Swimming lessons

I almost forgot to mention that the kids have been in swimming lessons for the last month. They have done really well. Cyan is swimming and floating all by herself. Olivia is jumping in and going under She also did everything that the teacher asked of her. This is a big improvement over last summer when I could barely get her in the water let alone swim in it.

Both girls moved up a level and I am very proud of them.

Things kids say

Olivia said two funny things today that I thought I would share. First we were driving in the car and Olivia was talking about what would happen if you did not wear your seat belt. I said that if you were in an accident you might have to go to the hospital. Her only hospital experience came from James having surgery. She started asking why Dad was in the hospital. I explained that he gave Uncle Skip a kidney. I said we should be proud of Dad because that saved Uncle Skip. Clearly she did not quite get that because next she said "Well did Dad try to kill him first"

Then we were at the Y getting changed for swimming lessons. A little girl came in by herself and started changing. Olivia said "Mom, that girl does not have a mom". I said that she was probably just big enough to do it by herself. The little girl heard and said that she does not like her Mom to help. Olivia looked at her and said "Our Mom has to help us because she would not know what to do without us"

Sleepover!

The girls were invited to have a sleepover at Aunt Joy. She might be a little crazy because she invited 4 total little girls. We hear they played beauty shop, had pillow fights, sing alongs. I bet Aunt Joy was tired the next day. I know the girls had a blast. They fell asleep at 7pm that night.

Thanks Aunt Joy. You are the greatest.

Want to know what James and I did while the kids were away? Ask James about to show you how I play raquetball! We got a pretty good ab workout from all the laughing.

Incline

This morning James and I hiked the Manitou Incline with my sister-in-law Julie. It was a little chilly and foggy. I didn't really know what to expect but it was hard. Not for the faint of heart. Julie said that the gold medal speed skater Apollo Ohno (sp?) says it is the hardest workout he does.

Here are the pics:

Garden

So we started our backyard projects. We are adding a garden this year. We also need to add a sprinkler and fix the grass that gets killed by the dog through the winter.

Here are the pics.

Here is James and the girls carrying some wood that will frame the garden.

Please notice Olivia's footwear. She started off the day with crocs like always. She had to change once she saw her Dad's footwear selection. Cannot say that child does not like her Dad.

I will show more pics of the garden as we get closer to done.

Promised pic

A while ago I posted that James went to Cyan's school and read a book to the kids. I promised a picture to come. Well here it is.

Evidence

As if we needed more evidence that Olivia was a pistol. We got home from the Y and she was telling me what happened while she was at Child Watch. She said "There was a boy that hurt my feelings but I didn't hurt his feelings so I pinched him".

Too Olivia to not share.

Finally snow (too bad it came in April)

We finally got some snow in the past 2 days. It is the first time we have been able to go out a play in it. We shoveled, threw snowballs, and made a snowman. Too bad the snow came in April.

James' new look

The girls somehow gave James a makeover. The experience was short lived but I got a couple pictures before he went back to his old self.

Cyan's daily run

I walked Cyan to the bus this morning. We were about a minute late. We saw the bus coming with almost 2 blocks to still walk. Cyan took off running. She ran the whole way to the bus with her backpack slipping off every couple steps. She was so cute. You could tell how determined she was to not miss the bus. I called the school later to pass her a message "way to run to the bus". I think that is a moment I will remember for a long time.

Easter!

We had a very nice Easter today. First the kids woke and checked out the Easter baskets. They searched for eggs. Then it was time to get ready to go to church. It did start snowing before we left but by the time let out it was a full on spring blizzard (by that I mean short lived). It would not be Easter in Colorado unless we were wearing sandals to church and it was snowing. We enjoyed a nice Easter Mass and then a very nice brunch with some Johnson's. Here are some pics...
The Easter bunny left makeup for the girls. That explains Cy's overly pink lips, a ring pop explains Olivia's blue ones.By the way... leaving the Easter baskets on the coffee table proved to be a bad idea. We got home from brunch and Roscoe had eaten all the Hershey Kisses out of both baskets. He even unwrapped them. He will be fine but Cyan is going to be getting new bedding out of the deal.

Garden

So this year I have convinced James to let me rototill a section of our yard and plant a garden. Yesterday we started some seeds indoors. If all goes as planned we will have an abundance of vegetables. If not we will still have an abundance of fun doing it.

Easter Eggs

Last night we dyed our Easter Eggs. Fun but messy.

Bird Houses

This month at Home Depot the girls made bird houses. This time we are planning on staining them and hanging them in the tree.

Junie B Jones

We went to a Junie B Jones at the Pikes Peak Center. It was pretty cute although May was funnier than Junie B.

I am trying to get a copy of our ticket and picture posted but my work computer will not let me. Imagine that - the computer wants me to do work. How dare it?

Four Corners

On our way home we stopped at the 4 corners. It was a brief run around the 4 states visit. Although the girls did pick out dreamcatchers as their souvenir.

Here are a couple pics...

Grand Canyon

We stopped at the Grand Canyon. It was very cool and the kids liked it a lot. Olivia first forgot a coat at home in Colorado. In Wickenburg we bought her another and she left that at GG's. We were digging in the dirty clothes looking for long sleeve shirts to pile on her because it was a cool and windy day. We rode the bus from one end of the Canyon to the next. Poor Roscoe missed the whole thing because it was too cold for him.

Here are some pics...

These are the girls sleeping in the car on the drive to the Canyon.