Fun at Sea World

We had our game plan to help us know what show to see and when, and what we'd do in between! So we pretty much did everything we wanted to, and then some! 

We started off by feeding the dolphins. This has always been a favorite of ours and Grant is getting braver and braver each time- he still won't actually touch the fish, but he bravely set his hand out to pet the dolphin! Wyatt did both! The dolphins are just so cute!! I love the picture on the top left!! So smiley! And on the top right, you can kind of see Wyatt's hand reaching out to touch the dolphins chin! 

Next up was the Shamu show, One Ocean. We grabbed a pretzel and some popcorn and watched Shamu and Baby Shamu put on a great performance! This was probably one of the better Shamu shows we've seen. They actually had 4 adult orcas and one baby. So there was a lot of action! We didn't have the greatest seats, but we saw most of the cool tricks! They always surprised me when they jumped out of the water, but I got some great shots! They really are amazing to see how big they really are! Truly awesome!

 The biggest reason for going to Sea World on the day we did was because the Imagination Movers were in concert that day! The boys LOVE watching Imagination Movers! They usually watch an episode in the morning before Grant goes to school and we also listen to a few of their CD's on my iPod as we drive to school! We are BIG fans! So when I saw they were there the weekend we were coming, I was so pumped....maybe even more than the boys were! But they LOVED every second! The Movers did not disappoint! They let all the kids come down to the front and dance and sing and the Movers did a great job coming into the crowd and interacting with the kids! We had a seat farther back, so I took the boys down one at a time for a close up! Look how close we got to Mover Rich! He even sweat on us! They song lots of their favorites and Grant got into the music! He also enjoyed some cotton candy! If I ever have the chance, I will definitely take the boys to one of their concerts again!!

 And then there were the rides! Grant went on two rides last year, one with me and one with Levi, but this year we had to split rides between two kids! Grant definitely wanted to do the Shamu Express kids roller coaster! Wyatt did too, but once again, he was too short! So Levi and Grant went on the rollercoaster. Wyatt and I went on this ride that goes up and down, and up and down. He loved it!! He giggled with glee the whole time. It goes up pretty high, but he didn't seem to mind at all!! It was cute to share that experience with him! I got a chance to go on the roller coaster with Grant, so Levi and Wyatt went to the Merry Go Round. And then the kicker- Grant and Levi went on the Journey to Atlantis Water Coaster. He was just above the minimum height requirement and he was so excited and proud to be a big kid! It sends you on a 10-story drop where you plunge into the water below! Levi said Grant LOVED it!! Levi must have received all the water because he was soaked, while Grant had a few sprinkles on him but he kept saying, "I got sooooo wet!" It was awesome! Looks like Levi will have a roller coaster buddy for life!

 We also saw the Azul dolphin show but got terrible pictures because of the crazy people sitting in front of us. It definitely doesn't even compare to the dolphin show at Sea World Orlando, so it was kind of boring anyway! But a nice chance to rest our feet! We saw the penguins, the shark tank, and the sea lions. And went into every gift shop Sea World had to offer (Grant picked out a stuffed Harpy and Wyatt picked out a beanie baby Shamu!) We ate Dippin Dots, lots of popcorn and cotton candy, and walked 10,000 miles (or so it seems!) We had a super fun time!!

Then it was back to the hotel for swimming and finally some sleeping!! Driving back to Oklahoma the next day after that day of walking has made Levi and I feel very very VERY old! But it was so worth it, and we'd head back tomorrow if it meant seeing the smiles on our boys faces!!

Welcome to Sea World!!

This was our 5th trip to Sea World! We are so very lucky and blessed to be able to have gone so many times! I've said it before, but if it wasn't for the Here's to the Heroe's program, we wouldn't have had so many opportunities! And although the nearest Sea World is in San Antonio, its a doable drive for our family! Last year when we went, a few of the exhibits were closed for remodeling, so we were excited to see all Sea World had to offer this year! Plus, we were excited for a very special show!!  The boys had their plan of all the things we wanted to do! It started raining as we were waiting in line, so I was hoping that wasn't going to ruin our fun, and luckily it didn't! It was warm and it was muggy and it was crowded, but we managed to have a full day of fun....

Exploring LegoLand

When we pulled up to LegoLand, I saw 5 school buses. Uh oh, this is NOT good, I thought! But then I realized, it was almost 2:00 and school was almost out, so these kids had to be going home! And sure enough, they were lined up as we were walking in! Phew!! While there were other families there, it wasn't crowded by any means, which was awesome! No waiting in lines, no taking turns, we did what we wanted, when we wanted! 

We started by going through the "factory" where they briefly explained how a Lego was made and the kids "made" a lego! Then it was onto our first ride- Kingdom Quest! We climbed aboard the chariot, armed with laser guns, and had to defeat skeletons, trolls, and rescue the princess! The boys loved this! Actually, Levi and I did too!! Then we made cars to race down the ramp! We built towers and tested them on the earthquake table! We walked around Miniland, which is an entire room with a city made out of Legos. They had famous buildings in Dallas, including Southfork from the show Dallas! They moved, lit up, drove- all sorts of cool things! The boys also liked playing in Duplo village where they had a ball pit filled with huge foam legos that really stacked! There were Lego police cars to drive, although Wyatt wasn't tall enough, but Grant had fun driving. There was a spinning ride called Merlin's Apprentice that we all rode together. There was a huge playplace that Wyatt wasn't tall enough to go in, but Grant got to enjoy. (Poor Wyatt is the size of a two year old, but has all the capabilities of a five year old!) And probably my favorite part was the 4-D movie theater! They had three different movies, one showing about every 15 minutes. The first one we saw was Legends of Chima, and then we watched Clutch Powers- two of our favorite Lego shows!! They loved the 4D aspect, reaching for the objects as well as the wind and water spraying our faces! The other movie was just so-so. Wyatt and I saw that together while Grant played in the playplace. I had about enough of the 3D glasses- gives me a headache, but the experience was great!! Of course, we couldn't leave without walking through the gift shop! Grant picked out a Ninjago wallet and Wyatt picked out a lego policeman keychain! 

I am so glad we could surprise the boys and enjoy the afternoon doing exactly what our boys love to do- Legos!!! I didn't get the best pictures because the lighting was so terrible and we were just having too much fun! So here is what I got!!

 

LegoLand Surprise!

The boys knew we were leaving town for a weekend away to San Antonio so we could go to Sea World! But they did not know we were making a pit stop along the way!! We'd been telling them we had a surprise for them on our way to Sea World, but they didn't know how big! We made our way to Dallas and got there just after lunchtime. The LegoLand we went to was at the Grapevine Mall in Grapevine, TX. It is just a LegoLand Discovery Center, but we knew would be perfect for an afternoon of play for our Lego loving boys! I was waiting and waiting to see Grant's reaction! My good camera was in the back of the car, so I had to settle for phone pictures, and although they are blurry, you can definitely feel the excitement!! He kept saying, "Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!" And then as he got out of the car he gave us big hugs and said, "Thanks for bringing us to LegoLand!!!!!!" Just precious!! 

As for Wyatt, apparently the suspense wasn't enough for him because he fell asleep right before we got off the highway. But when he did wake up and Grant told him where we were, he got just as excited!!

So we headed inside to explore.....

Grant's Gymnastics Program

Yesterday, Grant had his first ever gymnastics program. He's been enrolled in gymnastics for about 2.5 months or so. Mostly as a way to help his therapy along and to gain a little muscle control as well as coordination. If you're ever met Grant, you know he goes about a mile a minute and trips over patterns in carpet! Plus, he just loves moving, climbing, and jumping so gymnastics was a pretty good fit for him. I wasn't expecting a performance at the end of the year, but he had one and I was excited to see what he's been learning. (They have the blinds closed during practice so nosy parents (like myself!) will be surprised at the program). Grant told me he had a floor routine, bar routine, and balance beam routine. I was like, really?? You kind of sound like you know what you're talking about! So I was anxious to see what these "routines" entailed. 

First up, he did the balance beam. He'd been messing around with a few other kids on the floor while waiting for his turn, he practically missed it. Luckily he paid attention just long enough to tell his teacher he didn't have a turn yet. He did a couple walks, jumps, and steps while on the beam. And then he ninja-kicked off. I don't think that was part of the "routine." But it was so Grant!

Next up, was the bar routine. He chalked up, "presented himself" with a ta-da!, and hopped onto the lower bar. I liked watching him flip over the bar! He also jumped onto the high bar from the lower bar. Then on the high bar he did a "straddle" and then flipped off, and presented himself again with a ta-da! (Note: the teacher taught all the kids to present themselves before and after an event, just as you see gymnasts do in the Olympics. But Grant was the ONLY kid in the entire program where he said "Ta-Da!" loud enough for the entire audience to hear. Everyone always laughed!! Me too!!)

After that was the floor routine. Now to say Grant marched to the beat of his own drum would be an understatement, but I really didn't expect much else! Most of the other kids in his class have been going all year long, and going twice a week. Grant's probably gone 8-10 times or so, so I didn't expect mastery by any means. He tried to follow the group as best as he could, but his spatial awareness is quite lacking! If you can't tell by the pictures, he was all over the mat in all sorts of directions! But he did it all with a smile!

Final event was the vault. He didn't tell me about this one. He would run down the carpet and jump onto a springboard to the top of the mats. Then he picked whatever "trick"  he wanted as he jumped off, usually some sort of ninja move, followed by his "Ta-Da!" presentation. He did this about three times! This seemed like his favorite event, although he told me he liked the bar routine the best.

And then finally, 2.5 hours later (yes, it was a loooooong time for us parents sitting and watching your kids 30 second turn every now and again!) it was time for awards ceremony. Grant was awarded a gold medal for outstanding effort in his first year (each kid got a medal!). But he was gosh darn proud of himself! His eyes found mine after his medal was around his neck and he held it up with the biggest smile on his face! It was just priceless! I was busy watching it with my own eyes that I didn't get a picture of it, although I know I'll never forget that face!

He's got three more weeks left before the end of the season. Not sure if its something we will do again, but he did enjoy it and gained alot of confidence in himself. And he also learned to do a pretty darn good bridge, which he couldn't do the beginning of gymnastics! 

We are so proud of you Grant!!

Childhood Randomness

To conclude my week of childhood pictures, I have one final post. After scouring through my baby book, photo albums, and scrapbook, I have a few random pictures. I noticed that photography today is a 1000 times better than back then, because everything was so dark, so blurry! So many of the pictures I wanted to share just didn't come out right! My kids will be super lucky to have so many wonderfully documented pictures of themselves (probably more than they'd like!). But I did find some fun ones to wrap things up!! Hopefully over time, I can go through more pictures and actually scan them onto the computer to really preserve them! 

Hope you've enjoyed getting a glimpse into my childhood, if you weren't there to live it with me!

School Picture Day

Or maybe I should call this post Bangs! Because holy moly, I had alot of them!!!

As I was going through old pictures yesterday, I came across a lot of our school pictures. Not all the years, but many of them! Can I just say I am soooo thankful for flat irons these days?!? My hair was a dark and frizzy wavy mess as I got older! 

I remember in third grade battling my mom on how to do my hair on picture day. I wanted my signature ponytail braid, but she said no because I'd look like a boy. I also didn't want to wear a dress, I wanted to wear my green Gap sweatshirt. So, she let me have my way and my pictures looked exactly like a boy in my class named Michael. She was right, imagine that?!? Moms are always right!! So from then on, picture day was the one day out of the year when my hair was not in a ponytail!

(clockwise from the top left: Kindergarten, First Grade, 6th Grade, 4th Grade, 2nd Grade) 

(clockwise from the top left: Freshman year, 8th Grade, 5th Grade, Senior Picture (finally without bangs!), Sophomore Year, Junior Year in College)

I guess I should also mention I didn't wear a drop of makeup until I left for the college. Even then, I was armed with one palette of neutral shades eye shadow and one tube of mascara that I didn't even know how to put on. But they did invent flat irons my sophomore year in college, so things were looking up from there!

Things I've learned from School Picture Day: always listen to your mom because she IS always right! I hope my boys don't learn that lesson the hard way. 

(And I tried to find that third grade picture...if I do, I will update this post and give you all a good laugh!)

Matchy Matchy

Sure, I match my boys' outfits on special occasions. I don't try to necessarily make them look the same, but I do like to coordinate them. Although, sometimes I go against my better judgment and put them in the same outfit (ahem, HERE!) I never thought I would be like that though, because my mom ALWAYS made us match! Sometimes, even her outfit matched our outfits! Now, I would never go that far with my kids... or maybe I would if I had a girl, who knows! Either way, Sara and I have a LOT of pictures where we are matchy matchy! I remember a certain Laura Ashley photo shoot (the bottom middle) where my mom wore the same outfit as us and I told her our picture was going to turn out like a three-headed monster. And it did. But it really wouldn't be the 80's without a matching Laura Ashley photo shoot, right?!?

 Oh, and don't forget the "sailor look" in our family photo! I don't think I liked it when I wore it. But I probably didn't like anything my mom made us wear at photo shoots because it didn't have a Nike swoosh on it and I couldn't wear my high-tops.  And can I point out my non-existent waste in the bottom right picture with my sister and my Dad? That was Father/Daughter dance in 1996. I remember buying that skirt at Old Navy shortly after they first opened and it was a size 0. Yep, at one point, I wore a 0!!! Ah, the good old days! That's about as cool as my dad's "Vette" belt buckle. Really Mom, you let dad wear that belt buckle (while wearing two shades of denim!) to a Father/Daughter dance?!! But I guess its '"SO" him!! And the picture on the top right with my mom, not sure who's First Communion it is because Sara and I are BOTH wearing First Communion dresses! See, matchy matchy!

But I guess my mom knew that she would look back at all these pictures and love how they turned out. Just as I do when I look back at my boys photo shoots and love how they "match." I guess its just one of those weird things moms like to do. I wonder what my boys will think when they look back at their photo shoots from their childhood. Surely, there won't be anything for them to make fun of.....

My Birth-Day

I was born April 18, 1981 at 5:25pm weighing in at 5lbs, 8ozs and 18.75" long. I came about 5 weeks ahead of schedule, leaving my mom a bit surprised!  According to my baby book, my mom wrote: "My water broke at 2:00pm. We were on our way to Oak Park Mall (I'm glad we didn't make it!). I couldn't get a hold of the doctors or Grandma to watch Sara until 4:00pm. I was barely packed. I had to do a load of laundry before we left. Daddy was nervous (again). It had rained really hard that morning and had standing water in the streets. We made it ok though! The staff was waiting for us when we arrived."

My mom wrote, "I finally got to see my baby as she was born. I felt so much joy and happiness that it is hard to express. I know that I love Laura Beth with my heart and no one could ever replace her. Laura Beth, you are beautiful! Daddy sure does love his little little girl. You look like a little elf, with the cutest pointed ears."

Funny how I think those exact same thoughts when I think about the day my boys were born! Well, maybe minus the elf part ;-)

Now I get it! :)

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On a different note, if you can't see the resemblance, Wyatt looks EXACTLY like me!

Birthdays of My Past

Boy, do I have a treat for you! In honor of my birthday today, the next few posts will be all pictures from my childhood! This blog features my boys and their daily life in childhood, so its only fitting a few of my childhood pictures are featured as well!

My mom made me a scrapbook for my 21st birthday and each year, I like to pull it out and look at all the pictures she so beautifully preserved for me! As I was looking through them, I was wishing I had digital copies to put on my blog. But since we were still living in the land of Polaroids back then, I did the next best thing- I took pictures of the pictures! HA! Not high quality by any means, but it does the job!! 

So, sit back and enjoy the pictures to come!!

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Birthdays have always been a big deal in our house! It was our one special day that belonged to only us. Well, except for my mom and sister- they have the same birthday. (Ironic that my boys too share a birthday!) But my parents always did an amazing job of making our day special! We always had a cake, presents, special meals, birthday parties, the whole shabang. I remember as we got older, my mom liked to blare The Beatles "You Say It's Your Birthday" song to wake us up in the morning. Always a day to look forward to!

These were a small sampling of the pictures I found! The top left is my 1st birthday, the top right is my 2nd birthday. The bottom left appears to be my 11th birthday, if I can count the candles right, and the bottom right is my 7th birthday. I lost both my top teeth that day!

Can't believe I'm now celebrating my 32nd birthday! I still remember those bottom two pictures so well!! Amazing!! 

Haylie's 3rd Birthday

This past weekend, we headed out west to the Broeckelman family to celebrate Haylie's 3rd birthday! As usual, it was a super windy day, so most of the party was inside, but the kids still had lots of fun!! Breanna did a great job planning a sweet Minnie Mouse party!  Beautiful cake and adorable decorations, which I sadly didn't get any pictures of, mostly because Wyatt was a coughing snotty mess who didn't cooperate too well! But it was a perfect party! We all got to snuggle little Collins, the kids got a trailer bike ride form Uncle Zach, ate lots of yummy cake, and enjoyed being together! Haylie loved all her presents and LOVED being sung to- her smile was so sweet!!

And as usual, we try to get a cousins picture everytime we are all together, which sadly isn't as often as we'd like. So we like to take advantage! The five of them are just so cute together!

Haylie-3, Piper-2, Wyatt-3, Grant-5, Collins- 2 months

Boys and Toys

My boys like their toys. And they LOVE playing with each other! And when you put the two together, you get a mess that any mom would dread! And at first I did. How can a mom not gasp when she sees rooms that look like this...

 and this....

And I'm not talking on one occasion. These pictures were taken on FOUR different occasions! That means there were FOUR moments where I had to hold back the, "What a mess!!" And I did hold it back. Because the more I sat there and stared at all the toys strewn about the room, I looked beyond the mess and I saw the joy. I saw two brothers playing with their best friend. I saw two brothers exploring their imagination. I saw two brothers appreciating what they have. I saw two brothers enjoying being a kid. And I embraced the game with them. Although I'm not really sure what that game was, but they sure did. It may look like a mess to an adult, but it was a whole creative world where every toy was placed just so, had a purpose, and was used to its fullest. 

The joy they had while making the messes far surpassed the less than joyous clean up process. And that's how it darn well should be!

Wyatt's Drawing

My kids are not art workers. They don't really like coloring. In fact, we have a huge stack of unused coloring books. They tolerate me and my crazy kid artwork obsession. They enjoy an art project every now and again, but they don't ever ask to do them. Wyatt gets a little more into them then Grant does. But recently, Wyatt has been getting a pen from the drawer and a paper from the printer and practices writing letters. He loves writing W's, L's, T's, and X's. And even more recently he's been into drawing faces, which turned into drawing people. And I think they are the cutest people in the world!!

He made the one on the right on my pad of paper I had my grocery list on. He said, "This is Daddy because he's reeeeaaaalllly tall!" I love the little curl of hair on the top of Daddy's head! Looks just like him! 

I'm hoping this is just the beginning of Wyatt's enjoyment of drawing! I can't wait to see a whole family picture!

April Showers Centers

You know they say, "April Showers Bring May Flowers!" That proved to be true this past week- it rained the first three days in April, so I'm hoping by May, everything will be pretty and green! And to celebrate, we did an "April Showers" center theme! We had such a great time with our Easter centers, I couldn't wait to get another round of centers lined up! I already had some fun activities I had prepared last year, so we used that and I added a few more other fun games! The boys were excited to see what I had come up with! Since this was our first time doing these and there are still a few more weeks in April, I'm hoping we can pull them out another time or two this month! I wish we could do activities like this more than we do, but with our already crazy schedule, I'm lucky we do this stuff once or twice a month! It does help to have a good theme though! :)  Maybe summer break will bring many more opportunities for structured play!!

 The top activity is matching the lowercase letter with uppercase letter magnets. I'm so proud of my boys and how quickly they learned their letters! The bottom activity is spooning beads into the matching color container. We took this time to sing a few songs about rainbow order. This was a little tricky for them both to manipulate, so it was some great fine motor work!

 The top activity is sorting "raindrops" with their grab nabbers. An easy activity, but so good for those little fingers! The bottom activity was a number order puzzle. I couldn't find a themed one for 11-20 like I was hoping to for Grant. But still a great skill to master!

 The top activity was linking flowers to match the number on the card. This was tricky for them to do, but another great fine motor activity!  The bottom activity was letter clip cards, matching the beginning sound. Wyatt did them all by himself first and then Grant checked his work. Got them all right!

 This "puddle" jumping idea came from my dear friend Lori. I used it to work on number recognition with the boys. Funny how they learned all their letters before they turned 3, but numbers are a different story! Grant recognizes 1-10 fine, but gets a little confused in the teens and beyond. So one side had numbers 0-9 and the other side had numbers 10-19. I yelled out a number and they had to jump to it. Then they had to jump to them in number order. It was alot of fun and Wyatt has asked to do it many time since then!

The top activity was flower patterns. My boys have patterns figured out pretty well. AB, AAB, and ABC patterns have become pretty easy! Guess I'll have to start getting creative! The bottom activity was number clip cards. They really like these activities!

So those were our centers for the week. I do have some other fun activities I'm hoping to get to this month, but knowing how quickly time flies, I'll believe it when I see it!! But I sure do treasure these teachable moments with my fellas!

Our work came from HERE and HERE. 

March Instagram

Here's the random selection of Instagram photos from March! I love using Instagram because I feel like I can capture a split second in our lives and have it still tell a story. I'm all about capturing every moment I can of my kids. Obvious, I know! But these are the little moments that truly show our day to day experiences in life! 

- Grant doesn't eat much but he will devour an entire lemon if you let him!!

- I bought new couch pillows (Kohls and TJ Maxx) and I have a crush on them!

- Grant found a ladybug crawling on him and named him Fetcher.

- We had a spontaneous picnic at the park last week!

- The Clubhouse!

- After gymnastics one day, we had a Sonic picnic in the trunk before heading to an even at church.

- Wyatt loves olives and loves to eat olives just like me, when I was a kid!

- Grant hid ALL of his stuffed animals around the house. I can spy at least 6 in the bottom middle pic!

- Donut holes (from Scheibers!) are a complete part of a Wyatt breakfast!

Mommy Moment

We had about 2.5 days straight of rain earlier this week. On our way to school Thursday morning, the clouds were finally dissipating and the sun was slowly shining through. Here is the conversation I had with Grant:

Me: Look Grant, the sun is trying to peek through.

Grant: Maybe its an angel.

Me: Maybe you're right. Maybe its Gigi. She's our angel you know.

Grant: Maybe. But that looks like a multitude of angels.

It warmed my heart to know that he not only expects to see angels in the sky, and has hope that he will, but also because it showed me he remembered the Christmas story about the multitude of angels appearing to the shepherds the night of Jesus' birth. He learned that in school 3 months ago.

His sweet little heart continues to amaze me each and every day!!