Sunday, May 5, 2013

2013- the post you've been waiting for

I finally uploaded pictures! Here is what we've been up to the first few months of 2013 (I think it's going to be a good year). 

I love this picture. Especially in the winter Daniel and Lenna were into getting "snuggled up." And who better to than that handsome man?


 K, so we went to Disneyland in January and it was wonderful! I adore Disneyland and wondered how it would be with kids. I had such a good time seeing their delight and enjoying the magic of the place.
This is the classic Disneyland scene. Lenna ran up to Minnie with her arms open and gave her a hug. It was awesome.

Yay!


Lenna did pretty well meeting the characters-- Daniel not so much. When we forced him to go up there with us (many of the times, he just sat back). He would cover his face in this manner.We went with our great friends the Kings- which made it even more fun!


 Princesses!!

Even at Disneyland bubbles stole the show for a while.

I love Aaron's face in this. He took the kids on anything spinny, since Lindsay would have vomited even if she wasn't pregnant. The kids did surprisingly well on the rides- which probably helped our general enjoyment of the happiest place on earth.


The one shot of Daniel smiling with a character! Notice how Aaron is holding his hand down.


Another precious Disney postcard moment.


We got one of those huge turkey legs and the kids loved it almost as much as me (I really like them- they're meaty, cavemanny, get all over your face, make people envious and nauseous all the same time, tastiness.) Daniel, of course, loved anything edible.


There are tons of Disney pics. I am hoping to make a book before baby surprise comes. 

Random picture of the kids in dress up.

Dunnananana.... blackmail!


Valentine's Day!

Poor Lenna got her little trash kicked a week before her birthday in March. She had never done so much day time sleeping in her life.

Luckily when her birthday actually came around, she was feeling pretty good. We made popcorn and watched Wall E in the morning of her birthday. I would say this is only a birthday occurance, but we do it probably once a week- still.

The Walle E cake. I will say, I am proud of this cake. And she talks and jumps around about still. "Wall E cake- my birfday??!!"



 She is such an adorable and happy child. She is naturally happy and gregarious, and charms people the minute they lay eyes on her. And, she knows it. This girl can throw a tantrum. She will be the terrible two's people talk about. It is easy to get frustrated with her but hard to stay mad long because she is so affectionate, dramatic, and sweet. We love you Lenna! (or "Nen" if you're Daniel)


Now, for my handsome boy. His smile melts my heart. He is becoming more of a big boy. He is very logical and smart and has a million why's for the why question he just asked. He is still very impatient, and won't try to do something more than once if it doesn't come easy to him, but is good at most things and likes to please, so we really don't run into trouble much. Within the past few months he has become a little charmer and will say things like, "you're the best mom ever!" or "you look beautiful mama, " or "thank you, thank you wonderful mama!" He understands very well about the new baby coming and likes to touch my belly and just say "baby." Love you Daniel!

The morning of his birthday we had a bunch of balloons with "Daniel" printed on them. He was thrilled.

Frosting face making Daniel's birthday cake. 

He got an ice cream maker from my mom (the boy likes to eat- esp. "something sugary"). We made ice cream that night.

For birthday party we rented a bounce house to the delight of every child there (such a good way to go and really not that expensive!).

Presents were chaotic and I don't think he really knew what he got until the end of the week. (That night the little stinker, when asked, "Did you have a good day today?" said, "Well, it was ok, I wish I got more presents." I had to leave the room and take deep breaths.)

Random picture of me pregnant. I think this was in late February, so like 4 months?? I am definitely not that small anymore.


 We went up to Pine Valley in March and had a wonderful time.

One of my favorite pictures.

We went to Snow Canyon in St George. I've never been there before, but it was really neat. There was an area of flat rocks (I think it was called petrified sand dunes) that we spent an hour and a half at. It was right up Daniel's ally and Lenna loved it too.



The ubiquitous fireplace family photo. 

These are out of order, but here are some pictures from Easter. 

Lining up for the great egg hunt. 




At my mom's new house. 

Making Easter eggs.

Easter formals.

And now we're back to Daniel's birthday (not sure what happened with the order of the pictures, I downloaded them sequentially, but it's not worth the time of moving them all). I did a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake (not quite the Wall E cake, but still not too shabby).



Random FHE activity picture. We made graham cracker churches with leftover mickey clubhouse frosting.

I am a little afraid I am creating a Disney monster with my kids. I swear it's not the only thing they watch or the only characters they like (we have been in to Nick Jr. lately). But I  love Disney, so I think we might all be doomed.

Lenna moved into a "big girl bed" last week. She has not put herself down for a nap since. Le sigh. She loves her Minnie bed. I think her Minnie doll gets more sleep than Lenna or Aaron and I do though. :)



Summertime here we come! Sorry for the wait and length of this post. Hasta.


4 comments:

Jenae said...

congrats on the new baby! just heard! thanks for blogging lots of pics! you're kids are dang cute!

jj

Jen said...

Ha! Dununununa blackmail. That's an awesome sentence.

I also love all the pictures of the kids, and your amazing cakes, and your cute pregnantness! I love that striped skirt. So cute on you.

Whitney said...

Love it!

So many great pictures (I had no idea you went to Disneyland. I am quite envious. The pictures of Lenna with the characters were so perfect and Daniel covering his face made me laugh).

And the Pine Valley pictures were also fun -- I liked the classic "fireplace shot." So many memories . . . (speaking of, I had a dream two nights ago that mom and dad got another, larger, stove-fireplace thing and put it right next to the old one. And then people didn't know how to use it and almost burned the cabin down. [but only the kitchen cabinets were destroyed. I don't quite get it either . . . ])

The end.

Diane Ripplinger, Gregg Ripplinger said...

What a fantastic synopsis of the last few months!! The Disneyland shots are so delightful. How cool you went to Snow Canyon. Your pics just reminded me that your kids are some of the luckiest on the planet--they have a mom AND a dad that take time with them, teach them, and love them. I love the pregnant shot, partly because you look so beautiful in it, but also the lighting is really neat on the dark walls. Good pic.