Reading with the Principal

Kadence recently got an opportunity to read to her school principal. She was so excited all week because if she read the whole book the principal would giver her a chocolate candy bar. She read "The Big Carrot" and did a great job. The principal told her she is ready for the first grade! Really...1st grade already!

No Rough Housing in the House!

Sunday we went up to my mom's to spend some time with my sister Laurie before her and Ken left back to Montana. We had a great visit and missed them a ton before they even left. It is so hard being so far away from some of our family members. We so look forward to their visits and our visits to them.

Dad put together a fantastic meal as always, BBQ ribs and chicken and all the trimmings! Soon after eating Laurie and Ken headed out to the Airport. We hung out at my parent's a little longer and the kids (Charlie included) had one to many M&M's out of the candy dish. The sugar rush in all of them made for some fun entertainment for the rest of us. Charlie, Cole and Kadence had quite the wrestling match. Once I thought Cole and Kadee actually had their dad down for the count he would bounce back up! It was hilarious... Kadee and Daddy exhausted after their WWF match in Grandma's living room!

Chance's 1st Dip in the Pool

We finally got Chance in the pool for the first time. He wasn't sure at first but then once he decided he was okay he sat back in his floatie and enjoyed the ride. Daddy cruised him around the pool for a good half hour until he decided he was tired. Once I got him out of the pool I laid him on a couple of towels on the patio and he soon fell asleep. All that floating must of really worn him out!

We all pitch in..

Kadee and Cole have been such a big help with baby Chance. Kadence often asks me if she can feed the baby and Cole showers him with kisses. Now mind you like any good 5 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old, they have to be in the mood...but when they are they are a BIG help.

Happy Birthday Uncle Pete!

For my sister's husband's (Pete) birthday we all went to one of our favorite restaurants...Garduno's in the Palms. Pete and my sis Julie

Garduno's is actually a transplant from Albuquerque and is a favorite there also. It's the only place in town where we can get traditional New Mexico food with best of all...lots of green chile! Oh how I crave it! My favorite is stuffed sopapillas...two sopapillas stuffed with beef and chicken and then covered with melted cheese and lots of green chile...YUMMY! But the absolute best thing about Gardunos is the coconut margarita...it really tastes like a Pina Colada but they put it in a huge margarita glass and circle the rim of the glass with honey and coconut. It is simply to die for. Shame on me for not taking a picture of one to post. Guess I will have to go back again and get another!

My sister Laurie and her boyfriend Ken were in town so they got to join us. It was a great dinner.Laurie and Ken

The whole bunch of us anxiously awaiting our food!

Poor mom just had shoulder surgery, but boy is she able to hang with the best of them!

My handsome man...I love the fact that he's such a good boy and I can actually take him out without too much fussing. He is decked out in his cool blue Baby Crocs...too cute!

Swimming at the Monte Carlo

My sister Laurie is in town for the week and is staying a couple of days at the Monte Carlo. I took the day off on Friday and we all headed over to enjoy their fun pools. They have completely redone their pool area since we stayed there in college. They have a large pool, a wading pool, a big hot tub, a wave pool and a lazy river. The kids had a blast and it was great to spend the day with my sisters. I even got Chance all decked out to go in the water for the first time but the water was way too cold! He is sick and I didn't want to make it worse.

Bathtime

Chance loves his bath every night. No matter how fussy he is the second I put him in he calms down.

Kadee's 1st Sleepover

Kadence was invited to her first slumber party. Really...already...does she have to grow up so quick? What happened to my precious little baby girl. I am not ready to let her out of my sight. Ask my mom and sister, it is hard enough letting her spend the night with them and they are family! Luckily, her first sleepover was with her friend Lauren and me and her mom Tanya really hit it off and I trust her completely. I did warn Tanya that I was pretty sure that around bedtime I would be picking her up. I was sure she would be homesick and crying to come home. So I stayed up till almost midnight waiting for the call. It never came. She did it, my little girl was brave enough to stay on her own and had a blast to boot.

Happy Anniversary!

Nine years ago I married the love of my life. We actually have been together since I was 16 and he was 14. Yes I robbed the cradle, however he was so worth it! So we actually have been together almost 18 years (wow, I didn't realize how long it has been). To be honest, it only keeps getting better. It is funny how nine years ago as I walked down the aisle I thought I could never love him more than I did at that second. Boy was I wrong...every day I love him more and more.I love that I was able to be with him from the get go, we literally have been together half of our lives. I can't imagine life without him. He is my best friend. He knows when I am down and knows how to pick me up with a smile. There is nothing more comforting then when he wraps me up in his arms for a big hug. We compliment each other so well... I am pretty shy and quiet, he is outgoing; I am a homebody, he is a social butterfly.

He has also blessed me with three beautiful children and is a better father than I could ever ask for. He loves his kids with all of his heart and does not hesitate to show it for one second. I am very lucky to be raising my children with someone like him...he keeps us active and grounded all at the same time and there is nothing like waking up in the morning with all five of us in the bed. I always take a moment to be thankful and realize that this is what love is all about...

Nine years has brought so many changes, good times and bad times, challenges and rewards and I couldn't imagine experiencing any of them without him!I love you Charlie (Infinity x Infinity) :)

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Back to Work I Go :(

Well today was the day that I had to head back to work. It was not easy! Being home with all three kids 24/7 was without a doubt a challenge and believe me my patience was tested like no other. But it was so nice to just be able to do whatever I wanted with the kids, whether it was to go to the park or just swim! I am glad I had two months off to spend with just them. It is going to be hard to leave Chance as well. Lucky for me I know he is in great hands with Lisa and Felipa. They have had Kadence since she was four months old and she turned out great! But he is still my baby and my last baby at that. I loved snuggling with him all day every day. Now I guess the snuggles I get will be even more special. I LOVE my job and am happy to get back to the challenge however my kids will be on my mind a lot...I love them 1000x more. Too bad I can't just bring them with me...

Kadee Rings the Bell!

We have been debating on whether or not to keep Kadence in gymnastics. It seemed as though she was loosing interest and she was not progressing much at all. Then one night she came out with a ticket, allowing her to move up not one but two classes. Immediately I became extremely nervous. I never put her in to be competitive. I just wanted her to gain some extra coordination and learn a couple tricks. Well, we took her to her first Beginner Girls class and were pleasantly surprised. I have to humbly say, "She ROCKED". She was doing stuff I had never seen her do before. She had her pull-over and cartwheel better than any of the other girls and she climbed the rope without any help from her teacher. I was in serious disbelief, is this really my daughter who had seemed to be in the biggest rut?

Well, she has been in the new class for three weeks now and tonight was a very special night for her. Once the kids reach a certain level there are a few certain skills that the gym considers milestones, one of them being a pull-over. Her teacher has been telling us how close she is, she can do it no problem however, she still needs to perfect the technique, whatever that means. Apparently that happened tonight. Charlie had taken her and when they came home she walked in the door with a smile from ear to ear. She quickly told me that she got to ring the bell (notating that she reached her first gymnastics milestone). I asked for all of the details since I unfortunately missed it and this is how she explained it...

The coach put the bar up really high and told Kadee to do a couple of pull-overs which she did. The coach then smiled at her and said she had it and directed her over to a table across the gym. When she reached the table she asked the lady sitting there for the bell. The lady reached up to the top of a shelf and pulled down the bell which Kadence walked back over to the bars and gave to her coach. Her coach asked her if she was ready which she replied she was and the coach told her to ring the bell. Once Kadence did so every gymnast (and believe me there are a ton!) in the entire gym stopped what they were doing and turned to watch Kadence do her pull-over. Once she was done they all clapped and yelled for her!

Naturally we are very proud of her but even more so we are reassured that just when it seems like she is giving up she comes out and gives it her all and my how it pays off. Good job Kadeebug!

Happy Fourth of July 2009

We were in Albuquerque for the Fourth of July this year. We had a great visit with friends and family. Saturday morning we woke up and rushed our way out the door to make it to the Rio Rancho Fourth of July Parade. We got a great spot on the curb and anxiously awaited for the parade to make its way down to us. Unfortunately, we all left a little disappointed. The coordinators of the parade would not allow anyone to throw candy. What is a parade without kids racing out to pick up handfuls of candy off of the street? What made it even worse is that probably 1/3 of the parade entries were politicians. Luckily there were some cool cars and motorcycles and a couple of dressed up characters but all in all it was a little disappointing. I am all about celebrating the independence of our country and God Bless America, however I just wish my kids would be able to experience the same type of parades I remember as a kid with decked out floats and yes candy being thrown from every entry.Our cousins



One of the cars stalled and had to be pushed, it was nice to see all of the crowd members pitch in to lend a hand.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids!

That afternoon we headed to Charlie's sister's (Robin) house to BBQ, swim and watch fireworks. Kadence had a blast swimming with her cousins and Cole enjoyed the water slide set up in the back yard. Our BBQ was temporarily put on hold while we got to experience one of Albuquerque's monsoon rains. Although the sky was gray it seemed like this storm came out of nowhere. The wind was whipping and it poured down hard! Twenty minutes later it was over with and we went back to our BBQ.

We had a great view of the Rio Rancho fireworks from Robin's house. We all sat out on the curb and enjoyed the bursts of color in the sky.Cole and Grandma Neilson enjoying the fireworks.

We had also all pitched in and bought the huge box of fireworks from Sam's Club so the guys took turns lighting those off. The kids all enjoyed the sparklers and poppers as always but Cole wasn't to sure of the other fireworks. He kept saying I scared and wanted to go inside. He finally warmed up to them a little but made sure to keep his distance.

Monkey Mania

On our way to Albuquerque I called my friend Tanya. Her and her family were heading out to Denver on Thursday morning so we were only going to be able to see each other the Wednesday evening when we pulled into town. We didn't get out of Las Vegas until 9:45 am so we would not get into ABQ until late that evening which would cut into our visit even more. Well as we kept calling each other and expressing how bummed we were that we wouldn't be able to see each other I soon learned that I was in for a big surprise. Tanya and her hubby discussed this and decided to not leave for Denver until Friday morning so we would be able to spend Thursday together. I felt so bad that they changed their plans but I was so excited to get to spend time together and to get the kids together to play.

We made plans to meet in the morning at a new kids place called Monkey Mania. We invited our aunt Cindy and Robin and our cousins, Kevin, Ari, Angelo and Gia to join us. We had so much fun. What a great place for kids. It was not too big but had enough variety to make everyone happy. There were several entertainment rooms including a movie room, a toddler room, an arts and crafts room, a game room, a monkey gym, a bouncer room and my favorite was a stage with an attached dressing room full of fun clothes for both boys and girls to play dress up with and come strut their stuff on the stage. We spent two hours here having nothing but fun.

Tanya helping the girls get crafty!

Ari's work of art.

Aunt Cindy helping the the girls getting ready for the show...

Rockstars or what???

Cole getting ready to peg someone with the ball gun.

Pretty Gia.

The boys giving it their best at the games.

The whole crew at Monkey Mania.

After Monkey Mania, we were all hungry so we decided to head over to another kid-friendly joint called "Itz". This is also a very cool place for kids to hang out. It is a huge arcade filled with a spinning ride, a roller coaster, bumber cars and a mini-bowling alley. It also has a kid friendly buffet and separate themed eating rooms (cartoon room, movie theater room, etc...). This is where I realized how lucky I was to have Charlie as a hubby. We decided that we would also take our niece and nephew in addition to our three kiddos to Itz, so we had five kiddos to feed, keep track of and keep happy. He kept his cool the whole time and we all got a pretty good laugh out of the fact that we were easily overwhelmed with all of the kids...but it was a blast. He was a champ when he was left at the table alone and Tanya's little guy somehow got parmesan cheese in his eye.

We also were in for another special treat, our good friend from college, Erin was in town from Florida so she brought her nephew to Itz to meet us for lunch. It is always so good to see her. I wish we could have had more time to just sit down and talk but between us juggling 8 kids we did the best we could and were just happy to see each other.

Me and Charlie also were amazed at Tanya's patience. In our conversations about parenting she insisted to us that she was not the patient one in the family, her hubby was. Well all we have to say is she seemed amazingly patient to us. She was such a sport and chauffered five of the kiddos around in her car and kept up like no other.

After about three hours at Itz we decided the fun-meter had been pegged and it was time to head home. We dropped Charlie off at his parents so he could meet up with his old friend, Marc and me and Tanya decided we just hadn't had enough yet so off we were with all of the kids in tow to Tropical-Sno for some snowcones. I had my favorite, Tiger's Blood, Tanya had her favorite, Pink Grapefruit with a pucker pack (super sour powder you pour over your snowcone), the kids had Rainbows and we all enjoyed the sweet cool treat in the hot afternoon sun.

After that we went back to Charlie's parents where we all kind of collapsed from exhaustion. Before everyone left I got a great picture of the kids. It is funny how close they are in age and how we both had a girl, then a boy and then another boy! Baby Mark.

Our kiddos + Tanya's kiddos

Micaela with baby brother Mark.

An Amazing Feat

On Wednesday morning we left Las Vegas for Albuquerque to spend the Fourth of July with Charlie's family. This would be our first road trip with all three kids. I posted on Facebook that I was contemplating if we were crazy to drive 8+ hours with a two month old, a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 year old to which I got an overwhelming response that we may just be crazy! The kids were actually fantastic. We invested in those handy dandy DVD players that sit on the back of the headrests which kept Cole and Kadee occupied the whole time. And baby Chance was a champ and slept the entire time. We stopped in Flagstaff for an hour to eat lunch and let the kids play at McDonald's. I think all in all we only had one, "Are we there yet?"

Our road trip took us over the Hoover Dam and we got to see the progress of the new bridge they are building there. We always roll down our windows so we can get a good look at this amazing structure. I am posting some pictures of our recent view of it in July and some past pics taken in December 2008 to show the progress. It is amazingly high and makes my tummy quiver to look at it.

December 2008

July 2009