Bella's 7th Birthday

 We celebrated Bella's birthday this weekend at Pump It Up this weekend. Everyone had a blast, even the adults- Jer played dodge ball with the kids and I even went down a slide.

 

 We invited her classmates and best friends for a total of 17 kids.

 The day before Bella helped me make her cupcakes that she wanted- chocolate with pink frosting.

 This year she received plenty of Legos. One of her best friends Austin gave her a really neat set that they spent half the day putting together.

 Mommy's present to Bella was a "Spa Kit" (I basically put together two small tubs for feet soaks, toenail polish, foot creams, pumice stone, face masks, etc.) As soon as we got home she wanted to try it out. She opened up her own spa, complete with an appointment board to check in.

 Victoria enjoys the fresh feel of her face from the facial. She even gave Bella a dollar tip after her appointment.



Victoria's Art Award, Bella's Performance, and other September News

 We went to Hawaiian Falls Water Park for the Labor Day weekend. It was our first official waterpark. The girls had fun trying out waterslides and being tossed about in the Wave Pool. Jer and I enjoyed relaxing and chasing the girls in the Lazy River.

 Grandma's Love

 I am room mom again for Bella's class. Just her class though! I learned my lesson last year of not being room mom for two classes; it was insane trying to keep them straight. We celebrated Mrs. Benne's birthday by having each kid bring a flower and a note from home and giving them to her first thing in the morning.

 Jer went on an ACTS retreat and really got to know the other men of St. Francis other Catholics.

 I'm volunteering up at the kids' school on Mondays and Wednesdays- helping out their teachers and having lunch with the kids. I enjoyed catching up with Nico and Victoria one day, as she shows him the lemon poppy seed muffin that she made all by herself.

 Victoria received an Art Award during a Friday Morning Live Assembly. I love her little skip to stage (see video.) She was very proud of herself, as were we.

 

Bella's 1st grade performance 

 

The kids enjoy the last of summer at the pool.

Cindy Turns 40 and the Girls' First Day of School

 I turned 40 this year and my loving husband threw me a big party. Thank you so much! It was wonderful. He really went all out. I had to attend a church seminar earlier in the day, and when I came home, I was awed at the amount of work the kids and he had put into decorating the house and setting up the food. He even moved the kitchen table in another room and created a "Dance Floor"- does he know me or what? All of my dear friends and family helped make my night one to remember. Jer even put together a Trivia game around my life- How well do you know Cindy? (my favorite vacation spot, my major, my favorite restraint, etc.)

 The kids all left around 8 and then the adults hit the Dance Floor. It was an awesome night! I wish I turned 40 more often.

 The girls started school at the end of August. They picked out their own backpacks this year. Victoria choose a coral pink sequined one and Bella choose a pink Angry Birds one. They where so happy and ready to go back (as was I- that last week before was constant bickering.)

 They have enjoyed their first couple of weeks thus far. Victoria loves her teacher, who she says is super strick, but super fun (a mark of a good teacher in my book). She also has a different one for reading who she says is nice. She is enjoying the more freedom that comes with being a third grader- playing on the entire playground area and eating your "Final Choice" desert whenever you feel like it. She has been super excited even to do homework- she came home and did an entire week worth of homework in one day. I think she wanted to get it finished so she didn't have any for the rest of the week, but, hey, I'm not arguing with her to do it:)

Bella likes her teacher too, although she told me that she likes Kindergarten better then First Grade because they got to do more cool stuff, and not so much Math and Writing. She is getting back to routine and finding new friends in her class. She came home the other day with a slip of paper with a telephone number on it. She told me it was from a boy named Jas who wanted me to call his mom to arrange for a play date. LOL!

Camp Idol

The girls had Camp Idol this week, where they helped to put on a production of a play based on the TV show American Idol. Bella was a contestant that sang the song Party In the USA. She was a bit nervous, but did an amazing job- she has a beautiful voice. Victoria chose not to sing and instead was a tough acting security guard for the show; she helped adjust the microphone stand for the contestants and escorted them off stage. Very proud of both my girls.

Alburquerque, Grand Canyon & Las Vegas Road Trip

We took a road trip this summer to visit my family in Albuquerque, see the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, among other numerous fun things. Our first stop was Palo Duro Canyon for horseback riding. It was unseasonably cool- thank goodness! This was my first horse back riding tour ever. It was so much fun, but I was so sore just from the one hour ride. The girls enjoyed it too, Victoria more so, as she kept petting and talking to her horse Deets. It was kind of funny to see how they matched up all the horses with our personalities. Deets was a beautiful white prissy horse; Bella's horse Festivus was a leader and stuck right beside the instructor the whole time; Jer's horse kept eating grass the whole time, and mine Domino had its head in the clouds and wanted to do its own thing, like walking backwards at times or taking the really muddy route or letting three horses cut in front of himself because he'd rather take a break.

The view at Palo Duro Canyon

Playing with the family in Albuquerque. *Respecting my sister-in-law and brother's wish, I will not be posting any pictures of my adorable new niece, but have to tell you that she is so beautiful and it was wonderful to hold her every second we got. 

Minigolf. Baby hazard!

Pictures in my parents backyard after church.

The Grand Canyon during a lighting storm was a memorable time.

At the Grand Canyon, they had a Junior Ranger program where each kid was given a book to complete about the canyon. Once they finished it, helped the park by picked up some litter, and went on an official Ranger lead tour (ours was about the types of fossils at the Grand Canyon), then they were sworn in as Junior Rangers, recited a pledge, and were given a badge. 

finding fossils

We hiked down the Canyon about 2 miles, before the kids started to complain.

Hoover Dam

It was over 100 degrees and the girls were so hot that after drinking some water from a fountain, they put it into their hair.

We also went to Las Vegas and stayed at a very cheesy hotel called Circus Circus. The kids loved it! They had a different circus act performance every 30 minutes, rides, and a Midway, where they won a stuffed animal snake that they named Lizzie from hitting a plastic chicken into a spinning pot of water (with Daddy's help).

Victoria was ecstatic to see the Eiffel Tower at Paris hotel on the Vegas strip. She has been so into seeing this since she did a report on Paris for her Girl Scout troop. I figure this was cheaper then flying her halfway across the world.

The next night in Las Vegas, we stayed at the Mandalay Bay hotel in a nice suite. The girls enjoyed swimming in their giant wave pool and Lazy River.

We also visited the Winslow Crater. Amazing!

Playing house at Grandma's.

Giving Peter a birthday kiss.

We celebrated Peter's first birthday the last day in Albuquerque.

Peter liked being fed the sugary icing from the cupcake, but as with most first birthdays, he was starting to get tuckered out and fussy.

Around 1ish we took off after Peter's birthday for a suppose to be 10ish hour car ride home, however, our car broke down in Wichita Falls at a closed gas station. Luckily the nice tow truck driver drove Jer to a 24 hour Walmart where he bought a new battery and replaced it. And viola- we made it home at 3am. (Every good vacation needs some drama :)