Casey.

My cousin Casey came and visited us for a few days of her spring break.  She is just 2 months short of graduating college and is very excited!  We love when people visit us and it was great to see her.  She rented a room at the hotel here with a pirate ship pool area for a night so the kids could swim.  They (and we) had an absolute blast.  I just want to mention that the hut in the pool area makes the best drinks.  I hardly even have a drink these days but had three, they were so good.

I took Landon and Kadence swimming while Ryan and Kenzie napped at home.  Then when he came back the 4 of them swam while I visited with Casey and Christina and captured some good photos.  The hotel had the little tube and Kenzie absolutely loved it!

Time to warm up in the not so "hot" tub.  Poor Kenzie's lips are purple!  She was chilly!  

Cutest little babe!  Love her!

 We all had such a good time hanging out and there were not very many people swimming which was awesome! I was so glad to have Casey come visit us and spend time here!!

Sofie goes home.

Grandpa Ken and Grandma Debbie came to get sweet Sofie.  I knew it would be hard to see her go but she made them so happy!  She bonded with them right away and snuggled in.  I know the next time we see her she'll look so much bigger!

The kids were very good about her leaving and didn't even shed a tear!  She absolutely loved Landon and she would have been his dog if we were keeping her!

Kenzie was the first to try out Sofie's new pink kennel!  She had a blast in there.  So glad my parents were able to get another sweet puppy!

Miss Sofie.

We were fortunate enough to be able to pick out a puppy for Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Ken and keep her with us until this weekend.  I thought this was such a fun thing to do (we did the same thing with  kitty Roxy for Aunty-although she had picked her out) I forgot how attached you can get in just a short period of time.  This is the sweetest little puppy in the world.  We all just love her to death.  I don't think I'd be able to give her up to anyone but my mom.  We are spending the week enjoying every minute with her.

 Sofie likes lots of snuggles and she sure gets them!

 Sofie is 1/2 shih tzu and 1/2 king charles cavalier spaniel.  I can't wait to see what she looks like when she grows bigger.  We take her this morning for a vet check up.  She has been so good that she has had NO accidents in the house during the day for 3 whole days! I can't wait to see how happy Grandma and Grandpa will be when they see her! And...I think Emma will be more than ready to see her go.

A Weekend Away...

We headed south to Sioux Falls to meet Arin and spend the weekend there.  It was sure nice to get away from our house for a little while after all the illness that has plagued our family.  We hadn't seen Aunty since Christmas so the kids were more than ecstatic to meet her for the weekend.  We stayed at a nice hotel with a small water park that the kids loved.  It was so fun to see them swimming more independently and going underwater a ton more!

This photo cracks me up!! The kids just love swimming with Daddy!  I am proud to say that I swam with the kids this weekend, too!  It was very fun!

I don't know what I like more about this picture, Ryan being silly or Landon floating there waiting for him!

Landon coming down the slide by himself!  He loved it!  I was so proud of him! Kadence wasn't tall enough yet for the slide...

 Kenzie had a good time swimming also.  She was skeptical at first but warmed up to the idea pretty fast.  Love this challenging little monster.

The O'Connor's came and visited us at the hotel for some swimming and pizza.  The kids had a blast together and it was great to catch up with Ryan and Katie.  Now that's a lot of little people!  I wish we could spend more time together:(  Notice Kenzie screaming...typical.

This picture melts my heart.  There are no words...

Landon wrestling with Hayley and losing...they had so much fun playing!

Such a fun weekend away.  I sure do miss Sioux Falls!  We had breakfast at The Pancake House (my favorite breakfast restaurant EVER) Arin and I had pedicures, ate some Qdoba, watched a couple movies, and just hung out.  It was like old times in Sioux Falls when we were spoiled with having Aunty around so much.  I just wish she wasn't so far away and didn't hate Fargo so much...

15 Months.

Hard to believe this munchkin is 15 months old already and officially a toddler.  She has grown up so much in the past months and continues to change every day.  She just loves walking and running around the house following big brother and sister.  I'd like to say she has gotten easier, but I never was one to care for lying.  She is busy busy busy.  Kenzie knows exactly what she wants and usually is not very happy until she gets it.

 A few things to remember about our sweetie:

~She's a Daddy's girl. (This is painful for me but makes Ryan so happy!)

~She quickly went from walking to now running.

~Kenzie is a climber and loves getting onto our couches all by herself.

~She either loves her baths and doesn't want to get out or screams the entire time.  No rhyme or reason.

~She loves to "give love" and will give lots of kisses.

~She wants to play with everything big brother and big sister have and usually gets her way.

~She screams and throws tantrums (already, sheesh.)

~She is infatuated with toothbrushes.

~Although she is very vocal, she only says, "mom, dad, hi, and frog."

~She always gets very excited to see Emma and loves giving her kisses.

~She loves to read books and "Kittens" is her favorite book.

~She has a newfound love for my magazines.

~She goes and gets her nuk and blankeys out of her crib every morning after breakfast.

~She wants to snack ALL THE TIME.

~She has a cell phone radar and knows the second they are in her reach.  She loves to slide the little bar over on our iPhones to unlock the screen.  It amazes me.

~She really has absolutely no interest in anything on t.v.

~She loves to walk independently in the store and does not want any help or direction in where she's going.

~She just loves music and dancing.

~She loves putting covers on and taking them off of everything.  Hours of entertainment.

~She has such a big, bright smile and scrunches her nose just like Kadence did when she was little.

~Her hair is growing (into the baby mullet much to my dismay) and is thin and blonde.

~Her eyes are getting darker; green, brown, hazel.

~She is a challenging toddler but is also so sweet.

What a little love bug.   She is going in for her 15 month check up in March so I could do her and Kadence's appointment together.  Stats to follow.

Swimming.

Landon and Kadence just finished up their 2nd session of swimming lessons.  They were in Level 1 this time and made some major improvements.  I was so excited for them and proud of them.  Their teachers said they have to do level 1 again but should be able to move on after that no problem.  They really just need to get more comfortable with their faces in the water.  I bought them goggles before their last lesson and wish I would have done that at the beginning.  The kids loved them and their teachers said it made a huge difference.  It cracks me up because they wear them around the house all the time.  It's adorable.

They have even been waring their goggles in the tub and practicing going under water.  Landon can stay under for the count of 30 and Kadence the count of 6!

Let's not forget this little munchkin.  She happens to be a great spectator at swimming and also thought it was pretty cool to wear the goggles around at home.  Snapped this one on my phone so it's sort of blurry but adorable nonetheless.

On to the next lessons which start in April!  I am going to have some little fish on my hands!

Love.

Happy Valentine's Day!  The kids and I had a pretty fun Valentine's day while daddy was at work.  I don't feed into this somewhat made up holiday too much, but I do like to do some festive things with the kids.  I guess I am just lucky and don't feel like I need this one day for Ryan to tell me how much he loves me (a.k.a. buy flowers, chocolates, and jewelry) because he shows me he loves me most days.  Love him.

We made some homemade valentines for Ryan and even Kenzie helped (ok, so she frustrated the kids by messing everything up and trying to eat all their things).

The kids were pretty proud of their valentines and it melted my heart a little when I saw Landon's.  You can actually read it!

We made some Valentine crowns for everyone to wear.  Landon and Kadence wore the crowns most of the day!  Kenzie thought she was pretty special!

It is so hard getting these three to look at the camera and smile!

Then we made some yummy cupcakes!  Thanks Grandma Sue for all the fun festive sprinkles!

I don't know what we are going to do with all these yummy cupcakes!!

I think I'm pretty lucky to have these 3 little valentines in addition to my guy.  :)