What Willow Wears :: 12

....while shoe shopping! 

We had to go get Jayden some gear for soccer, which he starts on Sunday.  I told Willow that we weren't going to be able to get her any shoes this time (I'm pretty sure Willow has more shoes than me) and she threw a fit when I had to repeat myself after she found a pair of pink flip-flops hanging on the wall that she just had to have.  We finally made it to the cleat section for kids (me half carrying/half dragging a Willow begging for "pink shoes") and while I'm helping Jayden try on a couple pairs, I turn around and find out that Willow has already taken her shoes off and is trying on shoes herself.!

What Willow Wears :: 11

Willow hasn't really put on anything lately that makes me go, "WOW!  Now that's an outfit!"  Until last night.....

Home

We're back in Wichita!  We had so much fun on our spring break trip, the kids keep asking to go over and play with Brennie and Wyatt and Willow keeps insisting that she needs to "see Aunt KAY-kay".  It seems to me that pretty much that the trip revolved around dinosaurs - we dug for dinosaurs on our hike, we went to a museum to see dinosaurs, the kids played dinosaurs all the time, so on our way home we needed to make a bathroom stop and I knew we were close to this shop on the side of the road that had huge dinosaurs statues.  I'm so glad Royal was easy to convince to stop, even if it did cost him a pretty penny when Jayden found a dinosaur he couldn't live without and Willow found a moccasin purse she wouldn't take off and I found a small cactus plant to give to the people who had been taking care of our house and animals for us while we were gone.  :)   (Thanks hon!)

Since we've been back, we've been trying to get readjusted to our timezone, which usually results in the kids not sleeping and being very cranky all day.  However, this time, I think they are so tired from the 2 day drive in the car, they are sleeping all the time AND they are so excited for papa to come on Sunday they are bouncing off the walls!

Last night, Jayden found some tattoos and he insisted he get to put Willow's on her!

Fun in Phoenix

We have had such a great time at Kaylee's house that we really don't want to leave, but work and school and our life back in Wichita are waiting for us.

Royal picked up a new habit while we were here.  He has never been one for sitting around and playing video games at all.  When we were contemplating getting a Wii for Christmas, he was not very excited by the idea.  But it turns out, he loves Super Mario Brothers!  I have never seen Royal sit around and "waste time" like this. ever.  I think it's time for Royal to get his own Nintendo DS!  Although he'd have to share it with Jayden and both of those boys have some trouble with sharing....guess we'll need 2!

 

We are going to miss having this pool in the backyard.  The water was way too cold for me, but Willow got in the water as often as she could.  "Sim?  Sim?  I sim?  SIM!!!!!" (sim = swim in Willow-talk) :)

 

I think the boys are really going to miss having Royal around for wrestling.  I think one of my favorite quotes of the weekend was from Brendan asking over and over again if Royal would really let him punch him in the face.  And Royal really did let all the boys punch him in the face...and as hard as they wanted.   There were of course some wayward punches and other kids managed to get punched a few times - Jayden got punched in the face by Royal on accident, and later on Jayden missed Royal's face and landed a blow on poor Brennie's face.

Check out how big Easton is.  He turns 1 today!  He's heavier than Willow and almost as tall, but Willow's got a good 18 months on that kid!  Willow would of liked to have a baby she could of carried around a bit, not squish her when he sat on her lap.  But she was very faithful about finding all of Easton's binkies around the house and trying to force them into his mouth.  :)

Happy Birthday, Easton!!!

Thanks for letting us stay with you, Wagners!!!  We had so much fun!  We will miss you!

Spring Training

We finally got around to the "real" reason Royal wanted to come do our spring break in Phoenix.  He loves my sister and her family, but he might love sports more, especially sports teams from Seattle, and the Mariner's spring training facility happens to be just down the road!  Funny thing is that the Mariners were playing the KC Royals today!

Royal is wearing Willow's hat trying to protect his head and ears from all the sun.

We got lawn tickets, so we sat out behind the outfield on blankets to watch the game.  It was perfect, as the kids had a place to run around and I didn't have to worry about someone doing a header down any stadium stairs.  In between innings, the boys got to wrestling.

We have had so much fun here.  Tomorrow we pack up the car for the 15.5 hour drive back to Wichita.  Let's hope the warm weather follows us, because I am loving being outside all the time!

Putt-Putt and Bumper Boats

Today for our daily dose of adventure with 5 kids, we hit up Castles 'n' Coasters for a little bit of putt-putt golf and bumper boats!

Jayden came in 2nd place in the kids tourny, not bad considering he'd never even held a putter before!  I, unfortunately am pretty sure I hit dead last in the adult league.  I hit a couple hole in ones, but those darn holes where I got like an 8 killed me!  All my experience playing Drinks on the Links totally didn't come through for me.  Guess I just can't putt well if there isn't a free drink waiting for me if I get a hole in one!

 

Aft

 

We finished up 18 holes, the kids were hot and thirsty, Willow was tired, and a bit cranky, but we didn't stop there!  We headed over to the bumper boats for a little crazy action.  Brendan and Wyatt got into their own boats, Jayden was big enough to drive his own boat, but was a little apprehensive, so Royal piled in with him.  I took Willow in another boats and we hit the water....and each other!

Museum of Natural History

Today we went and checked out the Museum of Natural History.  Oh, the dinosaurs!

 

The museum was really good and there was so much information to read, but the darn kids were moving so fast through it, I hardly had a chance to learn anything!  Besides all the dinosaur bones and dinosaur displays, there was a room where you could build your own dinosaur.  Here is what the boys created.

Besides dinos, there was lots of history about the earth and Arizona.  Here the kids are looking at the star display.

Then we went outside and did some pan sifting for gold, and they did end up finding some nuggets in all the sand!

 

Willow was much more interested in this horse and running around

Believe it or not, but there was a whole area dedicated to excavating dinosaur bones.  Good thing we got some practice on the trail a couple days earlier!

Part of the museum showed what movies had been filmed in Arizona and there was a display that let you be in an old western tv show.

Digging for Dinos

This morning we had made plans to get up and go for a hike with the kids.  So after breakfast, I said to Jayden, "Come on, let's go get dressed so we can go on our hike"  To which I got a groaning, "Noooooooooo"  So I rephrased, "Let's go get dressed to go look for some dinosaur bones"  To which I got a response, "Dinosaurs?  Yes!!!!" and he zipped out of the room to find some clothes.

We packed some snacks, water, kid carriers, and paint brushes.  Royal got to carry Easton in the backpack the whole time and then as an added bonus, he got to carry Willow up the hill too!  Someone passing him asked if he had gotten in trouble and if this was his punishment.  Not a punishment, he just happens to be the biggest and strongest of us all!

Here is one of the first "dinosaur finds"

 

 

The 3 boys!

 

Enjoying the view from the top

 

 

And here's all 5 cousins together, with a little Royal thrown in.  Willow was getting a little tired, so trying to get a picture with her not sucking on her fingers was just not going to happen.

Poor Jayden has been taking some spills since we got here.  He crashed on his bike the first day and then he crashed coming down the hill today.  He is now know as Captain Band-aid.