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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Starting Solids...

Our sweet Callie got introduced to solids this past weekend.  At 5.5 months old, we thought she was ready and she got to eat rice cereal for the first time!  YUM, right?  We waited two months longer than we did with Caeden - and boy, there was a difference!  Callie didn't spit out hardly any cereal, and even opened her mouth when she saw the spoon coming.  Caeden....it took a little longer for him to "get it"....of course he was only 3.5 months old!  I'm glad we waited longer with Callie, but she was definitely ready!  Yay for another milestone!




Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Spring Break Fun!

Since we all decided to have babies this year, we postponed our semi-annual trip to Colorado for Spring Break.  This meant we just stayed home to do some fun things together with our small little family!  Reid & I decided we wanted to go somewhere just for one night during the Break...so to Tulsa we went!  We got up Thursday morning, and headed west!  Callie slept... and Caeden read books and watched a movie, so the drive was a success!  Once we drove into Tulsa, we stopped for some lunch at Subway!



We had a few hours to spare before we could check into our hotel, so we went to the Oxley Nature Center.  This place had all things nature....surprising, huh?  Stuffed birds to observe, snake skins, bugs, bee hives, hands-on activiites...  It was small so we didn't spend more than an hour - but it was a good time-killer and it was right up Caeden's alley!

Listening to some bird sounds


Checking out the real turtle


Playing in the kids area



Checking out something with Daddy...
Reid loved this too, I'm sure!

This is what Callie thought of the Nature Center!


We then went to check in to our hotel, which was the Wyndham, and I would HIGHLY recommend if you ever go to Tulsa with kids.  It has an indoor water playland, and was very reasonably priced.  But anyway, we tried to have the kids take a quick nap - but neither child slept more than 30 minutes - there went that idea!  So, it was to the pool we headed!

Caeden. had. a. blast!

This was his favorite part of the whole weekend!  (Even as we were leaving Tulsa the next day, he said "I love that inside pool Mommy!")  He swam for 2.5 hours and would've kept swimming if we didn't have to stop to eat dinner!





This was also Callie's first time in the water - at first, she was NOT a fan!  She screamed anytime any body part touched the water.  The water wasn't cold at all....so we were totally surprised because she LOVES bathtime!  But after a few minutes, she got used to it and ended up splashing and having fun!





We then went to eat dinner at The Incredible Pizza, where we have never been before.  We could have spent an entire afternoon here!  We spent 3 hours there that evening, and mommy & daddy were exhausted!  So, we headed back to the hotel, and our kids were out in minutes!

At this place, you eat at the pizza/pasta buffet...and finish it off with some amazing homemade desserts!  While you're eating, you have four dining areas that you can choose from to eat your meal in.  There is...

THE STARLITE DRIVE-IN
(where they show the movie "Viva Las Vegas"
while you're eating)


THE DINER
(where they play '50s music and make the 
atmosphere loud & fun)


THE FAMILY ROOM
(where it's a bit quieter, 
and they play classic TV shows to watch)


AND THE GYMNASIUM
(this is where you go to eat in a 
gym setting while they play the 
Disney channel while you eat)


Caeden chose to eat in the Starlite Drive-In...
which he called "the dark room."
So yeah, we got to watch "Viva Las Vegas"
together as a family during our dinner!  HA!


After you eat, you head to The Fairgrounds!  This was the best part!  Not only do they have arcade games and rides (similar to Chuck E. Cheese)...but they have actual real full-size bowling, mini-bowling for the kids, go-karts, bumper cars, a mini-golf course, a 3D Theater, and Laser Tag.  And it's all indoors!!!  

Entering The Fairgrounds


Playing some games with Daddy


Playing miniature golf


 This was the Mini-Bowl for kids!
It was neat - they were shorter, narrower
lanes with bumpers, and small balls.




And a train ride!


Callie slept in my Boba wrap most of the time!
But towards the end, she sat in her stroller and played.



Caeden was tall enough to ride the go-karts - 
and this was his favorite part!  He REALLY wanted
to ride the "race cars"....so we waited 1 hr 15 minutes for
this 3 minute ride! 




Like I said, we were exhausted after this full day, and all crashed once we got to the hotel.  The next morning, Daddy made a run to Krispy Kreme and we ate doughnuts in our hotel room while we got packed up.  Then it was to the Oklahoma Aquarium we went!  This was definitely one of the neatest aquariums we've been to.  There was a lot to see there, and Caeden loved the hands-on parts...but after awhile a fish is a fish to a 3 year old.  So we only stayed for about 1.5 hours, and then headed home!

Touching a starfish


Catching shrimp in his hand


Caeden and Callie enthralled
by the sting rays


And Caeden's favorite part...the sharks!
They had a large tunnel you could go in where the 
sharks literally swim around you - that was cool!


Checkin' out some more fish!


And Daddy touching some sting rays
and small sharks.  Caeden? Not so much!

This trip was cram-packed with activity!  If we could do it again, we probably would've stayed an extra night and spread out the fun!  But we had a great time anyway - Callie did a great job sleeping "on the go" at 5.5 months old, and Caeden really enjoyed each thing we did!  It was a fun, close getaway for our family of four!  I cherish times like these and hope we never forget these special times together!

Monday, March 25, 2013

ANOTHER New Cousin!

Callie will definitely not be lonely when we're with the Dennis family!  After adding her new cousin Elise at the end of February, she had a another new cousin born exactly 3 weeks later.  Lyla Brooke Gutshall was born on March 19th at 1:18am.  She weighed 8 lbs exactly and was 19.75 inches long. On Monday night, when Amber went into labor, I went up to the hospital just for a little bit.  But decided to head home at 11:30pm.  I'm old and tired these days!

Doesn't she look GREAT for being at 9cm right here?
Thank you Jesus for epidurals!!


Lyla was born a few hours later, so my little family made a visit to the hospital the next morning to meet her!  Even though I just had Callie 5 months ago, Lyla is just so tiny!  I feel like I don't even remember Callie being that small!  And I miss that stage so much now!

Aunt Ashley & Uncle Reid holding baby Lyla


Caeden holding his newest baby cousin


Nana with 2 of her 3 granddaughters


Callie & Lyla - 
these two will have some great memories in the coming years!


A few days later, when the Gutshall family was home & settled, all 3 baby cousins got together for some playtime (A.K.A. - staring at each other and some crying)!!

Callie checkin' out her new cousin Elise (born 1 month ago)
and trying to hold her hand.


Elise (3.5 weeks old) - hasn't she changed so much??


Callie being "so big" and holding her baby cousin


Callie & Elise waiting on Lyla for some pictures


Sitting together on the couch...
Let's just say it's a lot harder than it looks to
get 3 babies to cooperate for pictures!


One more pic of the Future BFF's!


And here's a picture of us all in the order our babies were born:
Ashley holding Callie
Ariel holding Elise
Amber holding Lyla

I'm truly so excited to see these three girls grow up together!  I'm sure they will have lots of laughs and fun memories together - and I'm sure we'll definitely have our share of girl drama too!  Can't wait!


Sunday, March 24, 2013

St. Patrick's Day

So, I had this ambitious plan of making a week-long celebration out of St. Patrick's Day (I just can't help but get into every little holiday)!  But....real life got in the way this time and it didn't get done.  And I had some cute stuff pinned on Pinterest too!  Oh well...maybe next year!  But the kids DID wear green!  And Caeden was definitely in the spirit - when I went to put pj's on later in the day, I didn't have green on...and he got me with a pinch! ;)






And we played with some green play-doh... 

And that was it....nothing super exciting!  Just a GREEN family day at home!