Phoenix Zoo

The kids and I once again joined Julie and her kids for another fun free for us outing. Yeah for friends with season passes. We went to the Phoenix Zoo where the kids had fun seeing all the animals. All of them did really great walking (if you have ever been to the zoo you know its huge and requires a lot of walking). With the weather being cooler and earlier in the morning all the animals were out and we got to see almost everything. Including the mating tortoises that the kids found really funny because of the weird sounds they were making.

Raquel,Marcus and Natalya

Watching the zoo animals.

Marcus taking a short break.

Raquel and the monkey.

The kids and I stopped for lunch after the zoo.

Marcus really enjoyed his Chinese food.

Temple Lights

My cousins Claire, Carolyn and Charlotte came to visit for Thanksgiving. We had fun swimming, shopping, eating and just soaking in the sun. Before they left we made a trip down to see the Temple lights in Mesa and enjoy some pizza at Organ Stop Pizza. The girls enjoyed the music and organ during dinner, but it was a bit loud for Marcus and made for a not so fun dinner for me.

Claire, Charlotte and Raquel at Organ Stop Pizza.

Margaret, Carolyn, Charlotte, Claire, Raquel and Natalya

Enjoying the temple lights. The kids really enjoyed all the different colored lights and it was nice to see them all while it was warm outside.

Visits

While we were in Arizona Grandma Kennedy, Great Grandma Robison and Aunt Natalie came to visit. The girls had so much fun playing with Grandma and Natalie. We were able to spend some time with Mike's cousins and aunts. The kids had fun eating and playing at the park with their new friends while we had a picnic.

Natalya, Natalie and Raquel at the park.

Andrea, Marcus, Great Grandma Robison and Grandma Kennedy.

On our way home from a fun afternoon at the park.

Aunt Natalie was so good to play with all the little cousins.

The girls always love when Natalie and Grandma Kennedy come because they get to put on sparkly makeup and get fun hairdos.

Natalie and Grandma brought fun new dress-ups for the girls.

They each got a tinker bell and snow white dress.

Natalya and her favorite aunt Natalie.

Natalya, Natalie and Raquel

The girls had lots of fun we only wish that Aunt Natalie and

Grandma Kennedy could have stayed longer.

Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl Natalya!

Ten Things I Love about You!

• You are so loving. You are always telling me "I love you too" even if I haven't told you yet that I love you.

• You still love your blanky.

• You are such a great friend to your sister and brother. You are willing to share and play with them.

• You are able to play all by yourself. You have fun for hours just playing in your room with your barbies.

• I love that you enjoy the water and are learning to swim.

• You love doing your workbook, just like your big sister. You are trying so hard to learn to write and recognize your letters and numbers.

• Love all the cute things you say Winkle Dar (Twinkle Star), Marder (Marcus), shap (clap) etc.

• Your willingness to always help out mom.

• What a happy little girl that you are becoming. Lots of smiles and laughs.

• Very curious and always want to know what we are doing or where we are going.

Natalya turned 3 while we were visiting Grandma & Papa. We started Natalya's special day off with the traditional birthday donut breakfast. Unfortunately they weren't Carol Lee donuts or any other fresh made, we had to go with what ever we could find and that was small powdered just like Papa likes.

Later that morning we went to the Children's Museum with Julie and her kids and ended the day with a Dora birthday party. Lots of friends came to help celebrate Natalya's birthday, my sister Erin and her boyfriend Mark and their dog Jeff, Julie and her family, Connie and RC and a few of Mike's relatives including great grandma Robison and grandma Kennedy.

Enjoying their donut breakfast.

Children's Museum

Marcus having fun with the beans.

Natalya, Raquel and Marcus checking out the crazy cars.

Raquel pedaled around her little sister and brother.

Natalya was very good to make sure Marcus didn't fall out.

She kept her arm around him the whole time.

Coleman, Natalya and Raquel modeling their turkey drum stick hats.

Natalya's party

Natalya and her birthday cupcakes.

Natalya got a princess balloon from Coleman for her birthday and she didn't want to let go of it. You can just see the ribbon but she wouldn't even put it down to eat her cake.

Opening her presents.

Modeling her new princess outfit. She really felt special dressing up and having everyone giving her all the attention.

Natalya, Great Grandma Robison and Marcus

Lots of friends came to play but we were excited that Great Grandma Robison, Grandma Kennedy and Aunt Judy and Pam could come help celebrate.

Safety Health Fair

With Mike gone the kids and I headed to Phoenix to enjoy warmer weather and visit family. While we were their one of the Hospitals in the area put on a large safety health fair that the kids and I went to with my friend Julie and her two kids. The kids were able to climb in and out of helicopters, ambulances, bomb squad vans, trucks and a lot more. The kids had fun jumping on lots of bouncy houses, eating free cookies, popcorn and snow cones and collecting all sorts of free handouts. We even came away with three free bike helmets for the kids. We may not be able to fit them in our suit case to take home but hey they were free.

Marcus hanging out in the helicopter pilot seat.

Natalya, Raquel and Coleman checking out the

life flight helicopter.

Marcus driving the fire truck.

Modeling their new bike helmets.

The girls practicing doctor on a few baby dolls.

Learning to Walk

Marcus has been learning to walk.

Halloween

The kids had a fun Halloween. Marcus and Natalya enjoyed joining Raquel at her school party where they played fun games, ate lots of goodies and made cute crafts.

On Halloween the kids started their trick or treating at an assisted living home. Where I thought the residents would love to see the three kids dressed up and they could get a few pieces of candy. I was right about the residents loving the kids, especially Marcus, but I was way off on the candy. All three kids came out of there with a full plastic pumpkin full. Marcus thought it was too much and most of the candy the residents gave him he would throw on the floor right after they handed it to him.

After getting loads of candy in a short amount of time we headed to Wendy's for dinner and to think about what to do with the rest of the evening since we definitely didn't need any more candy. As we were eating we noticed that across the street they were having Halloween activities at the shopping center. So we all headed over to trick or treat through the stores and enjoy a few games and treats.

Raquel was not done having fun yet and wanted to trick or treat in our neighborhood and so we headed home to hit the streets. We were able to hit the houses on our street before it started to rain. So we hopped in the car and went to a few select friends houses to show off our costumes and then home for the night. I don't think we will need to buy another piece of candy until Easter with how much all three kids collected.

Raquel getting ready to pumpkin bowl at her school party.

Eating her yummy treats!

Rapunzel and Rapunzel at Wendy's

waiting for their food.

Marcus and Raquel at Wendy's

Marcus surveying his candy stash.

Natalya & Raquel checking out their treats.

Natalya and her bag of candy.

She could hardly lift it because it was so heavy.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward trunk or treat was tonight and the girls were very excited to finally dress up in their Rapunzel costumes and of course get candy. I made the girls dresses and hair pieces and I think they turned our very cute. But I definitely will think twice about making such elaborate costumes again. Marcus was Superman, his costume was easy a recycled dog costume from Sammie when he was a puppy. It fit Marcus perfectly and no one knew the difference.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel and Superman

Showing off their long hair

Enjoying some candy. Marcus is becoming

quite the candy-oholic.

The girls played a few games at the trunk or treat before

we headed home for the night. They are trying to eat donuts off

of a string with out any hands.

Bugfest and Pumpkin Patch

Bug fest

The Virginia Tech Entomology Department put on a great activity called bug fest. Grandma Clinger, the girls, Marcus and I had lots of fun learning all about different bugs. The girls were even brave enough to hold a cockroach and millipede. They had all sorts of bugs on display, along with games to learn about them and tons of fun crafts for the girls. We learned about bed bugs, ticks, bees, cockroaches and butterflies to name a few.

Enjoying bug fest!

Raquel holding a cockroach.

Grandma and the girls checking out the millipede.

Butterfly Natalya, just one of the many fun

prizes the girls got at bug fest.

The Pumpkin Patch

There are so many fun things to do on the weekend that we had to fit in one more while we were out. We headed to the pumpkin patch where the girls and I took a hayride out to the patch to pick a pumpkin. The girls had fun on the giant bales of hay that were near the patch while I enjoyed the beautiful view. Marcus had fallen asleep on the way so Grandma stayed with him in the car. After we had all the fun we could handle the girls and I headed back to the car were we tried to start the car but it wouldn't start. If you know the what Virginia is like around here you know that everything is one a hill. The parking lot of the pumpkin patch was no different and we had parked sideways on a very steep hill. We were so lopsided that it made the car think we were out of gas. We were running a little low but not completely out. Luckily we were parked in the right direction and no cars were in front of us so Grandma got out and pushed while I put it in neutral and pushed from the drivers side. We coasted down the steep hill to the main road where the car started right up and we were on out way. We did stop at the nearest gas station and filled up the car just in case we wouldn't make it home from out in the country.

Picking their pumpkins

Playing in the hay

Playing on the car made out of hay

School Lunch

Natalya, Grandma Clinger and I joined Raquel for school lunch. Raquel was so good to take her little sister through the lunch line and make sure she got to the lunch table with her food. Natalya had so much fun being a big girl and eating lunch with the Kindergartners. It was fun getting to meet and talk with some of Raquel's classmates and see what she does at lunch. We will definitely have to do it again soon.

Eating lunch with Natalya

Big girl Natalya is ready to take on school lunch.