The Toole Family

Expecting...

2011-05-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Nope, not me, but my little sister Erica and her husband Ira are expecting their first baby in November! We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet that little "bunski"...Congrats you two!!!

Swim lessons

2011-05-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Brandon and Colin started swim lessons this past week! It is only going to be 4 sessions. They have already had two sessions and they LOVE swim lessons! They also have become little underwater fish over night! They want to be underwater ALL the time. Especially Colin! They are learning the front crawl (aka freestyle!) and hopefully by the end of the summer they will finally be swimming on their own. There are 6 kids in the class and two teachers. Miss Olivia and Miss Megan. Brandon and Colin are little pipsqueeks though and enjoy messing with the lanelines more than anything else...boys will be boys...

Here goes Colin...

Brandon's little head underwater...

And in true Toole fashion, Brandon is messing with the lane lines and Colin is messing with the noodles...

zoo

2011-04-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the zoo on a Friday that Brandon had off of school. Kylie and Kira and Aunt Rachel were in town, so we all went and had a great time. Brandon said his favorite animal was the giraffe and Colin loved the monkeys!

They got to ride the train, see the dinosaur exhibit, ride the carousel and play in the kid's play area.

St. Patty's Day and The Stampede

2011-04-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Brandon's school had their "Stampede" carnival on St. Patty's day...hence the leprechaun shirts and cowboy hats! Kylie and Kira were in town so they came with us, as well as our neighbors. It was so much fun! They got their faces painted, got tattoos, the girls got their nails done, they played games, ate food and jumped in bounce houses. The best part for me was seeing how much of a "big man on campus" Brandon is. All the teachers and a lot of kids were saying hi to him and he was just so popular for such a little kid. It was cool to see him in his environment and just having a great time!

Brandon's teacher Mrs. Oliff was doing face painting. He's never wanted to have his face painted before, but since she was painting, he went right up there!!

Brandon's first soccer game!

2011-04-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Brandon had his first soccer game ever about 4 weeks ago (yup, once again, I am behind, but I'm getting them up now!) I wasn't able to make it to the game, but Juan and Colin went to cheer him on! He did great and had a blast! He is following in his Daddy's footsteps as a star player! His team named themselves "The Squirrels"...There are 3 boys and 3 girls on his team. One of his teammates is our neighbor Hunter...they are so cute playing together! Here are a few pics from the game!!

Hailey and Colin were there to cheer on Brandon and Hunter...

The boys...

Brothers...Colin REALLY wanted to play too...

Pep talk...Brandon got to be #4, since he is 4 years old!

pony rides & more

2011-04-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last month (yup, last month...I am far behind...) Brandon and Colin went to their friend Cordelia's birthday party! There were pony rides, a hay ride to feed animals and lots of fun cowboy/cowgirl stuff going on. I couldn't believe they both actually RODE A PONY! Brandon hopped on right away. It took Colin awhile to get up the courage, but he finally did it! They had a great time!!

a bragging moment

2011-03-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

I am so impressed with Brandon and how artistic he is and how well he is doing with school and learning and talking. He can write his entire alphabet and he proceeded to do so on our driveway...

And here is a picture he drew of himself (see the glasses?) with the sun and his new favorite letter "D for Daddy!"

SOCCER

2011-03-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

Brandon got his cleats and shin guards and is ready for his first season of soccer, which starts next weekend! He (and we) are SO excited!!

ROAD TRIP!!

2011-03-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Last minute we decided to jump in the car with Nemah and Papa and head west to Mississippi to visit Rachel, Allen, Kylie and Kira. Kira was having her 4th birthday party and Brandon just happened to have Friday and Monday off of school, so it was perfect. Except for the fact that Colin was sick the whole trip, and it WAS a LONG drive, we had a great time and we are glad we decided to go. This was probably our last visit to Meridian, as they are moving to Pensacola soon! YAY for 3-4 hours closer than before!!

It was a busy, fun weekend. Saturday morning we hit up Kylie's soccer game! She surely is a princess on the field. She is too cute and we had a great time watching her!!

Colin and Kira cheer Kylie on!

After the game, the kids spent some time out front playing and having a great time enjoying the nice weather. Brandon and Colin were dying to drive the Barbie car and of course instead of posing for a picture, Colin decided to turn on the radio and Brandon insisted it was too loud...so much for a nice pic of the boys...

Allen set up the bounce house and they had a blast! Colin was afraid to go in and he didn't like going in while anyone else was in there, but when he had a chance to go in by himself, he loved it! They also loved tumbling down the slide part.

PHOTO SHOOT!!

BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Kira had her birthday party at the carousel. It was a PJ party so all the kids got to wear their favorite pajamas. The boys were at first hesitant about riding on the carousel. After the first ride around, Brandon was a pro and actually started riding by himself! Colin was still a little shy, but did go around a few times. He was more interested in the cake and candy than anything else! Rachel did a great job with the Monkey cakes and all the decorations. It was a great party! It was also Papa's birthday, so he got a cake too!

Jump Rope for Heart-2nd year

2011-03-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Last year Brandon did Jump Rope for Heart and raised $75. This year we decided not to fund raise, but he still got to participate and had a good time. Colin and I went to his school to watch him with our neighbors, Kristin and Hunter (Hailey was jumproping too!). Brandon was having a blast and Colin got to join in on the fun too! What a great way to keep the heart healthy (and on Valentine's day too!)

This was when we first saw him...his class holds rings to stay in line when they go places. Brandon actually isn't the shortest kid in the class anymore!

Brandon and Hunter...gotta love Hunter's shirt!

Go Brandon Go Brandon Go!

This might have been Colin's first time "jumping rope"

Bros:

What a little poser!

Colin's Valentine's Day Playdate

2011-02-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

Colin had about 13 friends over for a Valentine's Day playdate! They played, ate, decorated bags and exchanged Valentine's. It was a great morning and the kids and mommies had lots of fun!

Here are some of the kids decorating their bags...

Here is Colin putting a Valentine card and some bubbles into each of his friend's bags:

Here is his buddy Hunter taking a turn:

PS, the blue wall in the background is our new kitchen color! I painted it all by myself!! The old color was the same color as the rest of the house that you can see in the other pictures!

Making Valentine's Day Cards

2011-02-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

We sat down today after dinner to make cards for Brandon and Colin's friends. They each did a really good job of putting them together by themselves. They love anything having to do with monkeys and actually picked them out at the store themselves too! And this was one of the first craft projects that Colin REALLY got in to. He had a blast, did all 10 of his by himself and did a great job!

And this is what happens when Brandon decides he wants to use the camera...a view from his world...

ps. see that bruise/bump on Colin's forehead? YIKES! Fell out of the chair at dinner the other night, reaching for a piece of bread he dropped!

bye bye baby clothes

2011-02-07T17:23:00.001-08:00

Between Brandon and Colin's clothes from birth to size 2T, there are many things that I have given away to friends, donated to charity, sold in yard sales, cut up for my onesie quilts and have stored away to keep "just in case"...

AND...

we still had this leftover:

225 items that i hung, tagged and priced for a consignment sale. The sale ended yesterday and I actually sold 80 items for a grand total of $156! Not sure what I'll do with what's left, but I was happy to get a good chunk out of Colin's closet...

Another blog

2011-02-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

I am starting another blog in addition to this one...it will showcase any art projects/crafts that I do...

If you are interested in following it...

Heartmade by Hand

Meanwhile, all of the family updates will be here!

LOVE

2011-01-27T17:25:00.000-08:00

Brandon was proud of the heart chalk drawing he helped me with!!

preschool

2011-01-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we go Preschool shopping for Colin! Wish us luck!!

SILLY BANDS

2011-01-27T17:21:00.000-08:00

The boys (Ok, i admit, it's their mom) have an obsession with silly bands. Santa brought them a bunch to fill their stockings...they have been having fun with them and they are so cute sharing them with their friends. Here they are sporting their silly bands!

Photo Overload!!

2011-01-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Here are the promised pictures from the holidays!!

Brandon celebrated his 4th Birthday with a Train party! The weather was a little rainy, but the kids (and parents(and grandparents)) still enjoyed the train, food, presents and fun!

The 4 year old on his actual birthday, in front of his cards:

Juan and I getting ready to go to our MOMS group Christmas party...the kids were watching Frosty the Snowman!

We exchanged gifts with Nemah and Papa a few days before Christmas since they were going to be in Maryland. Brandon and Colin each got a special ornament!

Santa must have told Nemah and Papa that the boys wanted scooters for Christmas...here they are opening them!

Brandon jumped up and down when he saw what it was!

It took colin a lot longer to get into his!

The kids got to see Santa TWO times before Christmas! The first time Santa and Mrs. Claus were at the craft show!

They also got to see him at Juan's work Christmas party! Santa came in on a fire truck this year!

(waiting in line to see him!)

Two days before Christmas Colin transitioned into a toddler bed. He did great! This was the first night in his new bed!

Brandon wanted his picture taken in his bed too!

The boys made cookies on Christmas Eve to leave out for Santa. They were so excited to have them come out of the oven!

YUM!!

The stockings!

They put out reindeer food in the yard so the reindeer had something to eat while Santa delivered presents!

Brandon loves his Santa!

They had to put out lots of cookies and milk for Santa!

Looks like Santa came!!

He came thru the chimney and filled the stockings!

Apparently while Santa was busy inside, Rudolph was outside, looking in! He left his nose print!!

Juan got some Spanish cookies!

New Year, New Goal

2011-01-13T08:07:00.000-08:00

With the new year, my new goal is to blog at least once a week. I need people to hold me to it! Last year was a really, really busy year! I am super active with my MOMS group at Church, my MOPS group, handicrafters at church and now I'm involved in CRHP (Christ Renews His Parish). I've met some really great friends and am keeping busy with the kids schedules, playdates, errands, laundry, etc. Juan has had a busy year as well, getting ready to deploy in June, he has been doing crazy work-ups. Gone for a week here, a month there, 6 weeks here. He's actually leaving again for 5 weeks in a few days. He will be on an air craft carrier, getting used to life back out to sea.

Brandon has been loving school. He just got an award for perfect attendance for the first half of the year. If he had to miss a day of school he would be devastated. He had 2 1/2 weeks off of school over Christmas break and kept talking about how he couldn't wait to go back to school. The first day back after break he was jumping up and down with joy. I hope his attitude towards school stays that way for a LONG time! I was lucky enough to go on a field trip with his class to see The Nutcracker. He was a little scared when it got dark and loud, but eventually ended up enjoying the show! It was nice to see him in action with all his school friends as well. He's Mr. Popular in that class!!

Brandon also just celebrated his 4th birthday! I can't believe we have a 4 year old!! He is such a nice kid and a nice big brother. He will almost always share and he tries to take care of Colin. He is very artistic and still loves to do puzzles and is now into playing games. He still LOVES going to the park and can't get enough of slides. The higher, more twistier, the better! He is all boy!! He still loves Thomas, Curious George and Diego. Now is also into Dinosaurs and Toy Story. He had a train birthday party with an actual train for him and all of his friends to ride. It was a great time!

Colin is 2 1/2 now. He is definitely in his terrible twos, but is still my sweet little guy. He is so smart, remembers everything and anything, talks up a storm and looks up to his big brother. I've caught him many times imitating Brandon. He is big into sweets and candy (oh no!!). He LOVES his "buddies"...they are all of his stuffed animals that he wants to have in his bed. I think I tried to count how many he had the other day and I stopped counting at 47 when his bed was overflowing. I keep trying to tell him to keep some in the basket by his bed, but he wants them ALL! Too funny. Right before Christmas, he transitioned into a toddler bed! He was definitely ready for it! I thought it would be more challenging than it was, but he took to it right away. A few times I have caught him sneaking out, but usually he'll get back in. He still loves to sleep! I'm starting to look into sending him to a pre-school for the fall. Just a few days a week. I think he will enjoy that.

That is all for now. The next entry will have all the pictures from the holidays.

Happy New Year everyone!!

long time, no blog...

2010-10-03T16:33:00.001-07:00

I have been a total slacker over the summer when it came to the blog. I am hoping to get back on track here. We had a pretty "normal" summer except for the fact that Colin spent 3 1/2 weeks in a cast and Juan was gone for a month in June and a few weeks in August. We spent a lot of time at our pool and at Nemah and Papa's pool. We did a lot of projects at Lowe's, we spent a few days in Disney and we enjoyed the hot Florida weather...

Brandon is now back in school and loving it and loving to ride the bus. His teacher is Mrs. Oliff and she is so nice and very good at communicating with the parents, which is great! As of right now there are only 6 kids in his class...all boys!! Brandon is now potty trained!!!!! He does excellent during the day and we only put a diaper on him at night (just in case!) He is so proud of himself when he goes potty and will even go potty away from home in a public restroom, which eases a lot of worries about being away from the house.

Colin tries to go potty too, but nothing yet has come out. Just sits there to be cool like Brandon. He is a little ham, very sociable and is my sidekick...he goes wherever I go during the days while Brandon is at school. We have started back up on our busy routine...M.O.M.S. stuff on most mondays; MOPS on most tuesdays; handicrafters on wednesdays; gym on thru, fri, sat and whenever else possible; Lowe's workshops every other Sat; and the list goes on. I am also involved in Christ Renews His Parish this year at my church (which is awesome!), we have been trying out Mommy & Me classes at the YMCA and we even tried out Awana for the kids and Bible study for me, but we had to drop that because it was too late at night. So as you can see, we are keeping busy!

Juan is busy doing work-ups and evaluations, flying and also being an awesome dad and is enjoying the gym as well. We try to do as much fun stuff as possible when he is home (which isn't that often these days). Tonight during the bed time routine, we were reading a book and there was one part where the boy and his dad were doing something together. Brandon said "Where's my daddy? I need to see my daddy?" So, it is hard on them, but we are doing the best we can.

Now I need to make up for lost blogging time and post some pictures. I will not post all thru the summer, but starting when Brandon went back to school and a few things since then. If you want to see the rest of the pictures thru the summer, they are all posted on our flickr website. Enjoy!

Waiting for the bus on the first day of school:

This is Brandon's new teacher, Mrs. Oliff...

Here comes the bus, dropping him off after the first day of school...

Daddy was home in time to see Brandon get off the bus...

We went to a carnival a few weeks ago and for the first time (that I know of) Brandon really enjoyed the bounce house...Colin was much more hesitant...

They played a few games...This one you had to hit down the pins with the ball. Brandon hit all 6. Colin tried too!

He got a prize anyways...

Waiting in line for the next game...

Football toss:

Lollipop tree

Here they are at a pirate/princess birthday party they went to for their friends Michael and Lily (twins).

They each took a turn at the pinata

Colin down by the water

Our family...and yes, Juan is wearing a pirate's hat...

Brandon must have gone down this slide 300 times in 30 minutes

A few weeks ago, we also went to Lowe's to build a fire truck project (unfortunately the fire truck was recalled so they did a different project). There were real fire trucks and ambulances there that they got to sit in and they were LOVING it!!

And here are some random shots of them playing with all the stuff in their goodie bags from yet another carnival we went to...

And a few more outside...

Thanks for looking...I hope to keep posting more frequently!!

Broken Ankle

2010-06-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, Colin broke his ankle. He slipped and fell at Nemah and Papa's pool and after that he just wasn't willing to walk or put weight on his foot. So we knew something was wrong and I took him to the ER. They didn't see anything on the X-ray, but put a splint on him and sent us home. The doc said that if it didn't feel better by Monday (this was Friday) to come back and they would re-examine it. He saw an orthopedic and had more x-rays done. The x-ray still didn't show anything, but according to the orthopedic doctor, there is a common "toddler fracture" that is so small that you can't see it on the x-ray, but if he was unable to put pressure on his foot and it was still painful to him after 3 days, that it was more than likely fractured. SOOOO he got a cast all the way from his toes up to half of his thigh. NOT cool considering he can't go to the pool or take a bath for 3-4 weeks :( He has been a trooper though adn after the first week, he has adjusted to having his cast on. He even figured out how to (sort of) walk around with it on. (I need to get a video of this because it's TOO cute!!) Here are some pictures of my little man with his "boot" as he calls it!!

Brandon's last day of school

2010-06-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

Brandon had his last day of school June 9th. They had a fun outdoor "splash" party. They had a huge water slide, pools, fishing, bubbles, sprinklers, etc. Brandon had a blast and even Colin got to go to the party. It was fun to see Brandon in action with the other kids in his class.

AND--they had an awards ceremony for the class and Brandon got TWO awards!! He got Perfect Attendance and Best Attitude for School! Yay Brandon!!!

Here is Brandon with his teacher Mrs. Poovey

Brandon getting one of his awards:

And here are both of the kids enjoying some of the activities at the party:

They didn't go on the slide--too scary!!

POOL FUN

2010-05-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

Brandon and Colin are such little fish!

Happy Birthday Colin!!

2010-05-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today Colin turned 2 years old! I can't believe it was two years ago that I went into early labor and was so nervous about how little he was when he was born a month early. Now he is so grown up and is a thriving, growing toddler with lots of energy, super smarts and lots of love. He had his two year shot (only one, thank goodness) and weighed in at 24 lbs and is 33 inches tall. He is in the 25th percentile for both. He has a HUGE vocabulary...repeats pretty much any word with ease and great articulation. Today he repeated "pistachio nut", and later told me he wanted "another pistachio nut". He has phrases that are 5 words or more long and he has quite the personality of a much older kiddo. He told his grandpa today "by grandpa, see ya, have fun" like he was just carrying on a normal routine of saying goodbye. His favorite thing right now it to say "What's that?" and when you tell him what it is, he repeats it, says "yeah" and will remember what it is later on. He wants to know what EVERYTHING is. Luckily he is not in the "why?" phase yet. He still loves to EAT! He has been cutting teeth though so he's been a little cranky. He cut 6 teeth (including 4 molars) all in a one month period. He sleeps really well and he has to have his "night night" (his blanket) and his "doggie" with him wherever he goes. He loves to snuggle and hang out with his big brother. They enjoy chasing each other around and playing cars and playing outside together.

We had a busy day on his birthday. He had his doctors appointment, then him and Brandon got to go swimming in his NEW pool (same one we had last year, but new this year), he got a golf game that he enjoyed and we had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, his favorite restaurant. He even got to have ice cream with sprinkles on it! This weekend we will have his birthday party at our neighborhood pool with all of his friends! Happy Birthday big boy!!

Colin's house

2010-04-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

Aunt Rachel, Uncle Allen, Kylie and Kira got Colin this awesome fold up house for his birthday. You can color all over it. The kids have been having a blast going in and out of it and coloring on it and "playing house". Thanks Grimes for such a cool gift!!

Colin got a hold of the blue marker and got it all over his face, arms and legs and of course the ink didn't come off for about 3 days! Silly boy! (next time they are using crayons!!)

The Little Gym

2010-04-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the kids went to a birthday party at The Little Gym. They had a great time climbing and crawling and rolling and playing.

Check out the bubbles on Colin's head!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year! We went to church with Nemah and Papa, and they had a nice dinner at their house. Tamara and Lucille joined us for dinner and even the Easter Bunny came to Nemah and Papa's house to hide eggs. The kids really enjoyed the search! The weather has been great so just being outside was a treat.

Check out these eggs we dyed: they are dyed with old silk ties! (all but the bunny egg!)

Colin's playdate Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well, Colin went to a MOPS Easter Egg Hunt and he didn't find many eggs, but I think he had a good time!

Indian Rocks Beach with the Cipollas

2010-04-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to spend 24 hours in Indian Rocks Beach (just south of Clearwater, FL) with some of the Cipolla/Costello clan. They had a beautiful condo on the beach that also had a heated pool. The beach was a little chilly, but the pool was perfect. And basically, it was just fun to see everyone. Brandon and Colin keep raving about "baby John", they just loved being around him! Hopefully next year we can meet up again for a little bit longer, but we treasure every second we get to spend with our "family"...here are a few pictures from our short, but sweet vacation...

Jump Rope for Heart

2010-04-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Brandon participated in Jump Rope for Heart last week at school. I didn't even know that he knew how to jump rope, or even what a jump rope is! But I guess they "practiced" at school. Basically they put the rope down and jumped over it, ran over it, ran away from it, looked at it. It was really cute though. And Juan and I got to go watch, so that was fun. We all wore read to support the American Heart Association. Thank you everyone for your donations! We really appreciate it!!

some videos

2010-03-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos of the boys just being silly. They are so fun to hang out with and they make me laugh and amaze me all at the same time!

Enjoy!

Here is Brandon writing the letter "B".

Here is Brandon doing his puzzle...the last part got cut off because I ran out of memory...

I tried to delete some old stuff really quick so I could catch the end of the puzzle...

The things that amuse them...

2010-03-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

The silliest things amuse Brandon and Colin. Their latest obsession is putting their heads inside these wire containers and just "hanging out"...

hats

2010-03-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

Brandon and Colin have these really cute hats that they like to wear around the house. I need to get some more of them because they are adorable when they wear them!

Brandi Bailey Photos

2010-03-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

Once again, Brandi has taken some amazing photos of Brandon and Colin. Here are some of them for you to enjoy! I can't wait to print out some 8X10s and hang them on my walls!!

Green!

2010-03-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patty's Day from Brandon and Colin!

The Baileys, the park and guacamole...

2010-03-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

We FINALLY got up to GA to visit our friends, The Baielys last week. We hadn't seen them since September, since our schedules have been so busy, so this trip was LONG overdue. Brandon and Madelyn get along so well and Colin's little girlfriend, Scarlet, is growing up so fast and so he now has someone to run around with. (Last time we were together, neither Colin nor Scarlet were walking, now they are both running!!) It was a quick visit, but much needed, and was just fun, relaxing and the trip made me happy. I got a few pictures of them playing at the park & of Brandon and Madelyn pigging out on guacamole that Travis made. I hadn't seen Brandon eat anything so fast in such a long time. He really loved it! After the park, Brandi took some great pictures of the kids that I will post as soon as I get her permission. Here are the pictures I got from last Saturday....

keep checking

2010-02-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

keep checking for posts that i am going to back-date so that the dates are sorta close to when they happened. a bunch of stuff is from way back in dec...trying to make up for lost time, but hey, better late than never, right?

COMING SOON....

2010-02-17T09:58:00.001-08:00

coming soon will be updates, pictures, videos, what's been going on the past two months and lots of apologies for being so bad at blogging!!

Valentine's Day Playdate and Mr. Fix-It

2010-02-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

Colin and I went to a playdate with some other moms and kids from our MOMS group at church. They got to decorate bags and pass out Valentine's with their friends. It was really cute. Colin found his friends' tool bench and went right for the goggles. He ended up putting them on and not taking them off until it was almost time to go. It was so funny! Brandon also had a Valentine's exchange at school, and he came home with a lot of cute Valentine's. It reminded me of when we used to do them when I was young and brought back lots of feelings of nostalgia. It's fun to relive some of our childhood moments thru our kids. Here are some pictures of Colin's playdate.

He somehow got a hold of chocolate and LOVED it! He kept saying "more chocolate, more, more, more"

Green Bath

2010-01-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

One of the gifts that Aunt Jen, Uncle Jeff and Gabriela got the kids for Christmas was the color tablets that you put in the bathtub. The kids LOVE having colors in their bath! We have already ran out and have to get more because they are really neat. I thought the pictures turned out really cool too!

MLK day-St. Augustine-Choo Choo and Putt Putt

2010-01-18T16:37:00.000-08:00

Since Juan had the day off of work and Brandon had off of school on Martin Luther King day, we decided to spend the day in St. Augustine. We wanted to take the kids on the train ride around the city. It was an hour ride all around, and you could get on and off at different stops. The kids LOVED going on the train! It was so fun for them! They even wore their choo choo shirts. We got off at the Putt Putt course and let the kids play. It was the cutest thing to see them with their golf clubs. They enjoyed chasing after the balls and rolling them with their hands, and just plopping the balls into the holes. They will learn how to play for real some day and hopefully go golfing with Juan on the weekends! We had a great day!

During part of the tour we passed by a house that MLK lived in at one time, which was kind of ironic since it was MLK day...

Polar Plunge 2010

2010-01-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

This is my 2nd year in a row doing the Polar Plunge at our neighborhood pool. Juan and I did it last year and this year Juan was out of town for work, so I recruited my dad to do it with me! The water was 48 degrees cold! And they said you had to actually go under the water to get the medal, so we did! BRRR!!! The worst part was how slow you'd go down the slide. The best part was drying off! But we got a nice hot breakfast afterwards, it was great!

Pre Plunge:

See my dad there in the middle?

Papa's 90th birthday!

2010-01-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

Papa turned 90 this year! He is doing great & is healthy and happy! My mom and Aunt Monica threw him a big party in Buffalo to celebrate. At first I wasn't going to be able to make it, but on a whim, last minute, I got myself a ticket to go to Buffalo for the short weekend, but it was so worth it. I didn't want to miss his 90th birthday party for the world. It was great to see him and friends and family while I was there. I love spending time with my Buffalo people! I stayed with Elizabeth and Kyle and John and got to spend a little bit of time with Aunt Monica and Sheila too. It was great & I just am so happy for Papa turning 90!! What a great milestone!

Check out the ice dripping from this bench! (Did I mention it was 3 degrees while I was there?)

And I can't not post pictures of our adorable cousin John!

Does anyone else know a 90 year old that can play the Wii and is good at it? After Papa's birthday, he flew down to FL to spend some time here and he came over one night and played the Wii with us!! He was really good!!

We love you Papa!!

"I ride the bus!"

2010-01-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Brandon had his first day of school on Jan 6th. He even gets to ride the bus to school! How exciting! We had talked to him for weeks on end about riding the bus and you should have seen how excited he was when the bus pulled up on the first day! He was a little nervous about getting on, but his bus driver said Mommy and Daddy could get up there with him and help him and take pictures! He had his backpack and his Wacky and was all set. He even waved bye bye to us as the bus drove away. It was so adorable.

So then after the bus took him to school, Nemah and I drove to the school to drop off his stuff (extra clothes, diapers, etc). We got to go down to his classroom with his teacher and we even saw him coming in off the bus!!! He was so excited! The first thing he said when he saw us was "I ride the bus!!" He seemed so happy and proud of himself. Then he went into the classroom with all the other kids and his teacher showed him where to put his backpack and we were off. What a big boy at school all by himself!

Getting off the bus at the end of the day was a big deal too! He was so proud of himself and kept saying "I ride the bus!" all week long. I can't believe he is at school and I can't believe he rides the bus. He is growing up so fast!!

Here they are waiting for the bus:

Here it comes...

The boy he sat next to, his name is Collin...isn't that cute?

And there they go!

Happy New Year! Fondue!

2010-01-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

For New Year's Eve, we went across the street and had a nice dinner with our awesome neighbors Tamara, Jeff and Lucy. We had steaks, chicken and crab legs. We also made some cheese fondue and got some hilarious pictures from eating it. It was a great way to ring in the New Year...great friends and great food!

Christmas in Maryland

2009-12-30T18:46:00.000-08:00

We drove up to Maryland for Christmas this year and had a great time! There was a lot of snow on the ground, but it made for a nice white Christmas...our first in a LONG time. It was really great to be there because we got to spend Christmas with a lot of family--The Tooles, Brownes, Lingers & Grimes. We got to see Great Grandma Browne and Great Grandma Toole; cousins Susie, Matt and Morgan; Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dave; Aunt Kim, Uncle Dan, Aunt Mary, Uncle Reed; cousins Shannon, Nick, Justin, Mary Beth, Travis, Johel, Ethan, Dylan, Jake; most of the Dillon clan (at Chuckie Cheese); Rachel, Allen, Kylie & Kira; Jen, Jeff and Gabriela; Abuela and Grandpa; Nemah and Papa; and a bunch of other extended family members and friends too! We spent Christmas eve dinner with Great Grandma Browne and family and then went to the Bubby Knot farm to see the lights and animals...it was so cold, but we love that place! We spent Christmas day at the Tooles and the kids had a great time opening presents from Santa and everyone else. They got a lot of fun toys, lots of cars, trains, planes and automobiles! They got a little overwhelmed by everything, but I think had a great time. The following day we went to Chuckie Cheese in Waldorf and met up with the Dillons and it was so nice to see them! It was kind of chaotic chasing all the kids around, but I think we all understood how difficult it was to catch up, each with our own kids, but just being together meant so much to us! We are truly blessed to have such a big extended family that we get to see, especially over the holidays. Here are some of the pictures from our trip...

Christmas Morning:

Chuckie Cheese:

Merry Christmas...

2009-12-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Brandon and Colin, 2009!

visiting Aunt Erica and Uncle Ira

2009-12-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

On our way up to Maryland for Christmas, we drove thru Durham to visit Erica and Ira for one night. It ended up being two nights since there were major snowstorms in MD and VA that we didn't want to drive thru. That was perfectly fine because we loved being able to spend extra time with them. The boys had a blast playing with Luna and Aunt Erica and Uncle Ira. It was really cold, but we had a great time!

We had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrell and the boys loved the rocking chairs! They were just their size!

Of course we exchanged Christmas gifts...Brandon and Colin loved their Navy shirts and tree ornaments!

Then we headed up to Maryland....

HSM-70 Family Christmas party

2009-12-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Juan's squadron held a family christmas party in their hangar. There were crafts, food, bounce houses, and SANTA! Brandon enjoyed making crafts with me, and Colin enjoyed eating as much pizza as he could with Juan. They both did pretty good with Santa...Santa came flying in on Juan's helicopter and the whole time waiting in line the kids kept saying "Santa, Santa" over and over again. It was really cool to see them get excited about it. Probably the highlight of the party was when we were getting ready to leave, Juan took us over to his helicopter and the boys got to get inside it and pretend they were flying. It was really cool, they loved it. It was a great party.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

2009-12-14T11:23:00.000-08:00

Today, Brandon turns 3 years old! He even got to eat a cupcake for breakfast!

Check out the sprinkles on his lips...too cute!

Brandon's last day of speech therapy

2009-12-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

Brandon had his last day of speech therapy with Miss Bridget just before his 3rd birthday. She had been coming to our house once a week for almost a year now. Brandon really got to know her well and really enjoyed her coming to "play". He did learn a lot from her. He learned how to sign, how to count, short phrases like "ready, set, go" and just a lot more about everyday life. We are sad to see her go, but happy that he will be starting SCHOOL soon! Here is Brandon on his last day of speech.

Happy Holidays--The Toole Update

2009-12-11T17:22:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! I did not get a Christmas letter out this year, so hopefully everyone saw on the back of their picture that they needed to check out our blog for updates. It has just been a busy year and a busy last few months.

Brandon is about to turn 3 on Monday. I can't believe it! He is doing really well and is a very happy kid. He loves trains, cars, busses, airplanes and pretty much anything that goes! He is very athletic and can kick a soccer ball perfectly just like his daddy. He loves to swim and play outside and loves hanging out with other kids his age. He is very lovable and loves to snuggle. He is going to be going to school starting in January. He qualified thru the school system to go to a pre-kindgerarden full day program. 6 hours a day, 5 days a week! I don't know what I'll do without him during the day, but it will be so good for him. He will have a speech therapist come into his class 4 times a week to work with him. He will eat breakfast and lunch at school, go to the library, art, PE, music and do lots of learning. He will also get to take a nap at school :) I know he will be so excited to ride the bus!

Brandon just transitioned into his big boy bed. We tried to move him into it in May, but it didn't work out. He just wasn't ready. He would cry all night and get out a million times. He missed the confinement of his crib. So after 4 days/nights of no sleep, we put the crib back up. Last week, we decided to try again and so I took the crib down again and put up his big boy bed. He was SO ready this time! He climbed right in and there was no turning back. He has been sleeping great! I always believe that a mother's instinct is always right and I just knew back then that he wasn't ready and now he is, so it's been great. We are slowly introducing the potty to him now. He likes to sit on the potty, but hasn't figured out what to do on it yet...

Colin is doing great as well. He is now 19 1/2 months old. He is such a charmer. He is also very lovable and is very smart and inquisitive. He is talking up a storm, using phrases, naming everything and anything and will repeat pretty much whatever you say. He copies Brandon a lot and they love to play together (when they aren't fighting over who gets what toy!) Colin also loves trains, cars and balls. He loves to eat! He will eat everything! He actually prefers vegetables to anything else and we think his favorite food is onion!!

Colin finally mastered the art of walking. It took him awhile because of his low muscle tone. He just needed to build up the strength in his legs and get his coordination down. He is much more flexible that most people, so imagine learning how to walk with spaghetti noodles for legs! He is doing great though and is practically running now.

Juan has been working like crazy...he has a new responsibility as the Standardization/Training Program Manager at his squadron. He put in long days at work for the last 3 months in preparation for his first Program Evaluation. The Evaluators came all the way from San Diego for the week long "extravaganza." Fortunately, it went very well for Juan and he received high marks overall. Juan's next challenge will be in February when he goes to Nevada for challenging mountain training. As the days continue to come and go, Juan gets closer and closer to deploying yet again :( Times we have together, especially during the Holidays, become a bit more special.

I have been super busy too! I keep joking with my neighbor that "yes, I did join ANOTHER activity!" I am very active in our MOMS (Mothers on the Move Spiritually) group at church. I am the secretary for the group this year. We do a lot of service projects for the community, like this morning, we made 600+ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless shelter. We also have playdates for the kids and moms to get together. I also joined MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) this year and it has been really fun. It has been great to get to know a whole new group of girls who I have a lot in common with. I somehow got volunteered to help organize the crafts for MOPS, but that is right up my alley, so that's ok. My mom and I joined the handicrafters at our church and that has really been a riot. They are a great group of "mature" women who make crafts to sell for the church at their annual bazaar. I also still go to the YMCA with the kids as much as possible and am really enjoying zumba and spinning. I also, over the past 2 months, participated in 2 craft shows so I was busy painting and crafting lots of stuff. Also, I ran with my neighbor in a 5K in September and a 6K on Thanksgiving with her and Juan. We are hoping to run a half marathon in February, but we'll see about that. On top of everything else, I was taking Brandon 3 times a week to speech therapy (which thank goodness is off our schedule now that he will be going to school) and Colin to physical therapy one time a week. Phew, no wonder I don't have time to keep up with this blog!

We have been so busy, but it's been great. I feel like Jacksonville is really home now and I feel like it was a great move for our family. My parents just moved here too, so it has been really great having them around and here to help out with the kids.

We are looking forward to driving up to Maryland for Christmas this year and getting to spend time with Juan's family and the rest of our family and friends as well. Just not exactly looking forward to the COLD! Oh well...

Have a happy, safe and blessed holiday season everyone!! And don't forget to check back here often!

Juan's Christmas Party

2009-12-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

We finally got to go to a Christmas party together this year! We hadn't gone since before Brandon was born. It was downtown at a fancy hotel and we got all dressed up. They had a great dinner, drinks, door prizes and a hypnotist and of course I had to be brave and volunteer to be hypnotized. (I had done it one time before and it didn't work so I thought I had to try again to be sure). Well, this time it worked and I did some crazy funny things. I was at the funniest movie I've ever been to, I danced like Britney Spears, and drove super fast in a racecar. It was interesting to say the least, but it was all in good fun. We had a great night out.

Craft-a-Faire

2009-11-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

I participated at our church's annual Vendor Craft-a-Faire this year. I was busy making all kinds of things for it over the past few months. I also had Erica, and a few friends put some stuff out. Unfortunately we didn't make much money at all, but it was fun. I have another craft show on Dec 5th and everything that is leftover is going to be put out there. Whatever is left over from that is going up on my new etsy shop (more information on that to come).

Here is my booth:

This picture shows some of the journals i made. i decorated them with buttons on the front and ribbons along the binding. You can also see the padded photo albums that Erica made.

Here are a few of my paintings:

This painting has real shells and a message in a bottle on it!

Here is a colorful sock monkey with real button eyes:

tiki man:

flowers:

owl:

In the middle are Tamara's body scrubs and on the right are some of Beth's stuff. She made washcloths and baby toys.

These are some cute picture holders I made:

Button flowers that I was selling for $1 each. I think I probably sold a dozen of these:

These are made out of old scrabble games, i think i only sold one--"faith"

Even the boys came to visit me to wish me luck!

And good job to the MOMS group for putting on a great craft show!

art time!

2009-11-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

Here is Picasso painting his latest masterpiece!

October

2009-11-24T10:25:00.000-08:00

Another busy month has come and gone...

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

They boys had a great time trick-or-treating. We ended up dressing them up as football players. They wore their Steelers jerseys and were super cute! They ate a little bit of candy and just enjoyed seeing all the other kids and the pumpkins and being out when it was dark.

We went trick-or-treating with our neighbors, Jeff and Tamara and their little "pea" Lucy and dog Cassius.

oh yeah, i almost forgot to mention that Juan and I wore our pirate outfits...it was so hot!!

Check out the moon!

Nina and Hayden visit!

2009-11-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Our good friend Nina and her adorable son Hayden came for a visit! It was great to catch up again and I loved seeing Nina as a mom. Hayden is such a good baby and is so cute! I miss them & maybe one day we'll live close again! :)

fall festival fun

2009-11-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

Our church had their annual fall festival a few weekends ago and we took the kids for food and fun. The kids got to ride some rides this year. Just a train and a little piggy ride. I'm pretty sure Colin enjoyed the rides more than Brandon did. He was a little scared, but inside I'm sure he liked it!!

Returned...

2009-10-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

that's what their Halloween costumes are...returned. Neither of them wanted to wear them. Brandon put his on for about 15 seconds and started ripping it off. Colin screamed until we took his off of him. So....I got my $50 back. But I couldn't send them back before snapping a few pictures. This is what they would have looked like on Halloween...

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch and the boys each got to pick out two pumpkins. They each got one big one and one little one. They had a blast. It was funny because out of all the nice orange pumpkins, Brandon wanted the only yellow one on the patch. He also was intrigued by the pumpkins with warts! eww! They love thier "punions" as Brandon calls them!

my little scrapbookers...

2009-10-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I don't have a little girl to scrapbook with me, but I have little boys who like to have fun with stickers and crafts. I have tons of extra stickers from scrapbooking that I let them play with and they like to put them in their own special sticker book. Even Colin likes to play stickers too!

diaper buddies...

2009-10-09T10:29:00.001-07:00

Go Steelers! (and bills!)

2009-10-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

SO in our house we have to root for the Steelers and this is the ONLY reason (otherwise it would be the Bills!):

some good news...

2009-09-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

They finally found a physical therapist for Colin who is able to come to our house once a week! This is huge because apparently PT's are few and far between around here! YAY!!

TGSO (almost)

2009-09-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Thank Goodness September is (almost) over...

This pic doesn't even begin to show the amount of stuff we had going on in Sept. It doesn't include two additional meetings that i have/had this week and doesn't include all the classes and workouts at the gym and what not. anyways, i have to erase it and start filling in October...oh boy!!

Q: What is Colin's favorite type of food?

2009-09-29T11:34:00.001-07:00

A: See-food!

it's weird to think...

2009-09-29T11:32:00.001-07:00

Colin is the exact age that Brandon was when Colin was born. So...Colin could technically be a big brother...don't get too excited though, he's NOT!!

Beach

2009-09-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

The amazing and talented
Brandi Bailey has done it again...

update on the boys

2009-09-21T08:20:00.001-07:00

I have been so bad at blogging lately. I guess I need to post an update on the boys, as we have had so much going on lately.

Brandon-we have had a bunch of appointments for him regarding his speech therapy over the past month. First of all, Brandon's developmental specialist, Bridget, who comes to our house once a week, recommended Brandon to start intensive speech therapy with an actual speech therapist. So we have been going to see Miss Renee at Brooks Rehabilitation once a week. We will be going twice a week once the paper work goes thru. It is a half hour session where he sits face to face with Renee and she really works on him sounding out the words and putting the words together. It has been going well so far. He likes to go and he calls Renee, "nae nae". Bridget still comes to our house once a week for an hour and both Brandon and Colin love having her here. She will stop coming once Brandon turns 3, he also won't be able to go see Renee once he turns three. This is when he will have to transition over to the school system. So...then we had a meeting with Clay County Schools and Early Steps. It was where they told us what would happen with the transition over to the school system when he does turn 3. They said that he would need to be re-evaluated closer to his birthday to see if he will qualify to go to school for speech therapy. Well, the next week, they called us and wanted me to bring Brandon into the school and have him tested now. It is the school right up the street from our house. So, I took him to school and left him there for an hour and came back to get him. The woman said he did very well. He talked a lot and repeated pretty much whatever she would say. She said he probably would qualify for one or two half hours per week at the school when he turns 3. My little boy will be going to elementary school! Anyways, he is actually doing really really well with his speech. He has made a huge jump over the past few weeks. He has a few full sentences now and a LOT of two word phrases. He can pretty much repeat any word you say now, which is a huge deal for putting sentences together. His vocabulary is almost limitless now. He is still definitely behind his peers, but he is showing huge improvements, so that's a BIG step!

Brandon also had an eye appointment to see how his glasses are helping him. He has been wearing them for 3 months now (when he wants to, which isn't always...) The ophthalmologist looked into his eyes with and without the glasses on. He said that yes, the glasses are helping his vision, but no, they aren't really helping his lazy eye. He wants Brandon to continue wearing his glasses for another 6 months to see if they make his eyes stronger, enough to spot the one wandering eye when he looks at a distance. If they don't seem to be helping then he wants us to consider eye surgery to tighten the muscles in the outer part of the eye so that his eyes don't wander. We are hoping that the glasses will help enough to make his eyes strong enough to not have to have the surgery, but we will do whatever is necessary for him to be in the best health possible.

On a brighter note, Brandon is starting to look more and more like Juan every day (i think!!) The ladies at the YMCA LOVE brandon. They said he goes in there and giggles and laughs and just has a great time. He is now able to count to ten and he is still learning new things every day. He's also a little artist. He can draw a circle, add eyes, a nose and a happy face, ears, hair, hat, arms and legs.

Colin-he also had an evaluation with Early Steps. He still is not walking (but he's close!!) We took him there because we wanted to see about getting him some physical therapy for his low muscle tone. His muscles are not strong at all. He manages to get around and he can get by easily, but he is just super weak. So Early Steps did a complete developmental evaluation and he scored super high/above average in all areas except gross motor skills (which is why we were there). So it turned out that he does qualify for physical therapy. Unfortunately physical therapists in our county are few and far between, so we are on a waiting list for that. He loves to run around the house pushing anything on wheels. He's fast too. He is standing on his own now, it will only be a matter of a short amount of time before he is walking. He has a vocabulary of probably about 200 words. He will repeat almost anything you say. Yesterday I noticed he pointed out yellow, orange and blue when the kids were coloring. He also can identify a few letters--A, T, O, and a few others. He has picked up on most of Brandon's sign language and is doing it himself. He used to be a little piggy, but lately he has been a really picky eater and throws everything on the floor. I think he may be getting more teeth, so that may be why. He still only has 4 teeth, so we have a ways to go with that. The ladies at the Y love him too. They say that they can't believe how clearly he speaks and how happy he is.

So that's about it on the update. I need to put more new pictures up soon!

Our kids are models

2009-08-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

My good friend Brandi is starting up her photography business and she has lots of pictures of my boys in her awesome portfolio! Here are some she took of the boys last week!

If you are interested in checking out her work, her website is Brandi Bailey Photos and her photography blog is Brandi Bailey Photos Blog

Brandon just being cute...

2009-08-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

I caught Brandon carrying on a really long conversation with someone on the phone. He was being shy on camera (I guess he didn't want his conversation taped!!), but he was still being cute!

Go Colin Go!!

2009-08-24T18:10:00.001-07:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Boys will be boys

2009-08-19T18:17:00.001-07:00

Here is Brandon pushing Colin around the house in the car. He though it was hilarious. Colin loved it too........until he got hurt at the end...poor Colin...

Packman Crackers...

2009-08-19T18:16:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you let a 2 year old hold the package of crackers...one bite out of each cracker...

Colin trying to walk and talk

2009-08-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Colin LOVES to talk. He repeats almost everything. So far his words include: "mama, dada, baby, mema, ball, b-ball (brandon's nickname), yummy, ut oh, no, shoes, dog, meow, hat, hot, belly, hi, bye, wow"...i know there are more, but i can't think of them right now. In this video, he is trying to push the wagon, but he also says a bunch of words towards the end!

Enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Daddy all dressed up

2009-08-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, we went to our friend Troy's commissioning ceremony in Daytona Beach. Juan got to give him his first salute as an officer! It was an awesome ceremony. Here are a few pics of Juan in uniform!

Colin had to get in on the action!

Elmo Buddies!

2009-08-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Our Bathroom

2009-08-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

One of my "dreams" was always to own a house and paint a mural somewhere in it. Well, we bought a house and I painted a mural...and then carried the beach theme throughout the bathroom! I am very happy with how it turned out. Eventually I want to add a few more things here and there, but for now here is what it looks like!

Buffalo!

2009-08-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Erica and I took a very short (but very well worth it) trip to Buffalo a few weeks ago. We had a great time! While we were there we got to catch up with the Cipollas and meet baby John (such a beautiful baby!!), we spent a lot of time with Papa and got to meet Esther, we hung out with Aunt Monica and Sheila, we got to visit with Aunt Bea (who is 99 years old!!), we met one of my online friends and her son, and we even made time to find some geocaches while there! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip!

Meeting baby John!

Visiting with Aunt Bea

Aunt Monica got us Maryland crabs! Yum!!

Here is me, my friend Liana that I met online and her son Evan. Evan is exactly Brandon's age. We "met" when we were both pregnant with them!

Papa and Esther

Me and Papa!

Me and Erica!

The Cipolla girls, me, erica and baby John!

The Costello family! Elizabeth and Kyle are great parents!!

We had lunch on our last day at Quaker Steak and Lube and drank this "lube" of beer...

And last but not least, here is John with the biggest smile EVER!

Animal Kingdom

2009-08-12T17:51:00.001-07:00

Our last day in Orlando, we went to Animal Kingdom. It was a really cool place. We met a few more characters, saw an awesome Lion King show (Colin and I had to leave early though because he was not enjoying it!!), went on a crazy safari ride, saw lots of animals & the kids got to pet some animals. I didn't want to leave because I knew it was going to be our last day there, and I was getting sad. Anyways, here are some pictures!

Meeting Pochahontis

Since Colin and I left the Lion King show early, there were NO lines to see some of the characters, so I took him and he got to meet Goofy and Donald Duck. He was so fascinated with them!

Nemah loved the giraffes on the safari ride!

Look how close we were to those things...not sure what they were!!??

The kids got to pet some goats and other animals...

Here they are meeting Jiminey Cricket!

And Tech from The Jungle Book (I think!)

The whole gang on a safari train thing.

Towards the end of the day, Brandon and Colin went back to the hotel with Juan and Nemah and Kira was napping in her stroller, so Rachel and I took Kylie to see a few more characters. I had to get in on the act so I could get them to sign Brandon's autograph book!

Winnie the Pooh

Eyore

Tigger

And a really cool tree was in the middle of the park. It aparently has 350 different animals carved into it. I thought it was the coolest thing ever!

We had a GREAT vacation at Disney! Can't wait to go again soon!!!

stay tuned...

2009-08-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have even more Disney pictures and pictures from my trip to Buffalo to blog, but they will have to wait for another night. Enjoy the previous 5-6 blog entries for now though :)

Epcot Center

2009-08-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

On day 5, in the afternoon we went to Epcot Center (after spending the morning at Blizzard Beach.) We wanted to get in on one of the character dinners, but that didn't happen, so we at dinner in "China", and if only I got a picture of the food we ate. Haha...Anyways, I really enjoyed Epcot center, and wish we had a little more time to explore around the different Countries there. It was awesome that every time we could see the big Epcot "Ball", Colin would yell and point "BALL, BALL!!" He was super excited!!

Look how cute the cousins are!

Can you tell that by day 5, somebody had to "fake" a smile??!?!

We went on a boat ride thru Mexico...the kids loved it, check out their eyes!

Here we got to meet Donald Duck!

And Belle from Beauty and the Beast!

I saw Niagara Falls in "Canada".

The infamous Epcot "ball".

And, a trip to Epcot would not be complete without being stuck inside the ball for 20 minutes without moving...

The one cool thing about the Epcot ride was they mapped out our future for us...check it out here :

http://parklink.disney.go.com/parklink/dis/pi/globekioskvideo/2009-07-22/2b86e5601472f234

Our family photo in front of the "ball" (i can't think of the real name right now) at night.

Colin was ready to go home...

Blizzard Beach

2009-08-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

Day 5, we spent the morning at Blizzard Beach. It was another water park, and very similar to Typhoon Lagoon. It was nice to be in the water on such a hot day. Juan and Allen went down this crazy straight down slide, but it took them about 2 hours to wait in line for a 20 second ride! Mom, Rachel and I went down this really really long family white water rafting ride. It was really fun and it was funny to see Mom kind of scared...(just kidding mom!!) We spent most of the time though at the kiddie area and in the lazy river. Here are a few pictures, although we didn't take many since we didn't want to bring our cameras near the water too much!

Hollywood Studios

2009-08-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

On day 4 we went to Hollywood Studios. It was a really cool place, but it was mostly shows, so maybe in a few years when they kids are a little bit older they will enjoy it more. A few of the shows the kids got scared and cried a little and one of the shows was really bad and you could hardly see anything, BUT, we did get to see an awesome parade, where we had front row seats, so that was good.

Here are the kids meeting June from Little Einsteins, as you can see, Brandon was a little shy to meet her, but the girls weren't!

And they also met Mike from Monsters, Inc.

There was a cool playground there that was like the kids were in Honey I Shrunk the Kids, where everything was really big. They had a good time playing in there.

Here is Brandon trying to cool off in the fountain:

Getting ready to go see Muppets 3D (Colin slept thru this one!)

Here is Brandon getting a refreshing drink on a hot day:

Waiting for the parade to start:

Kylie got to participate in the parade!

After the parade, we went back to the hotel, had dinner and then chilled by the hotel pool.

Typhoon Lagoon

2009-08-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

On day three of our Disney vacation, we went to Typhoon Lagoon. Unfortunately, that day it was really overcast and it did rain. It pretty much sprinkled all morning, and the water got kind of chilly, but we did manage to have fun:) The kids loved splashing around in the water and Brandon, Kylie and Kira actually went down a kiddie tube ride!! My favorite part was when we all got in tubes and went around the lazy river. It was like paradise (on a chilly day), but it was nice to be there chilling with the whole family. The kids also got to meet Stitch from Lilo & Stitch. Because it was cold though, we only stayed a half day there and most everyone went home after we ate lunch. Rachel and I stayed so we could do all the "big" rides. We pretty much rode every water slide except for the straight down ones. We also caught some waves in the wave pool, snorkled with the sharks and chilled in the lazy river some more. We didn't get a ton of pictures from that day since we didn't want to bring our cameras near the water, but we did get a few, so here they are!

The kids weren't too sure about the tube ride, since they had to go down it alone, but they ended up loving it (except for Kira). Brandon and Kylie went down it about a hundred times!

If/when we ever go there again, I will get a waterproof camera because it was a really neat place!

Magic Kingdom

2009-08-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

On day two, we went to Magic Kingdom. All I have to say is that it is SO different experiencing Disney thru the eyes of your own child. The kids were SO excited and so in awe about everything. Brandon could not keep his mouth closed, it was open so big from smiling. They couldn't get enough of it and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to take them. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Magic Kingdom.

This was in Minnie Mouse's house.

Juan, Brandon, Rachel, Kira, Allen and Kylie road this little roller coaster! They loved it!

The kids LOVED meeting the characters and they even got autographs from them!

i was messing with my camera while Colin was taking a snooze!

and here he is snoozing...

You have to ride Dumbo at Disney! Brandon is hiding in there on the other side of Juan!

Brandon was trying to stay cool...yep, it was REALLY hot there!!

The longest line EVER was waiting to see Ariel...at least we have a picture to prove we were there!

And before leaving we watched the parade and Juan and I even posed in front of cinderella's castle!

Downtown Disney

2009-08-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

I have TONS and TONS of pictures from our Disney trip and I'm not going to post them all here, but there are going to be a lot, mostly my favorites! If you feel like going thru the 400 total pictures, check out our flickr page and enjoy in your free time :)

The first day we were in Orlando, we went to Downtown Disney. It was really cool, had some fun shops and some fun things for the kids to see and do. It was really hot so after some strolling around, they kids got to play in a little splash area they had.

Here are some pictures from Downtown Disney!

Brandon got so excited when he saw the choo choo train!

Juan took Brandon on the carousel, but Brandon didn't want to sit on a horse.

hello everyone!

2009-08-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

well, hopefully most of you know that i had to move my pictures from webshots to flickr. i had used up my capacity in webshots and i have heard lots of great reviews from flickr. i'm still getting used to it and finding it hard to navigate (so far), but i'm going to stick with it for awhile, so i hope you'll bookmark our new flickr page and continue to follow our pictures. i had them set to private, and you had to make an account to view them, but a bunch of people were having problems still viewing them, so i thought instead i'd make it easier on everyone and set my pictures to public. so now you have no excuse not to see them!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/babytoole/

ENJOY!

and another...

2009-07-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

(click to enlarge)

it's been awhile...

2009-07-07T18:39:00.001-07:00

since i did any scrapping...here is a digi page...you can click on it to view it bigger :)

The tooth

2009-07-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

My friend Brandi got this really cute shot of Colin sporting his one and only tooth...

glasses

2009-07-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

Brandon is doing pretty good with his glasses. Some days he'll wear them all day, others he won't at all, but we think he's getting used to them and he is realizing he can see much better with them on. We think he is super adorable in his new glasses!

a new park

2009-07-05T19:13:00.001-07:00

Juan had seen this park in downtown Jacksonville while he was flying above in his helo. It's called Metropolotian Park. It's really cute, it has a big town of mini houses and buildings for kids, a yellow brick road, some park stuff, cars, etc. They also had a huge splash park that we didn't get to go in because Brandon didn't have a swim diaper on (we didn't plan ahead...), but they did have a few spray things that he got to get soaked in, even without his bathing suit. It was a really cute place that we will definitely go back to soon!

words

2009-07-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

While we were at the Metropolotian Park today, we saw these little rocks that had sayings on them. I thought they were really cool and would make a fun blog post. I wish I had gotten all 12, but we could only find 8 of them.

turtle trails and manatees

2009-07-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Years ago, jacksonville had painted manatees all over town. Now they are doing painted sea turtles. Every now and again, I run into a manatee and try to get a picture and today we were downtown and saw a bunch of the sea turtles. They are really cool. The reason I love them so much is because it reminds me of Kylie and how much she loves to find the painted carousel horses in Meridian. So here are the few that we saw today...

more sparklers

2009-07-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

here are some more sparklers and fireworks we did last night for the 4th of july!

fireworks!

2009-06-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

My last night in Meridian, we decided to do some fireworks and sparklers and I thought it would be fun to test out some of the setting on my camera. I just left the shutter open longer than normal and got these really awesome pics of us doing sparklers and a few of some cone firework thing...

fun with the hose

2009-06-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

It was SOOO hot while we were in Meridian, the kids spent a lot of time either at the pool, at this cool water park we went to or in the backyard playing in the sprinkler or with the hose. One afternoon we just let them run out there in their clothes and they loved it! Here are a LOT of pictures, but I couldn't help it, they were having so much fun and each picture has such great expressions.

don't feed the ducks...

2009-06-28T18:07:00.001-07:00

While in Meridian, we took the kids downtown to ride the famous carousel. We got the kids some popcorn for a snack and then came up with the brilliant idea to feed the ducks. Now we know not to do that again...the ducks flocked over to us SO fast...the kids were kind of screaming and scared...not to mention ME being afraid of birds that are that close to me! Next time we'll keep our popcorn to ourselves!