Baby News

I believe most everyone knows that Jeremy and I are expecting our fourth baby. Last week I had the ultrasound appointment to find out what the baby was. There was a lot of anticipation leading up to the appt. I brought Ella with me so she could see the ultrasound. She was standing next to me most of the time so she could see the screen better, until we found out what the baby is. She was very disappointed to find out that she is going to have another brother. We are still excited for a baby no matter what, although I was getting a little excited about the prospect of buying little girl clothes again. Maybe next time.

Disneyland April 2008

April was a pretty fun and busy month. Jeremy had a good schedule with his rotation plus a week of vacation. Jeremy and I had been planning a trip to California and told the kids we were going to go visit our friends Marc and Katya and go to the beach.

They loved getting reacquainted with the Parker kids and had a ton of fun playing in their backyard. We always love getting together with you guys, we had a great Sunday afternoon at your beautiful home.
After leaving the Parker's and heading to the hotel, Ella noticed quite a few Disney land signs. while Jeremy was checking in she asked "Why are there all these Disneyland signs?" She knew it was close and started begging to go there while we were here. We finally told them once unpacked that this was a Disneyland trip. They were so excited, they of course had a hard time getting to sleep.
Taylor fell asleep each day, but this ride he stayed dead asleep the entire time and once back into the stroller continued his nap.
Caden loved feeling some control over the rocket being able to make the rocket go up and down.

Our first visit to California Adventures.
We met the lovely Snow White and a very cute little dwarf in the window.
You would never believe it, but California Screamin' was Ella's favorite ride between the two parks. She must have been able to go on it at least 7 or 8 times between Jeremy and I using fast passes and the rider switch pass. She even went on the Hollywood tower of Terror. She didn't love it like a Roller Coaster, I didn't even end up doing that one. She wanted to try everything.
Taking a little lunch break.
Caden and Taylor loved the Bug's life kids area. Caden even met Flik and got his autograph while we were there.

Taylor finally stood on his toes so that he was tall enough to go on these little bumper cars. He loved helping daddy drive.
Ella and I waited a long time in line to meet the princesses. The boys caught up to us just before it was our turn. Good timing. Taylor was way cute for the pics. We met Ariel first, and he wouldn't get in any of the pictures with her. After Ella and Caden walked away from their pics, he went up to Ariel and took off his hat for the picture. What a little gentleman.

Disneyland really does have something magical about it that California Adventures just doesn't have, maybe the next generation will feel differently.We loved surprising the kids and spending a few days at the theme parks. Ella of course loved all the roller coasters, and Jeremy and I loved having a partner to ride with. Caden's favorite was Star Tours, he told everyone about it once back home. Taylor, can't tell what his favorite was, he didn't like Pirates of the Caribbean. He started crying when the skull started talking, poor little guy.

We had so much fun on our vacation.

Easter

Easter after church before the hunt.
We celebrated Easter Sunday with my Dad's side of the fam. It was fun getting together with everyone. My Aunt Julie told the kids she would race them. They loved it, and she lasted for quite a while. looking forward to next years race.
This was our egg hunt at my dad and step mom's house. The kids had a lot of fun, and didn't want to eat dinner after finding eggs.

Taylor took a break and did some putting.

This was the hunt back at our house after hunting at Nana and Papa's. Daddy was post call so we didn't wake him up until around 5:00 or so, then he joined us for the final hunt of the day.

Cute Spring Break pics

this one's from easter, but the rest we took over spring break for fun ,these are some of the cutest ones.

Jeremy and his brothers and couple of brother in laws(one not pictured)played in a basketball league and won the tournament. Jeremy played when he could and made the trek out to Mesa, it was a fun time.

THis is Taylor with my youngest sister Becca, we had a fun time with her over the break. Ella loves to hang out with her aunt Becca.

Taylor wa kept happy with lots of jellybeans, he of course wanted to take off the tux jacket, but I just had to take some photos of him in it before he totally outgrows it. I couldn't find the pants that go with it.

T-ball and Field Day

Ella's Field Day was in March, but I don't think I put up any pictures. Caden was upset a lot of the time because he was only allowed to participate in a couple of events. For him it was pretty boring since it was just watching Ella's class the whole time. One of the class favorites was the pizza box relay. It was a fun day and Caden can't wait until next years field day.

Swing away. Caden started T-ball in March and loves having games, mostly for the snacks after the game :). The whole team is getting better at paying attention, they are hilarious to watch. Sometimes they are in outfield just spinning around, you get one kid started and then it has a Domino affect on the whole team until the coach puts a stop to all the shenanigans. Now the team does pretty good paying attention to the ball and throwing it in the right direction. Caden loves to show off how far he can throw, once he was at the pitchers mound and threw it over the fence behind home plate. He looked a little sheepish after, it was funny.
Team picture. Taylor gets into the games too, we drive by the field and he'll say 'Cade game' pointing towards it. Its been fun, only five games left.

Busy yet not so busy

The last three weeks Jeremy has been working nights. Finally this week he will be working days again. We're excited to have him back in the evenings. Although that means I will have to start making dinner again. I have gotten used to having cold cereal and macaroni for so long with the kids I am going to have to think of menus for dinner.
March has been full of fun stuff for the kids with school. T-ball finally started for Caden, He loves it as does Taylor. Taylor just wishes he could participate a little more at practice. Caden had green eggs and ham on Dr. Seuss' birthday, and then celebrated Easter and St. Patrick's day on Friday, because it is spring break this week. Two weeks ago we went to the zoo and met Ella's 1st grade class there. We had a fun time chaperoning, it was perfect weather. I do know now if I am just going to the zoo with my kids, I don't want to go on Fridays, that is field trip day at the Phoenix zoo. The kids even got tired before it was time to go back to the buses. It was a great day. Ella just had Field day on Thurs. She had lots of fun. They do lots of fun stuff for the younger grades, hula hoop, jump rope, scooter relay. She really enjoyed it. Caden was a little upset that he couldn't participate in everything, he finally settled for playing on the playground while I watched Ella.
Even though the kids have been keeping me busy, I have really gotten into some bad habits. With Jeremy gone at night or sleeping during the day, I kind of let the house go and the kids run wild, and what was I doing all this time, reading way too much, with intervals of playing with the kids. Most of the series I have enjoyed recently Jeremy read first and knew I would like them and others' friends suggested. Here's what I have most recently read;
Loved "The Bartimaeus Trilogy" by Jonathan Stroud, very clever writing, really enjoyed it.
"Inkheart" by Cornielia Funke have only read the first but sequel is on hold at the library waiting for me.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, Amy turned Jeremy and I onto this book in Hawaii. have only read first of this one also and have sequel waiting.
Currently reading the last book in "The Dark is Rising Sequence" by Susan Cooper, 5 books in the series some of the books were predictable but all of these books are in the young readers section. Love it because you know they are clean yet very exciting books. Two books by cooper won newbury or newbury honor.
So this is how I would escape Jeremy not being there and slip into my fantasy worlds with magical creatures. It's been fun, but I need to start getting back to reality and just escaping into my books for a few minutes at night before bed like I used to.

Taylor turned 2!!!

Taylor turned two years old on February 3rd. He is such a cutie. This boy loves balls. so I had to do a sports theme cake plus it was super bowl Sunday, so we had to have a football on there. Which Taylor wanted to grab off his cake and probably would have tried to throw it.
We just had a small party for him with our family and my brother Brandon and Amber's family. Ella and Caden were so excited. They kept bugging me when was I going to make a cake and how come they couldn't make a cake in their easy bake oven for him. They were busy all day preparing for his birthday finding things they could give and making cards, it was so cute.
Taylor's 2nd love after sports is cars or anything with wheels whether it is a car he rides or an rc car he loves it. He is talking so much now. It is so fun to figure out what he is saying and here his little vocabulary grow. We would always ask Taylor how old he was and he would put up one finger so now he just puts up both fingers, so cute. Taylor and Caden are playing more and more together, They are already wrestling and rough housing at 2 and 5, and Taylor defends himself pretty well. They are quite a funny pair.

Taylor's two favorite things that he has to have are his "pacie" and his blankie. This green blanket I made for his last b-day and he has loved it since. Sometimes we can get him to use a smaller blue one with the same silkie border. At the retreat he had to walk around with his blankie, partially because he kept getting hurt and needed it for comfort, Ella got to follow him and hold it up off the ground so it didn't get muddy. She felt like she was holding up a dress. He is hilarious. We are so glad he is our little guy Ella and Caden love him so much. It's so fun to see how the three of them are growing together.