Spring Break Event 4 - BART Ride/Lunch with Daddy

On Thursday, April 7th, we took BART to the city to meet Mike for lunch. The kids were excited to ride the "train." I told Mike I would not drive to meet him, so I was very happy that the BART station is extremely close to his office. It was a smooth experience, one that I will do again soon. It was nice to see Mike's new office building. They are on the 28th floor and he has a great view of the bay from his desk, but that will soon change when he moves into his office now that he's a VP with Glu. His promotion became official at the beginning of April. We are all proud of him!!

Here's a couple pictures from our adventure on BART to the city...
(picture quality isn't as good - took them with my phone)

They both wanted to sit by the window, so they sat in separate seats.
Ashlyn eventually moved up next to Jacob.
He was such a good big brother - he let her sit by the window.

Getting ready to board BART for our ride home.

Spring Break Event 3 - Chuck E Cheese's with Friends

On Wednesday, April 6th, we met a few friends at Chuck E Cheese's. His friends were from his class and from Boy Scouts. It was actually a little relaxing for me while the kids ran around and played games together.

Here are some pics from Chuck E Cheese's...

Ashlyn attempting to play Guitar Hero (I think Jacob was there in case she needed help).
Looking at this picture I see how she is growing up so much!!

Jacob and one of his friends from school playing a shooting game.
I tried to steer him away from these types of games,
but it seems like he has some kind of magnetic force that brings him back.
I think they might have been fighting aliens or something.

Ashlyn LOVES this ride/game. She gets all giddy while she's riding it.
She usually plays multiple times.

Funny story about this...She rode this before and brought me the picture. The picture wasn't a great one because you couldn't even see her face (she was looking down or something). So, I told her to do it again and look at the camera this time. A few minutes later I looked up and this is what I saw. She was trying hard to get a great picture this time!! I think she just stared the whole time and did not move an inch. At least I know she can follow directions!! Oh, and the picture came out really cute!! :-)

Spring Break Event 2 - SF Zoo

On Monday, the kids wanted to take a break and stay home. So that day we just relaxed and ran a few errands. I guess that was a good thing to do, since the rest of the week we had a lot planned. On Tuesday, April 5th, we met some friends at the SF Zoo. It was a nice day, a little breezy at times, but we all enjoyed it. It was nice being out with friends. It's something we all like to do. We miss our friends from Kansas City and going to the zoo with them. But it is nice to find some new friends here to go to the zoo with, too.

Pics from a day at the SF Zoo...

I forgot to change my camera settings back to normal.
Oh well, it made a neat picture.

The gorillas were putting on such a show for all to see.
This little baby gorilla kept playing with the kids in the window.
Makes you wonder - who is in the cage?!?!?!?

2 of my little animals!! I think the 3rd one was napping.

Jacob and I love the meerkats! They were also entertaining to watch.

Spring Break Event 1 - California Great America

We decided to get season passes for California Great America. We felt this was a great deal - to give us something to do all year. The passes we got include CGA, Boomerang Bay (water park) and Gilroy Gardens (a family theme park - lots of kid rides).

On Sunday, April 3rd, we went to CGA. :-) We all had a really good time. We stayed for about 4-5 hours, and the kids rode a lot of rides. We didn't get to everything, but we know we'll be back. With our passes, we got game vouchers. Each of the kids (including Lauren) did the guessing game. We had them guess each child's birth month, which they have to get it within 2 months. They were wrong with all 3, so each one got a stuffed animal. They were all happy!! Lauren had a good time riding some of the rides too. I'm excited to see her grow up and experience more at the parks. :-)

Here are some pics from the park...

One of the first rides we all rode was the carousal.
This was the smaller one, they also have a HUGE 2-story one near the front.

There were plenty of kids rides.
We didn't get to all of them, but we are planning to go back real soon.

The kids LOVED the swings. They also had a bigger one of these, but they really liked this one. Maybe next time, they'll ride the bigger one. This was their favorite ride. It was such a joy seeing their face expressions as they rode - you can really see the excitement!! It made my day!!

Lauren rode a few rides too. Here she is on the carousal.

Getting ready to leave for the day. You can see the 2-story carousal behind us.
It was such a gorgeous day!!

It's been awhile...

I know I said I was going to try to keep this going (especially for you, Mom)...so hopefully this
will be a new start! I'm just going to do a quick update of the last (almost) 2 months then I'll let you all know about our exciting spring break!! (in a separate post)

1st off, Jacob started Little League. He is on a great team with a really great coach. His team name is the Giants. He's happy to be playing for his new home town team. The coach is encouraging and teaches the kids at their level. Jacob has improved over the last several weeks. He's only played a couple games (because of rain), but now that it is nicer out we should be playing more.

Both kids started swim lessons at the end of March. They are now in their 2nd session. I am really happy we started early this year (especially since we didn't get a chance last summer). In the 1st 3 weeks they BOTH are swimming by themselves. They still have a lot to learn, but they have improved greatly since last summer. They will be so ready for the warm weather and swim time this summer!!

Grandma came to visit for her spring break!! The kids did not know about this surprise visit, and they were so excited to see her and show her their new town!! We couldn't get out as much as I hoped, because it rained nearly every day (heck, we even had a tsunami warning and a tornado warning during her visit). We got out to see Alcatraz on Jacob's 1/2 day of school, and that day was actually a very beautiful day. It was just nice to spend time with her. We are all looking forward to this summer, the kids have a list of activities they want to do with her.

And Jacob turned 7 YEARS OLD!! We celebrated his birthday early with Grandma, then we had a party with his classmates and friends at BounceU (inflatable bouncing play place). He had a great time. This will be a birthday he'll remember. His big gift from us was a Nintendo 3DS. He was beyond thrilled when he opened that!! :-) He is a growing boy. He weighs just about 59 pounds and is just about 49 inches tall!!

All my kids make me happy!! :-)

Here are some pictures...

Jacob showing his baseball skills. He really enjoys playing!!

Grandma surprised Ashlyn first -
then we went to Jacob's baseball practice for his surprise.

Took Grandma and the kids to Pier 39.
We walked around, saw the sea lions and had dinner at Bubba Gumps. It was fun!!

On our way to Alcatraz!!

At the airport before Grandma left to go home. :-(

My 2 swimmers at swim lessons!!

Jacob getting sung to at Red Robin for his birthday dinner.
He wanted to have it done, then he got a little shy.

Some of Jacob's friends at his birthday party.

It was a lot of fun, I think all the kids had a great time!!

My birthday boy!! Happy 7th Birthday, Jacob!!

Lauren is 9 Months Old!!

Well, now she is 9 months and 1 week old (since I'm a little late posting this). She is growing up so fast!! It's a happy and sad moment, knowing that she is my last baby. We will be entering the toddler years soon. She brings so much joy to all our lives. Her big brother and big sister do so good with taking care of her and loving her. She is one lucky little girl!

She had her 9 month check-up on Valentine's Day. We didn't do shots this time, because she was running a low-grade fever the day before. I think the cause was probably teeth, but it's better to be safe than sorry. We will do that shot at her next check-up in 3 months. She had a great appointment. The doctor said she was PERFECT!! Those are words we love to hear about our children. I know no one is truly "perfect," but I'd like to say she is pretty darn close. ;-) She is now 15 lbs, 15 oz and is just over 26 inches long. She's still a petite little girl (5th percentile), but she is growing.

What's new with Lauren...well, she got her 1st tooth peeking it's way through her gums. I can finally feel it and see where it's coming in. She is also soooooooo very mobile!!! She is crawling all over, getting into stuff and even CLIMBS STAIRS!!! I think we need to invest in some baby gates and other child proofing items - one of those items should be a new entertainment stand to hide our electronics...Lauren wanted to play the XBox 360 and broke it!! I'm actually a little sad about that, we had the new Kinect and it's really fun. Hopefully we'll get it fixed soon. Lauren is pulling up on everything, and the poor XBox was her first victim.

This last week was a little low-key. We stayed home most of it, but we did go to the park one day and a movie that night. It was nice to relax a bit. I am looking forward to some sunshine and warmer temperatures, because the kids (and me) are starting to miss going to the park. And Jacob is ready to start baseball (and I'm ready to watch him). Since we didn't do too much, I don't have as many pictures this time...enjoy the few I have!! :-)

This is one of my FAVORITE pictures of Lauren!!

I love seeing her BIG BLUE EYES and her DIMPLE SMILE!!

She's such a happy baby!!

The one day we went to the park this week, the kids were digging in the dirt and found some icky worms!! I'm happy to report, we left them there
(even though Ashlyn wanted to take them home as pets)!!

My handsome and sweet boy...and my goofy and pretty girl!!

I LOVE MY KIDDOS!! :-)

Finally Some Updates... ;-)

After a 2 1/2 week break, I'm back!! :-) We've been having gorgeous weather out here, so we've spent a lot of times outside at the parks. The kids love running around and riding their bikes.

Jacob is still doing well at school. Reading, Math and now weekly spelling lists!! He's meeting more friends all the time. I think he's been to more birthday parties this year than ever before. Next month, we'll be planning his!! He's also getting ready to start Little League. I'm pretty excited for him. He has a great coach, so I think it will be a really good year for him.

Ashlyn is really enjoying preschool. She also met a few new friends, and talks about them a lot. I'm hoping to set up some playdates for her soon. I'm still looking around at some gymnastics places to get her in, hopefully we'll start something in the next couple weeks. She also informed me she wants to do dance...and today she wants to take a singing class and tapping. I wonder if she's going to be my little performer!! She sure is a drama queen!! ;-)

Lauren is growing up so much lately. A month ago, she started her inch-worm crawl. And now she is doing the full hands and knees crawl, pulling up, and standing (for a few seconds) on her own. She gets into EVERYTHING. Last week, she pulled up on our TV stand and broke daddy's new XBox! :-( It's hard to get upset at such a sweet baby girl. Now we are shopping around for a new TV stand with doors. Her 9 month appointment is in a week. The doctor will decide at that time if she needs to get blood work done. He may want to, depending on how her weight gain is going. She's been falling behind her own curve since about 2 months old. I think she's just a petite little princess, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Keep her in your prayers.

Below are some pictures of what we've been up to. I'll update sooner next time, so you won't be overwhelmed with our activities! ;-)

Lauren LOVES swinging at the parks!!

Every Friday, we go to a playgroup (called Little Sprouts) at one of the churches. The kids get to do arts/crafts, sing/music, story-time, snack and play with their friends. It's a lot of fun and Ashlyn LOVES it!! Above is Ash getting messy!! And below is her playing with her friend/neighbor, Nico.
They have so much fun together!!

We took the kids to Happy Hollow in San Jose. It's a little amusement park/zoo made just for young kids. They really enjoyed riding all the rides. Their favorite one was the Frog Hopper.

Lauren has discovered her "twin."

She enjoys playing with and looking at the other baby.

I hope I'm not creating a little diva!!

Jacob had a Friday off from school. So he got to go to Little Sprouts with Ash. Ash was excited to show Jacob all the stuff that she gets to do. I think he had a good time!! After this, we TRIED to meet daddy at his new office location. But I didn't do too well driving in the city and trying to find parking. So we decided to just meet him at Pier 39. We walked around for a little bit, saw the sea lions and a magic show, then went home to ride bikes! I think he had a good day off.

Here's baby girl pulling up on the stairs.

She actually climbed 3 steps at the park the other day.

After I pick Jacob up (when Ashlyn is in school), we head to the park.

Lauren really enjoys big brother pushing her in the swings!

And I think he enjoys pushing her too and making her laugh.

We took a hike this weekend at a park called Water Dog Lake. This was our first time here, and I think we'll be going back again and again. It's not too far from our house and it's a nice little hike. The kids enjoyed it too. Even Lauren was happy in the stroller. We'll also be checking out some other trails to explore in the future. It was a nice family outing.

Pretty girl!!

She was watching her big brother and sister ride their bikes when we got home.

This picture shows how much Jacob LOVES to ride his bike.

Now that he can do it without training wheels, he never wants to quit.

It was time to go inside, so daddy had to carry him in - bike and all!! LOL

We went to Uncle Gary's and Aunt Kathy's house to watch the Superbowl.
We got there early so the kids can take a ride on the 4-wheeler and Rhino.
Go Packers!!