Great Wolf Lodge = FUN, SUGAR, MORE FUN, and A LOT MORE SUGAR!!!!

On Wednesday morning, the boyz, Brandi, Bryce, Coco, and I piled in the car....packed with the essentials.....snacks, toys, movies, and headed off to Great Wolf Lodge - an indoor water park about three hours away! There were three rules for our trip: 1. No Whining 2. No Crying 3. HAVE LOTS OF FUN!!! The boyz were ready......

The fun began half way to our destination when we stopped for a break and Coco bought them each a toy and a Batman painting set - which kept the boyz busy the remainder of the trip - the first of many thanks to Coco!!

As quickly as we could, we ditched our bags in the room and headed to the water! We spent the next couple of hours in the wave pool and then the baby/toddler pool which included slides and jet skis that sprayed water - Coop was all over that one... he was not as big of a fan of the wave pool as Connor was!

SNACK TIME!!! and let me tell you Coco knows what the boyz like....she loaded each of the boyz up with cotton candy, jelly beans, popcorn, apple juice, and pizza! Connor was in sugar heaven!

After dinner, it was off to the arcade room... Connor spent the majority of his money on a dinosaur machine that grabbed toys.....more treasures, and Cooper loved playing air hockey!

After the quarters were gone, and the novelty of the games had worn off... the boyz were happy with their treasures and the yellow sports cars from Coco!

At 8:00 the boyz were ready for their story! We headed down to the lobby where the trees and animals came alive as a Native America little girl told a story! Connor was naming all the things that were real until a boy in front of him told him they were all mechanical....Thanks Kid! Luckily that didn't ruin the enjoyment of the story for my little man!

This morning we did two more hours at the park and then the kids went and picked out swords they had been eyeing up at one of the stores! What a trip!!

Thank you Coco for your generous heart and for loving my boyz like family! You have given us wonderful memories of our trip to Great Wolf Lodge!!

Palm Sunday Service for the Boyz.....

This morning, the boyz sang at both services for Palm Sunday! I am definitely that mom who sits in the first couple of pews, camera in hand, with a big smile on my face giving them that "You are doing so great" look! How can you not with smiles like these.....

How quickly the time goes...

It seems like I just got my hubby back....and now he is off doing what he does for the next month in Fallon! The two weeks he was home went by quickly largely due to the fact that we had company and of course non-stop fun!! My parents left a couple of days after Nate came home...of course the list is endless with everything that they helped us with around the house. AND if that wasn't enough...my parents surprised me with an early, birthday, anniversary, Christmas (okay you get the the picture) gift... A CANON POWER SHOT SX10 IS - I LOVE IT - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! Nate's dad and sister came a couple days later for a quick visit...Cooper was quite exited because Aunt Jackie wore her hair straight which made it easier to play with!

They came in just in time for the NCAA tournament - which Connor willingly watched with his Grandpa!

Luckily Saturday was a beautiful day and I was able to tear the family away from the NCAA games and we headed to Port Townsend. The ferry ride is only thirty minutes...so with lattes

and hot chocolates in hand we were off....

Connor was on the look out at the pier....

and he found what he was looking for.... a PIRATE SHIP!!!

There was nothing to be afraid of though... Cooper made sure that we knew he was stronger than the pirates!!!

It was amazing... the pirates left behind treasures on the pier (thanks Aunt Jackie)!

After a long day of searching for treasure, a nap was what everyone needed....but the boyz beat us to it!

That weekend, Nate was determined to teach Connor how to ride his bike without training wheels...

This is Cooper's "I am not happy that I have training wheels on my bike" look! Sorry Coop - just a little bit longer buddy!

The First Day.....

The Second Day.....


YEAH CONNOR!!!!

Nate left on Sunday, but being the amazing hubby that he is... he and the boyz went and cheered me on for my 1/2 marathon!

Before Nate's brief - he took the boyz to three different spots to cheer me on with a big smile as the boyz yelled, "Go Mama"!

I finished the run in 1 hour fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds - not bad for a mama of two boyz!!!
Well almost one week down and three more to go until my hubby is back again...what to do, what to do.... well I can tell you one thing...it's going to involve a lot of TWILIGHT!!!

A True Work of Art

The magic of preschool...where everything is new and exciting! I can't say enough about where the boyz attend school. From the school itself to the teachers...it is everything that I envisioned a preschool to be. This month for their field trip, they went to Paint Your World - or as Connor says, "I painted my world today!" Well not exactly a world, a bunny to be exact!
Here is my focused little painter...

Well maybe not that focused.....

Masterpiece in the making......

Now that is one fine bunny...

Cooper's class went a couple of days later to paint their bunny. Connor had already filled him in on what to expect so Coop was pretty confident when he walked in!
Another artist at work........

Yet another masterpiece....

The boyz received their bunny the following week after they had been, as Connor said, "fired"! They both were definitely proud of what they had done....a true work of art (I'm their mom I can say that)!

Our future Pastor.....

Cooper loves reading his bible! Before last Thursday, his Bible was one that he had "borrowed" from the church pew one Sunday after church. He loves flipping through it and then will get to the map on the back and ask where we live and where Grandma, Grandpa, and Nana, and Papa live. On Thursday, Connor and I attended Cooper's chapel service and we were able to see Cooper receive his very own BIBLE from his teacher, Miss Elva!!

Since then, Cooper has been reading it constantly! He loves the story of Jonah and the Whale! The most perfect comment came the other night though when he told his dad after he had been disciplined, "Dada, when you are mean to me, I just go upstairs and read my Bible!" WOW - that's all I can say about that one - our little Pastor in the making!!!

They Weren't Kidding......

As a parent you always here people say, "They grow up so fast..." Well they weren't kidding! Last week I picked up the boyz school pictures and wanted to cry..... how could they have grown up so fast?????!!! From this.......

to this....

and this.....

to this......

Before you know it they will be leaving the house and getting married.....well not if I have anything to do with it!

Life is Good Again!!!

The past month has been a whirlwind. At the beginning of the month I had my eye surgery..the one thing that I was excited about was the fact that I had at least one newborn vampire eye (yes, we all know I am obsessed with Twilight)! A couple of days after the surgery our best friends from California came to visit us for the weekend! We met them in La Conner for breakfast..needless to say the weather was not cooperating for our sunny California family!

Sunday night, Auntie Amy and I took the boyz to the drive in to see the Tale of Despereaux. This is their "I AM SO EXCITED" faces!

How could you not be excited when you know that there is a whole concession stand of heavenly food just calling your name!

The boyz decided on Twizzlers (giving our hometown of Hershey a shout out) and lemonade!

Amy and I decided on popcorn and Dr. Pepper - our own personal piece of heaven!

The fun continued on... Nana took the kids to the jump house here in town for four hours one afternoon. When I arrived the kids faces were beat red, heads sweating, and I think Nana had already taken two Tylenol! We then introduced my parents to Jungle Playland!! Way to go Nana for going down the black slide (I refuse to go down that one)!

What better way to end the day then milkshakes and dinner at Red Robin! I think the milkshakes were more their dinner than anything!

And then.....my man came home!!!! One month down....two more work ups to go! We all headed to the squadron to watch him fly in! Connor was hoping that the jumphouse and food would be in the hanger (can you tell that he has attended to many deployment homecomings???)!! All the boyz could talk about was how they were going to run up to Daddy when he got out of the jet! When he did it was straight out of Top Gun - well if they would have used Prowlers.

The boyz just stood there and watched - their loss I thought as I ran up to him myself!

Our family is back together again and complete...LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN!!