{Memorial Weekend Getaway}

For Memorial weekend, we had our friends Chelsa and DJ come and stay with our boys, so we could fly to Denver to meet the newest addition to the Summers Family, baby Penelope!

We took Mya with us because she is a "Little Mommy" and desperately wanted to hold baby Penelope.

 She adored her new girl cousin and constantly wanted to be right beside her.

 She was adamant about holding her all by herself.  I put my foot down when she requested that she walk around the room with her.

 She did let me have my Penny time, but complained every night when she went to bed that she didn't get to hold her long enough!  Penny is a beautiful baby and I already miss her so much!  I wish I could have just stuck her in my suit case and brought her home with me!  I know Mya would have supported me in that decision!

While we were also in Denver, I had the opportunity to use my mother-in-laws ticket to go watch the play Les Miserables!  It was such a moving and powerful play!  It was my second time to see it.  I first saw it in New York on Broadway when I was a nanny in Connecticut.  My sister Carmin and I experienced watching it from the front row.  Best first Broadway experience ever!

 I love spending time with my husbands family!  I could not have asked for better in-laws.  They are simply fantastic!!!

At the end of the play as we all stood to applaud, Kelly let out a loud, "Woo hoo!" I love his enthusiasm and passion about everything!

 On Memorial Day, Kenny and I along with his family and friends ran in the Boulder Boulder 10K race in Boulder, Colorado.  Kelly and the girls have ran in it for the last 13 years.  Kenny and I ran in it after we were first married, but I didn't take it too seriously.  I actually ate a donut as I ran that bystanders were passing out to the runners!

The Boulder, Boulder is such a fun race!  There are over 50,000 runners.  Some people dress up, while others are out to beat records.  The streets are lined with belly dancers, bands, and people lining the streets cheering you on.  I saw doritos, cotton candy, cupcakes, pancakes, bacon, and popsicles being passed out to runners as they went through the streets of Boulder.  Some runners ate as they ran, stopped to dance or drink,  and even stopped to go down a huge slip n' slide.  I took the race much more serious this year and did not partake in any of the yummy treats.  My goal for the race was just to complete the 6.4 miles without stopping, which I did in 67 minutes.

We all met at the end to cheer on Kelly as he entered the coliseum.  I am so proud of his accomplishment to finish another race even though he is 71 years old and was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease several years ago.   He is such a fighter and inspiration to me.

He had a shirt made that said on the back, "Parkinson's Disease Can't Beat Me Today."  "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

Mya loved playing with the Aunties when she wasn't holding Penny!

We had a great long weekend in Colorado!  Loving on Penelope was definitely the highlight of the trip!   I love being with family and look forward to many more long weekends of spending time with family in the near future!

{Back to School Night}

Our school year is quickly coming to a close!  I love the idea of not having to pack lunches every morning and help slave away on homework every afternoon.  Our summer is looking like it is going to be packed full of adventures, so we are all looking forward to being out of school.

We had back to school night at Sundance to see all the fun projects the kids have worked on over the last year.  We came home with arms full of art, journals, and stories.  The boys loved showing us around their rooms.

 Owen and his kindergarten teacher Mrs. Randall

Owen has learned to read and write this year.  He loves going to school with his brothers every morning and planning play dates with his kindergarten buddies after school.  I think he will be a little disappointed when he realizes he will be at school all day next year.  

He showed us how he could make a sentence on the word wall.  

 Ian had two teachers for 2nd grade who team taught.  He loved Mrs. Griffin and Mrs. Talkington and had a great year!  His favorite part about 2nd grade was having his best friend Max in his class.  I read his yearbook and each page mentioned Max and how awesome he is!  Ian's reading has gone up a couple of grade levels and his love for math continues to grow, just like his shoe size!  His principal the other day patted him on the head and said, "Shouldn't you be with the 4th graders!"  He is getting too tall!

Ian's room was filled with under water creatures!

 Drew's teacher Mrs. Waters is known for her spunk and fun!  Drew had an amazing year of growth this year and thrived with Mrs. Waters!  Every day when he leaves school he gives her a big hug.  She tells her kids she loves them and is always building them up.  He will definitely miss her next year.

 I felt like 4th grade was full of projects!  At times I felt like it was too much, but now that I look back at all he learned, I am grateful for how much he was challenged.  He has learned how to make power points, give speeches, write reports, and create poems.   His homework assignments are the real reason why I am most excited about summer!

I thought this was an adorable art project!  Each kids hot air balloon with their photo was hanging over their desks.  Hang on tight Drewsy...next school year is going to be a wild ride!

Sundance has been an amazing school!  As I write this the tears are rolling down my cheeks as I think of all the wonderful people who have influenced and taught my children.  We have been so blessed to have had the teachers we have had.  Each of them have helped shape my children into the people they are today and for that I will forever be grateful! 

{Hello Kitty Party}

Mya's neighbor friend Makayla, had her 4th birthday yesterday and Mya had a ball there.  Makayla and Mya spend hours together almost every day.  We often hear a knock at our door by 8am, with Makayla at the door asking, "Can Mya play?"  They run back and forth from each others house all day long. 

Mya was eager to have the clown Lollipop paint her face to look like a butterfly.

My beautiful butterfly!

Lollipop also made ballon animals.  Mya chose a Hello Kitty, to go along with the birthday theme.

All the little girls had so much fun.  

 And so did the moms!

The older boys were at a another birthday party, but Owen tagged along with Mya and I.  He was not that excited to attend a Hello Kitty party, but he ended up having fun when he learned Lollipop could make balloon swords.  He also spent the party playing x-box with the older boys, which was a big treat for him.   

I always love spending time with our wonderful neighborhood friends.  We have been blessed to live on a culd-e-sac with great families.  

{A Night in China Town}

We had the best group date with our dear friends on Friday night!  We all piled into the Patterson "Beast," which is a big white 12 passenger van and drove to LA for a night of fun!  

 We went to China Town to shop.  However, by the time we got there most of the shops were closing, which didn't disappoint Kenny in the least!

 We have the best of friends!  The Patterson, Headley, Ugapo clan sure does know how to have fun.

We ate great Chinese food at this restaurant.  We ate so much food that I felt sick.  Jokes were made, stories were told, and memories were made. 

Kenny taught me a fun way to read a fortune cookie when I first met him.  He said to add, "while in bed" at the end of the fortune.  It makes the fortune a lot more interesting!!!  We introduced the concept to our friends and had some great laughs.  I had a good one!

So being in LA late at night, we were destined to run into at least one crazy person.  As we walked back to the car, a skinny man walked past us and with a taser, held it up with it turned on and mumbled something to Mason.  Masons hand went straight to his pocket where he had just purchased a butterfly knife.  Luckily, the man kept walking, but it did make my heart race.  I think the man realized we had some pretty big boys with us.  Well four of them at least!

So after eating until I was about to purge, we went to the Donut Man, to eat some more.  It is a donut place that has won several awards on the Food Network channel and it stays open 24 hours a day.

I was shocked when we rolled up at 10:30pm and saw a line wrapped around the building.  

These girls Rock!

 There were tons of donuts to choose from, but I went with the award winning, Strawberry Stuffed Donut.

 It melted in my mouth and went straight to my thighs, but it was worth it!

I do not remember the car ride home because I slept the whole way snuggled up to Kenny, but I do remember a lot of laughing as I fell asleep.  I am so grateful to have such fun friends and for a wonderful and safe group date.

{Pastries with Parents}

I had the wonderful opportunity to go with Ian to his 2nd grade "Pastries with Parents" activity at school.  Each 2nd grader interviewed their parents about their school years, while enjoying donuts.  It was fun to sit with Ian and to reminisce about my grade school days and to give him advice for his future.

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 We sat with Ian's best buddy Max and his mom.  We think they are a pretty awesome family!

 I am so proud of Ian.  He has done so well in school and continues to be a leader to those around him. I always have fun when I am with him!

While I was at the school I saw this picture of Drew outside his classroom door.  All the kids were posing silly, so I stopped to read what he wrote about.  It gave me a good chuckle!

{Remember}

I was going through some photos from May and thought I should add them to the blog because they are moments I do not want to forget!

I found a pogo stick at a garage sale for adults for only $5.00!!!  Best garage sale purchase ever!  Now I can jump right along with Drew.  A competition might have to be held to see who can out jump the other! 

Flash back to the 80's!  This is me when I received my first pogo stick!   I still can't get enough of jumping on a pogo stick!  

Kenny is teaching Ian how to mow the lawn.  I  love the look on Kenny's face as he tries to give Ian directions over the sound of the noisy lawn mower.  Ian is very excited to have this be one of his new chores.

 Yes, Owen is wearing Mya's heart swim suit bottoms!  I walked in on him dancing and singing in the tub!   He stopped dancing long enough to pose for me.  I will definitely be using this as black mail against him when he is a teenager!  I also want to remember that Owen at this age keeps coming up to me and saying, "Mom, you are HOT!"  The first time he said it he said, "That means really, really pretty right?"  I am flattered by his compliment!

 The rain didn't stop Drew and Ian from playing outside this month.  They didn't come inside the house until their clothes were soaked.  I love when these two get along so well.

 Matt Nelson came to visit from Ohio and we LOVE him!  He is my dear friend Darcy's brother and he came to visit her for a week.   He and Kenny get along really well, even though Matt can't always remember his name.  He called him "Keith" for awhile and after being corrected by his family so many times, yet still not being able to remember "Kenny,"  he now refers to him as "Big K!"   We were excited that he invited us over to his "Cincinnati Chili" party.  He always adds so much fun to any gathering.  He and Kenny debated over who was the strongest, so they battled it out in arm wrestling.  Matt used two hands, but was victorious!

My bed keeps being hijacked by these two midgets!  After being kicked and elbowed all night I went to Mya's bed to sleep and Kenny went to Owen's!

These small moments in our lives,  bring me such great joy!  I am so blessed to have my family.

{Young Love}

Yesterday, Mya asked me who she was going to marry.  She begged me to let her marry her daddy, but I kept telling her he was taken.  Then she asked about marrying her brothers.  I told her that she couldn't marry them either and that she had some time to figure out who her future husband would be.   Her face lit up and she said, "I know....I can Marry LUKE!"  I told her Luke would be an excellent choice!

They have enjoyed each other's company since the age of 1 and continue to be attached at the hip today!

Mya and Luke - Mya's 1st birthday Pirate Party

Mya  (Hulk) and Luke (Iron Man) - Super Cute Super Hero's 

Berry Picking

Mya tends to be a little bossy and Luke just lets her do as she wants.  He's already learning great husband qualities!