Ka-Chow!

Today I took the kids to see Cars 2...excellent!! Chase has been waiting for this day to come since he had a free ticket to the show. I knew we would be going the day it came out...kind of a down side of your kid knowing time and dates.. you can't fib them anymore. Although I think I still like Cars better, I was laughing the whole movie. It had plenty of adult humor in it. Before the movie they had a Toy Story short movie (Hawaiian Vacation). Seriously hilarious!! (I may have enjoyed this more than Cars).

Made me wish we were watching a Toy Story movie, and a bit hopeful that maybe we haven't seen the final Toy Story. Make sure you make it early to see this one!

Day at the Marina

This week we took the kids to the Marina in Sparks just to check it out. It is conveniently located just a skip across the parking lot of Scheels at the Legends outlet mall in Reno. It is really pretty, and quite honestly smells like the wharf by the ocean. It's a 2.5 mile paved walkway around the lake for bikers, and joggers. Although it was a beautiful day, we only walked about half of it since we wanted to go do some shopping. Chase found a penguin (sandpiper)on the shore and thought that was pretty cool.

The kids watched a fisher pull a huge trout out of the water. They wanted to dip their toes in the water over on the beach, but I decided against it as we got closer to the water. The water smelled weird to me (I can only compare it to the smell of the Great Salt Lake). If you have been there you know it's a sort of indescribable smell. I think having Tahoe so close to us has really turned me off to all other lakes. I guess we are a bit spoiled that way. The kids still had a great time. I don't think we will be going back to swim...ever, but it is a beautiful walk.

Watch out!

Schools out....again! This past week was Drivers Ed. for Kelsey, and some of her friends. It was some long days for these girls, but they did it! They did a good job of scaring these girls into driving, that I liked. The part I didn't like so much....the drive home, with 3 backseat drivers! "Did you know your hands aren't in the right spot?, Did you know you are suppose to stop behind the line, Did you know you that's illegal?"....yeah I did, call me when you get your licence!! So for all you Dayton drivers heads up a few of these girls get their permits in just a few weeks...watch out!

8 is Great!

Monday was Our 8th wedding anniversary...Wow!! Matt jokes that he never remembers what "year we are on", must be because life with me is so great!!...YES, I am joking!! I still love to go back every anniversary and watch our wedding video, brings back great memories.Although we didn't really do anything to celebrate, really at 8 what do you do? Matt had to work, Kelsey had school, and the kids had a play date with friends. So we spent the morning together working on the yard. I did have to give him something, I can't seem to let a holiday slip by without at least a note, so I bought him this huge jar of chocolate covered peanuts he is always eyeing at Costco and attached a note which read: 8 YEARS AND I'M STILL NUTS ABOUT YOU! He felt bad he didn't get me anything, and I assured him I needed NOTHING from the grocery store on his way home from work at midnight (typical Matt to grab "stuff" on the night before a holiday or birthday when he forgets till the very last minute), which by the way there is NOTHING a woman wants that is on sale at midnight. But the next morning I found this staring at me from the fridge...
It made me laugh out loud, and I give him props for actually MAKING a card to attach to it with a cheesy saying (that really is my style). I am the most lucky woman in the world to have such a handsome, hard working, amazing husband who still makes my heart flutter and laugh every single day (okay maybe not every day if were being honest), but almost every day! I love you so much Matt!

Father's Day

In an effort to let Matt enjoy his entire day(Dad's love to do this to Mommy's on Mother's day right?), I let the kids wake him as soon as they woke up to surprise him with breakfast. Not sure he really enjoyed that since he worked till midnight but since the kids were the ones who woke him he had to act happy. I did draw the line when Sadi insisted he have green beans for breakfast. They showered him with kisses, and some nice gifts...

He got just what he wanted! They bought him some nice wireless speakers for his i-pod so he can listen to his music outside. It was amazing how he already had hooks up in the exact place he wanted them outside (like he busted open the box and re-assembled it before he was actually given it)...hmmm Matt had to work later in the afternoon so we played outside and had a barbecue before he had to leave. The kids couldn't understand why Daddy didn't get "his day" off. So sad! I did make some little wallets for Father's day this year which we gave to our Dad's. I just used some textured scrapbook paper that looked leathery and made this cute wallet.

I put a photo of the kids inside with some Best Dad ever business cards in the pocket , and of course some cash stuffed inside. I attached some Velcro tabs to close it up just like a real wallet. These would be cute for a birthday present or any occasion for a man. I hope Matt enjoyed his day, he really is one of a kind Dad and I am so lucky our kids get to grow up with him as an example of what a Great Dad is!

Kelsey turns...

15!!! Wow, where has time gone? Kelsey didn't want a party this year, just cold hard cash! I guess that is a sure sign you no longer have a little girl. Chase and Sadi woke her with breakfast in bed and then we let her open her few surprises. She got a new pair of sunglasses, a plane ticket to Utah (what she had really been asking for), and lots and lots of cash from everyone! It's kind of sad when your kid asks for a ticket to "get away". But honestly I can't compete with the fun she has with her cousin Tori all summer. Once we got her rolling out of bed we headed to Reno to hit the mall. We shopped, and shopped and then took a break for lunch, Kelsey's choice....pizza.

Shockingly she actually spent money!! This girl is a saver not a spender, which is a good thing but I'm glad she spent some of it (even if she said she felt broke after we left).

We came home and I made her a special dinner per her request, and then we finished making her ice-cream cake...from scratch, again her request (wasn't sure I could make one, since I never had before). She insisted it be home-made. We lit her up....

and it was test time. I'm thinking she might have wished that her cake turned out okay, because mmmmm!! It was amazing! Check it out...

Chocolate cake with rocky road ice cream. I have to thank Grandma Denning who told me how to make one similar to this. Yum! And by the way I'm pretty sure she was wishing for a sweet ride on her next birthday...ugh!

First trip to Lake Tahoe

Ahhhh......heaven! Jealous?

The Final Inning...

Saturday was the final game of the Dodgers T-ball season. Chase had so much fun playing and we really enjoyed watching him grow with the game. Although they don't "keep score", I 'm pretty sure our team won!!! Check out our awesome Dodgers...(Chase is bottom row, third from left). Some of my favorites from the season..... Sad to see the end....literally!

Schools out!!

Finally school's out for summer!! What makes it really feel like summer? Ice-cream for dinner! Although Kelsey still had a day left I decided to take the kids out for a late dinner and ice-cream to kick off the summer. Yumm!! I can't wait to spend lots of time with these three special people (I hope I don't loose my mind in the process). Bring on the heat!!

Another Year

Friday was my birthday, another year gone! Kelsey had to get up early as it was her last day of school. Matt got up early and let me sleep in (very nice). I was greeted later that morning by this beauty with a flame fastly approaching me in bed. Breakfast in bed (I was feeling spoiled). Matt thought it would be fun for us all to eat these in our bed. See all those lovely colored sprinkles? I tried not to cringe to much as the kids let a rainbow fall around them. Oh well. Then in was off to the zoo.....

Okay not really. Matt wanted to go check out Cabellas in Reno because we had never been there. It was cool, but honestly I much prefer Scheels. The kids had fun seeing all the wildlife and feeding the fish. I am really hoping this is not the only wildlife we see this summer.

We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the mall to pick up some real goodies for me, and have a nice lunch.

We got back home and took Kelsey to Youth Conference for the weekend. We decided to end the night with a movie at the drive-in. Soooo fun! We saw Pirates IV. Chase kept asking me when we were going to go home and have cake. He was the first to spot the cheesecake in the fridge that morning. I promised when we got home we would have some.

It was a long movie and we didn't get home until after 1. Of course both kids fell asleep on the way home. I was so tired I just crawled into bed rainbow and all (remember those sprinkles from breakfast). Guess what I heard first thing in the morning? Good Morning?....nope. Chase: "MOM, I thought you said we were going to have cake when we got home!" And just like that the party was over.

Let's rock!

It was time...time to let the neighbors know we had not totally given up on our front yard. Time to let people know we had not abandoned our house. Time to ROCK!! Remember when you were a kid and you could pick up a rock for free? I miss those days!! Because rock is not cheap!! I really am not a fan of rock yards, but after fighting the grass and bugs killing it, it was time to surrender. So as if the last week of school wasn't busy enough, we thought why not add some torture to our self. Mid-week arrived tuck one...truck two....

and a whole lot of work left to do! Hard to describe how much rock this is, it looks like a small enough pile right? Here is a picture of our kids on top of it (notice the top of the roof right behind them).

Chase and Sadi had a blast playing in the rocks. For two full days we moved rocks and boulders and not once did they move from that pile. Kinda makes me think we need a pile just to play in. Sadi danced on top....

Chase shoveled, and Kyle helped Matt roll boulders. That's right we rocked and rolled!Sadi also had fun inspecting each rock in the pile to find the "best" one. It is still a work in progress, so I will post more pictures as we get closer to finishing!

Graduation

It came. This day I thought was so far away when we started Kindergarten arrived all to quickly. I'm still not sure why we graduate from so many grades out here but today was really cute!! (even if this was his second graduation in life). As we waited for the classes to come down to the MPR we were admiring the self portraits the kids did of themselves from a distance. As I sat wondering which one Chase had made I noticed only one in the group that had used orange (yes orange) for hair and knew that had to be Chase's. It is hard to see but it is the third from the right on the top row. Made me laugh out loud! They sang a cute little graduation song, handed out their "diplomas" and then it was time to say goodbye. We said goodbye to our principal Mr. Greenburg,

Goodbye to our "bestest" buddy Daemeon,

Goodbye to our crush Kylee(had to put them both in the photo because quite frankly even after being in the class with them all year I still can't tell the twins apart). They are both super cute!

And a very sad goodbye to our best teacher Mrs. Benson who won't be back next year due to budget cuts....blah! She will truly be missed!

We are so proud of our little man who will..sniff..sniff, be in First grade next year!!! He is such a good boy, we are very proud of him!

Oh and by the way I did hold it together at Graduation, only one of us cried on the way home....

You know you have the best teacher in the world when it makes you cry because you miss her already!! Okay honestly it made me tear up to see this.

Last week of school...

A busy week! This was our kids last week of school, and to be honest I am relieved because it was exhausting! I spent every day at Chase's school helping out with parties and getting ready for graduation, then I would come home and help Kelsey study for her finals (two totally different weeks for these two). On Monday Chase's class had a pajama movie party and Sadi had no problem fitting right in (literally) with the class. On Tuesday was the end of the year awards assembly. I was quite surprised that Chase got Citizen of the month...third time this year! (I'm pretty sure he is the only one in the school who has received that award 3 times). Hey, when you got it you got it right?

On Wednesday was Fun in the Sun day (thank goodness it finally stopped raining for this). I got to work at all the stations during the day....whew! I did manage to snap a few photos of Chase as he whizzed by here on the obstacle course...

as he got sat on playing musical chairs,

and as he shot me in passing with his water gun. We had made some goodbye goodies for the class. I used a packet of Kool-Aid and put a cute tag attached that said: Have a KOOL summer! On the back I put on a recipe for Kool-aid play dough for all the kids. We made a special present for Mrs. Benson. We bought her the book Mrs. Spitzer's Garden (if you haven't read it you MUST buy it for a special teacher it will make you cry), and then I had found a cute little watering can that we filled with some flowers that I stuck in a tag that read: Thank you for helping Chase bloom! (Again if you have read this book you will see how this went perfect with the book). Why is the end of school so bitter sweet? I can't believe we are here already!