The kid can eat...

The Welsh kids have always had a good appetite.  From day one, they came out hungry, and have continued to eat and grow much faster than average kids.  People asked me how I lost the baby weight, and my only response is, "breastfeeding."  Both kids drank up to about 40 oz per day at their peak, and boy does that take a lot of mommy's calories to make.

Matthew at times can out-eat any adult.  It often surprises me because I can't quite believe that his tummy cannot possibly hold all of the food that he can put into it.  Tonight was no exception.

We have developed a wonderful weekly tradition.  Every Saturday evening the kids have swimming lessons.  Afterward we go to Chili's for dinner.  Mommy gets her delicious Blue Pacific Margarita and Daddy gets his tall Guinness.  Tonight Matthew ate enough to impress even a professional sport eating champion.  He ate an entire kids pizza (which would have been a challenge for any adult to finish off), and his corn on the cob.  Then he finished off Kayla's corn dog.  Then he proceeded to eat about 20 of my french fries, and about a quarter of my Oldtimer (hamburger) with Cheese.  He then further shocked me by deciding to eat the remaining partial tomato slice on my plate and a handful of shredded lettuce bits.  This was all washed down by a smoothie and some of Kayla's chocolate shake.  Good Lord!  I don't know how he does it.  

The best part was at the end of the meal when I said, "Wow Matthew, you must have been really  hungry."  And he replied, "Yeah, I really Hoover-ed that up."  Where do they get that stuff?

A quick update...

So here's a short update on the Welsh Family.

Mother's Day was filled with lots of activities. We went out to breakfast in the morning with my folks, and then washed both of our cars, planted tomatoes, and went to a fun barbeque at my sister's house (complete with swimming). It was a great day, although not what most would call relaxing. But hanging out with the kids, and my family is something I don't get to do during the week as much as I would like. So, it was just the perfect way for me to spend the day. Andrew and the kids got me two bottles of my favorite 'sanity juice' (a.k.a wine). Yummy.

Gearing up for our family trip in mid-June - a cruise to the Caribbean! We were originally booked on a cruise to Mexico, but with the recent H1N1 (swine) flu scare the cruise line made a change to the itinerary. They gave us the choice to either get our money back, or cruise the revised itinerary: LA --> San Francisco --> Seattle -->Vancouver. Although much of the fun of being on a cruise is being on the ship itself, those destinations just didn't cut the mustard for us. We booked on another ship. It's huge, and has an ice skating rink and a rock climbing wall, and a kids water play area, and much much more. I cannot wait!

I have so many fond memories of going on cruises as a kid, and I'm so excited to share those fun times with our kids. There will be 22 of us going, including my Aunt Carol and my Grandmother. Matthew is most excited about the fact that we are going where pirates used to hang out. We are leaving out of Cape Canaveral, so that means we also get to take a tour of Kennedy Space Center, which is a big highlight for me (Ms. Space Junkie).

Speaking of space...Andrew and I saw Star Trek last weekend, and loved it of course. But, I walked away with quite the little crush on the new Captain Kirk. He is one tasty piece of eye candy - yummy!

Other Pics from the OBX

Here are some shots from our side trip to the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA.  Talk about some big guns!

I call this one my calendar shot.  It was taken of the Whalehead Club historical house in Corolla, NC.

Here is a shot of Matthew at Jockey Ridge State Park.  It is the largest natural sand dune on the east coast.  Basically, a giant sandbox with hills you can roll or even sled down, and great wind for kite flying.  It was one of the highlights of the trip.

OBX 2009

I just realized how long it's been since my last post.  We got back from our wonderful vacation to the Outer Banks on April 19th and suddenly it's May 8th.  Where does the time go?

First things first...our vacation!  What a fun time that was.  We traveled all the way across the country to spend a week with our dear friends and all of our kids in a beautiful beachfront house in Southern Shores, NC.  The weather could have been a few degrees warmer, but the company more than made up for it.  We spent our days touring the area, and our nights (after all the kids went to bed) laughing like crazy.  It was a great trip, and I can't wait until the next time we are all together again.  Here is a video of the adults playing the Olympics on the Wii one night, and looking very silly.  It's a swimming race...alcohol may have been a factor.

Here is a shot of the house we stayed at.

Car Trouble

It's always fun to share my embarrassing moments with the world...

I'm driving home in our Passat last night, and I come to a stop at a left turn lane behind another car. I decide this is the perfect time to apply some chap stick, and I flip down the visor mirror to take a look at myself. A few seconds later I feel the car jerk just a bit, and I look behind me thinking that some idiot has rear-ended me. Unfortunately, the car behind me is about 15 feet away, and as I look forward my face falls as I am confronted with a very awkward situation. While looking at myself in the mirror, I apparently eased my foot off the brake ever so slightly and drifted right into the car in front of me.

What does one do in this situation? Well, I go about waving my hands in the air and mouthing, "S-O-R-R-Y" in an effort to convey that my little tap of their car was totally unintentional, all the while expecting that the person in front of me will exit their vehicle to confront me. Lucky for me, they just gave me a really dirty look and continued to stare at me bewildered in their side mirror for the several long minutes that it took for that light to turn green. Meanwhile, I wave my arms a few more times in apology and avoid all eye contact with any car in a one block radius.

Thankfully my car was the nicer of the two, and the other driver was very forgiving of my embarrassing vehicular blunder.

Update

Well, things have been very busy lately - as usual. T-ball, swim lessons, and chores galore! I've had a huge delivery I've been working toward at work, and a large part of it finally wrapped up this past weekend. I was getting very tired of late nights, and working on my weekends and days off. So, now I have time to daydream about our next vacation!

We are heading to the Outer Banks in NC for a fun weekend with our dear friends and their kids. We rented a huge house on the beach, and we are all so excited to hang out together and see the sites. This is the type of vacation that I would not pass up for anything. It will be a week filled with belly laughs, and memories that last a lifetime. You just can't put a price on that!

I absolutely live for vacations. There is something so amazing about slowing down your life and getting away with friends and/or family. The hectic pace we live can really overwhelm us, and putting it on hold even for a short time and having quality time with those you care about is the stuff that makes life great.

T-Ball and Pony Rides

it was another busy weekend for the Welsh family. We started Saturday morning at 9 am with Little League Opening Ceremonies. This was followed by T-ball practice and Matthew's first official game ever. He has enjoyed lots of sports lessons, but never been on a real team before with a real uniform, playing in a real game. He was so excited, and nervous, too.

He was so nervous going up to bat for the first time that he forgot which side he bats on, and the coach had to move him to the other side and show him how to hold the bat. Now, keep in mind this kid has been hitting balls off a tee or with a pitch since he was 2. So, it was pretty funny to see him get so nervous and completely forget what to do. He was totally into the game, though, and once he got over his initial nervousness, he played great.

It was so fun to watch the kids - they do the funniest things when they are first learning. On the other team, there was a kid running to second base, and his teammate had just hit the ball. The ball was coming toward the base runner, so he picked it up and threw it to first base for us. Very funny. Here is a pic of Matthew getting ready for the next play. Yep, that's Andrew out there behind Matthew is the shorts - he's an assistant coach.



After T-ball we headed up into the hills for a birthday party where the kids got to ride ponies around a ring. Matthew loved it and took many turns riding "Spirit" (who was not at all very spirited).



We finished the day with Swimming lessons for both kids, and a date for me and Andrew. Andrew's mom came down for a visit, and was generous enough to spring us for the night. We saw Slumdog Millionaire. I can understand why it got best picture - we both really liked it.

The Face on the Shirt

So let me start by saying that this is a very random post, but I can use your help.  

Last night Andrew and I are talking in the kitchen and I look at his shirt and there is a face on the shirt.  Kind of like when someone sees their Cheerios form the face of Abe Lincoln.  Andrew asks what I am looking at, so I tell him not to move, and that I'm going to take a picture of the face on his shirt.  He, of course, moves to look at the face, which distorts the left side of face a little bit, but I get a pretty good shot of it nonetheless.  I show Andrew the picture and he can't see the face for the life of him.  He affectionately calls me "stark raving mad," and a "total loony bin."  So, I decided that I'm posting the silly picture of the "Face on the Shirt" on this blog for others to judge my sanity.  

Now let me just clearly state that I don't believe I've seen Jesus or anything...I just thought it was cool that Andrew's shirt was making a face, and apparently I may be the only one who can see it.  So, let me know if you can see the face, too.  It's on the right side of the picture underneath the "O" in Colorado.  You might have to squint your eyes a little to see it.  

And while I think it more closely resembles a pirate, let me know if you think it looks like Jesus so I can submit it to the National Enquirer for a few bucks.  We are in a recession after all.

Our Weekend in Arizona

We're back from a great weekend in Arizona! We stayed at a beautiful golf resort, saw two baseball games, and visited with our friends Linds and Chris (and baby Carter).

Here is a pic of Andrew and the kids on the golf cart. Andrew and Matthew went golfing with Andrew's Dad every morning.


Here we are at the Giants/Angels game on Saturday. I can see why people love coming to Spring Training. The stadiums are very nice, and much smaller so you sit a lot closer to the action. For this game we had the best seats (see first picture below)! We sat in the 4th row, right behind the Angels dugout, and right in front of first base where all the action was. At the end of one of the plays, the first baseman threw the game ball right up to us. Andrew caught it and gave it to Matthew. Both of them were very pleased! Here are some shots at the game.



And the weekend would not have been complete without seeing our dear friends Linds & Chris and meeting their adorable baby! Andrew and I spent Friday night with the Phillips' drinking beer and eating pizza, snuggling with Carter, and watching crazy Baxter (their dog) run all over the house after tennis balls. It wore us out just watching him!

Poor Bree, I know you are dying reading this because you haven't seen Carter yet. You should be very jealous, Bree, because Carter is just so dang handsome and very sweet. We brought the kids back to see the Phillips family with us on Sunday morning. Both Kayla and Matthew took turns holding Carter. Here are some pics from our Sunday morning visit.






What a great weekend! Now we're gearing up for trip number 3 this year to the Outer Banks in April. Can't wait for that...

Upcoming Weekend Getaway

We're off again this weekend for our second of four family trips this year. Yes, it's a fun year for the Welsh family! We're headed to the Phoenix area for Spring Training. Andrew's dad is treating our family to this trip, and we're all very excited to go. I'm looking forward to this trip for three main reasons.

The first is that I live for vacations. I'm already thinking about potential vacations in 2010. I love being able to slow down our hectic pace of living, even if just for a weekend, and instead fill our days with fun things on our own schedule.

Secondly, I am going to get to see my dear friend Lindsey, her husband, and their baby boy, Carter. I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on that adorable baby!

And the third reason is that the weather in Phoenix/Scottsdale is sunny and 75-80 degrees and it has been raining here non-stop. A little sunshine is definitely in order!

And the mom in me will admit to this other small thing that I'm looking forward to...snuggling with the kids, 'cuz chances are that they won't sleep together this trip either. Don't get me wrong, I love snuggling with my hubby every night. But the kids never sleep with us - our queen size bed is only big enough for the two of us - and I'll admit it feels pretty great to have your little ones snuggle up close to you all night long.