Fun At the Beach

Who could stay at a house on the coast and not spend some time at the beach? Layla cried every time she thought the water might touch her up until the last day. When the waves finally reached her she cried mournfully. There was no consoling her until she was safe in the house. If I had to guess I would say the kids dug in the sand the whole time.

Meet Frank

While we were in Mexico, Crew found a pet. The garden there has several lizards in it. He caught the lizard soon to be named Frank, and it jumped out of his hand. Papa told him to be really nice and put his hand close to the lizard and maybe it would come back. We were all really surprised when it did. Frank walked right back into Crew's hand and hung out with him awhile. The lizard climbed up his arm and sat on his shoulder and then scurried up and rested on his head. Frank let me hold him and would have let the other kids if they weren't too scared. Everyday Crew went out to the garden to visit Frank. The last night he cried because he didn't want to leave Frank behind.

Gracie's haircut

It seems no matter where I hide the scissors Gracie can always find them. I guess she got tired of growing her hair out long like Rapunzel's which was her previous plan. I have been trying for the past week to fix her hair in ways to disguise her handy work pretty much the really wide cloth headbands are the only thing that works. Good thing her hair grows so fast.

The Teddy Bear Picnic

The long awaited preschool Teddy Bear picnic is over. Gracie had been waiting for this event for awhile. All of her preschool teacher's classes met at the park and brought picnic lunches. The kids got to play at the park, eat on blankets (which is more exciting than I realized), and play lots of games with their teddy bears. Unfortunately, I was unprepared and the battery ran out in my camera. The only pictures that I got are of Gracie running in a teddy bear relay race.

Layla's Swim Lessons

Layla graduated from her first swim lessons. She did really well. Her first lesson she didn't cry until the last 5 minutes. The next lesson, however, she knew what she was in for and started crying when we started heading toward the pool. By the last lesson she was back to hardly crying. She learned to roll over and float on her back, kick her legs, and get over to the side of the pool, reach up and grab on. It really is amazing how fast kids can learn. I was hoping that swim lessons would make her a little more cautious around the pool but she still likes to jump in. I think we will be reinforcing her lessons all summer in the pool.

Mila's Blessing Day

Here is Mila's sad face


Here is Mila's happy face

We had the chance to go to Utah and see Jenae's baby Mila blessed. Baby blessing are always so sweet. It was great to see Grammy and Grandpa and of course the baby (i guess Jenae and Sam too). Sam and Jenae are moving back east so my parents flew out and helped them make the long drive back. We had a wonderful time at Uncle John's house playing with cousins and eating all of Aunt Susan's great cooking. We are already looking forward to August when we get to see Grammy and Grandpa again.

Art Time

My kids are so excited that Aunt Katie is in town. They especially love doing art projects with her. Here is their most recent: string painting. They dipped yarn in paint and then made different designs on their construction paper. Anything involving paint is always a winner. Although, Layla apparently didn't understand the instructions. She just kept dipping a paper towel into the paint and painting her tummy.

Rock Climbing

One of Crew's birthday presents was a climbing harness so of course we had to go and try it out. Crew totally loved it. Grace liked it until she got a quarter way up the climb. I think we have found another family hobby.

Head Trauma

Maybe Crew needs to wear a helmet. He was in the backyard playing with his friend Oliver. They had paper airplanes that they were throwing at each other. Crew successfully dodged the paper airplane but ran in to a big wooden post. Ouch!

Party Webkinz style

It is official, we are obsessed with Webkinz! For Crew's birthday party he wanted to have a Webkinz themed party. We have a Wheel of Wow, Wacky Zingoz, Bulls-eye Batter, Pin the tail on the Webkinz, a gem hunt at the Curio Shop, and maybe Bingoz. Well, at least I tried my best to recreate the games that you play online in Kinzville. We will see how it goes.

Mint 400

We thought it would be fun to go out and catch some Mint 400 race action. Originally the race started at Freemont St. and headed around the desert outside Las Vegas. Now that Vegas has grown so large the race was relocated to Primm. It was really fun to see all the different classes of race vehicles (from trophy trucks to VW bugs) and watch them cruising through dirt making huge dust clouds. One VW was taking it easy and even had time to wave back to the kids as it drove by. The trophy trucks and sandrails were fun to watch flying over the jumps and sliding through the course. Now we really have to go to the Baja 1000. A trip to Mexico anyone?

Lunch with the Easter Bunny

Crew and Gracie were so excited to have lunch with the Easter Bunny. They got to get their faces painted, do easter crafts and activities, an easter egg hunt, and of course eat lunch with the bunny. Crew even went to his dentist appointment later that day with his face still painted and his ears on. Thanks to that dentist appointment, now Crew is obsessed with flossing. Who has ever heard of a 5 year old who wants to floss his teeth multiple times a day?

Awards Day

Crew had a little awards ceremony at school. He got an award for writing, citizenship, and honor roll. I don't know what exactly a 5 year old does to get a citizenship award but we have a certificate and pencil for it. He was really excited!

Baby Mila

Jenae had her first baby. Mila was born on Feb 13th. Don't worry it wasn't a Friday. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Baby and mom are doing great and have been for awhile. I realize I am several months late in this post. I couldn't find my cord to download pictures from my camera. Now hopefully I am up and running and will be a better blogger.