6 months today!

Happy half birthday Zackary!!
Just another couple of pics as a tease. I have my work cut out for me when I get home. Let's see... yesterday the kids and I hung out, then went to the mall to play. After nap, we had a delicious dinner, then enjoyed a concert in the park in Folsom. There was a Johnny Cash tribute band playing, which just happens to be one of Lilly's favorites. She did some dancing, and Zac did some playing... all in all we had a wonderful time!
Today, the kids and I went to Kim's baby shower! I can't wait to post these pictures! We had a blast! Then, after nap, Stephanie and her daughter Camille arrived. We have had fun visiting and Lilly and Camille have had fun getting to know each other. We ate a yummy dinner with grandma and grandpa, then lots of playtime before bed.
Here is a 6 month picture of Zackary.

And, my attempt to get a picture of them together.

Happy Saturday!!

Just a tease....

Ok folks, here we are in Sacramento! Lilly, Zac and I are here visiting our family and friends. Jeremy couldn't make this trip, but he'll be here in about a month, solo.

I had the best of intentions for updating the blog regularly from here. I have plenty of great pictures and stories already, and we've only been here about a day and a half. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't seem to want to work with their computer. Or, their computer doesn't seem to want to work with my camera. Regardless... BOO!

So, here are some "teaser" pics from Mary's camera from today. Before we get to that tho... the flight. I was a teeny, tiny bit nervous about flying alone with the two kids. Honestly, Lilly and Zac are both great kids. They are easy going and fun and happy. But, traveling can make anyone grumpy, especially children. So, I was nervous. Plus, after booking the tickets I realized that I actually only have two arms. That means that handling two squirmy kids, a stroller and various pieces of luggage was going to be challenging.

My dad drove us all the way to Phoenix for our flight and got us in and all the way to security. Then, it was just us. We grabbed a snack and got on the plane. My kids are wonderful. Two things really saved me from what could have been a rough experience.

1. A portable DVD player lent to me by my good friend Liz. Thanks again Liz!!! Oh, plus a Dora the Explorer and an Elmo DVD.

2. A very friendly gentleman who chose (that's right... CHOSE) to sit next to a mom with two young chilins.

This guy was so nice, asked if he could hold Zac for me while I got Lilly's DVD player set up (once we were at cruising altitude), then told me to "take a break" and that he would give Zac back if he started crying. He played peek-a-boo and had Zac rolling with laughter, and didn't even bat an eyelash when Zac spit up on him. Ha! I am thankful for this strangers kindness, and will be keeping my eyes open for a way to "pay it forward."

Anyhow.... then we arrived! It has been great seeing and playing with grandma and grandpa Yager, Uncle Jon and Aunt Jenn and Cousin Anthony. The kids and I also saw my good friend Kim this morning, which was great! I'm looking foward to her baby shower on Saturday! Jenn and I went shopping this afternoon, without the kids. It was so nice to talk and catch up with her with no distractions!

I will share pics from last night and this morning when I get back to AZ. Tonight, we went to dinner with everyone in celebration of Anthony's 14th birthday (which is actually on Sunday). These are the "teaser pictures" from Mary's camera. Lilly and Jon seem to be the stars of most of these pics, probably because they were so hysterical.

But first... doesn't Zac look like he could be Jenn's baby?

On to Jon and Lilly, in deep conversation.

Not really sure what is going on here... I think it had to do with cleaning someones face.

What a happy family!

Ha ha ha ha ha.

As I said... just a few pics as a teaser.

Hope everyone is having a great week. I know we are!!

We are a highchair family yet again!

Unbelievably, it has come time for Zac to start eating solid foods! About 2 or 3 months ago, Lilly finally retired from her highchair, as she was ready for a "big girl" booster chair. Today, we dusted the highchair off and pulled it back in from the garage. How do they grow up so fast?
Zac was definitely excited about this new adventure. He's usually a little skeptical of adventures, but somehow he knew that this one had to do with food, which made him very happy!

Here comes the first bite!

He did what all babies do, and his tongue pushed the food out more than in.

But, he kept reaching out for more. Each bite took a couple of tries, but he really did get a good amount of the cereal in! The coolest thing was that he never got frustrated and he seemed to enjoy the experience, plus he lunged toward the spoon a couple of times once he figured out what we were doing!

I think he liked the cereal! He definitely would have preferred this pretzel of his daddy's, however.

A quick flashback... these next three pictures document Lilly's first cereal eating experience. We didn't have a highchair, so we used the swing! First bite, going in...
Hmmm.... maybe....
Nope! I hate it daddy get me out of here right now!!!

There are a variety of possible reasons for Lilly's reaction versus Zacs. For one, she was a couple of weeks younger than Zac is now. Also, her parents had NO clue what they were doing. She was in a swing for Pete's sake.

Yesterday Zac had another "first"... swimming! Here I am with my two little fishies! You can't tell, but Zac has the cutest little swim trunks on! He enjoyed swimming too. Now that I think about it, maybe my hesitant little man is becoming more adventurous!

This is just a fun picture of my handsome little man. He makes me smile so much!!! Notice he is on the tile, even though the carpet is right next to him. That's what he does. We can't keep him on the carpet these days! PS this picture was taken the day that he pooed on me... not once, but twice. And, he still makes me smile and laugh. Now that is love love love!

This morning we went to the mall with Suzanne and Soren! We always have such fun with them!
After the mall, we went to the zoo. Lilly had also gone to the zoo yesterday with her daddy! On Saturday mornings, I've been taking Zac with me to Weight Watchers and leaving Lilly with Jeremy for some father-daughter bonding. I think they are both really enjoying it!

There is something so special about that father-daughter relationship! I know there is a very special place in my heart for my daddy, and I know Lilly has the same feelings about her daddy! You can see the way they look at each other in this pic. Lilly never sleeps in our bed, but this picture was taken when Lilly went in to wake her daddy up, and he pulled her in with him. She was obviously loving the special moment!

Here is Lilly sharing her phone. She has pretty much given Zac her other phone, but this one has always been hers. Still, she shares it with him and I think she is so kind and special and wonderful to her brother!

What a beautiful girl, inside and out.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I am so blessed and feel truly lucky to have such wonderful kids! Thanks Jer, for helping make & raise these little angels! We have our rough moments, for sure. With Zac, usually anything after 7pm can be considered rough, as he gets sleepy and grumpy. With Lilly, well... she's two, so it could be anytime, but brushing teeth is always a battle. Still, there is no doubt that the good outweighs the bad. That's why there are so many pictures of the "good."

Have a great week!

Models-in-training!

We had the kids pictures taken at Sears today, and they turned out GREAT! If I had to choose a favorite, I think this would be it!
A close second....
Ok maybe this one would be second... I don't know, I love love love them all!

An individual shot of Lilly. I loved that after this picture, she continued standing like this because she thought it was fun!

Isn't she beautiful?
"All American Hunk" is right!

Another individual shot of my gorgeous boy!

So patriotic!

And, a couple of outtakes! In this shot, Lilly was supposed to hold Zac up, but she was obviously nervous about being fully responsible for him, so she was looking at me for help. Zac is understandably freaked out because she doesn't want to hold him, and he's not quite 100% capable of sitting up by himself.

And this one isn't terrible, but it was the first shot taken and Zac wasn't quite in the mood yet. Lilly, as you can see, was ready to go!

They were both SO good during the whole time. What fun! We won't get the actual pictures for a few weeks, but at least we walked away with a CD of all the poses. A HUGE thanks to my mom for financing such great memories! I'm thinking annual pics, taken each summer, are in order.

Cute kids!

What a couple of cuties!!!

That's all. No stories, just a couple of pics of our cuties.

Dinner with Jeannette & Aaron!

We had our friends Jeannette and Aaron over for dinner last night. What a fun time!! Here is Jeannette hanging with Zac. Please ignore the weeds in the backyard, but if you look over the wall you can see part of our beautiful mountain view. Jeannette... I can not remember what we decided would be a good title for this blog?!? I blame my forgetfulness on "mom brain." So, please excuse the accurate yet boring title.

This is Lilly telling us she didn't want to play with us anymore. She proceeded to go inside and sit on the couch by herself. Funny little girl.

Jeremy and Aaron manning the BBQ.

Here, Lilly let us play with her again, but took out her hair ties, which results in a "flock of seagulls" look that is simply priceless.

Zac, meanwhile, decided we were pretty boring.

Jeannette and Lilly were having a very important conversation.

It was so much fun having them over, and we hope to do it again soon! They are both so great with Lilly and Zac. The only problem is that Lilly seems to have developed a crush on Aaron, and we're not sure how Jeannette is going to handle that. =) After they left, Lilly stood at the window yelling "BYE" at the top of her lungs. It was really fun!

This next pic is one of Lilly eating a bagel at our Starbucks date the other day. Not pictured are Laura and her baby girl, Sara. I keep forgetting to ask her permission to post a pic of Sara, but I promise you she is a beautiful baby girl!

At dinner last night, Jeannette complained (Ha ha... Jeannette doesn't complain about anything! Trust me!) that I rarely have pictures of myself on the blog. She proceeded to take one of me, Lilly and Jeremy. Unfortunately, that picture found its way to an untimely death =) But, here is one of me and Lilly being all cheesy the other day.

Other fun things from the weekend included a trip to the park with Suzanne and Soren yesterday, and a visit from my friend Liz on Saturday night. Liz... how did I not take any pictures?!? Liz is just great with the kiddos, and we all had a good time. Next time, I'll take pics for sure!

Happy Monday to you all!

Ok, whose butt was that?!?

I actually heard myself say this today, in all seriousness, and it cracked me up. So, I figured it was a great title for this post, even though it has nothing to do with the pictures. The funny thing is, Lilly is the only one of the three of them who will give me a truthful answer (yep, three. I'm counting Jeremy even though, to be fair, he wasn't there when this particular suspicious noise occurred).

Both kids seem to be feeling better today! Whew! Here they are this evening. This is before Lilly's major meltdown, but that is another story... I blame fatigue.

Zac is working so hard on sitting up. He's trying to crawl too. Isn't he handsome??

Here is Shyla, who turned 2 weeks yesterday! Kendra was given a clean bill of health today, with a follow up in another month or so, and Shyla goes back to the pediatrician tomorrow. I expect she'll be given a clean bill of health as well :)

These next two pics were taken last month during Lilly's zoo date with her daddy. While they were there, a lady asked if she could take some pics of Lilly since she just looked so cute in her dress and hat. Jer agreed, as long as she emailed him the pictures! She is beautiful! It's also funny that she was wearing that same dress today. Ha! The girl loves looking girly.

Zac's not nice floor lamp!

More about the title later.

This picture is blurry, but it is just a picture of Zac's sad pouty face. He is teething, and has been so uncomfortable for the last couple days. Poor little guy!

Lilly is finally feeling much better today. Her stomach has been "off" for the last couple days, even after she was otherwise recovered from her little sickness this weekend. Cross your fingers, we might just be out of the woods.

My mom stopped by after work for a few minutes today, and read Lilly a couple books. Here they are reading one of my favorites from my childhood "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb."

Tonight was bath night for both kids. Lilly always helps me with Zac's bath, mostly by standing there and chatting my ear off while I bathe him. I wouldn't change it for the world. After, we go to Zac's room to get him lotioned and powdered and clothed... all the good stuff. Tonight Lilly started pulling on his standing lamp, and I had to tell her "no touch." She, of course, asks "no touch?" and so I explain that it could fall and cause an owwie. She takes this to mean it would fall on her head, which is fine, so I agree. Next thing I know she is yelling at the lamp post "Not nice! Hit Lilly head! Not nice!" I just had to laugh because 2 year olds are so literal! She wouldn't listen as I tried to tell her that it would only cause the owwie if she pulled it down. ha!

Two more pics... just a flashback to Lilly about a year ago. It is always fun to compare!!