What I Learned from our Summer Vacation!

What I learned from our Summer Vacation...1. Parker is Very Territorial when it comes to His things! Especially when it comes to playing in a plastic playhouse and sharing a piece of chocolate cake.

2. Who would have ever thought that Taylor would scream and cry her way on a boat ride through the San Diego bay, but not on her first ride on Space Mountain? 3. Don't panic unless you are absolutely sure your 3-year old son is not with the other half of your group touring the USS Midway! That boat is a darn labrynth!
4. Men don't complain about the heat and sun as much when they are looking at airplanes!
5. You can never freeze enough bottles of water, the night before, to carry you through an entire day at Disneyland!

6. Remember to keep Man Vs. Wild on Tivo when Joe comes to visit...because just one episode is not enough...more like 8-10 will do.
7. As Bear Grylls says, "always keep an eye out for fresh water..." All you need to keep any boy (0r man) happy is water, food, and fire. At least we found 2 out of 3!
8. How I wish I was small enough to curl up in a stroller and fall asleep.


10. Disneyland is way better when you go with parents who will wait out the majority of a 2 1/2 hour line for the newest ride!
11. If you don't want to get burned...wear sunscreen!
12. Your mom can't help but scream when riding Space Mountain, even when your 5-year old daughter is sitting in front of her and riding it for the first time.
13. You will never get sick of listening to "A way back into Love," and "Pop goes my Heart" from Music and Lyrics over and over again. Thanks Michael, the kids are hooked!
14. Sitting in front of the castle to save seats for the fireworks show for 2 1/2 hours is not fun with 3 busy kids, but very worth it! I will never get sick of that show!


15. How to get out of paying 18% gratuity to a lousy waitress!


16. My 3 kids slept great together in the same room regardless of what my expectations were.


17. What it means when a man "goes to see a man about a horse"...thanks Joe!


18. Don't get a pregnant and emotional sister involved in an argument with your brother! Need I say more?


19. How sensitive, kind, thoughtful, and loving Michael is...he really gives great appologies!


20. Accidental boob grazes (yeah, right!) will be noticed no matter how hard you try to cover it up!

BLAKES FIRST STEPS

Click here to watch Blake walking! We are still trying to figure out how to upload the video straight to the blog, but for now this will do. Happy watching!

(From Devo)
Kimberly went to bed, two hours ago! I am just having too much fun with this new video ability. Please take a look at my latest video creation, "TAYLOR'S THE BOMB" dance video. The video was shot in our trip to Tennesse. The song comes from a cute CD we picked up when Taylor was five months old. We had just moved to San Diego, and went exploring shopping centers. In a Target, we found this little treasure of a song. CLICK HERE TO SEE IT!!!

Adventures of a 1 year old!

Adventure #1: Go to the Beach

• Click here: I love to roll around in the sand until I am covered with sand from head to foot!
• I eat sand, rocks, twigs, and other food that has been dropped in the sand.
• Crawl as fast as I can towards the waters edge and dare my mom to catch me before I dive in!
• I Enjoy destroying any sand castles, holes, or human mermaids created in the sand because it makes the ones who created them scream and it fills me with delight!

Adventure #2: Playing in the Bathroom

• Make a mad-dash for the bathroom any time the door is left open...
• Once inside, unravel as much toilet paper as possible and flick my hands inside the the toilet bowl water, while quickly glancing over my shoulder to see if anyone has noticed where I am, and then stick my fingers in my mouth to give it a quick taste.
• Pull out anything and everything out of the bathroom cupboards and drawers at least twice a day. Dumping out the q-tips is the best because it takes the longest for my mom to pick up.

Adventure #3: Coloring

• If people didn't want me to play with markers and crayons they wouldn't leave them out. Good thing my brother and sister like to give them to me to chew on and draw on the floor with.

Adventure #4: Eating

• Now that I've discovered "Real" food, it doesn't make sense to let my mom feed me baby food anymore. Besides, it tastes so much better when I feed myself and squish it in-between my fingers and smudge it all over my face!

Adventure #5: The Pool

• My mom keeps buying me all different sorts of floaters to keep me contained and from drowning in the pool. But, I know I can Swim. Yes, why shouldn't I know how to swim? I watch my brother and sister do it all the time--it doesn't look very hard! All you do is dive in, right?

Adventure #6: Toys

• I know they want me to play with "baby" toys, but I know what the good toys are! Mini Legos and Polly Pockets are much more fun. I just don't know why my brother and sister scream when they see me coming their direction and want to take them away.
• I finally find a toy that I love and, all of a sudden, my brother and sister decide they love it too and want to play with it! So not Fair!
• For this reason, my toy is the wipes container. I could spend hours pulling wipes out and watching my mom put them back in.
  

Adventure #7: Cleaning

• What's the big deal? I like putting the Clorox and windex bottles and sponge in my mouth. I'm just trying to help!

Adventure #8: Climbing

• You give me anything to climb on and I can do it!
• The stairs, my rocking chair, the couch, anything!
• I've also mastered standing on them too, he he he!

Adventure #9: Learning to Walk

• My mom lets me practice as long as I am on soft surfaces, but now I can stand in the middle of the room anywhere and balance for a long time.
• Watch out! I will be running around chasing Luke before you know it!

Adventure #10: Diaper Changing

• I just don't understand why this can't be done on-the-go, especially a poopy one?
• I really hate it when my mom makes my dad pin me down to change me.
  

stay tuned for more adventures soon...

Happy 4th of July!

How to have a great 4th of July:

• Try to keep tradition by buying your children really cute 4th of July outfits, and find yourself forgetting about the tradition 2 days before, rush to Old Navy, pick out really cute matching polo shirts and find that your older daughter and son are devastated that you are not buying them shirts with the American Flag on it--so you put the really cute outfits back and buy the $4 American Flag shirts!
• On the way home from purchasing these shirts, your, 2001, piece of junk American car, which you just got back from the mechanic, and you never should have bought, service engine light comes on and you have to take it back to the mechanic to have serviced, AGAIN!
• Go to the beach the day before the 4th of July, come home really exhausted. Pick up a babysitter, and go wait in line for 1 hour to see an awesome summer blockbuster, Transformers and love it!
• On the 4th of July, go to the beach early to find that every one else had the same idea, but arrived even earlier! Stay for 2-3 hours, come home, go to lunch, nap, and then go to Sea World for the fireworks. Believe that the 4th of July wouldn't be the 4th of July without fireworks and make all of your family exhausted and extremely tired just so you can enjoy seeing the fireworks. Once at SeaWorld, you will find yourself realizing what chaos you got yourself into, but never admit it. Go to the new Shamu Rocks show and want to wait in the Stadium to see the Fireworks, but, later, be convinced by your husband to watch them on the grass where the kids can run around. Once the fireworks begin, your view will be completely obsructed by trees. You will glare at your husband and he will offer to move you to another spot, but you feel bad and stay and watch the display through the trees. Once it is over, you will make a mad dash for the car. Get in the car, change the kids clothes while trying to leave the parking lot, sit in the parking lot for almost an hour, drive home, kids fall asleep, and feel completely satisifed with your 4th of July experience!

• The day after, you will wake up, completely exhausted, find you have no food in the house, go grocery shopping at 7:30am, come home, open the car door, bags with glass jars fall out and break, you clean it up, un pack groceries, and then get the kids ready for the pool. It is your day, after all, to host pool day at your house. Although, you are so tired you will do this because you are a good mom. After 3 hours of fun at the pool with friends, you will come home, try to rest, but realize you can't because your son has soccer practice in a couple hours. You will wake your baby up from his nap, put him and the other two kids in the car, everyone will be so tired and fall asleep on your drive there. You will debate whether or not to go to Soccer since everyone is asleep, but you know your son will be disappointed if he misses out. You will wake everyone up again. Stand in the heat and watch your son have fun, listen to your daughter complain about being bored, and watch your baby crawl around in the dirt. At one point, your older son will run from the field and tell you he needs to go potty. You will attempt having him use the porta potty. You will try holding him up so he can pee in the urinal. He will not be able to go because he is too distracted by the excrement in the potty, so you will trek all the way across the other side of the field to the indoor potty's. He will go and return to his game and have fun.

• At the end of your day, you will be completely exhausted, but unable to withstand your slight addiction to blogging and Soaps. You will do both and feel fulfilled by your day!