Playing Catch Up

We pulled Kassy and Brittnie out of school for Kassy's birthday and headed to Disneyland.

Waiting for the carousel in Fantasyland - Lexi's Favorite ride

Grandma came and met us for lunch

At our buddy Sean's baptism in Arizona

Kassy and Sydney ready to hit the waves. We were at the beach at least 5 hours and the two of them were out of the water long enough to eat a sandwich and were back in.

Brittnie and Mazie

RJ and Ellie trying to out run a wave

And Alexis...she was as happy as can be just playing in the sand all day.

Everyone was a little tired after a long day at the beach and then having to be out the door by 7:30 for the swim meet....they were troopers.

Brittnie doing the breaststroke

Kassy waiting for her first swim of the season. She has had a hurt knee and didn't get to swim the first 4 meets of the season. She has Osgood Schlotter's Disease in one knee and will just have to deal with the pain and take it easy when her knee is really hurting for the next couple of years until she is finished growing and then it should go away.

RJ getting ready for his backstroke. He has been doing really well his first swim season. We are proud of him.

The whole gang getting ready for bed.

Uncle Chris

My brother just emailed me this picture. I thought it was cute. He was a brave man. His wife has been in the Phillipines visiting her family this month. He was headed to his house in Oak Hills for the weekend to do some "honey do's" and decided that he wanted company. He took Kassy, Brittnie and RJ with him, without his wife and for overnight. He even got up and made them a great breakfast. This is a guy that gets waited on hand and foot by his wonderful wife.
They love it up there. They ride the quads all day. It is the perfect place for that. There are only dirt roads that lead to the homes so so in areas where there are not homes there are pathways and jumps. The fun of quads and then a beautiful house to go get the dust off in. They had a great time.

Downtown Disney

Brittnie got picked to go help Mattel do some research. About 10 Mattel employees took 8 girls to Downtown Disney to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. They had two girls each paired off with two of the employees. Brittnie and her friend Hannah got paired with the two Barbie Doll designers. How cool is that!! They said that the Barbie image is beauty and they just talked to the girls to see what clothes they liked to wear and how they liked to do their hair and stuff. Then the got to go to Club Libby Lui for a makeover. Libby Lu's is a girl's dream place. They did their hair in an updo, did their makeup, painted their nails and depending on which updo the girls picked they got some accessories to go with it. Brittnie picked the celebrity DJ and got a new toy dog with it's one carring purse and pink collar and pink head set. Her friend's mom that went with her bought them the rock star hair to put in. The girls just had a good time. They didn't even realize that they were "working" and helping with market research. Kassy and Katelyn (the two older sisters) took there annual passes and headed into California Adventure (first time Kassy has gone off with a friend on her own to do that. That was a big step for me!!!) Katelyn also took Kassy into Build-a-Bear and bought her a bear for an early birthday present. They had a great time.
Here are the girls showing off their new dogs and bears.

RJ's 5

I can't believe it. He is such a good boy. He loves to help, loves his sister's and is such a sweet boy. Don't get me wrong he is ALL boy but he does have his sensitive side. He can't help it having three sisters. He had a great birthday. He loved his new bike. We thought he finally deserved a boy one instead of a pink one spray painted red still with all the white trim.
He went from this.....

To this!!!!

He had his favorite breakfast. Cinnamon swirl french toast.

He had a bunch of friends come over. They played some relay games, had a pinata and pizza. What more could a 5 year old ask for?



We love you RJ!!!

I Can't Keep Up!!!

I haven't posted in a little over a week and it already seems like so much has happened...what pictures do I post?

Alexis loves to help unload the dishwasher. She does a great job stacking the plastic cups!!! She is so proud of herself.


Summer is just around the corner. Swim practice has begun again. RJ is old enough for swim team this year. He is so excited. After all this time driving his sister's to their practices it is finally his turn. As he was jumping out of the car to run into practice the other day he turned and said, "I LOVE SWIMMING". I am glad he is enjoying himself.

RJ getting a little help on his kick from Coach Vladi.

Brittnie trying to get a little homework done while RJ swims. Then she swims. Then we run home to finish up homework before we have to go take Kassy to her swim practice. Poor Lexi. I think she is getting sick of her car seat. Thank goodness for DVD's in the car. I don't know what I would do without it these days. Alexis spends an average of one and a half hours in the car every afternoon running her siblings somewhere. I figure she deserves a movie.

Brittnie waiting for the next set of instructions.

Kassy had to dress in costume and went to Riley's farm in Oak Glen for her 5th grade field trip. There they re-enacted the Revolutionary War. They ground flour, observed a period blacksmith at a waterwheel driven hammer mill and were taught the manual of arms by Revolutionary War soldiers. They were given beef jerky, cheese and bread for lunch. She had a really good time.



Donut Anyone?

We brought the kitchen home from Grandma's house. Lexi got some play food and a new tea set for her birthday. That is where you will find her every morning. Out making tea, eating a donut and doing the dishes. She was so excited to have her own "freezer" and "microwave". I love this age where their little imaginations are coming to life.



We had Good Friday off of school. Kassy and Brittnie have friends from swimming who are sisters. Kassy went and spent the night at there house and Hannah came over to spend the night at our's. We went for a bike ride up to Mile Square Park. It was a beautiful day.



They had to climb and jump off every rock around the little lake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXIS

Alexis had such a great time yesterday for her birthday. She woke up and saw her presents on top of the TV. As each of us came down the stairs at different times she took each one of us by the hand and said, "Come with me. Look all my presents. Look stinkerbell present(there was one wrapped in tinkerbell)." Her eyes were all lit up. She got to put her "pretty dress" on and go to church. She loves to get her church dresses on and look in the mirror to see how pretty she is. She took treats in to share in nursery. Then her grandma and papa, aunts, uncles, cousins and some family friends came for dinner to help her celebrate. She was so excited about the Elmo cake. She really enjoyed the frosting. Never ate the cake. Thanks to all for the birthday wishes and for all who were close enough to help us celebrate.

The Cute Things They Say....

Lexi was helping me make a potato casserole for dinner that had crushed corn flakes on top. She came back after a while to watch it cook. I asked her if the potatoes we made for dinner looked yummy. "Not dinner Mom. It's breakfast." Silly Mom....corn flakes are for breakfast.

Vacuum Training

Alexis loves to help. Kassy was vacuuming and I walked in and Alexis had gotten her elmo vacuum out and was trying to help. She doensn't mind standing next to the real vacuum but she won't touch it. Little does Alexi know she was "helping" in more ways then one. Kassy doesn't normally have that big of a smile on her face when she is doing one of her chores. But she liked having Alexis around to show the ropes to. Kassy is hoping to get Brittnie trained next to help take over. Kassy just doesn't realize it is more a height thing then anything. It helps to be taller than the vacuum.

Don't Go To Work Daddy

Rollin has been out of town the last 3 weeks during the week and last weekend we only got him for 28 hours (pretty hard on the kids when you can count his time home in hours). He was working at the local office yesterday morning but when he was leaving and said he was going to work Alexis lost it. To her when dad is "leaving for work" he hasn't been coming home until the end of the week. She cried for a good long while after he left. This was as she was starting to calm down. We tried to reassure her that dad would be home for dinner but when you're not quite 2 that is a hard concept to grasp.

Kassy's Events

Kassy at her choir concert. There were 7 elementary schools, 2 Jr. High's and the High School's Combined choirs that put on a Concert this week.

Kassy listening to her ipod getting herself psyched up for her next race. She cut time on all her races this weekend...She took 3 seconds off her 50 free. She did great!!! She even swam in the final heat on her 100 breast and took 8th place overall in her age group of about 55 girls. She has been doing great for only swimming competitively for 6 months. Go Kassy.

Kassy is becoming quite a beautiful and talented young lady. She is keeping herself busy with her daily piano practice, homework and swim practice. Then you add Activity days, piano lessons, chores and just trying to be a kid. She is really learning to manage her time well to get everything done. She is growing up too fast. She is such a huge help to me. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She is such a great example to her younger sisters and brother. WE LOVE KASSY!!!!

Skater Dude

Trying out the ramp



Where'd the skateboard go???

If at first you don't succeed try, try again and again and again......

Wipe Out

Shouldn't RJ be the one wearing the helmet???