This Is It

the best part of  a sleepover with your boy cousin is when he cheers you on while you're playing a game of wii basketball.

06.23.11  thursday... I took the girls with me over to Jodie's for a meeting. Jen and my mom came too. Darric took Max to play basketball after he got a haircut. We picked up Capriotti's/Sonic on or way home.  

06.24.11  friday... We left the house and headed out to Mt Charleston around 9-ish. We did the Mary Jane Falls hike. It was uphill all the way to the falls. Switchbacks all the way up. The falls were very pretty. And there was a dome of snow still left that the water was going through. We headed back down and i expected it to be a breeze since it was all downhill. Nope. I wasn't out of breath but we had to really watch our step. Madi took a stumble. Ended up on her back with her feet in the air. ?? She had a scratched up knee and palm. She wanted to be done. The weather was very nice and it smelled so good up there. When we got off the hill, we stopped at Baja Fresh for some lunch. Came home to clean up and rest, then went and dropped the kids off with Grandma Carter. All of the grandkids were coming over for a sleepover. We went and met Dani and Bill out at Town Square for dinner at the Yard House. We were there for a couple hours. Food was good as usual.

06.25.11  saturday... I got up and cleaned up the house. It was a disaster. Ran to Target for my rx and tissue paper. Swung by to get the kids and rushed to Coda's Toy Story birthday party. We were late and I hate being late. It was such a cute little party. The kids had a blast playing in the ball pit. I can't believe Coda's 3 already. That evening Darric went to play poker at Brian's house and the kids and I ordered pizza and watched some movies. (Enchanted and Despicable Me)

06.26.11  sunday... Darric declared today "no computer or tv day". So him and Max went to get stuff to BBQ and then we had a paper airplane competition. First, Max was my partner and Madi was her dad's. Then we switched. I was the losing team and Darric's team won both times. I even tried cheating by looking on the internet on my phone, but I couldn't tell what the instructions were saying to do. We ran to get some ice-cream and that evening, the "no computer or tv day" was lifted. We watched AFV and I got online so I could write out my grocery list.

3 for the day...

01 madi's costume for her dance recital this year was pretty cute. she also had long mesh black gloves but had already pushed them down after her dress rehearsal at artemus ham hall.

02. madi finally pulled out her loose tooth last friday night. it's been loose for months now.

03.  max thinks the opposite of vegetarian is american. mackenzie is vegetarian right now and the rest of us are americans.

this week: 06.13 through 06.19

 

06.13.11  monday went to library and signed up for reading program. picked up mcdonalds for the kids and port of subs for me (got my sandwich free) 

06.14.11  tuesday jodie and kids came over to make recycled crayons. jen and her kids came over for a little while. kenzie made rice krispies on sticks dipped in chocolate, with sprinkles. 

06.15.11  wednesday madi had her dress rehearsal at artemus tonight. the whole family watched food inc together. kenzie is now vegetarian.

06.16.11  thursday went and picked up my fourth of july subway art at costco and then stopped at purple penguin on the way home. mmm. 

06.17.11  friday went over to the sprinkler park. madi got a bloody nose, luckily i had kleenex in our bag. kenzie sat and sweated with me while the other two got wet and then played at the park. we left to get slurpees (and a diet coke for me) then ran over to little caesars. kenzie went in and waited about 10 minutes for our pizza to be ready. 

06.18.11  saturday darric had to go run a call. which had him coming home just after the rest of us left for madi's dance recital. he was still able to get there before it started. grandma and grandpa carter came to watch too. madi's class did a dance to popular, it was pretty cute. and madi did an awesome back handspring. the girls and i picked up jimmy johns on the way home.

06.19.11  sunday the family went to look around REI and then sports authority. we ended up getting a new tent that will more than comfortably fit the whole family. and it was on sale! when we got home, i ran to albertsons for a couple things. when i returned, darric asked me to take him to get checked out by a doctor. he had numbness in his left arm and a little in his face. and he wanted to make sure everything was alright. we went over to the quick care and they told us to go right over to the emergency room at st rose. we got checked in and just a couple minutes later, he went back and had blood drawn, an ekg and cat scan. then we waited for the results. the cat scan didn't show anything bad. the doctor recommended an MRI and gave darric the number for a doctor. after hanging out in the emergency room (and memorizing all of the other patients' names) for about 3 hours, we headed home. i picked up some bayer for darric. we put up our new tent in the living room and then watched america's funniest videos together. probably not the way darric had planned on spending father's day this year. (we're so glad he's feeling alright this evening)

06.06.11 to 06.12.11

[M] 06.06.11 - body pump... grocery shopping at trader joe's... darric took the day off and went for a bike ride... had to fix a flat tire and ride against lots of wind... today was kenzie's last full day... she had an ortho appointment at 3:10... she picked pink and green bands this time... grandma gave the kids a bag of cookies... went and dropped off kenzie's viola... no more payments for that :) ...   

[more photos to come]

[Tu] 06.07.11 - spin... went and helped out at max's water day... the kids had so much fun... at about the 4th station, they were all getting their towels because they were freezing... they got to play duck, duck, dump... pass the cup of water with holes in it over their heads... ride this little push cart thing with a sponge in their laps over to the bucket and squeeze the water out... play in the kiddie pools with toys... bounce a soaked ball off a net and try to catch it and... snow cones... brooke's mom made them all cake pops to eat while they took turns changing out of their wet clothes... we went home for a little while before we had to pick kenzie up at 11:40... then we went and met jodie and her kids at great harvest for lunch... 

[W] 06.08.11 - body pump... kenzie got out at 11:40 again... we went and did a little shopping looking for teacher gifts... ended up getting some bundt cakes... i dropped madi off at dance that evening... came home to make spaghetti... darric picked up madi and then i went over to the cheesecake factory for my mom's birthday dinner... jen, jodie, sandy and calie came too... we went to target next to shop for a baby shower gift... andrea's this time... 

[Th] 06.09.11 - last day of school... spin... grandma becky came to our house and rode with me to take the kids... madi had crazy day and dressed pretty crazy... but was pretty hesitant getting out of the car when she didn't see any of her other classmates around... grandma saved us a spot at the school while i rushed home to get darric... max had his kindergarten promotion... they sang a couple songs and then all got their certificates... then we watched a slideshow of pictures taken throughout the year... it was so cute... when it was over, we went and lined up and waited for the kids to all be dismissed... then we got into line to get a picture with mrs thornton... i was so sad to say good-bye... i really enjoyed having her as max's teache... darric went to work and grandma took quincy bday shopping... i cleaned up the house a bit and then max and i went to target... we got him a $10 target gift card and he was ready to spend it... he saw two of his classmates while we were there and ended up picking out some halo mega bloks car thing... madi got out at 11:30... we went up to get a picture of her and ms o'brien... then we went right over to get kenzie... we had mcd's/port of subs for lunch and came home to eat... that night we went to spring mountain ranch to see annie...

[F] 06.10.11 - we all went over to jodie's for a blog meeting... the kids played together pretty good... jimmy johns no longer delivers there (jerks) so we ordered pizza hut... that night, darric and i watched true grit...

[Sa] 06.11.11 - the fam went out to dicks to look at the camping stuff... max wanted to buy everything, right then... we didn't buy anything... at 1:30 jodie and my mom came to my house and we rode out to andrea's baby shower... we played a few games... ate some yummy food... and watched andrea open gifts... 

[Su] 06.12.11 - got up and went out to red rock with dave, christi and chase... darric didn't stop at the right trail, so we ended up doing the same one we did last time... took a couple detours though... stopped for drinks at sonic on our way home...

Annie

 
the night after school got out, we went out to spring mountain ranch to see annie. grandma becky rode out with us. we got there at 5:30, which meant we had to wait 30 minutes in the sun before going in to get a spot in the meadow. we did get a better spot than last year though. jen, jodie, mason, grace, quincy and beckam got there just a couple minutes after we sat down.

it was warm out, but that changed once the sun went behind the mountain. (we were more prepared this year with more blankets.) we had our dinner... sandwiches (egg salad, chicken salad, pb+j). grandma took all of the kids for a little walk and then over to the concession stand for ice-cream. 

the show started a little bit after 8:00. it was a lot better than last year's show. but, by the time it was over, every kid was fast asleep. and grace was even snoring. ;) we had to wake them all up, because there was no way we could carry them out with all of our stuff.

we didn't get home until midnight, after dropping grandma off. 

 (jen getting beckam with the stick he found)

i think we've decided we'll only come again next year if us adults can find some comfy little chairs to sit in, that ground is killer after a few hours.

the last day

max was pretty cranky this morning and almost didn't sign his teacher's card. he was so nervous about having to stand in front of a crowd. i kept telling him that everyone there would be looking at their child and not at him. that didn't seem to help. 

i was a little worried that when his class came in to the multipurpose room, he would hold back in the hallway. but he came out, with his arms folded nicely and a smile from ear to ear. i was SO happy.

(getting ready to sing their first song. all about things growing. almost made me teary eyed.)

(walking up to get his award. almost made me get teary eyed.)

(max with his teacher for the last day. made me teary eyed.)

(madi with her teacher)

beginning to end

pictures taken on the first and last days of school...
(p.s. madi's class had crazy day) 

kenzie 6th grade


madi 4th grade

max kindergarten

summer to-do list 2011

OUR SUMMER TO-DO LIST 2011

make frozen bananas - i bought some from trader joe's - no one was really a big fan of them
go camping - it was wet, but we were there (bryce canyon)
pizzas on the bbq - a pepperoni/spaghetti sauce/cheese + a pesto/tomato/mushroom/mozzarella 
attend madi's dance recital - she did awesome
see a movie - we saw cars II, monte carlo/mr. popper's penguins, the smurfs
celebrate max's 6th birthday - we celebrate in bryce canyon and at jodie's
go to the water park - we went once to whitney ranch and twice to the green valley ranch pool
get snow cones - a few times from purple penguin
do a craft - bird feeders, yarn baskets, recycled crayons
go bowling - went to wildfire lanes
make a fort -
bake a treat - made rolo cookies, grandma dee's choco chip cookies,
go roller skating -
build a sandcastle - tried to at green valley ranch
take a hike - took some in red rock, mt charleston, bryce canyon
go on a family bike ride -
discovery museum -
summer reading program at the library - signed up and got our prizes
outdoor movie or play - saw annie
shark reef - 
go to a baseball game -
do a puzzle - me and max did a few 
have a costume party -
sky zone - we went to bounce u 
chuck e cheese - went. spent over $90 between us three girls.
have a picnic - had a picnic waiting for annie to start
popcorn and a movie at home -
visit botanical gardens at bellagio -
back to school shopping - it was a week long experience
fashion show - 
get pedicures [girls only] -
smile - 
enjoy popsicles - yes
sprinkler park - a couple times
water balloon fight - max got some for his birthday and they used them all
slumber party - grace, quincy, jacob and mason took turns at our house
trips to the park at night -
game night -
paint with water colors -
coloring contest -
rock wall climbing -
mail a letter -
marshmallow structures - made them
swim - we went to the daytons for swimming and snacks
grow plant pals -
fly a kite -
blow bubbles - blew some
make salt dough -
draw with chalk - did it after soaking them in water
hot rocks - the girls made some at grace's bday party 
play kickball -
go out for breakfast - darric had the day off and we went to ihop
create a terrarium -
make a paper airplane - had a paper airplane contest (darric won)
play in the rain - played, drove, ran
springs preserve - we all got passes to go
water volleyball -