I'm Back!

I know, I know way to long with out posting anything! I am still trying to catch up from July! It was busy so here goes;
After 4th of July we had Maria's 5th birthday party. It was a lot of fun, just their family and us:) The girls played dress-up and gave us a fashion show. The boys just ate candy- as much candy as they could.
Next was Cousin Emily's 2nd birthday. He and Mikayla are 2 years and 2 days apart so Kerri and I always have fun deciding when to have their parties and what theme! Maybe one day they will get to have a party together for family:) But this year was easy because My Grandpa and Billie Jo, the kids call her Bedo, we coming to visit the weekend after Mikayla's party so Emily had hers on the 19th of July and Mikayla was the 26th! So for Emily we went to their clubhouse and had a pool party! It was a lot of fun. We ate Pizza and cake and had a great time with family!
Then my Grandpa came into town. The Mikayla has meet "Big Papa" a few times, she was really excited to see him and Bedo. Seth had only met him once before and it was when he was 5 months old so he didn't remember them. After this trip though he will never forget. Still, everyday he gets the airplane that they got him and asks for Papa! It is so cute I love it. I don't know what it was about my Grandpa but Seth listened to him so well. It was awesome to see them form that relationship. We did all kinds of things with them the 4 days they were here with us were packed full of activities. We went to the Botanical Gardens, Red Rocks, Wings over the Rockies and all kinds of restaurants and mini Denver tourist things:) We all loved it.
Mikayla's 4th Birthday celebration was in between all of the fun too. We rented a shelter out at the Aurora Reservoir and had Hamburgers and Hotdogs for over 45 people. It was so much fun I got the kids Buckets and shovels for their goodie bags and they were building sand castles everywhere. It took a little longer to cook the food then we thought So Mikayla opened her presents first. She got so many Princess things. She was spoiled. After her party we got home and she said "Mommy I'm Boiled aren't I?" I said "yes you are spoiled" It was so cute. After we ate we went down to the swim area and let the 10 kids and all of Billy's friends play in the water. I forgot to serve the cupcakes. After I got the shelter all cleaned up I took the cupcakes down to the beach and the lifeguards blew the whistle-they saw lightning. It was perfect we sang Happy Birthday to Mikayla and ate the cupcakes and then they said it was all clear and they went back into the water. It was an overcast day so it was not too hot like it usually is for her birthday.
After my Grandparents left we stayed home for a week! WE were all so tired and my house was a mess and the laundry was taking over my house! Maybe one day I will be caught up! I will go into more details about all of our adventures with pictures a day at a time:)

4th of July 2009

We had an awesome 4th Of July! It started at 9am and didn't end until July 5th. The kids were great the adults were great and the fireworks were fantastic! So in the neighborhood next to ours they always have a parade for the 4th. The kids love it because they throw out tons of candy- the last 2 years we have gone they have thrown so much candy that it fills up the wagon! So this year we decorated our own candy bags so that we could get as much candy without having to run back and forth to empty our hands. (that is important to little kids) So 9am came around we got all loaded up in the car with our bags and flags and got to the parking lot and there was nothing. We saw one car decorated and we went and asked them what was going on and they said they were the only car in the parade. For some reason it was cancelled this year:( Well the kids were really upset. I said we will just have our own parade later! So we went to Southlands and walked around the farmers market and then played in the water fountains- and then went and bought stuff for the BBQ. That is where we took the picture of the kids in the cart!

We got home and our friend Brandon came over and went with Billy, Loren, and the girls to get fireworks. The little boys took a nap. When the kids got back from getting fireworks and the boys woke up from naps we got ready for the parade. (All of the pictures are on Billy's iPhone I will up load them soon) But we had the kids sit in there new camping chairs and wait for the parade. Well Brandon was on his scooter pulling Billy in the wagon and Loren was riding Mikayla's little motorcycle. They threw out all kinds of candy and the kids were loving it. Amanda and I almost peed our pants it was so funny and cute! Those boys will do anything for their kids! Some of the neighborhood kids came out and celebrated with us! It was awesome- I think that was a better tradition than the other parade:) The boys liked it too because they could ride their toys:) Then Billy's parents and the rain came. Poor Billy had to cook in a down poor. Brandon helped by holding the umbrella over his head:) We ate tons of food and had a lot of fun! We then decided it was time to get ready for the fireworks. We had to get all bundled up because the rain left it pretty chilly. This year we sat on the Aurora Hills gold course. It was nice- the kids ran all around and played until the fireworks started. We saw an awesome show! we had nothing in our way this year! I think this will be our spot from now on- not to much traffic to get home, no light poles or buildings in our way! Here is some video from the iPhone! After we came back home

and set off all kinds of fireworks with our neighbors. Billy and Loren made some kind of explosion called a chlorine bomb- they found it on YouTube. It was kind of fun to watch! Maria and Seth fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep through all of the noise. Overall it was a great year! Hard to believe that 10 years ago on 4th of July was the first time I met Billy! Time goes by way to fast!

We Survived!!:)

Well yesterday was a very interesting day for us. It started as a beautiful day lots of sun and fun. Jessica and Travis came over to our house to pick up some things and then we decided to go eat lunch at Mt. Fugi out at Southlands and then went and played out in the water fountains and then made a quick run to walmart for cat food. We left Southlands at 1:15pm and it was sunny and perfect, got home at 1:25 and it was a little cloudy we put Seth down for a nap and thought where is the Thunder? It was pretty dark- so dark that Mikayla even asked why the sun was going to sleep. So Travis and I went out to ump on the trampoline- I know smart when we know it is going to rain:) And we noticed the clouds were moving very fast in a circular motion right above our heads. The school sirens started going off at 1:45-I looked up and saw a horizontal funnel forming. Travis and I started yelling for Billy and Jess to come and look. The funnel was moving into a vertical funnel. We ran out front and you could see it going closer and closer to the ground. Then the hail started it was pea size at first and in a matter of seconds it was the size of golf balls. It hurt with the wind blowing everywhere I got hit in the head and then in the arm with pretty good size hail. I still have a little welt on my arm. So Jessica and I ran inside and got the dogs and cat and Mikayla into the basement- I had to wake Seth up from his nap and get him down there. Of course Mikayla was very scared and asking all kinds of questions. Billy and Travis were outside taking pictures. We turned on the news and after about 10 minutes they finally were getting calls in from people who were close enough to know what was going on and we found out it hit Southlands Mall. Here are some pictures to see what damage it really did. And the fact that we were there only and hour before. Thank God we are ok and nobody was seriously hurt. A lot of damage but only one person was taking to the hospital and that was because he was trying to take pictures and was picked up by the wind and dropped in a neighbors yard. So Remember if you are in a storm be careful and make sure it is safe to take pictures!!

Mikayla is the one who is the most shaken up from it. She didn't even see it but I think seeing the pictures and hearing everyone talk about it has made her nervous. She slept in our bed last night and that never happens. I told her that today we will go and get a Tornado kit and keep it in the basement! That made her feel better!

Remember when looking at pictures to click on the Southlands Pictures:)

Mikayla's last day of "School of Mommy"

Well it is that time of year that kids are getting out of school and getting ready for summer vacation. I have seen a few friends talking about their kids accomplishments and I would like to fill everyone in with Mikayla's!

This year she did not go to preschool. We missed the cutoff date and then I just didn't find one that I liked as much as the one she went to last year. So she attended "School of Mommy" during Seth's morning nap we would have school. She didn't like it at first- she wanted friends. I really couldn't help with that- but I am proud to say that she is now a graduate of "School of Mommy" and will be going to preschool in the fall of 2009. She has been accepted and will be going to Sunrise Elementary school. This is our home school and I am very excited for her to meet new friends that will live in our neighborhood. She is going to be going 4 days a week in the am. She is very excited and ready to "go to school"

She can recognise almost all of her letters. She has a hard time with lower case letters but she needs something to learn in school right? She can count to 20 with only a few problems with 15,16,17,18- she gets them all in there but not in the right order. She can spell her name and Seth's name. She can not write them yet. She knows all of her shapes and colors. She knows her birthday and most of the days of the week.

She won't be 4 until July but she can't wait. When she is 4 she will do all kinds of things- like picking up her toys, and listing to me and Billy better. Those are her words! We had her yearly speech meeting and she is still age appropriate and doing great. We did find out that a speech teacher will come into her classroom once a week and work on things with the class. I know this will help- I do think that just being in preschool with help her language and clarity.

All 4 of us are very excited for this summer and then for her to start school. I know she will do great just like this year:)

The picture above is Mikayla with "pepper" my Dad's dog!