Kayla's Swimming Lessons

Kayla took swimming lessons for two weeks. I put her in the first level thinking that's where she needed to be since it was her first time, but I think she could have gone up to the next level. She was the oldest in the class. Everyone else was 2 or 3 but you couldn't really tell because of her size.
She had fun and can't wait to do it again. I'll probably enroll her for a class during the school year.

We got a letter from Kayla's Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Real, and she already has a homework assignment to do over the summer. She's so excited to go back to school. Everyday she asks me how long until she goes.

I've been trying to keep the girls busy this summer. We have a schedule that we have fallen into the past few weeks. Monday we go to the library. Tuesday there's a free movie at the mall. Wednesday we go to a play group at the park. Thursdays we stay at home and do laundry and Friday we do our shopping. It's nothing too exciting, but it gets us out of the house. Kayla also starts a dance class in July that will last for a month. (She doesn't know about it yet because I don't want to tell her everyday how long it will be until dance. :-) )

Alyssa had her 3rd birthday last week so at her request, we went camping. I'll post those separately. She also had a little fun with painting a few weeks ago. I thought it would be harmless to let the girls play with water colors. I got them out and went upstairs to use the computer for a few minutes. That was a mistake! Alyssa painted all over herself!


** You might notice that I've been calling Aly, Alyssa. I've been trying to get her used to the name because that's what is on church records. When they call her Alyssa in nursery she doesn't know who they're talking to. Also, my brother's little girl Allison is called Aly too, so it gets a little confusing. :-) When we're at home though she's still my little Aly-gator.

Kayla's 5th Birthday!

My big girl! She had these pictures taken at school right before we left Albuquerque. (They wanted $45 for 3 sheets of pictures so we just scanned them and sent them back! We'll just print them ourselves on our printer.) She looks so grown up!

The Birthday Girl

Hanging out at Chuck-E-Cheese. We killed two birds with one stone. Alyssa's been asking to go for a long time and we told her she could go once she learned to use the potty. She did it so we celebrated Kayla's Birthday and Alyssa's potty training.

What happened to my baby?

This was the cutest statue of a girl playing with kittens. I want it for my backyard. It was on a bench outside of CEC's. There are sculptures like this all over the Boulder area. It's fun to see them all.

After CEC's we went to the Downtown Denver Aquarium. It was alright, but definitely not worth $50! Alyssa was even free!

Kayla thought it was so cool that people were swimming with the fish. I bet if they let her she would have jumped right in.

These looked so neat!

The weirdest looking fish I've ever seen!

Kayla's definitely a daddy's girl!

Kayla took this picture. I wish she had been in it because it turned out good.

Alyssa getting down to the music in the park outside the Aquarium.

Our lame attempt at a family picture. I don't think the trash can lid is too pretty!

Ozzy was as interested in Kayla's presents as she was. Notice how huge he's getting? It's crazy to think that he's going to get even bigger. He's only 8/9 months old. He will be huge!

Kayla got a new stuffed puppy. She likes to pretend it's real so if she tells you we gave her a puppy, this is what she's talking about. She named it Serena, after her cousin Jaylee Serena. :-)

Alyssa got her this. She's been asking for one forever.

A Lite Brite from Grandma S. and yes, the pieces are all over the house already.

Yes, Grandma C. got her a RED dress! It is cute!

For our budding artist.

I had to run out and buy her a cake last minute because the one I made here completely crumbled. I'm not sure if it's the altitude or what but something went wrong!

We got the girls this for both of their birthdays. We really just needed an excuse to buy it for them. :-) They keep themselves entertained for hours. It was worth every penny!

Gotta love the pull-up bum!

Projects

Since I finally put our house all together I have had time to work on the things that I want. Since there has been a baby boom in our family I have kept busy making blankets for all of them. All three of my sister-in-laws from Joe's side of the family have had (or about to have) babies. Dana had a little girl in March. They named here Leah. I made her a purple (grape) and lime green afghan. Deena had a little boy in April. His name is Wyatt. His blanket was dark brown and olive green. Amy is due in June with a little boy. I made his dark brown and country blue. I usually take pictures of all of my blankets so I remember what colors look good together, but I forgot to get pictures of those three.

For Christmas my in-laws gave me a quilting frame, which I've been wanting forever. My father-in-law made it and I love it. It makes a huge difference! I usually just quilt on the floor. Definately not good on my back and the blankets didn't turn out as tight. Anyway... My brother Jeff and his wife just had a baby girl yesterday, Shaylee May, and I made them a quilt using my frame.

And here is the finished project.

My friend Paul and his wife Nicole just had a baby girl too. Here is the blanket I sent to them.

So that's what has been keeping me busy. Now that I'm caught up with all the babies I want to make some more blankets and try to sell them. If anyone has any ideas on what colors I should do, leave me a message in the comments. That's all for now! We've got birthdays coming up so I'll have plenty more pictures to post.

Finally Done

Everyone has been asking for pictures so now that we are done unpacking, here they are. The movers came and dropped off our stuff on April 20th. All in all they did a pretty good job. A lamp got broken (I hated it anyway), there's a chunk out of one of our end tables, a scratch on the piano bench, and a broken pot, but that's about it. I was expecting much worse.

This is how the girls kept themselves entertained while I unpacked. Ozzy joined in the fun too. (His eyes look creepy in this picture)

Our room-Yes, I got to keep my vanity!

Girl's Room

Office

Living Room

Playroom
I was standing in the laundry room/toy area to take this picture. I didn't think you needed to see that though.

My van doesn't fit in the garage very well so we just turned it into our exercise room/workshop.

Half of the kitchen. I don't have much cupboard space so I'm hoping to find a pantry cabinet to put on that wall.

The other half of the kitchen.

Dining Room

Backyard

And finally...

The only injury during the whole move. When I was unpacking the kitchen I dropped my corion cutting board on my foot. It split the skin and bruised it pretty badly. I think I might have cracked the bone because the sore is gone now, but it still hurts to put on shoes and put pressure on it and there's a hard knot on the bone. (Just like my knee for those of you who know about my retarded knee.) The satillite installer was in the other room when I did it. I yelled pretty loud (a few profanities probably escaped my lips) and he said from the other room, "Mame? Do you need some help?"

So far we are loving it up here. The people are all so friendly. Our neighbors have even come over to say hi. (We've never had friendly neighbors.)It's been a little bit of a culture shock compared to Albuquerque! Also, everything is so clean! The stores, the streets, and the parks. We've got everything we need within a five minute drive. (Except for Sam's club which we are supposed to be getting soon! Right now we have to drive 20 minutes which is the same as we did in Abq.)

That's it for our move. Until next the next one!

Just kidding..... Hopefully the next move is into our own house in this city, but not for another year.