The Games We Play

Lately, we've had a couple of reoccurring games around our house. Gabe has discovered that he is now big enough to give piggy back rides to Cooper, and Cooper has realized it's quite fun to get piggy back rides from Gabe. The result: constant piggy back rides. I don't know what Cooper is going to do when Gabe gets tired of hearing, 'I want a piggy back ride Gabe!' I know that day will soon come...the novelty will wear off. But for now, Gabe is enjoying being 'the bigger and stronger one,' as he puts it, and showing Cooper the fun of these rides.

Chloe's obsession is playing catch with balls. Now her obsession is not a new one. Ever since she first got her hands on one of the boy's snow globe bouncy balls, she has enjoyed just carrying it around with her. But now, since she's discovered that there's a game involved with these little round objects, her obsession has escalated! I think it was Gabe that first introduced to Chloe that you can roll the ball back and forth to each other, which she loved. Then, he showed her that you can throw the ball to each other, which she loved even more. So now, every few minutes I find Chloe bringing me a ball and expecting me to throw it so that she can fetch. I feel like she's morphing into a golden retriever instead of my lovable little toddler.
Even when I got out the camera to take some photos of her with her favorite toys, she still insisted on handing me the ball, as you can see below:


Balls also make for good chew toys...you see what I'm saying about the golden retriever in her?!? Not only does she like to fetch them, but she also loves to chew on them!

Rediscovering the Rocking Horse

I love it when a once 'has been' toy gets rediscovered. You know, when a toy the kids have played with relentlessly becomes old news and isn't used for months, and then suddenly becomes great fun again.
Recently in our household, that rediscovered toy is a rocking horse we originally bought as a Christmas gift for Gabe when he was 1 1/2 years old. I found the horse at Pier One while Christmas shopping. It was on sale, and I had to get it. Every little boy needs a rocking horse! Gabe truly loved that gift. He used to ride that horse all the time, and I'd often find him dressing the horse or putting sunglasses on the horse like in the below photo taken when Gabe was little.


He loved that horse, and I have many photos of Gabe riding it. (The above photo was taken when Gabe was 21 months old, shortly after he got the horse.)

The horse was played with for about a year, then was replaced by other newer gifts and sat there unused for awhile. When Cooper was about 18 months old, Gabe thought it would be fun to get out the horse and see if Cooper liked it. He did! I have many fond memories of the boys riding that horse together. Then, again, after awhile it became old news.

Now that Chloe is old enough, Gabe has started putting her up on that horse and again, the horse is in play. I took some photos of the kids playing on it this morning.
Below, Gabe helping Chloe ride the horse.

Cooper soon wanted in on the action!

I told the kids to get close together so that I could get them all in the photo. The following is what happened: Too funny!


We'll see how long the horse can last with 3 riders!

Mall of America

I promise...this is the last post from our vacation! We spent the night in Minneapolis on the way home, which is a good half way point. And we got to visit the Mall of America, which is thrilling for me, not so much for Jason. But I do believe he had a good time with the boys playing with the legos while I was shopping :)
We stayed at a very nice Hilton close to the mall that Jason booked on Priceline, so we of course got a great deal! The boys got to swim, Chloe got to catch up on some sleep since she didn't sleep well over the week due to an ear infection, and we had a great time!
Below, Chloe, sitting on a chair in the hotel room. She was so tired and sat there holding her blanket and sucking her thumb, probably thinking, 'Why won't somebody put me to bed and let me sleep?'

The Lego sign at the Mall of America.

Jason, Gabe & Cooper (in the middle) stopping to look at the camera. They were having so much fun building Lego cars. (The skylights in the Lego area made for some tricky lighting for photos, hence all the shadows!)

Cooper showing his Lego car.

Gabe with his Lego car.

Gabe racing his Lego car.

The boys were quite interested in the Rainforest Cafe Frog. Here they are doing the 'pound.'

Awwww...hugging the mascot!

The line for the Rainforest Cafe was so long, so we decided to eat at Famous Dave's BBQ instead which was quite good! This was Chloe's first time drinking from a straw and she caught right on.

The boys eating their steak fries...yummmm!

To top things off, shopping!!! My favorite! And one of my favorite stores, Ann Taylor Loft, was having a big sale! You just can't beat a good day of shopping in my book :)

Coop's New Friend

Gabe has had many girls he's been pretty fond of so far in his short life. But Cooper has never seemed to notice or care about girls...until now. When you ask him about vacation bible school, chances are he'll talk about Ariana. 'She's my friend,' he says, with a sweet smile on his face. Ariana is also 3 years old, so they're able to communicate with the same 3-year-old mentality. In the short few minutes I was observing them, she kissed a scrape on his foot and said, 'It's all better now,' and then they started chasing each other. What more could you ask for in a friend, lol. The nursery workers said that when they took the kids on a walk, Cooper and Ariana held hands the whole time. They were still holding hands after VBS was over yesterday so I snapped a couple photos.
Two happy three-year-olds!

I like this picture, Cooper smiling at Ariana. How cute!

Salamanders

A few days ago while I was mowing the lawn, Jason and the boys found a couple of salamanders up by our house. One was actually hiding under a scrap piece of siding laying on the ground, and the other Cooper found all by himself. Anyway, we thought with the Vacation Bible School theme being, "Amazon Expedition," we'd keep them and take them to church so that Gabe could show his friends.
What a hit! As soon as Gabe brought out the bucket which we had made into a salamander 'house' with water & rocks, the kids swarmed! Of course, what kid doesn't want to hold a slimy lizard.
Thought I'd share a few photos of our new buddies!
The boys each holding a salamander. Love the thumbs up from Gabe. What a goof!

Gabe and his new buddy. He named him squirmy, because he's 'hard to hold on to.'

Gabe showing the salamander at VBS.

The little guy's closeup in Jason's hands.

Vote For US!

Do you want to see Chloe & I on your next package of White Cloud toliet paper? Then vote for us today!
Get your attention? So here's the story...A couple of months ago, Jason e-mailed me a link to this White Cloud photo contest. He was still at work, and I was wasting time on the computer, so I clicked on the link he sent, and the contest was for a special mother & baby moment captured in a photo. This happened right after Gabe had just taken these photos of Chloe and I, so I thought, 'Why not?' and entered the contest. I haven't really given it a second thought, until today!
I just found out that out of over 500 entries, we were chosen as a top 10 finalist. Basically, a panel of judges selects 10 finalists for each month, and then people vote for one of those 10 finalists. The entry with the most votes is then a finalist for the grand prize of being the official White Cloud mother & baby. The contest runs from May through December, with the grand prize winner being announced in January, so basically if we get the most votes, we'll then have a one in eight chance of being selected as the grand prize winner! (The grand prize winner is also selected by a panel of judges, not based on votes.)
Anyway, to help us win, visit the following link:
http://www.mywhitecloud.com/momandbaby/index.jsp
Then click on "Vote Today for your Favorite" and a page will come up where you can vote for us.
And who knows...maybe Chloe and I will end up on a package of toilet paper, which of course is everyone's dream come true!

The Bears

Well, we didn't exactly see this baby bear roaming free during our vacation in Minnesota as you may be wondering. Actually, Gabe was lucky enough to go with Bob, Rita, Ron, Sheri, Tiffany & Ryan on a half-day outing during our vacation in Minnesota. The crew went to see a nearby bear refuge, which Gabe is still talking about. I thought I'd share a few photos from his bear field trip.
Below, Gabe kissing a bear statue. Notice the flyer posted in the background on 'how to pepper spray a bear.' You never know when information like that could come in handy, lol.

Gabe and his buddy bear, another statue :)

Gabe and Tiffany making their best bear faces.

Thanks so much to the Moore Family for taking Gabe on your bear adventure. He had such a wonderful time!

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School started this morning at church. It's a great curriculum from Answers in Genesis and addresses the topic of evolution versus creation. The theme is Amazon Expedition, so there's lots of great rainforest decorations. I am helping by doing a newsletter the kids can take home with them everyday and by taking photos and video. It's fun to be able to have an overall perspective of what's going on throughout the morning at VBS by going from room to room taking photos and video.
The big excitement today was the amount of kids...nearly 100 were in attendance. I know God has great things in store for the kids this week, and they had a great first day!
Below, Gabe & his buddy, Brayden, ready for VBS to start.

Here's a photo during large group time. That's a lot of kids!

The kids made mini rainforests during craft time.

Below is Cooper petting a puppy that was brought to church as part of a VBS skit. He's also eating a cupcake from snack time.

Random Vacation Photos

I wanted to share some photos from vacation that aren't from any one event, but were taken throughout the week. Enjoy!
Below, Cooper looking at and talking to the fish he caught all by himself.

The boys posing in their flotation suits. I'm not quite sure what's going on with Gabe's silly face.

Here's a view of our cabin from the dock. Our group was so big that we actually had two cabins at the resort to house all our vacationers.

I don't want to cut Chloe's hair, so unless there's a hair tie in place, she has hair in her face. Here's an example of Chloe's hairstyle courtesy of Jason...what a talent he is at doing hair! But according to the smile on Chloe's face, she doesn't seem to mind :)

I took this photo of Cooper shortly after he said, "Mom, these goggles are broken." I said, "They are?" He replied, "Yes, the water got in my eyes!" Well, as Cooper learned, it helps to actually put the goggles over your eyes and not on your forehead when putting your head underwater...just a helpful tip.

Dwight & Bonnie in the fishing boat.

Jason's Uncle Doyle & Great Aunt Fern. Aunt Fern is the one who treated everyone to this Minnesota fishing trip. At 94 years old, she still gets out in the boat and caught some fish with her pole! She's truly an amazing lady!

Jason & Cooper tubing behind Doug & Teresa's boat. Jason & I also went water skiing that day, but never got to try knee boarding. Maybe next time!

Tiffany, Jenny and the boys paddle boating.

Tiffany had some fun with the camera on the boat. Both Gabe & Cooper loved spending time with Tiffany, and I think they wanted to take her home with us :)

Both Gabe & Cooper had their try at driving the pontoon boat.

Nicholas thought since I'd had good luck with the kids' fishing poles, he'd try it too. He didn't have quite the same result, but I'm thinking he had a good time anyway!

Jason with a northern he caught. Look how he's holding it out in front of him to make it look bigger...tricky, tricky!