End of Spring Break Fun

This was by far the best Spring Break I have ever had...We had so much fun at the park, having picnics, going on playdates and hanging out with family and friends. We had a blast seeing some very special friends over the break. A HUGE thanks to Stacey & Max, Haley, Landon & Reid, Anna & Claire, Jenn, Cole & Jackson, Jill, Brenden & Claire for coming to play with us.

 We even had a few good naps... Luka and Mia were in a pretty good mood the entire time (minus Saturday -HA!) This week  being back at work has definitley been hard...thankfully I only have 9 more weeks until the end of the year. I am looking forward to our summer together.

Crazy hair & morning hugs...

Then some wrestling around....

At the park waiting for Landon, Reid and Claire....

This little girl is just growing up waaaaay too fast!

Luka enjoyed visiting a new park...

Who said you need sand for sand toys?

Back at Kids Kingdom with Max...

Mia likes to take charge...are they not precious?

Bye Bye hugs at their favorite place...

Luka was up from his nap... waiting to get his " I-napped-without-throwing-a fit" stickers....

Vacuum vs. lawnmower...they are hard working kids I tell ya!

Racing...

You can only guess what happened in a few seconds after this picture was taken...CRASH!!!

Eating on the patio while taking a break from bouncing...

Having fun with Dea...can you find her???

It is weird to think that Dea was only a week old when Justin and I started dating...she is such a great helper and so sweet to her little cousins...

I can't believe she was brave enough to spend the night after all this....

Watching Dea and Luka bounce around...she LOVES her cousin so much!

NEW VOCABULARY that developed over the break:

Luka ( while in time out): "But I don't know what (to) do with myself"

Mia: "Oh no...MESS" (as she got some snow on her hands.....)

Luka: "Oh my gosh Mia - you a mess!" ( when she got food all over her face and he noticed her)

Mia: " What that?"

Luka:" But Momma I no like 13"...( he knows how to count to 20 but refuses to say 13 while counting...we were couting some stickers and I asked why he never says 13 when he counts...SO he told me his reason!)

Hard Working Daddy

I just wanted to share a few sweet pictures of our hard working Daddy and his babies...Most days Justin walks in the door and gets bombarded with "Play this Dada" OR" Do this Dada"...Right after showering him with kisses and hugs our kiddos let him know loud and clear that they have plans, plans and more plans for their time with Daddy. Most days he doesn't get a minute of chill time/change clothes before he is off doing stuff... Yet he never complains because there is nothing else he would rather be doing....

 As you can see in these pictures as soon as he made it home from work on Thursday he didn't even get to change out of his work clothes before running up and down the street with Luka and Mia. We happened to be outside when he pulled up in his car and you should have just seen those little faces light up. I am just in awe what a wonderful Daddy he is and how much our little munchkins love and adore him. All of these pictures were taken within an hour of him getting home....

Racing with Luka while Mia is on his shoulders...

Pushing Luka along...Mia is so kicking their butts....

Heading to the parkwith yet another accessory in tow...

Quick teaching moment about what we do when we cross the street- they were so serious while I was cracking up looking at him teaching along like they were ten years older....

Playground fun...

He will do anything for them even if it means look really silly on the toddler playground equipment...

And what does he do after all the play time is done??? He changes clothes and makes yummy dinner for everyone while I bounce in the boune house with the kiddos (even though this Momma did not do anything all day but have fun with the kiddos....)

Most nights he is doing bath time, cleaning up, building block towers, putting them to bed while I get to go work out. He does laundry, he changes diapers, he goes grocery shopping on his own, he doesn the dishes ...My mom is constantly on me about how men shouldn't do all that..."all that" is of course my job as a wife and a mom....given that her expecations come from being born and raised in a different country I always get the looks from her anytime she sees Justin doing stuff around the house...It has been pretty interesting having my parents live with us and I think they finally ( 7 months later) get that he WANTS to do all that he does...Debbie & Gary - you raised a good man!

We love you so much Daddy-o!!!

Our New Ride

Uncle Tono is just a superstar lately!Today he brought over the coolest toy ever for the kiddos. Ryan and Sally ( friends from Austin) gave Tony a super duper cool new ride for Luka and Mia. Thanks a bunch Ryan and Sally! Luka LOVED it!!! He did great on it for the first time and we are looking forward to many more fun rides in the future. Thankfully we have a huge field in our neighborhood that we will be able to take the kids to ride around...

This is one HAPPY kid, we tell ya!

Sure hope the neighbors don't mind that we are taking a break in their driveway...

Oh my goodness - this has made his whole year!

Uncle Tono was sweet enough to run around at first to help Luka get used to his new, very fast ride...here he is trying to prevent the kid from driving into our other neighbor's fence...

Loving on Uncle Tono!

Tony tries to come spend a night with us as much as he can. We love getting to see him and we just think he is the greatest for taking the time each week to come hang out and spend time with the babies. For a good looking, single guy to make the choice to spend his Friday nights with his toddler niece and nephews is pretty freaking awesome if I must say!

We usually see him on a Friday night but this week he came to stay with us on Saturday. The kids always love being around their Uncle Tono. They adore him, talk about him when he is gone and it shows how much his visits mean in their relationship. Saturday night was no different...they fought for attention and made sure they kept him entertained. Usually they get to stay up later than normal bed time which I am sure they hate!

I was able to get some pretty sweet pictures of Tono and Mia...she loved her some Uncle Tono that night! Se wouldn't leave his lap, she was showing him everything, se even hopped out of the tub to see him...normally she can be a stinker when bath time is over since she loves it so much but not when Uncle Tono is with us. He pointed out her bellybutton to her and she wouldn't leave it alone for the rest of the night. We think the pictures are just precious even though they all might look very similar. It melts our hearts to see the kids so close to him and at the same time it gives a glimpse of the future and what a wonderful father he will be!

Uncle Tono- we love you so much! Thanks for coming over again!

Oh no you didn't!

Luka and Mia have been such HUGE, HUGE, HUGE fans of Mimi and Papa's Christmas present this past year. You all remember the Christmas post with  the huge bounce house in the middle of our kitchen? Well, to say the least this bounce house has been a huge hit and even 4 months later as soon as I get ready to take it out our kids start freaking out with excitment.

Mia is hilarious...she starts squeeling, holding her belly and pumping her little arms. They know that when Momma is getting the bounce house ready they have to back away and lean on the wall while they wait. It is quite comical because they will start walking backwards very slowely as I get stuff out of the bag. They love it, they adore it, they think it is the greatest thing ever! 

Actually it is my #1 recommended toy if you have a toddler. Yes, it was expensive but it is the easiest thing to put up ( literally max 3 minutes) and just as easy to take down- worth.every.penny! It has a slide that the kids love, basketball hoop and a few other games that can be played with the balls inside of it. It can travel with you if necessary because it comes with a handy dandy bag and it is big enough to accommodate quite a few little bodies. Heck- Justin and I get in it any chance we get and it has not fallen apart yet.

We are looking forward to this nice weather and being able to use it even more often. One thing this Momma and Dada are NOT looking forward to is the part when we have to put the bounce house away...Oh my goodness gracious sakes alive of America ( as Kristi Francis would say) they DO NOT like the "take down" part of the process one bit. Few days ago I was able to get some pictures so you can see for yourselves! I even try to turn the generator off once they go off to play with other things that we have in the backyard- the playhouse, the soccer goals, the basketball hoop, the wagon...BUT oh no when Momma starts putting it away we have MELTDOWNS of the century ever single time! I feel like they are always saying " Oh you did not just do that"....

I am pretty sure Mia here is trying to tell me that I basically "ruined her life" since I took her bounce down

Mother of all meltdowns...he fell on his knees and could NOT calm down...

Here is little Miss trying to grab my hand and bring me back "to fix" the bounce house

When I said NO she decided hitting would be appropriate...so we had an opportunity to visit her "favorite" spot aka timeout

Momma learned her lesson and now we try to make a little ceremony out of taking the bounce house down...I let Luka play for a while on it after it is unplugged or we eat our snacks/dinner while it is coming down...it made a huge difference and Momma is not the bad guy anymore...

Here are the happy faces when the bounce house is going up the next day....

Thanks Mimi and Papa for the coolest toy EVER!

Oh Mia Nicole!

Our sweet, precious daughter has developed quite a personality over the past few months. She talks quite a bit and has such a caring heart. You make a pouty face and she is there to kiss and comfort. If she notices even the smallest scratch or a bruise she is running to kiss it and make it all better....Currently she is into giving kisses while she holds your face, reading books, being outdoors, learning all about her time-out spot and of course learning new words every day.

You can ask her do to something for you and she is prety darn good at following two step directions. She loves to put her clothes and dirty diapers away when she is getting changed. She loves bath time like crazy! She loves making her animal sounds and adores her some Barney. She is not a good car rider anymore as you will be able to see in a minute...She gives the best hugs, sweetest smiles and kisses. We love how her eyes close when she is smiling. She loves, loves. loves kids of all ages and always refers to them as babies no matter how old they are...

I have to say that as she is getting older I have come to cherish our girly moments together and I adore all the bows, the hair, the clothes and her little girly personality. She can be such a little lady but at the same time is not too shy to kick back, relax and get dirty if necessary...She has moments when her voice is very deep and boyish and then there is her little squeeky voice that says " I am such a girly girl".This morning she wanted to put make up on as I was gettin ready...I pretended to to it and when I finished she said " Momma more".I couldn't help but laugh. She sat in front of the mirror and brushed her hair and talked to herself. She loves when you sing to her and she loves when you are proud of something she does. When you sneeze she will say Thank You as her version  of Bless you...if you give her something she almost always says Thank You on her own...This week she finally learned to say her own name as clear as day! She points to her belly and says MIA- loud and proud!

Here are the most recent shots of our precious little luvbug...

This might be my favorite picture ever...

She doesn't mind getting dirty.

Here she is saying "babes" ( babies) as she saw a little girl who is probably 4 years old on the Chickfila's playground

She doesn't need help going down a pretty high slide even though brother would never go down it on his own...

She can pose for a picture like a pro...

She can give you "cheese" when you ask for it...

She LOVES her music... works like a charm when we are at the store...of course she gets a few laughs and smiles along the way....

She is never busy enough to stop, relax and chill with Momma's MP3 player...

She will stop and drop when there is a good book to read...even the bathroom floor while Momma is getting ready...

She will take a time out on her own under the bathroom sink while she bonds with Momma's new BFF- the scale...

She loves her food and juice and stuffs her mouth like the food will dissapear any second...she has shoved a half of a banana in one bite before...

She gets stuck in small places at Kids Kingdom and refuses to get help because she can get out of it on her own

She gives the cutest pouty lip ever...

She LOVES her brother's boots and has them on all the time...

She can give you the most serious " Really......Seriously..." look

She HAS to have her shoes on even if we are waiting for her favorite jeans to finish drying....she has not yet mastered sitting like a lady though ( LOL!). She is startng to want to pick her clothes and bows out which explains the polka dots on her shirt, stripes on her sweater and squares on her socks...

I think I mentioned she doesn't like riding in the car these days....

Oh another thing about the car - SHE REALLY REALLY HATES being buckled in....can you tell?

And here is our sweet angel back to normal and how she is most of the time- 18 months old going on 18 years!

This picture is how she always stands as she waits for the bounce house to go up.....

Oh sweet Mia Nicole - we cannot believe how fast you are growing up !