paint it black...and red...and yellow...and blue...

here's what we've been up to for the past few days - having so much fun!

on thursday morning, a bunch of us moms took the kiddos to a little play area to burn off some energy.

els and max received valentines day cards from auntie b and uncle steve.  thanks guys!!!

after getting dinner in the oven for rog and the kids, i went with jenny and her parents to the u of a basketball game.  amazing time and they won!!

on friday, roger took ella to ballet and i had some quality one-on-one time with max.  had such an awesome time hanging out with him and practicing our colors.

friday night was the preschool spaghetti dinner fundraiser.  yummy food and dancing for the kids!!

on saturday morning, one of the running coaches snapped this pic of jenny and me running.  she caught us actually running and not on a 'walk break,' AND we were going in the right direction!!  success!!

we spent the rest of the day running errands with the kids.  in the afternoon, my parents came over - they made dinner for els and max and stayed with them so roger and i could meet up with jenny and colin for a double date!  we decided to go out for sushi and a couples painting class.

roger taking it very seriously...

LOVE my hubby!!

...and the finished product:

mixing it up a bit:

having a great weekend and now relaxing with the kids and off to make our valentine's day crafts!!

barre. brrr... bare.

oh how delinquent i've been.  but we are recovering from our vacay and resuming normal life.  ella has been asking to go back to ballet so we tried it out again and she's doing well.

a week ago, we had gone to ballet and then we needed to be out of the house for 3+ hours while work was being done on the house.  it was too cold to go to the zoo...ok...it was like 60 degrees...  anyway, i decided to brave the movies with max.  he did awesome!!  he loved the movie and and popcorn.  we saw frozen again and during the songs, ella reminded me not to sing.     :-)

last week, max had a playdate with all of his little friends - they're so cute together!

a few more playdates last week - so much fun and thankful for finding such amazing friends here.  then, today, max refused to take a nap.  usually, if i let him play in his crib for a while, he tires himself out and falls asleep.  not so much today...

interesting.  the other day, i was filling out a questionnaire for him that asked about any 'self-help' abilities he has, i.e. dressing himself.  does removal of clothes and diaper count?

disneyland 2014 - day 3

our last day at disney.  :-(  but we started off at the character breakfast at the PCH grill in the paradise pier hotel.  

wow, minnie.  that's a full on kiss...

max had a BLAST!  he kept dancing in his high chair and then got up to dance with the characters.

after breakfast, poppie and gigi left to head back to arizona.  thanks, mom and dad for everything.  we had a great time with you!!!

we wanted to use our last day to get in anything that we hadn't had a chance to do and see some characters and ride some rides that we loved.

snow white!!  seriously loving the abundance of characters out and about!

ella wanted to go to minnie and mickey's houses one more time.

then we took the disneyland railroad (max was so excited) back to main street and ran into belle!

it was on to a couple of rides, including jungle cruise.

after lunch, we headed over to california adventure - the kids' sights set on the ferris wheel.  again.

then we hit up the pixar play parade (after 4...yes, 4, more times on the little mermaid ride)

a couple more rides, including toy story midway mania (AWESOME!) and king triton's carousel.

after dinner, we took the kiddos on mater's junkyard jamboree one last time.

seriously fabulous vacation and we had such a blast with the kiddos.  they were such troopers given the full 3 days.  can't wait until our next trip.  we love you guys!!!!

disneyland 2014 - day 2

our second day at disney!  we started off the morning by heading to california adventure to get tickets for the nighttime water and light show...well, actually, max started his day by dumping all of his milk on his pants.  :-(

we were walking through the parks and ella was telling us that the ONLY characters she wanted to see were chip and dale.  random.  but guess who roger spotted just a few minutes later!!

ella was so excited and max bumped fists with chip.  ;-)

then we headed over to disneyland to get in line for the kids' fave rides in fantasyland.  but we were sidetracked a little by all of the characters on main street.

daisy was excited that ella had her stuffed daisy doll with her.  it was so sweet.

it's hard to see max, but apparently he decided to do some forward bends with donald.  

ah, a mickey that max can appreciate...

finally, we were off to fantasyland.  unfortunately, before we were even in line for the first ride, roger got a call from work and had to run back to the hotel to get some things done.  boo.  :-(   but i think the kids had a good time with gigi and me on the rides!

max's first time riding dumbo!

and then of course the carousel again...

teacups!!!

the last day for holiday decorations on 'it's a small world.'  i normally actually like this ride, but it was nice to have the song mixed up with some christmas tunes.  

then we went back to the hotel for lunch and naps.  and back to the park...with roger too!

we caught the mickey's soundsational parade again.  and then my mom joined els at princess fantasy faire.  she got to meet aurora (again), mulan and ariel!

then back over to california adventure for dinner and more rides.

on one of our fave rides - mater's junkyard jamboree (max was asleep).

after he woke up, he proved he was tall enough to go on his first ride with a height requirement!

luigi's flying tires

finally, it was time for the world of color show.  while we were waiting, my mom and i joined els on the little mermaid ride.  twice.  oh so late for all involved - 9:45 p.m.!  max was out long before the show started.  and els found a great place to put one of her mickey mouse stickers...

watching the show together.  <3