Chicago and St. Louis

I'm working a few weeks behind...surprise, surprise, right?? he he! Steve had the week off a couple of weeks ago and we took advantage of him being home and traveled all over the place during the week. We had lots of fun together! :) Our big trips of the week were to Chicago and St. Louis. We love doing spur of the moment trips and getting a good deal on hotwire.com or priceline.com. So, we packed up and right before we left, we got a hotel downtown Chicago at The Hotel Allegro. It was right next to the Cadillac Theater. Really nice hotel. I knew we would be walking all over the place, so it was the perfect time to get the stroller I had been wanting for a long time. We stopped at Buy Buy Baby on the way up to Chicago and got the Joovy Sit and Stand stroller. LOVE IT! Colin can sit/stand on the back platform and Cade sits up front. Greatest invention ever! I knew Colin would walk some of the way but he couldn't walk the miles we walked, so I am so happy we got it. There is a picture of them sitting in the stroller in the hotel because they are so happy to have it! :)

We walked to Navy Pier and went on the ferris wheel, notice no fear Cade, leaning over the edge and almost giving us a heart attack when I am trying to take their pictures!! They loved it and wanted to go again, and again! We ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Great food! They even had face painting there and Colin got his face painted like Batman. Black paint is hard to get off if anyone wants to know! Because they were so good at dinner, they got to ride the Thomas train a couple of times too. Then, we headed back the many miles back to our hotel. We had lots of fun!

Funny story...at our hotel, Cade didn't want to go to bed. This was at 9:00. He was overtired and screamed for less than a minute. About 2 minutes later...knock on the door. Hotel management...we've had a complaint about a child screaming in your room, can you please hold it down in there? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? It is 9:00, not midnight, and it was less than a minute! So, I don't think we will be going back there any time soon! ha!

The next day, we got up and went to The Shedd Aquarium. I haven't been there forever, and knew the boys would love it. Just an FYI for anyone that goes there in the future. It was cheaper to buy the year long pass if you plan on going back in the same year. It was going to cost us around $70 to get in and the year long pass I purchased was $115...for the whole year! Plus, you get discounts on food, purchases, etc. there too. What a deal! So, we have to go back sometime this year to make it worth while, which I am sure we will do! :)

Colin and Cade loved the animals there. Penguins were a big hit! I don't know if you can see the fish behind the glass or not, but there is one of Cade with a huge whale staring right at him. Next time, I will have to remember to turn my flash off when I take pictures! Another stroller picture (can you tell we like it?) and a hilarious "chheeese" pic from Cade!

We got home from Chicago and made the split decision to go to St. Louis the next day to visit one of our favorite people, cousin Wade. He lives downtown STL and we love visiting him there. We went to the zoo and had lots of fun looking at the animals. It was hot, but not too hot like it usually is when we go down there. We even rode the train that goes through the zoo this time and had lots of fun riding through tunnels and seeing more of the zoo.

We went to lunch and then to the arch. We were going to go up but it was so crowded and such a long wait, we decided we just will have to go visit STL again...bummer! :) Wade and Colin were trying to climb the arch at Colin's request. :) We walked through the parks that had the All Star arches (notice we had to find the Cubs on the arch!) We even played in the water fountain too.

We headed home after the arch trip and Steve and Colin took off late evening to head to the Indy race with the guys in my family. Whew...long couple of days, lots of traveling...but so much fun!

Colin's Activities

All summer Colin had activities that kept us really busy. His schedule was swimming on Monday and then soccer. Tuesday and Thursdays were WeeBall and Wednesdays were soccer. Fridays were the Fun Run. Wow - he is one busy kid! But...he enjoyed every single moment of it and loved playing the sports.

Here Colin is at a soccer game. The games are quite interesting. Pretty much a pack of 4 year olds just running around together. Half the time the kids would be kicking the ball in the wrong direction and score for the opposite team. Colin played goalie quite often and he enjoyed it. He did good blocking the ball most times. Even saved a ball while someone (accidentally) kicked his knuckles. See, real hard core soccer here! :) We enjoyed watching him enjoy the game. When I played soccer, I pretty much just hung out by the goalie and did some gymnastics or picked flowers...yeah, my parents were real proud of me, I'm sure! :)

Here is Colin at WeeBall. WeeBall is the step before T-ball. There are no games, just practices that teach them the fundamentals of T-Ball so they can play next year. They made it a lot of fun for the kids. Below are some pics of them having water WeeBall. Instead of a ball, they did everything with water balloons. Remember, Colin doesn't like to get his clothes wet, so that was interesting! After awhile, he came around and was fine. The last day everyone wore their tshirts and took pics as well as ran competitions. Colin did awesome and won two first place ribbons and one second place ribbon. They were for hitting, running, and throwing. We are proud of Colin for doing so well. He definitely wants to play next summer.

And just because this is so funny to me...
I walked into Colin's room and this is what I find. Notice all the books on the floor behind him? Yeah, he designed his room to look like that he told me. Seriously? The underwear on the head is hilarious. The things they come up with. ha!

Cade wanting to be just like Colin...although, Colin said Cade did it first. Who knows! You can see the admiration for his older brother. So cute!

It's been 6 years!

Wow...time does fly when you are having fun! Today, Steve and I have been married for 6 years. Where did time go? It feels like not that long ago we were getting ready for our wedding. 6 years, 2 kids, and 2 houses later, we are still having fun and loving life. What more could you ask for? Steve and I are so lucky to have found each other...because, really? who else would put up with him? (TOTALLY kidding!) Love you Steve! :) Here's to many more happy years together!

Our wedding party on July 12, 2003

Caroline Lynn Engle

Erin and Kevin became parents on Wednesday, July 8, 2009. (love her birthday...7-8-9!) Caroline Lynn Engle was welcomed at 9:25 am weighing 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19.5 inches long. She has lots of light brown fuzz just waiting for lots of bows to be put in it! We got to see her on Wednesday afternoon and she is a doll! Just precious as can be. I always forget how little they are! Congratulations Erin and Kevin. You will be wonderful parents, Caroline is lucky to have you!

Proud parents! Mommy and Daddy with Caroline

Colin meets Caroline. He was so excited! He was upset he didn't get to see her the first day "in real" (not in pictures I took!) So, Colin and I went last night to see her. He was so sweet with her. He chose the gifts we gave her with much thought. He wanted her to have a rattle, an outfit that said mommy and one that said daddy (have to have one for both parents!) and then a silky pink blanket like all of his he still loves. He just knows Caroline will love hers too!

The Zoo and More...

Last week Steve and I took the kids to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun. Below are some of the fun times we had at the zoo!

Cade had lots of fun looking at the animals this time. He hasn't been too interested in the zoo before, but the animals were moving around and he is loving making animal sounds lately, so this is right up his alley. He even touched an animal today and thought he was some hot stuff!

Here are some pics of Colin. He has always loved the zoo. He has so much fun when we go there. He also likes to play mini golf and complete the fun puzzles they have there too. He also touched some animals that I wouldn't even touch! :)

These were also taken last week (when it was warm!) They had so much fun with our $5 Slip and Slide that lasted all of about 5 minutes. A dollar per minute isn't bad, right? :) They have so much fun together.

And, then something like this happens. Ahh, gotta love this age! Of course, I love to document these fits and one day hope to show them to Cade and show him how silly he looks. But, for right now...I just point and shoot the camera while he is throwing these fits and just laugh. Gotta love being a parent! :)

Nice...so nice!

Have you ever seen the really dumb movie House Bunny? Love the quote "nice...so nice!" from the movie. Long story to explain it, but it is said with some attitude and sarcasm and I say it a lot when I am frustrated! You will just have to go out and rent the really terrible movie to understand it! :)

So, I walked away from the table for just ONE second and I come back and see this...

Nice, huh? How can you not laugh though? He is just so darn cute! Of course, before stopping him , I had to grab the camera! Love him...not the clean up! :)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy! Steve, you are a wonderful role model to our two boys. Colin and Cade could not have a better father! They anxiously await your arrival each night and can't wait to spend time with you. Thanks for being such a great dad to our two boys! We love you!

This afternoon, we celebrated Father's Day at my parents house. Here are the two boys with all of their grandpas and daddy. Grandpa Ray (my dad's step dad), Papa (my dad), Grandpa Gene (my moms dad), Grandpa (Steves dad), and Daddy. They are so lucky to have so many men in their lives that love them!

Happy Father's Day! :)

And we're back after a short...I mean LONG break!

So, I am pretty much the worst mom on Earth! I haven't blogged in a very long time! I was so busy with school and activities, time just got away from me. Then, I never had time to load my pictures, then it turned into I didn't have time to go back and update, and then I was overwhelmed with updating over that long period of time, and now...I am forgetting about updating and just moving on! So, if anyone is still out there even checking on this blog since we took a very long hiatus...I am promising from now on to update regularly and be a better blogger, commenter, etc.

This summer has been lots of fun with the boys so far. If only the weather would cooperate, we could make it to the pool for once! The boys have swam in my parents backyard (gotta love the plastic blue pools!) They have done the slip and slide a couple of times and even the sprinkler. But, no public pools as of yet.

The boys do play well together and it is fun watching their relationship grow. Colin is such a good big brother to Cade. Cade is learning how to be a good little brother! :) Here they are playing outside having fun.

I was welcomed into the wonderful world of 30 last week. I still have a hard time believing I am 30, but it isn't so bad! My family got together for dinner that night at my brother and sister in law's house. Erin and Kevin joined us also. As you can see from the picture below, Erin is expecting and looking quite cute these days. Caroline is due to arrive July 25th and we can't wait! I am so excited she is having a little girl! :) Below is Steve and I at Jeff and Emily Engle's wedding (Erin and Kevin's brother and sister in law) at the beginning of June. The original Jameson family (and a tad of Colin's face...he can't stay away from Papa) and then Erin and Kevin with us.

Here are the boys helping GG make her infamous GG bread. She does that Amish Friendship bread...bakes it every 10 days. I don't know how she can keep up with it, but my boys LOVE it! She even started making muffins and the first thing my boys want in the morning are GG muffins. Do you see how long Colin's tongue is? That thing is so long!!

Fun outside with bubbles and the swingset. Do you see what I am talking about how Colin is a good big brother? He waits for Cade to sit on his lap, jump on his back or lay on his tummy to go down the slide together! Even pushes him in the swing. Too cute! Cade loves his big brother and Colin loves being a big brother! :) Cade is keeping us very busy...he is VERY active and energetic. Always keeps me on my toes!

Well, that is it for now. I am promising to keep up from now on and if I don't...please remind me of this promise! Hope everyone is enjoying their summers! :)

A visit to the doctors

The boys had their well check ups this week with Dr. Emm. Colin's 4 year (a little late!) and Cade's 15 month...hard to believe they are that old already! Everything was good with both boys. Cade was over his strep, thank goodness!

My mom came with us, hence the many pics below! She always has her camera with her. I am not sure what the nurses and doctor thought of us snapping pics right and left! :) Colin weighed in at 47 pounds and Cade was 27 pounds. Both were in the 90% and above. Let's just say I have a very strong left arm muscle from carrying them around! :)

We were in the office for about an hour and a half...long time to wait with 2 little ones. Luckily, the office had lots of fun things for them to do while we waited in the room.

The not so fun part came after the checkup from Dr. Emm...both boys needed shots! Colin got 4 in his arms and Cade got 3 one in each leg and one in the arm. It was a sight to see...I am holding Colin while he is screaming, one nurse quickly giving him shots and my mom holding Cade (screaming also) down while another nurse quickly gave him his shots. All of this is happening at the same time, on the same table! The nurses then let the boys choose from the treasure chest...Colin got an ice cream cone that you can hit a button and it flies off the cone, and Cade got a beanie baby teddy bear. At least when we left, they were happy!

Plastic storage tubs

We have a house full of toys...and what do the boys play with??? Yep, you guessed it...plastic storage tubs. Are you kidding me? Why do we have toys?? Below you will find some uses for plastic storage tubs that my boys have "found".

They can be trains, cars, trucks, etc. They can be hats, beds, or tents. They can be book storage tubs, baby storage tubs, or "get away from me" tubs.

But best of all...they can be play with my brother tubs!

Oreos and milk

I am at home today with Cade. Poor little guy has strep. The doctor was surprised his test came back positive because it is very unusual that kids under 2 get strep. So far, Colin doesn't have it and he is doing fine. He went to the sitter today and got to go outside! It is finally nice enough here that we can do that...although, it is supposed to get cold again by the end of the week!

Here is Cade eating an Oreo. I was changing his diaper, a nasty one, and wanted him to stay still while I cleaned him up (that is a hard task for him to stay still!) I grabbed the first thing I could grab and it happened to be an Oreo. That definitely made him stay still. He just kept looking at me like "are you really giving me this?" I then put him in his chair to finish it up and he loved it! Had to finish up dessert with some milk of course!

Noon Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve DAY, we went to the Children's Discovery Museum. They were having a kids party called "Noon Year's Eve"! What a great idea!! They figured most kids don't get the opportunity to stay up late and celebrate the New Year's at midnight, so they did the Noon celebration. Erin and Kevin joined us with their niece and nephew, Ryane and Edison. They were watching them for the day and decided to join us for lots of fun at the museum.

Here are some pics from the day before the countdown. They had their regular stations/playthings there as well as making crowns (for the big day!), centers to make lots of different things and to top it off, the zoo lady to paint kids faces! There was so much going on that day, the kids loved it!

We counted down to noon...full with confetti being thrown, horns being blown, and kids running wild! :) We had to teach the kids how to use the horns, really funny trying to teach 2 four year olds how to do that! (You will also see below Colin on a stool...he was in time out (for some reason, I can't remember now!), he was cracking me up on the stool though, I couldn't pass up the photo.)

The infamous Zoo Lady in town does an awesome job painting the kids faces. She is amazing to watch and she is so quick. We had to wait about 30 or so minutes in line to even get them done. Colin loved his and had me take pics of him making tiger like faces. Ryane, however, didn't like hers so much because it had too much blue in it. This was the only pic of her I could get because she only wanted pink and purple. Ahh, she sounds so like me when I was a little girl! :)

Happy Noon Year's Eve!

Happy 1 year and 2 month Birthday, Cade!

Happy 1 year and 2 month Birthday, Cade! (Same as Colin's post below...bad mom, I am trying to make it up now for missing it in the fall!)

Cade Douglas Cunningham was born on November 19, 2007. We were happy he joined us after his big brother's birthday instead of on his birthday. We have two special boys and we wanted them each to have their own days to celebrate!

Cade was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches long. Since the moment he came into our little family, we have been forever changed. Cade is full of life, full of energy, and full of love. We love Cade so much, although, he does tire us out, he is non-stop! Cade loves his big brother and tries to do everything he does...it is so cute. Colin might not think so, but we do! :)

An hour or so after you entered the world...

Cade meeting his big brother, Colin


Cade on his first birthday


Wow...one year changes everything!

Happy 1st Birthday Cade! We love you!