Summer Swimming

We had another great summer of swimming fun with our good friends the Lottis.

Gregory had a lot of fun, he learned the breast stroke and how to dive.



Kiwi made a ton of progress this summer. She started out still terrified of jumping in the pool (even to mom), progressed to jumping in with floaties on, to floaty free belly flops off the diving board. My experience with her swimming has reinforced what I know about her. She will not be pushed. The harder we try to convince, persuade, or force, the harder she will resist.
Seth didn't make much progress. In fact he backpedaled. He would jump off the side last year with floaties on. This year he wouldn't even put his face in the water. He started pushing off me to the steps, without floaties on. But I learned from my last one. He will learn eventually if we keep exposing him to it.
JW loves water, but the sun was a little bright. The first day he fell asleep because he was tired and had to keep his eyes closed. We remedied that with some super styling sunglasses. He was really brave in the water and I hope I can keep him from developing the extreme fear of water Kiwi and Seth have had to work through.

Chickens!

For about two years, Chad has been looking into getting chickens. We have allergies in our house and can't do cats/dogs. Plus, how often do you have a pet that is actually pretty useful? Shortly after he started looking into this I got pregnant and told him he could get some, but I would not be helping. I was not about to put up with animals in the middle of a pregnancy.
Then, when we found out some friends with chickens were getting ready to move and wanted to find a new home for their flock of two, we couldn't say no. This past weekend the chickens came home. I think we're in love...
The coolest thing about these chickens is they're super smart. A few mornings ago Little s had closed the coop door after letting them out. Unfortunately that is where they lay their eggs. I came out a short time later and they ran up to me squawking and carrying on about something. I walked over to the coop, found it shut, and opened it for them. They immediately jumped inside and laid their eggs. It was so cool. Kiwi LOVES these gals. They are now "her" pets. She is in charge of feeding and watering, and getting them out of their coop in the morning. The second day we had them, they had been harassed to the point that one jumped up on top of the coop, which is next to the wall. We found Kiwi in hysterics yelling "MY CHICKEN!" because she was afraid Nutmeg would get out of the backyard. Here is the first beautiful brown egg. One a day from each equals egg breakfasts every four days!
I can't believe how docile they are. They haven't pecked any of the kids, and they get picked up and held quite a bit. These are way better than a dog!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

At least in Chad's opinion. Between his birthday, father's day, and our anniversary, June is a pretty big one for him. This year he's one year older, celebrated Father's day as a father of four instead of three, and managed to be in town for our 10th anniversary! There was a time when we were pretty sure that wouldn't be the case.
Gregory with the massive ice cream cake I made for his birthday. Chocolate cake with Mint oreo ice cream and whipped cream frosting. It was delicious!
Father's day brought all of Chad's favorite things (plus some of the kid's favs too). Hot sauce, cheese, spicy chocolate, and black licorice. The kids enjoyed some soda, which is a rare treat at our house. Then there was the shirt. I think it has been officially deemed a pajama shirt due to my little addition on the back (in purple). I think it's cool to see all the kid's hands and feet together in one place.

I love you Chad! After ten years and four kids, I can honestly say I'm so glad I married you.

Escaping the Heat

One thing I love about where I live is the proximity to the mountains. If I ever have burning desire to see pine trees all it takes is a 45 minute drive up the mountain. G-man had cub scout day camp up there over Memorial day so we took the family and spent the day enjoying the great outdoors. Since my hubby isn't a big camper, this is the closest my kids get to camping most of the time.

The drive up is full of twists and turns with spectacular views of the city. We always point out the spot daddy proposed to mommy as we make our way higher up the mountain. We spent the day climbing rocks, hiking, wading in streams, eating fudge, and I even took a ride up the ski lift with Kiwi. Neither of us had ever done it before. I thought it was fun. Kiwi not so much. I guess the fear of heights is genetic.
Unfortunately, due to the extreme fire danger in our area, they shut down the mountain until we get rain again. So any hopes to repeat this adventure have been put on hold. So here is hoping for the monsoons to come and a relief from all this dry weather! Here are pictures of everyone who came. This was right after Kiwi's dance recital, so my parents were able to join the fun!
Seti spent the morning complaining about the cold, but perked up after things warmed up a bit.
Here we are at the top of the ski lift. It was fun to see all the things people had dropped on the hill on the way up: a flip flop, a necklace, a waterbottle. I didn't trust the little boys to stay in their seats for the ride, so they didn't come up.
I can't resist a head shot with my little girl. It's fun to see how much we look alike.

Ballet Fun

The spring ballet show has come and gone. They did swan lake and Kiwi was a forest fairy. Kiwi did a great job during her dance and was a trooper sitting backstage through the whole show (about 2 hours). We had two rehearsals and two shows, all within four days. There were many late nights and forced naptimes. Kiwi is not one who handles sleep deprivation well.
Grandma Toni and Grandpa Rulon were able to come down for her show and she absolutely loved having people there for her. Plus being able to wear makeup and wings! I think it was every six year old girl's dream.
Next year we may not do this, but I'm glad we got in a year for her to experience the fun of performing. I am learning I am not a big fan of ballet and Kiwi has expressed an interest in gymnastics. Since her favorite thing to do at home is jump off my couch, I think we need to find a place for her to do that safely. But it was fun to revel in all things girly for a little bit!

Disney Princess on Ice

Grandma Toni bought Kiwi some tickets to see Disney on Ice back in April. Of course I had to come too. I had never been to an event like this and really enjoyed experiencing it for the first time with my daughter.
We took the light rail downtown and were greeted by a massive swarm of princesses ranging in age from a few months old to well into adulthood. It had to be the funnest thing I've ever experienced. Kiwi was in absolute heaven. This was a magical night for a girl who loves to be given whatever her heart could desire. She ate cotton candy, was given a crown to wear, as well as a pink, light up royal scepter. Vendor after vendor would come parading by with his wares and those eyes would light up and look at me...I'm lucky to have gotten away with buying as little as I did. Be warned if you ever attend one of these things. Next time I will give her the money and let her spend until it's gone. That way I never have to tell her "no." Then it can truly be a night when she can have whatever she desires (within reason).
I wish I had better pictures, but I had no desire to bring the camera with me on this trip. So the Ipod is the best we have. Then it died shortly after exiting the train. Oh well. This was a memory I will never forget and hope to experience many times with my daughter. I love you Kiwi!

G-man 2nd Grade Field Trip

For G-man's 2nd grade class project, they created what they called a mini-society. This involved setting up a store to sell things. They used a currency Dahlers (after Roald Dahl), which converted 1 US$ = 4 Dahlers. All of the school made class trips to the class room to buy from the kids. We made a few trips to purchase what can only be described as random items. They were quite creative in their stores, selling everything from toys hanging around the house to popcorn and candy. Note that the candy was banned halfway through the second half of the year, due to violating school policy. G-man did a store devoted to puzzles: normal lenticular puzzles, puzzle packets (word search, hidden pictures, mazes, etc) and custom puzzle packets from a selection of puzzle types. Turns out that those are way too much work for the price being charged. G-man did sell frozen grapes for a couple of weeks when they were on sale at the grocery store. Needless to say, those sold really well; nature's candy at work!

The reason for the store was to have a end of year field trip. The whole class rented a tourist bus, and went to Phoenix to attend the Arizona Science Museum. You can't forget about the dinner afterwards, at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I forgot the camera, so all I got was some lesser quality picture from the iPod Touch, so not much to see except the group photo: