Summer's Almost Over

We had a busy week this week- we had our usual library trip on Monday and had fun playing and checking out books.  the kids always enjoy a trip to the library and Eileen usually finishes reading her books and all her siblings books before the day is over - I keep telling her she should pick harder books so she doesn't get done so fast, but she keeps picking easy ones. 

Thursday morning, the kids had piano lessons - after lessons, we got a quick lunch at Firehouse Subs and then headed out to Tiny Town for the afternoon.  The kids had a blast looking at all the little houses with their little decorations and they loved the train ride and the playground too.  It was a nice afternoon and it started raining just as it was time to head home, so it worked out well.  When we got home, Evie told Daddy "We went to EVIE TOWN today!!!!"  She was very excited!  

Here we are on the little train ride that goes around the park.  

Friday, we met up with Tina for a trip to the Museum of Nature and Science - the kids had a blast - but their favorite area is the space area - they spent all morning asking to go there.  They loved dressing up as astronauts and learning about planets and the moon.

Friday night I got to go sing!  A friend from choir who plays Jazz Piano and arranged a Stake Jazz concert and asked me to come sing!  We met Tuesday night to have a quick rehearsal and then had a blast Friday night - we sang and had fun.

Saturday we had a friend invite us to their daughters birthday party at the Zoo - so we had a fun afternoon hanging out at the Denver Zoo.  Now my thoughts are turning to back to school - we really only have one more week of summer.

Saturday night, Dan took me to Rodizio's for an Anniversary dinner and we invited some friends - since a place like that works better with a group - and we had a great time - we had fun getting dressed up and going out.  Dwayne and Nicole baby sat for us - so Sunday night we returned the favor - and their kids came and hung out with us for a bit.

We had some friends over for dinner tonight and had fun playing games and getting to know them better.  They have their first child on the way - I think the insanity of our house plus a few more was a bit crazy for them - but we still had fun!

Summer Fun

We have been keeping busy this summer - Monday was our trip to the library - the kids always enjoy this (well so do I for that matter....)  and the hardest part is limiting the number of books that they can check out so that we don't lose 40 library books around the house.

Tuesday morning we met some friends who took us to Elitches for the day - they had some free passes that they got with their season tickets and so we all got to have a blast at Elitches.

The kids had a blast - and James was mostly happy - even though he got no nap.  The hardest part was that everyone wanted to go in different directions and we only had 2 adults and couldn't accommodate them :) 

Wednesday - mommy rested - LOL - after a day at Elitches, I needed to recover!!  

Piano lessons on Thursday  - Aaron is taking lessons now too - and is so excited - he loves lessons, he loves practicing and he loves performing!  It's so fun to watch his excitement!

Saturday Dan and I did a massive cooking day to restock our deep freezer with meals.  Dwayne and Nicole came over with the kids and helped - which was good - not only was it great to have a little more help, and other kids around to keep our kids out of our hair, we also ran out of room in our deep freezer and needed to send some of the food home with them.

We also went to a baptism on Saturday - the family we had over last Sunday for dinner - the mother was getting baptized by her recently re-activated husband - it was beautiful!  The talks and the spirit were wonderful! 

Only a couple more weeks left of summer - not sure whether to be sad or excited.... :) 

Fun with animals

This week, we went to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge - we drove up there and stopped by the visitors center and looked at the displays and checked out some binoculars.  Then we drove along the car scenic route where we got to look for animals and even got close to some bison - they were ambling across the road way and so we got to stop and watch them!  We had fun watching the deer and the different insects and lots of prarie dogs.  The kids had a lot of fun - we did a little bit of hiking, but it was kinda hot for that - so we headed back to the visitors center and found the discovery room which is a hands-on room for kids to explore, read, do crafts and play games.  It was a great little (free) trip!  

Anna had a little friends slumber party this weekend - the kids all got to decorate their own little cupcakes with candy and had fun making faces and making a mess!!

I can't help but laugh at this picture, every time I see it!  I can't imagine reading like this!!!  And while this is the oddest position I've found her in, it's not the only odd position she reads in....

James is becoming rather adventurous, he's figured out how to look out a window by himself, and spends more time climbing and getting into things than I would like - but despite this, most of his bumps and bruises come from collisions with older siblings whom he chases as fast as his little legs will allow!

We had some friends from church over for dinner tonight - after a great day at church and a fun choir practice, the girls and I had a nice walk home, a yummy dinner and fun with some great people!  My favorite part of the day happened during sacrament meeting though.  Evie was giving me kisses on one cheek and James thought it looked like fun, so he leaned over and gave me kisses on the other cheek - I had 2 cheeks full of sweet slobbery kisses from two adorable kids!  

Hello July!

We have had a busy week!!  We started it off with a trip to the Library on Monday - we went and had fun looking at books and then we got home and Eileen had read both of the books she checked out before the day was over.   I think I may need to let her be the exception to the '2 book' rule!  

Tuesday, we went to the Children's Discovery Museum of Denver - the kids had a great time - they had tons of fun looking around and exploring and trying everything - the only downside was that I forgot to bring the diaper bag in and James made me regret that after we had been there less than 20 minutes... :)  The kids loved it and it was just enough to see and do that by the time we got through most of it, we were ready to go home.  

This is James down in the Fire Station area - he got a kick out of jumping on beds, but wasn't all that interested in the fire truck. 

Wednesday was spent by me in trying to get ready for our trip up to the cabin, but we took a break and had some friends come over and play in the sprinklers for a bit - then back to packing!  Wednesday evening, after Dan got home, we headed up to the cabin for the 4th of July Holiday.  

James didn't sleep so well at night there, but he napped well to make up for it.  Thursday afternoon we went down into Fairplay for the Independence Day parade - the kids LOVED it - everyone in the parade threw candy - so they were happy and it wasn't very long, so Dan and I were happy too.  It was fun though.  We headed back down after dinner to watch the fireworks, only to find that the fireworks had been cancelled due to fire restrictions - the cancellation just hadn't been posted.  :)  It was probably just as well, since it was raining :)  

We spent most of the rest of the weekend hiking and collecting rocks at the old mine and working around the cabin - poor Dan came home tired and a bit sun-burnt.  The kids loved collecting wild flowers for us and finding pyrite and other sparkly rocks.  We went on hikes up to the mine every day we were up there.

Grandpa was there, as were Frank and Tina who came with Frankie and the two boys that they are hoping to adopt.  The older is 11 and the younger is 8.  He and Eileen became fast friends quickly and spent almost all their time together.  We took a ride in the back of Grandpa's old truck up the mountain - we went up past the snow pack and past the tree line - it was beautiful scenery up there and the kids had a lot of fun feeling like they were on the top of the mountain!

We also went to see the neighbors horses - Eileen loves to see the horses and asks to see them whenever we are up at the cabin.

We came back down to town on Saturday afternoon - just in time to get ready for Sunday and go to church today.  Anna bore her testimony in church today - she likes to have me write down what she wants to say before she goes up so that she doesn't forget anything - I love to hear her testimony - she is so smart and faithful and loving!