Treasures...Good Finds...

As I was organizing pictures, I came across some silly ones of the girls that I never blogged about because they were random or I forgot. So here they are, in all there randomness....I like to call them little lost treasures...

Taylor desperately wanted to go to school with the girls and would often dress up in Nicole's things to go off to school.

How could anyone get mad at this sweet little face!!

Taylor loves to read and look at books. One day, I was in the shower and Nicole shoved a book on the clear shower door and yelled, "READ!!"

Nicole and her Hot Chocolate...she loves the marshmellows!!

Kaylee skiing with Sam L. She had a great time that day hanging out with a girl that is 4 years older than her and Sam is AWESOME!! Kaylee loves her tons!!!

Exhausted from a long day of skiing with Dad.

Hot chocolate mustache while skiing on a cold day.


Warren took this picture of Kaylee by a Double Black Diamond. She felt pretty special being up that high and she is pretty close to being able to ski down that mountain... NEXT YEAR !!

I found this searching through the videos...Nicole ROCKS and boy can she dance!!

My Sweet Girls

The girls just got their pics taken by Racheal and I love them. Check out her blog for a sneak peak...

http://www.rachaelsphotography.blogspot.com/

It is officially summer at our HOUSE!!

(This is one of the many BEAUTIFUL pictures Rachael took of my girls. More to come very soon!!)

The signs are here at our house. We (meaning all the girls in the house) are sleeping in until 7:30 or 8am, we are in our PJ's until 10, I don't shower until 3pm because I have too many other things to do like swimming, gardening, cleaning, walking, biking, laying around, etc., the girls are fighting and screaming one minute and than they absolutely LOVE each other, we are outside at night until 8:30pm talking to our neighbors or just sitting, my laundry is PILING UP, I am behind on my blogging, and my house is full of sand, dirty fingerprints on the windows, and toys that are pointless to put away because they will be back out in 2 minutes.

I have finally adjusted to the CHAOS of summer. After school ended, I went through a couple of weeks of feeling BLAH. I was excited to have my girls home, but couldn't get motivated to do anything and the days were slipping by. But after an awesome trip to Vail with my sweetheart, I feel great and SUMMER HAS OFFICIALLY ARRIVED!! I guess in a couple of ways I am like my daughters and need alittle time to adjust to a different routine.

YAY FOR SUMMER!!!

Here are some of the lovely faces of summer so far:

My neighbor pointed this out to me and we could not stop laughing. Cocoa is such a good dog to let Nicole dress her up in Taylor's baby hat.

Cocoa and Nicole have a love/hate relationship!

Going potty outside - CLASSIC!! She loves this cowgirl hat!

Reading naked on the couch. LOVE IT!!

Kaylee found this baby bird egg on the lawn. It is her Summer Treasure.

The Ouches of Summer - skinned knees, nose, chin, and bruised ear. Bike accident...OUCH!! I am sure there are more to come.

Pool Fun - almost. We have gone to the pool twice, but the air is still pretty cold. Don't you just love my GLAMOUR GIRL Kaylee. She picked out those sunglasses, hat, and coverup.

Movie Nights with friends!! - FUN, FUN!!

Memorial Day Weekend in Utah

We went for a quick weekend trip to Utah over Memorial Weekend and as usual, the girls had a BLAST. We went swimming with Aunt Mollie, boating for the first time, walked around BYU, played with cousins, and had a FUN time.

Loves for Grandma!! Boating makes Nicole very sleepy!!

We love Aunt Mollie!!

Uncle Steve is always ready to have fun with the girls.

IT'S GARDEN TIME!!

A couple of weeks ago (it feels like a couple of weeks ago, but it was actually around Mother's Day), we planted our garden. I love doing this, but it always makes me alittle nervous. I get nervous that the seeds won't sprout and all the hard work will be wasted. BUT, I am also excited to see what our little garden produces.

I had to put in the random pictures of the tulips from our front yard because tulips are my favorite and are BEAUTIUL!!!


To start off, we dug a huge hole in a new garden spot and replaced all the lovely Colorado clay with good topsoil. Our topsoil is a mix of dirt and lovely manure. Taylor loved to help out and please notice her shoes. She had to wear these red shoes to help in the garden.

Someone got a good bath after this experience...But there is nothing like a good pile of dirt to play in.



We cleaned out our strawberry patch. YUM!! This is one of my favorite spots in the garden. I hope we get to eat more of the strawberries this year. Last year Warren didn't get one because it was quite the popular spot with the neighbor children. He will definately get the first ripe strawberry this year.

This is also Taylor's favorite spot. She is constantly climbing in and out of the patch searching for ripe strawberries.

This year we decided to mix in some good old manure with the rest of our soil. The BIG green bush behind me is our rhubarb. Rhubarb is the hardiest plant. It grows back every year...through rain, hail, frost, and snow. I don't think you can do anything to kill this plant. After the first harvest, I am going to move it to a different spot so we will than see if it can handle me brutally cutting it into pieces. Keep your fingers crossed.

After about a week of letting the soil adjust to the manure, we planted: carrots (1st time), lettuce (1st time), snap peas, red peppers, pumpkins, zuchinni, and green onions. Last year, the green onions were my favorite. They smelled so GOOD!! I can't wait to see what works!!

Kaylee..on to 2nd grade

When Kaylee came home from school, Nicole and I surprised her with a banner, confetti, and her favorite after school snack - Puppy Chow (her recipe) and Blueberry Muffins.

Miss Kaylee finished 1st grade yesterday. YAY...No more crazy mornings running around trying to get ready. Kaylee has excelled this year and made great friends. Her favorite activities and learning experiences this past year were: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, Pocahontas, Ancient Egypt, Outer Space, and making Habitats.

A couple of weeks ago she said, "Mom. These are going to be the best 2 weeks ever!" She was so excited about the end of school activities at school and spending time with friends.

Next year, Kaylee will be at a new campus and will no longer be an "EXTRA" at another school's campus.

Kaylee loved Mrs. Hawkes and I know Mrs. Hawkes LOVED Kaylee. Kaylee's 1st grade class was alittle, shall we say...CHALLENGING. There were some rowdy kiddos in the class and I know Mrs. Hawkes was so grateful for those children that were obedient and listened.

It is always interesting to see an empty hallway at school's end. How quiet they can be...Next year will be an exciting transition for Kaylee with her brand new campus. She was pretty sad and emotional with school ending, BUT we are now looking forward to summer adventures and time spent together.

Nicole's last days as a Preschooler

This morning I woke up feeling very strange as I lay in my bed listening to the birds and wondering if they were eating my vegetable seeds out of the ground. It sounded like summer. I didn't quite want to get out of bed because I was having one of those mornings where I was feeling very nastaligic. I had mixed emotions of happiness and sadness. It was my Nicole's last day of preschool and in Kim fashion, I was excited for her, but feeling very SAD and asking myself,...

"WHERE DID THE TIME GO?"

Nicole by her cubby at school. This is where she would go right when you walked into your classroom.

I probably layed in my bed for 30 minutes reflecting on the past year and thinking about Nicole. She has learned to write her name, the names and sounds of the alphabet, how to sit still during circle time and listen, but more importantly - a love of school and how to make friends. I always had this anxious feeling about Nicole making friends because little kids have a hard time understanding her and she can come across as "aggresive." As a parent, you never want to see your child left out and deep down I had this fear - BUT she has made great friends who love her tight hugs and silly ways... And they understand her because they genuinely like her. Nicole cares for them...ALOT. So I want to thank her wonderful teachers who taught her the school basics, but more importantly they taught her to LOVE SCHOOL and CARE FOR HER PEERS.

Miss Megan: Miss Megan loves your sweet ways and shy little smile. She was so HAPPY when you would listen and

particpate in circle time.

Miss Heather - Miss Heather was so patient with you and loved to hear your stories. She MADE you talk andsing. She loved to hear you sing.

Aubrie and Brianna - Your 2 best friends in class. Everyday you had a story to share about these sweet girls. You would play baby, house, dogs, etc. SO FUN!!

As I was leaving the school, I had little tears in my eyes watching Nicole say goodbye to her teachers and friends. I kept thinking this is the last time Nicole will walk in these doors, hang up her Dora backback in her cubby, and talk to the "Nemos" in the fishtank. Nicole was actually pretty sad on the way home. She had also realized what was going on - BUT, heres to summer and NEXT YEAR....KINDERGARTEN HERE WE COME!!