. This last week I got to babysit this adorable little girl. Lilian is only 3 weeks older then Allison but she can say so much more it just blows me away. I always love babysitting this sweet girl (and her sister). She and Allison both leaned on the table the exact same way and it was so cute so I ran for my camera but it was too late. However, I can't just put it away once it is out so unknowingly Lilian and Allison got put into a photoshoot.
I absolutely love the picture at the bottom in the middle. They both have their eyes closed and I told Allison to give Lilian a kiss. It was so sweet. They were so cute and fun to take pictures of.

I've Had a Birthday Shout Hooray!

My birthday was on a Monday and Mondays are my laundry day. Usually I don't have to go anywhere on Mondays. So for my birthday present I decided I was going to clean my house because that always makes me feel good, (having a clean house that is, not actually cleaning it). I got the kitchen cleaned and was headed to the other rooms and Matthew asked if he could paint. He is not a crafty kid at all and his preschool teachers will attest to this. Any crafts they do he is done in about 5 seconds. I figured if he actually asked to do this I better encourage him. So we pulled out the paints and prepped the table. While he was painting, I was trying to help Allison color instead of her just eating the crayons. I was really trying to make a big deal about how fun it is to paint and color and make things pretty. After Matthew was done painting, he asked if he could color. So Matthew and I switched positions and I was so excited about painting and showed him how much fun it can be. I think he just really liked my attention on him. After I was all done painting my whole picture I went and tried to help him stay in the lines of his pictures. Then we did dot-to-dots that were in his coloring book along with mazes and even word searches. Granted they were really small word searches but he caught on to them really well. I am impressed actually, but then again there were only 1 or 2 of the same letters so it was pretty simple. Then I asked him if he wanted to do water colors. He did it and LOVED it. Afterwards, he told me what he drew and used his little imagination to explain to me what it was. I loved it. Then he asked if he could play playdough.
Throughout the day I was able to get the laundry started, all bedsheets changed, all rooms picked up and even took a nap when the kids went down. When Chris came home, he asked where we were going to go for my birthday dinner. I went online and typed in Free Kids Meals on Monday. There were about 5-6 different restaurants that came up but the one that stood out to me was TEXAS ROADHOUSE!!! We love that place so it was a no brainer. Off to the roadhouse we went. It was so nice. I love the rolls, peanuts, atmosphere, music, and dinner. Matthew and Allison didn't even finish their kid's meal that we got free with our meal. Chris and I got a baby blossom, and split a combo meal and we still couldn't finish the whole thing. We brought home a whole dinner portion and we were SO SO Stuffed. OVERSTUFFED!! For all that food we spent $23 which included the tip. For the whole family eating out it was so worth it and we actually don't even need to order as much next time we go and we will still be stuffed and it will be even cheaper. The best part about the whole night was that the kids have Never acted so well in a restaurant. Matthew loved cracking the peanuts and eating them, and Allison loved the incredible rolls. They ate their dinner and we ate ours and didn't have to fuss with them much. It was so perfect!! We are going to have to make that a weekly Family Home Evening event:) -I wish- However, we are going to have to go there only on Monday nights from now on.
Then we came home and Matthew asked if he could ride his bike. It was nice weather so we all went for a little walk as a family and the sunset was so pretty. Unfortunately we don't live in the best view of a gorgeous sunset but it was still pretty. It was just about dark by the time I got to a place to take a picture but it is still a pretty sky.
We came in and Chris and I finished folding and putting away laundry and I did the ironing while Chris put the kids to bed. When the ironing was done and put away, the house looked so good. It was a beautiful birthday present to myself.
My birthday celebrations actually started 1.5 weeks earlier when Chris took me to my(our) favorite Italian restaurant Cafe Capri in downtown Bryan and then we went and checked out stores in the mall and we topped it off by stopping at the Nestle Cafe in the Food Court for some Cookie/brownie muffin cup things. I thought they were SO good. Chris just thought they were ok and that I think they were so good because I hadn't had a lot of sweets since Christmas. No, but really they were very good.
Then the weekend before, my friends had the birthday party for me so my actual day I just got to enjoy phone calls and family.
Though my day was pretty low-key it was a great great 27th birthday.
Thank you for the phone calls, wishes and the birthday song from the McNiven 9 in PA! That was great, you guys need to get a record deal for that song:) Thanks for remembering me!





All the many things that Matthew did that day.

The sunset on my birthday

Two of my favorite people of all time.

Another one of my favorite people of all time.

My Rocking Birthday Party

I really do have the greatest friends!!! They decided to have a birthday party for me. It was SO much fun. We met at Allison's house and Allison, Brittany, and Janine all brought yummy delicious food for us to munch on. We had veggies and dip (my fav) plus chips and queso, drinks, thin mint cookies, chocolate chip cookies and then Allison also made the best peanut butter blossoms EVER!! They really were my kryptonite that evening. They were so soft and perfect. Wow, I don't even want to know how many I ate that night, they were just WAY too good. After we ate a little bit we got our Rock Band started. Chris got me the country version of Rock Band for Christmas and I hadn't tried it out yet. I was anxious to sing some country with everyone. I loved the whole night. I had such a blast. Thank you so much friends!!

I love this picture because it just looks like we (they) are one big family. Since all of our kids go together for preschool we get to see each other quite a bit, not to mention Visiting teaching each other, companions, working with each other in primary and playing basketball against these two guys MWF. I get to see these people so much, so it was a blast just to get together all as friends let the kids play and just play Rock Band and have a fun time.

Our Girl Band:
The Rocking Mommas:)
Allison, Janine, Steph, Brittany

The Boy Band:
The Mac Daddys
Chris, Mike, Cory, James

They even got me a birthday cake. Do you know what kind it was? It was white frosting, with chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream inside. OH OH YUMMY!! It really was so good.
I had a GREAT time. Thank you so much Allison, Brittany and Janine!!! You guys are amazing!

Playground Fun

We had a couple days of mid 70 weather. We didn't have to go or do anything Friday morning so we took advantage of it and went to the playground. It was a kind of windy but it was still nice to be outside. We even saw some of our friends there to play with. It was really nice.

She's a girl!

So my brother, Spencer, was the only one out of all of us to have a girl first. It was a little funny because he wanted a boy so bad, but he wouldn't change it for the world now. I remember him saying that their little girl wasn't officially a girl until they could put pigtails in her hair. Well, Spence, I finally have my little girl.
I was just playing with Allison's hair and thought maybe I could put the back of it into pigtails. I don't have the correct kind of hair-tie for girls just big ones for my hair so I had to wrapped around and around and around. Eventually though I got little pigtails. By the time we got to the store she had pulled one of them out and lost the hair-tie so I had to pull the other one out, but I at least got pictures of the little hairs sticking out before we left:)

Random

Kids can be so cute and hilarious sometimes and other times you would like to let someone else take care of them for a little while. I recently have been trying to remember the cute moments that make me laugh.
One day at lunch Allison decided to see how many pretzels she could fit in her mouth. Granted she only has 7 front teeth so it takes her awhile to finish just one but this time she put as many as she could in and then couldn't close her mouth. It was so funny. She finally realized there were too many in there so she pulled them all out. I believe she had 6 whole ones in her mouth.
Matthew likes to take care of Allison a lot of time and sometimes she doesn't always want him around. He really does try to big a good big brother most of the time. Matthew and Allison have been playing pretty well recently. I love watching and listening to them laugh together.

School Started!

Surprising, I am really excited for this semester. (Especially after how hard last semester was) I was a little apprehensive about this semester because I am taking the only class that I could find one night a week that was on my degree plan. That class ended up being Creative Writing. To me, that could just mean so many things. I also couldn't get into the Wednesday night class so I had to do Tuesday night which makes it hard for me to go to work Tuesday night but I will at least get to go Thursday night to work. I was going to try to get into the Wednesday night class if anyone dropped out after tomorrow night but after going to class tonight I am excited about this class. One reason I am so excited about this semester is because I only have to focus on one class. It is a writing class so obviously there is inevitably a lot of writing that is going to be going on but since I only have to do that I am totally excited. My teacher really just wants us to write. At the end of the class we will have 3 short stories that our classmates will have criticized throughout the semester and then we turn in our best 2 which I am a little looking forward to because I have a good idea for one and maybe 2 or 3, we will see how it all pans out. The thing that I am most Super Duper Excited about is that she is forcing us to keep a journal, and write a page in it EVERY SINGLE DAY. I should be doing that anyways so this will just force me to do something I should and want to do. I really like writing in my journal when I do it. She isn't going to read them, she just wants to make sure we are writing absolutely anything. She said we can even write I hate this or something similar over and over and over for one page but she only sees that done once because it is just too boring to the writer to do it again. She said if we already have a journal we can just continue it and she would just check it at break and give it back to us which is what I am going to do. My journal is a little bigger then the composition notebooks with narrower lines but that is ok, I am excited about all the things that I will be able to think of to fill those lines, and nobody is going to read it. Of course, blogging is my online journal but I don't think that will count for her:) I will still have to keep all my millions of readers updated though:) Happy Writing:)

I KNOW That the Savior Loves Me

As most of you know I am the Primary Chorister in our ward and I am loving it. I get to start the new year and have so many great plans of songs that I want our primary to learn in addition to the songs we will be singing for our Sacrament program. The first song we are learning this year is from the October 2002 Friend. The song is I Know That the Savior Loves Me.
Last week I was introducing the song to the kids and I told them that I was going to tell them a story. This is how the story went:

A long time ago in a beautiful place,
children were gathered ‘round Jesus
He blessed and taught as they felt of His love.
Each saw the tears on His face.
The love that He felt for His little ones
I know He feels for me.
I did not touch Him or sit on his knee,
Yet Jesus is real to me.

I know he lives!
I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to Him.
I know that my Savior loves me.

- Now I am here in a beautiful place,
Learning the teachings of Jesus.
Parents and teachers will help guide the way,
Lighting my path ev’ry day.
- Wrapped in the arms of my Savior’s love,
I feel His gentle touch.
Living each day, I will follow His way,
- Home to my Father above.

I know he lives!
I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to Him.
I know that my Savior loves me.
I know that my Savior loves me.

As I stressed the last part of this I was so tender to me because I went from just reading the words of this song to actually testifying my knowledge of the Savior and the love that he has for me through reading these words: I KNOW that my Savior LOVES me. I felt so warm and peaceful inside and could have very easily started crying I felt so warm inside and I know it with all my heart. I held it together though and asked the kids if they know the Savior loves them.
We just learned the chorus this week and will learn the other two verses in the following weeks but this song is so pretty. Here is a video of this song:

She knows...

Let me tell you a little about this girl. I love her!!
Ok, now that that is out of the way, this little girl doesn't talk nearly as much as we think Matthew did at this age. When we took her in for her 15 month check-up the dr. asked me what she could say and I said "Not much, dada and mama" The dr. was a little concerned and said well we may think about speech therapy if she isn't saying more words at her 18 month check-up. Chris and I then started worrying. We would try to get her to SAY please but she would only sign it. She wouldn't SAY thank you she would only sign it. However, we didn't believe she had anything wrong with her hearing because she knew exactly what we would say to her. When we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house, apparently she actually wanted to talk to them. She would say, "wayareuu" when she and grandma were looking for the dog, or she would say "herego" and Chris and I looked at her and then to each other and said, "she just said here you go". Since I pull the camera out so much she says cheese a lot. I think I am used to how Matthew talks and forgot that her words are not going to sound exactly like his and so she is actually saying words, I just am not picking up what they are. However, this sweet little face is getting more and more devious. We have heard her say other things like more, milk, Allison, thank you, and others I am sure but the thing is she would say it if we ask her to. Chris was copying her saying hi numerous times and then he said Allison say hi, and she wouldn't do it. Anything we ask her to say she won't actually say it. Sometimes she won't even sign please for something so she won't get it from us. One time Allison was sitting in a chair and Chris came over and put his arms out to her and Allison do you want me to hold you? (HONESTLY NO JOKE THIS IS WHAT SHE DID) She turned her head away from him and folded her arms. I could not believe she had just done that, Chris and I were like, no way, she didn't just do that did she?
I think since she doesn't say much we still think of her as a baby and doesn't understand as much. She understands SOO SOO Much more then we give her credit for. It is really sad that we can already see a little attitude with her and he is only 1!! I remember my friend Kristi saying how hard girls were. Though it if fun to have a girl, it is really trying. I was hoping you would be wrong Kristi, even being way in Utah your words are haunting me:) I can't believe how true they are ALREADY!! We definitely need to start treating Allison like a toddler and not a baby anymore. She also likes to throw temper tantrums. Gr! She doesn't get her way so she will lay down and start crying. Matthew has never done that so she doesn't learn it from him.
I believe we have let her get away with more being #2 and we need to put an end to that or she will get out of control. (Needless to say, Chris is not excited to have a teenage girl)
She is very sweet and I absolutely love and adore her but I need to start teaching her how to be a better little girl.

This sweet face also likes to climb. We are so in for trouble, but we love her.

Procedure Compete....thank goodness

Since I wasn't able to eat anything after Monday night I stayed out of the kitchen as much as possible and was able to catch my blog up completely, for the time being. Like I had mentioned in an earlier post I had to have another colonoscopy today. I had one 6 years ago and they found a polyps but it was benign. They told me to have another one done in five years to get it checked again. Well at 5 years I was pregnant so I couldn't exactly do that so I finally went had one scheduled for today. I had plans to have a friend watch the kids and they I could just drop them off at her house and the kids could play, but since we have been back from our trip Allison has had congestion, and diarrhea. I didn't want my friend's kids to get sick so I called up another friend whose kids are in school during the day to see if she could either watch the kids or be my driver that had to be at the clinic the whole time. Of course all those that know Erin know how wonderful she is. She was so willing and even volunteered to come to my house so the kids could have their own toys. I had great intentions of cleaning the house before she got here and I did finish the laundry and started on the ironing but after awhile I got so sick to my stomach, nauseous, shaking and weak I just had to lay down until Chris got home from teaching so he could get the kids their lunch. Erin got to see the mess of my house.
We went to the clinic and they had to put me under which I was expecting since that is what they did last time but this time I only remember the nurser two needles in and then asked what I did with my kids. I told her how amazing my friend was and she came to my house. I didn't even get the warm feeling you usually get when you get put under but the next thing I know they are trying to wake me up and I just wanted to sleep. I think I remember saying, but they haven't done the procedure yet? Chris said they were hitting my feet and shaking my shoulders to wake me up. I would just give them a little inclination that I was not dead but I wasn't doing a whole lot of anything else. I vaguely remember the doctor coming in but it really all was a blur. Chris said it took longer in the recovery room then the actual colonoscopy. The nurse and Chris had to put my pants on, put me in the wheelchair and wheel me out to the car. When we got home, Chris helped me to the bed and slept for another two hours. They told Chris that they had to give me another dose to put me under more or longer so it was still very much in me. When I woke up and finally got out of bed, I still couldn't focus completely with my eyes and couldn't stay upright too long. When I woke up tonight I had to have Chris tell me for sure what the doctor said, the doctor did not find a polyps this time but still thinks I should go back in five years to have another one done. I think the reason I had the first polyps was because of the way I was eating. I eat a lot healthier now so I am thinking I may not go back for 10 years to do this wonderful cleansing procedure.
I am excited about all the junk food that may have been stored in my body is completely out and now I can start completely fresh and put only healthy food in my body.
Again I will mention how wonderful Erin is. Not only did she watch our kids which was a huge favor but while she was here she cleaned my house for me!!!!! There were so many dirty dishes in the sick and she rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher for us, cleaned off Allison's dirty bibs, cleaned her high-chair and swept the floor. Can you believe it??!!!?? I helped Chris out so much today when he went to make dinner for the family he didn't have to clear his way to the kitchen first. Absolutely amazing!I already think so highly of Erin and then she has to go above and beyond helping me just with the kids.
WOW ERIN you are truly MAGNIFICENT!!!
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Learned a lesson....hopefully

I went grocery shopping Monday morning since we didn't have any food in the house and as I was taking care of things on the counter, Matthew decided that it would be a good idea to use a blue crayon and write on the laminate floor. I didn't know he did this. I just heard him say, "I need to find a cloth." Why I asked and he informed me. He then found a cloth on the bath tub and brought it out and started trying to scrub it off. He wasn't getting it so he decided that he needed his cloth wet. He worked on scrubbing this off the floor for at least 30 minutes. Since it did take so long, he wanted to be done numerous times but he could still see some crayon so he kept scrubbing. He evenuatually got it cleaned. I can barely see where it was so he did a really good job. He wasn't happy that it took him so long but I just would remind him that with every scrub he should think about not writing on the floor and only writing on paper. I hope he learned his lesson, but at least I didn't have to clean it up.

He wasn't too happy that I took a picture of him while he was cleaning up a mess:/

Jesus wants ME for a Sunbeam!!

I can't believe my precious little baby boy is a Sunbeam. I am so excited for him. He was graduated from Nursery and is now in Primary. The funnest part for me is that I get to be in there with him and listen to him sing. Since I am the Primary chorister I was really worried about him being in there and not wanting to share me. The first two weeks in December the Sunbeams that were coming in January sat in the front row for closing exercises and Matthew came up to give me a hug. I sort of pushed him away back into his seat and he was quite sad about that. He now knows that he can not give mommy hugs during primary, only after primary can he do that.
His sunbeam teachers, Brother and Sister Hoose came to the house Saturday night to introduce themselves to him and give him a little coloring book. It was so nice of them to do that. I am really excited that they are going to be his teacher because I was worried about being the mommy/teacher and making him behave while he was in Primary but I know that Brother and Sister Hoose will keep tabs on him.
At the end of Senior primary time when the Junior primary was coming in we started to sing We'll Bring The World His Truth. Since that is one of my favorite songs, we sing that a lot at home and Matthew knows the words. It was so cute seeing little Matthew just singing so well to Army of Helaman.
I didn't imagine this day would be so big for me but it is. I can't imagine what it will be like when he starts kindergarten and is gone all day:( Anyways, as I think about him in this milestone I also think about his friends and cousins that are his age that started Sunbeams in other wards on Sunday, like:
Madi, Shannon, Anderson, Joseph, Abby, Spencer, Breven and Tanner
(Just a few I can think of right now)
I hope they all had a great day!!
Matthew got this crown that "even has his name in it so Allison can't wear it".

My little SUNBEAM!!!

Opening Presents at Home

We got home earlier then we though Saturday night and when Matthew came in the house he saw all the presents Chris had wrapped while we were gone. He was so excited to show me what was under the tree because when we left, there were no presents under the tree. We decided to just open the presents that had to deal with the kids on them so that we could save daylight and let Matthew ride his bike and then after the kids went to bed Chris and I could open ours. Matthew first opened his present from aunt and uncle and cousins. It was Guess Who? He has never seen this game before but he absolutely loves it and he plays it so much. He will even play it by himself if he can't get Chris or I to play it with him. He also got more trains and train tracks with he just loves.
Allison is finally starting to get toys of her own instead of just hand-me-downs from Matthew. She got some dolls and a stroller, binkis that she likes to use instead of the baby. She loves her dolls. At the very end we let Matthew open one last present. It was a bike helmet. He opened it up I asked him what it was. He said it was a helmet for a bike but he didn't have a bike. I said, don't you think you might need one to go along with your helmet? At that point, Chris wheeled his bike out. He was so excited and you can see him looking at it in the first picture. He is really excited about his bike and has to learn how to ride it better but now we just need warmer weather to ride it.

Trip Home

We left at 8:01am New Year's Day from Kris and Heather's house in Marana, AZ. We drove for 9.5 hours to Fort Stockton, TX. We got to our hotel and as Chris was checking in, a lady from our ward said hi to him. The Johanson's were driving back from CA and just happen to be at the same hotel at the same time. I still can't believe it. What are the odds and seeing someone in your ward so far away from home at a hotel.
Anyways, we got a later start in the morning then we had wanted to but we left and a couple hours into the drive, Allison just started crying. She cried and cried. I would try to comfort her but it didn't work completely. I would get her to go to sleep but a couple seconds later she would just wake up and cry. It seemed like she wanted to sleep but something was hurting too bad to prevent her from sleeping. Chris never wants to pull off to the side of the interstate so I finally pulled her out of her car seat and brought her up front with me. She immediately went to sleep. I don't know what was wrong with her. There was finally an exit and Chris got off. He got in the back and got Tylenol for her and I gave it to her but he also went in the store and got Benadryl in case the Tylenol didn't work. Thankfully the Tylenol did work and I was able to put her back in her car seat and she was able to sleep for about 3 hours. That was really nice.
It seems like the closer you get to home after being on a trip the longer it takes. When we reach San Antonio, we are so close, considering where we were but that is still 3 hours away. Then we reach Bastrop and we are closer, passing Caldwell, we then wish we were some of those people in our ward that live in Caldwell and say if we were the so and so's in our ward we would be home already. However, after reaching William J. Bryan from the Hwy 21 we are so close to home and we start asking Matthew if he knows where we are. We made it home about 4:30pm on Saturday night and were glad to be home.

Quadrunning

After we left Mesa, AZ we drove the two hours to Marana, AZ to stay with my sister, Heather, and her family for a couple nights.
Matthew absolutely loved playing with his cousins.
On New Year's Eve, Heather's husband, Kris, had the day off also so Kris and Heather took us to the middle of nowhere and we rode quadrunners. It was really fun. When Chris and I were first dating, I took him up to Quartzite, AZ where Kris and Heather currently lived to meet them and also go quadrunning. Chris wasn't a huge fan of it so I figured after our initial run on the quadrunners this time he would be done. The initial run was Kris took our whole family with him in his Ranger, Heather took Jennifer and Daniel, one in front and back of her and then Andrew drove his with Emily in back of him. It was really fun to have a little train of quadrunners. After that we dropped the kids off with Kris and Heather and Chris and I took the Ranger out for a spin. We had a blast and those that "didn't go out on a quadrunner" rode on the Little Tikes Battery operated toys. Chris and I felt like we were on a date because Kris and Heather wanted us to go out and enjoy ourselves and they would look after the kids.

Chris and Allison before our initial ride.

Matthew wanting to drive Uncle Kris' Ranger, sorry bud, a little too young.

Our whole family before our initial ride, now we just need a driver.

Aunt Heather taking Matthew out for a little spin.


Allison loved this jeep as long as it wasn't moving. Allison spent most of her time climbing in and out of this jeep but as soon as some one moved it whether she was in it or not, she freaked out, or so they tell me.

Allison and the jeep


Got to take a break for lunch.

Emily, Heather, Daniel, Matthew and Chris

We didn't have much of a New Year's party except the obscene amount of chips and other unhealthy things. I had my fair share of soda, chips and cookies that night. We were all so tired that I was the only that lasted and watched the ball fall. Everyone else zonked out before. I was busy preparing for our trip in the morning but I was asleep by 12:30am.
Happy 2010!!

In the morning, Matthew was not happy that he had to leave his cousins house. As you can tell by the picture below, Allison was hungry which equals cranky, hence the binki and Matthew looks like he was just crying. Yep, he was. Daniel and Matthew actually played pretty well together this time but I think Matthew's favorite is still Andrew. I am sure Andrew was a little glad to not have a shadow anymore.

Allison, Andrew, Jennifer, Daniel, Emily, and Matthew in front.

Phoenix Zoo

We decided to stay an extra day so that we could have a game night with all of Chris' brothers. Instead of just sitting around the house all day, we decided to take the kids to the Phoenix zoo. It was a little on the cool side when we got there but it warmed up. The first time I had ever been to a zoo was when I was four months pregnant with Allison. We were in AZ in March of 2008 and took Matthew to this zoo. I was absolutely mesmerized by the giraffes, zebras, rhinos and tortoises. I have seen been to the Waco zoo with Matthew's preschool and now back to the Phoenix zoo.

I thought this picture turned out pretty cute.

Allison, me, Matthew and the gorilla Matthew is sitting on.

I thought this was a good picture to.

Chris and Matthew on a real sized tractor

Matthew and I on another real life size tractor

Matthew milking the cow.

Matthew and I on/next to a tractor wheel

Matthew petting a goat in the petting zoo area.

Allison and Matthew checking out the goats

Allison actually petting a goat

Allison liked looking at the goats. We could have spent a long time there but we came to the zoo to see zoo animals, not goats.

Our sweet baby


The sun was definitely bright, can't you tell?

Matthew, Chris, Allison, and goat

Matthew and Allison in eggshells

Matthew, daddy and Allison

Matthew and Chris in front of the zebras


There was a monkey sitting right next to the glass.

Matthew looking at himself...umm, I mean looking at the monkey:)

This was to make you realize how fast some of the animals go. Matthew loved running back and forth looking at his speed. He ran as fast as he could but only got up to 4mph. We encouraged him to keep doing it if he wanted to to wear him out.

Matthew running super hero fast.

Matthew, Allison and I in front of a monkey cage area.

Matthew and I in front of the rhinos

Allison in front of the rhinos.

Though we only spent half the day there, the kids were tired and ready to go home, as were we. Both times we have gone to this zoo we get there early and leave around noonish and that is when things really start getting busy. We enjoyed our time and fresh air. As we were putting the kids in the car to go home we started feeling drops. It was perfect timing.
Needless to say, the kids had a great nap that afternoon.