Dad's Day at La Casa

Trevor's preschool hosted their annual Dad's Day today and as was last year, the boys had a blast together!  A special thank you to our friend Connor's Dad for snapping these photos of the two dudes having fun!

Building....big surprise!

 

Something was apparently very, very funny!

The end result?

Nope!  Has to be bigger!

Making a picture frame!

Shaving Dada!

And afterwards the two buddies stopped at McDonald's for a Shamrock shake!

We feel really lucky that Trevor goes to a school where teachers and staff come in on the weekend to have these events.  The commitment to the kids is evident in everything they do!  

Oh and this year Trevor said that Daddy's favorite food is 'yummy steak' and that he is 10 years old.  He's close on one of those :)

Walking at Nana and Papa Steve's

We headed down to Nana and Papa Steve's house to see 'Clancy' who came to town to visit.  Trevor was so excited to see her!  First though we stopped at the Outlets for a quick potty break and to get Trevor some new t-shirts.  The best part though was Trevor spotting the bull and professing to everyone that he now was a bull rider too!

We hung out at the house for a bit before heading over to the pool!  Trevor had fun showing off his swimming skills and splashing Papa Steve!

Ashley stayed pretty close to the side of the pool, especially when we got lunch!  The girl learned how to dip her fries in ketchup!

After a quick trip to the store and to fill up Sara's new car (first tank of gas!), we went back to the house and hung out some more.  Trevor is such a proud big brother...he loves helping little sister do things that he can so he happily lifted Ashley up to sit in Uncle Don's chair!

He also was so proud to help Ashley practice her walking outside!  Seriously, could they be any cuter??

Well all of that practice paid off because Ashley was on fire walking around the house.  May have also been the large carpeted area but it worked!  She was cruising!!

She was too fast to even get a picture!!! 

And speaking of proud...she smiled the entire time!  She knew she did good and is now a big big girl!!  Watch out world, we think it's safe to say we for sure have a walker on our hands!!

Ashley 15 Month Appt

Ashley had her 15 month well visit yesterday and she passed with flying colors.  The little stinker even showed our pediatrician how stubborn she is with walking.  She will do it on her terms and that's it!!!  Here are her stats:

Weight - 20lbs, 6ozs (12th percentile)

Height - 31.25" (74th percentile)

Head Circumference - 48.5cm (98th percentile)

The doctor redid the nurse's head measurements a few times because she couldn't believe it but it ranged from 47-48cm (Ashley has a bump on the back of her head so depending on where the tape measure fell, it was longer or shorter).  Sara reminded her that Trevor has a large head too as does her father....all the more room for their smart brains :) 

Ashley did a great job vocalizing all of her current words...mama, more, up as well as pointing to things the doctor asked her to and showing off her small motor skills by putting a cap on the doctor's ear checker thing.  She played peek-a-boo, waved bye-bye and blew kisses.  She is growing up perfectly!!  She gave just a little cry and a big red face for her two shots!

So here is 2 minute interval that happened while we were outside today....the girl is pure diva!
First, so serious...

Second...not sure what happened but boy you would think it was bad...

...super bad :(  Complete with crocodile tears!

And before we knew it, it was over and our little diva was picking her nose!  Her new thing to do.  She thinks it is pretty neato how her little finger fits perfectly up there!!

And then back to her smiley self.  Ah, she does keep life interesting!!

Andrew and Laura Visit

Our friends Andrew and Laura flew into Phoenix on Thursday and spent the night in Sedona before coming to our house around 5 on Friday!  Boy was it great to see Andrew (or as we call him...Flaherty) again and meet his fiance!!  They are just so sweet together and we can't wait to be part of their wedding next Spring!  

On Friday night we introduced them to bull riding!  Pretty sure that Trevor ate more than Mommy and Daddy combined at the BBQ!

Waiting anxiously for bull riding!  Apparently it is the hit place to celebrate Valentine's Day!  Andrew and Laura enjoyed their first bull riding event...up until the last one we saw where the bull bucked the rider off and then stomped on him a few times.  Yeah, that part was not so fun :(  Luckily the guy got up and walked off so we were glad to see that.  

On Saturday morning we all headed over to our monthly bagels and brew!  This time Ashley was on fire and ate more than Mommy but Trevor also held his own like usual and loaded up on his favorite carbs!

After that we dropped the kids off at Grandma Pauline and Papa John's house so that the four of us could hike Pinnacle Peak.  We didn't go the whole way to the end but far enough that it was nice and fun!  We hit up Greasewood afterwards to cancel out our hike.  Ha ha! But they do have delicious burgers :)  After picking up the kids we headed back to our house and hung around the hot tub before they left around 5:00 to have dinner with her cousin and family.

Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful brunch at our house and then toured around Old Town Scottsdale.  Of course it was only appropriate that the two love birds get their picture taken in the famous love sculpture!

Trevor, our first love, also had his picture there!

And buddies Trevor and Andrew wanted their picture together there too!

Before heading home we stopped by the famous Rusty Nail Saloon and got Andrew's picture on one of the cool bar stools.  Hilarious!!

That afternoon we enjoyed some leftover soup from Mary and Bill's visit while just hanging out before Andrew's flight.  Laura took him to the airport around 3 and Brian and Trevor enjoyed some swim time in the hot tub.  When Laura got back the three girls enjoyed some girl time and took a walk around the neighborhood.  That was fun!!

Unfortunately the fun ended that night as Sara was up every few hours throwing up and Brian woke up with a squishy stomach.  Andrew said that his stomach wasn't feeling so good when we were walking around Old Town so maybe we all caught a stomach bug or ate something bad?  Ugh!  So Monday night was supposed to be a surprise birthday celebration for Laura but that wasn't happening as Sara was too weak to go to the store :(  It certainly is no fun to be a sick Mommy with two kids at home.  Brian stayed home from work but he was too bad off to help much.  Ah, luckily life goes on and we get better!  Well come to find out it most definitely was a stomach bug that got Trevor Monday overnight.

Poor guy got sick twice and then woke up Mommy and Daddy but apparently after that he just got sick on his own in the bucket and went back to bed because Daddy found it that way in the morning.  He got sick a few more times Tuesday morning but then was holding down water.  Luckily he knows to lay low when not feeling good so he has a lot of quality time on the couch.  And he naps.  He must know that his body needs the sleep in order to make a full recovery!   How's Ashley?  Well she's had a few 'off' diapers but no throw up yet.  Knock on wood.  We do not like when our kids are sick :(

Mary Lou and Bill Visit

Sara's Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary came over on Thursday mid-afternoon and boy was it good to see them!  It had been almost a year so of course they couldn't believe how big the kids got!

We walked over to the clubhouse and showed them around before getting back and enjoying a wonderful dinner of homemade creamy chicken wild rice soup that Sara and her Dad made earlier in the day (after Sara's hair person came over for color, highlights and a cut!  It's busy times around the Hillins household).

Trevor was attached to Uncle Bill.  He even wanted to eat his desserts right next to him!  

And Ashley had fun getting tickles!  That Uncle Bill sure has a special touch with the kiddos!

See you all back in Minnesota sometime this summer maybe!  Thanks again for coming and thanks for our Mt. Monster wine!  We haven't broke it open yet (still working through the bottles from Sara's party) but we bet it's tasty with a fun name like that! 

Matilda Jane Party

On Wednesday night Sara hosted a Matilda Jane Clothing party at her house.  Although it was more of a girls' wine and dessert get together with Matilda Jane there if interested (ie no pressure!!)  Sara's Mom spent the night on Sunday so that we could have a baking party on Monday.  Nana Jeanne had made Cashew Crunch sweet mix but then together we made an additional eight other sweet treats to complete the dessert table. 

Well, we know for next time that females apparently don't eat that many sweets because the table pretty much looked like this at the end of the evening!  Oh well, we did want some left over for other company that is coming on Thursday and Friday!  Plus it was fun to have a baking day with Nana!

One of the guests was a pediatrician at the office we go to (who is also a neighbor) and although she couldn't come due to being on-call, she did call to let us know Ashley's allergy tests results!!  We learned that Ashley has outgrown her dairy allergy and is also not allergic to peanuts or corn!  WHEW!!!!!!  But there is still some sensitivity going on with the food she and Mommy eat because her eczema on her tummy flares up way more often than it ever did.  However, with this news we now feel good to finish weaning Ashley from breastfeeding.  We had already started but now will finish in the next week or so.  And then Sara and Brian are off to Vegas to celebrate two pregnancies, two c-sections and two plus years of nursing.  Yay!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We combined Ashley's 15 month pictures with Valentine's Day photos and we think they turned out pretty cute!  It was only 3 months ago that we had their one and four year pics done, but somehow they already look so much older!!

Trevor was the king of hearts :)

Yes, we'll be yours :)

And all smiles!

Definitely a heart throb!

Ashley wasn't so sure what to think of all of this!

But she was still a happy girl!

The tights were her cousins and we were so glad they made their way to our house - they made her outfit!

Cutie!

How is she 15 months old already???

Hmmmm.....these two could be Cupid's helpers!

We tried to get Ashley to stand next to the L and she did for quite a while but the photographer wasn't able to capture it, but this is still pretty cute!

We just don't think they come any cuter than these two!  Perfect valentine picture!! 

He had to have spiky hair for his pictures and he did it himself! 

The glistening of their eyes....so precious!

We really wanted to capture Ashley standing and we tried quite a few times to no avail.  Even Trevor had given up on her. He seems to be thinking and praying to just do it Ashley so we can go!

She even wanted to crawl away!

Then finally she stood long enough for the photographer to get one quick pic.  Our diva was so proud but she wouldn't give up the little smirk on her face.  Ah, such fun memories!!  

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!