The Kron Family

Disneyland's 60th Anniversary Part 1

2015-10-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Fall Break and 5th Annual Kron Family Vacation: Disneyland and California Adventure

Thank goodness for Disney Photo Pass.

Nana and Grandpa had a great time meeting all the characters.

Meeting Anna and Elsa was a highlight of the trip.

In fact, we told her she could pick out anything she wanted as a souvenir and she picked out Elsa Hand Sanitizer.

For the most part Brady was MIA for our family picture--at least on this day I got his legs. I'm also trying to take the same picture in the same place every time we go.

October 2015

May 2013

(Note to self: Mommy needs a new taking picture pose.)

Having fun is exhausting.

Jessie, Where are Woody and Buzz?

Happy 60th Birthday Disneyland!

Scary faces for Halloween.

Chloe--close your eyes and make a wish!

Meeting the princesses is always a highlight.

Chloe was very excited that Cinderella knew she was wearing her wedding dress.

They even got to twirl together.

Two Beauties!

Beauty and the the Lady Bug.

Brady's Very Bad Day

2015-08-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

"A picture is worth 1000 words"

~ UNKNOWN

Except in this case, the story behind the pictures tells the real story.

Let's begin....

On Saturday mornings, Big Sis has dance, and since Brady is not yet a willing participant in a group activity, Brady and Daddy have been doing all sorts of different activities together.

Rock Climbing... Golf....

And on this particular day, they went painting.

Brady was so excited to paint his Sun Devil Football Helmet and couldn't wait to pick it up. This is where the story goes south.

Mommy got a call that they did a lice check at school and found some on Brady's head. We had a issue with Chloe a week prior so this was not a surprise. Mommy picked Brady up and before going to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription strength treatment, she thought it was a good idea to make Brady happy by picking up his finished helmet. He loved it and wanted to pose for a picture to send to daddy and you guessed it.....he dropped it and it shattered into a million pieces. Mommy then had to take a very very sad little boy to the pharmacy and get the lice treatment.

Mommy had to cancel a babysitter to deal with the lice and communicated with Daddy the happenings of the day.

Then we headed home to treat and comb the lice and nits out of the hair. We treated Chloe too and then the decision was made that it would be best to buzz Brady's head.

He was a willing participant, but the minute he saw himself, he broke down in tears and hysterics grabbing at his very short hair trying to get it "to grow".

There are no pictures of this as I was treating Chloe and Ami was cleaning up the hair. It was quite the scene and we finally had to put Brady in his bed to calm down where he cried himself to sleep.

One could argue that we shouldn't remember all this and if I did not right it down we would only remember the next morning and this smiling face who now loves his "short hair"

Picasso knew best!

2015-08-01T11:16:00.001-07:00

One day Mom had a great idea for a project when the kids where with a babysitter all day. Of course Mom found it on Pinterest and thought it was a great way to use all the toilet paper rolls she had been hoarding.

Mom cut up all the toilet paper rolls and gave the instructions to the babysitter. She set out lots of paints and extra bowls to put the paint in.

When Mom returned home, she expected to see lots of painted toilet paper rolls ready to be assembled in to the recycled wall art flower, but instead of painting the toilet paper rolls, the kids thought it would be more fun to instead just paint the bowls that the paints were supposed to be in.

Lesson learned for the day- creativity and imagination cannot be planned out.

Adventures in sleeping

2015-06-04T18:37:00.001-07:00

What little brothers do at soccer games

2015-05-31T16:01:00.001-07:00

Hide under blankets.

Take pictures of their mommies

And feet

Sit in the shade

Monkey around

Unscrew my water bottle and dip The Hulk inside

Then roll The Hulk around in the grass and REPEAT. Then cry because your water bottle has grass in it.

And finally...try to be just like Daddy.

Memorial Day was Buzzing

2015-05-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

When you are part of an extended family, having family get together can be a little stressful. First, there is the schedule--can we possibly find a date where 5 families are free? Then it is the activities--will there be a craft? What will everyone do? How messy will this make my house? Then the food--potluck? How many Pinterest foods can I try? Buffet? Sitdown? Will someone eat on my white couch? So on Memorial Day 2015, I took on this challenge and invited my family over, since Grandma would be in town it would be good for us all to be in the same place a the same time.

With the date decided, onto the activities:

Loved these t-shirts, but then deciding kids and paint were not a good idea (remember the white couch)

Then the make a wreath with your patriotic fabric scraps (still like this idea but it didn't pan out)

Then Aunt Beth picked up wings and capes for the kids and wood bird houses with stickers and markers and that seemed perfect.

But it is hot out and since there were 8 kids ages 6 and under, I really didn't want to be in the pool area. So... bouncy house water slide seemed like a good idea.

But first there was pure disaster....

While the bouncy house guy was setting up, I noticed a pile of black dirt in the grass. As I went over to investigate, I noticed that the black dirt was buzzing. Just great a swarm of bees has just arrived in my back yard hours before 8 kids ages 6 and under will be slipping and sliding in that exact spot.

Panic sunk in.... We immediately googled--Bee Removal and found these guys.

I was in such a panic, I couldn't even talk to them and had to give the phone to Ami. About an hour later, two bee experts were at our house and with their bare hands reached into the pile of bees and removed the queen and dispersed the pile of bees. They asked for their $200 and were on their way.

So we were good to have our party and I quickly poured a glass of Sangria and survived to tell the story.

This weekend was also Chloe's birthday weekend, so she prepared a special treat and hosted a pinata party for all the kids.

Chloe and The Tigers

2015-04-16T14:05:00.001-07:00

Chloe played Spring Soccer with Gilbert Youth Soccer Association in the U6 level. She was assigned to the Gold and Black Team. After many votes the girls on the team chose Tigers over Sunflowers. Only the coach's daughter was in tears over the team name decision, but majority ruled and Tigers was the name.

Chloe was number 4, but had to wear her brother's soccer shorts as the ones that were provided by the team literally fell off.

Chloe was an observer and there were a few very dominating girls on the team who had played before, but she got her fair share of action even scoring a goal during the season.

I volunteered to make the team hair ribbons and after much research, I think they turned out awesome. They even held up the whole season.

This is Chloe's 1st of 8 games.

The end of season trophy presentations. Words from the coach were, "Chloe was the smallest one on the team but gave a big effort and her confidence improved with each game"

The Tigers

Making our House a Home

2015-04-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

This summer will be two years since we moved into our house. We've done lots of personal touches to make it our own.

Master Bedroom: Then.

It is funny how you gravitate to a house that is decorated with similar taste as your own. Here is the master bedroom from the listing and how the original owners had it. We also had white bed and end tables and when we moved in, we completed the bedroom with a media unit and dresser.

Master Bedroom: Now.

We painted the walls grey and added some family pictures above the bed. As our family grows (and I mean in age, not numbers) we will add more pictures.

Brady's Room: Then and Now

Bye Bye Blue and White Stripes

Here is the picture of Brady's room from the for sale listing. We wanted a blank slate that could grow with whatever Brady's interests were. Since his nursery colors in our old house were navy blue and green, we decided to ditch the stripes and go for green walls and then use decals that could be easily changed. We also added ceiling fans. Not sure how the previous family survived without them for 9 years.

Let's have a sleepover.

2015-03-31T17:51:00.001-07:00

I remember a time when these two could not sleep in the same bed. But now they are asking for sleepovers all the time and they are actually sleeping. My new rule is - I don't care where you sleep as long as you stay there and actually sleep. At the risk of waking them, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

Brothers and sisters

2015-03-22T20:49:00.001-07:00

50% of the time they are best friends. I'm sure these are the images I'll remember and not the 50% of the time they are at each other's throats.

Chloe the Photographer

2015-03-22T16:34:00.002-07:00

Chloe manages to take my phone sometimes when I'm not paying attention. She loves to take photos of the top of her head, the wall, ones that are blurry, and she takes at least 10 pictures of each scene. Perhaps there is an after school photographer class she can take.

Keep scrolling--the last one is a keeper.

I love doors!

2015-03-21T13:38:00.001-07:00

I saw a poster once that was all of different doors and I thought - I could make that - so it begins. Here are 2 doors at the San Juan Capistrano mission followed by 2 doors from old San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Quartz Hill Color Run

2015-02-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

It's just a reality that public schools need to hold fundraisers to make up for all the decreases to school budgets. Chloe's school held a color run and boy was it fun. Each student received a white shirt and ran 36 laps while parents (myself included) and teachers sprayed the kids with some sort of "safe" color liquid. I tried to only spray the shirts--but got a couple of kids right in the face (if they grow another nose--it's not my fault). Chloe raised $152 with thanks from her Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles! The school raised over $30,000 to help update their computer lab.

Chloe and Priya -BFF's!

Chloe and her teacher-Miss Beazer.

Chloe loves her school.

Snow or Bust (then and now)

2015-01-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

It does snow in AZ and we love to go up north and play. We found an awesome area in Payson that is very easy to get to. So to begin this post a little game of then and now:

Then: 1/1/2013

Now: 1/2/2015

I see Chloe still has the same hat and this year we tried sledding. We headed to the sporting goods store and they were completely sold out of sleds (poor planning), all of Phoenix was at the store trying to buy anything to go down the hills.

Love Four Peaks--It's not just a brewery!

At first, Chloe was a little nervous

But soon she was riding solo.

Brady liked the partner approach better.

Mommy's turn to climb the hill

WEEEEEE

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Then: Our little snowman

Now: We haven't gotten much better at snowman making

Snow Angel Time!

Then: Family Picture

Now: Now that's a snowman (we didn't build it). Mommy needs a new jacket and daddy a new hat.

Soccer Saturdays with Brady.

2014-11-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

Soccer Saturdays with Brady were quite an adventure. It involved learning that when you are on a team, you need to wear a team uniform as well as that you need to show up on time. Needless to stay while Brady loves to kick and run and play sports at home with his Dad, this did not translate to readiness to be part of a team.

It started off great on Uniform Pick Up Day. He tried on his jersey and even kicked the ball around with his coach.

But then his coach took off his hat and Brady found out he had no hair and it all went downhill. Brady wanted nothing to do with his team and out of the 8 games, we actually attended 5 and Brady only participated in 1 practice (held 30 minutes before the game).

On trophy day, he proudly accepted a trophy but refused to pose with a picture with his team.

On the same day, Chloe got a gymnastics medal and as you can see he is very proud.

Then 2 months later, Brady asked where his coach was. I said, Brady, I thought you didn't like him. He replied. I like him now!

Oy Vey!

A Super Halloween

2014-11-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

After several back up costumes that included Elsa and Anna for Chloe and the Red Power Ranger for Brady - they finally decided on Captain America and the Pink Ranger.

The really got into Character.

Mom put some thought into her costume and Dad just pulled out some all time favorites!

Grandma T and Grandpa K joined in the fun and passed out the candy while we took the kids Trick or Treating.

We toured the neighborhood with our neighbors- Sophie and Ethan!

How to eat a cucumber...

2014-10-01T15:50:00.002-07:00

For several weeks, every time I cut up cucumber and gave it to Brady as a snack, he would cry that I cut it up the wrong way. I cut it into circle slices--wrong, I cut it into strips--wrong, dark green skin on--wrong, dark green skin peeled off--wrong. Every which way he would cry and push the cucumbers away because that is not how Sufi eats his cucumbers. It seems that there is a little boy named Sufi in Brady's class who eats his cucumbers BIG. Finally, before I cut the cucumber, I asked Brady how Sufi eats them. Brady said BIG just like that, I said--what? the whole big cucumber and Brady said yes. So I sent in the whole cucumber into school for him to eat with his lunch and sure enough Brady at most of it this way.

His teacher sent me the below pics and then explained that Sufi eats the small pickling type of cucumbers, not the big normal sized ones, so she was cracking up when she opened Brady's lunch box and saw the BIG cucumber I packed for him. I swear--you can't make this stuff up.

The Big K--Kindergarten!

2014-08-11T09:17:00.001-07:00

And she's off... Ready to learn, grow, and start her academic adventure!

She picked out a new and gigantic pack pack to cabaret the one folder that she needs and her lunch box which is pink and has a picture of Anna and Elsa (who else) on it.

She happily posed for pictures (Brady not so much) and we walked down to the bus stop - she hopped right on and didn't look back.

We are so proud of you Chloe and look forward to many more "1st days of school"

Big Surf

2014-08-02T09:32:00.001-07:00

Big Surf has been around forever. Way back when there was nothing but a water park, ice rink, and drive in movie theatre. There was no freeway to get there and a big deal to go. I remember going with my Brother and Dad. Then Sunsplash and Waterworld got built and the sand that surrounded the beach at big surf got too hot to walk on - so then nobody went anymore.

(I found this picture online of Big Surf circa 1977- look at all that land behind it!)

Well until now- we took the kids for Friends and Family night with Ami's work. They have a whole kids area with water only 2 feet deep and perfect slides for the kids. It took a little convincing but soon the kids couldn't get enough of the slides. We even went on a few big slides in double tubes. I was sure that Brady would slide right out- but he held on for dear life and loved it! The hot sand has been replaced with grass and water walkways. But the bathrooms were still gross!

Overall a super family fun night!

Sunny Day Schedule

2014-07-27T14:01:00.001-07:00

Another summer is upon us in PHX and we find ourselves finding all the wonderful indoor activities to do. Last Sunday we went to the children's museum in downtown Phoenix.

The kids enjoyed making pizza and playing cashier in the store. They also loved riding the bikes through the car was and serving up pretend ice cream. The art room was full of activities to stimulate their creative side. Brady loved the fact that he could wear his new cow watch from chic fil a. He even would stop every so often to charge it because it was also a phone. We just love watching them play.

House Before and Afters

2014-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

As we approach the 1 year anniversary of our move to our new house,

it is time for some before and after pics.

Storage Garage: Before

Storage Garage: After

Garage Shelves: Before and After

Living Room Media Wall: Before

During

and After

Living Room: Before

Living Room: After

and just for fun, this is what the room looked like when the previous owners lived here.

More before and afters to come.

Small Town 4th of July

2014-07-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

We headed up north to flagstaff for a 4th of July vacation. We rented a cabin right on a golf course and had a wonderful deck where we could sit out and enjoy the cooler weather and views.

The kids enjoyed making Pom Poms with Nana and everyone enjoyed watching the kids and overall relaxation.

Our big outing was to take the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to the south rim.

After enjoying the Wild West Show, we boarded the train. The trip to the canyon was about 2 hours long but we passed the time with some entertainment and by taking selfies

After lunch at the historic El Tovar, we enjoyed watching the Native American Dancers and taking in the sites. We thought Chloe would enjoy the Jr Ranger Program but she lost interest when the Ranger started talking about the diet of the Canyon Squirrels.

Chloe's 1st trip to the canyon. I'm wondering how many times this picture will be recreated in her lifetime. While it is a big hole in the ground, it is right in our back yard and is a breath taking site- I'm sure we'll visit every 5 years or so.

Brady was less excited about the trip and we got a workout carrying him around (why didn't we bring a stroller?)

The best family picture we could manage.

Time to get back in the train and look who is finally happy.

We celebrated the 4th by attending the Flagstaff parade. After a brief fight with an Asian massage therapist who thought we we blocking the entrance to her business (hello lady- there is a parade outside) we found great seats along the route. We waved our flags, collected all the candy, and had a good 'ol fashioned small town celebration.

This is a far cry from the Rose Parade we attended earlier in the year. Some of the highlights included :

Hamster and his Kia

Happy birthday America floats.

The fly over

Man in dog mask wanting to be adopted.

Reinactment of the revolutionary war

Tractors

Some guy on a funny bike running for Governor

The classic car society

And those guys who dress up in Star Wars costumes.

We had a great time and hope to visit Flagstaff again very soon.

Day with Daddy

2014-06-29T10:11:00.001-07:00

Mommy went on an overnight trip with Grandma T but was able to keep up with all our activities via photo message.

We dressed ourselves

And had a fashion show on the stairs.

Then fueled up for our big day at The Gilbert House.

Then off to the circus with Daddy and Nana. Brady finally got a light saber!

There were so many neat things at the circus!

Then we went to Nana's house and helped her make a cake.

Next we had a fun time sorting through all of Daddy's old action figures!

And then Grandpa Henry gave us a horsey ride!

And we picked our own tomatoes to take home.

We had such a fun day that we fell asleep in the car on the drive home.

Mommy- when are you leaving again so we can have another Day with Daddy?

National Giraffe Day

2014-06-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

In honor of National Giraffe Day, Chloe and Brady were either planning on slaughtering or protecting one We just love these make believe sessions. All I know is that this giraffe required a lot of band- aids which Chloe held in her fanny pack.

Hot Diggity Dog

2014-06-20T20:51:00.001-07:00

The kids celebrated a great swim lesson with Hot Dogs from Mike's. We moved from Saturday mornings to Thursday and Chloe moved up to the Champ class. Looks like Thursdays might turn into dinner nights out!