happy 4th!

 All ready for the parade to begin.

 Gramps was a good sport.  He stuck with the boys which meant running half of the time.

 We were in Colorado so that meant no fireworks, but we played a lively game of kickball instead.  We had so much fun with our family that we didn't even notice.

 And one last shot of the cute girl cousins "sleeping" together.  

more Denver haps

 Denver Museum of Science

 Elitches

 What a dare devil

 I love the people at amusement parks. Notice the 12 year old girl with the "got beer" hat.

 Grammy and Gramps "sundae" dinner for the kids while the adults got to go out on a date.  

Colorado summer trip

 We never stop and do stuff like this.  We don't want to mess up our travel time.  But I'm glad we did, such a cute picture of our little kidlets out on the highway.

 Grammy and Gramps with their 9 grandchildren under the age of 7.  whew.

 The main event:  little Elliot's blessing.  Such a cute baby.  Spencer and I (but mostly Spencer) got in lots of good baby lovin.

 Best Frienemies.  Don't let these beautiful faces fool you.

 The kids found snakes down in the basement window wells.  Poor snakes.  

 Ryan carried this guy around for a long time.  (Andrew is excited when they found another one)

 Lucy loved the snake.  She loved it so much she almost tore it in half.

So sad when I had to take snakey away.

summer...you're going by too fast!

 We are already 4 weeks into our summer...only 7 more to go!  

 We went to the Rio Grand Nature Center on Saturday.  I had gone with the cub scouts earlier in the week for a 3 mile hike in 95 degree weather that took us 4 HOURS because of other requirements trying to get done.  It was exhausting.

 Our hike was much shorter.  

I like pictures.  You only see the happy times and the kids look so cute.  Never mind the screaming done earlier or the pushing each other off the bench.  They look perfect here!  

Summertime haps:

-Swim lessons all last week and next.  We have stayed almost everyday after the lessons to have the free lunch and swim.  I burned Ryan's shoulders so bad they are scabbing up.  SO bad.  Have you noticed we have some white kiddos?

- Kids have been on a couple hikes.  We are trying to make them good hikers.

-Ryan has to get braces.  He's 7.  His teeth are so crowded on the bottom that his permanent teeth can't get through.  He lost a tooth  a year and a half ago and you wouldn't even know it isn't there unless you count his teeth.

Ryan also stopped wetting the bed.  The poor kid sleeps so heavy that he has been in pull-ups and has only been dry at night a handful of times in the last 4 years.  We borrowed one of those alarms and after 2 weeks he was dry and has been for almost 4 weeks now.  It's a miracle!  (Greg and Allyson, it didn't even traumatize him :)

We have a trip to Denver coming up, basketball camp, my parents coming, and another session of swim lessons and then the summer will be over!  

Lucy 18 months

well really...she's 19 1/2 months.

 Loves nursery, didn't cry once.  She gets to go with Mabel.  That's 4 for 4 nursery lovers.  Don't worry, your kids just love you more than ours do :)

 Is going through a bit of a bully stage (hopefully a stage right?)  Watch out for her swings at you if you look at her or say something she doesn't like.  Other little girls seem to be her biggest targets, but I have seen her go after 10 year olds.

 LOVES Mabel and her siblings.  loves being outside and the "slide" which means swing.  My neighbor told me he almost called me the other day to say I had forgot one outside.  I told him we just leave her in it because she screams when we take her out.  Don't judge.

 This girl can eat!  She is probably my least picky kid at this age and also consumes the most.  Gotta keep those thighs in shape girl, we love the rolls.

We love our cuddly girl.  She gives good hugs and kisses and makes the cutest faces.  We are glad she is still the baby, we do things to make sure of it.  It might ruin her later, but we can't help it, she's so darn cute!

Dan Grange's come to N.M.

 Cute cousins.  We love having Dan and Anne so close now!  They finally got to come and visit us in Albuquerque.  We jammed packed the weekend with lots of fun and food, but these are the only pictures I got of the trip.

 It was a beautiful day at the top of the mountain.

We can't wait to see you guys again soon!

Preschool Graduation

 Andrew's final preschool program was super adorable this year, one of the best we've been too.

 They learned about different dances from all different cultures this year.  Andrew picked western dance.  

 They also did a ballroom dance at the end.  Andrew and his little buddy had to do their performance on a different night so they could go to the father and sons campout so they had to dance together.  

 It was HILARIOUS.  If you can't tell, Andrew's partner fell over, but Andrew sat on him anyway.

 Andrew really liked his "fancy clothes" and wanted to wear them to church.  I'm sorry, but this is one handsome boy we have :)

Andrew's teachers give all the kids awards at the end and they awarded Andrew "Mr. Positive" and talked about his great smile.  Which made him put this goofy fake smile on his face.

Oh Andrew, even though about 85% of the time I am really excited you are going to Kindergarten next year, we really will miss you tons.  What will be do for our goofy entertainment and one liners while you are at school?  I'm going to ask the teacher to write them down.