Fathers and Sons, Mothers and Daughters...

The boys in our house went on their very first "Fathers and Sons" campout last night, Hayden was so excited he could hardly contain himself, and Rob was in the same boat. They were only going to be gone for one night, but when the car was all packed, it looked more like they were going to be gone for a week. Rob sent this picture to me from his phone, it looks like they had a great time...

 

Us girls at home had our own "campout" - in my bed. It was fun to hang out with Ana and listen to her talk all about her blissful, princessy life. And to just play with Sophie and listen to her make her sweet baby babble. We took a bubble bath in our swimsuits, painted our toe nails and read every princess book in the house and ate lots of candy (that was Ana's idea). Then we went to bed early... it was a great night.

Soccer and a kiss...

Hayden started soccer a few weeks ago, Rob is coaching his team and thoroughly enjoying it. It's so fun to watch your kids learn new skills and learn to be a part of a team. Hayden loves to play soccer, but even more than that, I think he loves entertaining his teammates. If their were such things as "team clowns", I think that he would be it... this is soccer Hayden, not Karate kid... Pee-wee soccer cracks me up, if you're ever wondering where the ball is, just look for the mob of kids, it's in there somewhere... While he was one the sidelines, he would come to visit his fans...
And at the end, a kiss for his BIGGEST fan... Sophie really does LOVE her brother, and he is always so sweet to take the time to play with her and give her kisses.

The Day She's Been Waiting For...

Ana's long-awaited stage debut occurred last Saturday - her very first dance recital. It was so fun to see her get so excited. Here she is before the performance...

 

This what Ana does now every time that you tell her to smile... little stinker...
Getting set, "Oh, I'm so nervous..."

 

In the midst of it all (not the best picture, but it was all I got)...

 

Afterwards, Ana's BFF Brinley, brought her a beautiful bouquet - she was in utterly overjoyed!

 

Ana did a fantasic job, we were so proud of her!

Cinco de Mayo...

For Cinco de Mayo, my good friend Julie suggested that we try making churros - you all know I'm always up for a culinary challenge. So we got together with her sister Stacy, all of our kids (plus a couple extra) and tried them out. Consensus, they were good, but not good enough to be worth all the effort. Julie also taught the kids how to make Mexican flowers... it was a really fun day.

 

 

 

Hiking: Lair O' the Bear

Our family LOVES to hike, so I've decided to keep a record of all the places we go this year.
First hike of the year: Lair O' the Bear, Morrison, CO
Rating: *****
The is one of the best hikes we've been on for families with kids. Awesome trails that aren't too tough but still very scenic, a river (a must for Hayden), and not too far from home. If you've got young kids, this is one to check out.

 

 

 

 

Bugs for Dinner...

Hayden saw this experiment in a magazine, he thought it was so cool, so we tried it for dinner the other night. Nothing crazy, just plastic bugs in the jello. Who knew that throwing in a few bugs could make your kids' week... (Don't mind Ana, she's a gypsy in training.)

 

May Day...

So we're a little behind on blogging lately... Back to May Day, May 1st. Growing up in MN, we celebrated May Day every year. We made little baskets, filled them with treats and flowers and delivered them to friends secretly. Since moving here, I would get together with my Minnesotan neighbor, Gabe Johnson, and we would help our kids make May baskets. May Day was also Gabe's birthday, so it was a fun way celebrate. With Gabe being gone this year, I had to keep up the tradition, so we invited her kids over to make baskets and had a great time celebrating their Mom's 33rd birthday, just the way we always have.
The tradional baskets, with a personal touch... Hayden setting up the first delivery...

 

Run, Hayden, run!!

 

Ana was up next, she was too scared to ring the doorbell...

 

That's what big brothers are for. Run, Ana!!

 

We escaped without being seen by a single soul (probably because only one of the families that we delivered to was home - which was probably good, discreetness is a talent we're still working on.)

The After...

 

So here it is, the fruits of all of my free time for the last couple of weeks - I know, I know, it wasn't that hard to figure out what it was going to be - a garden. But isn't the most beautiful garden you've ever seen??? It might not be right now, but you just wait a couple of months. My neighbor showed me how to put in a drip system - WAHOO! No watering for me! And yes, those are the plants that we started from seeds a couple of months ago. The kids and I have been having so much fun watching them grow and taking care of them. Hayden has adopted the watermelons and Ana the pumpkins. I told them that if they weeded their areas and took good care of them, they could sell me anything that they harvest... Hayden said he's going to set up a fruit and vegetable stand in front of our house and make lots of money... we'll see.

S"mother"ed Day!

Who can say that they don't love to be smothered with love on Mother's Day! Not me. I personally loved the attention from my sweet kids and husband. I woke up to eggs and toast on our "You are special today!" plate, after being able to sleep in a little (we had early church, so I'll take what I can get). It was a relaxing day, and I thoroughly enjoyed just being with my family.

I was able to spend a couple of hours with just Hayden, relaxing in the yard and just listening to him ramble about life and the things that are important to him. Topping his list is his aspiration to be a "Museum Keeper" when he grows up. He is going to put a new exhibit in the museum, all about "calapillars" and butterflies, and it will have a game for kids, where they will have to put cards in order to show how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Then he moved on to how he was going to build a "watering system" for our garden, digging rivers all through it to water the plants. I love to listen to all of the thoughts that go through his little mind - it doesn't happen very often that I get to just sit and listen, but it's so sweet when it does.

When we came back in the house I was greeted by Ana who had been spending those hours creating and preparing the sweetest little mother's day "packages" as she called them, consisting of dozens of little papers glued together, smothered with stickers and random letters of the alphabet (the ones that she knows how to write), stuffed into envelopes that were also covered with stickers. "They're for you!" She was so proud of herself and presented them to me with as much love as any Mom has ever experienced - that is the magic that helps you get through the next 30 minutes of cleaning up the "creating process" that was strewn from one end of the kitchen to the other.

Right about then, Sophie woke up from her peaceful and divinely extended slumber, giving her sweetest, almost toothless smile. She has really started to show her personality lately, a perfect combination of her siblings - happy and cautious like her brother, silly and charming like her sister. She has decided that crawling is for babies, she'd rather just sit on her royal behind and have everyone wait on her - if she peeps, someone inevitably gives her a toy or food or whatever else, to keep her happy - who needs to crawl when you get service like that? She is chubby and round, which is where her nickname is derived: Punky (short for Pumpkin or Punkin - she's about as round a pumpkin and rolls around like one, too). But she is definitely our snuggliest baby by far, I love that, there is nothing better than being smothered by a baby's love and kisses.

Mother's Day was sweet... I'm so thankful to have three terrific children, a loving, helpful husband and a knowledge of the plan that our Father in Heaven has for us. What a wonderful life.

Name that Project...

This was the scene of the project that I've been working on this week, any guesses as to what it could be?
The Before...

 

Zoo Field Trip...

This week I was able to go with Hayden on his class field trip to the Zoo - Hayden's favorite place in the world. I totally lucked out and got a group with just three kids and so we cruised the zoo and had a blast. This was our group, Hayden, Boston and Nicolo.

 

Do you think that he was excited? He doesn't usually get to ride a bus so this was almost as fun as the zoo itself.

 

The boys trying to look like giraffes, they did this with every animal...

 

It was a super fun day to spend with Hayden...