VACATION!!

Vacation Time!! We headed to the beach and Disney World!! Yes, I know we were just at Disney World,but in my opinion, you can never visit Disney too much! The kids LOVED the beach! Everyday we headed outside to play and dig in the sand and everyday they became more and more brave with the water. By the end of the trip, Addison did not want to hold anyone's hand and even Mark was heading out deeper. We all had a great time at the Magic Kingdom too! Mark's favorite part was driving the go-carts and I'm not sure what Addison's favoirte part was. She hasn't told me yet. hahaha My mom, aka Grandma, aka Bee-Ba, came along too!

Mark and Jason driving the go-carts. Actually, Mark driving and Jason riding. Mark LOVED driving and had a BLAST! You can see how big his smile is!

Sadly it poured for a couple hours while we were at Magic Kingdom. Being our only day there though, we bought ponchos and hung in there. Luckily, the storms passed and the show went on!

Mark has officially figured out that the characters are just people inside a costume. As he said, "see the zipper". Yes you could see the zipper up the back of the costumes. However, Mark was still glad to have his picture taken with Pooh and all his friends.

Addison DID NOT like the characters!! In Septemeber, she did ok with them, they weren't her favorite though. However, on this trip, she was TERRIFIED! Here is a picture of her screaming at Pooh while we were eating at the Crystal Palace. Yummy food!

Addison waved to everything while on "It's a Small World" ride.

Mark and Addison sitting on one of Minnie's chairs in Minnie's sunroom.

Mark and Addison sitting on Minnie's sofa inside her house. Addison is saying "cheezzzzzzz".

Addison's new, creative way of rinising off her feet.

Digging another hole...Everyday at the beach, we had to help dig a hole and fill it with water. Never failed, Addison always ended up sitting in the hole.

he's growing up

Mark graduated from pre-school in May. We can't believe he is off to Kindergarten! Our little man is growing up so fast! He did so good at graduation - sang all the songs and smiled so big! We are so proud!

a visit to the zoo

Isn't this just the sweetest picture? Mark held Addison's hand.

We were off to the zoo today! Mark and Addison had a great time, well so did Jason and I, but this blog isn't about us, it's about the kids! Addison enjoyed looking at the animals and Mark surprised us with all his knowledge about them. Who knew the kid knew prairie dog? Actually, it wasn't prairie dogs we were looking at, but meerkats. The point is he knew the words prairie dog and yes, they looked alike, a bit.

We got to feed the parakeets! Mark thought it was pretty neat, however, Addison wasn't so sure about those birds being too close to her. She prefered to be on the ground and just say "bir, bir".

Checking out the rhino, giraffes and zebras. Addison had to get up there with Mark and could not view the animals from her stroller. Of course not!!

Easter

Easter was celebrated all week-end at the Cherkas household. The kids and I went to an egg hunt on Saturday and enjoyed lunch with some friends. Sunday morning the kids discovered the Easter bunny had come and brought lots of goodies! He left all sorts of surprises in their baskets! We also dyed eggs and had another egg hunt. The kids really enjoyed the egg hunts! When Addison went down for her much needed nap, Mark and I made a bunny cake. Well, actually I baked the cake and he decorated it. It turned out pretty cute was tasty too! My family came over for dinner and brought baskets for Mark and Addison. They were so kind to fill the baskets with lots of candy!! The Easter bunny had filled their baskets with goldfish and raisins. Clever bunny!

SNOW!!

It was hard to believe, but we finally got some snow on March 1st! The kids and Dexter throughly enjoyed playing in the snow. It was so wet though!! We were soaked when we came inside! Mark and Jason threw snowballs at each other and Addison stood on the sidewalk saying "coal, coal" which is her way of saying "cold, cold".

a glimpse of our days...

Mark and Addison are just wild these days!! They really do love to play together, especially their version of "rough housing". Mark likes to tickle Addison and Addison likes to jump on Mark. It's pretty funny to watch them play.

HO HO HO!!

We had a very merry Christmas!! Mark and Addison got more presents than we know what to do with!! And Santa came too!! We celebrated on Christmas Eve with Nana, Paw-Paw, Uncle Bradley and Aunt Jennifer. They were way too sweet to Mark and Addison! Tanks, baby dolls, a helicopter! So many presents!!

Luckily, Mark and Addison were off to bed and to sleep quickly that very important night! Santa had lots to do! Addison woke up first Christmas morning, well actually I woke up first. Really I never went to sleep. I was too afraid Mark would wake up and go downstairs while Jason and I were still sleeping. (He has been known to go downstairs and wait on us.) All that worrying for nothing though - Addison had to wake Mark up!

Santa brought so many toys!! Most importantly though he brought Handy Manny! All Mark wanted for Christmas was Handy Manny's red truck! All Addison wanted for Christmas was a baby doll. She got multiple baby dolls! She loves them all though. Santa also brought a new kitchen, a giant crane, lincoln logs, a bed for the baby dolls and so much more!

Christmas dinner was spent at my mom's house. Grandpa, Grandpa Don, Uncle Kyle and Cara (Kyle's girlfriend) were there. Once again, Mark and Addison got so many presents, including a train table! Needless to say I have had to rearrange and reorganize the playroom. Jason and I each got a new North Face coat too! Yippee!

The month of Decemeber came and went before I could take a breath. We had Mark's Christmas program and party at school. We celebrated Mark's 5th Birthday! (Still can't believe he's 5.) And we had Christmas. It's time like that when you think they will never get here and then they are gone in a flash. (Good thing Uncle Bradley is around to help take pictures!)

Mark's 5th Birthday!

We celebrated Mark's 5th Birthday on December 20th! We still can't believe he is 5 years old!! Time flies, for sure! All Mark wanted for his party were for his friends to come to his house. So after trying really hard to convince him to have his party elsewhere, we had 10 kids come over to celebrate. Needless to say, our house was a bit full and it was raining outside, but Mark had so much fun and really enjoyed his party. We had a treasure hunt, pin the nose on Mickey, pizza, a pinata, presents and cake!

no pictures

Hello Everyone!! I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I do have an excuse. I don't have my camera! It took a bit of a beating while at Disney World, so I had to send it off. Hopefully it will return soon! I can tell you a few things though!

1. We had a nice Thanksgiving with the family! Mark and Addison were good and had a good time. They were both good eaters!! My favorite - of course, the food! I love a good meal!! And we played games! If you know me well enough, you know I love to play games!
2. Mark and I got the Christmas tree up and decorated. We worked on it while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He enjoyed that too. I'm sure you are wondering my favorite part of the parade?! The Rockettes, of course. Once again, if you know me, I have always wanted to be a Rockette or Cinderella in the parade at Disney! See you learn something new about me everyday!
3. Now that the tree is up, you've got to watch that little girl! I will give her credit though, she has been really good about leaving the tree alone. However, as Mark says "you have to control her". So we are working hard to "control her" and so far all is going well. (knock on wood)
4. Coming soon - Christmas! I sure hope Santa knows to bring Handy Manny!! That's all we hear about!
5. Coming sooner - Mark's 5th Birthday!! We can't believe our little man is going to be 5!

Trick or Treat!

Buzz Lightyear and Minnie Mouse had lots of fun trick or treating! We had a good time too watching them! Jason and I were lucky to both get to head out to collect candy with the kids. Grandpa was not so lucky to stay at the house and pass out candy. Thanks Dad!! We went with our great neighbors whose boys were Mickey and a cute, plump pumpkin!

In this picture of the kids, they are staring at 2 teenage boys walking by dressed up as girls. It was quite funny.