at the library

Isabel and I have been going to the library for story time fairly regularly for the past 3 years. Isabel now goes to the 3-5 year old class that is unaccompanied by parents. Our friend Stephen is not 3 years old yet, so he goes to the younger class, but at the same time that we go. Today after the classes were out we were chatting to Stephen and Isabel gave him the letter "B" she got in her class. I said, "Isabel, are you giving your letter to Stephen for him to keep?" She said matter of factly, "yes mom, 'B' is his favorite letter." His mom and I laughed because we both knew that "B" is his favorite letter.

the dinosaur museum

On our way home from camping we passed a Dinosaur Museum about half way home and thought it would be a fun break. They had some large displays of skeletons of an Allosaurus and a Colombian Mammoth. The kids really like the little discovery area where you could uncover your own fossils, etc. Good Times!

Arches National Park

The ScoutMaster training was canceled so we packed up some stuff and took off on a family camping trip. Joseph and the kids had never been to Arches National Park so we camped near Moab on Friday and spent half the day Saturday driving around the Park and doing some of the easy hikes. The trip started out a little Rocky, when we drove around for about an hour looking for a good campsite. (and by good I mean, a site that was not right next to the road.) After we finally found a place that would work, I backed the car into a ditch. So, we spent the next hour digging around our car and putting rocks under tires so we would be able to drive it out. Thankfully, nothing has seemed to be wrong with our car yet. I think that is the most embarrassing thing I've done in my life so far! (Please feel free to privately let me know if you think I've done something else more embarrassing than that.) On Saturday we hiked to the Double Arch, Balancing Rock, North Window, and the Delicate Arch viewpoint. Isabel absolutely loves hiking, but especially the rock climbing part. She climbed around so fast and confidently....it made us a little nervous, but we had so much fun. We think this was Ansel's dream vacation as well because he got carried almost the whole time. We did have a lot of fun on our little adventure.

bike riding

Isabel had become quite camera shy lately and it's difficult to get a photo of her unless she is looking away. We all really enjoy going for little bike rides and now that the weather has started to cool off it's been so much nicer. Isabel has started "school" with our neighbor friend Stephen. We just get together on Tues mornings and have about an hour of structured activies: coloring/writing, exercising, music time, reading, and a craft project. It's a lot of fun and Stephen's mom and I take turns being in charge. We are getting excited to take a field trip to the Aquarium soon.
We are starting to miss dad a lot because of his new calling of ScoutMaster (in boy scouts of america). This has been a busy week for us and he is going camping withOUT us this weekend. But, it's ok because we have some fun things planned at the house and are going to try to go camping soon. That's what is new with us.

napping with dad

Isabel and Joseph are the heavy sleepers in our house. I took this photo after I took a screaming Ansel upstairs. Isabel didn't even flinch. Joseph at least kinda looked up to make sure I was tending to Ansel and went back to sleep. It can be quite a challenge to wake them up sometimes. Ansel and I on the other hand are not as fortunate....I wake up at any sound that could be a child (even a neighbor child or a baby on a quiet movie downstairs). When we check on Ansel to see if he is still napping in his room, I must open the door LESS than half an inch and put my eye up to the door to peek in on him or he'll wake up. I don't know if it is the quiet sound of the door squeeking open or the change in the sound of the fan's air circulation, but he'll pop his head up immediately.

my hungry boy

Ansel loves to eat. He just started having chicken nuggets and he really likes them. We have to cut them up very small and only give him one at a time or else he will stuff as many as he can into his mouth. I make all our baby food since it's a lot cheaper than buying it. We have done zuchini, carrots, corn, squash, yams, sweet potatoes, strawberries, peaches, bananas, etc. I just cook the food (if it needs to cook), puree it in the blender, freeze it in ice cube trays and then transfer it to baggies. Then it's very easy to heat up a few cubes at meal times. I learned this trick from my sister Cindy.

happy birthday isabel!

As Isabel and I were looking at cakes online, she found a puppy dog cake so we clicked on it and she said, "That does not look like a puppy dog to me." I didn't think it looked like one either. It was funny. I'm glad that she choose the rainbow cake because it was VERY EASY. We had a very busy and fun day. We opened some presents/cards, played at Chuck E Cheese, ate at Los Hermanos (by Isabel's choice because they sing to you and bring you a free desert), swam with the cousins and friends, did water ballons, played with toys and ate cake. When aunt Cindy asked why/how she was getting so big she said, "I'm just growing up." And she sure is!