The 20th - what a day!!

Happy 9 months to Zac and 2 years 7 months to Lilly! And, happy 4 months to Shyla!
We have had a great weekend! First, this picture was taken a few days ago - the first time Zac tried out a swing! He loved it!

This was a few days ago too - just some fun playtime with my kiddos! The smiles were so worth the physical pain!
Yesterday Jer and Rob took the kids to the zoo and the mall while I went to run club then to work. They all had a great day! This morning, we slept in a little bit (wonderful!). Lilly then woke me up and we decided to make pancakes. She had to help of course!

After our delicious blueberry pancakes, the men of the house woke up. We asked Lilly what she wanted to do, and she said she wanted to go to the zoo. We mentioned that she had just gone yesterday and she replied that she wanted to go with both mommy and daddy. How (and why?) could one say no to that! So off we went! First, we saw some animals. Then Lilly and daddy fed a giraffe!

Then we posed for some pictures.

We also walked around Reid Park for a bit and even took the train ride!! We took a few pictures on the train, but none turned out even remotely blog-able.
After the train, we high-tailed it home for lunch. Lilly is such a good big sister - here she is feeding Zac. (He was actually eating leftover pancakes for lunch since he slept through them at breakfast).
After lunch, it was naptime. Lilly talked to herself and sang to herself for about an hour and a half before finally falling asleep! At least she wasn't crying.
After nap, Jeremy had gone into work but the kids and I decided to go to the park. We met my friend Nicole, and we had the intention of running. Unfortunately, the track there wasn't too stroller friendly. But, they do have a great play area for the kids!

And here he is again, still lovin' the swings! Lilly also loves the swings! She loved that she gets to go higher than Zac!

Ahhh such wonderful kiddos!
Lilly loves Nicole (even after Nicole watched her take a swan dive off the swing just minutes after this picture was taken! ha! Sorry Nicole - you knew I'd have to blog it! Plus, she didn't even cry)!

And just one more picture of my big bad 9 month old boy!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend, and has a good start to their week!

I have only one week of work until Fall break, which is nice. I'm teaching "intersession school" for the first 4 days of break, but I'll still have over 2 weeks left. I have lots of plans during that time, but I am so looking forward to a little less structure in my life for a few weeks!

A bad day turned ... well... better.

Boy Lilly had a rough day at school today! Apparently she just wasn't herself. She wanted to be alone, just kinda sitting or playing by herself, and wanted to be held a lot more than often. So unlike our normally social and hysterical girl! I was so sad to hear that she was sad. I think having your child be sad is worse than having them be sick. I don't mean really sick - thank God I've never experienced that. But, like, fever/cold/flu sick. I think sad is worse. There is no medication for sad, and it is harder to figure out why they are sad. Ugh it is the worst!
Upon asking Lilly a lot of questions, I did find out that her best friend at school pushed her and was being "not nice." Oh my heart breaks for her again just thinking about it.
Then again, let's be honest - Lilly is 2. Friends fight and get over it. In reality, last night I took her and Zac running with me and, as a result, kept her up a little too late, so she was extra tired today. This, I'm sure, made the "not nice" friend situation much worse. Still... there is nothing like knowing your child is sad.
Ok, on to the good stuff. We got home and Jeremy decided to take us all to dinner! Lilly immediately perked up (ahhh emotional eating ... her mother's daughter for sure), so off we went. Naturally, I forgot my camera, which would have been especially handy when Lilly was grubbing her ice cream or when Zac was just happy about food in general. But, I did grab it when we got home.
First, we sat outside for a bit and tried to pet the neighborhood cat. It doesn't really look like it, but Lilly really was enjoying herself.

Then, enough was enough. It was time to play!!

Soon, my happy girl was back!

Let's not forget about Zac! He, apparently, had a fabulous day. Still... always time for more fun at home! He has been LOVING this big 'ol doggie lately. It just cracks him up!

Lilly and I had to take a pic. Gosh I look beat-down and tired by the end of the day. But, ignore me... Lilly looks happy and content! Finally!
Then Zac told us he was tired. How? By sucking his thumb. That's what he does.

As I got Zac ready for bed, Lilly found Jeremy's hat and had to play with it a bit.

And a bit more.

Eventually, it was time for Lilly to crash. And crash she did. This time, right on time.

I have been trying like heck to get in some running during the week. I've been trying different times and schedules, to see what works best. Apparently the "after dinner/take the kids" run isn't going to work unless we can get an earlier start. She literally was up probably 15 or 20 minutes later than normal, and it made a huge difference.

Anyone in the Tucson area have a used treadmill so I can get my runs in in the morning???

Anyhow, time for a .... FLASHBACK!!

These two pics were taken last September. Here, Jeremy and I show off the baby belly.

And, our precious Lilly. She looks SO little and young!!This week is busy busy busy with quarter 1 grades closing plus parent teacher conferences, not to mention the million other things that I am forgetting (ignoring?) for the moment.

Hope all other weeks are going well and that dinner, ice cream, and wrestling with loved ones has the same positive effect on you as it does on Lilly.

A random assortment...

Just a random bunch of pics from the last week or so... enjoy!
This first one was last weekend, I think. Lilly does not sleep with us, but sometimes I let her climb in to wake up Jeremy when it's time. Here, they both decided to "go back to sleep." Jer was pretending to sleep but Lilly was laughing and not being a very good actress!

This is just a random pic of Zac with his bottle. He is eating SO much real food now, but still having about 4 bottles a day. Poor second child - Lilly never held her own bottle, probably because she never had to. With Zac, sometimes my hands are full and I'm running around and he kinda has to fend for himself. He's good at it though - takes care of it with nothin' but smiles!

Speaking of my big boy... here he is in the big boy part of the shopping cart for the first time!

And this was tonight... it was Allie's birthday party!! Who is Allie you ask? Why Lilly's dolly of course. How did we know it was her birthday today?? Well Lilly told us, duh. So, what else could we do but have a little party after dinner, complete with cupcake and cookies. Leave it to my mom to throw together a birthday party in, literally, minutes. It was silly, but Lilly loved it.

And here are me, Nicole, Kendra and Shyla before a race last weekend. We're getting better... slowly but surely. Half marathon here we come!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends! And thanks for all the comments on my last post... 13 is a new record for me! I love love love knowing that people look at my blog from time to time.

:)

Zac's baptism photo shoot!

We took Zac today to get his "formal" baptism pictures taken. Such fun!
Before we get to the pictures... I got a call from Zac's daycare yesterday telling me that he was crying continuously and unconsolably. Knowing (and loving) Childtime and that they wouldn't call for no reason, I ended up leaving work early to take him to the doctor. Good 'ol Doc Vondrak saw us in no time. Sure enough, Zac has a double ear infection.

This little trooper has not complained one bit since I picked him up at daycare yesterday afternoon. With the exception of when Dr. V looked in his ears, he hasn't fussed about it at all. It's like he only cried until someone paid attention, and once he knew we were going to take care of it, he figured there was no use in crying.

He was such a good boy at his photo shoot today. Here are only a couple of my many favs!

I think this first one, in sepia, is my super duper favorite! Although, I kinda think that about each of them in their own way...

What a sweet pea he is!

Happy Wednesday!

Poker night and tailgaiting!

It has been a BUSY weekend, and it's only Saturday night! Crazy!
Last night we hosted a poker night! It was one of those things where we didn't know how it would go with the kids - would they go to sleep with people there? Would they stay asleep? Would this whole evening be a disaster?
The answer... Not at all disasterous! Actually, the kids went to bed minutes before our guests arrived. We sat on the back pation under my new happy birthday ceiling fans (thanks daddy for the gift and thanks Jeremy for the installation!) and had a great and crazy time while the kids slept peacefully through it all.
It was a small but super fun group! Here is Dave with the four chips he had left early on in the night. Funny! His beautiful wife Jen (that's her hand) was kind enough to keep him in the game by sharing her chips.
Here's Jen dealing like a pro.

Nicole looks a little confused about the game here! I was the same way... didn't really know what wsa going on, but it sure was fun!

Rob, who helped organize the event!

And me and my crazy hubby. What is up with that hat??

We had to play a little indian poker! Is that politically correct? Regardless, I'd like to point out that Nicole is not actually flipping me off... she just made a poor choice in how she is holding her card. At least I think!

Thanks to the gang for a really fun evening!! We definitely have to do that again soon!!

Naturally, Jeremy and I both had to wake up early this morning. Jeremy had to work and I had my running club. Mom took care of the kids, then we met up and she bought me new running shoes! Thanks mom!

Then, nap time for the whole house. NICE!

Finally, it was time to get ready for the U of A tailgate! Am I a really, really terrible mom for dressing my kids in matching shirts?? I wasn't ever going to be "that mom." But, as it turns out, I am "that mom." So sue me... they're cute!

We ran into so many people there! Here we are with my boss Kevin and his friend Sean who were tailgaiting with Micah (my boss from last year - not pictured) only a few tents down from my dad's. We also ran into Dave and Jen, who were right across the walkway from the Kevin/Micah tent. Small world!

My dad and Jer and Rob headed into the game, but I came home to get those kiddos in bed. But first... since it is Saturday night and all... we had to have some playtime! It was a little past bedtime, but they were happy and playing together and laughing! so fun!

Oh and Lilly is back on breathing treatments for a few days. It is nothing serious, but when she gets a cold and starts coughing she starts wheezing and the medicine that we put in this machine really seems to help. This isn't a "oh poor Lilly" picture, but a cute "she's such a big girl taking her medicine and reading her book" picture.

Whew! Big day! I hope everyone's Labor Day weekend is off to a great start!

Zac! Who said you could grow up so fast?!?

My big guy is growing up so fast! He is wearing shoes now, which is just so bittersweet! He's also drinking from a sippie cup. He's pretty good at getting water out of it too. Not great about swallowing... usually he starts laughing as soon as the water comes out, which results in massive spillage.

Oh and he is finally crawling like a normal baby - no more soldier crawl!

And here is a super cute bath pic!

And then there is our Lilly. She is just getting bigger and bigger too!

Don't they both just look like such big kids these days? Ahhh it's enough to make me want more babies. JUST KIDDING!!!

In all honesty though, I am so blessed with my two perfect angels. Zac is growing and adding visual milestones daily - like sippie cups and tennis shoes. Lilly's changes are harder to see in pictures, but just as obvious to me and Jeremy. She is rational and thoughtful and sweet. She sings songs and has very (VERY) strong opinions. Sometimes she wants us to sing with her, othertimes it is "odeee me sing!" She is grumpy in the mornings and sometimes whines at bedtime, but is generally happy otherwise. And boy does she have an imagination! Today she told me some stories about her trip to Tinkerbell's house. Each version was a little different - sometimes her daddy and I were invited and sometimes it was "Odeee me and Zacky." But each time it was sweet and understandable and imaginative.

Favorite phrases lately:

-Odee me! (obviously)

-Look at me!

-Me want to help! (ahhhh)

-Not me want to!

-Not me like it!

And my personal favorite...

-Nite nite Zacky. Me wuve you. Close your eyes (as she is helping me put him down to bed).

Boy oh boy do I love my kids!