So how crazy are we?

My friend Liz had a really cute idea to take all our little girls to see Raven Symone at the Turlock County fair free concert series. She made up cute invitations to invite the Moms and daughters to all go, and had it all planned out. There ended up being 3 Moms and 12 little girls, ages 3-9. We got together at 4:00 to decorate shirts, put color streaks in their hair and eat pizza. Then at 6:00 we left for the fair. The plan was to walk around and check out some of the animals and booths at the fair for awhile and then around 8:00 go get seats for the show that started at 8:30. Well... as best laid plans go, we got to the fair at the scheduled time and started to head toward where the concert would be, to check out where we would be going. As we looked in the general direction, we were amazed to find that at 6:45 the seats were pretty well filled. So instead of checking out the fair we wandered aimlessly for awhile trying to find somewhere to sit 3 moms and 12 little girls. It was a mad house!

We drew quite a bit of attention with 12 kids in hot pink tank tops walking around, and yet no one wanted to scoot over and let us sit down. Finally we squished our way in on the edge of a couple of rows, where we had to wait another hour with kids sitting behind us on the back of the bench and 2-3 kids on our laps, only to find that when the concert started, everyone stood up and practically moved up a couple rows. Most all the kids ended up standing on the benches in front of us. It actually worked out pretty good and we had decent seats for watching. Of course about 20 minutes into the show some of the girls started asking "when can we go home?" It never fails right?!?

So after about 45 minutes of Raven, we decided to hit the road. The girls had a good time, but it was late and they were all getting tired. I guess that's just the way little girls roll right?! It was fun and now we can say we have been there and done that, and I don't see a need to ever do it again!

At Tulloch with the Evans

Now that my Dad rents out the lakehouse we have to do quick trips up there to play. So Liz and I decided to take advantage of a break in the renters and take the kids up for the afternoon. As always they had a blast! They were very excited about jumping off the trampoline into the water. Even Hailey finally built up the courage to jump off. She started on the small tramp and finally worked her way up to the big one in the end. It was fun to see her so excited about her accomplishment. Once the kids realized we could take rapid fire pictures they were all about the trampoline stunts. They did helicopters, flips, cannon balls, jumping onto rafts and sometimes onto each other (we are assuming it was not on purpose).


It was great for the adults too. We really enjoyed just floating on the rafts "trying" to be carefree. It was also fun being able to spend some time with my Dad, Mom and Jayleen. Of course my Mom opted out of getting in the water. - It wasn't over 110* so it wasn't warm enough to get wet. (ha/ha)

I love having a place to go that I can let the kids just play and have fun, and I can relax and just hang out with my friends and fam while keeping an eye on them. It's the best of both worlds! Everyone wins!

FLOWERS!

One of the neat things about my Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Mac is their love for beautiful flowers and for sharing them. I think it is so neat that they bless the homes of others with their beautiful creations. I'm grateful that they are kind enough to share them with us, and I have learned that if you return the vases the flowers will come again!! I happened to love this particular group of flowers, it just made me feel good, so I had to take a picture so I could remember them. I love the colors and combination of flowers. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Mac for sharing this beauty with us!

Our New Cousins!

This last week the Tehero's, my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim and their kids (my cousins) and their kids, met at the lake. So of course we crashed their party. Trying to explain to my kids who they were going to see, I told them that they were going to meet some cousins that they had never met before. Quickly they asked if these were "new cousins". To which I responded... "I guess so". Suddenly they were so excited to meet their "new cousins" - I am pleased to say they were not disappointed! They were very excited to see that there were kids that were all close to their ages. I made it a lot of fun for everyone. I loved that I was able to catch up with my cousins! It had been quite a few years since I had seen them all. It had actually been 9 years since I had seen Jaime (she and I are the same age) and her husband Mark. Both our families had grown by 3 since we were last together. They had lived a few places back east and then in Mexico, where Mark had been working the last 2 years. It was fun to catch up and hear all their neat stories about the cultural differences. His next assignment is in Kyro Egypt. I can't wait to hear about the stories from there. Anyway it was great to see everyone and my girls loved getting to know their "new cousins". Hopefully it won't be nine years before we see them again!

With Great Intent!

Colby is truly his father's son. This is just a random picture of him watching t.v., but I thought it was so cute how intent and focused he was. I was right up next to him with the camera and it didn't even faze him. Of course he never looks at me if he knows I have a camera out.

Cooking with Papa

My kids always love to "help" in the kitchen, so they were thrilled when Papa let them help him make the famous tortilla soup. Especially since it involved dropping things into the blender and watching them disappear. Papa was kind enough to let each of the kids take a turn adding items to the soup. Jade was the most consistant shadow. She was focused on seeing it through to the end. The other kids would wander in and out, watching t.v. and playing with other things, but Jade was right there the whole time, and she never missed a ingredient. Hopefully she will learn the some of Papa's secrets and then she can cook for us!

Thanks Papa!

Colby and the Turbo Bubbles

For his birthday Colby got this bubble blower called "Turbo Bubbles" which we quickly found was appropriately named. It has two little fans behind a collection of bubble holes, and when you push the button, it makes the fans turn. Colby loved the fact that he could control how fast and when the bubbles would come out. He would aim and then fire. (just another weapon of course) It was funny to watch him blow the bubbles and then try and catch them. If you got to close you would be blasted! Colby had control and he loved it! What kid, or adult for that matter doesn't love bubbles! Just a little bit of soapy heaven!

Colby's Dinosaur Party

For Colby's first friend birthday party, we had a dinosaur party. I wasn't planing on doing a friend party at such a young age, but when I saw the dinosaur masks and grabbers, I just had to do it for our little monster. Surprisingly enough Colby had a great time at his party. We did dinosaur finger plays and sang some dinosaur songs and for this age group it was perfect. Colby really enjoyed the stomping and roaring and acting like a wild animal (not to much of a stretch for him).

We tried at one point to get a picture of all the kids. There were about 12+ kids there, but with this particular age group....well, it just wasn't going to happen. So we took what we could get! Cute little monsters aren't they?!?

Probably my favorite moment of the whole party was when it came time to blow out the candles. Colby has seen flames before at campfires, on the stove and such, and he is used to us saying "no, no , it's hot", just trying to protect him of course. So when I brought around the cupcakes with the candles in it, he quickly said "Oh no, oh no, hot hot hot hot". At first I wasn't sure what he meant and then I realized that he was pointing to the flame. He wasn't real sure about me bringing a flame closer to him, but he managed to blow it out. I think it was from all the "ha ha ha" when he was saying "hot"!

Colby loved opening the presents as well, although the way he tore threw them I think he was as happy about ripping them open as he was about getting new things.

All in all I think Colby really enjoyed his first friend birthday party, all the way down to the lizards on the cupcakes, which he seemed to think were edible as well. Happy 2nd Birthday Colby! We love you- just don't grow up to fast!

Colby's Family Birthday

This year on Colby's actual birth-day, we had a fun family dinner to help celebrate. Nana, Papa, Honey, Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Mac were all there! Plus Colby got his first set of presents that he was actually old enough to appreciate. He got his first set of tools and tool box, a walking roaring dinosaur, and an official Louisville Slugger bat and hat! Nana had gotten then from Louisville herself! Cool huh?!? Colby was excited about all his toys, but we were a little concered about the new "weapons"-

First Day of School

I can hardly believe it, but today was the first day of school. Jade started 4th grade, Cambrie started 2nd grade and Hailey started Kindergarten. All three of my girls in the same school! I can't believe how fast the time has flown! It was a little strange since they just got out of school a week and a half ago, but that's what we get for year round school. They are in school for 3 weeks in July and then they have 5 weeks off in August and they go back again in Sept. Crazy I know, but I really do like it! They also get 6 almost 7 weeks off in December and then they are off the month of April. For now it's great because we can travel during the holidays to see family. - Or at least we could when gas was reasonable!
Anyway it was a precious first day. Hailey was so excited to be going to the same school as her sisters. She has always seen herself at the same level as her sisters, now she can actually be there. They all seem to have good teachers. I do really like Miss Ellerson, Hailey's kindergarten teacher, she is super sweet and attentive. I think Hailey will do well with her! Jade's teacher is Mrs. Price. Jade was excited because they combined the two 3rd grade glasses to make 1 4th grade class. There are 32 kids in her class. That seems like a lot to me, but she is happy because almost all her friends are in the same class. Cambrie's teacher is Mrs. Semple. I don't know much about her but Cambrie was excited. Jade said she dressed cute. I don't know it that can make her a good teacher, but here's hoping! This should be a fun year.

When my friend Karen and I took the kindergarteners to school- her son A.J. is in Hailey's class, we had Callie and Colby with us, of course. I think that they thought they were going to school too. Colby was so excited, he tried to hold Callie's hand, but she didn't like it much. When we got to the class room, they jumped right in there with the other kids and started playing with the puzzles and the toys that were laid out. When the class began to gather, Colby and Callie had found thier happy place in the reading corner with books and chairs just thier size. This is going to be interesting!