Funville was Fun!

Sophia was an artist in the park! 

I was her subject and here's my portrait!

Choo Choo!

All Aboard!

The new free exhibit at Crown Center right now is called Funville.  It's a pretty cute community set up with lots of different jobs, including circus workers and the President!  Both my kids fit pretty well into the oval office if I do say so myself! Afterwards we lunched at Fritz's, one of our favorite spots!

A Visit from Zoe!

love this pic!

Charlie and Aunt Bess enjoying some Greek food!

Kids' table!

Zoe and Uncle Stacy

Snuggles at Andre's!

Leo's favorite part of lunch!

Huggy train!

Zoe came for a surprise visit for a few days!  We were very excited to see her and, as usual, her visit mostly revolved around eating at our favorite places! ;)  She and Aunt Bess were headed to Vegas to meet up with the rest of the Otis Clan and luckily they were able to find a flight out on Wednesday afternoon because they certainly would not have made it on their original flight on Thursday!  Can't wait to see her again in June...when she graduates HIGH SCHOOL!  AAACK!

Viva la Mexico!

This is the view from our friend, Shelly's, balcony

This is looking at the resort from the beach

here's our room!  It was very cozy and we loved the bed

here's the view from our room.  It was a bit overcast that day, but it was a good view

one night we visited a different resort (owned by the same company as ours) and ate at the French restaurant.  It was so worth the visit!  

Charlie and Ken share a post meal port, one of Charlie's favorites!

Here is our group!  We had 5 from KC, 4 from St. Louis, 1 from Wichita, and 2 from South Dakota

here is Shelly and me enjoying her cabana on the pool deck

last year we have a super fun picture from our Jamaica day of all our feet, so we decided maybe we should make it an annual tradition.  This one was hard to get without shadow though :(

another group shot by the beach

our friends Shelly and Don

by the pool with Kelly and Shelly

one afternoon Shelly and I were sitting on the beach talking about Shelby.  I looked up and saw this giant heart shaped cloud.  I took a picture of it and it immediately disappeared.

Every year Charlie and I try and take a trip with our friends and leave the kids at home.  Luckily we have super awesome family who is so willing to help us out!  I try to make it as easy on them as possible, but I know it's hard work! :) Mom, Sue, and Anne all took kid duty for 2 days--Thanks, guys, you are amazing!!!  The kids had a super fun time (surprise!) and loved every minute of their Stay-cation.  In fact, Sophia was at a friend's house when we came home and refused to leave after she found out we were home...sheesh, chopped liver much?!

In the past, we've gone on cruises but this year decided to try and all inclusive in Mexico.  It was fabulous!  There was some group discussion over which was better, and ya know, put me anywhere to hang on the beach with my  husband and no kids and I'm just fine, you guys go ahead and decide! :)  I'm sure we'll start making plans again soon (so, Mom, Sue, and Anne...calendars ready?!).

I literally laid in the sun every day.  It. Was. Awesome.  I read a few books, relaxed, chatted, sipped fruity drinks, and napped.  Charlie scheduled us for two spa days and that was also heavenly!  We had a very romantic Valentine's Day massage, a holiday that usually goes virtually uncelebrated at home, but I wasn't going to turn down a spa day!  The only time we left the resort was to go to another resort about 10 miles down the road.  We were excited to eat and explore since this resort was a little more high end and was said to have a fantastic beach, but as soon as we finished dinner there was a sudden and heavy downpour.  Some of our group got stuck in it and others were lucky enough to have not left the bar yet! ;)  

We did miss our kids so at least at the end of the vacation there was that to look forward to, but truth be told, I could have handled just a few more days in paradise!

Keeping Busy

Sophia started ballet again this winter and is excited for another 8 week session plus another recital.  Even more exciting is that Aubrey and Lauren are in her class too!  Yay for friends!

getting ready to watch a puppet show!

we are big fans of Martha Speaks so when it came in puppet form we joined our friend, Isaac, to see the show.  I personally liked Go, Dog, Go better, but this was cute.  There are some other good shows coming up too!

Here's Sophia just having a snack after gymnastics.  Leo is still in class and now he's only a class of one since no one else in still enrolled!  He loves it though and I love the one-on-one attention he gets!

light saber VS Hulk Girl

and role reversal!
Hulk is about to get arrested

And costume change!
Here Sophia is a Mountie atop her horse helping Thor chase down evil.

I honestly feel like we haven't been up to much since Christmas, and honestly I'm okay with that!  But, it doesn't make for interesting blogging, does it!?! The kids are still in gymnastics and they really like it.  Sophia finished up swimming lessons and she was able to swim the entire length of the pool doing the front crawl and the back crawl.   Leo is starting in two weeks and he is so close to swimming, I really hope he can just make it happen this go-round.  Sophia is back in ballet and is so happy to have Lauren and Aubrey in class with her, and I'm happy I get to spend 45 minutes talking with Jill during class! :)  We're trying to keep busy and I know with spring right around the corner (thanks Punxatawny Phil!) our schedule will get busier soon!

Teddy Bear Parade

Here is Sophia parading out of her classroom

coming down the hall

The whole class!  Sophia is in the back next to her friend, Ashlynn

Sophia and Rachel

Leo decided to bring his dog, Spike, for solidarity

Sophia takes computers on Wednesdays right after school but since we were already there Ms. Jan, the computer teacher, let Leo join the class too.

The day was too much excitement for Leo to handle, he fell asleep amongst his books and animals at Bama's house.

This month at school Sophia is doing a lot of work with Bears.  They've been reading bear books and doing bear activities and they even had their teddy bears for a visit this week.  Sophia recently made a new bear at Build-a-Bear, thanks to Papa Leo's gift card, and she took her ice skating bear, Rachel Icicle Hirner, with her to parade around.  They made floats out of old shoe boxes and they had quite a crowd watching the festivities.