Fun with Ryder

Jami and Ryder came to visit this weekend.  We hadn’t seen them since Christmas and you know how much kids change during their first few years of life.  He is talking so much and he is starting to throw tantrums and I can laugh now…since my kids used to do this!  Well, what am I saying-Audrey still does throw tantrums sometimes! 🙂  The kids all had so much fun with him and he think he had just as much fun.  They all 4 can play together, but they also play with him individually too.  He says all their names, but he loves to say Audrey’s name the most!  He makes all the animal sounds and loves to read books.  I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I should have, but here are a couple.

Audrey and Ryder spinning in the chair…Eli was spinning them and we kept having to tell him to SLOW it down!

And spinning some more!

They would throw all the balls down the steps then sit down there with them.

It was so nice so spend time with my sister.  Living 3 hours apart reallly stinks sometimes.  At least we both like to talk on the phone!! 🙂

Who needs shoes?

Last week,  I needed to go to Sams to get some groceries.  I told Eli and Audrey to get their shoes and jackets on and get in the car.  I took Audrey out to the car and Eli climbed in to the van.  We drive to Sams (20 minutes), I open the van door and was getting Audrey out of her carseat. 

Eli comes away from his seat and says “I don’t have any shoes on!” 

I said “what?’

He repeats “I don’t have my shoes on.”

I said “Well put them on!”

He said ” I don’t have any with me”

Oh my gosh!!!  That is not really what I thought…it was worse!  And then I yelled something not very nice at him!  I was furious!!  What on earth was I supposed to do now?? I couldn’t carry him in…well I could, but he is 60 pounds and then to push him around in a cart…I DON”T THINK SO!!  My only option was to drive home and come back the next day!  To make the situation worse, after I yelled at him for what seemed like minutes, I looked around and there was a lady across the way just staring at me!  I just waved at her and got in the car.

I can laugh about it now, but I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mad at Eli!

The joys of parenthood!!

Father Daughter Dance

It is that time of year for the Father Daughter Dance.  Jocelyn and Brian went to the dance on Friday. 

It is so great for Brian (and all the other dads) to do this for their daughters!

 

jocelyn

It’s time to brag about Jocelyn for a while!!!

Jocelyn has been in tumbling for cheerleading since January and I am so proud of how well she has improved.  She loves to go and she can’t wait for cheerleading practices to begin this summer.  The tumbling coach has been wonderful and shows so much one-on-one attention.   She is very positive when she instructs them and makes it fun for the girls.

She is also doing wonderful in school.  We had her conferences a couple of weeks ago and she was able to lead her conference.  She was able to tell us how she is doing…what her strengths are and what she needs to work on.  Her teacher said he was very proud of Jocelyn and her progress.  Her grades are great and we know what she always give 110%. 

She is a great big sister who helps out whenever we need her. 

We love you Jocelyn and are so proud of you!!!

7 kids for the evening!!

Our good friends, the Bray’s and us, decided to watch each others kids so we could have date nights!  So every other  month Brian and I get a date night.  And then the other months our kids get a playdate!  We had their 4 kids over last week.  The kids made their own pizzas and played all evening! 

Making their pizzas.  Poor Joseph kept touching his eyes and getting flour in his eyes! 

Savannah and Eli with their pizzas!

Audrey with her pizza!  Doesn’t she look proud??

Jocelyn with her heart pizza.  They had crazy hair day at school…WOW!

 

No school…oh what to do!!

 

We took the kids to the Fairytale exhibit at Crown Center!

Audrey sitting in Papa Bears chair!

Stirring the porridge (SP??)

Jocelyn and Addy on Sleeping Beauty’s bed.

Savannah and Eli in the castle!

We also went to Fritz’s for lunch!  The kids love that the trains bring them their food!

 

What to do with no electronics for the day??

A few weeks ago, we told the kids to have a day without the tv, DS’s, etc.  So this is what they made!!

Jocelyn made the fort herself.  I think Eli and Audrey tried to help…but NO SO MUCH!!

They had such a fun day together!!

(Oh and do you see Ebony in there too!!)

Who needs anything else!

Great Wolf Lodge

We decided to take the kids to stay at Great Wolf Lodge while they were out of school in February.  The waterpark was great, but in our opinion, the hotel part is not worth the money!  We had REALLY loud people above us and I thought the light fixture was going to fall off the ceiling!  The customer srevice also was terrible!  SO we would not recommend staying there!  But we had a blast at the waterpark!! 

Audrey resting, she was so tired after playing in the waterpark for 6 hours!

Jocelyn, Brian and Eli in the Lazy River.

Audrey went down some of the water slides all by herself!  SHe loved it and didn’t want ot stop.  I took her over to do the ones in toddler pools, but she would have rather stayed on the bigger ones with Eli and Jocelyn!

Brian with the kids!

We had a good time together!!!

 

SNOW again!!

This has been a long winter, but the kids have loved all the snow.  Kansas City doesn’t usually get all this snow, so the kids have been a little spoiled with all this snow to play in!!

 

They were trying to make a big snowman!!

She fell in the snow and got snow all over her face and she actually left this time!!  In years past, she has cried!!

 

 

Audrey , Audrey, Audrey …

Audrey really makes me smile.  We were in the car a couple of weeks ago and I wouldn’t let Audrey have a piece of candy.  So her remark back to me was “Why are you so mean to little girls?” 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the many faces of Audrey!