still runnin' around like crazy!!!

we made the long trek from williamsburg to ohio (although that is a short trek compared to the upcoming trip from ohio to colorado!). the girls did great on the 11 hour car ride....thank goodness they are such great little travelers, and also thank goodness for the DVD player in the van!
We have been hanging out with the Matus gang for the last couple of days. The girls LOOOOVVEEEE anything that has to do with "Cousins!" They have been in little-girl heaven this last week, and have loved getting to spend time with all of their cousins.
They have really been into playing chase, tag, and racing lately. Nova's running gait is so funny, because she runs at full speed with her arm straight by her sides. She thinks if she swings her arms faster, she is actually running faster, so her little arms swing straight by her sides at double speed. it's really hilarious to watch.

The Matus gang is always up for a good challenge....here they tried to see who could balance the longest on this toy at the playground

the playground gang (minus photographer - Aunt Coral!)

spinning!

underdoggies all around!

Daddy is always the 1st to jump in on the fun...

Brent :)

Cris challenged Alex and Lyndsey to a balance-match...

and won :)

We got to catch Day 2 of the girls' basketball tournament for their traveling team. It was awesome to be able to see Alex and Lyndsey in action....and even more awesome that their team won the tournament! great job, guys!

Juneau was pretty much convinced she was part of the team. she sat with the team before the game, then warmed up with them along the side of the court. Later she and Nova played a very invovled basketball game where they pretended to be Alex and Lyndsey.

the little girls hanging out with the big girls before the game. J&N thought they were sooooo cool!

Now back to Williamsburg for a few pictures and a wrap-up of the week. This super amazing "buckeye park" would've fit right in in Columbus, Ohio, but oddly enough it was located at our condo in Williamsburg, VA. The girls loved this park, and asked to play at "The Buckeye Park!" every day!

We finally got to celebrate Micah's birthday. Unfortunately, if you are the last one to celebrate your birthday in a house full of toddlers, you just may end up with cotton candy somewhat smashed into the shape of a birhtday cake, with candles on top. Micah didn't seem to mind, though.

as i mentioned in my last post, my family had put together an elaborate plan to celebrate all the holidays i missed while i was deployed. Here you can see the kids having a great time celebrating Halloween in May.

We did get a few funny looks hauling a group of toddlers in halloween costumes through the resort community :) but we all had a great time! my mom even recruited some neighbors (actually, they were perfect strangers who happened to live next door to us in the condo) to go along with the plan and pass out candy. the kids loved it, and this momma loved getting to be part of the trick-or-treat festivities, even if it was 7 months late!

Secily, Juneau and Nova are all pros at the ipod (and the ipad, the laptop, and the smartphones for that matter!)

Micah, however, preferred to just march around the group of little girls and do his best to terrorize them!

Earlier in the week we also got to celebrate sweet Secily's birthday with a Princess Tea Party. The little girls absolutely loved getting to play dress-up in the princess costumes...complete with tiaras and a mini-makeover.

even Jbug joined in the princess festivities....

The birthday Princess, post-makeover...

Juneau rockin' her weave...

Micah was a superstar on the Buckeye Park Monkey Bars

Daddy had to show he still has some monkey bars skillz

not to be outdone, Grandpa took his turn on the monkey bars too (yes, this is the very same grandpa that had open heart surgery less than a year ago!!!)

Betsy and Secily watched from the slide

a quick game of chicken on the monkey bars

daddy was the victor!

Aunt Becky and cousin Kaleb took their turn at chicken! Aunt Becky didn't take any mercy on Kaleb, and came out victorious! It has been a super awesome week getting to spend tons of time with the people we love. We start the drive back to colorado this weekend, and will stay quite busy trying to get the girls and I moved into a new house and selecting an Au Pair to help with the girls when cris moves back to hawaii this summer!