Kings Island and The Patriots

We survived our first trip to Kings Island over the holiday weekend.  The entire Kemp/Bockelman crew went and had a great (ie. exhausting) morning and afternoon.  We arrived right when it opened to beat the heat and the crowd.  We stayed for almost 5 hours and the kids probably could have partied more if we let them.  Hudson took a three hour nap afterwards!

Hudson is 40 inches tall now so he can ride some of the bigger rides if an adult is with him.  I ended up getting on the Woodstock Express with him and was surprised by how FAST this roller coaster was.  Come to find out, it was previously the Beastie (for those that grew up in the Midwest)!  Wow! My stomach cannot handle rides like it used to and I was definitely queasy afterwards.  But Hudson laughed the entire time so it was worth it.

Adley was captivated by everything and everyone at the park.  She giggled all day and wanted to walk and explore everywhere.  Her only meltdown was when she got too close to a large Snoopy statue.  You would have thought she broke a bone with the piercing screech she let out.  After that, I did not dare take her near any Peanuts characters walking about.  But as long as the sun was out of her eyes and a snack was in her hand, you could see her cute grin from miles away.  Notice in the pics that she's FINALLY starting to get more teeth.  She has three on top that are "coming out" as Hudson likes to say.

 

Her new favorite trick is giving people high-fives.  She can do up-high, down-low and will even try in-the-hole.  If she's "too slow," Hudson will jam her finger into his hand.  It appears painful, but she laughs every time.

 Not sure about Claire, but the boys could not have been more delighted about $1 pizza day at the park.  By their looks, one could have assumed this was their first experience with pizza.  When we got home, Hudson said, "Mommy, I eat pizza a lot.  I like pizza!"  I think he had it four times that week.

And now with football season in full swing, Chris continues to brainwash his son and their love for the New England Patriots.  We have a large hardback, encyclopedia-type book on the Patriots and somehow it has turned into part of Hudson's nighttime routine.  It is not a kid book by any means, but Hudson will thumb through each page pointing out what Tom Brady or "Gronk" did, who passed the ball to whom and where all the "bad guys" are, aka the opposing team players.  It's cute, but I fear for the day when my boys are watching a game and the Patriots lose.  I have already brought Hudson to tears when I informed him that Tom Brady will not be playing in the first few games of the season.  It was a 10 minute fiasco of kicking, screaming and tears...hilarious for this mama!

Of course I had to capture Hudson "reading" his "Tom Brady Book" to me after school one day.  In the video, he is first referring to a page where the coach got dunked with water after winning the Super Bowl.  Again, hilarious.

https://youtu.be/6WDKAj_6FBI

While the boys are watching football, Miss Adley continues to be perfect.  She will play by herself or enjoy a good football game if the boys are making too much raucous.  She's our go-with-the-flow little lady who continues to rock out in the food department.  But she continues to want to feed herself, which I have a love/hate relationship with.  I'm thrilled to have a baby who is assertive and independent, but I'm not looking forward to the extra clean up.  Good thing she makes a cute mess...

Hope everyone has a great weekend in store.  Chris and I are headed to New York City next week to celebrate our SEVEN year wedding anniversary, woop woop!  We love our children, but we are so so excited to have an adult vacation.  Shout out and thanks to LollyPop for taking on the responsibility of the Kemp kids and pets.  Hudson promised me he would be on his best behavior! 

Darke County, Preschool and Family Photos

Angela here!  We have had a few busy weekends now that we have two toddlers on our hands.  Two weekends ago we had zero plans, so last minute we decided to explore the Darke County Fair.  Chris has been wanting to go for the past two years and has been perfecting his nagging capabilities....so I caved.  I have nothing against the fair, except that it is ONE hour away of us.  But I had no good excuse this time, so we packed up the kids and headed north.  Hudson loved everything about the fair!  There were horses, tractors, music and endless rides and games.  There was even a mini roller coaster for the little big kids.  We were there for almost four hours.

Adley is happy wherever she goes.  She can people-watch and sit in the stroller.  Or she can rally and party like a big girl.  Is it bad that now even Hudson calls her "Perfect Adley"

With all the chaos of Adley turning one, I forgot to take pictures of Hudson on his first day of preschool.  So below is his "first-day-of-the-second-week" photos.  It's the same school he has been attending, but now there is more structure and activities.  And he loves his new teachers.

 Adley got to have another slumber party with cousin Claire while the boys stayed at LollyPops house this weekend.  These two girls just can't get enough of each other.  They play so well together and they are SOOOO quiet and nondestructive compared to the two boys.  I have requested to always have girls-night at my house.

 And we got our family photos back from my bestie Bonnie and her photography business http://blynnephotography.com/ .  I could not be more thrilled of the turn out.  My blue-eyed babies did not disappoint.  And Adley in her pink tutu is just darling...not being biased at all...it's a fact. 

We had our last visit to the neighborhood pool today before it closes for the season.  Adley has discovered a new way to play peekaboo.  From the looks of it, I may have a future yoga instructor on my hands.  She has almost mastered the downward dog.

https://youtu.be/myShM_BGFNg

P.S.  Adley is LOVING all her birthday toys - one in particular is a toy castle that if you push a button, it starts to sing to you.   Adley has really taken to it, and is starting to learn that she can dance to it!  It's quite fun spying on her as she does her thing, typically consisting of bobbing her head.  We recorded a cute little clip of her doing just that. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gtEyKvxVx0

Anyway, we're off to Kings Island tomorrow for a crazy day of roller-coasters and $1 pizza with the entire family!  I don't know who is more excited....Hudson or his parents.  Happy Labor Day Weekend to all!

Adley and the Past Year

Thought I'd do a quick blog of Miss Adley and her monthly pictures.  It was definitely a challenge, but I'm so glad we captured these photos of her each month.  And I have to give a shout-out to Chris, as he was always in the background trying to make her smile.  

As any parent would attest, you rapidly forget how tiny your baby is and how quickly they grow up in such a short time period.  All I can say is WOW on how fast the year has passed.  Our princess was dubbed "Perfect Adley" after just 2 weeks of being born.  At 3 months she was sitting up in the Bumbo seat.  She was rolling over by 4 months and started eating solid food at 5 months.  By 6 months, she was finally sleeping 8-10 hours straight through the night.  She could sit up on her own at 7 months and her favorite "trick" at 9 months was clapping.  We had a walker on our hands at 10 months.  By 11 months, she established that her best bud was Hudson.  Now we have a Miss Independent little lady that wants to feed herself and put herself to sleep...cuddling is for the babies.  She sleeps 12+ hours and even though she only has two teeth, she will eat anything in sight.  She is captivated by all books and loves to walk around holding a baby doll.  She knows what she wants and she refuses to wait for it.  She takes no prisoners and endlessly reminds Hudson who is in charge.  I fear for her teenage years!  But we could not be more excited to cheer her on and watch her dreams come true as she grows up.

Rolling over like a boss at 4 months!

At 6 months, she finally hit the 50th percentile for weight.  But she was still a pipsqueak at 25th percentile in height.

Walking at 10 months, so sitting did NOT make her happy!

She's now 50th percentile height and weight (28.5 inches and 21 lbs 5 oz) and undoubtedly our favorite daughter.  We can't wait to see what the next year has in store!  And she had professional photos done last week so stayed tuned to see the bright obnoxious pink tutu I put her in.  Shout-out to Aunt Sam for buying it for her...it was perfect!!

Adley is ONE!

Our baby girl is officially a toddler!!  Where did the time go?!  Adley is walking everywhere, eating everything and babbling/mimicking all that we say.  She is working on her sign language and her favorite sign is "food."  Her naps are short, but she continues to sleep 12-13 hours straight though the night so I won't complain.  After a few days of a fever last week, she was able to rally and party hard for her birthday party.  It was a day full of outfit changes...we started with pink PJs and tested out over a dozen new headbands.  She hated them all!  Almost as much as she hates shoes...I am sure this is just a phase.  What girl doesn't love shoes and accessories?!  But I was able to catch a cute belly-laugh in between her flinging the headband across the room...

Family pic before the party arrived...notice that the headband was nowhere in sight.

The cousins arrived, along with a couple of my girlfriends and their kiddos and hubbies.  We had to get the traditional cousin picture of the little ones in front of the presents.  They seem to be getting better with every holiday or birthday photo...slightly better.  No one was crying this time!

Miss Adley got to smash her cake before dinner even started.  Mainly because I knew she would start to fall asleep by 630.  Unlike Hudson at his first birthday, she had minimal interest in the scrumptious decadent cake in front of her.   A couple licks and finger pokes and she was done.  It was cute because each big kid (mainly Hudson or Claire) would run up to her cake and steal a glop of icing.  It was both gross and adorable at the same time.  Adley didn't seem to mind so I let it continue for a bit.

Can you guess who the main cake-stealer was?

Cupcakes for everyone soon followed.

Adley with her future besties.  Those girls got to stick together!

Claire, Charlotte, Adley and Avery

After another outfit change, it was present time.  She is definitely one spoiled little lady.  Everything was pink and sparkly and princess-themed.  Which was perfect!  The poor girl has been playing with dump trucks, light sabers and ninja turtles, so some glitter was definitely needed.

Books are still a favorite...which makes us proud parents!

It was a fun-filled birthday full of excitement and joy.  We celebrated surviving the first year!  You can't ask for much more.  We have been blessed with a laid back, good eater and rock-star sleeper.  It has been a privilege to watch her grow and learn.  The day after the party, we had a kid-swap with the fam.  Cousin Claire hung out with Adley all day while Hud and Anderson played at the Bockelman's.  Claire graciously demonstrated how a little lady should play with princesses and castles and everything that sparkles.  It was a sweet, relaxing (and quiet) afternoon.

The 4-foot princess castle won't fit in the playroom, so toys are exploding all over the house.  A good problem to have when you're a birthday girl with an influx of presents!

Hope everyone has a great weekend in store!  Hudson is officially in preschool now so we're in "school mode" with activities and lessons.  These kids grow up way too fast.