Summertime part 2

Addilyn’s leash
The other day, Addilyn was playing and I noticed that her right hand was in a fist and that she wasn’t using it. I asked her what it was and she said, “this is my leash for my dog.” Then later as we were getting in the car she would not climb in quickly and said “Addilyn lets hustle.” She turned to me and said “hold my leash.” Then she proceeded to climb into the car very quickly. She watched to make sure I held onto the leash and so I did and then once she was buckled I gave her the leash back to hold and for the entire car ride she held the leash. The funny thing is the majority of the time Addilyn never did have the dog in her hands, she was just holding the leash. This kid has the BEST imagination ever!

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Apples!!!
This year my cows so kindly pruned and fertilized my tree and the result was fantastic. My apples were huge this year and lots of them. So I got busy and made lots of applesauce (my girlies don’t really like the texture and won’t really eat it, but Elyse is just starting on food and can’t get enough of the stuff) Also I wanted to try making fruit leather and apparently Applesauce is the base to use, so viola- canned applesauce to last a short time!!! I did some dehydrating with some and then we made lots of apple muffins, cakes, etc. I LOVE APPLE SEASON (well the 2 weeks that they are good for in AZ!) I felt so domestic. YEAHHH.

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Kayaking fun… with the kids. After Haylee’s birthday party, we had dinner with the Harris family at our house and then we took off to the river. It was still early. You might be thinking we were crazy taking the kids kayaking, but the answer is not really because we only went from 4 - Phon de Sutton. It is very calm and we had one-on-one coverage of the kids. Haylee sat in front of me and Addilyn in front of Ryan. Haylee paddled the entire way and would not let me even help. She LOVES anything that is challenging. Addilyn was very tired and almost feel asleep in Ryan’s lap. She is so funny. That being said, I was happy when we got to the end, just because the river is the river and it is dangerous and not really appropriate for kids even in really good life jackets. When we reached phon de Sutton, we went swimming and in one part, you jump into the current and it shoots you into a sandy bank where you can stand up and then go and do it again. The kids loved this and kept jumping over and over. We finally had to go because the sun was going down. Later Haylee asked if we could go kayaking again, but just the swimming part! They had a good time and the river was beautiful! After we were done and going home, Haylee said, Mommy can we come kayaking again, but just go swimming again. Apparently she loved the end part! We love the river!!!

Denise, Jon, Michael, Julie, Savanna, Kacie, Addilyn, Ryan, Haylee, Julie

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Haylee girl turns 5!!!

We decided to have Haylee's birthday celebrations a little early because we were going to the mountains. So we held Haylee's beach party on 29 June 2009 at our house. She invited her 20 closest friends and cousins. We had water games and relays, balloon fights, and cake and ice cream. As the tradition in our family goes, when it is your birthday we put balloons all over your bed, well this morning, she came into our room at some point in the night so the balloons were placed around her while she slept in my bed. She woke up and knew it was her day!!!

balloons in bed!

her cake created per her requests with a toy that we already had (way to keep it simple Haylee)

water relays and games

blowing out the candles

Savanna and Haylee

she got lots of fun presents and most importantly had lots of fun with her friends and cousins... thanks for coming and making her day so special!!!

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Kayaking fun with Scott, Brent, Jeremy, Jill, Ryan, Julie, Ryan
The river was Too murky and not very good treasure hunting conditions but still lots of fun. We LOVE the river. (25 June 2009)

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Children’s Museum of Phoenix… the coolest place ever! (24 June 2009)

So I was trying to find things to do with my girlies that didn’t include dying of heat and I wanted to try something new. I had seen on a friends blog about a cool museum they had in their city and I thought why don’t we have one in AZ, well apparently we do, and it is fairly new, so that maybe why I didn’t know about it. It is located in the old Monroe School building in downtown phoenix. I have always loved this building so I am very happy to know that it has been salvaged and not destroyed as it is old and beautiful. Anyway, this is a total kid museum, Come and Play is there theme and it is awesome. My girlies and I drove over at around 10AM. I packed food not knowing what to expect or if we would even last till lunchtime, but I thought whatever. As it turns out, the girls loved the place and I had NO time expectations for the day so we ended up staying till 4 PM… when they practically had to kick us out. My girls absolutely had the time of their lives. It was $9 a kid to get in but seriously an annual pass to this place would be well worth it. I am obsessed and can’t wait till we can go back. The best part was, no worker ever told my child to be quiet, don’t touch, or hustle them into or out of a room. Instead, the workers got right in their and played with my kids. The girlies favorite was a little ice cream stand with styrofoam everything that was set up in a hallway and they stood there for almost a complete hour and played with that particular toy. The workers would come by and get ice cream and play pretend. They are getting some new exhibits and toys to climb on and I can’t wait to take the girls back. The best was on the way home, they all just sat as still as statues in the back of the car as they were so exhausted from playing so hard!!! So much fun! Seriously if you have kids or know kids you have to go here!

the ice cream stand (the best workers who played for about a half hour)

the 3 and under area (Haylee planting flowers in the house)

the supermarket and pizza shop

momma and her girlies

they rode this bike for 45 minutes straight through a car washer... loving every minute

the art room (paper mache cupcake, play dough, painting a house)

a cool thing that shot scarves out of pipes... kept them entertained for at least an hour

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Elyse is 6 months old... (21 June 2009)

Stats:

Height- 26 inches (61%)

Weight- 15.1 (32%)

loves to smile

gets anywhere she wants to go via rolling. her arm gets stuck underneath her when she is going from back to front and she gets a little frustrated.

prefers her momma... (the first of all the girls)

loves any kind of food (we are starting to experiment with different combinations, but so far she is not the least bit picky... it is about time!!)

laughs all the time and loud

gives great suction kisses on cheeks

isn't "crawling" but scoots and moves

loves to sleep all night long and is a great napper

is our little dolly and we can't give her enough kisses!

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We had my niece Ella come and stay with us for a week while she and Haylee participated in a little musical theatre group. This is her second year staying with us and we love when she comes! While she stayed she played with Andy (a little girl down the street and their cat, which she never could convince her parents to let her keep… come on Jeremy and Jill),

swimming at Denhams (Haylee, Ty, Ella, Addilyn, Ruthi, Andy)

Ella and the kitten!

they painted posters for a father’s day surprise,

and of course sang and danced to High School Musical 24/7! Their performance was the Saturday after their week of practices (20 June 2009) and was held at Highland Elementary School. They did great and I got some fun footage. Haylee and Ella had solos and practiced them constantly. I found these cute light-up shirts for $3.00 at Wal-mart. The night before the performance, Ella’s family spent the night. We curled their hair and did full makeup including glitter. It was so much fun and the girls looked great and more importantly had a fun time and sounded great on their solos! Yeah for confidence boosting experiences. All in all it was so cute and the girls had the time of their lives… they are already talking about next summer!

What time is it? Summertime!

Haylee and Miss Erica (her teacher)

Haylee and Tylee

Ruthi and Haylee

Raegan, Haylee, and Sarah

Haylee, Lexi, Maddie

Haylee and Ella

Mae and Haylee's biggest fan... Addilyn!

some more fans... Grandma Treats

Grandma Muriel
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One night my friend Erica came over to cut some music and asked if Haylee and I wanted to go and see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in about an hour. They had some extra people because some of their family could not make it. So we drove to Gammage and got there just in time. We had a fun time and Haylee has since found a new interest in the movie and has decided that for Halloween she wants to be the doll on the movie... we shall see! Thanks to Erica and her mom for inviting us to come. We had a wonderful time! 18 June 2009

Our little show girls. (Haylee, Mae, and Grace)