Hanging with the Smiths

Candice and her family moved out of our ward and neighborhood before we left for Virginia and I hadn't seen her since. So while Matt was out touring the world, the kids and I got the chance to spend several hours with her and her crew. We swam at her neighborhood pool, hunted for crawdads, played at the park and enjoyed a pizza dinner in the park. Our kids were exhausted after such a busy day! I am excited for when she moves back into our neighborhood and ward in August!

Saying Goodbye Until Next Year

We wrapped up another fun trip to Virginia. We had a fun time being with family and making lots of new memories. We saw the new farm house, went to Busch Gardens, and of course spent a lot of time playing at the river. It was particularly neat to see the kids' relationships developing with their cousins.  They always seem to pick up where they left off the year before. The time seemed to fly and before we knew it we were packing up and getting ready to leave. The whole time we were here I thought our return flight was on Tuesday, but we realized late Monday night that I was wrong! So we got an extra day to spend time with grandma and grandpa and it gave me an opportunity to get a picture of them with the kids. And Matt. 

Playing Around in C-Ville

After staying up way too late enjoying some really good conversation with Craig and Lorel, we got up and took the kids to the pool this morning. Their neighborhood pool is a nice size and wasn't crowded. We swam for over 2 hours before we decided to head back. 

Rex and Isaac spent a lot of time together using water guns to shoot the bigger kids. Rex also played with Eve in the baby pool for part of the time, but didn't dare set down the watergun. 

Cameron had a lot more fun this year since he felt more confident swimming. He loved jumping and splashing around with Howie and Donovan. 

And really loved pushing Howie into the pool. 

Then after changing and eating some lunch, the kids played together a little longer while we packed up to leave. I was so happy to watch these kids play. They were creative and active and there was no fighting, which is such a bonus. 

Ella was a wonderful playmate for Nina. She is sweet and kind girl and it kept Nina calm and happy.  I'm very glad we got the chance to spend the weekend here and we are looking forward to seeing these fun people again later this week. 

Triple Date

After playing at the farm house with all the family, our troop and Brooke and Danny's family drove out to Charlottesville to go out on a group date. We hired 2 babysitters, ordered the kids 4 pizzas and hit the road. 

Charlottesville is a pretty cool city. There are some trendy spots to eat all over. We tried out an Asian tapas place called Bang. The men got to sit on the uncomfortable ottoman type chairs. 

While we fine ladies enjoyed the luxury of the sofa. 

We ended up selecting 4 dishes per couple and sharing them all. I impressed myself by trying calamari and shrimp. I still don't particularly care for seafood. Maybe it will change one day. But the food was good and the company was fun! It would be fun to be able to go out like this more often. 

The Last Swim Meet of the Season

Today was Cameron's last chance to swim in a swim meet this season. He has felt too nervous to swim in a meet up until today. He still felt nervous, but he agreed to at least try the backstroke. Here he is hanging out in the heating area. I was working in heating and got to give him several pep talks. 

Next in the pool

He did it! And he did such a great job! He started out just kicking his little legs. All the coaches were cheering and yelling to him use his arms. He made it without stopping to hold onto the rope! We were so proud of him. Howie even rewarded him with a whole dollar! 

This was Nina's last meet as well since we are leaving for Virginia this week. She had a great season. She had so much growth from last season. This year she tried out new strokes and new events. Today was amazing. Coach Cookie challenged her to try out the individual medley and Nina accepted that challenge without blinking! We are also very proud of Nina and her accomplishments this year. 

The Sweetest Little Book Club

These adorable little girls all read The Secret Garden and couldn't wait to get together to talk about the book. Kristin had the perfect idea of bringing a picnic to Hudson Gardens, walking around enjoying the area and then stopping to talk about their favorite parts. Nina's favorite character was Martha (because she loved the Yorkshire accent) and Dickon because of how much he connected with nature. She learned that it was important to spend time outside so that you aren't grumpy and yellow, and that when you smile you look nicer. It was fun to read that book together and fun for Nina to do it with friends. They have already selected their next book: The Little Princess. 

The World Cup Has Begun!

The World Cup is underway and you can be sure that Matt is ready. He is the owner of several jerseys, none of which are of the Unites States. We might need to do something about that! He has even gotten the kids involved in cheering on some of his favorite teams. Let's hope that the US team does really well!
And if they don't play so well, let's hope Costa Rica has a great showing! 

And if Costa Rica and the United States both have a hard time, let's hope Argentina goes far!

And if the United States, Costa Rica and Argentina all stink it up, let's get Matt a new jersey!

A long road ahead

This is about where I left off almost a year ago. I finished Donovan and Howie's room and started on Nina's. Then I fell off the blogging planet. Again. Part of that was because somehow my laptop mysteriously died taking all my pictures with it. There were rumors that a drink was spilled and smoke came from the computer, but neither Matt nor I was there to witness it. Dang kids. So I pouted for a few months and kind of forgot about blogging. It took us about 3 months to get another computer and I was still mad that I lost so many pictures. And I wasn't liking the pictures our camera was taking, so I didn't use it all that often. Basically I've been in a bad mood for almost a year. But I'm over it. I am accepting the abilities of our camera until we can save up for a better one too. I am going to try to catch up and it will likely be a very long road.

Because tomorrow it will snow

One thing I love about Colorado is the little thing that happens the days leading up to a big snow storm. It's called a day or two of amazing weather. Today was 67 degrees with lots of sunshine and tomorrow the temperature will drop some 50+ degrees and bring snow. So of course we wanted to take full advantage of the beautiful day. After we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for Rex's birthday, we headed down to the South Platte River. There are trails that follow the river and it's a great place to take a car full of boys and one girl. They spent most of their time throwing rocks into the river, trying their best to skip them. They also wandered around exploring and getting dirty, because those two things always seem to go hand in hand. It was great to soak up the sunshine and warmth before we get hit with the cloudy and cold weather that's on it's way.

And Rex is three. He will tell you that any chance he gets.

The 3 year old Rex

Rex has been talking about turning 3 for a couple of months now. I think having the older siblings talk about it made it even more exciting for him.

I guess we have established a few birthday traditions and one of them is Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. I am a fan of this tradition.

We also set up a treasure hunt for the kids to find their presents. I'm sort of a fan of this tradition. If I could fix one part of it, I would duct tape the other siblings during the hunt because somehow they all cause drama.

The last tradition is a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's. I remember when Rex was just barely walking and what a joy he was to bring to this place. He is a pretty stubborn and determined little boy and when he wants to play skeeball, he will play skeeball. Even if it isn't his turn and other kids are playing and he has to steal a ball and climb up on the ramp while the poor other player is wondering what to do. This year was much better on the skeeball front. He didn't hijack any games. He was also able to play some games on his own, which made it more fun for everyone. He also took longer to use his tokens so the older kids lingered around him toward the end in hopes that they might get an extra token.

It has been a fun journey since Rex has joined our family. He is a nice combination of a youngest child who wants to cuddle and let us do things for him and a youngest child who doesn't want to let anyone do anything for him because he can do it himself thank you very much. I can't imagine our family without this boy. He makes me happy and I enjoy the alone time I get with him while everyone else is at school.