Singing Happy Birthday

My sister-in-law came in late Friday night (early Saturday morning actually). They spent some time with us on Saturday before they went on down to Colorado Springs to visit their friends. While they were here, we had birthday cake and ice cream and sang to Louis!

Of course we had to take pictures before they left! (And yes, my husband DOES need to learn how to smile in pictures.)

Another back to school!

My big boy went to preschool today. It's just a parent/tot preschool, but I still can't believe that he's big enough to go to preschool. He loved it. He got to play, sing songs, have a snack, read stories, and make a craft. The teacher taught Olivia for two years, and she's great.

Olivia couldn't stand for Louis to get pictures taken all by himself, so here's one of the two of them!

Back to School

Ray and Beth Ann went back to school today. It was Ray's first day at Heritage. He was excited and not too nervous, so that helped me feel less nervous! LOL. Beth Ann was completely excited to be going back to school to see all her friends. She had two new teachers this year, and she said they were great! One of Ray's teachers taught Beth Ann, and she was great with Beth Ann. I'm glad that Ray has her this year. He'll also be spending half the day with the other first grade teacher. He said that he made two new friends today - Decker and Duncan. Duncan is the younger brother of Beth Ann's friend Claire, and I'll be really glad if they become friends! Here's the pictures I took of them going to school this morning. The last one is of Ray running out to meet us after school.

Celebrating Louis' Second Birthday

Well, his birthday is technically tomorrow, but we decided to do some celebrating today. We took him to Build-a-Bear to make his stuff animal. He chose a panda, and he really enjoyed making it. His siblings "helped."






He played in the play area for a while, and then we took him to Red Robin for his birthday dinner. The Red Robin staff sang the worst rendition of a birthday song I think I've ever heard. Louis didn't mind though. He thought it was pretty cool.






He had fun opening his presents, and then, of course, playing with them!






I can't believe my baby is turning 2!!!

A bit of irony at church

We went back to church today for the first time in a while. I really love the church, and its people. I found the church service today incredibly ironic. The church is nearly united in its support for Obama. Several people brought up Obama during the candle lighting ceremony. Kirk preached a sermon about liberals and liberalism. He also talked about the dangers of McCarthyism. Everyone was so into the sermon. I agreed with so much that he said. I think that liberal ideals will save this country. The irony came because people - people nearly united behind Obama - were so into the sermon. It just proves to me that we are desperate for anyone to believe in. Ironic, isn't it, that we believe in liberal ideals and believe in opposing McCarthyism, and yet we're so desperate that we're backing a strong moderate who voted for modern day McCarthyism (a.k.a. The Patriot Act). I left church thoroughly depressed.

Lara's Zone of Comfort

Well, I had errands to run today after taking Beth and Olivia's dentist appointments. We stopped by my friend Lara's house and ended up staying there for 3 hours. When I get to her house, it's hard to leave. She has created such a warm and comfortable atmosphere in her house - it sucks you in like a super fluffy, comfy couch that you don't want to get out of! I told her that it was a good thing we didn't live closer or she'd never get rid of us. Here's a picture of her daughter and my three older kids - there's two "wolves" and their "handlers." Aren't they cute?

A flashback

As my little boy is getting ready to turn two, I found these pictures of my big boy turning two! Wow - time flies.

Ray and Indiana Jones

Ray is loving Legos. He got a new set this weekend and spent a good chunk of yesterday and today getting it set up. He wanted to make sure I got a picture of him with it and put it on the blog! So, here are the pictures.

This is August?!?!

There are things I like about Colorado! The picture says it all (psst - we have a fire going in August)!

Beth's Art Work

At the end of the school year, Heritage had an art show, so the kids could show off their art work. The jump rope team performed as well. I was having problems with the camera, and it wasn't until afterward that I figured out that there was no card in the camera! I just now figured out how to download the pictures and video from that night. So, this blog post is a bit late!!! Here are pictures of Beth Ann with some of her art work displayed that night.




Here is a very short video of Beth Ann jumping rope. She learned more steps than this, but I ran out of video time!

Tie dye, green cleansers, and Thai food!

Today my friend Robin and her four awesome kids came over for play and tie dye! For the second time, I was the ring leader of tie dying. I really need to get more organized, but it turned out well. I think all the kidlets had fun. We had a spaghetti lunch, and then all the kids played for a while. I got to have a great talk with Robin. Unfortunately, Louis wouldn't leave her little one alone. Louis loves to hug, and other little ones aren't always that receptive to the hugs!




I managed to get some sewing done which always feels good, and then off to another Holistic Moms meeting. Tonight we made "green" cleaners. It felt good to go to the meeting. Sometimes it is easy to slip into a less "holistic" style of living, and it's nice to get a recharge. One of the things that I'm trying to do in our home is green it up a bit. I've gotten a boost to get all the more toxic cleaners out of our house. I know my friend Carrie is (or was) reading a book called - Green Up Your Clean Up. I need to compare some notes with her. After I use the cleaners we made tonight - I'll post a review of them. Beth Ann went with me to the meeting, and she enjoyed making the cleaners. She really gets into environmental issues. I'm so proud of her.

On the way home from the meeting, Beth Ann and I went out for a late dinner. We went to a place called Swing Thai. It was quite chilly, but we sat outside anyway. We shared a pot of jasmine tea, a spring roll, a tofu salad with peanut sauce, and a stir fry. I love the one on one time I get with each of the kidlets. They're growing so fast - too fast! I treasure evenings like tonight.

More Olympics

Yep - still watching the Olympics! So, I'm going to post a lot of pictures and very little commentary. LOL. Today was the Aurora LLL group World Walk for Breastfeeding event. We went to the park and hung out with friends some that I haven't seen in a while, so that was really nice. I ran into a friend that I met through the Mothering boards that I haven't seen in a while. It was a pretty day although a bit hot, so some of us went out for ice cream afterwards!








And just for you Mom - super cute sleeping baby picture!