Smile Maker

Happy Birthday Brian. As you can see, we are excited for you! :)

LoVe, JMLA

Tax Relief

What does a 4 year old and a 1 year old do while their parents work on the dreaded taxes? They play Star Wars Wii and walk around playing with any non-toy item until falling asleep.
After (finally) doing our taxes, we needed a fun weekend in Kentucky. We decided to leave Saturday morning so it was super easy to stop in at Dunkin' Donuts. Yes, for the kids of course! Axel had a whole new perspective on donuts and Lucas, well he was just enthralled by his Star Wars movie.
Love that camera face!
There was a little climbing competition going on for the Red River Gorge Reunion at a great crag called Torrent. It has limited access so it's always a treat to get to climb there. We met up with some great friends and had a wonderful (long) day.

Guess who took first place for the mens Habanero category? Thee Mr. Mike Anderson...all because of the wonderful support of his loving wife and family. :) Way to go Daddy!! A big thanks to Jess & Bentley for belaying him and to Kevin & Charmagne for belaying Mommy! :) Hmmm...no photos of Daddy?! He was too busy racing around. :)

I did catch a few photos to document the day. A little girl influence wore off on Lucas. That's what happens when you spend the day with triplet girls who are now 7 years old! I haven't seen him pose for a photo in months! See the gun? Yep, he's still full of Star Wars these days. He was Count Dooku on this day.Mrs. Charmagne tearing it up!
Emily drawing in the dirt. These girls have grown up outside and are so creative with keeping busy. It's been great for Lucas and yes, they can actually tire him out. Very impressive!
Mrs. Kay and Hannah enjoying an amazing spring day.Axel kept busy too and loves to explore the outdoors.Cloe looking cute as always! She's a big helper with Axel & Hannah. I can't wait until she's a few years older...we'll have a super babysitter for the boys. :)Swing time. After watching Hannah take flight, Axel was curious.
Big swings for a big girl!
Axel wasn't too sure about the harness but he tolerated the whole process.
I guess chewing on the strap helped a little.
He had a huge smile as soon as we let go. Swinging is one of his favorite things to do at the park and this was a whole new adventure. He loved it although his body language shows no emotion at all.
After a great day of climbing, we headed to Miguel's for the big party. Pizza, BBQ, raffle, slide Show, prizes and a HUGE bonfire. It was such a fun evening and we came home with lots of great prizes...new climbing shoes, the worlds biggest climbing hold, little magnetic climbing holds for the fridge, new chalk bag, etc. Lucas has a way with people and his cuteness usually equates to free gear. :)

Jason, Lucas & Karissa. Lucas and Karissa have a bond that is so fun to watch...he's truly in love but unfortunately for him, she is getting married this May. Good thing Jason is so good at sharing.
Daddy & Jessica...her hubby is in the background with his new camera. Next time, I'll have to get a better photo of Bentley. Nice bunny ears Mike!
Mommy & Axel were there too so let's get a cute group photo. Yeah right. (Check out Lucas & Karissa...this sums up their relationship! Too cute!)Try again...
And again?! By this point, Lucas knows what we are up too and is not going to cooperate. Axel also picked up on the plan and decided to follow in his brothers foot steps. Oh my boys?!?!
We give up. (Check out Axel's love of pizza!)
Sunday was a rainy, rainy day perfect for hanging out at the cabin.
It was a wonderful weekend!

Cox Arboretum Metro Park

Yesterday, Lucas was scheduled to get his hair cut. I love Lucas' hair appointments because it's a kid shop with DVD's, balloons, suckers and conveniently located right next to a Dunkin' Donuts.

I had to stop...you know, for the kids!

Axel really wanted nothing to do with the donuts and just spent his time trying to get a hold of my coffee. Lucas picked out a non-cake donut based on frosting and sprinkle color so he enjoyed eating the top of his donut. I was surprised by Axel's reaction to the donuts but have to admit, they were not as dreamy as I had remembered. However, the coffee...mmmm...it was dreamy and I think another hair appointment is in order. If only Axel had hair, we'd be in business. :)

After our mid-morning treat and a quick hair cut, we were off to Cox Arboretum Metro Park. The park is still a little brown after the LONG Winter but Spring is in the air and on the ground. The flowers and tree buds are just starting to pop up and we are so excited to explore the metro parks again!
Lucas is talented, here he is walking on one leg. This photo make me laugh because he asks me daily if I think he can "walk on one leg." As you can see, it was a little cool out.
Axel was all bundled a ready to go explore.
He loves birds and these ducks caught his attention. The mallard was VERY protective of his lady and would not let any other ducks near her or the pond. It made for some fun spectating.
So did their little ducky butts!
I don't know how we missed these trails last year but we did. Good thing Lucas was paying attention because he found them tucked away towards the back of the park. He was so excited and picked the blue trail to hike. All the hikes at the metro parks are color coded and correspond with different distances. We had no map so it truly was an adventure and luckily it was only a 1.1 mile loop. A 3 mile loop would have been a little hard with no baby backpack!

We have a new hiker in the family too!
I LOVE THIS PHOTO! It makes my heart smile and melt all at the same time.
Axel was focused. He was pretty brave too and really enjoyed the freedom.Oh-no, a hill! A true test of his new hiking skills. No too bad, I think he's got it.
Oh but wait?! Does he have it? Nope! Not good...falling...falling...
Caught it! He did a great job catching his fall but then realized that standing up from this position is a whole new thing on a hill. He was stuck! I thought it was hilarious but he wasn't as amused! I honestly think he would have stayed in this position (screaming) for very long time before figuring out he could sit on his butt and get up that way. :)
Don't worry, Mommy saved the day and then it was back to hiking.
At the end of the hike, we found the trail head and map so it was fun to see where we had been. Lucas loves maps and was keeper the rest of the day.
Mr. Eagle-eye Lucas discovered another part of the park we missed last year...the children maze! It's made out of little shrubs and was super cute. Lucas was not impressed because there was only one entrance/exit. "It's not a real maze! It doesn't have an exit." I'm not sure the criteria to be a true maze but he was pretty adamant. We had fun anyways and I was glad we found it since the butterfly house doesn't open until the end of June.

That's it!

The butterfly house always distracted us from exploring the entire park last year.
What fun discoveries this time around. :)

Almost Forgotten

We took a trip to Kentucky this weekend to go rock climbing and yes, I did take the camera. Did I use the camera?! Hmmm...nope! We did spend two days in beautiful weather climbing with great friends. Everyone was happy to be outside and it was nice to get back to our cabin.

Instead of weekend photos, I have a few that I almost forgot to post.

Check out Adam (Mr. Shy Guy) with Axel and his Mommy, Dana. The funny thing, he's not shy at all. This was brand new and he worked it!
See Axel's new smile. He loves to show off his four top teeth these days.
Adam has a nice set himself. We sure are going to miss you Adam, Dana & Phil but we are super excited to have friends in Washington D.C. :)
Two weekends ago, we went to Boonshoft Children Museum.
The recycle section is always one of our favorites and the boys just love the truck. It makes some great sounds and has lots of buttons to push.
We even took turns. :)
Big stuff!
They had a new rocket display too. 3-2-1...blast off!
The spider web. One year ago, Lucas hated this thing but not this time.
Just before going home, we sat in on a science demonstration with dry ice. It was so cool and Lucas learned all about solids, liquids and gases...it was a nice refresher course for Mommy too.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend.