Helena's Tap Recital

Helena had a tap dance recital right before we left on vacation.  Here's a snippet of her dance.

She did so awesome and we were so proud of her.  She did tell Ash not to come because she said he makes her nervous.  His feelings were hurt, but he obliged. :)

They did the dance twice and when the teacher asked them if they wanted to do it a second time Helena yelled 'NO!' the loudest.  Needless to say, we're still battling some shyness from time to time.  Which is also why you can tell the video is shot from the 2nd (back) row...less chance of her bolting & crying if I'm not RIGHT THERE.

Next up this summer...swimming lessons.  Then back to dance in the fall most likely. :)  Pretty sure we're not going to torture ourselves with tee ball this fall again. Ha!

-Emily :)

Costa Rica

Hey everyone....(**crickets**)....I know.  I suck a blogging lately.  I have good intentions. But, yeah...life and two year olds, etc., etc., etc., get in the way. 

But, we've successfully been to Costa Rica and back.  The grandparents in Kansas survived taking care of the kids.  Ash & I had our own little 'survival issues' while traveling.

I got stung by this:

Yeah, I'm not kidding.  It was about 4 inches long.  In my bed at the resort.  There was mucho hysterics, but two anti-venom shots later and I wasn't dead!  Yay for living!

Ash fell down a flight of stairs at the resort the day before I got stung and banged himself up pretty good, too.  (Two sore knees, an almost broken wrist, torn rib cartilage, cut on his chin).  This was at the beginning of our trip -- you know, before the zip lining, white water rafting and waterfall diving....so, we were pretty sure we were sitting ducks.  But, all was well.

We had a really great time lots of beach, sun, pool, drinks, buffets, good sister / brother-in-law time, good time making new friends. :) 

Ash in his 'vacation hat' (lol) and me on the beach by our resort.

Jess & Justin getting ready to go on our horseback riding / waterfall diving/ zip lining/ hot springs / mud bath / white water rafting adventure. :)

Hidden waterfall....

Jess & Lauren taking the plunge.  The water was COLD.  But it was fun.

Lauren thinking her hubby has had too much whiskey.  You maybe had to be there... :)

 A silly game we played: we told the waiters almost every night that it was someone's birthday. :)  We always got sung to and an extra cake. :)

After our steak dinner evening....

Me demonstrating that I was taller than my little sister for this one night.  Thanks wedges!!

Chris & Ashley

Us on the last day of our trip.  Sunburn much?  Or as Ash says..."Base tan!"

 So the resort had some lame-o Vegas/Costa Rican hybrid entertainment every night.  The last night we were there we decided to make our own dance party....thanks to one of our travel mates' ipod boom box he packed in his little suitcase.  It ROCKED and we were most definitely the 'people to watch' at the resort that night.  Some might say spectacle.  But it was fun and hilarious.  Anyway, these pics are from our mobile dance party. We definitely livened up the place that night.

Ash & Justin.....

Dance party making its way through the resort from the buffet to the bar. :)

INTO it. (Kristen, Lauren & Bailey)

Here's to hoping it's not another 3 years before we get to take another adults only vacation!  Thanks for all the fun guys!!

-Emily :)

Anchorboy

I'm not sure how this started.  I think Ash was joking with Harper one day after he was doing some sort of asinine two-year old thing (you know, like wiping off candy with a wipe so that it will taste different/better, maybe?). 

So now we have our own little Steve Carrell in a weird voice I'm not so sure about.

And, for those of you who are clueless about the movie reference, here ya go. (Anchorman, circa 2004).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gId6nrMDmUU

- Emily :)

Easter 2012 - Better Late than Never, Right?

Easter was a good day.  Lots of chocolate, egg hunting, forced dress up time...you know, the usual. :) 

Harper enjoying his first peep after our pancake breakfast.

Helena hamming it up for the camera with her chocolate bunny.

Ha, ha...oops!

Then to the backyard for the obligatory Easter photo shoot.  They're thrilled.  (Their teenagery looks crack me up.)

OK, time for some fake laughing....

And, 50 pictures later we got a decent one!!

Egg hunting in the back yard....Harper always only had found 1 egg...but he didn't care. :)

Hope everyone had a great Easter too!

- Emily :)

Kid Convo of the Week

Helena as been very interested in the 'food chain' lately. And she and Ash almost brought home actual chicks about a month ago while unsupervised when I was at Jazzercise. They had named them and everything (Annie, Sprinkles, Callista, Sparkle, and Cinnamon). All which gives you a little background on the following conversation: H - I want pet chickens! Ash - Sweetie, they won't be pets because we are going to eat them.  You don't eat pets.  H - It's OK. When we eat them, we can call them dinner.  -Emily :)

Back up and running....

Ash is the computer genius of the month since he fixed the computer all by himself after we contracted the worst. virus. ever.  Fingers crossed it doesn't mysteriously come back!  I was looking forward to that new laptop, though....hmmm....

Anyway, I was looking at my phone pictures the other day and thought they pretty well summed up what had been going on with us since I had a real, content-y blog....  So, here ya go, the last month brought to you courtesy of my iphone. :)

We took the kids to their first Jazz game.  Helena was a fan of the concession stand.  Harper, the little flying blimp.  We made it through the third quarter before meltdowns made us leave.

The Jazz played the Golden State Warriors....and that's blurry former KU player Brandon Rush. :)

Harper went through a 'sleep, eat, walk around with a band aid' phase.  He seriously would cuddle with a band aid.  At this writing I think we've nipped it in the bud and replaced it with a mini ladybug pillow pet.

Helena painted this wonderful rainbow butterfly.

Ash went to the Coachella music festival in California with his friend Mark.  I was jealous, but it was my own choice as I decided I'd rather die than take the kids camping at a hippie music festival.  He had fun. :)

I shopped for new flooring to replace our horrid mauve linoleum eyesore of a floor.  I'm hopeful the situation will be resolved soon.

Helena attended a birthday party wherein a creepy Rapunzel made an appearance.  (She's the one in blue on the left).

I went skiing.  Twice.  I love skiing.  I seriously can't think of anything I'd rather do most days.

And, a few days later....the kids and Ash were running through the sprinklers at our house when it was 88 degrees.  (Helena's face in this picture is hilarious!)

I had 2 book club 'meetings'.  My one book club is more of a drunk fest than the other.  Probably because it's always on a Friday night.  And I really liked this wine which is why I took a picture of it.  You know, for later.  Have we talked about book club?  I'm in two all of the sudden.  It's fun.  I'm keeping up with the reading which is a major accomplishment for me. :)  This month I read "The Weird Sisters" (OK) and "Bossypants" (by Tina Fey...good!)

Harper has also had hand, foot and mouth virus this week.  I'll spare you from those pictures.  It's like he has the chicken pox but is grumpier.  Poor kid slept for 14 hours last night.  Anyway, hopefully he's on the downhill slide!

Ta ta for now!  Next up....stale Easter pics! :)

-Emily :)

Viral - in a bad way

Hey there! Sorry for the long absence. You see, our computer has a bad virus and this blogging from my phone thing is very annoying and cumbersome. So, let's all cross our fingers that Ash finally gives in and buys momma a new Mac laptop. :) Until then, we're all good, busy, the kids are still cute. Thanks for your patience! -Emily :)