Welcome to our World

My boy loves gymnastics! This summer Kaelah had her dance class I already posted about & Danny loved his "Tumblebee Twos." His favorite is doing the bear crawl & I was shocked he could do it on the first try! Challenges are good, especially when you can rise to the occasion. The teacher was great... Danny didn't act the same the 1st day we had a substitute. It was fun to watch her demonstrate what they were to do next, then watch the girls in the class try to mimick her, & then see Danny & the other little boy make it look completely different. lol. I think the best part of this was having some one-on-one time with my middle child. I have to say I was the favorite parent this summer... until class ended 2 weeks ago. We're both already looking forward to next year.

We discovered a magical place this summer! As part of the library's summer reading program Kaelah & Michelle earned 2 ride bracelets at Lakeside Amusement Park. (Danny's requirements were the same as Kaelah's & she barely got them done on time. Luckily they didn't charge for Michelle, so he could just use hers.) This night may have been the funnest night of the entire summer for our family! There are 15 rides in the kiddie area, many of which Michelle could ride too, which really surprised me. It was magnificent. Even the ice cream cones at the end of the night were a decent price! Of course the history lover in me enjoyed walking around a place that has been running since 1908 (making it one of the oldest amusement parks in America). I'm already looking forward to the reading program next summer! I think this might be a great place to go for Danny & Kaelah's birthdays in June & July next year too. I'll have to see what ideas they ...

It's hard to believe Dan & I met an entire 10 years ago! We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in July but celebrated the 1st weekend of August. I planned our trip -- to Denver. I know that might sound strange but it was great! On Saturday morning we drove an hour & a half to the temple, then drove to the Museum to see the Whydah exhibit before it traveled away. Great to learn about real pirates! Example: I had no idea so many of them were runaway Africans or those of mixed decent avoiding slavery. (To the right is a picture of Danny wearing one of the free pirate hats we brought home.) After the museum we ate at the Cheesecake Factory -- so delicious -- then changed into our Rockies gear at the hotel and WALKED to the stadium. Yup, we could see Coors from the sidewalk entrance. Our seats were fantastic & cheaper than you would suppose. One of my favorite parts was the 7 NYC men in the row behind us making everyone laugh. Yes, we CO folk have no idea wh...

The addition of Michelle to our family was a huge surprise. I'm also very surprised at how she still wakes up every night. We tried to move her into Kaelah's room a looong time ago & Kaelah began to complain. We moved her into Danny's room & he got ultra crabby. So I emptied my clothes out of our walk-in closet & her crib has been there for months & months. This spring Dan & I went looking for a 4-bedroom ranch style house with a walk-out basement big enough for my parents to move into but came up empty. Turns out people expect that if you want a house like that you want all the bells & whistles too. So, we decided to get our little half basement finished off & my parents are currently looking into buying their own house. Here are a few pictures from the night before the work began & up to where the basement is now (minus the texture they added yesterday afternoon). It is basically one room with a half bath in one corner & a play...

Nothing seems to stay the same around here for too long. Young Women graduated from high school, my best friend & one of our favorite babysitters moved away, I don't have a 1, 2, & 3 year old any more (now they're 1, 2, & 4), Danny learned how to make root beer (well, he helped), & Michelle acts like she's a big girl. I guess one thing will never change (here's the caption for the picture of my dad with the children): the love of family .

Being old enough to voice your opinion has its perks. I was originally planning on having a birthday party at the park like we did for Danny last month but Kaelah insisted that we eat cake at home with her friend, Bernadette. Made life a bit simpler & she seemed to enjoy herself! Her one complaint was that we sang happy birthday to her even though she asked us not to. Sorry, pal, that's the price you pay for your plethora of presents. I think the biggest hit was the lady bug release on our rose bushes. They sure do tickle, which led to a lot of squirming and giggling. A big thank you goes out to my mom, who provided the ladybug party supplies (per Kaelah's request), made the ladybug cake (so cute!) and spoiled my oldest with toys & books & real live lady bugs. Thanks to the L. family for joining my craziness for an evening too!

Kaelah was born on our friends' anniversary, making it one of the only anniversarys I can actually remember the date of (not just the month). When I heard it was their 20th anniversary this year, I was more than happy to help their daughters order the Dairy Queen cake for the party. Martin & Jane did a wonderful job hosting & making sure everyone had a great time on the water. This was Kaelah & Danny's first ever ride on a ski boat. It was funny to hear Danny talk about how he didn't like Daddy water skiing b/c Daddy fell down. Dan hasn't been water skiing since 2004, so I'm amazed he did as great as he did, with getting up the very first try & all! Me? I'm chicken. I've never even tried. I enjoyed holding Kaelah & Danny & watching Dan. (: Thanks, Alexann & Sabrina, for making this surprise party a big hit for everyone! P.S. This is Kaelah & her new friend, Brooke. Brooke turned 4 in June & this party was the ...