Camping at Lake Mead

The first weekend in May we went camping at Lake Mead with our friends the Jacksons. We had a great time even though our trip was cut slightly short because we had to get back to meet Justin's family and get Justin packed to go to his Grandma Ashby's funeral in CA. The kids were all so excited to sleep in the tents but Friday night the wind blew so hard that we had to sleep in the cars and take the poles out of the tents. It was a long night for me since Mom's always seem to draw the short end of the stick and I was the one that ended up all twisted up trying to sleep half sitting half laying down the short way in the car. Oh well! The next morning and afternoon was beautiful.



There was so much to do and explore outside but the three little girls played for a large part of the day inside the car. It was good for Ariana though because she is so fair that it was really hard to keep her from burning and the car offered her some nice shade.

The Barbie Fishing Pole

Before we left I bought 2 pink barbie fishing poles for the girls from Wal-mart. We were really impressed with how well they work and how good both Ariana and Alexis can cast. Justin ended up spending a lot of the day playing with a barbie fishing pole too. Isn't he cute? ; )

The Jackson also brought kayaks. Ariana LOVED the kayaks and so did I. We had a lot of fun paddling around the lake.

When they weren't in the car the girls were collecting sea shells. Doesn't Alexis look great in those purple goggles?

When we got home we all looked rather comical because we all had sun burns in different wierd ways. Justin was just red all over because he didn't put on sunscreen. I used a face stick and apparently only rubed in the middle of my forhead because just above my eyebrows and around my hair line got burned but nothing in between. Ariana was fine everywhere except right under her eyes. Justin's family had a good laugh when they saw us that night.

Did you know your shower can turn into a bath tub?

Please excuse the lack of clothing. I probably should have been a little upset but all I could do was laugh. My girls have started asking to take showers and I don't mind because I don't feel like I have to sit with them the whole time when they do. They have figured out though that one of their bath toys is the perfect plug for the drain and last night used it to let the shower fill up like a bath tub. I think they were hoping it would go higher but all it did was start flooding the floor and I caught it before it was too much of a mess. Justin was slightly grumpy but I just couldn't stop laughing! It reminds me of an old I love Lucy episode when Lucy and Ethel get stuck in a shower that fills all the way to the top. (I was raised on old shows and movies, if you ever want to sit down and watch a good old black and white with some one call me and I'll be there!)

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a Siesta

This is how I found Ariana this afternoon right after my 4 year old preschool class was over. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a siesta.

Ariana's first hair cut

Ariana finally had her first hair cut last night. She has needed a hair cut for a long time (she is 3 after all and has never had a hair of her head touched by scissors which is amazing considering she and Alexis like to play with scissors daily!) I am typically too chicken to cut my girls hair so I leave that job to the capable hands of my sister-in-law Kristin. Last night after bath time I finally got up the nerve to do it my self when Justin was combing her hair and said "you could probably cut her hair. She just needs the hair the middle on her back trimmed" The middle part was about 2-3 inches longer than the rest of her hair and so I decided to do it. I've been dragging my feet a little on this because that part of her hair sooo curly and I love it that way and I've been afraid that cutting it off I'll loose all her curls. The hair cut went fine and we have yet to see if her hair will still curl because both her and Alexis wanted their hair in buns for bed time. I hope it curls still. We'll see.

Before...

The hair cut begins, no turning back now...

Happy Little GirlAll done!She wanted a picture with Daddy when she was done

Missing for 4 years

We moved to Las Vegas in July of 2005. Moving is hard but one of the worst things about moving are the things you loose. When Justin accepted his current job here Las Vegas the company paid for us to be moved. Two guys came to our apartment, loaded everything in boxes, wrapped up our pictures, furniture etc. and packed it into a truck. It was all so fast and effeicient, or so it seemed... When we finally settled down and unpacked our boxes I noticed we were a few utensils short. I was pregnant and so of course the first thing I noticed that was missing are my ICE CREAM scoops. I just moved to a state that litterally feels like it is on fire and my ice cream scoops ran away? NOOOO! (I was not happy but spoons work well for ice cream too) Finally last year Santa brought a new scooper for me but I've always wondered where we could have lost the other ones. Sunday Justin was going through the garage and decided to open up a box that contained his collector item magic cards...Ta dah... all of my missing utensils! Now why wouldn't we have thought to look there because everyone knows that collectors items (that never get touched) and kitchen wear should be packed together right? ; )

Dogs, Birds and the facts of life

Our dogs have been happily living in San Diego for a couple years (THANK YOU mom and Dad!) and finally came back home with us after Alexis birthday. The girls love having the dogs back and the dogs have been doing really well here both adjusting to a new home and be bombarded twice a week with preschoolers. Last Monday while I was at dance class our dog named Jewel caught a bird in the back yard and Alexis saw the whole thing. Justin was trying to not let her watch because Jewel actually was eating the bird but curious little 5 year old that she is wouldn't close her eyes and go do something else. Before preschool started on Tuesday we made sure all of the mess was cleaned up and Alexis asked me where the rest of the bird was. I don't remember what I said first but I wanted to see how she felt about the whole thing and so I said something like, "its sad the bird died" Alexis response surprised me. She said, "its ok there are lots of other birds" She wasn't sad she just stated the fact and that was that.

Ariana still doesn't think dogs eat birds (I was actually a little surprised when Justin told me that our dog had) and laughs at Alexis when she tells her that Jewel did. She says"Nooo...dogs don't eat birds" with a little chukle in her voice : )

Pretty Little Faces and Scars

We've had an interesing month full of blood and scares. First in mid March Ariana fell off a swing in the back yard. Alexis ran in the house yelling "Mommy, Ariana fell off the swing and hurt her tummy." Ariana likes to run around in only underwear and this day she was playing outside in only underwear so I went down stairs expecting to see scratches all over her tummy. What I found was a little girl covered in blood from her chin to her toes! She had her mouth full of blood, blood driping from her chin, blood all over her tummy, blood down her legs and driping on the ground. Turns out it wasn't her tummy at all. She had bitten her lip, scratched her chin and cut open a small gash on the side of her mouth. The gash was tiny but full of pebbles. My friend, neighbor, and pediactric ER nurse Tenielle looked at it and recommended that I clean it out. I decided it wasn't worth taking her to see if it needed stiches since the part that was the worst was the wound inside her mouth and there is nothing a dr. will do about that. Now Ariana is all better but a month later she has scars all over her chin and the gash feels like a hard ball. Hopefully they will continue to fade with time.

April 2, two days after we got back from our trip to CA I was getting a shoping list ready, Alexis was doing a paint by numbers that Grandma Frederick gave her for her birthday and Ariana tried to help. Alexis flipped out and while screaming and yelling at Ariana hit her head on my piano. I was upstairs and just heard all the yelling. Ariana wasn't suppose to touch Alexis paint so I went down to help. When I got there Alexis was screaming that Ariana had ruined her picture, what she hadn't realised that she had hit her head and it was bleeding everywhere. It was in her hair, all over her hands, dripping down the side of her face. It had even gotten in her left eye and because she was crying about her picture she was actually crying drops of blood from her eye! Ewww!!! The gash was on her forhead and I decided this one was worth having a Doctor look at because I didn't want her to have too bad of scar. Tenielle happened to be getting off work when we got to the ER and took Ariana home for me. I will never be able to thank her enough because we got to the ER around 7:30pm and the whole experience wasn't over until 12:30! Justin had been playing at a company softball game and got to the ER around 9:30. One of us needed to go pick up Ariana and so I thought Justin would go but Alexis wanted him to stay. I was a little shocked and wondering why but on the way home I remembered that when I was younger and I'd get hurt I wanted my Dad too. He was the one who always took me to the ER, or the urgent care. When I had surgury in college it was my Dad that drove through the night to pick me up when I was discharged. It makes me happy that Alexis wants her Daddy like that too. Alexis ended up getting 3 stiches and we are still waiting for 2 of them to come out. Of course this all had to happen now because it is time for birthday pictures! We got them taken last Saturday and Alexis hair is in her face and Ariana is wearing makeup to cover her chin.