Air Zoo

Last week my kids, plus two of my friends kids ventured to Kalamazoo to visit my sister, and the Air Zoo.

This was the cutest place, and ages four and under were free.  My kind of place.  

First we entered the clouded walkway,

then looked at a few  dozen planes,

stopped by the hands on toddler section,

rode on the hot air balloon ride,  warning if spinning in  fast circles over and over again isn't your thing, avoid this ride.

Then rode on the planes,  

next up was the ferris wheel,

Stopped for a quick picture while Mara and Alana rode a ride, and looking oh so thrilled about it,

a quick one of Julia with Aunt Lolo,

the space center was next, 

Cole and Mara our future astronants.

Then we watched a really cute 3D movie, featuring three flies who go to the moon.  After all of that we repeated the process.  The kids could ride the rides as many times as they wanted.  We stayed until closing, stopping for a picture on the way out.

We will definitely go back someday before Cole turns five :)

Embrace the Camera

Our evening in pictures...

We are back to embracing the camera. 

Embrace the Camera ~ Pool style

Julia is so easy to get pictures with, well because she isn't on the move, yet....  Whereas Cole is near impossible to get a picture with.  We attempted another family picture over the weekend, and it was about as successful as our Easter picture.  So for this weeks embrace the camera, here is a picture of Julia and I.

A few points:

• J and I are the fairest skin chicks in the midwest.

• I am rocking a maternity swimsuit (I would rather chop off a finger than shop for a swimsuit, or maybe when I reach my weightloss goal, which by that time we will be shopping for sweaters.)

• I made J's hairbow, and I know it doesn't coordinate with her suit, but it did with her outfit.

• I am linking up with Emily for Embrace the Camera.

Have a great day all!

 

 

Embrace the Camera

As much as I would love to get in front of the camera with my kiddos, I have not because I have been sick.  I can tolerate the no make-up, lack of shower look, but puffy eyes, and a bright red nose, I'll pass.  So you will have to endure looking at some pictures of my handsome husband and little miss Julia again this week.

 

If your wondering, Derek dressed her and put her headband on her.  Oh and ignore the cookie crumbs, Cole was sitting there earlier :)

 "Julia can you smile for dad?"

Here face says it all...

Derek, "I know you want to... go ahead. Smile."

Derek, "Go ahead Julia give me a big smile."

Derek, "There it is!! There's your beautiful smile!"

Hope this made you smile :)

Embrace the Camera

I love that Julia snuggles with me. 

I love the feeling of a completely relaxed baby in my arms. 

I love the expression on her face here.

 

I love how her head fits perfectly in the crook of my neck.

I love that her hair bows work in my hair too! ha!

 

I love and savor these moments!

Oh! And I love the comfort of the shirt I was wearing so much, that I just wiped the spit up off of it and wore it the next day too!

Embrace the Camera

On the nights that I work, Julia is in the bath when I leave for work.  I was on my way out the door when Derek snapped these pictures of me saying good bye to her.

Us Girls.

Last week I told myself I would learn how to use the self-timer on my camera.  MIssion accomplished. I did!  Definitely room for improvement though, ha!

Attempt One.  Cole was sitting so good! Too bad the only part of me in it is my hip!

Attempt Two.

The blur is so bad it almost hurts my eyes! I so wish it were in focus, but better luck next week.

Embrace the Camera with Nonna

The other day it was almost 4:30 and Julia had been napping for about 2 hours (of course she chooses to take her long nap when Cole gets up from his, *sigh*).  Cole and I were out in the living room and I though out loud, "Julia needs to wake up soon or she won't want to go to sleep tonight."  Mistake....well kind of.  Cole decided to take it upon himself to wake her up.  I went to the kitchen to get something, and I hear Cole run down the hall (his room and our room, where Julia is sleeping for the time being, are across the hall from each other).  About 2 seconds later I hear Julia whimper.  Wondering what Cole is doing I call his name and I KNOW it is coming from my room.  I go into my room and Cole is saying "Hi gorgeous," and Julia has her bottom lip perched out in the biggest frown.  I ushered Cole out of the room, and Julia dozed back to sleep for a few minutes.  It was so sweet to hear him say such sweet things to her, never mind that he had his hands in there tapping her head.
When she woke up she was pretty grumpy.   Hence the frowns and grumpiness in these pictures with Nonna.  My mom was not embracing the camera, ha!  And would not even look at me until I put the camera down. So, enjoy the top of her head and Julia's version of an au naturel frohawk/ mohawk.

 

 There was no amusing her at this moment.  I know she was just thinking, "Nonna, I am not in the mood to be loved on, just give me to my mom so I can eat.  That makes me happy."  ha!

Embrace the Camera- Smoothie Style

Another week has gone by and it is time for an embrace the camera moment or two. We took these pictures last night, while we were drinking smoothies for dinner. Cole had THREE helpings!
They were chock full of fruit, milk, and a huge handful of spinach (could not even taste it though).

Cole and I could not drink our smoothies fast enough.



Thank you Cole for wiping off my smoothie mustache.



Amazing, Cole is looking at the camera and smiling!
(I love how he has smoothie on his nose, and between his eyes).



And here is a picture of me and my girl...



Don't you just want to pinch, and squeeze, and kiss her??

Had it not been for embrace the camera it would never have occurred to me to have Derek take pictures of us last night, frizzy hair and all :)

embrace the camera

The mom (click on link above to see her blog) started, what I think, is a great idea for moms to make a point to take pictures of themselves with their kids every week. We have a ton of pictures of our kids together, or by themselves, not as many with Derek, and even fewer with me. So, I am going to try really hard to take a picture of myself with at least one of our kids weekly, and post it here. I guarantee there with be pictures of us with uncombed hair, still in our pajamas, food on our faces, and spit up on our shoulders. But, I hope the memories and moments will be what we remember the most.

Without further adieu...here is our first embrace the camera post :)

Kisses for Cole

Cole was not embracing the camera, ha!

He is obviously not amused...

So there it is, our first embrace the camera, greasy hair and all :)

allison