Carlsbad Beach

Posted by Alyssa

We left Legoland at about 3 in the afternoon, so we headed over to the beach, which was just down the street!  This was my first time in Carlsbad and I fell in love with their beach.  It was super clean, beautiful, and for a Saturday there were not very many people there!  I'm already looking forward to our next visit there, maybe next time it will be just Mike and I!  :-)


 Because it was a quick visit, we didn't even put swim suits on the kids.  They bolted out of the car and were dying to get in the water!
 My boys....
 Our first family photo since last Thanksgiving! 
 Silly boys....

 building a volcano in the sand

 After running in the waves (which were actually pretty big!), Connor kept getting knocked over.  He was scared the first time, but had a blast the rest of the time!


Hopefully it won't be long till we can visit the beach again!

Legoland

Posted by Alyssa

Our family vacation this year was at Legoland!  Connor is completely obsessed with Legos now, and Jake loves to play with him.  It was the perfect quick getaway.  We arrived at our hotel the night before and went out to dinner and went to the beach down the street for a little bit.  On Saturday we spent most of the day at Legoland (well, till Mike had enough) and didn't see everything.  I see another trip to Legoland in our future.....


 Our first ride was on boats that went on a river that showed you all kinds of cities and monuments made completely of Legos.  Each display was seriously thousands of pieces of Legos! Connor was speechless...
 Jake getting some lovin from Clara while waiting in line
 Momma getting more lovin from Clara ;-)
 Off to their safari adventure!
 This ride was fun: the pirate ship swiveled and turned in the air.  Much more fun than the scary one at the fair!
 This Lego pirate guy kept talking every once in a while.  Clara was so scared it was hilarious!
 I know, we're mean parents taking pictures of our poor kids crying....
 Riding helicopters that went up and down-the boys loved controlling it themselves

 They had cities made of Legos-the kids look like giants here! Or look like they are up high looking down at a city far away!
 Building cars and then racing down the ramp
Everyone had a blast and this little getaway was exactly what our family needed: to get out and play away from the hot desert! The boys still talk about it all the time and I would love to come back next summer because I have a feeling Legos are going to be a part of our lives for a while now!

Halloween 2011

Posted by Alyssa

This year for Halloween Clara was a pumpkin fairy, Jake was Nemo, and Connor was a Lego! It's so fun to see their personalities come out in the costumes they pick!


Connor was not happy with me here....can you tell?











I could leave her in front of this mirror all day....she loves smiling at herself!



Connor's Scooter Party

Posted by Alyssa

Clara was definately outnumbered by boys in our house this day! It was boy heaven full of sugar, guns, cars, scooters, bikes, balloons, and friends! Connor had a scooter themed party (which was his present) so all his friends brought their own scooters or bikes. We decorated their "vehicles" with streamers and balloons and then rode to the park behind us. They played on the playground a while and headed back for cake and presents. What a fun crazy day! I know Connor had a blast....which is what matters, right? ;-)





Playing at the park from left: Ryan Chadwick, Payton Stuart, and Jakie boy






All the food was even scooter themed! :-)







They made scooters out of nutter butters, mini oreos, and pretzels

Connor opening his scooter on Sunday.....can you tell its right after nap time? Happy birthday Connor boy, we love having your goofy, smart, energetic spirit in our family!

Jake's UP Party

Posted by Alyssa

Our Jakie boy turned 3 years old this Sunday-where in the world does time go? I sat him down and let him look at my favorite 3 boy themes from Karaspartyideas.blogspot.com (careful-I can spend all day on this site!) and pick which he like best. The UP won-I think mostly because of all the balloons! So, since I really wanted to also do a rainbow themed party-I just combined the two. One of my favorite shows is Cake Boss and I was so excited to finally have an excuse to try decorating my own cake! I made my fondant with marshmallows and powdered sugar, which is so much cheaper and tastes better than store bought fondant. Since it was my first time working with the stuff, I'm hoping for connor's birthday cake it will be a little faster and easier!
Here's me trying to work in the rainbow into the cake! :-) You can also see the little water bottles I filled with the colors of the rainbow in Kool-Aid. I also made fruit rainbow Shish-ka-bobs! So fun!
Having fun looking at Jake's new presents
This was the only time I saw him standing still-he watched like 20 seconds of the movie UP
Clara and Macey Stuart-they're 3 weeks apart and I love that they're both little fatso's!
Jake's UP cakeJakie and Maddy-these two and like two peas in a pod-they crack me up when they get together!
Last week Maddison asked Shannon if she can kiss Jake when she grows up! LOL, I thought that was too cute!
What a bunch of goofballs!
Since Jake's actual birthday was on Sunday, we let him open his birthday present after church-an orange scooter! He was SOO excited and said, "Is it my very own scooter?!?" Poor guy shares almost everything with Connor and gets all his hand-me-downs so it was a treat to get something just for him! We love you to pieces Jakie boy and are so lucky you're in our family!