It snowed!

Zaphira got sick Thursday night, and the rest of the family fell on Sat. We are all just starting to feel better (except poor Zaphira, who just can't kick it)

It snowed tonight, so the kids went out for a couple of minutes to check it out. Zaphira was duly impressed, and set about tasting the snowball Drew made for her. The pictures are crappy, because it was already dark and we only have a bug-off light outside that is really yellow.





Also, remind me not to give Zanthias markers in the car while unattended. Bad Mama.




He was very proud of himself.

Happy halloween from Harry and Horsie

Sorry for 2 posts in 1 day-I forgot to post the other yesterday. The costumes were inspired by Zanthias' favorite story, Harry and Horsie.
Harry's stuffed animal, Horsie, is stolen away by a bubble, and Harry has to ride his rocket to save him. Zaphira's costume isn't really accurate, but I had to work with what materials I had =)


Drew turned the kids' wagon into a rocket. How cool is this? Drew is awesome!




Zaphira kept trying to get candy from this lady, who was just a mom of a trick or treater.

getting ready for Halloween

We went to a Halloween party my moms' group planned today. It was lots of fun, even if Zanthias wouldn't wear his costume! He is super excited to trick or treat tomorrow.

Happy birthday, Zanthias!

Getting out of the car...he has no idea what we are doing!
Playing with Ezra
Bowling

This jeep ride was crazy! It even did a wheelie (which was a bit scary)
More horsie!
Zaphira did NOT like the moving rides.
Crazy jockey
Racing cars with Ezra
I don't think you're supposed to be up there...
Apple cake and birthday ring (only half of the cake would fit in my travel pan!)
Blowing out the candles
Book and blocks
He makes weird cheese faces.

Zanthias is 3 today, and very excited about that. He loves to say, "Happy birthday!" We made an apple cake this morning. Then, Drew took off the afternoon and we went to Chuck E. Cheese (for the first time!) His friend Ezra also came (with his mom and little brother) They had lots of fun running from game to game, eating pizza and having cake. His friend got him a great pirate book.

We got him a copy of his favorite book, "Harry and Horsie" (I also bought the sequel "Cookiebot" but it hasn't arrived yet!) and some Tegu magnetic blocks. He loved them.

As long as the rain holds off, we are planning a trip to the playground or a walk around the neighborhood later.

Happy birthday to my crazy, amazing son. He's around 37 lbs and 37" right now. His vocabulary has increased so much, and he loves to talk and tell stories. His favorite things to do right now are read books, ride his "broom broom" (his balance bike), go to the playground, and play with cars or his baby doll. His favorite shows right now are "The Backyardigans" and "Blue's Clues". He is very kind to his sister, and working on this whole sharing thing. He loves animals and motorcycles. He's very sensitive and shows his feelings completely, good or bad. It's been an amazing year.

Portraits!

We had a groupon for Portrait People at the mall (If you haven't signed up for groupon yet, use this link to sign up and when you pay for your first deal, we get $10! We've gotten some amazing deals from it-this cost $18 and was a $144 value!) and decided to take the kids tonight when buying Zaphira her first pair of real shoes. Here are some of the highlights of the session. I'll put all the pics on the cd when I send it out.

Fun at the pool

Photo dump and update

She is really into babies right now (that's the head of her fave baby doll in the lower left hand corner)
Dolls
Just made this dress for Zaphira
Arr matey! Zanthias is REALLY into pirates right now.
Baking bread.

Sorry for the delay-here's what we've been doing all month! We've been trying to get outside a lot more. We've started a garden, complete with what (we hope) will be a pea tepee with flowering groundcover inside for the kids to play in.
He has added some new words-water, bye poo, super Z, and robot.
Zaphira is walking faster and faster and will soon be running, I'm sure. She is trying to talk, and has made her first two signs (milk and more) Drew has been super busy at work, getting home late and having late calls every night =( The kids and I have been going on lots of playdates and excursions.
We were going to have Zanthias in a preschool program this summer, but the teacher fell through, so we're poking around to see what classes and things are available. We were all sick for a couple of weeks, but finally feeling better.