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...

First Tomatoes

These are the first of the tomatoes from our tomato vines. When you only get two or three at a time, I wonder if it's really worth it...

Leah's 4th Birthday

Leah turned 4 on May 26th. She seems so much older than 4 to me.

She wanted to have her birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza, so we just decided to take her to lunch there as a family and then let them play games. Jason only had $2 cash and told them that once that was gone they were done playing games. (Bad planning on our part.) They still ended up having a lot of fun though... Carter was moving machines to get tokens people had dropped and if he couldn't reach it he would go tell the guy and he would give him another token. Leah kept finding tickets left in games and then would pull really hard and like 2 or 3 more would come out. It was pretty funny. Cheap fun. Hu?When Mila wanted to ride one of the rides I stuck a quarter in the token machine and found a coin good for 20 tokens in it. I divided them up with the kids and they each got over 100 tickets with their "free" tokens. They were able to get the cheesy prizes that they wanted and then the guy gave each of them a "BIG Disneyland like sucker" because Leah told him it was her birthday. (And cause she's cute, I'm sure.)


That night we had a spur of the moment birthday party for her at my mom's house since everyone was there swimming. Jason ran to Albertson's to get her a cake and I thought he did a really good job picking it out. He was even able to have someone there write on it... She loved it! We didn't think about the candles, so Jason had the great idea of using matches.

Our Memorial Day Weekend

For the long Memorial Day Weekend we decided to take a trip to Safford to visit Jason's family. It's always so nice to get away for a while, and they always tend to spoil us while we are there.

Carter kept reminding us as we were packing the car to leave that we need to remember to take him to see Brad. (He's Jason's friend from High School who is now a cop in Safford.) When we went there, he let Carter sit in his cop car and even try on his bullet proof vest and hold his gun. Carter was on cloud nine!! He could not take it all in fast enough. He even got to see REAL handcuffs. (Carter has been asking for a pair of REAL handcuffs for as long as I can remember.) The fake ones aren't very fun anymore because his sister seems to be able to get out of them pretty easy.

Thank you Officer Reynolds! You are his hero.

We stopped in Globe on the way to Safford, and Carter found the hat at the gas station that we stopped at. I couldn't say no...

My kids love Grandma Nelson's dogs, because we don't have any of our own. So they were lovin' it when we got there and she was dog sitting for her sisters ten week old chihuahua. That dog was smaller than a Dr. Pepper can. So cute and almost irresistible, but then I saw how much work a tiny puppy was...

Mila and Leah were constantly chasing or harassing those dogs the whole time we were there.

Here's a picture of Mila waiting for the dogs to come back inside.

She's even trying to grab them through the doggy door. Too Funny!

Isn't it so cute?

We also took a trip up to Mt. Graham for a picnic while we were there. The mountain is always so fun, and our kids always ask when we're going back to the big mountain by grandma's house. Fun times!

Mila still wasn't walking, so she stayed in the car and played with her cousin and sister most of the time.

I love playing games in the mountains. They seem so much more fun there and we always have lots of laughs playing... This time we played this game called ladder ball and of course I was terrible which made us laugh even more. Good thing Cindy and Grandma Nelson were good, or we could have played all day with no score.

Carter enjoying the mountains too.

Our highlight of the day was seeing some baby owls up in the trees. I have never seen owls up close, so it was pretty cool.

Like I said...Grandma and Papa spoil us while we're there. They bought a bubble machine for the kids and this was them going crazy...

We celebrated Leah's Birthday with them while we were there. This is the cake that grandma made her.

She was spoiled with presents too. She got this Hannah Montana guitar from Aunt Cindy.

Jason turns 31

Jason's Birthday was May 18th and was pretty uneventful. We just had cake with our kids and I made his favorite dinner when he got off of work.

Exciting I know...


We love Jason more than I think he will ever know. He truly is an amazing person and father.
Love ya babe!

What??? A Post??? Yeah, I know...

Family and friends are wondering why we haven't updated our blog in so long...Better late then never I guess...

Mila's First Birthday

We celebrated Mila's 1st Birthday with lots of family and food. Mila was not very happy this whole day, because we were in the process of changing her from baby formula to regular milk. (That's why her eyes are red in every picture.) That was a very challenging process, but she's finally doing better.

Here is a picture of her First Birthday Cake. (Lame I know.)


She is our first kid that actually dug into their first cake. Once she tasted it she loved it.

We had to give her a bath in the sink, she was so messy.

I still can't believe that she is a year old already. How time flies...

Mila's First Birthday

Today is Mila's first birthday. I can't believe how fast this last year went by. Mila's birthday party is on Saturday so today was pretty uneventful as far birthday festivities go. We didn't even get her a present to unwrap on her actual birthday. She did get to blow out a candle that was in her french toast at breakfast. We have been teaching her to blow so she would be able to blow out her candle, and she did it on the first try.

Here is an update of Mila's first year.

She says: baba, baby, num num, here, no, mom, mama, dada, and one time she said thank you.

She has started to take steps, so far about 8 consecutive is her record.

Mila can wave hello, goodbye, and point no no.

She loves to munch on ice, and she will throw a fit to get yours.

Mila's favorite food is chicken noodle soup.

We are so blessed to have such a sweet spirit in our home. Mila has been so much fun to watch grow and learn. Her personality is really starting to come out, and she is so much like Carter. How we ended up with two crazy goof balls, I don't know. But we wouldn't trade any of our kids for the world.

This is a picture of Leah and her dog Kenya. Leah asked if I would put ribbons on her dog just like hers.

On a complete side note... I laugh every time I think about this...

The other day when I was taking Carter to school Leah kept sneezing. Then she tells me "Mom I need an allergy pill that won't make me drowsy". I could not stop laughing. It was so funny to hear those words come out of a three year old little girl. Maybe she watches a little too much TV... :)

I wish I would have written down the funny things she says, cause she really keeps us laughing.