Disney World

We recently got back from Disney World and we all had a lot of fun. It was the first year that both the kids knew who the characters were and they got all excited about it. Not to mention the fun they had seeing their cousins and grandma and grandpa.

Anna posing with "Santa"

We did the princess breakfast on my mom's birthday and the girls loved it! Anna was Snow White and her cousin Olivia was Tinkerbell. But Justin wasn't about to be outdone......

Here he is posing with Princess Jasmine. Any questions as to why this was his favorite princess?

Just a little family posing infront of Cindrella's castle. Anna loved her Minnie Ears and didn't take them off the entire trip, Cameron was a diffrent story. (surprise, surprise)

Grandma with the kids. Cameron was afraid of all the characters and this is one of the rare photos that he's actually showing his face. Surprisingly the only character of the whole trip that he didn't freak out over was Alice in Wonderland. He loved Alice!

Here's a group shot of all ten of us! Yes, keeping all ten of us together was quite an ordeal. The boys had monkey leashes on them so they couldn't run off - we all decided that next time we'll get one for my dad because he was always the one wondering off and we spent half our time looking and waiting for him!

Preschool Halloween Party

I had a lot of fun this year helping with Anna's preschool class party.
Here is Anna and her friends posing in a class picture!

Now she's smiling

Getting ready to make a fun craft

At the end of her preschool day they hold hands in a circle and sing a good-bye song!

HALLOWEEN

Here is our witch (Anna) and Dragon (Cameron). Cameron as you can see is trying to give us his biggest Dragon ROAR!!!!

Here is almost everyone. Jonathan, Cameron, Jack, Anna, Robin and the only one missing is baby Madison who was dressed up like her brothers as a tiger.

The kids at their first house. The only problem was keeping them from going inside everyones houses. They didn't quite understand that you get your candy and leave, not go inside and stay for awhile!

Cameron checking out his loot. At one point he was so tired that he sat down on the street and when Justin asked if he wanted to be carried he held out his pumpkin bucket and said, "candy".

Eventually our little dragon had to be carried, but he wouldn't let go of his candy bucket for anything.

Coney Island

We had fun this weekend at an old amusement park here in Cincinnati called Coney Island. It was originally built in the late 19th century and has evolved over the years. This weekend they had a big Falloween Festival for kids with rides, games and even a trick-or-treat trail. The kids definetly got my "rides" gene because they loved every ride! Anna was tall enough to ride a lot of things including her first roller-coster. (I was holding onto her for dear life!) But poor Cameron could only ride a couple of the baby rides. He was NOT happy about that! This one is the kids and I on the scrambler- I'm still surprised they let Cam ride on it! We had lots of fun - all smiles!!!





















And here as always is the beloved carosel. Don't we already have a carosel pictures on our blog?!

First Day of School

Today was Anna's first day of preschool and I can't say enough of how excited she was! I got to go with her today for orientation. So we met her teachers and got to explore her new classroom together - or at least we were suppose to be together. Anna wanted nothing to do with me and she wanted to play and explore all by herself. Needless to say I don't think we'll have any "seperation anxiety" issues in this house and her teacher has already told me how 'outgoing' Anna is. (I'm hoping that's not teacher talk for annoying) But she was really cute and here are photos of her posing with her tinkerbell backpack on her first day of school! And if you're wondering what is in the backpack? Well that would be the supplies from her classroom list - - - 3 large gluesticks!

Volleyball-

So what's worse than my blogging capabilities? That would definetly be my photgraphy skills, as you will see in the following pictures. Last night we had some fun and went to the men's sand volleyball finals. (which are apparently held in Cincinnati every year) Justin's work gave us some VIP passes, so not only were we able to go for free, but we got free food, drinks and our pink wristbands - which Anna and Cameron thought were the coolest part, well almost.......

The coolest part for them had to be the these airsticks that they gave out. You know the things that you blow up and bang together to make noise? Yeah, they loved them! But the place was so crowded - literally not a single emplty seat - and we were squished all together that they kept hitting the people infront of us with them. Luckily the people infront of us had made good use of the "free drinks" and were really nice about it and just laughed it off. But Anna had sticks banging together the whole time and we all had fun.

Here's Cameron clinging to Justin's neck while trying not to miss any of the action on the court!

And here's the photo of Justin and the kids right when my camera's batteries ran out. Too bad - it would've been a great photo!

Cameron's Second Birthday

Well, Saturday was Cameron's second birthday! We decided to brave the humidity and 90 degree temps in favor of the special occasion and visit the Cincinnati Zoo. Justin's fellowship gave our family a yearly pass to the zoo with unlimited ride priviliges. Yeah! Or at least yeah for me - the above photo is Justin's only ride on the carousel. After which he got a little dizzy and queasy. No joke. So it looks like unlimited carousel rides for the kids and I. Yeah!








And of course there's Anna on the carousel. Not quite sure what kind of animal she's riding.

This ride was more Justin's speed - slow! The train took us around the zoo and of course the kids loved it.....and it was great to sit down for a bit.

Again...we all have to get equal photo time. Did you notice that the pictures are always of either the boys or the girls? Not quite sure why that is.

It wouldn't be a trip to the zoo without some posing. Anna and Cameron are all smiles for the camera!

Justin and Cameron , again the "boys" posing in the monkey temple.

This picture was taken by Justin of his two favorite things: Monkeys and..........ME!

After the zoo it was on to the good stuff.....presents! Here he is posing with some matchbox cars and a new movie.

Can you just see the excitement on his face? This is a pillow with his favorite thing in the whole world.......Shrek! I have no idea why he loves shrek so much, but he does. It was one of the few words he could say and he said it ALL THE TIME!

And it wouldn't be a true birthday without some candles to blow out. Yeah, be got gipped with the whole cake thing, but ice cream is just as good in his book.

***we apologize for the partial nudity***