The Strider Video

As promised, I have made a video of Sam riding his new Strider bike. He LOVES this thing and the other day I had him try his friend's pedal bike without training wheels and he can do it!! After just two weeks with the strider and he could move to a pedal bike - so worth the money!! But since it is the end of the summer, he can keep riding his Strider and then next summer we will see if he is big enough to ride the green bike from my parents and if not then we will get him a smaller pedal bike. You've gotta love the big wipe out at the end of the video! After I gave him a hug, he told me he wanted to do another movie, but not say "bye", because that makes him fall down :) Enjoy!

Zoo Adventures

My friend and I have been meaning to take the kids to the Idaho Falls Zoo for a while and finally got around to it this week. It was kinda small, but it was a beautiful day and not very many people were there so we had a great time walking around seeing the different animals they had. Amy was a little grouchy and I spent most of the time wrestling with her and trying to push the empty double stroller with one hand, hence the lack of pictures of the kids.

Black swans

Cranes - we were able to watch the employees feed these massive birds. They like to take the fish and swallow it and spit it back out over and over and over again. Sam was quite afraid that these birds were going to eat us, too.

Giant turtles

A leemer. He came right up to the glass where Lily was standing and put his hand out by hers, it was so cute! We all loved the different monkeys they had.

They had a few peacocks just running around the place, which was kind of neat. None of them had the full plume of feathers, though. We were also able to watch the penguins be fed (no picture, though)

We waited for a few minutes for our friends to meet us, so we grabbed a picture of each kiddo ready for the zoo.

Miss Amy. Still isn't real good at sitting up, even if she is strapped in.

State Fair

So we were able to get Daddy to sneek away from work for a few hours to get our fill of the Eastern Idaho State Fair on Friday afternoon. It actually turned out quite well because there weren't a ton of people. Sam was a little grouchy at times and it was a little on the hot side, but we managed to still have a great time letting Sam go on a ride or two, check out the petting zoo and of course get our fill of fair food. Our usuals include the Prime Steer hamburger, Tiger Ear scones, and Reed's Dairy ice cream. To try something new, we decided to get a strawberry funnel cake. Oh my gosh!!! I just about died and went to heaven - seriously! It was a great day and I am really glad we were able to go together as a family and just enjoy some time together walking around checking things out.

Getting to ride the Nemo boat ride all by himself.

Brushing the cow but still (quite understandably) terrified

Llama

Sam loved the bunnies the best, mainly because they weren't trying to smell or lick him and they were in a cage

Sam was terrified of the goats getting so close to him, but as always Daddy is there to protect him and ended up being the one to feed the animals

Going on the kiddie ferris wheel

First Day of Preschool

Amy ready to send big brother off to school

Sam showing us his MarioKart Wii backpack he picked out for school this year. I wasn't going to buy him a backpack because he already had a Buzz Lightyear one, but as luck would have it on the flight home from our trip to Arizona two or three weeks before school started the main zipper ripped clean off.

Sam was SOOO excited about going to school. He said he had a great time on his first day playing with playdough, playing outside on the castle, coloring a picture of a cowboy and singing "Old McDonald". Here's to two days a week preschool!!

Kids Pictures

My incredibly talented friend came over a few weeks ago to take some pictures of the kids - mainly Amy. She did such an awesome job capturing her sweet personality - hope you enjoy pictures of our little angel. The blue rose clip and the brown and pink headband were made by Robert's sister, Lisa and I am determined to figure out how to make these one day when I have some time to myself to work with the hot glue gun.

First Milestone!!

Amy reached her first major milestone today - she rolled over!!! She may have done this earlier in the week, but I wasn't completely sure if she had started on her back or not and I didn't see her do it. But tonight I had run to get the camera to take pictures of Sam's face (below) and on my way back in to the kitchen she was lying on the blanket on her back. When I came back to her after taking two pictures of Sam, she had rolled over onto her tummy! This has taken her a while because she HATES being on the floor and Sam is usually pretty rough with her, making me even less inclined to put her down. But hey, she did it and she is learning to enjoy floor time slowly but surely.

And here is Sam licking the beater from our cookies we made for dessert tonight to help pass the time until bedtime since Daddy had to go back to work. The evenings are always tough when Daddy isn't home. Hope everyone enjoyed their "day of rest" and pictures to come soon of Sam on his new Strider bike!

Newest Family Photos

Here are the family pictures we had done at the beginning of July with my family at the vacation house we rented in Swan Valley. Gorgeous area, let me tell you! First, a picture of Robert and me - it's been five years!

Ok, don't know why these are small, but this one is of my mom and most of my sisters - we are missing the youngest girl.

I had to post this picture of Camilla because when it was her turn for individual pictures, she would NOT smile for the photographer (who is my good friend BTW) but then as she was leaving the picture spot with her family, she totally lit up when who showed up? Yes, ME! It melted my heart that she would give such sweet smiles for her Auntie Christine :)

The Whatcott clan

Me and Sam playin around

My sweet boy

Mommy and Amy - don't you just love the soft purple flowers in the background?

Total personality picture

My handsome boys

Not quite sure what to do with a screaming baby. As sad as it is that she is screaming, I also think it is so cute!

Daddy's little girl, or is it little girl's Daddy? Probably both!

Best Cake Yet!!

Story is below, but here is the cake that I found to base my cake off of.

A close-up of the palm trees made from gumpaste/fondant blend.

So this cake has a story, are you ready? My little niece Lucy has been planning what she wanted for her birthday cake for a while. Since her sisters' birthdays back in June (her birthday is the end of August). The plan was to do a waterfall cake. This sounded quite daunting to me, but once I started looking at other people's ideas, I found one I wanted to base mine off of. But then my sister's family had to move back to Washington at the beginning of August. So then we were thinking that maybe I could come over a day or two beforehand and still do the cake. But as things got closer, it wasn't looking like it would be able to happen for many reasons, but the biggest being I just wasn't sure if I could do the 10-12 hour trip with two kids alone. But then we had it! Daddy (who is here finishing his last semester of his MBA) was going home to visit the weekend after her birthday, so we plotted a surprise birthday cake to arrive with him!

I honestly cannot believe how well this cake turned out. I love the vibrant colors that match Lucy's outgoing personality and it is the first time that I have had an image in my head for a cake that has actually come out on the cake the same. Oftentimes I am sorely disappointed in what the cake actually looks like, but this is one I can honestly say I am proud of! I definitely need to work on my writing skills, but other than that it turned out great and it was so fun to play around with the colors and learn how to make palm trees and hibiscus (hawaiian) flowers! Happy Birthday to Lu-Lu - I really hope you love your cake sweet girl and I wish I could be there to deliver it to you and give you a big hug with it!

(P.S. Not only is this a pretty-looking cake, but it was a really yummy cake, too. Homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing/filling per the birthday girl's request)