Father's Breakfast x2

Mike got to go to 2 different Father's Breakfasts this year, one for each boy.  The boys loved going with their Dad, and he loved it, too.  Colin and Mike even wore their matching Omnidroid t-shirts!

I have no idea why Jack is on the wrong side of this divider, but he's obviously got the moves to pull it off.

New York with the Olsens

Our good friends, the Olsens, have moved to Utah.  We miss them so much!  Before they left, we took a day trip to New York City.  It was a busy and fun filled day, but I didn't get a lot of killer photos.  We rode the Staten Island Ferry, ate at the Shake Shack, went to the Museum of Natural History, got some great pizza, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset (the highlight for me), and rode the ferry home.  It was a wonderful day!

Mike's 31st Birthday

We had a low-key celebration for Mike's birthday this year.  Mom was in town, and we went to the party store and got Mike Star Wars themed party supplies, including a Darth Vader pinata.  We celebrated with his favorite dinner, roast with mashed potatoes, and his favorite cupcakes.

Captain CTR

Once a month at church the kids get a special visitor, Captain CTR (stands for Choose The Right).  Each month he chooses a kid to be his helper, and Amelia got chosen in February!  The helper has to tell about a time when they made a good choice, and Amelia told about a time when she looked at a timed test before the timer started, so she told the teacher about it.  She looked adorable in the cape!

President's Day

In February we went to Valley Forge for Presidents Day with some friends.  They had all sorts of festivities there for kids.  They made George Washington hats, made birthday cards for George Washington, listened to a choir sing period appropriate songs, and enlisted in the Continental Army.  It was a fun event, however we had to leave before we got a slice of the giant birthday cake because we saw a kid vomit and were grossed out!  We had a great time with the Olsen, thanks for inviting us!

Getting a photo of this group was tough!

I tried to make it easier by just doing my kids, but it was equally ridiculous.

This sounded good to my kids, so they went for it!  I love the historically accurate bottle of Dasani.

Colin signing up- after this he was paid 2 fake dollars for his salary.

Disney Kids' Races

A major reward for going to the half marathon was getting to participate in the kids races the day before.  My kids took their races very seriously. Jack ran 100m, Colin ran 200m, and Amelia ran 400m.  We bought the kids special running shoes around the time I bought my special running shoes.  We went to the park a lot in anticipation of the trip and practiced running.  They were so pumped!  The parents got to run with the kids, which was good since both Colin and Jack were nervous.  Jack's age group, with Evie and Claire, went first.  Jack and I held hands and ran along, and he was pretty proud of himself at the end.   Mike ran with Colin, Max, and Molly.  They all stayed in a pack for most of the race, and Colin felt great about it.  Amelia was the only kid from our group in her age bracket, and she got to run with Dad.  She was so amped up before it started, that she ran out ahead of her wave of runners before it was her turn and Dad found himself chasing after her as she dashed around kids, garbage cans, and downed parents.  Dad was amazed by her speed, and she told me that it was tough to run that long without stopping, but that she really wanted to do it, so she pushed herself pretty hard.  The race concluded with some awesome medals and great free snacks.  It was one of the best highlights of the trip, and something that the kids really want to do again.

The kids getting ready before the race with their age groups.

Mom and Penny were excellent spectators.

Mike and Colin speeding by.

Amelia and Dad nearing the finish line.

The happy and distracted group.  We had to leave the park right after the race (before it opened) and spend the rest of the day in Anaheim getting ready for the big race the next day, and the kids were not pleased with the plan!

Amelia with "Flat Stanley," the paper character that she brought with her from school.  She had to write up a little journal of the things Flat Stanley had seen and bring it back to show the class.  This was an annoyance to me!

After an incredible dinner at the Blue Bayou.  

 The boys meeting Doug.  Jack ran out ahead of some kids in line as soon as he saw Doug and gave him a big hug.  It was pretty funny.

Even bubbles are magical at Disneyland.

Here are the kids with Flat Stanley again.  If the kids didn't look so cute, I would have rejected another shot of Flat Stanley!

Tinkerbell Half Marathon

In January Lauren turned 30.  When Sarah and I turned 30, we did a trip to San Diego with our fam, so she decided that for her 30th she'd like to do Disneyland, with a twist.  She wanted to run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, and she wanted all the girls to run it with her!  I reluctantly agreed, being totally out of shape and an avid running hater.  It took 7 months and over 100 miles logged to be ready (well, by my definition ready only meant that I could run the whole time and had nothing to do with speed or performance), but I did it!  Mike was so supportive, and he trained right along side me the whole time.  I surprised myself by how diligently I stuck to the training schedule, and I managed to accomplish something I never imagined I could do.  Thank you, Lauren!

The race was incredible.  There were 10,000 women running and 800 men!  People were serious about running in costume, and we saw zillions of Tinkerbell wings and men dressed as Peter Pan.  We ran through Disneyland (before the park opened), through Anaheim, and finished at California Adventure.  There were all sorts of Disney characters stationed along the way with whom you could take your picture, and the line for Aladdin had to have at least 30 women!  Despite the fact that Aladdin was adorable, I didn't participate in that. I knew if I stopped running even for a minute I'd never start again and someone would have to come and find me curled up behind a trash can somewhere.  There were bands, dance groups, cheerleaders, and many ladies from the Red Hat Society all along the route to cheer us on. Mom and Dad totally surprised us by appearing on the sidewalk in Downtown Disney, and Dad even ran along with us for a minute or two to see how it was going.  It was so cool! Sarah, Ryan, and Chris dragged all the kids out to mile 8 to give us moral support, and their screaming was one of the best moments.  Lauren and Mike were generous enough to run right with me at my snail pace, and they were incredibly encouraging.  We ran the entire distance, and crossed the finish line just after 3 hours (I wasn't kidding about the snail pace, but we were far from last, which was lovely), and we were all bewildered that it was finally over.  Overall, it was an amazing experience, and Lauren is already talking about our next one, so I guess I'll consider doing it again!

Crossing the finish line.  That wasn't our actual time, we didn't even start the race until half an hour after the gun went off because it takes that long to herd thousands of people over the starting line!

My sweet medal.  

Where's Jack?

Mike found a child hiding in our room in a pile of clean laundry that was waiting to be folded.  Can you find him?

Snow

We really only had one big snow this winter, so the kids didn't get as much time in it as they wanted.  They did enjoy one nice day playing in the backyard, which ended in Dad dragging them around on the shovel.

Charlotte's Web

In January, Amelia's class put on a play based on the book Charlotte's Web.  All the kids got to take turns playing the main characters, and Amelia got be be Wilbur, a narrator, and a gosling.  She did really well, and had most of her lines memorized.  We were so proud of her!

Christmas Portraits

Here are the kids in their Christmas portraits.  They had outfits that matched their cousins in IN and AZ!

Christmas Morning

Yes, I'm ashamed.  Here it is nearly June and I'm just getting around to posting photos of Christmas morning.  Hopefully this is the start of me catching up, and keeping up with, the blog.  Here goes!

After waking up, the kids jumped in our bed to wait for Grandma Debi and Grandpa Chin to arrive and for the camera to be set up.

Coming down the stairs

Examining the haul!

Exchanging gifts with Grandma Debi and Grandpa Chin

After opening gifts we went to church and had dim sum.  It was a wonderful Christmas!

American Girl Doll Bed

Just before Christmas I built this doll bed for Amelia with the help of some good friends.  It was such a fun, yet intense project!  I only managed to just barely get it done in time, and all the bedding (including the mattress) was made in one night!  Not my best work, but I'm pretty sure Amelia and the dolls love it!  It was so exciting to put it under the tree for Amelia to find on Christmas morning.

Painting Ceramics

The day after Christmas we all went to a paint your own ceramics place and let the kids pick out something to make.  Jack teamed up with Mike and chose a little dog that he named "Scarfie."  Colin partnered with Grandpa Chin and painted a cool jet.  Amelia and Grandma Debi worked on a tea pot.

Christmas Stuff

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting about our Christmas.  We stayed in Philly again this year, and although we missed our family back in AZ, it was wonderful.

This very lame photo represents our trip to NYC with Ginny, who came to town to see Amelia in the Nutcracker.  My camera was on the fritz that day, so I wasn't able to really get any photos at all, except this one at the M&Ms store.  It was chilly, but fun to be in the city and see the holiday decor.  We met Jim's son, Jason, for lunch, rode the carousel at Toys R Us, let the kids pick out their own bag of M&Ms, and ate a yummy Thai dinner.  The kids were thrilled to go to FAO Schwartz to pick out their Christmas presents.  It was a really nice trip.

Here's a photo of us playing Uno with Mike's Dad and Debi, who came out for Christmas.  The kids get more and more into it each year!

Here we are after eating lunch at the Dandelion Pub.