Disneyland and California Adventures!

For Christmas we decided our big gift was going to be a trip to Disneyland. The kids had never been, and it had been too long for Mikelle and Bobby. We went the beginning of February, and had such a great time! The kids loved it. We had rain and hail one day, but we still managed to have fun. These are the mouse ears the kids chose. Jackson was all excited because he could wear it while playing Lego Pirates with Bobby. And hers was perfect because we call her princess anyways.

The carousel was a favorite. We went on the one at Disneyland and California Adventures multiple times.

Brooklyn loved Dumbo! We were afraid she might not like the rides, but she loved them all, except Pirates and the haunted mansion! She covered her face with her blanket for those rides! Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was her favorite!

The kids also loved the benches outside the park! We are easily amused, but they are super cute, you have to admit!

One of the best pictures, ever! She loved the rides that go up and down.

Jackson also had a great time. He went on all the rides his height would allow. He did Space Mountain multiple times and loved the Matterhorn, mostly because of the abominable snowman! He was bummed he was too short for Indiana, but next time! The cars racers were his favorite.

Another great picture. It was taken just before he fell off his seat! Those ladybugs twirl so fast!

Jacskon got picked for Jedi training. He did such a great job, and had so much fun. He fought Darth Vader, and even got to force push the storm troopers. This was Bobby's favorite part! The whole program was very well done, and it was hilarious.

Brooklyn was not as impressed. Darth Maul got up in her face, and you've never seen her climb over Mikelle so fast! It was cool to see him up close though.

The typical picture everyone must get! Brooklyn's not asleep, she's just trying to keep the sun out of her eyes! Overall it was a great trip. We rode every ride that was open that the kids could go on, and even Bobby got to ride a few "big kid"rides by himself! Beside the weather, we couldn't have asked for a better time to go. The crowds weren't too bad and the kids were real troopers. They are already asking when we can go back!

The one thing we were surprised with, was that the kids didn't want to see the characters. Brooklyn saw Pooh and Minnie, if Mikelle went with her, and Jax saw Mickey, but only with Mikelle being right there. We said hi to all the ones we saw, from a distance! At least there was more time for rides!

Winter Fun!

Since we don't have much of a winter per se, we take what we can get! For Christmas, Kristin and her boyfriend brought an ice chest of snow! It was so fun for the kids. They loved it! And when it was gone, they were soo sad.

We mostly let the kids play, but Papa, Mikelle's dad, had to defend himself since Brooklyn kept throwing snowballs at him! She thought it was so funny.

 

And of course, Logan couldn't miss all the fun. The boys teamed up against Kristin and Grandma. What's Christmas without a good snowball fight, even in Phoenix!!

Luckily there was also a little snow when we went to Christmas for New Years.

The kids had lots of fun making snow angels. That's about all the snow there was though. Jacskon wanted to go sledding, but maybe next year.



And since he couldn't go sledding,Grandma helped him with the next best thing, a snowman! It is a mini snowman, but Jackson loved it all the same.

Poor little Valley kids were freezing, but they still couldn't get enough!

Jackson Turns 5!

We also now officially have a 5 year old! We have him all signed up for school next year, and he is so excited!
For his birthday, Jackson wanted a monter party. He helped Mikelle find ideas, and then helped her make them. He loved these hats the second we saw them online, so we had to go out and find stuff to make them. It was so fun to see him get so excited about everything. He especially loved the googly eyes!

And who can't love this picture? I think only for his grandkids!

We let everyone make their own monster cupcake. They were all so creative and the kids loved it!

This project was about the hardest to do.We knew we wanted a monster head, but it took about 10 stores to find a nice big watermelon. Thank you Costco! January isn't the best month for watermelon, just in case you didn't know! Kristin made the face for us, and did a great job. Jackson loved it!

We just did bagel sandwiches, but everyone loved the scary faces! Luckily Mikelle was behind on a Halloween project and had lots of extra teeth around! Sometimes it pays to procastinate:)

We had a lot of other food, but the jello cups were another favorite! Jackson helped make these too. We got lucky and found the table cloth at Walmart, on sale! And napkins and cups to match. Jackson decided to get cups with circles on them though, and make them into eyes! We glued lots of googly eyes to the cups, but also drew some eyes on. Overall, it was a great little family party. The best part was having Jackson so invloved and excited about everything we did.

Brooklyn turns 2!

It finally happened! Our baby turned 2! Where did the time go? She has slowed down in her growth, only 26.5 lbs., 50%, and 331/2 inches, 50%. The doctor said she's on track to be about 5'7". Overall she is a good little girl. She is a little bit of a drama queen though, and she loves to climb all over everything! She loves to draw and she is a mama's girl, but so cute and loving. She just melts your heart, most of the time!

She loves Elmo, so naturally we had an Elmo party with the family. Grandma and her were twinkies! We just played at the park with her cousins, then had some dinner and presents.

We had fun decorating and making anything look like Sesame Street Characters that we could. We got a few ideas off Pinterest, and then added some of our own. Brooklyn loved it all, as did Alec. The fruit and veggie trays were the best!

And the plates and cups were a bit hit!

Brooklyn liked the Elmo cupcakes, but mostly just the frosting and ate the ice cream mostly with her hand!

Really, how can you not love that face?!

Tia and Mikelle's parents helped out a lot. We are so thankful for them. It was a great day with great company and hats!

Halloween

I know this surprises everyone, but for Halloween we dressed up as superheroes! Jackson wanted to be Hulk Smash, so of course we all needed to match. Bobby decided we would go as The Avengers! Jackson loved his costume, and looked so handsome in it.

Bobby was a little hesitant at first to let Mikelle make Brooklyn a girl Captain America, because there is no such thing, but in the end he decided it would be okay! Mikelle, Kristin and their mom made the costume, and she was stinkin' adorable! She loved trick-or-treating, and got a lot of candy.

Bobby was of course Thor and Mikelle was Black Widow. It was a great year, and we have already started planning for next year! (It helps when you find costumes on sale for 75% off)! And we have to thank Kendra for the pictures. There were issues with our camera, and we didn't get any good shots, but luckily Kendra got a few!

Halloween Fun

We love Halloween around here, and since we can only wear halloween clothes for a month, we wear the same clothes a lot! Brooklyn loves her meow-meow shirt.

And Jackson of course loves his skull shirts.

Mikelle made this tutu for Brooklyn. It was her first attempt, so she learned a lot, but it turned out really cute, and Brooklyn chose it anytime we gave her the option.

Mikelle's mom made this dress for Brooklyn. It is so cute, but of course everytime we tried to get a cute picture, we got to see Brooklyn's backside! The front looks the same as the back, so you get the idea.

We took the kids to Dewitt Stables for a little Fall fun. The kids loved it. We started with horse rides, although we had to coax Brooklyn a little. Once she saw Jackson doing it, then of course she had to do it!

 

We had fun with games, train rides, a hay maze (which Jackson rocked), fun with pictures, a hay ride, a petting zoo and

lassoing! Both kids tried, but it was quite hard to lasso anything. Brooklyn got pretty good at catching herself though!

The kids each picked a little pumpkin out, and that may have been the best part for Jackson. Had to choose almost everyone until he found just the right one!

Later Bobby helped Jackson carve our big pumpkin. Jackson drew the face and Bobby cut it. He still hates the insides, but each year he's getting a little more involved in carning it! He did want to roast the pumpkin seeds to eat, so that was our fitst time ever making those. They turned out great!

Not Halloween

Brooklyn has been getting into dress-up. It is so cute, but also a little funny. She has three dresses, and she wears them all at the same time! She also has a few crowns and some mickey ears, they all must go on together too! It is so funny.We also go to the store like this, often! Who needs Halloween to dress-up? Jackson tells her she looks fat, which with three dresses... but we still tell him that's not okay! Poor girl may already be getting a complex, even though we love  her chunky cheeks, that sadly she is slowly loosing.

And of course, Jackson couldn't be left out. Too bad his Thor costume is getting to small. He still loves to wear it and play superhero, so technicaly he's not playing dress-up. That makes Bobby feel better!

T Ball

Jackson has been playing tball these past few months. It has been interesting, but over all he has enjoyed it. He is getting better and excited for when he can hit without the tee. (You may notice his eye is a little black, that is not from tball! We finally had to take him in to get his chalazion surgically removed. The doctor said it was HUGE. We could only see the tip of if and Jacskon seems to be doing much better).

Look how handsome he is!

We love this picture, all action...

Then this is really how we spends most of his time in the field! He is getting better at standing, but that may be because it is finally cooling down too. We had two Saturdays on a row, where he had double headers and it was still in the high 90's! You can see why he was sooo tired! He is also getting more time in the infield, so that helps!