Tyler Video

McKenzie took this video a while ago and I just found it.  

We were sitting at the dinner table after eating, and Tyler started making silly noises.  As soon as McKenzie put up her iPod to take a video, he thought she was taking his picture, so he squishes his face up for a "CHEEEEESE"

So she had to lower the iPod down so he would make the noises again.

Addison Dancing

McKenzie caught Addison dancing to "We Are Young" on the Wii game Just Dance.  Sorry you may have to tilt your head to the side... she took the video on her cell phone. (and I don't know how to rotate it)



Let's just hope that as she gets older, she'll wear more clothes if she wants to dance somewhere other than our basement! But it's so cute when they are 3!

Our prayers have been answered!

After being let down week after week of forecasting snow and never getting anything.... last evening, literally minutes after the kids were all home from school, the giant snowflakes began to fall! And before that it had been raining and sleeting most of the day. So, of course, it made for EXCELLENT sledding snow this morning!

The kids got up, ate breakfast, and immediately got in their snow gear. We were finally going to get to try out all the sleds we got for Christmas...  the base was closed until noon, so Nick headed out with Addison and Trevor first.

 And Nick even went on a few solo flights down the hill in the saucer sled.

 Which didn't always end so well...

 Trevor went screaming (vocally and speed-wise) down the hill in this sled...

 Then all 3 of them tried it out...

 But who wants to watch from the window inside??? Not Mommy and Tyler... so we both bundled up and headed out to join in on the fun. Tyler loved the little red toddler sled we brought out.  We took turns pulling him around and he would say, "Weeeeeeeeeeee (breathe) weeeeeeeeeeee" and when you stopped, he would rock front to back to try to start it up again!

 Then it was time for the big stuff... so Mommy took him down the big hill on the big sled.  He looks terrified doesn't he?

 We didn't hit the fence very hard at all, I guess I was being a bit dramatic in my facial expressions! But Tyler was all smiles when I pulled down his scarf!

 Addison just had a BALL playing in the snow!

 

Next it was Mommy's turn to try out the saucer...

(I was spinning at an exponential rate on the way down, hence the stupid dizzy look on my face)

Yes, I just posted this pic of myself! Ha!

 and yet another ending at the fence....

 Addison coming to check on me... I was waiting for the world to stop spinning.

 Okay... let's do it again!!!

 Trevor attempting the spin...

 Then, the attempt on the little butt sleds...

 These make a great ab workout to keep your legs up out of the snow on the way down.

Last, I wanted to try going down standing up... Nick said it was fun, but harder than it looked.

 (Nick switched to black and white on this ride...)

 It was definitely harder than it looked... so this one didn't end well either!

Not so bad for a "fun hater" huh? 

(according to my 13 year old who once told me that... why? because I was a "mother of 4") Where was she? In her room because she was so not going to wear snow pants... how embarrassing!!!!

Who's the fun hater now!?!?

Thank you Nick for taking pictures of me with the kiddos so that the world knows that I do exist!

Hip Hop Video

Hip Hop Performance

Two weeks ago McKenzie tried out a hip hop dance class at the same studio that Addison takes her dance classes.  She loved it, so she wanted to keep going.  They were working on the finishing touches to a dance they were going to be doing for a Health Fair at one of the local elementary schools.  Well, she had 2 practices and 2 quick rehearsals to get the dance memorized...

And last night Addison and I went with her to watch her dance. 

Nick was less than thrilled with the amount of makeup they have to wear! ha ha

She was so nervous, but I think she was a little excited too.  

Their recital will be June 11th! I can't wait! How fun!

***I will post the video in the following post 

(had to do it a little differently because of its size)

National Aquarium - Baltimore

We took the kids to the National Aquarium up in Baltimore, Maryland today.  It was the perfect outing during the cold weather.  

 We had to check in our stroller at the door for a carrier... which actually worked out much better for Tyler.  He could see EVERYTHING from behind Daddy! So we started our day in the underwater pavillion where we saw lots of fish, and turtles, and other aquatic creatures...

 

This little sea turtle was missing one of his front appendages.

It was pretty dark in this area so I didn't get many pictures taken... I think one of the kids' favorite things were the sharks.  We walked down these ramps along a giant coral reef and saw tons of different sharks floating right past us... it was kind of freaky.

Our next stop was the Dolphin Show! Nick decided that we should sit in the front row, a.k.a. THE SPLASH ZONE. 

 They had the dolphins do a couple 'drive bys' and splash the audience with their fins... we only got hit the second time around. Thank goodness we kept our coats with us, because they were the perfect shield to keep us dry!

The kids had a blast watching the show...

(my favorite pic of the day)

 (Kenzie was feeling a bit under the weather, but came along and had a great time... and avoided the camera)

Once we left the dolphin show, we headed to the Jelly Invasion exhibit.  We saw all kinds of different jellyfish... which most didn't photograph well, or maybe it was just the photographer....

 McKenzie took pics of them on her phone too...

And our last stop was the Australian Pavillion:

 This one made me nervous because of all the free flying (and free pooping) birds. I was just waiting to see who would get bombed first... but we all escaped without being hit! (Not too many pictures here either because I was on bird dropping patrol)

The kids were exhausted by the end of the day and half of them slept on the one and a half hour drive home.  I highly recommend this aquarium to anyone who is thinking about going! It's huge and they have lots of different things to see! We all had a great time!

Ice Cream from Space

Uncle Mikey sent Daddy a get well package (nice card Mike!!!) and included some astronaut ice cream packages.

We let the kids try them out last night after dinner.

They were really excited about it until they opened up the package and saw what it looked like... but they were good sports and tried it anyways.

It was definitely not what they were expecting, but they didn't think it was too bad.  Even Tyler tried it... and LOVED IT! He actually ate the rest of what Addison and Trevor didn't eat. He couldn't get enough!

Yesterday Nick finished his table that he had been working on...

It's huge, and I love it! It's just over 3 feet tall and 52 inches wide. To give you an idea of how big it is, I asked for some props...

This is what happens when you ask for one little kiddo to assist you in a photo... you get them ALL!

Why are they all home from school today you ask??? Well, let me tell you....

Yesterday we had snow in the forecast [insert Halloween scream]... around 10am huge flakes fell from the sky for about 5 minutes.  My cell phone goes off with a text message from Stafford County: All Stafford County schools will be letting out 2 hours early due to the weather.

So all the kids were home by early afternoon.  Granted, we did get a few more 5 minute episodes of giant snowflakes, and one brief moment of freezing rain throughout the day.

5am, my cell phone goes off again with this: All Stafford County schools are canelled today.

And this is what we woke up to...

 Oh the insanity! The horror! I don't know how the kids would have made it out to the bus stop in all that snow.  I mean, the bus probably wouldn't have even made it out!!! Start up those snow blowers, the sidewalks need to be cleared!!!

Sorry, I just don't understand this.