Fun With Blake and Kaylee

We got to spend a fun day with Blake and Kaylee while Ben, Jamie, Greg and Melissa went out to lunch and a movie. We finally got the chance to take them to Buid-A-Bear. 

Kaylee picked the same kitty that Paige and Claire have.

 

Blake picked a cute little bear with ears that light up and picked Lightning McQueen clothes.

They were very serious about fluffing up the fur and finding just the right outfit.

 

Kaylee picked a Tinkerbelle outfit and named her kitty "Princess"

To add to the excitement of our day there was a little train ride that went around the upper level of the mall.

Blake loves trains so this was a big thrill for him.  Afterwards we had lunch at Red Robin and did a little grocery shopping and the kids were darling.  It was so much fun to have them all to ourselves for a few hours.  It is going to be so nice having them"close by" in Sierra Vista, Arizona instead of clear across the country in Louisiana. 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Kaylee and Blake

While Ben and Jamie went to the movies and Lunch with Greg,

Melissa, Josh and Krista, we got to spend New Year's Day

with Blake and Kaylee. 

Our first stop was Build-A-Bear at the Tyler Mall in Riverside. 

They were very serious about following all the instructions and fluffing up their new friends.

 





 Kaylee chose a calico cat just like Paige and Claire's. She named her Princess.

Blake picked a cute bear with light up ears and Lightning McQueen

clothes.  Kaylee picked a Tinkerbell outfit for her kitty.



 Next stop, a train ride.  Blake LOVES trains, so we were in luck that there was a train ride around the upper level of the mall. 

It just doesn't get much better than this!  After lunch at Red Robin we did a little grocery shopping and headed home.  Blake and Kaylee were angels.  We are so glad they "live closer" now that they have moved to Sierra Vista, Arizona, instead of clear across the country in Louisiana. 

A Visit from Josh and Krista

It was so nice to have Josh and Krista home for the long Veteran's Day weekend. 

Krista is finally looking pregnant and she looks beautiful. We had hoped they would be able to join us for Thanksgiving but the Army is giving Josh Wed and Thurs off instead of Thurs and Friday.  His schooling is so intense he cannot afford to miss any class.  So far he seems to enjoy it and is keeping up his grades. It was interesting to see him speak and read Persian Farsi.  He tried to do a little homework while they were here. 

They are so excited about their baby boy, due March 7.

We had a fun weekend: we did a little baby shopping at Carter's, saw Skyfall - the new James Bond movie, (which was great) and then we went out to dinner at Cafe Rio in Redlands.  To top off the evening, Krista and I were victorious, as always when we played Sequence, boys against the girls.  Craig and Josh wanted a rematch the next night and once again, the girls triumphed.  Jamie would have been so proud of us!

Before we knew Josh and Krista were coming, we had planned to watch the boys for Melissa on Friday while she was at her Ragnar Race in Las Vegas. They were a little shy at first but Aunt Krista won them over in no time. The boys all love the old Marble Works (that our kids loved) and let our expert Josh set it up. 

It didn't take long for the wrestling to begin. . .

 

Austin was so happy to have a turn

The face of this child is so darling! He is such a sweet boy!

Greg & Melissa came over for Sunday dinner.  It was so nice to have the chairs filled around our table. Craig and I miss those glory days before eveyone moved to all parts of the country.  We like the show "Blue Bloods" with Tom Selleck.  In every show they have a big Sunday dinner with the entire family and we always look at each other with a heavy sigh -  missing those sweet days. 

Ben, Rebecca and Nick all have firstborn daughters.  Josh and Melissa are the only two who will have firstborn sons. 

 

So Cute It's Scary

Our daughters are so sweet to send us pictures of the kids that live so far away in Star, Idaho and DeRidder, Louisiana. We appreciate it more than they will ever know.  It is always such a treat to find a picture on my phone or in an email.   Here they are in this years Halloween costumes:

Paige is almost 8. She is Merida from the movie, BRAVE.

(It was Rebecca's first attempt at sewing a costume and it turned out so darling).

 

Claire is in kindergarten and she is Rapunzel - wedding dress version.

 

Little Miss 3 1/2 year old Reese is Jessie from Toy Story.

 

This Karen Sterling creation was Paige's originally, and all 3 girls have worn it now. It is a family heirloom!

 

Here they are all ready for tricks and treats.  I love the expressions on those cute faces.  Doesn't Paige's hair look great?  Rebecca had her sleep on sponge curlers and by the end of the day the curls had loosened to perfection.  Then Rebecca just used a red hair spray to get that Merida look.
 

 

 

This isn't from Halloween, but how darling is the sleeping Skye? She looks so grown up with her hair like this. She will be 2 in January.

 

Skye has the sweetest, cutest cheesey smile.  I got this outfit for her on sale and I had a coupon on top of that so I could not resist. Thank you Carter's. Her little pony tails are so fun. 

 

 

 Of course, Nick and Renee always have the cutest, thematic costumes. They are so creative! This year they were characters from Heman. Nick is Heman, of course. Renee was the Sorceress and Skye was Orko the ghost. ( I just noticed poor Nick had to buy those purple and gold shoes, oh dear)



Our Louisiana grandkids, Kaylee and Blake were Batgirl and Batman.  Blake wanted to be Batman and when Kaylee saw the matching Batgirl costume she joined in the fun.  These are fitting costumes because their Dad has always loved Batman.

6 year old Kaylee is Batgirl.

3 1/2 year old Blake is Batman.  Look at that darling smile. 

Last but not least are the darling neighbor boys, our super heroes.  6 1/2 year old Luke, 5 year old Dylan and 3 year old Austin stopped by to show us their costumes before they went Trick or Treating.

Luke is a Red Ninja, Dylan is Batman and Austin is Buzz Lightyear.  Austin had an attack of shyness and he would not wear his costume to our preschool party the day before.  No amount of bribery and/or threats would work.  Funny boys.

 

IT'S ALL TIED UP

Josh and Krista are having a BOY!

 He will tie up the score giving us 5 grandsons and 5 granddaughters. 

We realized once we had Melissa [our third child] that all our babies would have blue eyes, big feet and dimples in their chins. (The dimple is from Craig, my Mom, and her dad, my Grampa Buff). Both Craig and I have blue eyes and so do our parents and siblings.  However, Craig and I are personally responsible for the big foot gene.  I got mine from my Aunt Sharon, but I'm not sure who share's Craig's shoe size.   

When Josh and Krista met, the first thing she did was point to his chin and tell him she had one just like it. The rest of course, is history. They are both tall, so we know this child will be gorgeous and tall. Look at his toes in this ultrasound. The tech commented on his long toes! Yep, he's a Rogers!

 

Like father like son: here he is already flexing!



Here's his sweet little profile. I'm in love!
 

The big question remains - what color hair will this child have?  Krista has lots of beautiful redheads in her family as well as blondes and brunettes.  Our kids all started out really fair and blonde, but now they all have light brown hair.  And Craig's family has pretty brunette hair.  What fun!

YO HO LET'S GO!!!

We had a fun day at Disneyland with Melissa and the boys on October 10th. It was a school day, and when they woke up Melissa asked them if they wanted to go to Disneyland instead of school.  What a great Mom!  It has finally cooled off enough to go and enjoy Disneyland without melting.  To add to the fun, Craig had an eye problem - he just couldn't see going to work : )

We took a picture as soon as we got there. Wonder of wonders, no one is blinking (something I share with Melissa) and all 3 of the boys are smiling at the same time!

We stayed at Disneyland since California Adventure is still crowded from the opening of the new Cars Land.  The lines weren't very long and it was a great day.  All the autumn flowers and decorations were beautiful.


Dylan is the 4th from the right.  Luke is the 4th from the left.

We went to the Jedi Training Academy and both the boys got picked.  I never get tired of watching this, and it was fun to see Luke and Dylan get to participate.  The Star Wars characters are amazing and they stay in character the entire time.  They are so good with the "younglings".

Dylan got to fight Darth Vader.

 

Luke got to fight Darth Maul. Darth Maul is so creepy and so are the stormtroopers.

I had read on the blog Babes in Disneyland  that Pirates League was open at Disneyland during October.  Its kind of like the boys version of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique except instead of a princess makeover, they paint on eyebrows and a beard and dress them like a pirate with a sword, sash, and a medallion necklace.  The boys love getting their faces painted so I thought they would like this.  Plus they love the show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  We weren't sure if it was open on the day we were there, and then when we went through New Orleans Square on the way to lunch at our favorite Hungry Bear, pirate wenches were passing out fliers, so we put that on our list after lunch.

It was tucked away in the back behind the shops, by the stairs.  It was set up in true Disney fashion.  Our timing was perfect and there was no one in line.  The boys got to pick if they wanted to be Jake , or a first mate. I was surprised they all wanted to be Jake. 

 

 

It was hilarious watching the process. The Pirate "wenches" were amazing. They were so good with the boys and they all stayed in character the entire time, speaking in a cockney accent. They were so funny.

 

 

As each boy was done, they were read the pirate oath and then it was announced, "We have a new pirate" and all the pirate wenches shouted ,"AHOY!". It was truly magical.

It was a priceless afternoon.  My favorite part was as soon as they were done, Dylan and Austin ran up the stairs and started dueling with their new swords like old pros.

The boys really wanted to ride the tea cups.  I don't think I've been on them since their Mom was little.  None of us were really thrilled about it, but I took one for the team and went with Luke and Dylan while Melissa went with Austin.  Craig offered to take pictures.  It was so much fun and we laughed the entire time.  But I'm pretty sure I won't go again soon- I felt awful when the ride stopped.

We love the Enchanted Tiki Room and getting a Pineapple Whip.  Why did it take us this long to discover that the back row has nice padded seats?

Luke stayed in character all day, and was very serious about having his hand on his sword, or putting it up on his shoulder.  It was another wonderful day at the happiest place on earth.  So glad we have our season passes.