3, 6, 7

Don't know what these numbers are? They're the ages out three kids turned this year! Hard to imagine how fast time has flown by, and how big each of the kids have grown! Dallin will be starting second grade, Kailee first, and Tylie already started preschool! Sheesh!

Here are a few pictures from their birthdays...

Dallin 7, April 14th

He wanted a BYU party. So, away we went with football attire and decorations. He invited a few of his friends from school and church, and a room full of 6 year-old boys was, well, LOUD! They had a blast playing football, catch, tackling each other, and chillin' eating their "Cougar Dogs".

Tylie 3, May 23rd

She's still a bit young to ask for a "themed" party (thank goodness...) so we did cake and ice cream at our adoptive parents house, the Hoopes'. Ty's obsessed with puppy's and Toy Story, particularly TS2, so we got her a Jessi doll and a puppy (since we don't already have enough stuffed animals around the house). She was in heaven.

This was her last serving of cupcake for the night. We asked her to "say cheese" which she normally does pretty well. However, this time, and two or three others, she pulled this face! Cracked us up!

Kailee 6, June 15th

Two Words: Fancy Nancy. Bec often calls K Fancy Nancy because this girls LOVES anything girlie. Make-up:loves it. Dress up: loves it. Getting her nails done: loves it. Wearing mom's perfume or her own body sprays: yup, you guessed it: LOVES IT! So what better theme for her 6th? Bec especially had fun decorating for this party! The girls decorated their own crowns, wore boas and beads, had their make-up and hair done, and all dressed up in their most posh outfits (that's a fancy word for fancy).

Happy Birthday Kiddos! Love all three of you to pieces...

Conference and Easter

Saturday Morning

I love conference weekend. I look forward to it each time. Something about it just makes me happy, every time. This year, with it being on Easter weekend, it seemed that much more special to me.

Saturday morning, we listened to conference and decorated Easter eggs. Becky bought this "Monster" decorating kit. It came with facial expression stickers, pipe cleaners for the arms and legs, and a cotton-like fuzz for the hair. The kids had a blast coloring their eggs, and it surprisingly kept them entertained and quiet so we could listen to the talks on the tv!

(This one, in particular, reminds me of Sloth from the Goonies..

"Ruth! Ruth! Baby... Ruth!")

We hid this one on the light bulb in our chandelier above the dining table. Great hiding spot, right? Wrong-O. The lights were on for about 20 minutes and melted the hair to the bulb! We could NOT get the hair off the light bulb! Instead we had to rip the hair off the egg, and change the light bulb! Tough stuff when it melts and solidifies!

Sunday Morning

We invited the three missionaries serving in our stake (E. Apo, E. Collins, and E. Lotz) to come over for breakfast and to watch the morning session of conference with us. In addition to them, Michael and Mindy were here visiting for the weekend. Becky threw on her "Domestic Diva" apron, handed Elder Collins the matching "Diva in Training" apron and we made breakfast for all 10 of us before conference started. A LOT of food for one sitting at the breakfast table! But with five men eating, what do you expect?

We ate, and then hung out watching, listening, and coloring to the talks. It was great having visitors to share Easter morning and conference with in our home!

Another one bites the dust!

This weekend Dallin lost another tooth! He notices pretty quickly when he has one loose. And by that I mean, he notices before we can even tell it's moving! We worked on helping it loosen up for a few days until it was ready. Normally, he does pretty good, not too many tears shed over the pain. This time, however, was different. We had him push it back a few times really good, to get it a bit more wiggley. The thing that cracked us up was that each time we pushed on it, he had to go to the bathroom. There MUST be some kind of connection with his front tooth and his bladder! After a few good pushes and tugs, and some tears later, the tooth came out!

I asked him to show me the loose tooth, and seriously, this was the face he pulled. I couldn't help but crack up. I tool three other photos just like this one.

The proud owner of a gummy smile (and money the Tooth Fairy would be slipping underneath his pillow later that night)!

An Evening at the Zamora's

What do the following two pictures have in common?

Give up?

Hiding spots for the kids!

We LOVE playing hide and seek! You'd think after playing so many times on the same floor of the house (upstairs) that we'd run out of places to hide... nope. Tonight Bec helped the kids find spots, helping them get in, and out.

Love this game.

Picasso who?

Who needs expensive art work hanging on their walls when they have a five and six year old who leave notes and art work like these all around the house???

Dallin and Kailee love drawing and coloring. Especially lately, it seems Bec and I turn the corner to find some note or drawing taped on the wall, hidden beneath our pillows, on our night-stands, or any other location they find clever at the moment...

I'll decipher and translate as needed, seeing how they're still learning how to spell:

(D's a BIG BYU fan...)

D: " I love my dad. He is nice. My dad loves me."

"My mom is nice"

"I know that my mom will give me a kiss."

"My mom loves me and I love my mom."

(inside the envelope taped to the paper was another note: "I love you mom.")

"This is me. I am making my mom and dad's bed"

(he even drew the vaulted ceiling, ceiling mounted light, attempted to paint the walls, AND drew the light in the room below us)

"I have been playing with my dad."

"I love you mom and dad."

"Ella can come to my birthday. From Kailee"

(Ella-on the back side of the note above)

I, Dallin Zamora,

Do not want to drive

a car until I am

18 years old.

signed: Dallin Zamora"

(This one is definitely going in the ZamFam's archive under "D Blackmail". Of course, by the time he's old enough to drive we'll have two-almost three-teenagers and will most likely be relieved he can do some of the driving... Still, it may come in handy one day.)

Potty Training...

Yes, that's right... we're venturing into that phase once again.

I received a phone call from Becky yesterday afternoon letting me know that Tylie went "pee-pee on the potty" before nap-time, woke up with a dry diaper, and then went on the toilet again right after waking up! SO exciting! Yet, odd to think that our little girl (who-I might add is still small enough to fully fall through the toilet seat if she isn't careful) is starting to potty train. We know there's still a long road ahead of us, and it won't happen overnight. But still!

One of the hard things, for me at least, is that she's at that age where many of her words sound the same. Just after we tucked the kids in to bed last night, Ty started saying "Pee-pee! Pee-pee!" So I went into the girls' room, asked if she had to go pee-pee (which she said yes) and then took her to the bathroom. I sat there on the bathroom floor for a few minutes, all the while Ty sat there giving me the cutest little grins and caressing my cheek as if she were trying to get out of a punishment, looking all around the bathroom, then reaching for toilet paper when NOTHING had even come out yet! Bec walked in and said, "She wasn't saying 'pee-pee', she was saying 'SIPPY'!" (figures.) Got her diaper back on, tucked her back into bed, and gave her her sippy cup-which was all she wanted...

Regardless, she's been successful at going in the potty, and we're excited at the thought of having three potty trained kids AND only needing diapers at night!

Date Night...

I love Date Night...

A night Bec and I have to ourselves.

Occasional double dates are fun and enjoyable.

But I truly enjoy our one-on-one time; out of the house; without the kids.

The kids are getting their pj's on as we speak.

Bec's in the bathroom putting on her make-up.

I'm anxiously waiting.