Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood....Finally!!!

We finally had a beautiful weekend!!! All weekend long...warm enough for water fights, no shirts (for the boys), cute summer dresses, "forts", first time trike rides and outside fun.

Sierra in her cute little summer overall dress.

The boys built this "fort" to play "in". I guess it is a boy thing.

Sierra's First Trike Ride - Sierra was in the garage with Brad when she started pulling Alex's old trike out. Brad helped her get it out, then she grabbed the helmet and tried to put it on. So Brad put the helmet on her and she pulled up on the trike. She loved it!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there!! I hope everyone had a wonderful day, I know I did. My kids woke me up with beautiful handmade cards. Ted had the most wonderful message for me that he did all in cursive. Alex wrote his all by himself 'Happy Mother's Day Love Alex'. And Brad made an incredible card for me. (No card from Sierra, she would not cooperate with Brad) We got up and Brad made breakfast while I made a picnic lunch to take to the zoo. Yes that is right we went to the zoo again! It is what I wanted to do and the kids were very happy with that plan. We saw the other side of the zoo this time. Here are a few picture.....

The kids were great for us again and Sierra did really well. We hurried home for nap time and got home just in the nick of time.

For dinner I had put a pot roast in the crock pot, so I made mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and rolls to go with it. Brad watched the kids and kept them busy for me so I could cook! It was great, I love to cook so I was in heaven. Then Brad and the kids cleaned up dinner. And we had some ice cream cake for dessert.

Alex painted cute clay pot at preschool that they put a flowering plant in. He gave it to me on Friday and the flower bloomed on Mother's Day! All the kids and Brad gave me tickets to The Celtic Women for this coming Sunday. I am so excited I can hardly wait!!! And Brad gave me a pair of gorgeous amethyst earrings to match my ring and necklace!

I had a GREAT Mother's Day!

Dentist Appointments

The boys had their dentist appointments this afternoon. They both had to have new x-rays taken, and full cleanings. I stayed in the waiting room with Sierra while they had that done. When I went back to talk with the dentist, all of the ladies and the dentist told me how polite, well behaved and sweet both of my boys were!!!! (I felt like an awesome parent right then!) I was told that they are doing a great job of brushing their teeth, they just need to brush a little closer to their gums. And NO cavities for either of them!!!! So we don't have to go back until November and then all three of the kids will have an appointment! Sierra will have her first appointment. (Sigh.....)

Swimming Lessons

The boys had their swimming lessons last night and for the first time in months I was able to go and watch them. They are doing so good!!!! Last night was also the night to sign them up for their next set of lessons and to see if they passed to the next level. Alex did pass and he is now in Preschool Level 5; a new level that they are creating for him and one other boy (Alex is too young to move up to a Youth Level and has finished all the Preschool Levels). Ted also passed his level and is moving up to Youth Level 4!!! They are both so excited.

Here is Alex diving at his swimming lessons (I missed the best dive of the night, the camera was too slow).

Ted is practicing the crawl stroke.

Zoo Trip

We woke up Sunday morning bright and early (7:15am Thanks Sierra) and the boys woke up shortly after that. So we had an early breakfast and we were dressed and ready for the day by 8:45am. So Brad and I decided that the zoo would be perfect for today, so we packed up that car and we were at the zoo by 9:30am. It was gorgeous out and the temperature was perfect. The kids were wonderful and we all had a great day!!!

Sierra's One Year Pictures...Two Months Late

I feel so bad for Sierra, she has the typical last child problems - hand-me-downs, oh it's clean enough, pictures what pictures?, and she's my last one she can't grow up!!!! I really meant to go and get her pictures take two months ago, but with my back and leg hurting so bad, then Sierra was teething, then my surgery and bed rest, it just never happened. So yesterday I decided to just do it, I called and got a same day appointment for 7pm (which is normally a great time for Sierra). But once again she is teething (four teeth at once), she has hay fever (very runny nose, itchy eyes and she keeps rubbing her ears) and when we went into the studio with all the lights and cameras she freaked out!!! Lucky for us Heather the photographer was wonderful and calm and patient! We had two outfits for Sierra to wear, and we brought the chair and ottoman (that Grandma and Poppi bought her for her birthday) and her my 1st teddy bear (that Grandma got her) for the pictures. Wow ~ were we optimistic!!!

We took a lot of pictures in the chair and this one was my absolute favorite, she sits in her chair like this all the time!

When we took the chair away to get a picture with the #1, Sierra got really upset again, so the boys came in to show her it was okay. And this picture turned out pretty good.

Once we took the bear out Sierra calmed down again and the boys went back out the waiting area and played with the iPod. And we got this cute picture with the #1 and the bear.

And this one too.

She wasn't happy when we took the bear, but Heather used it to get her to smile. And we got this great picture!

We decide to try and change her outfit and see how things went. She was great about changing her outfit, she loved her new dress and white sandals! She didn't love sitting on the floor, so we brought the chair back in and she LOVED it. So we got some really good pictures.

She started to try and get up again so we added the ottoman and teddy bear and she settled down long enough to get this cute picture. She was then TOTALLY done and we were 40 minutes into our appointment. So we called it a GREAT session, picked our favorites, got the CD and went home!

Cute Pictures from this week

Since I feeling so much better, I have finally remembered that I own a camera and that I should use it. So here are a few cute pictures of the kids.

Alex with his friend Matthew