A Colorado 4th of July

We went to Colorado for the 4th of July and got to spend time with my mom, step dad, and my brother. The kids love to go to grandma's house and get spoiled, and we love being there, too, but sometimes the drive can seem never- ending. We had so many potty stops on this trip that we were all anxious to get there, especially after some hydroplaning in the mountains.  We were minutes away from our last main exit when we got pulled over for speeding! The kids thought is was great, they wanted to look at the flashing lights and kept asking if we were going to jail. Jeremy and I weren't as enthusiastic. 

Kai and Natalie enjoyed playing legos with uncle Kael and building a robot.

(all these pictures are from my mom's camera. I was too sick and tired to pull mine out. and we forgot to bring our point and shoot.)

We also celebrated Natalie, Kai, Jeremy, and my mom's birthdays with cake, presents, and a trip to a fun center. The roller derby was fun!

Kael found the most relaxing place to sit there.

We went swimming, too. This picture was taken a while after Nicole was rescued by a lifeguard (yes, I was a bad mother for a minute and didn't notice that she tipped over). Afterwards she was scared to death to be in the water without a floaty.

The kids decorated grandma's front porch and driveway, a few times.

Kai made some amazing shape figures with grandma's school chips. He's got skills!

And this is how we watched fireworks, in my mom's van because it was POURING rain! But in Colorado, nothing stops the show, we're tough and can handle any weather! haha

It was a great trip, we look forward to our summer Colorado trip every year. 

Natalie is 4!

Natalie told us that she wanted a Barbie party this year, all of a sudden she is into Barbies. But she wanted a cake with butterflies that was purple and green. Kari did a great job as usual with this one, Natalie was so excited about it.

I tried to get a few shots of her, but she was not interested, this was the best one I got.

We played nail polish spin the bottle for the activity. Can you tell how excited Kai was to play?!

They had to pick a color and spin the bottle, then go pain one nail on the person it pointed to.

The end result (after the boys had enough and went off to play):

Pretty fingers!

We are a little sneaky, the kids have so many toys that we keep a bunch in the crawl space and rotate them. Natalie had forgotten about this gem, so she got it again! haha Kai remembered though and almost ruined the surprise. 

The party guests singing happy birthday!

Hamster Funeral

I am playing catch - up on pictures. These were taken during Jeremy's last trip to India. One of the hamsters died and the kids wanted to do a funeral. The only thing was, we weren't sure which hamster died and both kids were fighting about whose had actually died. So we made two headstones. 

And this is what I found sunday morning when trying to hurry and get all the kids ready for church! Little stinker.

Here is Kai in his dancing superheroes class he took at the youth arts festival this year. I love the foam light sabers the teacher made.

Kai to Work with Dad

Novell had Kids to Work day a few weeks back and so Kai came to spend half a day with me at work. We had a great time with all of the activities. He got to watch a play and a puppeteer and pet snakes and lizards. They had classes on engineering, marketing, security, and many others that they made pretty fun for the kids too. The girls came and met us for lunch at the end and watched the puppet show. We had a great time...... probably because none of what we did had anything to do with what I actually do at work :)

Easter Egg Hunt- AKA Parent Brawl

I took Kai and Natalie to the city Easter egg hunt for the first time this year, and we may never do it again. They both had fun and got a small prize, but I was blown away by the "adult" behavior! 

I was there by myself, Kai and Natalie were on two different fields, so I stuck with Natalie, camera in hand. Over the load speakers were warnings every minute, "parents, please stay off the field. Only 4 eggs per child." So I put on my long lens expecting to get some good shots of Natalie, drilled her on 4 eggs, and only 4 eggs.

Then the buzzer sounded, I was the only parent left standing on the sidelines!! SO much for my great pictures. I had to move out a little to try and get a shot. After Natalie had her eggs, I sat by her and helped her toss the extras back (She had about 7) when I noticed grown adults sweeping as many eggs as they could into their kid's baskets! 

I went and found Kai, opened their eggs. Kai had a prize slip so we headed over to the beastly crowd waiting for their prizes. I saw kids holding bags of eggs, parents with 10 prize slips in their hands, with one child standing with them! So I asked one such family for an extra ticket so I could just get Kai and Natalie a gift. 

I'll re-evaluate next year, maybe we'll hold our own neighborhood hunt. How are our kids supposed to learn respect if so many adults can't follow a few simple requests?!

Anyway, Here's Natalie running off (In the pink coat).

Natalie again, checking her eggs and searching for me in the crowd.

I missed all of Kai's chase, so I got a picture of him afterward. I don't know where he put his basket. Kai was one lucky egg picker, he scored $3.00 and a prize ticket!

Fun With Grandma D

My mom came to watch the kids for us while we went on our cruise. Looks like they all had a lot of fun! She took them to Jumpin' Jacks one day, and spoiled them the whole time. Thank you mom, we had such a fun time and a nice break from the cold. Sorry you got sick, sorry the kids got sick, and sorry you are still sick.  Maybe next time you come to watch them it won't be winter. ; )

Firsts for Kai

Kai's first play at school. "The Three Billy Goats Gruff"



Kai was the smallest of the three goats and did a great job!


He also started his first Fishing class. It was the coldest fishing class I've ever been to, but he had fun and wants to keep going with it.



For those who know Kai well, this picture is pretty fitting. Yes, that's his instructor in the camo taking care of Kai's pole and Kai is in the orange coat checking out the drainage pipe. He's a pretty persuasive little guy :)

A nice evening out

On Wednesday we used two great gifts we had received for Christmas. Michael Buble concert from Anthony and Ashley and Cheesecake Factory gift card from Mike. Thanks guys, we had a wonderful time!



Naturally 7 opened for Buble and we loved them.

Ice Skating

We're going to try and start posting more often. So, here's some family fun from earlier this week.



































































After skating we got to watch part of a hockey game while the kids finished their hot chocolate.

Kai's Halloween Pictures

Yes, I am that behind in family pictures! And I didn't even get pictures of Natalie and Nicole this year, it was a busy year!

Family Pictures - November

November 2009

Family Pictures - September and October

October

October 2009

September

September 2009