Another fun summer day

Today we spent the whole morning swimming with my sister and her kids. When we got to Stacey's house the girls went upstairs to get dressed and this is how they came down...

I love Makayla's one sock.

On Saturday Carter really needed a haircut, so he convinced Jason to give him a mohawk for the summer. This is how him and his cousin Cody came out...

After lunch Stacey had a great idea of using a tarp they had in the shed as a slip-n-slide....I really don't recommend it unless you just want a lot of laughs...FYI: Tarps are pretty rough and don't let you slide even with a whole bottle of dish soap. :)

Even Mila wanted in on the laughs...

After everyone realized what a dumb idea it was, we headed over to her neighbors pool for more swimming.

Are they ever going to get tired of swimming??? The pools don't even seem to be refreshing anymore; they're just starting to feel like warm bath water. Does that mean that I don't really need to bathe my kids anymore? Isn't swimming good enough? Well that's what they think.

Leah's Birthmark

Leah has a birthmark across the top of her left hand. Just the other day we were on the subject of birthmarks and I told Leah that it was where an angel had kissed her. Well today she had the following conversation with her cousins:

Cousin McKenzie: What is that on your hand?

Leah: It's a skidmark from an angel.

Cousin Makayla: I don't have a skidmark.


I'm still laughing about this...too funny!

Our trip to the lake

On Saturday we took a spur of the moment trip to Saguaro Lake to ride the Jet Skis with Grandma and cousins. It was lots of fun for everyone. The kids really enjoyed "The Beach" (as Leah kept calling it). There were even sea shells. They each took a ride on the tube and the Jet Skis but I can't say that they all enjoyed that as much as just playing on the beach and in the water. My mom took Carter out for a ride and she said he screamed the whole time they were out. He didn't like the tube ride very much either. I don't know what's changed...cause' he used to love it.

Mila was obsessed with eating whatever she could put in her mouth. She ate the ENTIRE DAY! Sand, shells, chicken, chips, crackers... Whatever was within reach.

Here's Leah and her cousins just playing in the water.

Grandma and Leah going for a ride.

Mila just chillin' on the beach.

We had lots of fun and it's so nice that it's only 45 minutes away...hopefully we'll go back soon.

First summer day spent at home

I think that this is the first day this summer that we have spent at home. My house was really out of control and my laundry has been piling up, but I can say that I don't really miss staying home everyday. My kids have really been creative in keeping themselves busy today...They played in the sprinklers and the baby pool in the backyard all morning and they've been playing with a laundry hamper with their dogs all afternoon. Mila even wanted in it and Leah keeps yelling for her to get out. Too Funny! I really have gotten a lot accomplished today, but it's just not as fun as hanging out by the pool all day like we have been.

Last night I FINALLY found some summer shoes that fit Mila's chunky foot! She loves them and has been walking around in them all day saying "shoes".

This pictures makes me laugh...she was bending over to show me her shoes for the camera.

Hardly worth it

We planted two tomato plants in the backyard, and this is our great bounty.

We get about three tomatoes a day. Most smaller than a dime. Yes, that's a dime.

Cold blooded

These last few days have been so hot! But not to Leah...This is usually how you will find her dressed...She's either wearing a jacket or under a blanket. I keep telling her to go play outside for a few minutes.

I don't think we keep our house that cold.

I'm tired of playing this game

I was in need of some baby gates for Mila when she started crawling, so my neighbor gave me the ones that she just removed from their stairs since her kids no longer needed them. One of them was missing one of the bars, so I thought that if we put it at the top of the stairs that the banister would keep her from getting through it. No such luck! Anytime that she is upstairs she'll try to hurry and squeeze through before anyone notices. If the gate is left open she'll even close the gate so she can squeeze through. She thinks it's a game now and she's really fast too. Just this week she's fallen down the stairs three times... I told Jason maybe we just need to take them off and let her figure it out. He wasn't game.

Lovin' Summer

My kids found their favorite pool... The Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center in Chandler. They have a zero depth play area that is perfect for Mila and Leah and then they have 2 big slides, a lazy river, a toilet bowl (as Carter calls it), and diving boards for bigger kids like Carter. We stayed there until closing on Monday and the kids still weren't ready to leave. Carter was very excited to say that he jumped into water that was 12 feet deep. I told him that the water at the lake was a lot deeper than 12 feet and he jumps into it all of the time. I could tell that he never really thought about how deep the lake was...because he seemed a little shocked when I told him that. I guess we'll see if that affects the way he loves to play at the lake... Maybe I shouldn't have told him that.

Here are pictures of the kids taking a break for a quick snack.

Notice how Carter is not in any of them? I don't think I ever saw him get out the whole day except to go on to the next thing. Even when we were all drying off and were almost ready to leave I was still yelling at him to get out.

Today we spent the day at the Power Ranch Bucket Pool with lots of cousins. The water was kinda cold but nobody seemed to mind. Mila even threw a fit when it was time to get out because she was having so much fun.

We're already planning to go swimming again tomorrow...

So Grateful

My husband is so amazing!!

On Friday my mom asked if I would ride with her to the west side of town to go and visit my Grandma. I told her that I would if Jason was OK with watching the kids. He said he would, so I planned to go... Well all night Friday night Mila had been running fever and would not sleep. Jason was up most of the night with her (while he let me sleep) and still told me to go with my mom that he would be fine. I was hesitant on going, but he was insistent that I go. I went and was so glad that I was able to. She is not expected to live very much longer and to be able to visit with her probably for the last time was truly a blessing. She can't communicate very well, but she recognized who was there with her and didn't want us to "run off" when it was time for us to leave. My heart just breaks for her. She is so frail and seems to be in so much pain. I just hope that she gets to go "home" soon.

By the time that I had returned home Jason had all of the kids bathed, the house cleaned, (he was mopping my floor when I walked in the door) and then he made dinner all while he had a very grumpy and sick baby and two other kids that wouldn't stop fighting all day, but he didn't ever complain. I am so grateful for him and just want him to know.

Carter's Surgery

Carter had surgery today to remove his tonsils and adenoids, and then to scrape the lining in his nose to help him breath better. We were scheduled to be at the Surgery Center by 7:30 a.m. and we were on the road to come home by 9:30 a.m. Yep, that's right, two hours at the Surgery Center and we were home. (It was a completely different experience from last December when Leah had her tonsils and adenoids taken out.) When we got home I dropped off Jason and Carter so he could rest while I headed to Wal-mart to get his prescriptions filled. When I got back Carter was up and playing and doing all of his "normal" playing and running around. If he didn't talk different I don't think you would have noticed that anything was different. I even asked Jason "Did he really just have surgery?" He even said that he was hungry and ate soup for lunch. ???

Good thing I snapped this picture of him before he went back to the surgery room or I wouldn't have even one picture... it all went so quickly.

This is him watching iCarly. This is probably the only time his has really sat down today.

Hopefully it's not all going to catch up with him in the next couple of days...

So long to kindergarten

Carter has officially graduated from kindergarten.

Carter loved school so much. I know how difficult Carter is when it comes to teaching him something, so I truly looked up to his teacher for being able to teach him all that he has learned. She made it so easy for him to love school because she truly loved him. The last day of school he had to tell me to wait while he goes and tells Mrs. Williams something...He comes back to the car and I asked him what he told her. He said I had to ask her what class number she will be in next year because they're moving her class. He says that he wants to be able to go and visit her. That made tears come to my eyes just thinking about how much she means to him.

Afterwards we all met at Sonic for some treats and gifts.

And then we went to our house to play Guitar Hero. Carter even put gel in his hair to play the part.

We really had quite the rock band going...

Leah enjoyed playing dress up with her cousins.

And Mila enjoyed playing with Grandma.

Congratulations Carter! We are so proud of you!!

Mila is now walking

Mila has started to figure out that walking is kinda fun. She just started this week to stand and then start walking where ever she is. This has been really nice because she doesn't seem to be as clingy. YEAH for me!!

Here is a picture of her first pig tails.

Summer at Grandma's House?

This summer has just started and everyday the kids want to go to Grandma Welker's to swim. I have a feeling that we're going to be there a lot...

Carter is finally getting to where he's not so afraid of drowning and will let you work with him to teach him how to swim. Stacey worked with him for one night and he's really getting the hang of it. FINALLY!! I don't think a 90 pound kid with floaties would look so cute...