Jessica's First Hair Do

I did Jessica's hair for the first time yesterday. She was very willing to let me do it while she combed her hair. Everyone kept calling it her "spout"! Now maybe some people will know that she is a girl and not a boy. It is funny how older people see her and have to ask or say what a cute little boy she is despite the fact that she's dressed in pink!

Go Tigers!

We had our first team meeting for soccer last night...meet the coach and meet the families! Ainsley is the biggest (and tallest) U5 girl on her team so she got the biggest uniform. She put it on as soon as we got home! She is the second tallest girl in her pre-k class after some little boy who is like 47 inches tall or something like that.

Go Number 6!!
We'll be getting her cleats, shin guards and a practice ball this weekend. She's so excited=) The girls on the team (there are 5) named themselves the tigers. Picking a name was pretty funny because they all had something they wanted like dolphins, horsies, polar bears (Ainsley's pick-purple polar bears), tigers and dragons. Finally they all decided on the tigers.

The Party

We had Z and J's Birthday party Sunday afternoon/evening complete with water balloons, cool presents, lots of M&M's and family and friends.

Jessica's cake

Water balloon fun!

Z stationing himself right in front of the M&M bowls

Z and J opening some presents

Ains helping J open a present
All the kids singing Happy Birthday to Z

J digging into her cake

She mostly picked off all the mini M&M's and ate them before rubbing her face with her frosting covered hands!
Looks like a mud facial!
All done and off to the bath for me!

The Latest

Ainsley posted this homemade sign on her and Zechariah's door that means, "no brothers allowed!" Here is Z standing outside his door, checking out the sign.

Here's a close-up of the sign Uncle Mike and Aunt Patti brought birthday gifts for Z and J on Tuesday night. J got this really cool toy called a Bilibo and they can do all sorts of things with it. As you can see in the pictures, both Ains and Z commandeered it. Z got a hilarious shirt that says "I void warranties" on it.

Ains trying out the Bilibo...she looks like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert. We were thinking Mushmouth but that wasn't who the character was after all!

Ainsley spinning in the Bilibo...she can't wait to try it out in the snow this winter...if we get any!
Took the kids to my prenatal appointment today to listen to the heartbeat. They kind of thought it was strange and a little loud. I thought that was pretty funny. All three of them stopped as soon as the heartbeat started and they all looked confused. Then J started to cry! Ainsley later said that it was funny sounding and then she kept asking if that was the way it was supposed to sound. This time the bpm was the slowest it has ever been at 148 so I'll have to refresh my knowledge on heart rate and gender...not that it's really accurate but it is sometimes fun just to see. I have been feeling the baby moving a lot lately and I'm always excited when I get to that point because it makes it more "real" I guess is the word. We are scheduled to have an ultrasound at the beginning of September and we can't wait to get our first pictures of the little one! I have had 2 other ultrasounds already but they were very early on and it didn't really resemble a baby yet and we didn't get any take homes. We will not be finding out what we're having this time so we'll have to turn our heads during that part of the exam (just like we did with Ainsley)...it will be a great surprise on labor and delivery day!

Happy Birthday Z and J!

Zechariah and Jessica celebrate their birthdays today...the big 03 and 01! I can't believe how time flies and how much they grow in a year. Here are pictures of them when they were born and today.

Z when he was born (don't pay attention to the date...my camera must have been behind!)

Z today

J when she was born J today

Happy Birthday, Zechariah and Jessica!

First Days of School

Here are some pictures of the kids on their first days. Ains wasn't too thrilled about the parking lot picture because it was "too bright out here!"

Ainsley in her new class with her table in the background

Z showing me how he cleans up in his classroom
And then a mini puppet show!

School is off to a great start already and we're getting back into the routine pretty well. Now if I could just be a little more on time!

Open House

Today was Open House for Ains and Z in their new classrooms. It was great to meet their new teachers and see some familiar faces from last year. Ains starts Pre-K on Monday and will attend Monday-Thursday and Z will be in the young 3's and attend Tuesdays and Thursdays. They are both very excited to start school next week and I have to admit, so am I. That sounds kind of bad but it is sometimes hard entertaining 3 kids all day, every day so it will be nice to have them back in school. Someday when the youngest goes to school full time I'll probably be bored out of my mind but I imagine it won't take me long to find things to occupy my time.

On another note, I can't believe it was almost a year ago that I was preparing the kids for their first day of school (Z's first day ever) and my water broke! About 12 hours later we met Jessica for the first time. Next Wednesday Z will be 3 and J will be 1!

Walt Disney World 2009

Let me just say this was a very difficult post!! I have almost 500 pictures and would love to post all of them but I can't so I tried to pick some really good ones that highlight the vacation the best. The first picture is of our pool at the house we rented. After we stocked the house and ate dinner, the kids were dying to get in! It was great having it especially after we'd get back from Disney in the middle of the day, we would eat and then swim. Mike, Z and Ains on the monorail on our way to Disney the first day

Big Sis and Little Bro right outside the entrance to Disney

The beautiful castle view from Main Street USA

Ains, Jess and Ariel. Z didn't want to be in the picture because he was more interested in the water play area in Ariel's Grotto.
Mike's parents got us this cake Monday night since it was our anniversary. Seven years and 3(almost four) kids later!

Mike and Z with their 3D glasses in line for the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios. This was my favorite ride. We rode it several times and Mike and I had a little rivalry going...I never could beat him but it sure was fun trying!
Ains with Annie and Leo (Little Einsteins) at Hollywood Studios. They have all the Playhouse Disney characters here so that was fun.
Jo Jo (Jo Jo's Circus), Z and Ains having some lunch
Z, June (Little Einsteins) and Ains

Ains, Minnie and Z at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort

You guessed it...Chef Mickey!

This was so neat...we got ears for all the kids and since there was no one really waiting for their ears, the ladies let Ains and Z back behind the counter to see them being sewn. They got them a step stool and let them see how the machine worked. Zechariah's kept breaking the machine! His ears took as long to do as Ainsley and Jessica's put together!

Too cute!
J wasn't so thrilled to have hers on...she's not too keen on hats!

Some refreshments on the way out of the park

Us (minus Roger who is taking the picture) at Ohana's...highly recommend it!

Z playing around at the house with his new Pirates of the Caribbean gun...guess he found his own holster!

Ains, Snow White and Z at Cinderella's Royal Table lunch inside the castle.
Belle and Ains

The train station on our last night. We all took a nap and then went back to the park that night to watch the parade and fireworks. We sat up here a little to the right so we could see straight down Main Street USA to the castle. It was a great spot...thanks Roger and Terry for saving it for us, we know it wasn't easy=) I almost lost my seat to some mean lady!

Part of the parade

Fireworks...what a show! I can't believe they do it every night. I have never seen fireworks quite like these!

Z on my lap during the fireworks. He covered his ears the whole time but was making all these "exploding" noises! This was also after he threw up all over Mike. When we got to the park, we all had hot dogs/corn dogs from Casey's Corner and I think Z ate too much. You factor in the heat, how he doesn't EVER eat hot dogs and all the excitement and you get a true vacation! Seems like we can't call it a vacation until someone barfs=)
So here's our vacation in a nutshell. We had a blast and we are so thankful that we had the opportunity to go since we don't know when we'll be able to make it back. We hope to go in about 5 years when this little one is about Ainsley's age. We can't thank Roger and Terry enough for all their help and all their insider tips that got us around the parks and allowed us to have such a memorable vacation...we love you guys!