Summer Vacation

Some of you may already know, but we get to head out on a cruise with Billy's family at the end of this month! Since we love going on cruises, and the last one we went on took place almost 3 years ago, we've been getting very excited! The ship we get to sail on is a brand new ship too! How much better can it get?!
Well, one problem arose about a month ago. Anyone care to guess where our cruise (leaving out of Long Beach in L.A.) was headed to? Uh huh...Mexico. We were scheduled to travel down the Mexican Riviera to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. So yeah, Swine Flu anyone??? (Just a little FYI - our cruise was booked WAY before any news of this outbreak came about.) Shortly after the outbreak, we heard that the cruise was still a go, but that it would not allow anyone off at the ports. This message contained both good and bad news to me. Good for the obvious reason that my family would have better chances of not contracting the illness. But also good because we had been on this particular cruise twice in the past and I had already said I wasn't getting off at every port with two kids in tow. (We've attempted it with one child, and it's hard work!) Bad, however, because I was excited to get off the ship to relax and hang out at the beach. Allison has never been, and Tyler was too little to remember the last time he played in the sand at the beach. So, these were the things I was looking forward to on this cruise. The opportunity for my kids to experience something new, and no pressure to get off and "see the sights," since I've already been to each of these places twice. I got over the downside of it very quickly though...I was still going on a cruise nonetheless!
But that's not it.
We just recently discovered that the cruises to Mexico have all been rerouted to different locations. For example, ships that were supposed to sail to Cozumel are being rerouted to Nassau, Bahamas. Pretty good trade, right? One tropical, sunny location for another!
Not so much in our case...
Our cruise has been rerouted as well, and will now be heading north. Maybe it's just me, but Astoria, Oregon and Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada don't scream tropical and sunny, right? So while I may get my wish of hanging out at the beach, it may not be quite the same experience if the temperature isn't even going to be in the 70's! So now my "good" and "bad" reasons have completely flipped. These ports offer new sights and places I've never been to. But do I make sure I'm up and off the ship at every port so I don't miss out on anything (this is totally a little personality quirk of mine by the way), and risk experiencing the stress that could be involved?!
Then there is the problem of the weather...
Should I even bother packing swimsuits??? I did a little research and looked up the averages for those areas for the month of May, and NONE of the recorded temperatures even hit 70! I mean honestly, I'm not going anywhere near the water if that's the case! Someone who knows that area a little better than me, please tell me that the weather is going to be perfectly warm and sunny and conducive to going to the beach the first week in June. If not, well, I'll just have to look on the upside of things. I'm more than willing to experience the many other redeeming qualities this area has to offer! And like I said before, no matter what.....

I'll still be on a CRUISE!!!

Family Photos

We went out with my sister, Vanessa, last Thursday so she could take some practice family photos. We found this great spot at Kennesaw Mountain, complete with a huge grassy field and railroad tracks! She calls herself a "beginner photographer," and while she may just be starting out, they turned out pretty professional in my opinion! Thanks Vanessa!

The Hadley Family ~ May 2009

I know I already have this one at the top of my blog, but it's a little fuzzy for some reason, so I wanted to post it the way it's supposed to look!

Our energetic and spunky Tyler Man!

The happy couple after 7 years of marriage!

Our adorable little go-getter, Miss Allison!

THE END!!!

A Chuck E. Cheese Party!

Tyler has been wanting to experience Chuck E. Cheese for months now (thanks Nick Jr.). Everytime he would see the commercial (you all know the one... "25 cent FUUUUN!!!") he would say, "Mommy, we need to go there!" Well, he finally got his wish when he was invited to a birthday party there! He and Allison had a blast! I could barely even pull them away from the rides and games to get some pizza and cake and meet Chuck E.

Once I did get them headed in the right direction, Tyler was thrilled to see the lifesize Chuck E. and join him in a parade! Allison had the same sentiments about him as she did the Easter Bunny...she was going nowhere near the giant mouse!

Can anyone locate Tyler Man???

After the fun with Chuck E. and the consumption of some pizza and cake, it was time to head back to the games to finish using up our tokens!

Allison climbed up here herself to take a ride! Such a big girl!

After the tokens were all used up, I was ready to head home. But then Tyler discovered the FREE entertainment...

I'm pretty sure they spent almost an extra hour playing inside all the tunnels suspended from the ceiling and going down the slide over and over again! It was actually pretty relaxing and fun for me to be able to just sit back and watch them play. The best part was watching Tyler be a great big brother to Allison, who wasn't tall enough to get up the big platform steps on her own in order to make it to the top. He got a great system down and probably boosted her up more than 20 times! He was very careful the whole time not to leave her behind. The little guy got a workout from it all, that's for sure! I tried getting a picture to capture the moment, but it didn't turn out well due to the netting around that part.

Once we finally decided it was time to go, we made one last stop by the Chuck E. Cheese sketch booth for a quick group picture. I thought it turned out so cute to only cost 25 cents, so we actually ended up taking 3! But since this is already another long post, I'll only make you look at one! :)

I couldn't get Allison to look at the actual camera. She was much more intrigued seeing herself on the giant screen up above! Billy was out of town that week, so he wasn't able to join us. Maybe next time!
Now everytime Tyler sees the commercial he says, "Hey Mommy, that's where we went!!!"

Anyone Still Interested in Easter???

In keeping with my tradition of posting about a holiday several weeks after it has passed, here is the run-down of our Easter Festivities, only a couple weeks late!

We started the fun this year with an Easter Egg Hunt play date with some friends from church. Our ward boundaries recently got changed and we ended up in a different ward, so it was nice getting together with some people we don't get to see on a regular basis anymore. (And honestly, I felt bad for missing our egg hunt at church because I got the dates mixed up!) Anyway, the kids had a blast and were very proud of all the eggs they collected!

Here is the gang ready to hunt for eggs. It was a chilly, but sunny day!

Going for a green egg...surprise, surprise!

So impressed with the number of eggs she found!

Checking out the goods.

Next event: Visit and Photo with the Easter Bunny

Can you tell Allison isn't a big fan? Tyler loves him, however, and was more than eager to tell him what he'd like in his Easter basket!

Easter had finally arrived and now it was time for Tyler and Allison to search for their Easter baskets!

Yay! Here they are!!!

Look what he left me! Can you believe it Tyler?!

This was the best picture I could get of the two of them with their baskets, and I made SEVERAL attempts! It's difficult to look at the camera and smile when there is a basket full of goodies sitting right next to you just screaming to be opened!

Easter Day Event #2: Easter Egg Hunt with cousins.

After church, we went over to Grandma and Pawpaw Hamby's house for dinner and another egg hunt!
Side note: At church, Tyler got to go up and sing with the Primary kids for the very first time! He worked hard practicing the song, "He Sent His Son." Everytime we were in the car, he would ask me to play "love and tenderness" on the Primary Songs CD. He did an excellent job remembering all the words that day, and this proud Mommy thought it was the most precious thing ever!

Miss Allison LOVED looking for eggs and was quite posessive over her basket (which was quite the same for her basket from the Easter Bunny too - she wanted all contents left INSIDE the basket and all hands off)!

I had to do a bit of a posed shot with Tyler because he was zooming around so quickly collecting eggs that I wasn't able to get him actually grabbing one.

He finally stopped in one place to count his eggs once the hunt was over.

After the egg hunt, we had a yummy Easter Dinner complete with ham, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, broccoli salad, and green jello salad.
Then it was time for MORE Easter goodies, this time from all the grandparents.

First up were the Easter pails from Grandma and Grandpa Tholkes:

Then onto the goodie bags from Grandma and Pawpaw Hamby:

And last, but certainly not least, were the Easter gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Hadley:

(This gift was for the two of them together.)
What loved little kids they are!!! Thanks so much for all of the neat stuff!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

It's so true that kids say the funniest things, and ours keep us laughing on a regular basis! Here is a sampling of Tyler and Allison's recent humor (all of which have taken place over the past week).

After passing by a miniture golf course that we had visited back at the end of last summer/beginning of fall:
Tyler: Hey! That's where we went golfing!
Mommy: Yep, it sure is!
Daddy: How does he remember that?!
Tyler: Because my brain is ALWAYS turned on!


While visiting some friends at the school I used to teach at:
Mrs. Wiggins (to Tyler): You look just like your Daddy. You need some little round glasses so you can be super twins!
Tyler: No! I have good eyesight!


We met up with my parents, sister, and her two kids one night for dinner. We didn't tell Allison that we would be seeing them, so this is how she VERY excitedly greeted them once we reached the table in the restuarant:
"Hey, Lana, HEYYY! Hey, Kayden, HEYYY! Hey, Grandma, HEYYY! Hey, Pawpaw, HEYYY! Hey, Auntie, HEYYY! HEY GUYS!!!"


While eating a meatball sub at dinner, Allison was having some trouble getting a bite due to some very stringy cheese. Daddy came to her aid the first time it happened. Then, when it happened a second time, Allison responded with, "Awe maaaaan! CAP (crap)!"
***I plead the fifth if anyone wants to know where she learned that word!***


While admiring the moon one night, Allison stretched her little arms as far as they could go and grunted. She then exclaimed, "I can't get it Daddy!"

A Little Pregnancy Update

I'm 15 weeks today and thankful to be getting further away from the first trimester! No more fatigue. No more queasiness at dinner time. This part wasn't even major, it just made it difficult to cook dinner for my family, and then even if I did, eating it was out of the question. But that's all in the past now. I am really lucky that I don't have any issues with extreme sickness during pregnancy. I really feel for those of you that do.
I only have one complaint about this part of pregnancy. Since no one else can really tell that I'm showing yet, but I can tell my pants are getting tighter, I feel like everyone must think that I've just been eating one Twinkie too many for dessert each night. (I don't really even like Twinkies, but you get it, right?) Anyway, if you're looking for a "belly pic," I'm sorry. I don't do belly pics. I'll still allow my picture to be taken, I just can't get into taking side-profile pictures of myself every month.
On a more pleasant note, I have started feeling the baby move! I know it's a bit earlier than "the books" say it happens, but it's certainly not a time that is set in stone. When I was pregnant with Tyler, it took much longer for me to experience this sensation. But with Allison, and now this baby, I was able to feel it much sooner. Allison turned out to be a VERY active baby, and I was certain she was going to be a gymnast by the number of somersaults she did inside me! So maybe we have another "go-getter" on our hands! We shall see.

Our Favorite Little Girl

I don't think I've done a post that's been solely dedicated to Miss Allison. Since she turned 21-months-old today, and I haven't posted anything in almost a month, I thought now would be a good time! She is so much fun to be around and has been doing so many cute and entertaining things lately. Just so you know, this is going to be a LOOONG post. I'm very long-winded when it comes to bragging about my kids!

Over the past couple months, Allison has progressed to talking almost completely in sentences. She has also been working very hard to correct whatever words she hasn't been saying JUST right. This is NOT something that I am encouraging by any means. While I love seeing her progress, I realize that all of these corrections mean my little girl is growing up...TOO fast! I would much rather hear her say strawbear instead of strawberry, wadee instead of water, Me-Maw instead of Grandma, Reh-wah (Rella) instead of Cind-reh-wah (Cinderella), and I cup instead of my cup. But of course, it's all part of becoming a big girl, and nothing is going to stand in Allison's way! I'm just waiting for the day she decides to correct bee-na (banana) and oh-milk (open it) - two of my favorite things she says. Other cute things she says include: kiss it (when she has a boo boo), pwease and dank you (she is faithful at remembering to say thank you), I wah you (I love you), Dor-ah, Boots, and Wiper (Swiper), sop it (stop it), and Oh sweeeet (when she sees the picture of her and Tyler hugging on my cell phone).
Speaking of Cind-reh-wah, she has become OBSESSED with princesses over the past couple months! I don't know how this happened. I tried pushing Tinkerbell everything. But apparently Tinkerbell is so not as cool as the princesses. What was I thinking?! So I hadn't purchased anything princess related, but somehow they still managed to have sucked her in. Maybe it was our trip to Disneyland? or the fact that her cousin, Keilana, exposed her to the princess world? I'm not sure. What I do know, is that she's hooked. She knows EVERY princess by name, as well as many of their little friends like Bounder (Flounder), Bastian (Sebastian), Beast, and Prince (which can mean any one of them).
With that being said, her most favorite movie is not even a princess one. Go figure. Don't get me wrong, she enjoys the princess movies, and insists on emptying out the movie cabinet on a daily basis in order to collect all the ones bearing a princess on the cover, but her most favorite movie is Toy Story. She talks about Buzz and Woody almost as much as the princesses and can sit through the entire movie! I guess it's the result of having an older brother who loves the movie and likes watching it on a regular basis.

Allison also does other things as a result of having a big brother to idolize and immitate. (Luckily, it doesn't bother Tyler.....yet.) She loves "racing" with Tyler, as they run around the house making car sounds, and she knows who Lightning (who she used to call "Queen-Queen") and the gang are. She is very familiar with dinosaurs, loves roaring like one, and even knows who T-Rex is (surprise, surprise). But for every "boyish" thing she does, there is a girly one to counteract it. She hates for her hands to be dirty. If anything gets on them, she comes to me and says "wipe it!" She enjoys getting her finger and toe nails painted. She loves pink and purple. She loves taking care of her babies (and does an excellent job at it I might add!). She loves to "cook" and even takes it upon herself to help set and clear the table at dinner time. The only girly things I've discovered that she dislikes are getting her hair fixed and playing dress-up. She hates changing clothes, period. So getting her to put on a costume - or even a princess dress - is out of the question!

I found Allison laying in my bed like this one day all snuggled up under the covers with her baby. She was so proud of herself and very excited I was taking her picture being a good Mommy!

She also takes very good care of her monkey baby!

This is the extent Allison will go when playing "dress-up." She is a HUGE shoe fan!

Allison absolutely LOVES to sing. She sings all day long. She sings things that aren't even real songs. She sings our names or just whatever is on her mind at the time. The other day she randomly started singing, "I just can't believe it!" over and over again. It was pretty funny! Currently, her favorite songs to sing are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam. While spending the night at my parent's house a couple nights ago, Grandma and Pawpaw heard her singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in her sleep even!
She also loves looking at books and being read to. She would sit in my lap and listen to stories ALL day without getting bored. She brings books to me all the time and exclaims, "Read it!" We keep books in every room of the house so that Allison always has a book at her fingertips. When she plays in her bedroom, the bookshelf is the first thing she heads to (and empties). She enjoys sitting on her princess couch (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hadley) while reading her collection of princess books.

Allison is a very helpful little girl. The first time she helped "set" and clear the table, she did it completely on her own accord. It is a common occurance to find Allison cleaning up a mess without being asked. She likes for things to be put back where they belong, and she wants things kept in an orderly fashion. Despite the fact that she keeps her own agenda most of the time, she is also a great little listener and, for the most part, will follow through with what I've asked her to do.
As far as other developments go, Allison has decided that she doesn't like being fed by Mommy anymore (yet another sad thing that means she's growing up). She completely feeds herself these days - even cereal and milk! She does quite well, and leaves minimal spills to clean up. Her most favorite foods are any kind of soup, fruit - particularly watermelon, "key-yope" (cantaloup), grapes, bananas, and apples, "tay-toes" (patatoes), scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and grits (that's my girl!).
She likes (and asks) to go potty when Tyler does. But that's the extent of it. If I ask her to try, it's "noooo." Only problem with wanting to do it when Tyler does is, she wants to do it LIKE him too - standing up style. I'm not quite sure how to break it to her that this won't work. We'll cross that bridge when we get there! I'm hoping that we will be able to tackle this feat soon with the help of some princess panties. I'll keep everyone updated!