Camping with kids

This weekend we decided to venture out into the local mountains with the kids and family friends to try out camping with kids. Kurt and I have been talking for awhile about the logistics of going camping as a family of four and have been eager to find a time to get out there. This weekend was it and I think it was a pretty successful trip. The kids had fun and the only real accidents happened with the adults (tipping canoes and sharp knives). :)

We headed to Parker Canyon Lake

It was beautiful weather, although a bit windy at times. Our campsite was up the hill from the lake but we found an "out of the way" path down (aka started as a trail, ended with walking through the straw grass until we made it). The kids were troopers and enjoyed wading in the chilly water.

We had to educate the kids on what a proper Smore stick was and after finding a couple possibilites and Ryan falling in the water we decided to head back to camp.

The dads went out on the canoe while the moms got all 3 kids to sleep for a bit. Thankful we didn't send any of the kids off canoeing when the dads came walking up the path wet from tipping the canoe. :)

After an evening of bubbles, playing, eating and Smores we all hit the sack tired out. I was pleasantly pleased with our sleeping arrangements in the tent and only wound up with a kid on my head when Ryan woke up in the morning and decided to crawl around. Needless to say as they get older we'll have to find a different tent. :)

This morning packing up camp went fairly smooth with Samantha helping out and only a few melt downs. We then headed down to the dock to wait for the dads to come back around with the canoe and practice our fishing skills.

Samantha was a little disappointed after the first few casts that she didn't catch any fish, but then quickly found entertainment in seeing how far out she could cast it. Ryan on the other hand enjoyed throwing rocks more than anything.

After some more practice (and some lessons on patience and waiting) Samantha might be ready to go out fishing with Grandpa!

I'm hoping we get to do some more camping this year now that the first trip is under our belts. I loved watching my kids enjoy the outdoors and can't wait to do it again!

Here are some more pictures from our trip...
Parker Canyon Lake 2013

a year later....videos

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've posted anything on here. There are a couple of "drafts" with a couple of words that show I've attempted to post a couple of times, but I guess there have been too many other things dragging me away from here.

So...as I'm putting off packing for San Diego I'm going through videos I've uploaded and updating (finally) our blog.

Here are a few recent videos of our crazy kids.

I love watching Samantha and Ryan play together. Samantha is a natural teacher and most of the time likes playing with her brother. Here they are playing with the bean bags from Oma in their own new game.

Ryan has taken over the strider bike and will ride it any chance he can. Here we are taking a stroll to Grandma's house. Samantha was pushing teddy bear (her baby) in the stroller.

This was the night Samantha was playing teacher and reading to mommy and daddy. I was getting in trouble for having my phone out.

Our boy is finally starting to say more intelligable words and he enjoys "calling" people on his phone.

Lastly....snow! We had some fun snow storms yesterday and enjoyed playing in the snow for a bit. Samantha didn't like how cold her hands got after awhile.

Birthday Fun

Our girl is 3! I didn't think her turning 3 would really change anything all that much but it has. All of a sudden it seems like she's older, more mature, and dare I say...more temperamental. The weeks leading up to her birthday were fun filled and busy. She was definitely aware her birthday was coming up and knew turning 3 meant she would be a "big girl" and get to move up to Ms. Katie's room at daycare. She still hasn't officially moved up, but she's in there most days for the majority of the day. 

Ms. Katie's room means....

• getting to be with her group of friends who have 'grown up' together since being in the infant room. 
• getting to play on the big playground
• being able to look in the window to Ryan's room when on the playground
• riding the tricycles with the pedals
• no more "My Day" (paper report for mom and dad)
• playing in the front room with the big, big kids when mom/dad is running late in the afternoon.

I'm happy that she gets excited to be in Katie's room, but it's also a little sad knowing that she's now in with the "older" kids at daycare. When shifting kids due to teacher coverage she is now a part of the older kids rather than the younger ones. I know I say it all the time...but where does the time go?

The first weekend of my spring break brought a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Pam. This was the first of a couple birthday celebrations for my girl. This was also the first realization that presents this year were definitely going to be more challenging with Ryan around always wanting to be a part of the action. Thankfully he's usually easily distracted. :)

The play-do and puzzle were definitely a big hit...and continue to be. I think it took Samantha all of two tries to have the puzzle pretty much figured out. Thankfully she got a couple other puzzles for her birthday to keep her occupied. :)

 

Ryan also enjoyed playing with Grandpa and Grandma showing off his easy going personality.

 

Hmmm....think he's going to be a hockey boy? 

The weekend at the end of my spring break brought a visit from Oma and Samantha's birthday celebration with her friends.

Oma also brought another puzzle...this one with a few more pieces that still has Samantha a little stumped at times. It will take her maybe 5 times of putting this one together before she has it figured out. :) She's definitely a puzzle girl!

Her birthday theme this year was bikes. This was her first birthday being celebrated in Tucson, which was bittersweet. It was disappointing not to have all the family together with cousins, but it was nice to be able to invite her friends over to celebrate. We went to our neighborhood park, rode bikes, played, made name plates for bikes, opened presents, ate and went home nice and tired.

Of course keeping with my tradition of making theme cakes, Samantha's cake this year was modeled after her Strider bike that she loves. It took lots of planning and after a little doubt on my part came out pretty good. 

 

 

Ryan even had one of his friends there. :) He and Harper are in the same room at daycare and only about 2 months apart. 

 

 

 

The wind was a little tricky when it came to candle time, but after singing quickly and Kurt relighting the candles a couple times we made it! Samantha was ready to dig in immediately. :)

I think one of my favorite parts was watching Samantha open her presents. Not because she got overwhelmed about the gifts, but because it was a group effort with all the kids to open each gift. Surprisingly she didn't mind at all and even welcomed the help. She was also very gracious and gave each kid a hug after opening their present. It may be too much to ask, but I'm hoping this continues next year. :)

Overall, it was a great couple weeks of celebrating our girl. Soon it will be time to move on to celebrating our boy's first birthday! 

Almost forgot....videos!!!

Finally got our videos of Ryan uploaded since Samantha has been the star of quite a few lately with her bike. Here are some of our boy.

**Technical note...if you click on the button that says "YouTube" it will open the videos on my YouTube site so that they are a little bigger. I know you want to see the kiddos nice and clear! :-)

This was soon after Ryan officially started crawling. He went through a brief phase when he would almost spider crawl up on his hands and feet.

Ryan has since moved on to cruising around using Samantha's stool and/or his musical walker. This was when he first figured out how to get around the kitchen. Samantha didn't quite like him using her stool, but she has since learned to share. :-)

Samantha is on a big ball kick lately. Here she was trying to teach Ryan to play with her. 

And one more bike video. I took the kids to one of our neighborhood parks that has a walking path along the wash. I enticed Samantha with the fact that she wouldn't have to stop to watch for cars. She quickly found this hill and went up and down about 10 times. We didn't get very far down the path.

Ryan overload

Yet again our boy is falling victim to second child syndrome. Or maybe it's the keeping busy with work, training for a 1/2 marathon, Kurt playing hockey, trying to keep our house clean, daily bike rides with Samantha, or two kids calling for your attention that is keeping me from documenting the milestones of our dear Ryan.

Needless to say....over the past couple weeks our boy has become proficient at pulling himself up on anything he can get his hands on. His crib has since been lowered to it's bottom most level which will hopefully keep him in.

Ryan is always interested in whatever big sister is doing. So far he is following in her footsteps of being a book lover. He will sit and listen for a short while but then likes to take over by turning pages whether or not you are ready.

Big sister is definitely fulfilling her roll. She has learned what needs to be done to keep Ryan safe (watching what he finds on the floor, keeping the bathroom door closed, feeding him snacks, and giving lots of hugs and kisses).

Ryan continues to be a happy boy even putting up with a little dress up.

I remember my sister and I enjoying playing school with little brother and I'm beginning to notice a similar trend with Samantha and Ryan. Samantha amazes us every day with her intelligence and she is beginning to enjoy trying to pass it on to Ryan. Flashcard animal practice in the warm sun is the best!

I finally got a couple shots in as Ryan's official 9 month photo shoot, Kings jersey and all. He even cooperated in sitting in my little red chair. Samantha still loves "her" chair and I have a feeling is not going to want to share. Daddy is going to have to work quickly to get Ryan a chair of his own!

Here was a shot from Samantha's 8 month shoot with the red chair. 

Ryan's latest thing is to play with spoons (hence the spoon in the picture). It also helps when it comes to feeding time. Less screaming and head turning, more eating! And note his first tooth that finally came through! Our boy is definitely slower than sister in the tooth growing department but is working on it. I think his second bottom tooth is trying to make an appearance without much success yet.

Our boy is growing up so fast. As I'm starting to plan Samantha's birthday I'm realizing soon I'll need to start the planning for his 1st! Where has the time gone? 

Of course I have to add one picture of Samantha's latest trick in the house. Our girl knows she's a "big girl" and can reach just about anything!

Cuddles

Memories from childhood are funny. It's always hard to determine how much of the memory is truly what you remember vs. what has been told to you or what you have seen in pictures. I have this memory of my dad taking formal pictures of us kids that I love thinking about. Not so much the taking picture part, but the other stuff...the stuff that I don't really know how much is true, but I like to think so. I remember it as a Saturday night. We had all taken baths and Momb put us in our nice clothes. I was in a plaid skirt (that I loved wearing), tights, a turtle neck and slippers. I remember feeling clean and warm and cozy. I loved being all dressed up and getting to wear slippers. I think it was also the fresh out of the shower feeling but not having to go anywhere. Knowing that we were just going to snuggle up in bed later.

I think of this memory any time I take a shower in the evening, get on cozy pajamas and curl up on the couch. Monday evening was no exception. Shower night with Samantha, bath time for Ryan and then it was curl up on the couch time with mommy. Nothing beats the smell of clean children!

Look ma! No Feet!

Samantha and I headed to our neighborhood park this weekend to play with a friend and ride bikes. Turns out the tennis courts are a perfect place for a beginner to test out her bike riding skills. Low and behold the second time around the courts she decided lifting her feet while coasting was great fun. 

By the time we rode home that afternoon she was feeling pretty comfortable with coasting and was even trying to get her feet on the foot rests. Of course, I didn't get a video of that yet....but I'm sure one will be posted this weekend!