Skyes' Birthday and other assorted adventures

We have been a bit busy lately, with the move, Josh driving like an man on a mission across the country (not really stopping for more than 2 hrs at a time to sleep), Skyes' birthday and now the aquarium! Here are some pics of what we have been doing lately. Gazing at fish
In the shark tunnel

Not sure where we were in this picture, but somewhere near a fish tank!

Almost everyone wanted in on this picture!

My happy little man just chilin while Daddy chases Ada around

It was a lot like this...what can I say she was excited!!

Checking out the penguins

Here is the shark we all touched!! Even Roarke touched it and looked at me and squealed!! Priceless!! Later we touched sting rays, sea cucumbers and star fish too.

More fish, sharks, sea turtles and sting rays!

Playing in the sea weeds

The Megalodon jaws

Roarke did this a lot in the beginning until he saw the fish and knew I was right behind him

Sometimes I feel like he is a goat. He will put anything in his mouth and bite it. I think he is just like Sunny in the movie a Series of Unfortunate Events!!

Ada in her favorite pot

Skyes' birthday! Yes, there is the infamous birthday bag behind them all!!

Dangerous

I am sorry in advance Mom, but other than the fact that your eyes are closed this is a great picture!!

So excited!!

Be sure to view our new video too!!

Picture...overload...

Sorry everyone for being so absent during the last few weeks! During the day when both of the kids take a nap, usually I relax, talk to Josh (who is STILL in Idaho by the way for another week and a half) or read...or sometimes nap! Then at night when I used to blog, I now use that time to work out for an hour on the elliptical or other assorted machines/free weights downstairs in my mothers' basement! So to make up for my absence and lack of pics and videos, I now have a bazillion pictures and a few videos (and if you're wondering where the video bar went, I had to remove it as it would only show OLD videos and I could not get it to work so until I can, you can go to YouTube and look up greenfighter3's videos!!)

My sister Skye got student of the month at my old HS alma mater Cheltenham HS. Here she is flanked by the mascot. It was being filmed and Ada, who has no fear of life sized animals/characters in suits kept growling at it and saying it various body parts while also saying please with arms outstretched (like eyes, toes, ears, etc). Guess she won't have any issues at DisneyWorld!!
Meemaw and Roarke at the student of the month celebration

The talented Aunt

Roarkes' face is very intense...wonder who he gets that look from!

much better

If we don't keep this gate up, Roarke eats the cat food and plays in the water, while Ada "feeds" the cat by dumping TONS of food into her dish. But the kids NEVER get tired of seeing and chasing the cat, so she runs back upstairs and hides...not so great for the litter box which is behind this gate...so sometimes we have to find and get the cat to put her behind the gate for a while so she can eat and/or actually use the litter box! But who is really trapped??? The cat or my kids?

Loving the fact we can be outside with minimal effort (aka- open the sliding glass door!!)

Looking through the telescope the right way

But she likes this way better!

She yells, "WHEEE!" everytime, sorry neighbors!

This is an older pic that never made it to the blogosphere...yes daddy was taking a nap and Ada sat down to read a book between his legs and the next thing I know she was asleep...about an hour too early!

awwwww, she loves her daddy!

Easter with Aunt Skye and Uncle Will

He found an egg!

Still looking for eggs. I don't let my kids pretty much ever eat refined sugar, so I filled the eggs with goldfish and cheerios and gerber yogurt melts and Roarkes' previous favorite, gerbers puffs!

Another oldie that never made it. Here I am about to eat our St Pattys' day cookies!

He was less than excited to take this picture...

Easter pics

We are kickin' it here at Meemaw and Pops' place (my mom and stepdad) in Elkins Park, Pa for a while until we get a little more sorted out. Josh is going to transfer, but where is still up in the air but right now we are seriously considering Temple. I am trying to find a well paying job that I wouldn't mind taking my kids with me. I found one place I loved but they offered me next to nothing and another place where the facility was somewhere I would never take my kids but they offered a lot...why is job hunting so difficult?! But pray for me/us as I have another prospect at a good facility...so let's hope they make me a decent offer!

We went and got our Easter pics taken professionally this time (something more than Wal-Mart anyway) and surprisingly enough Ada was not ready for it, but Roarke is always a sucker for a well placed smile. No more pictures!
yes, I know I am adorable. Start melting... (well at least I do!)

One of the few profile shots where she wasn't all teary eyed

Taking the flower back

Letting Roarke "see" the flower

Awwwwwww!

Cute and not sure what's with the toe pointing...

So smiley!

She finally let us take a picture where she was sitting. We'd get her in position and then as we moved away she cry and reach for Daddy. She's such a daddys' girl!!

She only did this the first time we asked her and then adamantly refused to do it again.

Letting her hold an Easter egg! She looks so full of awe!

Las Vegas

My grandmother was getting sealed in the Las Vegas Temple (as she lives in Vegas and works in the Vegas Temple) so as we are relatively close, we decided to go and see her as she still had not met Roarke and had only met Ada once. And since I lived there as a kid and had not been back since I was about...hmmm...12 I think, I wanted to see how one of the fastest growing cities in the US was doing. Josh could not go as he is in school right now, so I was going to fly from Idaho Falls as that airport has a pretty sweet deal that if you fly allegiant air from that airport to Las Vegas it would only cost about $100/ticket. So that would make traveling alone with the kids much easier. However, Devin and Leo wanted to come too and as they couldn't fly, we all decided to drive. With a small part of our refund, we outfitted the car with a DVD player which is attached to the inside of the car. And Josh being the savvy deal maker he is, said that we shouldn't have to pay full price for the display model so as they couldn't take any money off the price, they threw in some nice wireless headphones for free!! So that was very nice on the drive as well. And let me just say this about the drive with 2 small kids with only one parent: it is not something I want to do ever again!
One the trip Ada had crab and some shrimp, which she ate, but I don't think particularly liked. Roarke has really started crawling (which we will try to get a video of soon) not army crawling only like he has been. He also sprouted a tooth while on our trip, so now he has one tooth on the bottom (which again, we will try to get a picture of but those of you who have kids especially know how hard that is!). So enjoy the pics and videos of Ada chasing peacocks at Bonnie Springs!!

This stroller is so awesome! And Roarke loves just chillin' in the back.
A very big, nasty looking horse at Bonnie Springs

Where did the peacock go?

Running around outside the Vegas temple waiting for Great-Grammy to come out

Now, I know Meemaw was waving, but this picture makes her look like she is a Nazi or something!

A mother-daughter pic without me as I was taking the picture

She loved looking at all of the very pretty flowers, which she didn't try to pick but liked to get really close to smell them!

Just glad to see the sun!! I just wished it would have been hotter. It was a right side better than Rexburg, of course, but I want some HEAT!!

Ada and Meemaw got so close on this trip. We shared a hotel room and every morning Ada would wake up next to me and Roarke and would sit upright and scream, "Meemaw!!"

A view of Vegas from the Temple

It was a great trip, all things considered. a trip to Ethel M candies (so amazing and the BEST Chocolate and hot chocolate...still remember my first mexican hot chocolate!!), Bonnie Springs (which I was sad to see how gross it was! Mom said it was just the same as when I was a kid, but having kids myself...I didn't want Ada to touch anything!!!), and seeing family we haven't seen in a while was great. Looking forward to our trip back to Philly in just a few weeks!!! Mom, order us up some sun!