I LOVE the 4th of July!

It has become a tradition for me to take pictures of my kiddos on this blanket every 4th.  We've done it 3 years in a row now.  I think this year's pics are my favorite.

 

I could not narrow down the pictures from our 4th of July.  There were too many good ones!  Too many memories I don't want to forget.

We started our 4th by crashing our old Ward's breakfast.  It was so nice to see all of our friends.  The food was good too ;)

 

Corbin Loves Lilly SO MUCH!

Forever Besties

 

I'm not sure what's going on here, but I think they're about to attack.  I snapped the picture and ran!

Kung-Fu Cuties

After the breakfast we went to the mall to see the movie Brave.  I love going to the movies with my little families.  It's one of my favorite family activities.  We hit up the fro-yo cafe afterwards. *yum*

Later we had a BBQ at our house with Aunt Nancy, Aunt Dale and Cassie.  They spoiled the kids, of course, they brought yummy treats and fun fireworks.  I know I've said it before, but I love Jason's family so much.  We always have a good time together!

For fireworks that night, we met up with some good friends.  We set off street fireworks while we waited for the big show.  It was perfect.  Chill. Low-key. Relaxing.  But very memorable.  (Thanks to my good friend, Kristin Moss, for the following pictures.)

He looks like a wizard, doesn't he?

Poor Tienna hated the fireworks.  She kept saying, "Done!"  "Bye-bye home!"  Between the movie and the fireworks, I'm pretty sure it was the most terrifying day of her life.

My happy family.  The fireworks made weird shadows on our faces.  But we had so much fun!

Easter Outtakes

Here are a couple more pictures from Easter that just HAD to be blogged:

Up until yesterday, my kids had no idea Silly String existed. Sad, right?

I asked Jenalyn to smile so I could take her picture. She gave me the most beautiful smile...and just as I clicked, she switched to this face! HAHA! Jokes, on YOU, sis! I'm posting this for the whole world to see :) I love my sugar bug!

Did someone say SUGAR?

I love this face! I love this dress. Just love everything about this picture!

Tienna has a proximity alert for Corbin. Whenever he comes near her, she SCREAMS! Well, usually. This apparently was a happy exception.

I saved the best for last! I told Tienna she couldn't have anymore candy. She has the greatest pouty face.

Easter 2012

Highlights from our awesome Easter weekend

• Grandma's Easter party on Saturday: lots of family, an Easter egg hunt, delicious food, and Jenalyn and I got to shoot a real bow! (Corbin was sick, so just me and the girls went this year. AND, I didn't have my camera, only my phone for pictures. *hohum*).

(Jenalyn thought this was the coolest!)

• Tienna's new shoes.

(I know, they're just shoes, but they make me smile!)

• Coloring Easter eggs.
  
• Planting jelly beans and seeing lolly-pops in their place the next morning! (amazing, right?)
• Bright-colored Easter Baskets.

• Silly String. It was fun for about a minute (which was about as long as it took for the kids to empty their entire cans!) ... then we had the joy of cleaning it all up. *LOL*
  

• New Easter outfits.

(This is the dress I made for Jenalyn for Easter when she was 18 months old. I was so happy that it fit Tienna this year!)

• MORE family time. Dale, Nancy, Miles, Will & Grandpa John came to our house for Easter dinner.
• I made the entire Easter dinner. This was the first big holiday meal that I have ever made by myself! I was really proud. I love cooking for people! Ham, twice-baked potatoes, green beans with bacon, tossed green salad, rolls, and deviled eggs. Oh, and jell-o salad that was forgotten and never made it out of the fridge *ugh*. Aunt Dale brought some delicious cake to celebrate Grandpa John's birthday, a week late ;)
  

Fabulous Fourth

We had a rockin'-awesome 4th of July weekend!

We had a BBQ with Nancy, Cassie, Dale and Grandpa John.
We had Grandma 'Nee and Grandpa Jerry all to ourselves for 2 days.
We spent a night at the beach house with extended family.
We saw fireworks in Depoe Bay on the 3rd. In the cold, blustery wind.
We saw WHALES just off shore! (finally! I've waited SO LONG!)
We climbed 114 stairs to the top of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.
We saw fireworks in Harrisburg, carrying on tradition that was started with Jason's mom, so many years ago.
Yes, it was a good holiday. I'm grateful for my family. My heart was full-to-bursting before we even saw the fireworks. Which, I love, by the way!

New Year - 2011

We had such a fun New Years Eve celebration this year! It was just us. This was the first year since we got married, that we haven't spent New Years Eve with friends. But we had a GREAT time with just our little family!

When Jenalyn started hearing all the talk about New Years she asked, "Is that the holiday when we get to stay up until midnight?" heehee...YES! How exciting for a 7-year old, right? Corbin got to stay up too. Not Tienna though. She's too young *LOL*

So here's what we did.

We made M&M shakers for our midnight noisemakers:

We had some delicious snacks:

We watched Fantasia 2000. Then we toasted the New Year with sparkling cider:

Then I made the family pose with me for the first family photo (minus Tienna) of 2011:

After this picture was taken, my lovies got to go to bed while I headed out the door to serve breakfast to our ward's Youth after their New Years Eve dance. I didn't get home until after 3:00 because I stayed chatting with the YW presidnecy. Gosh, I love my calling!

And I love my family. I read thru some old blog posts with the kids yesterday. They had so much fun hearing their stories, seeing their pictures, and watching little videos! So I resolved to blog more this year. I hate that I've neglected to document so many memories because of my laziness!

Important things to note over the holidays.

There are so many things I want/need to blog about from this holiday season. I have been such a slacker. I'll do it one post at a time so it won't be too overwhelming, for me AND whoever cares enough to read it.

THANKSGIVING:

We spent this Thanksgiving with Jason's family in Salem. We didn't know it at the time, but it turned out to be our last holiday with my sweet Mother-in-Law. I'm so glad we were all able to be together. We had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories.

Sadly, I only got one picture of my Mother-in-Law, and she wasn't even looking at the camera! It's not a flattering picture, of anyone in the frame, so I'm not posting it here. But I'll keep it forever!

Here are some pictures:

Here is Corbin pretending to be a dinosaur and eating his broccoli "tree". It didn't last long though, he's like his father and HATES broccoli! (that's really the only reason I snapped the picture - proof that he once tried broccoli!)

Will, Jenalyn & Jason. Jenalyn had so much fun with Will! She demanded that she get to sit next to him for dinner! The chocolate turkeys have become a tradition when we have Thanksgiving dinner at Dale's house, she puts a See's Chocolate Turkey on each person's plate. (Corbin's turkey was extracted from the foil and then the foil was stuffed with marshmallows, in order to save us all from his post-dairy crazies.)

Jason's cousin Cassie reading a book to the kids. Jenalyn listening intently, Corbin gnawing on a dinosaur's head, of course! (I guess it tastes better than broccoli.)
Here's Aunt Dale and Jenalyn playing with one of the toys they got Jenalyn for her (belated) birthday.

Cassie helped the kids put together a gingerbread train. And then, after it was dry, she directed them in demolition!

Halloween

Corbin learned this new song at preschool for Halloween. He has been singing for weeks now and I finally decided I can share his uber-cuteness with the world. He melts my heart with his "ooooh's" I wish I had gotten a better video of him signing the song - or even more of the song, but we've both been sick, so this will have to do.

(please pardon his manners *LOL*)

Anyhow, we were all sick the entire week before Halloween. And I mean SICK sick. We're talking, laid up on the couch, hurts to move, fevers and chills-type of sick. So we had to cram all of our Halloween festivities into one day. AND, we had to get creative and resourceful with costumes, because this mama could hardly hold her own head up most of the week, so there was no shopping for, or sewing costumes this year. Here's a run-down in pictures:

We dressed Jenalyn up for school on Friday. She wore the black kitty costume...the costume that just won't go away *LOL* I made the ears, tail and vest for Jenalyn's 2nd Halloween. Looking back thru pictures today I realized that she also wore it for her 3rd Halloween...and now her 6th. She just keeps on getting cuter!
Halloween morning we decided to go to the pumpkin patch (since we were too sick to do it sooner). Jenalyn wanted to dress up for it, so we had to pull together some kind of costume for Corbin too...so he was a ninja - just like last year.
Then my friend Jen called and offered up her son's last-year costume for Corbin - so he got to dress up just like he REALLY wanted - a BAT! (thank you Jen!)
So, in summary, we had a really good Halloween, despite the sickies and ill-preparedness.

Fun on the Fourth

We had such an amazing holiday! I was worried it would be anti-climatic for the kids since we really didn't have any plans. No one to hang out with. No BBQ to go to. But I think we managed to make it fun and memorable anyhow.

We started out the day with the Ward Breakfast at the park. We had scrambled eggs, pancakes & sausage, swimming in syrup, we visited with friends, and then we played, played and played!

After the ward breakfast we drove over to Home Depot for their kids' project. They had "picnic totes" for the kids to build. The kids both did really well this time (usually it's mostly me and Jason building it). When we got home we had some lunch and put the boys down for a nap. (Yes, I said boys - Corbin and Daddy both slept the afternoon away.) Jenalyn and I decided to paint their little projects. We turned on some fun music and dug out the paints. It was a fun project to do together.

After dinner we headed out to Harrisburg for the fireworks. My dear, patient husband puts up with so much from me! I was so antsy about getting just the right spot for fireworks. He probably wanted to throw me into the river. Fireworks are a big deal for me. I love them. No really, I LOVE them! And when you only get a once-a-year shot at seeing them. It's serious business. I don't like to mess around when it comes to watching fireworks.

So we pulled over to the side of the road and laid the blanket down beside a big field of mint (Mmm...smelled so good). As it started getting darker I saw fireworks going off right at the tree-line in the distance. I threatened Jason with very bad things, if that was where they'd be setting off the fireworks. He very patiently just grinned and nodded.

When the fireworks finally started - WOW - we had the best seat in the house! It was in-cred-ible. So I snuggled up to my hubs, apologized for being so difficult, and enjoyed the fireworks. I. Will. Never. Doubt. My. Husband's. Inspiration. Again. Ever.

And what a sweetie. Even after the way I acted, that night he put on Facebook:

"Jason Zollinger is laughing at how giddy his wife gets over fireworks. It's like she's a kid again. She's a cutie."

Good thing he loves me!