She Rides!

We are so excited! Emily finally worked up the confidence to conquer the two-wheel bike. Cubby had taken her up to church after her birthday and she'd start to get the hang of it, and then she'd lose her nerve. He'd tried a couple of times this spring, but she just wasn't sold on the fact that she could actually do it.

Then, this past Saturday, her friend, Ella, was out riding her bike. We said, "let's just go over and try it out." Emily is not one to be easily swayed. However, we made it seem like no-big-deal and Ella talked her into having her mom, my friend Mandi, give her some tips. Worked like a charm. (For whatever reason, Emily responds soooo much better to people other than her parents! Hmmm....)

Now, she and Ella are out every day, riding up and down the street. (Neither can ride on the sidewalk--maybe too narrow or bumpy??) Anyhow, here are two videos we took, spliced together, of that first day riding. The first is of her on her old bike (which, since it's smaller she still prefers). The second is of her new bike that she'll grow into--soon, we hope! Soooo exciting for our big girl!

Birthday Bloomin'

Look what decided to open up on my birthday yesterday?? So pretty! Happy St. Patty's Day (and birthday) to me!

More Changes for Kari

What accessory is missing in the pictures to your left and right?

Well, she's got her sunglasses, her tu-tu and her Bunny, Froggie and Blankie. What missing?? The Binkie.

Yup, it's been a big couple of weeks for this little girl. First of all, Mommy and Daddy decided that it was time to cut back on binkie-time. Now Kari get her binkie at naptime and bedtime. She's done pretty well, considering she LOVES her binkie. As long as she's distracted and not too tired, she's fine. The toughest time has been just before dinner ("the witching hour" for all kids, really). So, I've been trying to prep dinner during naptime so I can just sit and hold her until Daddy comes home and can take over.

The biggest surprise, really, is that now that she doesn't have her binkie as much, her appetite has picked up--in a big way. She still has a very limited palate of what she will eat, but atleast now she's back to eating the foods she likes, and a lot more of it. I call what she was on, "The Binkie Diet" and I'm considering going on it myself after the baby is born. Ha!

This picture above is Kari....in her big-girl bed! We are slowly transitioning over. Tonight is actually the first night she's gone to bed in it (she has taken a couple of naps in it though). What prompted the final change-over is the fact that Kari figured out how to climb out of her crib! (She climbs over to her changing table and then climbs down it.) Kari is the first one of our children to figure out how to climb out. Tonight, as she was climbing out, she took a spill and it scared her enough to agree to sleep in her new bed. (I've been trying to tell her not to climb out b/c she could get hurt but it took a fall to finally convince her!) But, we'll just take it slowly and hopefully she'll be okay with her new bed and room.

So many changes for this little one--she's such a sweet and happy soul. We sure are lucky to have Kari in our family!

A VERY Cool Restaurant--Part III of our Trip

Before heading home, we took the kids to a restaurant called the "T-Rex Restaurant." We'd heard that it was cool, but had no idea just how cool it was until we walked up (and then inside!). Here are our little darlings outside, and below is what we saw before walking in--the dinosaur wanted to say "hello" to Christian.

This is our table--right by your friendly-neighborhood Apatasaurus! (Or Brontesaurus for anyone who grew up in a past-era.)

Every 30 mins, a meteor-shower would come through and the lights would dim and the restaurant would shake. I thought it was cool, but the kids got a little scared!

Here is a view from above (where we were sitting). The octopus was just incredible--and sat on top of a huge aquarium (one of, I think, three or four aquariums). The picture below is what the underside of the octopus-aquarium looks like.

Other areas in the restaurant included a triceratops area, and ice age area, a dino-dig area, and (or course) a gift shop.

The food was actually really good too! (And, I must mention that, in case you plan on going there, you pay for the good food and the atmosphere--both worth it, but still, we were glad we went there for lunch and not dinner!)

In the end, Christian was so exhausted that he didn't even get to eat most of his lunch! After being up coughing most of the night, he was worn out and slept for most of the ride home.

Again, it was a great little get-away...but two days and one night were about all this family could take! We all followed Christian's example and fell asleep early that night!

Great Wolf Lodge--Part II

I'm finally getting around to the "swimming section" of our trip! (We did swim both days, but I only took the camera in for one of them.)

Here is little Miss Kari, all ready for some serious swimming! (This girl LOVES the water!)

She also loved the slides! Very brave, indeed.

Christian's favorite place (and mine) was the Lazy River. It was by far the warmest water and, with his cold and cough in full effect, it made him the happiest. It was also "just right" in the height catagory depth-wise as well. He wanted to be in there the whole time--fine by me!

Emily showed off her athletic ability (and future "Survivor" skills) by showing up all of the boys in line while crossing the pool on the moving logs.

She even paused mid-way for a photo-opp!

This was Em's cheering section :-). And, here are all of the kiddos, giving Mommy their biggest swim-grins.

There is one more post about one of the coolest restaurants we've ever been to--Part III to come!

Great Wolf Lodge-Part 1

Over President's Day weekend, Cubby and I took the kids down to Kansas City for an overnight stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was fun...BUT, I don't think we'd last for more than one overnight (at least until the children are a bit older)! Ours are not good sleepers outside of their own beds! But, it was great to get away and have a little fun together.

Here's little Miss K with her favorite treat--a chocolate chip cookie. She's also wearing her favorite hat :-). The hotel room in itself was an adventure--talk about some hyper kiddos! This captures a rare down-moment when we asked Emily to read a book to Kari.

After some swimming (no pictures of that first swim--we were all anxious to get down there and forgot the camera!), we were starving! Kids ate for free at their restaurant--woohoo!

The kids also got some complimentary wolf ears--they all had fun pretending to be wolves after that.Storytime came around at 8:00--this is the clock tower in the front lobby. The various woodland creatures come "alive" for a semi-weird, but captivating none-the-less, show.

Here are the kids, all listening to the storytime. "Violet" the girl wolf, waved to the kids and then they were able to give high-fives or hugs after the story was read. Christian figured out that waiting in line was not for him and he quickly cut ahead and got his hug in early. The girls didn't really care to hug :-).

The night was a "bit" rough in that Kari has gotten too big for her pack-and-play and until Cubby pulled her into bed, she kept getting frustrated and crying out. Then, Christian, who had already been getting a cold, starting coughing at 4:30 and could NOT stop. (This is EXACTLY what happened to him the LAST time we went to the Great Wolf Lodge!) Anyhow, Poor guy.

After trying various "remedies" failed, (cool air on the balcony, steamy shower, Vick's vapor rub, jolly-ranchers) Cubby ended up just taking him out and exploring the lodge until around 7:00 and by then the rest of us were getting up. A long night, but, we survived.

More swimming and fun timers to follow!