You are My Sunshine...

My camera is driving me NUTS, whenever I video all you really hear is static...I can't wait to get my new camera soon! Anyway, if you can hear past the static and actually try to listen to Zane you'll be able to hear him singing "You are My Sunshine" with a little help from me! We've been doing this for awhile now and he finally let me record it tonight and I do apologize that the quality is so bad...I hope he'll let me video it again when I get a better camera!

Night Night

Chuck E Cheese!

Our friend Bruce's son Aramis turned 6 yesterday and his party was at good ol' Chuck E Cheese! Please, someone remind me to never have my child's birthday party there! That place is INSANE and not to mention a little too dirty for my taste...either way, Zane and the other kids had fun. Zane was one of the youngest kids there and as you'll see in one of the pictures below, he looked a little timid while at the table with all of the big kids, but trust me, he did have fun!







Those of you who went to Central and knew Bruce Eklund, these are his 2 boys, all grown up! Cedric is 11 and Aramis is 6!

NKOTB...again

If you knew me when I was 12 or have read on the blog over the last couple years and seen the posts, you know that I love me some NKOTB! Yes, they faded away in '94, but they have made a comeback in the last 2 years! Yes, I've gone to their latest 2 concerts and enjoyed every second of it and yes, that to most is probably more than they could handle...but not me, give me more!!

My friend Andrea rocks and she let me know last Saturday afternoon that there was going to be a special screening of their new DVD called Coming Home here in Seattle (Bellevue actually) and you had to win tickets; she was nice enough to tell me how to win. So I entered (through their website) as did she and shockingly, Sunday night we both got emails that we had won a ticket to the screening! I thought it would be pretty cool...but it wasn't until Monday that I was talking to her that I learned that NKOTB were actually going to be there themselves!!! I had originally thought it was just a screening and we'd go on our way...I was dead wrong!!! The screening was on Tuesday at Lincoln Square and it was AWESOME!!! Andrea and I met some pretty cool girls in line which helped pass the 4 hours we were standing there and then we were lucky enough to score 4th row seats! I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever get as close to these guys as I did that night, I can die a happy woman now!! I was able to shake hands with most of them and received a kiss (on the cheek), hug and picture from/with Donnie!! These guys have aged well, even up close...trust me!!

Enjoy the pictures! Laugh all you want...I had a blast and would do it again in a heartbeat!!

Sick Day?

Zane woke up with a little fever this morning (and also had a little one yesterday while home with the grandparents), so I opted to keep him home today. You would never know it by these pictures all taken from this morning that he wasn't feeling well! I think he was pretending to have a fever so he could have a stay-home day with mommy!!

Daddy's work.

Daddy had to work today, so Zane and I thought it would be fun to take him lunch and go visit for a little! We were right, it was fun! Zane never gets tired of looking at the cars and talking about them; I know its fun for Josh to show the little man around too!

A sad good-bye.

Tonight was my birthday dinner with my step-dad Michael and his wife Holly, but it was also the last time we were going to see them before they move to Arizona this weekend. My family life ( as in parents) has been pretty dysfunctional over the last 7 years and it definitely hasn't been easy to deal with. One thing has always been stable though and that is Michael. Even after my mom left, he stood by me and stayed my parent even though legally he didn't have to. Michael has been in my life since I was 9 and I know he'll be in my life forever. There is nothing I want more than for him to know how much I love and appreciate him. I'm very sad to see them go. On the other hand; I can't wait to go down and visit and I'm also very happy for them, that they are going somewhere that they want to go and I know they will be happy there too.

I love you dad and can't wait to see you soon.

Here are a few pics from our dinner tonight.

When mom & dad are away...

Here is what most of Zane's day consisted of today while Josh and I were at work and Zane was home with G & G Alexander.

Building a tower as tall as himself:


Laying out almost every toy he owns on the kitchen floor:

See us on Kong!

Just a reminder that you can catch Zane (& I) on King5 News on Kong (channel 6) this Thursday morning! Set your DVR's for the 8 a.m. news.

Also can be viewed online (after it airs) here: http://www.king5.com/news/learning-for-life

Here are a couple pictures from our experience!

The big 3-2!

I seriously cannot believe I am 32, wow! There was a day when I used to think that 30 was old! I had a WONDERFUL birthday to say the very least! It was nice of the federal government to recognize it and give me the day off of work! Ok, so I'll share the credit of having today off with MLK Jr., but either way, it was great to have the day off! Zane gave me one of the best gifts of all today...he slept in until 10 after 8, which is huge for him! After breakfast and a little play time, we headed out to my favorite store: Target, Zane played on the play-structure in the mall for awhile and off to lunch we went with my cousin Nika and her son Skye (who I haven't seen in well over a year)!!!







After lunch, Zane took a 3.5 hour nap (another awesome gift; although that's not unusual for him) and then once Josh got home from work we went out to dinner and enjoyed a Coldstone cake at home! It was a great day and I couldn't have asked for anything better (except maybe to have the whole week off work)!

Monster Trucks!!

We had a great time at the Monster Jam show with The Hall's last night! It took Zane a little while to warm up to these loud trucks, but once he was comfortable with his headphones on and could see what these massive machines could do, he was hooked! It is absolutely amazing to me as to how big, loud and talented these trucks are, it was a lot of fun to watch and great fun to watch the "ooh and ahh" on the kids' faces! Zane always has such a blast with Kennedi and Tate and I'm so happy he was able to experience this with them!

The Alexander's!


The Hall's!


Because my camera is poopie and isn't taking very good photos these days, these next pics are stolen from Brenda's blog (thanks Bren)!



This was my favorite truck!


Awesome!


Here I am with my best girl!


Zane and Kennedi being adorable as they always are together!


He's loving it now!


Proof Josh was there too!

Fun at Mt. Rainier!

Josh and I took Zane up to Mt. Rainier yesterday to experience some real snow and some first time sledding! Zane LOVED sledding, but tired out of it pretty quick as we had expected.







Here is a video of his first time ever sledding!












After a little hot chocolate and exploring inside the visitor's center we decided to head back out into the snow. This time Zane was in his pack and Josh and I had the chance to break in our snow-shoes some more. Not sure how it worked out this way, but Josh had Zane in the pack on the way down the hill and I somehow was lucky enough to tote this 33 lbs kiddo back up the hill! It was a great work-out to say the least and Zane did a fantastic job in the pack, just like his mommy he is fascinated with water-falls, so it was fun to find some of those along the way!





I love my little family so much!




Love this man to pieces even after all these years!!


After a few hours in the snow we started to head back home and our goal was to keep the little man awake long enough to get to a restaurant for lunch. We stopped for lunch at an over-priced, small portions, not the best food ever train restaurant in Elbe that I would not recommend to anyone! After lunch, the little man fell fast asleep and slept for almost 3.5 hours!!