Monday, April 23, 2012

March-April 2012 (for lack of a better title)

St. Patrick's Day at Turf Paradise Horse Races







Daddy Time


We went to the SeaLife Aquarium with Kellan and Larel

This made my heart melt - best buddies

Quincy LOVED the puffer fish


Paloma finally got in a picture

It's out-of-focus, but she was amazed by all the fish


Paloma's new favorite hang-out spot is my dishwasher door


Easter Sunday was a great day. We went to church with our neighbors, and heard a great sermon. The kids had a blast afterwards hunting for Easter eggs. I tried to get a cute picture of them together, and believe it or not, these are the 3 best shots I could get.
Take ONE (this is semi-pleasant)

Take TWO (she HATED wearing a dress)

Take THREE (pure chaos)

Then we went to my parents' house that afternoon to celebrate Easter and my mom's birthday with the family


The boys were desperate to go find those eggs!

Since Paloma is still not walking, she was at a bit of a disadvantage, so Mommy hooked her up with a couple

Kellan is clearly experienced in the egg finding department

Quincy didn't do too bad

Pure joy in Mama Chacha & Papa Tom's backyard


Family pic

They all helped her blow out her candles


Patio fun at Makena's 2nd birthday party

This was the best shot I could get of Makena & Paloma together. These kids are just on the move!


We went to the Phoenix Zoo with the Reese Family and the Jacobs family on a beautiful April Sunday, and got to see so many incredible animals. Our highlight of the day was the Giraffe Encounter, where you can feed giraffes on a balcony overlooking their savannah.

Quincy (and all the kids) fed the giraffe hearts of romaine leaves

Solon (and all the adults) fed the giraffe a little food pellet about the size of a mini-Tootsie Roll, which we had to hold out, while the giraffe stuck his slimy, rubbery tongue out and curled it back into his mouth!

They were such gorgeous creatures, and even more beautiful close-up. Such a cool experience that the Phoenix Zoo offers for just a few bucks per person.
Solon took this awesome picture of the lioness

The cousin crew


Before Holly & Makena left to go back to Reno, we had them over for dinner. I loved seeing all the kids eating dinner together.


I realized after the last blog that it had been a while since I had pointed out what my kids are into these days. Since the purpose of this blog is for me to keep records of my kids' early years (for them to see when they're older), and for family and friends to get to know them a little better, I thought I would do a quick run-down.

Quincy (age 3) still LOVES his Bear blanket. Bear goes almost everywhere with us, because Quincy wants to share everything with Bear. Quincy gives Bear kisses and hugs each day before school, cuddles with him at night, shares meals with him, and he even has Bear go "potty" before he does at night before bed.

He also still loves Thomas the Tank Engine, but more specifically GORDON, the #4 Blue Engine. He also carries Gordon and his tender almost everywhere. Mommy discovered a 5 minute YouTube video called "Gordon Takes A Dip," which Quincy likes to watch on Mommy or Daddy's iPod several times a day, re-enacting and reciting the whole thing. SEVERAL. TIMES. A. DAY. Maybe it's a sign that he will be into Theatre? We'll see...

His other current obsession is the car wash. He knows where every single car wash is on the way to preschool, on the way to his grandparents', on the way to each freeway - it's ridiculous, but also cute. He gets so excited when he sees a car entering the car wash, and going through the sponge "noodles". One of his favorite activities involved Daddy taking him to Danny's Carousel Car Wash, where he can stand inside at the window, and just watch dozens of cars go through the car wash. Then he comes home, and puts his cars through his own car wash. If that didn't give you enough of an idea of just HOW MUCH this kid loves a car wash, maybe this will. I was flipping through a coupon book and found a picture of a car, entering a car wash.

I cut it out, glued it to some cardboard, and laminated it with contact paper. Quincy played with it for 2 hours STRAIGHT. Yes, really.

He loves his cousin Kellan. A LOT.

He does love Paloma, most of the time.

And he has this new thing we he likes me to make up songs before he goes to sleep. Our nigh-night prayer is now a song, which he will sing with me, ("Now we lay us down to sleep, AND pray the Lord our soul to keep. Angels watch us through the night, AND keep us in their blessed sight. A-men.") and then he made up a song to the same tune as our nigh-night prayer, and it goes like this: "Quincy Drake, Quincy Drake, you make us so happy. Quincy Drake, Quincy Drake, this song makes you so happy. Nigh-Night." Then he laughs and is off to sleep. Such a great kid.

Paloma (15 months) is ALMOST walking. I mean, any day now. She loves SHOES, and necklaces, and anything that sparkles, but she also LOVES trains and dinosaurs. And every time she throws a ball, she yells, "OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH." She loves to say "Cheers" at the table, and clink your glass with her sippy cup. She loves to go in the bounce house with her brother and cousin. And right now she is teething really badly, so she loves her blanket, her pacifier, and her Mommy. When we drop Quincy off a preschool, she always wants to stay. And I mentioned the dishwasher right? She loves just sitting in the dishwasher. This girl eats EVERYTHING - which makes me so happy. And she just brings us joy on a daily basis.


We are planning a trip to southern California next month with my brother and his family, so the cousins can experience Disneyland together for the first time. Until then, I will be thinking of ways to keep cool, since it's only April and we've already hit the 100 mark.