Grandma Norma!

We had a super treat this last week when Grandma Norma came from Canada to visit!  She was down here for the NAD Women's Conference, and we all were so thrilled!  She taught Zachary had to climb stairs when he was 18 months old, and then taught him how to play the game Trouble when he was almost 4, and he always remembered her!

Kaleb was only 20 months the last time we were in Canada at her place, and so he didn't have the same memories....he asked Amy "How come I don't remember, I must have had my eyes closed the whole time!" :)

Playing Trouble again!

Zachary was especially in love with Grandma Norma!

Last Saturday night was Induction at Adventurers, which is always so fun to get together and see all of the kids in their uniforms!  Zachary is not pictured as he was in an emotional state as he apparently hated that uniform that particular day, and thus would not take a picture for his mother! Oh well - we all know what he looks like thankfully - so just imagine him pictured! :)

Marching in

Addison practicing to be an Adventurer someday!

The Z-family all fell victim to the stomach flu this week - thankfully it only lasted 18-24 hours.  Amy hosted the annual Controller's Conference on Monday/Tuesday, so was so thankful that she didn't get it until Wednesday!  After a miserable day, we were all back on our feet.  We were thankful for Grandma as she was able to watch Addison on Tuesday and then the boys on Thursday afternoon (as Karis was out for the count in bed, moaning every 30 seconds that he was going to die! :)

Karis came home on Tuesday to discover Addison sacked out for her 3 hour nap on Grandma - that's true love to lay on the couch for three hours with your Granddaughter laying on top of you!

 After recovering from the stomach bug, Kaleb then came down with a double ear infection the very next day!  Boo!  Can we just say how much we love Nite-Lite Pediatrics though - it is literally 5 minutes from our house and so fast!

Waiting for the doctor to come in..

A close friend of ours came for the annual conference, Stephanie, so we were pleased to be able to spend some quiet time with her on Sabbath and catch up.  Good friends are jewels to be treasured! We miss you Stephanie!

Phrase of the week:  "Gi/Guy" (think of the french way to say the name Guy", not the American way to say hi to a guy").  We had figured out that this is Addison's word for "Yes" - not sure how in the world this is supposed to mean Yes, but it does!   The odd part is that she mastered the word "Yeah" perfectly this week, but doesn't say Yes!  Amy asked her when she got home, "Are you feeling better" and she casually replied "Yeah" (like, no big deal mom! - Amy was in amazement!)  Addison has also started to say "Bamma" for Grandma!

Karis and Amy were hugging in the kitchen one day, just standing there, when Kaleb looked up from the table and told us "Stop, you've been hugging too long!"  Apparently we were making him uncomfortable! :)

Ride for Ronald

Last weekend, Karis rode 60 miles for a charity event "Ride for Ronald" - it was a beautiful day to do it, and they made great time.  He really enjoyed it - much more than when he did the 100 miles a few years ago.  The finish line was quite a fair distance, so the rest of the family headed to a local community festival but Rob provided at least a picture of the group while they were on the road.

Karis is somewhere in this pack of men riding!

On the Sabbath day, the boys got a "bee in their bonnet" and decided that they had to hit the beach one more time - even though it was cloudy and RAINY!  When telling them that it wouldn't be that nice of weather, Zachary replied "Who cares, you're wet at the beach anyway, so what difference does it make it if is raining?"  Karis decided that he couldn't argue with that, so took the boys to the beach while the lady Z-family members stayed at home nice and dry!  Blake and Evan went with them, so they had a lot of fun and we had a quick supper with the crew when they got back.

Playing soccer in our entry way when they got back from the beach

While Karis as on his ride, we headed over to the Altamonte "Let's Move" festival and enjoyed free samples, a bounce house, a "grip strength monitor" and more.  It really was fun, and the weather was perfect!

a balloon hat!

Watching the foundations

The grip strength test was actually quite fun - Zachary was able to apply 40 pounds of pressure, and Kaleb shocked us all with a whopping 35 - not bad for being 2 years younger!  Amy could only do 65 pounds of pressure - sad how the boys will soon surpass her!

Addison doing her grip strength

All of the kids enjoyed a free sample from Planet Smoothie - yum!

There was a bounce house, and true to form "Problem-solver Addison" quickly figured out that if she wanted to jump like mad and not fall, that she could hold on to the mesh windows and she'd be sturdy enough not to fall down as she jumped!  We love the first picture - that is Kaleb on the left hand side with the number 4 on his back - mid-air jump!

Showing off their face paintings

One last view of the water before heading on home...

It was hilarious - there were hoola hoops at the festival, so the kids were trying their best to do them. The adults tried too, but our hips couldn't move the small hoops fast enough to actually get it to work!  Addison tried her very best to mimic the motion of the hoops, which while she wasn't doing it properly, it was so cute that she tried to make it look like the boys were doing that we posted this video too!

Phrase of the week:  A while back when staying with Amy's mom, she said something about "waiting with baited breath" and later each boy tried to use the phrase - with both of them going wildly astray! They weren't said immediately together, so it made it all the more funny that they both tried use to use the phrase and got it so wrong!
Kaleb's phrase:  Grandma, I'm waiting with loaded breath!
Zachary's phrase:  Oh, I'm waiting with fishy breath!

Addison's words this week are "Bama" for Grandma and "Allo" - which is her word for cell phone - she always calls the cell phone (which she dearly loves!) "Allo"

Sporty Spice

Addison seems to be an awesome mix of both girly-ness and sportiness so far.  She definitely loves purses, shoes, and dollies and then amazes us with her athletic prowess at times!

Amy took her to run a few errands the other day, and she insisted that she had to take her purse along with her!  While there, Amy turned around to find that Addison had taken off her shoes and was able to try on a pair of boots! :)


Really, who needs boots in Florida!?

Showing off her purse and big grin

Last November we noticed that Addison was able to actually walk/trot behind a soccer ball and kick it in a straight line (even though she was only about 14-15 months).  Karis was finally able to get a video of her doing it - we're pretty impressed that she can do this - maybe she'll be a soccer star some day.


One night recently Amy had to work late, so wasn't able to put Addison down to bed like she normally does.....so Zachary stepped in to snuggle her before bedtime.  Hopefully the sibling love remains many years from now! :)

The boys have been obsessed lately with these maze balls that they got for presents over the last year or two - both of them have been trying to see how far they can get before the ball falls off the track - it has become a nightly routine!


Phrase of the week:  Addison is starting to put multiple words together a bit more often.  This week it was "I tursty (for thirsty)" 

Kaleb asked Karis "When will I have a sleep partner?"  NOT FOR A LONG TIME BUDDY! Maybe when you're 30!  Kaleb also told Amy that he had a girlfriend at school....Elizabeth...but don't say anything to anyone as people may tease me!  (Another Romeo on our hands..first it was Lindsay last year, then Elizabeth and now it has even switched to Leilani!)

Zachary was very intent on deciding where we were all going to live when he was an adult (apparently he is a pre-planner like his mother).  It had to be somewhere that he could ski, so then it became a negotiation between the mother and father of the house....Amy picking Denver and Karis picking Calgary.  It was quite distressing to Zachary that we weren't in agreement because he apparently was making this lifelong decision that very evening......we'll keep the ultimate decision a secret to not make either the Canadian or American relatives upset based on the final outcome! :)

Lucky Monkeys

Lucky monkeys, Lucky ducks - whatever the animal - we're lucky folks! :)  Last weekend we had fun by checking out a new indoor play place called Lucky Monkeys - it is geared for kids up to 12, although I would say probably 6 years old is in truth probably as old as would normally find it fun for multiple visits (although Zachary did say that he had fun, but I think that was in large part due to his Uncle William created an "earthquake" on the inflatable teeter-totter thingy and seeing how long the boys could hold on!

Addison had to be as close to Elin as possible!

Riding the tree "swing" - with Uncle William pulling it to go faster.  Even Addison had a great time hanging on for dear life!

Addison has started this funny habit - no matter what she's doing, if you say "Addi, let me see you" - she'll swing around to look at you and puts on this huge cheesy grin - expression below - and she'll repeat this every single time.  It is hilarious, and so useful when you want her to look at you for a picture!







 

Hanging with big brother

The funniest moment at Lucky Monkeys was when Addison decided that she wanted to fill her shirt with these balls - and made herself look like a woman......probably the biggest chest that she'll ever have!  Ha ha ha!

In very exciting news, we have a brand new nephew - a picture of perfection!  Korey (Karis' brother) and Rachel had a baby boy Nikolas Aleksandr on August 28, and he weighed in at 7 lbs 8 ounces and 21.5 inches long.

Last weekend, our cousin Jeff organized a skating outing for the Florida Hospital church (showing his Canadian roots!), so Karis and the boys tagged along to enjoy some ice time!  Their skills came back right away!

 

Hanging out with cousin Niesha!

 

Daddy-time!

Apparently Zachary is cold! :)

 We also had the pleasure of having Blake and Evan with us on Saturday morning while Jennifer had a blood test done for her pregnancy.  Kaleb was uncertain about whether Amy would be able to pull off getting to Sabbath School with five kids....she assured him that it would be possible even though she doesn't have as much practice with the 5 kids as Miss Jennifer does!  They all did fantastic though, so we did in fact make it!

Proof that we made it to church - so this is what having five kids would be like! :)

Phrase of the week:  Love, Love, Love!  Addison didn't actually say the true word love, but she mimicked the sound perfectly.  We were in church two weekends ago, and the pastor was repeatedly, loudly, saying the phrase "love, love, love!"  About halfway through the church service, Addison decided to yell it out as well after he did, so she shouted "Love, love, love!"  Folks around us started to laugh at her (we were sitting in the very back of the church), and then from the pulpit the pastor said "Well, at least the kids are listening to me!

Grandma the next day asked us "Were you in church" to which we said yes, and she started to tell us the story of this little girl (Grandma goes to a later church service, so had heard the story through the grapevine in her Sabbath school).  She said that it reminded her so much of something that Addison would do that she just had to share the story with Amy.....to which Amy had to sigh and say "Yep, that does sound like Addison.....so much so that it WAS Addison! :)"

From the Kaleb-front this week, Amy had a super funny bedtime conversation with him as well....

Kaleb (very seriously, and a little sadly):  Mom, I'm going to go bald soon.
Mom:  Why do you say that?
Kaleb:  Because my hair is going to get 'loose' and fall out.
Mom:  No, not all men go bald.
Kaleb:  Well, Daddy's hair got all loose and fell out.
Mom (chuckling inside about this "loose" business):  True, but not all men go bald.  Uncle William isn't bald."
Kaleb:  Oh yeah, you're right!  His hair didn't get loose!  But wait, his hair got all white!!!"
Ha ha ha, well - I guess it's a choice between loose hair and white hair... :)

Long Weekends - Oh What Joy!

Long weekends are just about the best thing ever - having the extra time at home and with the family is such a blessing!  Amy had a four day weekend, but she had to work all day on Friday but it was still great to have the extra day on Monday!

We laid low on Saturday as Adventurers started for the year that night - and Addison picked that night to decide to wake up about 500 times (okay, maybe slight exaggeration but a LOT) - sometimes every 20 minutes.  There was nothing wrong with her - other than wanting Mom to come tuck her back!  So when the option came up for the beach on Sunday, there was clearly no way that Addison was going to be skipping her nap so the male Zs headed out to the beach with the ladies stayed at home.

On Monday, we took Grandma to SeaWorld with us for the morning as they were having members bring a guest free month.  We had a great time, and enjoyed seeing all of the animals - and thank goodness for the Pets Ahoy show which is indoors and in A/C! :)  It is still beastly hot here!  

As we drove to SeaWorld, Zachary and Addison were holding hands in the backseat!

The boys decided to sit down in the splash zone at the Shamu show - Karis is in the front row with the blue hat and green shirt on (ducking his head) with Kaleb sitting on his lap in the red shirt

And when the show was done, they were all drowned rats!  Zachary's clothes were dripping for quite a while!

Zach and Daddy were on Manta while the rest of us headed into the Aquarium

Playing with the musical toys in Happy Harbor

The family picture - gotta love Photoshop as Amy created a single group shot from two separate pictures so that we could all be in a picture together! :)  Don't look too close, it was a quick "job" to merge these two so it isn't perfect! :)

Speaking of beastly hot - Amy's car AC has started to cycle on and off -- fairly infrequently right now but she ran to the mall after SeaWorld to look for a skirt (for family pictures which we are drastically overdue for!) and of course it wasn't working.  She then decided to take the kids out for a treat when she got home and we had to take the car (as Karis needed the van), and it STILL wasn't working.  By the time that we got to our destination when we got out of the car, the air literally felt COOL outside (and it had to still be 80 degrees!).  Poor Addison's hair was drenched as she's a sweaty little thing and there were beads of sweat on her face!  Clearly if the car keeps this up we'll had to suck it up and pay the mucho-money to get it fixed but we had hoped to delay it just a bit...

  

                                                   

                                                                   Snuggle time!

 Phrase of the week:  "Mom!......Burr-day.......Addi!"  - Addison is so enamored with the idea that she has had a birthday that she has been constantly reminding Amy about it the last few weeks - multiple times within a few minutes even.  It is so cute to see her excitement!

Kaleb had a funny conversation with Amy this week and he shared with her that there was a secret at school that his teacher told him to keep.  Amy has a rule - no secrets unless it is about a gift that you're giving a parent etc, so she convinced Kaleb to tell her what was going on.  It apparently was the fact that they were studying another country and were going to have special food in the classroom.....and the teacher had told the kids not to tell the other grades because they might be jealous! :)  So after telling Amy, Kaleb made her swear that she wouldn't tell the other kids (kind of hard to break that promise, seeing as Amy doesn't actually take the kids to school!)  The next morning he told the teacher that he had told me, and of course she said that was fine.  The night when tucking him in, he asked Amy "You didn't tell any of the other kids, right???  I don't want them to be jealous!!" - as he waves his little hand in the air in the 'no, no, no' motion.  So precious!