Dare Devils

Grandpa's pool is magic! It can get the kids to do things it seems they would never dare do anywhere else.  Jase has had a hard time warming up to swimming this year, but he has loved Grandpa's pool. He's jumping off the waterfall, hanging from the basketball hoop and falling in, he's confidently swimming around and he loves it!!

Kylie decided it would be fun to learn how to flip off the waterfall and she mastered it immediately. It was her favorite trick to show off. She loves to night swim and she loved it when all the family would get in with her.

5 Hours and Counting...

 until I'll be squeezing these two again!!

 I CAN'T WAIT!! It's been 10 days since I have seen them. I have talked to them on the phone several times and I am pretty convinced they could care less if I come get them. They have had a BLAST at grandma and grandpa Hansen's  house. And from what I hear even Grandma and Grandpa have survived having them (although I am not totally sure I believe it). It's been a very quiet house around here and I am excited to spend a week with them in AZ and then bring them back home.

...I hope they remember me!!

Father's Day

Kylie and Jase are gone. We met my sister on Saturday in Kingman and she took them back to Gilbert to hang with my family while I am at girls camp this week. Since they would be gone on Sunday, we had a little Fathers Day celebration right before we left that morning. 

The kids helped me construct a money tie and we had a card for him. Kylie thought the tie was the most clever thing she had ever seen. She loved it...and I think Jeremy liked it too.

It's pretty much guaranteed these guys are two very lucky kids to have such a great dad!!

New Summer 'Do

I'm not going to lie, Jase has GREAT hair! It's definitely some of the best hair I have ever seen on a little kid. It's lays nicely, or styles into a faux-hawk almost automatically,  it's thick with the perfect texture and best of all it is very forgiving when the crazy little boy is being wild during a haircut, not to mention I have a thing for blonde haired little boy.

I absolutely love this messy faux-hawk! I was sad to cut it off but his hair grows so fast, it was time for a nice short summer 'do.

So I did the unthinkable and cut off those golden locks. He's still just as cute as ever and I know that hawk will be back in no time!!

My Baby Girl is Growin' Up

Kylie has got herself her very first loose tooth and she couldn't be more excited about it!!

I am secretly hoping she losing it while she is at Grandma's house because she loves those sort of things and to be honestly loose teeth give me the willies!! (and I hear the tooth fairy is extra generous at Grandma and Grandpa's house)

Man of the House

Jase discovered a cricket on our stairs this morning which he called "disgusting" (and it was funny). I  am guessing he thought that since that cricket was still sitting there this afternoon that I probably wasn't going to do anything about it until Jeremy got home. So Jase  decides to take matters into his own hands and divised a plan to keep the cricket secure in his spot so Jeremy could find it when he got home. He brilliantly took all the wipes out of the container and surrounded the cricket on the stairs. He had a pile on the stair above it, a pile to the right of it, and a big pile below it. 

The only problem was the only time that cricket moved all day was the second Jase got done with his trap and the thing jumped down two stairs. Bummer!! His plan didn't totally work, but I am giving him credit for at least trying to keep us safe. I think he knows how much I hate the thought of a giant black cricket roaming the house!!

Kylie's First Dance Class

Kylie has been dying to take a dance class for a really long time now. I promised her as soon as she was done with preschool I would let her take a class. So she patiently waited and as soon as she finished up preschool so started asking about it again. I looked into a few studios and found a studio and a class I thought she would like. I planned on waiting until the fall, but there was no guarantee she would get in if she didn't take the summer class and since I am a sucker and really didn't want a chance of her missing the  opportunity I signed her up to start in the summer. She's in a combo class where she is will learn ballet, tap and jazz. She started it last week and absolutely fell in love. She had a blast! She went right in there and confidently did exactly what her teacher asked her to do.  It was so fun for me to watch. I grew up dancing and I really hoped she would love it as much as I did and so far, two weeks in we are golden!!  I am excited to see where this takes her and hopefully she will find that it's something she loves and wants to continue.

The Muddy Desert

On Saturday night Jeremy took us to the "muddy desert" as Kylie affectionately called it as we were leaving.  It's was really just a little part of the Virgin River. Jeremy heard that they actually have skim-boarding competitions there and it's pretty sandy. We thought the kids would it was fun to play in the next to water like the beach. It wasn't quite at beachy as we thought due to all the rain we have received lately, but it was really fun to play around. 

The water was pretty cold still, but the kids liked "fishing" and Jase claimed to have caught several fish. He would lift the end of his stick out of the water and showing me the fish on the end and then he would whack it back in the water and wait for another one. He was pretty entertained for a while!

We decided it will be really fun to come back when the water is warmer and the sand dries out a little bit down by the water.  

As we were walking back to our car and the kids were toddling along, chatting about everything. Jase was observing everything he was walking on including rocks, the sand and sticks and then would point them all out to us. Kylie was telling us stories about wanting to go camping and fishing and building sand castles in the muddy desert and I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with gratitude for the little family I have been blessed with. I think I say this at about every age, but I really love the age these two are right now.  I love our little conversations and crack-up things they say.

Life has been crazy busy lately so it was fun to take a little time get away for a minute and enjoy our time together. 

Late Night Water Fight

Last night about at about 11 PM we had an impromptu water fight with squirt bottles! It all started when we were in the bathroom brushing the kid's teeth and Jeremy thought it would be funny to throw water over his shoulder and drench me.  

The kids laughed hysterically so

 I went to change my clothes, 

Jeremy put Jase in his bed,

 I grabbed the squirt bottle from the bathroom, 

I gave the squirt bottle to Kylie and grabbed the camera,

Jeremy grabbed the squirt bottle from the laundry

and then this went down...

Kylie finally put her blanket over her head and called a truce. We had water everywhere and poor Kylie came away soaked, but it was really FUN, and I loved listening to Kylie laugh her head off the whole time!

My Boy and His Big-Wheel

Jase loves this bike!! It was given to him by my parents for his birthday last year. It was pretty big for him then, but I think he has grown into it quite nicely. He's just about tall enough to petal it, but hasn't quite got the concept so he uses his tip-toes and rides it like the Flintstones. It almost looks like he is walking while sitting on it. It's pretty entertaining to watch!  Last night I found him down the street on his bike "pedaling" his little legs has fast as he could singing "Follow the Prophet...don't go astray" at the top of his lungs.  I would have paid a million bucks to have had my video camera at the time. I can't believe how much he's growing up. He reminds me often that he's not a baby boy or a big boy, (because he won't go potty in the toilet)but he's just a "little boy." And I love that little boy more than anything!!