We went on a quick trip over the weekend and Monday, to visit two special people. Here is one of their hands...
Miss Jerrica hung from it at the auction on Monday.
She literally HANGS on you, wriggling around, AND it about drives ME crazy.
My dad didn't seem to mind a bit.
I sure love those two hands, especially since the little one isn't hanging on ME!
Quick recap of last week before we start a new one.
We went rock climbing with the Mason's....
Frisbee Golf at Blackforest Park with the Webb's...
Shopping with my older girls. They wear uniforms to school and when summer hits we realize how few normal clothes they really have. The girls were so giggly and cute with their new sunglasses, that of course I couldn't resist taking a picture when we got home. I HAVE to remember these days!
Bowling and ice cream with Miss Mallory...
Hung around at the park and the pool...
Made crayon hot rocks with friends to decorate our garden. It is so fun watching that crayon just melt right on...
Three of the kids played in 3 v 3 tournaments on Saturday, two kids were up in Denver and one here in the Springs.
We are LOVING summer! The kids help so good in the mornings so that we can play with friends in the afternoons.
The older girls had friends over. These girls are performers and wanted something to do. So we dressed up a few chins and did a little karaoke. Then we mixed in a play that Elizabeth and Kaylee wrote up, printed and directed. We videotaped them so that they could see themselves and each other.
The girls were giggling so hard that it was tricky getting pictures. Jerrica was thrilled to be part of it and even had her own line to say in the play. Here are some of the characters of today's performance...
Rebecca's chin made a sweet little bookworm guy...
I was amazed at how a little activity could turn into such a production. Awesome job girls!
We went swimming today and the little girls were once again sad that they couldn't go on the waterslides. Jerrica wouldn't even dream of going in the deep end, but Ashley on the other hand DREAMS of the day she can go on the big slides. She LOVES the water and spends most of her time swimming underwater like a mermaid.
Later in the afternoon, I was out working in the garden and the little girls came running over to tell me that they made their own waterslide. I was like "Oh that's nice..." Then I heard the giggles and laughter. I turned around the corner and saw the mud hole at the bottom of the slide. It WAS a true waterslide...
Ash told me "Mom, come and try it. I will take a picture of you..."
Sorry, I will NOT be showing that picture! Some things need to stay private on a blog. :)
(Let me preface this by saying that "duh" is an Ashley word right now when there is something obvious. I don't like this word, but it is in her vocab right now)
Jerrica found some type of bug outside and brought it up to Ashley.
Ashley was thrilled and Jerrica said, "Are you my friend, Ash?"
"Duh Jerra, I'm your sister, we will always be friends!"
Rebecca started taking Jazz last Fall. Last night was her performance at the Pikes Peak Center, and Rebecca LOVED every minute of it. Watching her beam down at that huge crowd made me beam.
Her favorite part was shaking it!
She had cute friends in her dance with her.
I think we have a dancer. She loves the music, the attention, the fancy clothes and accessories. AND she sure has the attitude....
You were awesome Rebecca!
We LOVED watching you with that big smile!
Our family LOVES Pirates' Cove. They have a little something for everyone, so it works out perfectly with our various age groups. They have a sand area, waterslides, diving area, lazy river and a big spray pirate ship to climb on.
Since Angie was leaving to Washington, she wanted to do one last Pirates Cove day with friends on Wednesday. Angie, Kesti, and Linnea all have younger kids, SO I let me three older ones invite friends. That made NINE kids for me to keep track of. SO Stephen decided that he would come and help. The kids were THRILLED that dad was coming, AND since he was coming, I got to ride with Angie and visit with her all the way up to Denver. I'm just going to miss her and that funny personality!
Anyway, FUN day! I took just a few pictures when we first got there and then put the camera up.
Thank you so much for all of the sweet emails, facebook messages and comments for the summer lists. I will definitely put them on a post tomorrow as a download. I would do that tonight, BUT I really struggle trying to do computer stuff like that. Stephen always helps me, and he is off playing volleyball til midnight. SO stay tuned tomorrow, and I will have a link for you.
Again, thanks for all the sweet messages. You all made my day!
It's that time of year again. Kaylee is old enough to do soccer try-outs now. I couldn't send them off, without a little something...
Both Nathan and Kaylee have been out practicing FOREVER for this!
They sure are fun to watch. :)
It's just not fun paying for competitive sports. :(
So I had a little melt down. From Friday morning until Sunday morning I was consistently without two or more of my kids because they were with their friends. I know friends are VERY important because they are to me, BUT I don't have very many years left with my kids, AND I'm stingy with family time, SO on Memorial Day I declared it would ONLY be our family spending it together. I LOVED every minute of it!
We decided to take a picnic lunch up to the reservoirs at Palmer Lake. It's a three mile round trip hike, with a pretty descent incline. Yet, it is so beautiful!
There was a really fun swing at the top reservoir. The family just before us had an older daughter that told us her best friend had just been proposed to on the swing and she was bringing her family up to show them the swing. I guess the boy had hauled all of the supplies and tools up the trail and made it for his girl. My girls thought that was SO romantic as the older girl talked about it. My boys just thought the swing was cool!
It has almost become a tradition to take the Costco fruit sorbets on hikes, as our treat to cool off.
My favorite line of the day was from Ashley. I was walking with her and a man nearby had just caught a fish. We talked about how he was probably going to go home and cook it for dinner. I then asked if she liked to eat fish, to which she replied,
"Dad, tries to get me to eat 'Tunie' fish and he doesn't even catch it. He just opens it out of the can and thinks I will like it. Maybe if he would actually catch a 'Tunie' fish, I would like it."
Absolutely beautiful weather for our hike!
