John Paul

John Paul is the son of one of the guys working on our backyard. He was on spring break from school last week so he tagged along with his dad each day. It didn't take long for him and the twins to become fast friends. So much so that one day he didn't come and Timo walked up to his daddy and asked "Where go John Paul?"

By last Friday I figured all the kids needed a break from the backyard so we took off for the park to feed the duck and kick the soccer ball around. I have to say the ducks were a little more bold this time around. We just kinda tossed all the bread in at once because they were climbing out of the water to get to the food.

John Paul had fun showing off his soccer skills for the kids. And the kids loved kicking the ball around.



A little snack by the tree (the grass was wet from the sprinklers) and then a nice stroll back home...John Paul was so helpful with the kids, I felt like I was the one tagging along!

After the kids woke up from their nap they asked for John Paul so we headed to the backyard for some more fun. John Paul let Timo fill up his dirt bucket and did some serious dumptruck work with the sand box. Once all the "work" was done, John Paul enjoyed showing the kids his handy work of moving the rocks into the patio pit. Thanks John Paul for the hours of fun! We'll miss you this week.

Bark Yard Renovations...Part 1

We finally decided to redo our back yard and level it out. For those of you who haven't seen it, our yard is on about a 30 degree slope, making it very hard to do any kind of real activity back there without rolling down hill. The sidewalks bordering the yard are so cracked up, you can barley see them anymore beyond the weeds and overgrown moss. And our "patio" is almost unusable with all the uneven stones and borderline petrified wood "supports" around it. So after almost 4 years of trying to make the best of a bad situation, we bit the bullet and called in the professionals.

Carlos, our landscaper, started last Monday and has been doing an amazing job. Our yard has completely been transformed in just a few days and he isn't even finished yet. But the best part is how much fun the kids are having while the construction is going on. I feel like we should be paying him extra just for the constant entertainment is has provided us!

Just FYI, this post won't be the before and after, just before and during. It's going to take another week or so to be completed but I can't wait that long to post or I'll have WAY too many pictures. So this is the first day, they dug up several trees/shrubs and took up the side walk. Timo loved jumping in the holes left behind.

The second day they pounded all the sidewalk up into rocks to use as foundation for the new patio but as fare are the kids were concerned, it was their own little rock quarry! They spent hours digging, collecting, and throwing rocks.

Then the dirt mounds started piling up and it was time to break out the shovels and dump trucks. Timo was so so cute trying to imitate the workers on how they shoveled dirt and tossed it into the wheelbarrows...he just ended up tossing it all over Cameron and me!

I'll leave you with this little teaser of our yard by the end of last week....to be continued...

Destruction!

Our weather has been on a cycle of one week great, one week not so great. This week has been amazing...meaning last week was all rain...every day. By about the 3rd day we started going a little crazy and Mom had to think fast to dodge some serious cabin fever. So, why not take all the cushions off the sofa??

Timo actually helped me out with this little project. He started pulling the cushions off to run his cars over them. One went on the floor and Cameron started jumping on it like a trampoline. We then decided to take one more off for a jumping pad...which lead to a few more until all the cushions were off and on the floor. The kids then made a little obstacle course out of them, see who could walk across them all before falling over.


After about an hour, once the running and jumping lost their newness, we built a fort with the coffee table and cushions, then read some books laying upside down on them...Cameron practiced going night-night on the pillows, they broke out their toy cars and baby stroller...anything to spice up the fun. I felt like I was in a book of 101 ways to have fun with your sofa!

This is what our living room looked like after I put them down for a nap! Total destruction. I figured no use in cleaning it up because they would want to do it all over again when they woke up.
And I was right! They played the rest of the day, into the evening and even after bath time. We tried to cleaning some of it up and the kids just jumped right in with their ride on cars for one last hurrah! Needless to say, it's almost a daily question now..."pillows off sofa?"

More Easter

Sorry my Easter post was cut a little short...I kept getting interrupted and it was taking forever to post all I wanted to. It was best to post what I had and try again on another day...

So after church we had a bunch of friends over for an Easter celebration. Pastor Bob, our interum pastor, who's family is back east, the Vega's, Busbee girls and Gwen and Angelie Evans (Bobby & Jonathan were at the Giant's game) all blessed us with their company and we had blast. I feel like we laughed for 2 hours solid! Our kids were napping during lunch, which probably explains why I was so relaxed and able to enjoy the company...ha, ha!



Once the kids woke up the party really began. The rain put a damper on our egg hunt (it pour down rain all day long) but luckily Rolando Vega brought his balloon kit and made animal balloons for the kids. Timo and Cameron also decided to show off their shades some more.



After everyone left, we all snuggled on the sofa to watch the new movie Cameron got in her Easter basket, Ice Age. She has always showed an interest in dinosaurs and I thought she might enjoy the quirky dino/animals in the movie. I was right about her loving the movie but not because of the animals, but because of the baby that is in it. She sat with me the entire movie watching what was happening with the baby! Timo got a little restless about half way though but got sucked back in during the "tunnel sliding in the glacier" scene. We had such a relaxing evening on the sofa just snuggling and enjoy our children's company. The perfect ending to a perfect day! (Even though we didn't get a family picture done...)

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful day of our Risen Lord! The Ko family has a wonderful Easter celebration...though we didn't get very many pictures from our day. We had about 10 people come over for lunch that day so we were a little preoccupied cooking, getting ready, and enjoying fellowship.

Our morning started out with Easter baskets...the kids went crazy, as usual, and stayed occupied most of the morning so we could get ready for church. Cameron went straight for the sunglasses and chocolate covered raisins in the eggs. The sunglasses were a big hit with both kiddies...But Timo's favorite was his Thomas Train toy...go figure.






We got the kids ready for church and tried to get a few pictures before the clothes got all messed up. We thought we would wait till after church to get a family picture...ha, ha.

Coloring Easter Eggs!

The twins had their friends, Trevor and Lexie, over on Saturday for Easter Egg coloring! Us parents weren't real sure how the whole project was going to be so the kids were dressed in their best "get dirty" wear. But to our surprise, they did an amazing job coloring eggs. The only problem was having enough eggs for each child. We cooked 2dz thinking it was plenty, but subtract a couple that cracked, a couple for us to test the colors with and that only left 5 eggs for each to color. Once we were done, the kids kept asking for more...oops, lesson learned for next year.

Good thing the dads were there too...it was man to man coverage for a while. The hardest part for the kids was waiting for the eggs to color in the liquid. Oh, and the fact that you couldn't drink the liquid!

Once we were done coloring, we had to wait a bit for the eggs to dry and then put stickers on. This by far was the most fun for them. Timo and Lexi went sticker happy, Cameron discovered the eggs would crack if you hit them on the table and Trevor decided he wanted the blue ones so he carried them all around the living room.

And Viola!! Here they are! Not too bad for our first time, huh?
(all the cracked ones are courtesy of Cameron)

Cameron Coloring

Just doing a little Easter Bunny coloring last week. Cameron, of course, had to make up her own little coloring song...

(She is getting her molars in now so she a little bit of drool coming out)

Crazy Girl

We became members of the Academy of Sciences because we live right across the street and it's great place for kids and adults! We went there earlier this week and typically head straight to the penguins and then to the tot spot for the kids to run around. Both kids know where we are when we go and like clock work, Cameron searches out the scuba mask as soon as we enter the toddler area. She wears it the whole time she plays and it's always an ordeal to get her to take it off when we leave. What is it about that mask??? Does life seem more exciting when it's a shade of orange?