Running in Circles

We've Moved...

2010-03-20T09:28:00.002-05:00

to Wordpress. Please update your links and continue to follow along with our family adventures here: http://solarphotographers.com/runningincircles/.

Max at the Park: A Movie

2010-03-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

Another video Josh did on the new camera. I love it!

Shooting Hoops: A Movie

2010-03-13T21:50:00.003-06:00

We recently upgraded one of our Nikon D300's to a Nikon D300S. It has HD video. That makes me super happy. Here's a video Josh put together of the kids' basketball practice.

Kisses for Mommy

2010-03-05T13:47:00.002-06:00

Mommy is in Vegas. We all miss her.

Superman & Batman

2010-03-04T15:00:00.003-06:00

Ever since Max and Ava got super hero jammies a year ago or so, they love to pretend that Max is Superman and Ava is Batman. It's so cute. Ava has gotten into the habit of saying, "Mommy, I want you to call me Batman FOREVER!"

Lia and her blankie

2010-03-03T15:00:00.000-06:00

Ah, my sweet little baby Lia. My last baby. My littlest one. My easygoing, mellow, go-with-the-flow baby. Who LOVES her blankies. I'm not exactly sure when the deep love for her blankies came about, but it's pretty normal around the house now. At any given point during the day, and most especially as naptime or bedtime nears, you can see Lia toddle back to her room and pull her blankie through the slats of the crib. She will then proceed to drag it around the house, find a good spot, ball it up on the floor, and lay down. If you even think about putting her in the crib without her favorite blankie, she will make sure you don't make that mistake again :). One night recently, she woke up in the middle of the night and threw up in her crib, all over both blankies we have here at the house. I tried putting her back to bed without them and she wasn't having it. Daddy had to drive to Ee's house to get a spare. As soon as we gave it to her, she laid down and went right to sleep. Here's a shot of her snuggling her favorite blankie right before bed.

Mustache!

2010-03-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

A Day at the Playground

2010-03-01T15:00:00.005-06:00

fun!

Max & Micah: Fight!

2010-02-28T15:00:00.002-06:00

Fight!

The Pumpkin Patch

2010-02-27T15:00:00.002-06:00

Raymore Festival in the Park

2010-02-26T15:00:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Josh

2010-02-25T14:13:00.002-06:00

My last post like this was kind of wordy, so I'll keep it short and sweet this time :). Happy birthday to my hubby- my best friend and the best daddy in the world!

Max writes his abc's

2010-02-24T15:00:00.001-06:00

As a mom of a preschooler, I know how important it is for my little Max to be able to write his letters when he gets to kindergarten next year. Imagine how excited I was to find this writing tablet at Target! It actually has indentions so the kids can learn how to write the letters correctly.

Max and his cars

2010-02-23T15:00:00.002-06:00

There was a time when Max played cars all day everyday. Now, he's so into Star Wars and Legos, he hardly finds time to do ANYTHING else. Here are a few pictures of him enjoying his Cars race track last summer.

More random cuteness

2010-02-22T15:00:00.004-06:00

Here are some random adorable pictures of the kids that I love :)

Max & Zoey

2010-02-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

I love how they love each other! How awesome do you think it is to have such a great friend living next door when you're 4 years old?

Ava loves playdoh

2010-02-20T15:00:00.000-06:00

Ava LOVES to play playdoh. Now if only I can get her to make less of a mess...

Ava goes to dance class

2010-02-19T15:00:00.000-06:00

For the past two years, Max has gotten to do sports: basketball, soccer, baseball. And poor Ava has gotten to sit on the sidelines and watch. She's always wanted to participate too, but she was too little. This past fall, we decided to sign her up for a dance class. It's an hour long and they do tap, jazz, ballet, and tumbling. It's funny because she doesn't participate in the tap part at all. That's the first segment of the class and she just stands there, playing with her tutu and looking in the mirror. But, about the time the class moves on to the next thing, she starts moving around and having fun. I keep thinking this will change, but so far, she just doesn't like tap dancing :)

Snow Day

2010-02-18T15:00:00.001-06:00

It's been snowing A LOT this winter. One day recently when it snowed, we headed out for some fun.

Meet Banana Abby Solar

2010-02-17T15:00:00.000-06:00

So, I really think that Banana Abby Solar was meant to be our dog. We've been putting off getting a dog for a long time. First it was because we were never home. Then it was because we didn't have a fence. Then we wanted to wait until Lia was walking. Well, all of those issues resolved themselves and we still did not have a dog. We were dead set on a puggle, until I realized that they are only cute when they're puppies. So, we bounced back and forth, but finally settled on a Bassett Hound. We figured, they're low to the ground so the dog won't be jumping on the kids a lot. And they're little, so the kids might not be scared.

And of course, since Josh volunteers at Wayside Waifs, we knew we'd be adopting our dog from there. So, for months, we've been just waiting for Wayside to get a Basset puppy. Because we really wanted a puppy. Then, on a chance, Josh dropped into Wayside last week to drop off paper. And he saw a sweet 2 year old Bassett hound. When he got home, he mentioned it to me. Later that night, I made the comment that we should think about getting her since she's already potty trained. AND, she came from a home that had two little kids. Josh said he really wanted to get a puppy, so we dropped it. The next morning, he woke me up super early to tell me how he had put a hold on the dog because he couldn't stop thinking that she might be a perfect fit for us.

So, Saturday afternoon, we headed up to Wayside Waifs. There was Abby. She was LOUD! And barked a lot. And the kids were a little iffy at first. We looked at all the other dogs, then went back to see Abby again. This time the kids were less timid and actually seemed to like her. So, we decided to get her. And the kids named her Banana Abby.

Seriously, she is the perfect dog! She's already house trained. She doesn't jump on the kids. Now that she's home, she doesn't bark much. And she sleeps in the bed we bought her. She loves to snuggle. And she LOVES the kids. It makes me really happy, because I know she was meant for us!

Lia learns to walk

2010-02-16T15:00:00.001-06:00

Finally! Finally, at 14 months, Lia decided that she could indeed walk. Isn't she cute?

The Bunk Bed

2010-02-15T15:00:00.001-06:00

Max and Ava had such a great time on the bunk beds in our cabin on our Colorado trip that we decided to get them bunk beds. They were thrilled!

Happy Valentine's Day Honey!

2010-02-14T15:00:00.001-06:00

There are so many reasons I love my husband... he makes me laugh, he's the best daddy ever, he loves to snuggle, he genuinely cares about other people, he takes the most amazing photographs of our children, he always lets me win when we fight, he lets me sleep in almost every morning, he goes down to get groceries from the fridge in garage when I'm too lazy or it's too cold, he lets me sleep with the good pillow, he watches chick flicks with me even though I won't watch guy movies, he gave me three beautiful wonderful crazy wild children, he laughs at my dumb jokes, he drives the jeep when it's out in the cold and lets me drive the warm van, he faithfully watches Lost with me every week even though I think he gave up on the show last season, he took care of EVERYTHING when I was sick and even though it was hard he did it because he loves me. I could probably name a thousand more reasons why I love him, but you get the picture :) Oh, and I think he's hot too!

Lia loves the iPhone

2010-02-13T15:00:00.000-06:00

Lia loves playing games on our iPhones. Her favorites are the animal sounds app, spongebob, toddler teasers. She also likes to eat the iPhone occasionally. Oh, and she gave mine a bath a few months ago and I had to get a new one :(

Random Cuteness

2010-02-12T15:00:00.001-06:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE every one of these images... can you tell my kids like to get their pictures taken?!

Summer fun... dumping table, sprinklers, water guns

2010-02-11T15:00:00.001-06:00

Blogging all these images from last summer is sure making me anxious for the warm weather again! I'm tired of all this snow and cold weather. I can't wait until we can go outside and play again.

Lia thinks the water table is her own personal baby pool.

Summer Fun: Bikes and Power Wheels

2010-02-10T15:00:00.007-06:00

My kiddos love to play outside! Their favorite things are riding their bikes, riding their power wheels, and playing with Zoey & Nathan. Here are some images from last summer of all their favorite things :)

I LOVE when Ava does this... She sticks out her tongue and bounces her head while turning her hands... it's super silly!

Sunset Portraits

2010-02-09T15:00:00.001-06:00

One beautiful summer day, we headed out in the yummy sunset light and took portraits of our kids.

Everybody loves the crib

2010-02-08T15:00:00.000-06:00

Perhaps it because they all spent a lot of time in the crib as babies, or maybe it's the sheer pleasure of being close to our last baby, but Max and Ava love to play in the crib with Lia. As soon as they hear Lia wake up from her nap, Max and Ava run into her room and jump into the crib with her. Here are a few images from last summer when Max when it to see Lia. I can't believe how little Lia looks in these photos.

It's True... Lia CAN walk (with help)

2010-02-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

These are from her birthday. She was finally walking with help :)

The Zoo!

2010-02-06T15:00:00.000-06:00

Every year, we get a zoo membership. I love it because we just cannot do more than a few hours at once at the zoo. And since we never have to pay to get in, I don't feel bad when we head home after lunch. On this particular July day, we headed to the zoo with Zoey and Nathan. Much fun ensued...

Do you think they're BFF's or what?

Waiting for the tram

Tickle fight!

Lia took a nap

Don't feed the geese... seriously!

Baseball

2010-02-05T15:00:00.000-06:00

Max loves baseball. I sure hope he continues to love baseball as he gets older. When we were in high school, I loved watching Josh play baseball. And now, I love watching Max. Here are some photos from last summer's baseball league.

I don't know what this is about...

Ava wants to play baseball like her brother

Sometimes playing 1st base is boring...

Trip to Animal Paradise

2010-02-04T15:00:00.000-06:00

One day in July, we took a trip to Branson and drove through the Animal Paradise on the way home. The kids had a great time!

DON'T FEED THE EMUS!! THEY ARE MEAN AND SNEAKY!!

Picnic in the Park

2010-02-03T15:00:00.000-06:00

What could be better than a picnic at the park with your best buds on a beautiful summer day? Not much. Here are some fun photos from our park picnic with Zoey and Nathan in July. It was a little chilly that day, so we picnicked in the back of the car :)

Lia loves hot dogs!

Hi Nate! How's your PBJ?

Mmm...cheetos!

Max can read

2010-02-02T15:00:00.006-06:00

I am SO proud of my little Max. We started learning to read over the summer and he is doing so well! He loves to go to the library and pick out new reader books. Everyday during naptime, we pick out a few books and he reads them to me or daddy. The only sad thing about him learning to read is that he no longer mispronounces things in the cute way that little kids do. He used to say Dark Vader, but now he knows it's Darth Vader. Same with aminals and countless other things I can't remember. My little boy is growing up so fast...

iPhone videos: Rockin' Out

2010-02-01T15:00:00.002-06:00

My kids LOVE music. Probably because their daddy LOVES music. I still think it's amazing that Max could pick out Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, and John Mayer when he was teeny tiny, maybe younger than 2... Here are some funny videos of the kids rockin out :)

Feeding the baby

2010-01-31T15:00:00.002-06:00

Everybody loves to feed the baby. Here are some photos and videos...

My 3 babies

2010-01-30T15:00:00.002-06:00

A few shots of my favorite little people (from last summer)...

Elefun

2010-01-29T15:00:00.000-06:00

More photos from last summer... someday we'll be to fall pictures! Max and Ava LOVE to play Elefun, but mostly they love to be silly :)

The Solars, the Millards, and the Great Water Fight

2010-01-28T15:00:00.001-06:00

Wow. I can't believe I never blogged these images. It was a hot summer day and we had our good friends the Millards over. Everyone was playing nicely and suddenly a huge water fight broke out. And fun was had by all :)

iPhone videos - start your engines

2010-01-27T15:00:00.000-06:00

It's no secret that my kids love to run around the kitchen table. In fact, that's how we first came up with our blog title, Running in Circles. Here are some videos of them doing what they love. These are from last summer. Now that Lia is walking, she has a stroller too so she can run with Max and Ava.

So hot...

2010-01-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

It's so cold outside now that it's hard to remember how hot it was last summer. Maybe these images will refresh your memory...

Ava's hand washing

2010-01-25T15:00:00.000-06:00

Let's face it. Ava is little. So little in fact that even with a step stool, she can't reach the sink to wash her hands at Papa & Ee's house. See for yourself...

Mighty Minis

2010-01-24T15:00:00.003-06:00

This past summer, we were introduced to the newest, coolest popsicles around. They're called Mighty Minis. They are teeny weeny little popsicles that melt slower than regular popsicles. And, because they are so little, they are the perfect size for little kids. P.S. They come in an assortment of colors, shapes, and flavors. My kids just happen to be particular to the color green :)

And here are a few images of Ava eating a regular, fast melting popsicle. See why we love the mighty minis so much?

iPhone videos - random funniness

2010-01-23T15:00:00.001-06:00

WARNING: VIDEO OVERLOAD!!

Lia & Potty Training

2010-01-22T13:45:00.003-06:00

So a month or so ago, Lia started showing signs of being ready for potty training. She loves to watch Max and Ava go potty and she started pointing at her little butt when she had a poopy diaper. I told Josh that we would probably start potty training her when it gets warm enough for her to run around naked.

Well, apparently, she had other plans. I was chatting with a friend on the phone this morning and Lia disappeared for awhile. I figured she was playing in her room, but turns out she was in the bathroom. She had taken off all of her clothes and was putting toilet paper into the potty. I kept trying to put her clothes back on and she kept taking them back off.

So I figured, what the heck. I let her run around naked for awhile. Every fifteen minutes or so, I'd say, "Lia, do you want to go potty?" She'd shake her little bitty head yes and start running (and I mean butt wiggling, hands flying running) to the bathroom. She managed to put the potty seat on the toilet, climb up the step stool, and sit down. We did this all morning. At some point, I realized that she was probably going to pee on the floor soon, so I put some underwear on her.

But, she was accident free all morning, and right after lunch, she went back to see daddy in our bedroom and he put her up on the potty. And she went! Yay for Lia!! Boy was she mad when I put her diaper back on for nap :)

Now, I know she's super little, and I'm not really expecting her to potty train. But, I do have friends who have potty trained their little girls at this age. So, I figure if Lia wants to give it a try, I'll support her. I'm tired of buying diapers anyway :)

iPhone videos - Max & Ava swordfighting

2010-01-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

So, ever since we discovered the foam swords that seem to be sold everywhere now, swordfighting has become a staple in the Solar household. Even the baby loves to swordfight. Here are a few videos (and they are pretty recent!)...

Playing dress up

2010-01-20T15:00:00.002-06:00

Oh how my kids love to play dress up. We now have 2 huge boxes full of all kinds of dress up clothes, boys and girls. Ava will sometimes wear Max's stuff, but even funnier, Max will occasionally put on a princess dress. If I run across a photo of that, I'll be sure to put it on the blog. For now, enjoy these images from last summer.

Notice Lia is still crawling... and her leg is up. We call that her monkey crawl.

Lia

2010-01-19T15:00:00.002-06:00

A few images from last summer. I swear once we get caught up, all my posts will be current again! I love these images of Lia. And it's hard to believe that she's got 12 teeth now and only had 4 in these photos!

Lia loves to climb!

Max sure loves his baby sister

But nobody mentioned anything about jumping on the couch...

2010-01-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, okay, so we're pretty relaxed around here when it comes to rules. It's okay to jump on the bed (and the couches), running in the house is fine too, and just being wild in general works well for the Solars. We do have the normal rules... you know, no hitting, be nice, etc. But seriously, life is SO much more fun when you can run and jump around like crazy...

Love my little Lia

2010-01-17T15:00:00.000-06:00

Some images from Lia from last summer that I adore...

Basketball

2010-01-16T22:02:00.002-06:00

Yay! Winter sports FINALLY started today! Max has done basketball for the last two years and Ava is finally old enough to play this year too! Ava was super excited!! Max, not so much, but he came around finally. They both had a great time and here are some fun pictures :)

Lia had fun too :)

After each time she dribbled the ball, she would run over and give me a huge hug!

Ava was too short to make a basket.

So I held her up so she could dunk.

While Max was in his practice, Ava hung out with Nathan. I think they're going to be best buds like Max & Zoey. They sure are sweet together. Here's Ava sharing her scooby snacks.

And now some snuggling...

Max made a lot of baskets!

Max said he didn't like basketball because it's too hard for him and he can't dribble.
I think he's wrong.

Max and Zoey always want to be in the same group together :)

Max made a basket, so Zoey gave him a hug.

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 9

2010-01-15T21:57:00.005-06:00

Today we got up and started heading back to Kansas City. We wanted to hit up the Arkansas Air Museum, but they didn't open until 11 am and we were going to be in Fayetteville by 9:30 am. So, on a tip from a comment on yesterday's blog, we headed up to Devil's Den State Park. It was too muddy and wet to do much walking, but we drove through the park and enjoyed the scenery for awhile. And Lia loved looking at all the cows, deer, and horses. We even saw some chickens.

Then we headed to the airplane museum. It was a really cool museum. They had lots of old airplanes and helicopters and a building full of old military planes, choppers, and trucks too. The kids got to climb in an airplane and in one of the old military helicopters. And the best part was it was right next to a little airport, so there were lots of little planes taking off and landing.

After that, we pretty much drove home. We did make a detour to go see a homemade dinosaur statue, but it was pretty lame. I'm glad to be home and excited for our next road trip!

Josh's side of the story is here.

Things I learned today:

1. Lia really hates hotel rooms. I'm not sure why, but as soon as she's done eating her cereal, she is screaming to get in the car. Josh actually put her in the car this morning while he cleaned it out and loaded it and she was a happy camper. I wish we had figured this out earlier in the trip.

2. My kids always have to go potty when there's nowhere to stop for 20 miles.

3. My kids are spoiled. We almost always let them get something at the gift shop of every place we visit.

4. My kids get about the same enjoyment out of their gift shop treasures whether they are cheap trinkets or are more expensive.

5. I get much more enjoyment out of the gift shop purchases if they are cheap trinkets!

6. I love gift shops that sell stuff that I remember playing with when I was a kid. We bought these little foam airplanes for 75 cents each that you put together and fly them and I was excited too :)

7. FYI in case you don't remember from when YOU were growing up, those little foam airplanes don't survive too long with little kids. Good thing they were only 75 cents.

8. Ava thinks Tootsie rolls are chocolate gum.

9. The worst day of any road trip is the day you go home. You're just tired and ready to be home and back to your own bed and a normal routine. And then it takes FOREVER to get there because your kids have to go potty every 20 minutes.

10. It's good to be home :)

The kids loved playing in this old military helicopter. Of course, they pretended they were flying a Jedi cruiser and destroying red battle droids.

Max is pretending to be a Southwest airplane.

Ava is also pretending to be a Southwest airplane.

Lia is trying to figure out how to get daddy to quit pretending she's an airplane.

Lia likes Star Wars too.

All gone baby

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 8

2010-01-14T22:06:00.003-06:00

We woke up this morning and opened the door to fog, overcast skies, and rain off and on. Josh was ready to throw in the towel and head home, but I thought we should at least see how the day shaped up. So we packed up and headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards.

We perused the cowboy shops and the candy store. Then at 11:30 am we headed over to the main street to watch the Texas Longhorn cattle drive. Max & Ava really liked the cattle drive; Lia was scared.

After that, we went into the Cattlepen Maze. You basically have to find your way around the maze and find all four letters M A Z E, then go to the exit. We did it in a record (ha!) time of 33 minutes. And when you finish you get a prize. Don't get too excited though... Lia got a bouncy ball and Max & Ava got spinning tops. But they liked their prizes :)

Literally within seconds of finishing the maze, it started pouring down rain on us. So we ran across the street an ducked into a Mexican restaurant for lunch. I tried to convince Josh that since we were in Texas, we should get some barbecue, but he said we wouldn't like it as much as Oklahoma Joe's.

After lunch, we got back on the road again. We spent most of the afternoon and evening driving, but we did stop at a sweet little park to play for awhile... gotta take advantage of 50 degree weather.

After dinner, we stopped at a Braum's ice cream place. If you know us Solars, you know we love our ice cream and no road trip would be complete without it.

Now we're at the hotel in Van Buren, Arkansas. Tomorrow we're going to do the airplane museum in Fayetteville and then we'll be headed home. I'm SO not looking forward to the cold weather again.

Josh's side of the story can be found here.

Things I learned today:

1. Never trust the weather forecast. We drove to Dallas hoping for a nice sunny day and woke up to a rainy, overcast day.

2. Because we did the stick-on mustache thing on our Colorado road trip, Josh thinks we can't do it again. Even though I found some sweet mustaches at the Stockyards.

3. Anytime we go somewhere or do something that charges admission and one of the kids is barely old enough to have to pay for them, I consider saying they are younger. But I never do. I'm afraid of the bad karma.

4. Anytime I push Ava on the swing, her mantra is "push me higher! Super high!" I'm convinced that 'super high' is impossible to reach. Believe me, I've tried.

5. Lia's enjoyment on the swings is multiplied when Max or Ava is swinging next to her.

6. Even if there's nothing cool to do, just being able to play outside makes it worth not being in Kansas City right now.

7. Ava is terrified of automatic flushing toilets. She literally jumped off the toilet after she was finished so it wouldn't flush while she was still sitting on it.

8. If you hold your hand over the sensor of an automatic flush toilet, it won't flush until you move your hand. SO, your kid can go potty without fear. But you will probably have to show them proof first.

Lia was SO excited to get her own ice cream cone. I was SO excited that they were 79 cents each.

She always has this look... always watching her back.
'Who's gonna try to take my ice cream cone?!'

Daddy got a strawberry shortcake sundae.

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 7

2010-01-13T22:39:00.005-06:00

Today was a driving day. We got up and on the road early, headed for the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We didn't find anything to do along the way, so in true Solar style, we pulled off an old dirt road for a mini portrait session.

That's really about all we did today, but we made it to Fort Worth this evening and tomorrow we'll be hitting up the Stockyards and possibly the Log Cabin Village and the Botanical Gardens. If you know of any other must-see places, leave me a comment!

Josh's side of the story is here.

Things I learned today:

1. Ava thinks we should get m&m's at every gas station that we stop at.

2. We really should have bought the rechargeable battery packs for the leapsters. I had to buy more batteries at a gas station and they were expensive!

3. We have sippy cups for a reason and that reason is because EVERY time Ava drinks from a water bottle, she gives herself a shower.

4. The mini Cootie and mini Don't Break the Ice games I got on clearance for $2 each at Target are amazing for entertaining the kids while waiting for dinner to be served at a restaurant.

5. It's SO worth $2 to wash a load of laundry when you're on a road trip. My kids just dirty up their clothes SO fast.

6. Lia doesn't care if she gets a snack at the gas station as long as she gets to get out of the car.

7. As soon as it gets dark, Max starts whining about when we're going to be at our hotel.

Watch out for Anakin!

Lia sure loves her blankie!

Anakin & Ahsoka in a heated battle!

Snuggle the baby!

Lia wanted to be a Star Wars guy too

I love that Lia is running after Max & Ava in this photo...

... and running away from them in this photo (and crying!)

Lia loves her George

Lia was double fisting it at dinner

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 6

2010-01-12T21:38:00.004-06:00

We decided last night that today would be our last day in New Orleans. So we packed up this morning and headed down to Cafe du Monde for some beignets. I am SO glad we went, because they were AMAZING! If you've never had beignets, they are basically square donuts covered in powdered sugar. Can you imagine the mess that ensued? If not, I have pictures.

After our beignets, we headed down to the Audubon Zoo. We picked the perfect day... barely anyone there and beautiful weather! We were able to do the whole zoo in about 4 hours. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed seeing all the animals, especially the alligators.

They were most excited about the Dinosaur Adventure, but we only made it about 2 minutes before they got scared and we turned around. Luckily we were able to get a refund.

After the zoo, we headed to the Camellia Grill. It was early for dinner (not even 4 pm), so the place was practically empty. Josh got an omelet and I got a cheeseburger. He got a cherry freeze and I got a chocolate one. Yummy!

And now, we're in Lafayette, LA for the night. We're headed to Dallas first thing tomorrow before we go back to Kansas City.

Josh's side of the story is here.

Things I learned today:

1. Beignets are amazing AND messy

2. Even at the zoo, my kids are happiest when playing on the playground

3. There are not nearly enough bathrooms at the Audubon Zoo

4. Little kids seriously can't understand that the dinosaurs ARE NOT REAL. We discussed this several times before going into the Dinosaur Adventure exhibit.

5. Even if they say they won't be scared of the dinosaurs, they WILL be scared of the dinosaurs.

6. The hardest times of any road trip day are first thing in the morning (trying to keep the kids occupied while we get ready and pack up) and bedtime (trying to get them to stop jumping on the beds and calm down to go to sleep).

7. Lia loves omelets.

8. It costs money to park you car pretty much anywhere in New Orleans, but not at the zoo.

9. If you share your milkshake with 3 kids, it becomes a low-fat, low-calorie milkshake due to the fact that you only get 4 sips.

Umm, heaven on plate...

Ava said she wanted a pet elephant. I took a video below.

I liked these vines and the way the light was coming through.

I also like the way Ava was coming through the vines :)

Lia totally thought this was her milkshake.

Lia shared some of daddy's omelet and she really loved it.

This is what happens every night when we check into our hotel room...

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 5

2010-01-11T21:16:00.004-06:00

So today was a better day than yesterday :) . We got up and decided to head down to City Park. So we drove downtown, parked in a garage, and walked down to the streetcar stop. We got on the Canal Street line at the very end and rode the streetcar all the way to City Park at the other end of the line. Max and Ava were super excited to ride the streetcar... Lia, not so much.

We got off at the main entrance to City Park and started walking. It's a HUGE park, so we knew we'd be walking a lot. Now, City Park is really cool because it's very pretty, has an awesome playground, an amusement park, an old time carousel, a place called Storyland with big things to climb on, a sculpture garden, trains that run around the perimeter, and probably more stuff I'm forgetting.

Unfortunately for us, we only got to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the playground. Everything else was closed. I know I've said this before, but it's a good thing my kids are so little. They loved the playground so much that they were okay with the fact that we didn't get to do anything else. So our trip to the playground was an expensive one... almost $55 between lunch, parking, and fare for the streetcar... yikes! But at least all the playing and running around wore out the kids.

After our City Park adventure, we hopped back on the streetcar and got off near Bourbon Street. We decided we wanted to walk around the area for a bit and take in some of the city. The kids enjoyed the street performers and Josh almost got ripped off by a guy on the street claiming he could guess where Josh bought his shoes.

Luckily, a friend (thanks Kelley!) warned me of this very thing and I yelled, "No! Keep walking Josh!". I didn't want to pay him $20 or be harassed.

So we kept walking and stopped off in a little store off Decatur St that sells Mardi Gras masks. $2.99 each or 3 for $7.99... that's my kind of deal! Well, Max wanted one that looked like Anakin and Ava wanted one like Max. So we ended up getting some that were more expensive (but still on sale :) . They wore the masks for about 5 minutes... go figure.

After that, we decided to get going out of there. Josh and I were both a little nervous about being in a strange place and I was sure someone would try to steal one of my kids.

So we got in the car and started driving East, just to see what we might find. Word to the wise... East of New Orleans, it looks like Kansas... flat land and cows.

Tomorrow we are heading to the zoo, then we're going to do a couple other things on our list and head out somewhere else. Maybe Baton Rouge. Maybe San Antonio. We don't know yet. Any thoughts?

Josh's side of the story is here.

Things I learned today:

1. You should ALWAYS find out what days and hours all the attractions you want to see are open. It really sucks to get somewhere and fid out they are closed... especially when you already told your kids where you were going.

2. Bring extra socks. Ava stepped in a huge puddle of water and soaked one of her socks. I gave her one of mine, but then my foot was cold.

3. Downtown New Orleans is not really a place for kids. I couldn't believe how many photos of half-naked women we saw in the windows of almost every shop! Luckily, my kids are little and they really didn't notice.

4. My kids will find a way to turn anything into Star Wars. Max saw a jet today leaving a streak in the sky. He proclaimed, "All the Southwest airplanes are Jedi cruisers and all the other airplanes are bad guys. Rocket ships in the sky are escape pods". When they got their masks, Max said his was an Anakin mask and Ava's was an Ahsoka mask.

5. 45 degrees is warmer than the temps in KC right now, but it's still pretty chilly. I'm wishing it was about 80 degrees.

6. Don't bring 24 on DVD to watch while you're on vacation. It would be amazing to go to bed early every night, but instead we've been up waiting to find out how season 5 ends.

Max was eager for the streetcar to pick us up.

I love these next 3 images. They are SO my kids. Lia's eating a cookie so she will sit still, Ava's trying to steal her cookie, and Max is just chilling.

Now, they're trying to behave.

And now I'm a bad guy and they must destroy me!

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 4

2010-01-10T21:06:00.004-06:00

So today was kind of a bust. We should have seen the warning signs. Lia woke up this morning after sleeping for nearly 12 hours last night and she was GRUMPY. She pretty much cried and screamed about everything. But we ventured out anyway. We decided to head to the Insectarium today since it was still cold. The kids had a good time, but pretty much had a meltdown about 2/3 of the way through.

We decided to walk around downtown for awhile and find something to eat. We made it about a block before the kids were fussing about being cold. So we ducked into a local cafe for a late breakfast. Well, apparently they don't serve breakfast after noon. So we loaded up and headed back to the hotel so everyone could take a nap. After we got up more rested but still grumpy, we decided to go do something, anything. First stop was get the kiddos some dinner at KFC. Well, by the time we got the food, it was almost dark. Defeated, we headed back to the hotel.

In a last ditch effort to save the day from complete failure, we decided to have a Star Wars battle/jump-a-thon on the two full size beds that occupy our hotel room. Luckily, we weren't so loud that we got kicked out. And it did seem to make the kids happier. So, I'm hoping we aren't the only family who has bad days on vacation... Somebody leave me a comment and let me know we aren't alone!

Click here for Josh's side of the story.

Things I learned today:

1. Max remembers everything. Last summer, we were on a walk one day and he asked me what dragonflies eat. This was shortly after I got my iPhone, and Max's favorite thing was to ask me questions and when I didn't know the answer, he would say, 'Look it up on your iPhone.' So, we looked up what dragonflies eat: insects. When we saw dragonflies at the insectarium today, he proudly exclaimed, 'dragonflies eat insects!'

2. Even though it was almost 40 degrees today, that is still 'Cold!' to the kids.

3. Just because there is a chalkboard sign outside of a restaurant proudly proclaiming all the yummy things they serve for breakfast does not mean that they actually serve breakfast all day.

4. In the older part of downtown New Orleans, all the buildings are really old and shutters cover the windows and doors. Some buildings are apartment/townhomes and some are bars. We saw some shops and restaurants too, but mostly bars. When all the shutters are closed, it looks like the town is empty. It's very different from Kansas City, but I love the character of all the old buildings.

5. In downtown New Orleans, it's literally a matter of a couple of blocks distance between the old part that has such neat buildings and the newer part that is all skyscrapers.

6. The insectarium was cool, but is probably better for older kids. Thankfully, we bought the all-in-one passes, so it didn't cost us much to get it. If we had paid full price, it would have been $50 and I don't think we got $50 worth of entertainment out of it.

7. Jumping on the bed is all it takes to turn a crappy day into an okay one. The kids probably had as much fun jumping on the beds tonight as they have doing anything else we've done here.

These were REAL bugs for sale to EAT! GROSS!!

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 3

2010-01-09T21:35:00.004-06:00

Well, thankfully last night, all the Solars slept better. We got up early this morning and headed due South to New Orleans. The drive from Jackson, MS to New Orleans, LA is pretty much one highway with trees surrounding it on both sides for most of the way. And not the kind of trees we have in Kansas City. Tall, tall skinny trees. And TONS of them. I got the feeling that we were driving on a road carved out in the middle of a forest. But, as we drove further and further South, the temperature slowly crept up. By the time we got to New Orleans, it was ABOVE freezing! Woohoo! It's been a long time.

When we first got here, we headed straight downtown. Josh and I were both a little overwhelmed by all the one-way streets, people everywhere, streetcars, nowhere to park, etc. In a moment of despair, we decided to head straight to the aquarium. Before we left Kansas City, we bought an all-in-one pass to the Zoo, Aquarium, Insectarium, and Imax.

The aquarium was awesome! The kids really enjoyed it, especially Lia who kept pointing at everything, saying, 'Fish! Turtle!' There were lots of jellyfish, turtles, sharks, fish, sea otters, penguins, frogs, and of course a playground and many gift shops. We spent a couple of hours there and everyone had a great time. The kids even got new pirate swords at the gift shop (as if we have a shortage of swords around our house).

After the aquarium, we drove around the downtown area a bit and up and down Bourbon Street before heading to the hotel to call it a night.

Josh's side of the story here.

Things I learned today:

1. My kids favorite part of any attraction is the gift shop. (Well, I guess I already knew that one!)

2. It's impossible to find anywhere to park in downtown New Orleans.

3. It's even more impossible to find a bathroom in downtown New Orleans when you can't park anywhere and there are two kids in the backseat screaming, "I have to go potty NOW!"

4. I told Max he could have anything he wanted for dinner. He said shell macaroni. I always wondered why anybody would pay $1.59 for a microwaveable bowl of macaroni and cheese. Now I know.

5. Ava wants to learn how to skateboard when she gets bigger. We saw some kids skateboarding outside the aquarium and Max & Ava were amazed.

6. Lia almost thinks she's in a separate room and will go to sleep great if you push her pack n play to the corner of the room and block it off with the bathroom door or that door that's in between two rooms so you can adjoin them. Putting her right next to the bed so she can literally stand up and smack you is not a good place.

7. In a city full of amazing fresh seafood, my husband wants to eat a Belgian waffle for dinner. I guess that doesn't surprise me :)

8. Max learned that jellyfish will sting you from watching Spongebob. And who says cartoons aren't educational?

Oop! Apparently I only took a few photos today, so these are Josh's!

Lia plays peekaboo... and listen carefully at the end... she say I love you :)

Now a bunch of videos from the aquarium

After a long day, Lia was tired...

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 2

2010-01-08T21:19:00.005-06:00

We're ALMOST there. Today was a lot of driving... it's hard to get out and do stuff along the way when it's SO cold. So we drove from Springfield, MO to Memphis, TN to Jackson, MS today. We made a pit stop at the Parachute Inn for lunch. They have a giant Southwest airplane with seating inside for lunch. Well, the airplane part was closed due to cold weather. The kids did enjoy watching the ducks swim in the fountain of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Thankfully though, we're now at our hotel in Jackson and all three kids are asleep. We should be in New Orleans and into warmer weather by lunchtime tomorrow. And I saw that the low for tonight in KC is -14 degrees. No thanks.

Don't forget to follow Josh's side of the story here.

Things I learned today:

1. If you leave stuff in the car overnight when it's ridiculously cold outside, it will freeze. That includes special k bars, V8, and baby wipes.

2. Lia is probably getting too old to sleep in the pack n play. She was up most of the night last night.

3. Lia is not a good co-sleeper. In a moment of desperation, I put her in the bed with me to sleep. She's a wiggler like Ava and still didn't sleep a long time.

4. My kids really don't know the difference between a successful visit to a tourist spot and a bust. Josh was unimpressed by the Peabody ducks, but the kids thought it was awesome that there were ducks in the fountain INSIDE the hotel.

5. My kids love the simple things in life... running up and down the hallways of an expensive hotel screaming at the top of their lungs, having two beds in our hotel room so they can jump back and forth, m&m's from the gas station.

6. Max & Ava laugh hysterically every time they watch videos of themselves on our iPhones. They can be entertained for quite some time doing this.

Lia hates socks. Here she is trying desperately to get these off :)

And she's out... we had a long night last night, so she needed this nap!

Remember these dinos from our Colorado trip?

Here's Max & Ava watching iPhone videos

Lia loves peanut butter and jelly and making a mess

But mostly Lia loves doing whatever Max and Ava do. She thinks she's a big girl,
but I know she's still a baby...

Max's video of the Peabody ducks

New Orleans Road Trip - Day 1

2010-01-07T21:22:00.005-06:00

This cold weather sucks. And we've officially had enough of it. This is our first winter with no other jobs besides photography. That means we have a lot of flexibility in our schedule. And lucky for us, that also means we can load up the car and leave for a week without any problems. We were going to leave in a couple days, but I was out running errands this morning and called Josh. I said, "Let's leave today." He said okay. We packed everything up, loaded up the van, and headed out of snowy, freezing cold Kansas City. Of course, it was about 3:30 pm by the time we left our house, so we only made it to Springfield, but that's fine. We're 2 1/2 hours closer to warm weather :)

Don't forget to follow Josh's side of the story here.

New to the road trip blogs... iPhone videos!!

And, because I so enjoyed this segment from my Colorado blogging...
Things I learned today:

1. It's possible to get stuck in snow in your own cul-de-sac literally minutes after you announce, "We're going to New Orleans! Who's excited?!". P.S. Our HOA sucks and they apparently refuse to plow our street.

2. If you offer Lia a bite of your sandwich, she will assume you are giving her your sandwich. Don't expect to get it back.

3. Summer road trips are more fun than winter road trips because it gets dark SO early in the winter.

4. It sucks when it's so cold that you have to bundle up everyone just to go into the gas station to go potty.

5. Max always says he is tired and wants to go to the hotel to go to bed. I'm convinced that he is straight up lying. As soon as we get into our room, he starts running around like a madman and jumping from one bed to the other.

6. One hotel room + 2 parents + 3 kids is not an equation for fun. 1 1/2 is not a good age to try to sleep in a pack n play while your older brother and sister talk, giggle, wiggle, and jump on the bed.

7. Ee makes amazing chocolate chip cookies... and she always sends WAY too many... I'm supposed to be on a diet!

8. The leapsters were worth every penny!

Oh, there's my sandwich!

Gimme back my sandwich please!

Someday they're gonna hate me for this...

2010-01-06T15:00:00.000-06:00

Someday my kids will see this blog post and say something like, 'Mom, I can't believe you posted such an embarrassing photo on your blog for the whole world to see! Don't you love us?' And I'll say something like, 'Of course I love you and that's why I posted this image. It shows everything I love about you.' They won't buy it, but at least maybe you'll get some enjoyment out of this image.

Max started reading over the summer. When no one is paying attention, he loves to read to Ava, which just melts my heart. Well, you also know that they are master stallers at bedtime. So, pretty much every night, Max has to go poop right at bedtime. So he'll sit on the potty and do his thing and Ava will sit on the step stool or stand near him and he will read to her. It's kind of like their nightly ritual. Now, I'm sure if you don't have kids, this will seem a little weird, but whatever. I love that my kids love each other.

More summer fun

2010-01-05T15:00:00.000-06:00

A few more photos from warmer days this year...

I LOVE this photo of Lia. This was back during her pre-walking days. She was a little unsure of the water and wanted to check it out.

What's up?

It's true...sometimes Lia is grumpy

2010-01-04T15:00:00.000-06:00

So it's no secret that Lia is the happiest baby ever... But, here's proof that she is occasionally grumpy (and she's cute when she's mad too!)

Daddy Snuggles

2010-01-03T15:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a shot from the summer of daddy and Ava snuggling right after naptime. Ava sure loves her daddy and that makes me smile :)

Max and his legos

2010-01-02T15:00:00.002-06:00

Oh how Max loves his legos. It started out as a giant bucket of legos that daddy used to play with when he was a kid. I was surprised at how quickly Max picked up on the whole lego thing. And he can totally follow the directions. It's pretty cool. I'll tell you what's not cool though. Stepping on legos with bare feet. Totally not fun. Here's a few shots of Max with one of his first lego projects, the pirate ship. This was even cooler to him at the time, because he was really into Peter Pan and Captain Hook.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T07:41:00.005-06:00

Wow. I can't believe it's the new year already. Seriously, where does the time go? I've been thinking alot lately about the last year (well, honestly the last two years). I haven't really talked about this on my blog, but now that I'm FINALLY GETTING BETTER (!), I think it's time. It's been two years. For two years, my life has been a series of ups and downs. Big downs. I first got sick last January when I was pregnant with Lia. And I was REALLY sick. I had 5 ER visits, 3 hospital stays, and saw probably over 30 different doctors over a 5 month period. Nobody ever figured out what was wrong, and then one day, everything was back to normal. Six months went by, and I found my health going downhill quickly.

2009 brought worsening symptoms (crazy bad hives, joint pain and swelling, never-ending headaches). I saw SO many different doctors. I even went to the Cleveland Clinic in July and saw 6 different specialists there. I spent most of the year on large doses of Prednisone, Doxepin, and many other drugs. At one point, I was taking 15 prescription drugs every day. I've had just about every blood test under the sun done on me, skin biopsies, MRI's, you name it. Still, no answers. No one could explain why I was sick and the positive effects of the drugs were always short lived. The Prednisone was the one drug that kept my hives at bay, but it made me short-tempered, moody, angry, gave me insomnia, and made me FAT. I spent 8 months of 2009 on Prednisone. The last rheumatologist I saw in September told me that we were out of options. They had tried every drug on me that they had and none worked. He told me that I would have hives for the rest of my life and that I would never be able to get off the Prednisone.

That's when things finally started turning around. Thanks to some facebook friends of Josh's, I was encouraged to start seeing a Naturopath. Now, I'm not going to lie... I was totally against it. But to be honest, I was out of options. I knew I had to put my full faith in this doctor, and that's what I did. Everything she told me sounded a little crazy and weird, but it's been 3 1/2 months since I started seeing her. I'm off ALL of my prescription drugs and I'm feeling 98% better. My hives are gone, the joint problems are gone, and so are the headaches. It turns out that the very same drugs I was taking to make the hives stop were simultaneously making me better and worse at the same time. The antihistamines and immuno-suppressants were helping with the hives, but they were also doing damage to my liver and kidneys, which is what was causing the hives in the first place. It wasn't until I started weaning off the drugs when I was able to see this for myself.

I am SO thankful for my health. Being so sick for so long has really had a huge impact on my life. There were so many things we didn't get to do and so much time that passed getting us further and further behind on everything... work, housework, laundry, raising babies, being married. Now that I'm better and I feel like I have my life back, I've got a lot of new year's resolutions. I decided to blog my resolutions this year and also to write them out and hang them up somewhere in my house. 2010 is going to be the year when I put my priorities first. And I figured having a constant reminder of that couldn't hurt :) I'm sure I'm not the only person out there that makes resolutions every year that get forgotten after a month or so.

So, here goes:

Resolution #1: Be healthier. I'm going to continue seeing the Naturopath and following whatever diet and supplement regimen she prescribes. I'm going to lose the rest of this drug-induced weight I've gained in 2009 (about 25 lbs to go). I'm going to do some form of exercise at least 5 days a week, even if it's just chasing my kids around the house or the yard for 30 minutes. I'm going to keep eating alot of veggies even after I lose the weight. I'm going to go to bed at a decent time (by 11 pm) at least 5 days a week. I REALLY need more sleep :)

Resolution #2: Be a better wife. I'm going to spend more quality time with my husband and less time worrying about the never-ending list of things to do. They can wait. We're going to have date night once a week, even if it consists of a red box movie and low fat popcorn. And I'm going to make sure that I support him in his dreams and goals and make sure he has time for himself.

Resolution #3: Be a better mom. I'm going to yell less. I'm going to discipline a little more and stick to my guns better so that my kids know I mean business. Hopefully this will equate to them listening more and me being less frustrated. I'm going to remember that they are just little kids and sometimes little kids are bratty. Even when they're not tired. I'm going to spend less time picking up after them and more time playing with them.

Resolution #4: Travel more. Traveling is really important to us, but we always have a lot of excuses for why we don't travel more. One of the best things about our job is the flexibility. There's a lot of time during the year that we can sneak away for a week or two and we're going to do more of that this year. Our road trips are a pretty inexpensive way to travel and we have so much fun.

Resolution #5: Work less. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. We've spent the last 4 years of our life working like crazy to build a successful business. We've both been able to quit our day jobs and just focus on our dream job, photography. This has really improved the quality of our life, but I don't feel like we take advantage of that enough. I want to be more efficient when I work. We're going to take at least one full weekend off every month. We're going to take at least one full day during the week every week off. And no more working seven nights a week. We're going to work 4 nights a week max.

Resolution #6: Buy less stuff. Last week, we ravaged the house, piling up the minivan with donations for Goodwill. That combined with having to find a place to put all the kids new toys from Christmas made me realize that we have WAY too much stuff. So, I'm going to spend less money on things we don't need so that we can spend more money on the things we value... time with our family and traveling.

Now, I leave you with some images of my favorite people in the whole world, taken way back in June on Father's Day...

I'm not sure why, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE this image :)

Lia's pretending she's tough

Ava loves daddy this much

Or maybe this much

Ava

2009-12-31T15:00:00.001-06:00

This photo is just SO Ava. Looking up with her big brown eyes, food all over her face, a cute little half-grin, still in her pjs.

Sprinkler Fun

2009-12-30T15:00:00.000-06:00

More summer fun photos. Here are some photos of Max and Ava playing in the sprinkler with Zoey. Max refused to run through the sprinkler until Zoey drug him through it. He doesn't like to get water in his eyes.

Ava didn't want to get water in her eyes either :)

The baby pool

2009-12-29T22:19:00.003-06:00

Okay, so obviously these photos are kinda old. We're finally starting to get through all of our personal pictures from the past summer. So, here are some photos of Lia enjoying the baby pool.

I love the crinkle nose face!

iPhone Videos: Start your engines!

2009-12-23T15:00:00.003-06:00

It's no secret that my kids love to run around the table. Here are a couple videos of them doing what they do best :)

iPhone Videos: My little singers

2009-12-21T20:24:00.005-06:00

iPhone Videos: Lia eating yogurt

2009-12-19T10:54:00.002-06:00

Lia loves her yogurt! And she's pretty good at feeding herself. Enjoy!

iPhone Videos: Lia's Baby Sign

2009-12-04T20:25:00.005-06:00

We did baby sign language with all of our little ones. In fact, our good friend Dave was the first one to tell me about baby sign language way back when Max was a teeny baby. I'm going to dig around and see if I can find any old videos of Max and Ava doing sign. It's been such a great transitional communication tool for our family. Lia doesn't talk much, but she will do a few baby signs that at least give us a glimpse into what she's thinking. The signs she regularly does are: more, bite, drink, all done, and an occasion milk sign. Here are a few videos of her showing off her skills...

Sorry this one is vertical! I didn't know you couldn't rotate it :)

iPhone Videos: Max's Narrations, Volume 1

2009-11-28T20:04:00.002-06:00

So Max got a hold of daddy's iPhone the other day and took this video of Lia. I laughed so hard when I watched it and knew I had to post it. So enjoy!

iPhone videos - Max reading

2009-11-25T09:00:00.004-06:00

So I just figured out how to upload videos from my iPhone to YouTube. So, (lucky you!) I am going to start sharing them here. Hope you enjoy! These first two are from sometime this past summer when Max was starting to learn how to read.

Trick or Treating

2009-11-16T16:08:00.006-06:00

Finally, the last Halloween post! Most of our friends who came to the party stayed to trick-or-treat, so we had a big group. On to the pictures...

Ava was excited!

Caleb didn't know what to think.

We had a big group this year!

Quite a few people were giving out playdoh and other small toys instead of candy. Right on!

Micah was really excited about the candy though :)

Waiting patiently...

Lia's like, what's up?

We actually ran into another family who had Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook.

Lia was done and ready for bed at this point.

Max was obviously not.

Josh was excited for the candy!

Baby Sam made a cute frog.

A wrestling match broke out in somebody's yard.

Dora was happy!

The Halloween Party

2009-11-13T19:02:00.009-06:00

WARNING: IMAGE OVERLOAD!

Every year at Halloween, we love to get all our friends over and have a little party. This year, since Halloween was on a Saturday, it worked out even better. We had the party during the afternoon and then everyone stayed to go trick or treating.

We had pumpkins for the kids to decorate.

Lots of treats and sweets. This is a kitty litter cake that Rosemary made.

Yay! The group shot!

Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Tinkerbell

Lia wasn't sure what to do with the hook.

I'm not convinced that she is a mean pirate.

I call this game, 'Tackle the Zoey!'

There were lots of super heroes and good guys in general. Not sure who they are fighting here :)

Now we're playing dog pile on 'baby' Josh

The light was so yummy that day!

Everybody get daddy!

Don't be fooled by Josh's first-hand account of this battle... he did NOT win.

Sam just slept most of the party.

Dave really wanted to be Dora the Explorer for Halloween.

Halloween, Part 4

2009-11-12T20:33:00.003-06:00

Yep, more Halloween pictures. This next series are the cookie-making and decorating photos.

Bat cookies!