{Cael} - Quick Update - Naughty words

Cael's new favorite phrase is 'Mommy (or Daddy) you're pissing me off'. Awesome right? Wonder where he picked up that little jewel (Ryan Joseph Zikas you should be ashamed). LOL - too bad I was the one who introduced him to the *F* word. THANK GOODNESS he didn't pick up on that phrase. I have said it before and I will say it again - sometimes I wonder what God was thinking when he agreed to give me kids of my own - although I am grateful He did! :)
***As a side note, neither of us make a habit of cussing in front of the kids, but at this age they pick up on EVERYTHING that you say and then throw it back at you with perfect timing.

Holiday preview - 2010

I am a dork and get very excited about clothes especially when it comes to buying for the kids. When Aveyn was born, I received a gift card to Children's Place from a good friend of mine, Kristin and I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. We are headed to Park City for Christmas this year and I want both of the kids to have outfits to wear for Christmas Day - not just outfits - CUTE outfits. I did some perusing online of all the things that Children's Place had to offer and decided to splurge a little. My goal is to get family pictures taken in black and red and use them for our Christmas card this year. Sooo, what do you think??? Pretty cute, huh :)

Why parents drink

My sister encouraged me to post this story on the blog because although I want nothing more than to forget the experience, I will {hopefully} laugh about it later {and tell ALL of Cael's girlfriends}! I got off of work early yesterday and went to pick up the kids thinking it would be fun to go to McDonald's Play Land. Cael was so excited and kept referring to it as Old McDonalds - 'Mommy are we almost to Old McDonalds'! Once we arrived, Cael immediately started climbing the towers and going down the slide. He was having a blast and I finally decided to just let Aveyn crawl around on the floor {sanitary wipes are my friend}. There were a few other kids, but not too many, which was nice since my kids were by far the youngest and smallest. I was getting ready to take a picture of Aveyn when Cael came down the slide announcing that he had pooped. At first I didn't believe him and wasn't too concerned until he walked towards me and his pants were SOAKING wet. Cael started crying and to make matters worse, there was a little boy behind Cael on the slide who got off, walked up to his Mom and said 'eww, gross, it's all wet' {his mom was at the base of the slide so she could watch him}. At this point, I was embarrassed and trying really hard not to panic. I calmly told Cael that we would have to go home and he started throwing a fit. The other parents were giving me looks of sympathy as I gathered our things and started to herd Cael towards the bathroom. I pulled down his pants and there was poop EVERYWHERE; he had it on his legs, on his pants, all over his underwear and on his feet. You can imagine that at this point I am pretty upset. I wasn't sure what to do with Aveyn since I knew I was going to need both hands, but thank goodness there was a little chair attached to the wall that I was able to put her in. I threw away his underwear and his pants and as I am cleaning him up the mother and son enter the bathroom. Here is a summary of their conversation:
Mom - 'Wash your hands really well honey, in fact, wash them twice'
Son - 'Okay, ugh Mom, it smells so bad'
Mom - 'Are you sure you didn't get it anywhere else?' 'We should probably go home so you can change'
Son - 'Nooo, we don't have to go home, I only got it on my hands, I promise'
Mom - 'It smells AWFUL' {groaning} 'Let's eat dinner out in the dining room' - originally they were going to eat dinner in the play area.
I am pretty sure I could not feel worse until a piece of poop drops to the floor and Cael proceeds to make a huge deal about the fact that there is poop on the floor {he is almost hysterical about it}. The mother and son exit the bathroom quietly, neither saying another word. At this point, Cael has no pants and no underwear and although I do not want him walking through McDonalds with his bare bottom hanging out, I don't know what other options I have. We wash our hands and as I am getting ready to open the door {secretly wanting to disappear}, it occurs to me that I can put my hoodie on him, which will cover his 'parts' so that we can leave {and spare me the embarrassment of parading my son half naked through the dining room and out the door to freedom}. As we exit the bathroom I immediately make eye contact with the father and he smiles as if to say 'sucks to be you, but we have all been there' - keeping in mind that their kids are quite a bit older - around 7 and 9. All I want to do is make a beeline for the door, but I walk over to their table and start apologizing profusely stating that it has been so long since he has had an accident and that I hope I didn't ruin their evening. The mother was very understanding and sweet about the whole thing wishing me a better evening and reassuring me that it wasn't a big deal and not to worry {um, sure}. I thank her, tell her I will try to have a better evening once I get over my humiliation and leave with a screaming Cael at my heels {he really didn't want to go home and wanted to continue to play - HA, NOT ON YOUR LIFE}. So, if there is anyone out there who wonders why parents choose to drink - now you know. After telling the story to my sister, a glass of wine and a solemn promise to never return to that McDonalds again, I am feeling much better.

Halloween preview - 2010

I am so proud of myself because I didn't wait until the last minute to pick out Cael and Aveyn's costumes for Halloween this year {go me}! I did a lot of research because I really didn't want to spend a ton of money {there will be plenty more Halloweens in the future} and I wanted something cute, but also warm - no coats ruining the 'look'. Naturally I will post pictures from Halloween, but wanted to give the viewing audience a preview of what they will be dressing up as this year!

Originally, Aveyn was going to be a butterfly and Cael was going to be Diego, but the costumes I found were either too expensive, too small or not warm enough. I think these are super cute and I can't wait to see what the kids look like all dressed up!!!!

Haircut time!

Ryan still gives Cael his haircuts, however, we have upgraded from scissors to clippers and it makes the job much easier, well, easier than it was :) Cael still hates getting his hair cut and even more so now that he is older. We have tried everything and the last time, instead of cutting his hair in the shower, Ryan opted to try it while Cael was watching his beloved Diego DVD. It started out smoothly, but quickly turned into a nightmare because the tears caused the hair to stick to Cael's face and neck when he rubbed his face. It was traumatic enough that I had to stop taking pictures and help Ryan keep Cael from going off the deep end.

I love these kids

I take a lot of pictures and sometimes I just don't have the time to create a post for all of them, but I still have to share them with everyone because they are ADORABLE!!!!

She wanted my camera!!

He LOVES to build things with his Legos!

Look at that face...she is definitely up to no good.

Lounging in the backyard in my super cute Adidas outfit!!



Cute little troublemaker and he knows it!

***Blogger has updated their site, which has affected my how I upload pictures and create posts and I hate it. I am still trying to navigate my way through, but so far I am not pleased.

{Cael} - Quick Update - Swimming

Despite the fact that Cael is a wonderful swimmer, we have decided to pull him out of swimming lessons for a few months and focus on something else. He wasn't listening, refused to get in the pool and was a wreck. Therefore we have decided to try 'tumbling' or gymnastics as an alternative.....will keep you posted!

Bapa is back

My dad flew into town for a quick visit this past weekend and it was great to see him. The kids adore him and of course, Ryan and I love getting a chance to spend more time with family. Even though it is hard to do much of anything with two kids who nap back to back {Aveyn naps from 10:00 to noon, Cael naps from noon to 2:00 and Aveyn naps from 2:00 to 4:00}, we still had a lot of fun hanging out and watching the kids play with their Bapa.

Bapa accompanied Ryan to Cael's swimming lessons and Cael did much better than he did last week, which is great news because he needs to start listening better before he can move up to the next class. Dad, the kids and I also took our customary trip to the park where Aveyn had a BLAST on the slide and Cael had fun trying to get into as much trouble as possible {luckily, Dad and I make a good team}. We hired a babysitter on Saturday night and the three of us went out to dinner at the Fresh Fish Company. Dad remembered it from his days working here in Denver and was actually able to help me find the restaurant since I had never been there before {I was impressed}!

Naturally we didn't take ANY pictures of the three of us at dinner {not happy} and even though I took a couple of really cute pictures of Bapa with his grandbabies, I didn't get a chance to upload them to my computer before he left. Regardless, it was fun and we will miss him. See you in December, Bapa!!!!!

{Aveyn} - Quick Update - Milestones

Aveyn knows the sign for 'more' and will shake or nod her head when asked a question {not all the time, but she definitely understands yes and no}. She is also a crawling fiend and has been for about a month now. It won't be too long before she is walking!