Yummy Spaghetti O's

I know for sure with Lucas I never gave him Spaghetti O's at 9 months old, but Brooke was really trying to get to Lucas's the other day and I figured why not...she loved them! It wasn't fun cleaning up after she was done, but nothing a little comet won't fix.

family time is so important...

We went to Tampa last weekend for a "family weekend". Since we have annual passes to the zoo, for the month of September we got into the MOSI Science Center and Aquarium for free. I booked hotel rooms at the Hyatt,of course, for three nights so we could enjoy all parks. This picture is from the first night at the hotel, we got a casita so we had a pretty good view of the water. The sunset was beautiful and dinner was great. Off to bed early to get up an move to the Hyatt Downtown...more to come.

A day on the lake

So I am not such a great Mommy, we went on the boat and I didn't take one single picture of the kids...but I got some great ones of Uncle Mike wake boarding. We had fun, he did a great job as you can see in the pictures. Lucas and Brooke had fun too, unfortunately Lucas got a little too much sun, but not too bad. Brooke had a great time playing in the water too.

Silly String

Last week I had a day off because I woke up with a flat tire and needed to go and get it fixed. Since I was only going to work 1/2 day anyway, I decided to take the whole day off. After Lucas, Brooke and I got the tire fixed we went on a hunt for a wallet for Lucas. I kept telling him and telling him that I would get him one and thought for sure that Walmart would have boy's wallets. Nothing. We searched a few other stores and still, nothing! So we settled for silly string instead, he had fun. It is hard for their little fingers to push down the tops of those, but we had fun, I had him covered at one point!

FOOD, yummy.

There is a reason that we call Brooke "porkchop". She is a little tank, and loves to eat. She was getting super hungry at the sitter's and eating every 2 hours and wanted more, so I knew it was time for food. I wasn't quite ready yet since Lucas didn't start til he was 6 months, but this just shows that all kids are different. We started with rice cereal and she did great, the girl can eat. I will hopefully do the same that I did with Lucas and make all of her food. She has sweet potatoes and will try avocado next. It is fun and she is doing much better at the sitter and not getting so hungry.

I hope that she isn't a picky eater, it is nice that Lucas will almost eat anything. In the mean time Lucas decided that he would try a banana pepper the we grew in the back yard, he tried them a couple of times, I think he finally learned his lesson.

Elect Kelley

4th of July

There was nothing better than spending the 4th with the family and friends. We had a great time in the little town of Astor. We went with our friends Todd and Vicki and Rusty's Brother Michael and girlfriend Nikki. We bought Lucas his first fishing pole, it is a cool one that you don't have to cast, just push a button, a big hit! He was the only one there to catch a fish with a fishing pole, Uncle Mike caught several with a cast net, but Lucas was very special. Granted, it wasn't a keeper by any means, but it was precious.
The house that we rented was great, right on a canal that led to the St. John's River. It was 4 bedrooms and had a great kitched with anything that was needed. Lucas also loved his room which included nothing but a twin bed, closet and built in dresser (where he put away his clothes, so cute) and the highlight was the eletric fish take that lit up. He was so happy
We went to the Silver Glen which is a spring off Lake George. It was COLD, but fun. Lucas like to play in the sand with the other kids and Rusty, Todd and Michael had fun snorkling.

I got lucky and my friend Vicki that went bought all the food and we split it three ways. I did a lot of cooking but that is what I love so I can't complain! We have all agreed to go back and rent the same house by the end of the summer. It was a perfect get away and long weekend. As you can see, Lucas was totally exhausted.

Basketball..mommy's dream come true

Early last week Rusty and I were talking about finding a sport for Lucas to participate in. Well, yesterday I called the YMCA in Kissimmee and found out that Basketball started Saturday for 3-5 year olds. I was in my heaven. We were there at 8:45 ready to start. Lucas and I went to the store the night before to get shoes, and found some Sketchers that he loved so much he SLEPT with them on. Yes, you heard me right, would not let me take them off. So learning how to dribble, shoot and "share" with the other boys was amazing! He did good for my little guy who I have never even played Basketball with. I have never even tried to teach him to dribble, pass, or shoot for that matter...and it showed! He did good though. I know in the next three months he will learn a lot, so will we as parents. Brooke loved to watch her brother at the beginning, but just wanted to sleep in the end. Oh, and Lucas was on the Dolphin team...thought he was a star, and is an always will be one in my eyes. All he could say was he was ready to get on the "court" like Emmy says in Dragon Tales!

Story Time

It has been a long time since we have been able to go to story time at the library. We went when Brooke was 2 weeks old and continued throughout the time that I was on maternity leave. I think beside being home with the kids this was my most cherished time with Lucas and I. It was wonderful to see him interact with 5 year olds and sing and dance. He isn't around kids during the day, but he loves to be with them. I will never forget this time that I spent with Lucas, ever in my life. He still talks about it, yesterday his mobile that we made the last day broke and he wondered if the teacher would be upset if we thru it away. I can't believe how sweet and thoughtful of a kids he is!

Spiderman

I never knew how much boys thrive on superheros until Lucas asked for something Spiderman. He watched Free Willy (might I add I had to buy it but luckily I got the three pack "collectors addition" at Walmart for $14.97) and knew he could snorkel and wanted flippers to try. I remembered seeing some fun fins at BJ's and when we went to look, he fell in love with the Spiderman ones. He feel in love with them. There was another option that was a shark, but who could pass up spiderman? He had to try on the whole get up, including fins, goggles and fun glove type thingys that of course, shot spider webs! He played in the pool forever with the whole get up on, then just decided it was easiest with the mask. So much easier on the eyes since kids love to swim the whole time with their eyes open. I don't allow Lucas to climb on the furniture, a little of my sister in me, but when he came in he was literally crawling on the back of the couch, cause of course, he was spiderman. After that he continued to climb on one of Brooke's diaper boxes that I hadn't put away yet and was standing on it being "spiderman". For the next few days we were riding in the car to the sitters with full spiderman attire and I am sure that all cars passing had a great chuckle to their morning!, if anything Mommy cherished it for the rest my my day!

Denny Jr's 2nd Birthday

This is a week old, but could be left alone. We had a wonderful time last weekend at Dennis and Adriana's house for their little boy's 2nd birthday. I haven't been out too much at night with Brooke, that is her time and isn't always an angel, but we had a wonderful time. I know that Adriana wants a little girl someday, and we think that Denny has an eye for Brooke already, so she loved to hold my little girl. As most of you know, your home changes with kids. We "had" a dining room which is now a play/computer room, and the Winky's did the same thing. They had a great pool table room, with beer signs and lights, but now that Denny is two, the also have too many toys for the living room and decided it was time for a Play room instead of a Mans room. It just amazes me how much these little people change our lives. Anyway, it is always so much fun to spent time with the Deems. They are such a close knit family and they make us feel like we are family as well. The last time that Denny was over he loved Lucas's lawn mower, so we got him one just like Lucas's. And because of that Lucas had to bring his with. The two of them ran around the back yard mowing the lawn, it was awesome. Dennis and Adriana also got Denny a bounce house that Lucas had a blast with, now the only thing that we hear is that we should buy one too!

the zoo, ready in 45 minutes, with 2 kids...

when we woke up this morning, we knew we wanted to do something, but driving to Tampa I didn't think would be the first thing on our list, but it was. I was feeding Brooke and Lucas was watching cartoons at about 7:15 when Rusty came out and asked if we wanted to go to the zoo. We both thought it sounded like a good idea, and by 8:15 we were all in the car ready to go. I am still not quite sure how I got myself, and two kids dressed and in the car by then, but it worked, breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds was on the way. We got there about 9:30 and had a great time. Lucas loved to see the monkeys and pet the Llama, but most of all, wanted to play in the water. We say the giraffes and elephants, birds and zebras, but still, wanted to play in the water. We only stayed until about 12:30 because it was then 95degrees, but had a great day. After that came home and played in the pool. I think that Rusty and Lucas had more fun in the pool, they were in there until about 6 o'clock, but Brooke must have been overwhelmed by the fresh air that she got because she slept from about 5-8 and then back down by 9. All the kids (including Rusty) are in bed by 9:15 and I have a little me time. Hopefully the sleep that Brooke got earlier doesn't' get her up at 2, but I am enjoying my time on the computer and watching a movie. Also, we saw the space shuttle go up at 5:02, it was amazing as always, the picture is right across the street above my neighbors house.

a flower for Mommy...

What a sweet little boy. The sun finally came out and Lucas wanted to ride his 4-wheeler, who could say no after being trapped inside yesterday because it was a yucky day. So as he rode around in circles in my front yard, he said wait a minute Mommy, I have to get you something. He jumped off his 4-wheeler and picked me a flower, what a beautiful start to hopefully a great afternoon.

Rainy Day FUN!

When we woke up this morning Lucas asked what was wrong with the windows, there was so much condensation on them he couldn't see out. I explained that they house was cold and the outside was warm and that is what caused it, whether it understood or now, I don't know. But after watching the forecast, we realized that it was going to be an inside day. We stayed in our PJ's until after lunch (all three of us) and got out my Rubbermaid container of craft stuff. It was fun, I think I should have started with one project, but I figured why not get the stamps, glitter, glue, markers, hole punches, fun scissors and paper and just dive in. I think I will be finding glitter for the next month, but it was all worth it. We had a great time and some beautiful picture frames that came out of it. I don't know who had more fun, me or Lucas!

making Bread...

Since I have been on maternity leave I have tried to be a good wife and mother and cook new things. I have been successful at times, so when my Dad was here he showed me how to make homemade french bread. Unfortunately, this time wasn't so successful. Lucas was at the sitters a few weeks back and I decided to try it out. After talking with my Dad I got everything in the bread machine and had and hour and a half to get some cleaning done. I was in Lucas's room going thru some toys and I heard a crash, I thought it was just one of his toys in the playroom since I had just been in there cleaning. After about 10 minutes, I walked into the Kitchen and found my bread machine, a ball of dough and the pan all scattered, yes, on the floor. All I could do is laugh. Apparently, while the dough was kneading, it had rocked the bread machine right off the counter. I put it all back together and turned it back on. Seemed to be working well. After the timer went off, I put it in the oven and the bread actually came out ok, not as good as Dad's bread, but ok. Now comes to a few days ago. Lucas was home and we decided to try it again. We got the machine out, put all the ingredient in it and plugged it in...all we got was beeping and EEE...yikes, I think the fall took it's last toll on my Bread Machine, out to the trash it went. Now I had a new problem, what do I do? I call my Dad right away, he told me to put the ingredients in my Kitchen Aid and mix it that way and just put it in a greased bowl and let it rise like that. Who knew...it was much better than my last loaf, and if pictures can tell, I think that Lucas had fun helping..or at least playing in the flour and eating it!

Bike Riding

So my last week home with the kids has been fun so far. Lucas started really riding his bike on Sunday night. Rusty and I think back to us being kids and wonder if our parents would let us learn how to ride our bike in the house and realize that Lucas has it pretty good. So as Rusty and I sat playing our Wii, Lucas comes sailing in on his motorcycle bike, turning around and pedaling back into the kitchen and back to the living room again. He was so proud, so were we. I was sure that Monday we would be outside all day, but it rained for the most part. Tuesday we took a little ride and today he made it around two of the road in my neighborhood. Brooke by his side in the stroller, it was a great morning. I promised that we would go out again tonight after it cooled down, 90 degrees is a little warm to ride bikes, so I think we will venture to the pool for the afternoon.

A afternoon with the Winkys and Greg

What is more fun than being around friends on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. It is a little harder getting together once you and your friends have families of their own, but we cherish every minute that we spend with Dennis, Adriana, Denny, and Greg. We had an afternoon in the pool and a great dinner I might add. Lucas and Denny are at the perfect age to begin a bond that will hopefully grow as strong and us parents have, and I think that I already caught Denny checking out Brooke (smile). They came over in the afternoon and we has some appetizers of BBQed bacon wrapped mushrooms that my sister started me on and I can't pass up on a weekly basis, then headed for the pool. Of course, my little fish Lucas loves the water but it was Denny's first time in a pool and he just loved it! Brooke is getting pretty accustomed to the water herself. The we had some drinks and dinner outside on my new patio dinnerware that I had to purchase when we got a new gazebo and table and chairs and also our fence that we just love! It was a great night and I am sure that there will be many more this summer. I don't remember how "the winkys" got that name, but it has been one that has stuck and will forever.