Party Week

We had so much fun this past week. We had play dates at our house 3 times! And if that wasn't enough fun, Savannah wanted her cousins to come over for a sleepover on Friday. I think that all of the girls had a great time. We let them all make their own pizzas. They turned out pretty good and Jon made one for us, which turned out great of course! We also watched Barbie and the Diamond Castle and ate a bunch of treats. Getting them to sleep was a handful, but Jon did a good job there as well. Here they are all asleep in the girl's room. I thought it was funny that Melanie ended up on the floor behind the mattress; I have no idea how she got there. And it was also really cute that Savannah was trying to snuggle up to Tabitha. We all got up at the crack of dawn! (If only that sun didn't come up quite so early!) We had some breakfast and then headed back over to our cousin's house for Audrey's birthday party. Auntie rented a bouncy water slide (from my cousin)! The kids all had so much fun on it! We stayed for about 3 hours and Savannah didn't miss a second on it. She didn't even want to leave because she knew that the slide would be gone when we came the next time. (If you're interested in renting the water slide, check out Arizona Air Bounce's website, or see their link in my sidebar.) Melanie was too scared to go down the slide, so she stayed in the house and played with Audrey's new birthday dollhouse instead. And I'm happy to say that Audrey loved the dress-up clothes that we gave her. Happy Birthday little princess! So, we had a jammed-pack, fun week.

To Dive or Not to Dive?

Sorry this is picture overload, but I'm so glad that swim lessons are over. I know that Savannah is already missing them though. Here are a few of the highlights from the last few days of lessons.

Savannah diving through the hoop. Probably her best dive ever. Audrey diving from the side. She's probably the best diver of the group. Tabitha's turn! Savannah diving from the side. I don't know why, but she likes to tuck her foot up under herself. Melanie hesitated and she totally faked me out. I missed the dive, but she did it! Happy Vannah girl on the rock, waiting for her turn. Again with the foot tucked under her! Melanie: On your mark...get set... Go! She gets better with every turn! And since it was the last day, they got to go down the slide for fun. Savannah was even brave enough and copied her cousin and jumped in off of the rocks. Melanie went down the slide twice by herself. As you can see, she plastered herself to the slide and ended up hitting her head both times. But she was so scared, I couldn't convince her to sit up. I was just glad that she'd do it. We're done! Now we'll just have to keep up the practicing at home.

Mother's Day meets Father's Day

I posted a while back that we had ordered a clock to be made for our family room. I was so excited to get a call yesterday saying that the clock was finally done! It was delivered right to our door and Jon had it hung before the kids had finished their dinner! I absolutely love how it turned out! I think that it's perfect! Jon and I debated for a long time whether to get the 2 foot or 3 foot clock and I'm glad that we went with the 3 footer. And in case you're wondering the quote says, "The future is as bright as your faith." It's from President Monson's last conference talk and I absolutely love it, so now I have it on a clock! And here's my Mother's Day gift hanging up with Jon's Father's Day gift. Jon is a little jealous that the clock is bigger than the TV, but that's too bad. I tried to give you a good look at the size of the TV and the clock on that big wall, but I'm just not sure that the picture does it justice. But if you want to come over and see my clock, give me a call and I'll let you come on by. Or you could always have your own custom clock made...check out Clocks by Staci.

Happy Father's Day

We had a very nice and mostly relaxing Father's Day. Savannah wanted to make breakfast for Daddy, but I knew that it would be impossible with 8 o'clock church. I decided to make some really easy Pilsbury Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls instead. That certainly made Jon's morning. Here's the kids right after church posing for a Father's Day shot. Unfortunately, Spencer was not very cooperative at church and that made for a slightly tired and cranky Daddy. But I had Savannah secretly wrap some gifts for Dad. She then went and hid them behind the couch, but then she couldn't wait for him to open them. So she went and told him where they were. Jon was very happy to open 2 candy bars and a new ladle. The ladle made him laugh because he broke ours last week during an attempt to sword fight with it. Savannah also made a card for Daddy, with a picture of her inside. After the kids had naps we headed over to Jon's parent's house for dinner. We had a nice simple meal of cold cuts, fruit with dip, and lots of salads...pasta, potato, and pistacchio. There was also a manly edible arrange made by my sister-in-law. After dinner we surprised our Daddy with his real Father's Day gift...a new 42" LCD TV. Savannah had told him that we were keeping a surprise for him at Grandma's house, but he really was surprised with what the gift turned out to be. I think he was half expecting to open the box and there be something else inside. But he REALLY liked it, which didn't surprise me at all...it's what he's wanted for a long time. We ended the evening with some wonderful home-made cheesecake with strawberries. Yummy yummy! We also went and visited my Dad for a little bit. We had attempted to make an iron-on t-shirt for him with a picture of the kids, but the picture didn't come out as great as we hoped. He was still a good sport though and said that it just looked like he had already washed it a few times. When we made it home, Jon insisted on hanging the TV up Sunday night so that the kids wouldn't ruin it. As you can see, they put it to work right away! Babe, I love you...even with all of your silly quirks! I hope you had a great Father's Day.

Swim Lessons

We're halfway through our swim lessons for the summer. Savannah is absolutely loving it! She has learned so much and I'm quite impressed that she can even attempt to do the Butterfly and Freestyle strokes. The Breast stroke is by far her favorite and best stroke. She is certainly becoming a little fish. Melanie had a rough start. She was really quite scared. So even though she would go out and do the strokes with her teacher, she would sit on the step and cry when it wasn't her turn. She did much better her second week and has become really good at floating. She was even brave enough to jump into the pool all by herself today, without her teacher holding her hands. Really quite an accomplishment. Spencer also got to tag along the past 2 weeks. He enjoyed just being outside and getting fed a bunch of snacks. He loves being in the water, but never complained that he never got a turn. I also had to pack a sandwich and snacks for us and the girls when they weren't swimming. Both girls have enjoyed getting to swim with their cousins. And I'm really glad that this current session of lessons the girls are in the same class and we only have to sit outside for a 1/2 hour!

Random May Pictures

At the beginning of May our family went to the zoo and did their First Annual 5K and Family Mile Walk. Jon went earlier than us and ran in the 5K and then we came when he was finishing up and he walked another mile with us. It was rather warm that day and there weren't very many animals out yet. But the girls really had fun playing on the water pad afterwards. Savannah wanted a picture with her namesake sign before we left. Of course, Melanie wanted one too, even though Savannah insisted that it wasn't her name. I also went a got a pedicure for the first time. I went with my sister and we took the girls along too. They had a fun time. I thought that my nails turned out great. It's amazing to watch them draw such a detailed little flower on your nail (or at least I was quite impressed with it)! And Melanie was so happy to get a little flower on her nails, with a pink jewel inside it. Savannah was proud that she was the only one to get her fingernails painted, and they turned out mighty cute too. We also spent a little bit of time over at my brother's house. Spencer had a lot of fun just roaming around their small yard and especially playing on this little car. It was pretty funny to watch him push it around and try and ride on it, except when he decided he could also stand up on it. I guess that's because he's a boy! And last but not least, here's a funny shot of my three little monkeys. Spencer is so funny, because he'll go and sit in the Bumbo when the girls sit in their chairs. He's really glad that Grandma got him his own chair for his birthday! They're all so cute! They're favorite time to sit in their chairs is for Family Time and they look so funny all lined up listening to Jon and I. I just feel so blessed to have each one of them. They are all so sweet and try hard to do what's right (okay, maybe not Spencer) and I love them dearly.

My Little Graduate

I can't believe that the school year is so long gone. Savannah has loved her little preschool class this past year. They held a graduation ceremony a few weeks ago and so we got the girls all dressed up for the event. Savannah's class walked in with their little paper plate caps on, which was pretty cute. She's standing right above the chair in the center.She even got a certificate, which her teacher told them was their ticket to kindergarten. She loved both of her teachers and insisted on giving them a present, which consisted of flowers and jewelry, all picked out by Savannah (I tried to help her out a little, so that it wasn't totally awful stuff). Melanie loves the teacher already too and can't wait to start preschool there next year. Jon was able to get off work and come for the little ceremony, so we made the most of it and went out to lunch afterwards. When I asked Savannah where she wanted to go, she told me McDonald's. But I was easily able to persuade her that Red Robin was a better choice, which it is usually her first choice. So here's me with my little grad! She's growing up too quickly. I can't believe that she's starting kindergarten next year. I'm just not quite ready to let her go yet!