Most Exciting Day

Today Lucas, Nathan and Bridget went to do church clean up.  It was our turn since we are at the end of the alphabet, to Lucas's suprise Robert was there cleaning up the building with his family too!  That is what happens when your last names both end in W...it was meant to be! Bridget kept looking for Anna at the church and even though she couldn't find her she still helped clean up.

We came home and Nathan took all 3 kids out for a walk, they roamed the neighborhood and said hi to everyone in the ward that they could see.  When they got home from the walk it was already time to eat lunch and take a nap.  So they did that and then it was time to go to the shoe store.

Scarlett needed a pair since she is walking all over the place, and it is high time that she is in shoes at church!  So we did that and then went grocery shopping, the kids love to go grocery shopping! This time they went seperatley with Nathan to find 3 items and then switched so each person got a turn in the cart, and special time with Daddy.

On the way home we realized how beautiful it was outside (52 degrees and sunny) so we decided to take advantage of that and throw the groceries in the fridge and hit the local park. The kids loved it!  We were there for about 1 hour.

she loves the swings!

hair in the wind

fire pole!

whee!

looking for fires

all by myself!

hiding

When we got home I started to make dinner, tonight it is BBQ chicken when Lucas and Bridget saw it go into the oven they both shouted HORRAY!!! Lucas gave me and Nathan a hug and said thanks for the "Most Exciting Day" I laughed and he said "we never go on a walk and to the park and to the grocery store on the same day!  I even got to see Robert, and get to eat fatty legs for dinner! Thank You Thank You!"

Anytime Lucas, Anytime!

As I posted this we were able to Skype with the Horns, that just added to the excitement!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

(Turn and face the stranger)

Ch-ch-Changes

Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

(Turn and face the stranger)

Ch-ch-Changes

Pretty soon you're gonna get a little older

Time may change me

But I can't trace time

I said that time may change me

But I can't trace time 

Remember this song from Shrek 2?

I think this is an interesting lyric

"Don't tell them to grow up and out of it"

This song really in its entirety is interesting...we were actually watching Shrek 2 today after lunch group because I am exhausted! Whew!  17 diners in 2 days is a lot with Activtiy Days and then Lunch Group but nothing I can't handle! :)

Why the song?  Well it was playing during the movie and my kids were playing with this rocking horse Lucas got for Christmas 2 years ago and I remembered how much he loved it and now how much Bridget loves it and then they were playing so cute on it...

so of course I had to take pictures,,,

and all good things had to come to an end...

Classic right? Well in all seriousness just watching this (the cuteness) it made me realize how much things can change...here they are Jan 2 2008

I know so sweet huh?

All of this made me miss my babies.  I don't feel like I have one anymore because Scarlett is well...

she's all grow'd up!

Another Free Day

But this time at the zoo!  We invited Kirsta and Patrick and Eli and Rachel and Anna and Isaac to join us in the fun.

Here we are waiting for everyone to come in the freezing sun.  It was 41 this morning at 9:30am.

Lucas and Patrick looking at the Elephants.

After this picture I realized that this particular trip needed to be photographed by my 3 year old. So the next few shots are the zoo from Lucas's perspective.

These are the monkeys (above)

These are baboons I think? (above)

These are the penguins.  I am noticing that the zoo is not for short people!

These are orange hair warthogs. (above)

Then it was time for the train ride.

I moved Bridget up so I could sit next to Patrick.  Kirsta stayed with baby Eli and Scarlett.

Here is Isaac. He looks so cute in this one and this one too...(below)

Anna let me take one of just her! Those were her terms..."You can take a picture if its just of me"

Patrick made train sounds with me the whole way.

Then we stopped for lunch.

We figured it was time to head out since the little ones (except Patrick) were getting tired.

So we made our last stop by the Jumping Mat.

Bridget was concerned that Patrick wasn't jumping with her so she followed him until he did it.

but as she was giving up and walking away...he did it!

Rachel and I left and Kirsta stayed because she is cool like that and we all had a good time I think.  You can't beat a free day at the zoo!

Fins and Bikes

This kid here wakes up, gets himself dressed, brushes his teeth, yells out the bathroom "DANG-IT" (he forgot to eat first) runs downstairs and sits at the table and eats his breakfast. (Friday is a Pop Tart day so Thursday night after they go to bed I set out the pop tarts on the kitchen table so they can get it themselves) He then goes back upstairs brushes his teeth and yells "OKAY MOM I'M DONE!" 

I need to add that while this was happening I was doing the dishes because Nathan tried to out-Chinese me last night by making Shrimp Foo Young and lets just say he made a mess! :)

I told this kid that I was glad he was done and that he could now put together any puzzle he wanted to and he said "but what about my hair?"  I said I don't need to do it...it just lays there, you look great. I got a weird face and he insisted on Shark Fin Hair.  So here it is...

A faux-hawk.  I hate them, but he really really wanted one today so he got to have one.  We had Nick and Alli over and Bridget was in Heaven.  Bridget and Alli played babies and their cute little voices filled the toy room, it was so cute.  Nick played cars with Lucas and we (all 4 of them) did an art project.  They played a little bit of dress up and then it was time to go home.  I think they had a fun time.

We waited for Nathan to get home and it was nice enough to ride bikes.  Lucas was actually on his scooter most of the time because his bike is getting too small for him.  He is pretty tall ya'know? 

We were watching the kids ride while Scarlett was eating grass and then we packed the kids in the car to test drive a two wheeler.  Lucas has been asking for one for about a week and I wanted to see if he could do it.  He did pretty well with the training wheels so we will see when his birthday comes in a few months - wait - 6 months exactly!  

Today Lucas is 3 and a half!

We were all so excited it merited a 1/2 birthday cake. So that is what we did after dinner!

We are weird but sometimes you have to celebrate the small stuff! Its ugly but the kids liked it!

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

We love to take advantage of free days in Denver....this includes the Zoo, the Children's Museum, and of course the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  It is the perfect thing to do this time of year especially since we can't go to the park as much because of the weather.  Don't get me wrong Colorado still is known for its 320 days of sunshine, but that doesn't mean that its not cold here.  Last week I checked the mail and the sun was shining but it was only 11 degrees outside...not ideal for a park visit. Hehehe.

Luckily Nathan was home to join me and take advantage of this special free day.  We had passes to see a featured exhibit so Genghis Khan for 10 people was only $3 a person, unfortunately we didn't have a big enough group so the rest of our pass went to waste but the kids liked seeing the "Chinese Food Letters exhibit"

They didn't let you take pictures inside BUT kids got these cool hats.

So cool we had to see the dinosaurs with the hats on.

Did I mention, we love the dinosaurs?

This particular museum visit we tried to hit different places that we don't normally go to like the gems, and the Colorado wildlife room.

Scarlett looked like this most of the day...

She wanted to get out and run. Instead she just played with her shoes and socks, so that is why she is barefoot...she likes to be like me. :)

They had these Dino puppeteers all over the Museum...

Here they are at rest on display.

Cool huh?

Then we went to the Discovery Zone room.  They had a music and movement lady who sang and had a movie show.  Bridget loved this...

I mean really loved this...

Scarlett played in the animal pit where she dominated over the one year olds.  She was happy walking over to the babies and patting them on the head.  It was funny. Here she is squeezing everything inside because she is so excited.

Lucas built towers, did all of the puzzles and then wrote his name on every left over paper in the coloring section.  They had these big kid puzzles for 6 and up and he really liked those.  He also thought Chinese Checkers was a lot of fun.

Then Nathan and Scarlett played with the blocks.

Bridget found the coloring table and was there for 20 minutes coloring her picture with every crayon in the box.  She loves to color.  Right now coloring is her favorite thing.

I look over at Nathan and Scarlett and someone was having a hard time sharing the blocks...

Then I look again and see that it was all Scarlett's doing...

Nathan was just "helping"

We were in this room for an hour, and then did a scavenger hunt that the museum provided.  Went to the Boddy exhibit and did and age progression on Lucas and in 50 years he will look like Nathan!

Surprise Suprise.

We had a great day and are going again March 1st  if anyone wants to join us!