Happy 4th!

We celebrated with a nice hike this morning. Breckyn is a very serious hiker and of course beat us to the top and then down to the bottom. Kyra, well she prefers to be carried so Kyle carried her most of the way and also Ryder in the backpack. I had it easy carrying water and holding Breckyn's hand when "she wanted to help me."







Any excuse to make sugar cookies!



Now we're off for a barbecue and fireworks with fun friends! What a great day.

My little ballerina girl

Breckyn had her first dance recital this weekend. She loved getting all dolled up, while I sort of felt weird putting makeup on my baby. It was kinda fun to do the whole shebang but I think it is safe to say dancing won't be her "thing". She didn't love it so much so we'll probably move on to something else...


Her dance was called "ballerina girl" and there were three little ballerinas and one little boy. They were the teeny dancers that made everyone go "aaaaaaaawwww" when the lights came up. They all kind of looked at each other to know what to do and I had a mild heart attack with how adorable they were. I'm kind of sad she doesn't want to do it anymore because she was good at it, but hey if she doesn't want to, I'm definitely not going to force her.


God job Breckster. We love you!

Drake thinks he is a kid & Kyra falls on her head

I guess Drake has observed the children playing for too long. He wanted to join in. So he did!



He is still big enough to startle Breckyn though. Watch her fly down the slide when he comes up behind her. Classic!




On a side note, Kyra has inherited my enjoyment of taking risks, unfortunately she is not very good at it yet. We found ourselves in the ER (AGAIN!) after a mild concussion from falling off this very play set onto her head. This kid has been to the ER 4 times (FOUR! Yes, that is ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR!) AND once we called 9-1-1 for an ambulance to come out to the house. She is 3. Is there such a thing as coordination lessons? I think we're in for a rough ride with this girl.

Summertime adventures - GLURCH

Remember last summers 'Adventures of the Day'? I loooove summertime. Long warm summer days, swimming everyday, bare feet in the grass, ice cream. I just love it. Well, I am trying my hardest to make this summer the best summer ever for my kids, at least until next summer, of course.

I've planned out all our 'adventures' as well as lots of extra stuff like the children's museum, swimming lessons, picnics, the local summer movie program and of course library storytime. And most important, we must leave time for long, lazy afternoons hanging out in the backyard.

We started it off with a bang last weekend in San Diego at Sea World and a day at the beach. Monday we went to Disneyland one last time before it gets too crowded and hot for us until September.

There are so many fun kids crafts out there to try we usually don't do them twice, but this one is so much fun we've done it several times. It never gets old and my kids go crazy for it. It is GLURCH. (Go there for specific instructions.) Never made glurch with your kids? Go buy glue and Borax and do it right now! It is that cool.


The ingredients:

Glue, Borax, water & food coloring

Mix Glue and water and then borax and water separately.




Add coloring of choice and borax mixture


Then stir.


And stir some more. Add more borax mixture until it all coagulates.


Then play! You can stretch it.


Write on it with markers.


Cut it with scissors.




Squeeze it.


You can even blow it up like a balloon and pop it. It isn't messy and doesn't stick to things. The stuff is awesome. When you are done store in a ziplock bag and it keeps for a few weeks.

The Backyard

My man did it. He didn't know how or where to start but he figured it out. From installing the sprinklers to mixing in topsoil and finally laying down the sod, now we have a backyard!!!






It was a mess of weeds, rocks and hard dirt when we moved in. I've said it a million times since I married the man, he can fix anything!!! (And he always looks good while doing it :)







We had lots of help from awesome friends. Thanks so much!!

Mickey Ears

The girls recently reached an important rite of passage. They received their Mickey Ears! This was marked by a pronouncement upon their heads that they will forever be entranced by the magical world of Disney. Breckyn chose silver and glittery, Kyra chose pink and princessy.






Here you can see Breckyn wearing my Mickey Ears from my childhood days. I still feel all magical and fluttery inside when I see my ears and my name stitched in gold thread on the back.

Gettin outta dodge!

Sooooo, after no vacations since last June Kyle was tired of sucking smog everyday and we made a break for the fresh air over the long weekend. Some people would say driving 12 hours both ways just for a weekend is a little crazy but well, I guess we are a little crazy.

We saw some of our wonderful family and the best part was seeing our kids play with their cousins.

We went geocaching, picnicking and attempted fishing on the Mesa. I expected sun but California has skewed my views. We were trudging through the snow, hail, fog and rain but the cool thing was not a complaint was heard by anyone and we all had tons of fun!






Kyle and I had fun riding our kids around the property on Grandpa's four wheeler. Ryder especially enjoyed this. He kept squealing "WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"


Kyle and I took advantage of built in babysitters and t.p.ed our old friends in the middle of the night who had no idea we were in town. We are SO mature. Too bad for them it rained that night.

Memorial Day morning included the traditional trip to the cemetary. I really liked that.


And to top off our Colorado adventure we attended a JUCO baseball game!! Loooved it.

Then we rushed back home to the constantly gorgeous weather of California and I must say it felt good to be home again.

5 ???

We have a 5 year old?!? That is a seriously old child. I just can't believe it.

2005


B rave about hiking up cliffs, roller coasters and playing in the ocean.
R eally doesn't like talking to anyone who isn't in our family.
E. T. scares her to death.
C ake, pizza, ice cream, strawberries and pears are favorite foods.
K yra is her best friend!
Y ellow dandelions, she loves to pick.
N atural born slob (she likes to get dirty and messes don't bother her!)

P ink is her favorite color.
A rt is one of her best talents.
I maginative when playing.
G ood girl, she (almost) always listens and obeys.
E nergetic, she bounces and runs everywhere she goes!

We love this crazy chic! Happy Birthday babe!













I made her these CRAZY cupcakes. We are finally putting in our backyard so we got her a giant bucket of fun outdoor games. She loved it. Then we made her follow a string and it led her to a new bike! Before bed she said "Mommy, I love you, it was the best day EVER." So, we had a great day.

Colorado Springs

I packed up the kids and we flew out to Colorado to visit my Mom. We had the best time! It was hard leaving Kyle and we missed him terribly but Grandma had so many fun things planned we couldn't help but have some fun.

Other than playing with Grandma we visited a beautiful park, swam at a super fun kid pool, shopped, went to the zoo, hiked around Garden of the Gods, hiked to "Pride Rock" and went to my Mom's favorite yoga class a few times. It was nice to not have any chores and focus all my attention on the kids.