keeping busy

We have been keeping ourselves busy these past few weeks. Which has been nice, but it's also nice to play too.
painting feet and letting them run on a expanse of paper seemed to be a big hit.

ha- it rained... for like 90 seconds. Very exciting for people here in the Valley of the Sun.

We hooked Kayleigh up with a computer and games. She's a quick learner. We have never really let Kayleigh play on the computer. She's 5 for goodness sakes! She's supposed to be using that thing us grown-ups forget about... Imagination! Touchy subject I guess.... Anyways. She has computer lab in school so we didn't want her to be left behind.

I promised the girls if they learned to swim we would take them to the aquarium. Kayleigh was so excited to be there. She is such an animal lover. She kept picking out a fish in each tank and saying it was her friend.

video of K & Z swimming

My little swimmers did so well at their lessons. I wish we could afford to keep going! Zoe will be in the same class next time where Kayleigh will advance to the next group. Kayleigh did awesome concidering she would never even swim with floaties on before this. And Zoe, what can I say... there's nothing to it with her.

kitchen help

Miss Z has been really into helping me in the kitchen lately. Usually she's just excited to set the table, but yesterday she was super excited to help me make zucchini cookies.
you can't get a more genuine smile :)
love it.

swimming lessons

One thing on my to do list once we got settled was enroll the girls in swimming lessons. It just so happened that they had a new session that started on the 12th AND their cousin wanted to take lessons too. Kayleigh has a lesson at 11:30, then Zoe and Gunnar have their lesson at 12:00. It's been 3 days and Kayleigh has went to not swimming to swimming under water! And Zoe and Gunnar are doing great too. The littler ones have no problem getting wet and moving through the water (I'm sure they'll be swimming soon too). Above is a picture of the girls having a snack in the viewing area. They thought it was like being at a movie theater, but instead of watching a movie they were watching swimmers. Below is a snapshot of Zoe in the water while Gunnar waits for his turn.

kitchen and wet bar

Well, here it is. The smallest kitchen ever and a wet bar. At first I thought the wet bar was a waste of space, but it came in handy on Monday night. Only if there was a mini fridge under the sink instead of cabinets...

Potluck

Last night we held a potluck dinner. Katie, Josh, Shana, Jerame, Danielle and kids came. Our place is small, but we made it work with moving some furniture around and bringing outdoor chairs in. At one point there were 4 (!) people in the kitchen. That reminds me, I need to take a picture of the kitchen and wet bar area. It was lots of fun! Shana made guac, D made roasted herbed corn, I turkey burgers, and KT & Josh brought dessert. It was perfect and I hope we do it again and again.
Kayleigh and Gunnar are seriously BFFs. They have been spending lots of time together and never argue. They have so much energy! At the end of the night, they were both laughing it up in the bathroom doing eachothers hair with the squirt bottle and hand soap! We ended the night by giving them a shower. TOO FUNNY!

more condo

This is taken from the master looking towards the kid's wing. ;o) To the left is the bathroom and play room and to the right is their bedroom.

Bedroom video:

Our first meal was on the 4th of July and consisted of hot dogs, corn, and watermelon.

the new pad

It's been fun getting settled into our little condo. We love the character of place. It's old and has lots of quirks. Here is the walkway to our place... the pool is behind the bushes. I'm so happy to have a yard and pool (that I don't have to care for)! Here is the front. We are on the bottom, tucked away in a corner. The trees are amazing. There are orange trees all over the property. Yay!Here is what you see when you enter. The lighting/fan situation has been interesting. We have it all figured out now... I know for a fact that the next house we have will be flooded with natural light.This is the view if you look left from the entry way. The wetbar and kitchen got cropped out. I'll take a picture of the area later. It's strange. Although down-sizing has been a challenge, I think it will suit us just fine.

More to come...

Here We Grow!

Tomorrow we are going to be transplanted. We will have to drink lots of water so we don't wilt in the heat. Hopefully we can integrate easily into the new land so we can continue to grow and reach that mighty oak status. family photo shoot directed by kayleigh

Before and After

we put a lot of love into this house. i'm really going to miss it.

that horrible fan is going to haunt my dreams though ;o)

i don't have a picture handy, but my favorite part of the house is my red walls and white cabinets in the kitchen.