KC bids farewell

KC started a new job in Colorado a week ago. There was a week in between jobs that we were on a mission to get the house under control and make lots of fun memories to hold us through the 3 weeks of being apart. We had a garage sale on the coldest day in May! It was a huge success. We went to a fun park. Centennial hills park I think its really called. We call it Butterfly park. We also went to Boulder to celebrate Spencers birthday early since KC wasn't going to be here for it. KC surprised Spencer with a helicopter ride. Spencer was on cloud nine. His little round cheeks must have been aching from all of the smiling! The final picture is the day he flew out. Now the focus is pack, pack, pack, clean, clean, clean, and while doing that, have mucho fun with the kids so they don't dislike packing and cleaning as much as I will after this move! :)

Happy Birthday Spencer

Today is Spencer's birthday. We had a short party with all of his awesome friends. For a 4 year old, he sure has a ton of friends! We invited 6, and 6 came. Its amazing how supportive people are when they know its the last party you'll invite them to. Spencer received lots of cars, golf club and balls (plastic), a nerf gun, and loads of Cars 2 toys from the family. We picked the girls up from their last day of school and came home to play with his new toys. At that point his favorite toy was a remote control car from Kirsi, and a Cars book from Nana that she recorded her voice reading. It is brilliant. He listened to it 3 times. Next, we went swimming at a friends house. It was a gorgeous day today. I swam with Spencer and he was thrilled. The pool even had a small water slide that was a huge hit. When we got home we all cleaned up and had a surprise visit from Auntie. She brought tiny little Bunt Cakes. Yum! And finally, off to Chucky Cheese to use up coins I ran across while packing. There he opened family gifts and all of the kids are currently down stairs watching Cars 2. Its funny we hadn't bought it yet!

Packing

My family and I are moving to Colorado. Although there are a few spots of my house I try to keep clean and organized, (My hide outs), it feels like the entire house looks like this. Also,here is what the kids have been doing with the boxes. Playing, making forts, hiding in them. I'm glad someone is enjoying them!

Awards Assembly

The Awards assembly was This week. Allie and Savanah both earned AB honor roll. Spencer wins for best smile. Allie is standing next to Jake. She was a little embarrassed to get this picture with him, but she keeps telling me Jake should be her brother because they are the only two blondies in the class. Savanah and her amazing teacher Mr. Paris. He almost made me cry telling me how sad he was to not be placing Savanah in her classes next year. They are trying out periods, the kids will have multiple teachers. Im not sure if thats a great idea or not, but we won't be sticking around to find out! Spencer and his buddy. They were so loud playing cars, I thought someone was going to give me the stink eye.

Iron Girl Las Vegas

I participated in my first Iron Girl yesterday. I really enjoyed the triathlon set up. Once I got sick of doing one think, it was off to the next. The part that made me nervous, was the swim. If I wanted to try to be competitive, I'd have to train in a lake rather than a swimming pool! Clear, heated water with visible lines to guide you to a straight swim, vs. murky, 67 degree, wind whipped water with people swimming all around you... I was ready to swim, but not necessarily ready for having to swim with my head out of the water, due to the temperature, or looking up every 2 strokes to make sure I was still going in my desired direction. I loved it though. I'd defiantly do it again!

Me riding into the wind. It was cool to have my family drive by right then. A real pick-me-upper!!

End of race when I saw my family again. See how happy I am!

Post race pictures with my amazing and supportive family!

Spencer Misc.

Spencer wearing my running hat. Isn't he so cute! I love him to pieces. I especially love kissing the apple of his little cheeks.

Spencer and I were making cookies. He said "look Mom 'knife'" If you're kids have watched Tangled 1,000 times like my kids have, you'll get the humor with no further explanation. I laughed so hard, then made him do it again for a picture.

Spencer wants to be strong like Dad. So he eats good foods, and every once in a while tries to lift the 30 lb. weight.

The landscapers were here to fix a leak in the sprinkler pipe. Spencer grabbed his Handy Manny tools that Grandma Izzy gave him and headed out to help. The men were really nice to let him shovel the dirt back in the hole and put his tools in the muddy mess. I was tickled pink. Good husband in training!

Spencer made Higly Town Hero's out of his trains. Down the street from us live 2 boys. Next year they'll both be in jr.high, so they have grown out of their train craze. They generously gave Spencer a HUGE sack of their Thomas trains. Hundreds of dollars worth. Spencer picked out the multiples to give to the community center. It was tough, but he managed to part.

5th Dance recital

My dance studio nearly doubled from last year to this year. It has taken nearly twice the time to prep for the recital. Here is a sneak peek at one of the outfits. My mom, dad, and father-in-law will be coming to see the girls. I feel blessed to have everyones support. This has been so much fun!

Triathlon

The Mitchell girls are adding the title of triathlete to our resume. I'll be participating in the Iron Girl this Sunday, and the girls will do Blue Diamond Kids sprint triathlon in June. Allie and I have been swimming while Savanah is at practice. Allie has done very well. Sometimes we go running after we swim. It has been fun to spend that time with her. She is a cute deep thinking girl.

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Tough Tigers

We FINALLY have a decent soccer team! Hallelujah! We have been so patient. Allie is having fun, Coach KC is having fun, the parents seem happy... Allie loves playing back. They don't have goalie yet, but this position is pretty close to goalie! She runs right up and kicks that ball over everyones heads. I am glad this has gotten better! Soccer is fun.

Easter

We had a low key Easter this year. Our friends who have invited us to egg hunt for the past 5 years never called, so we had stuffed eggs, and no hunt! The Easter bunny found us and we got swim stuff and fun candy. We also started a possible new tradition. KC's friend from work took us and another family shooting and the kids hunted for eggs in the desert. I love this picture of me shooting, and KC with a shotgun in the background. He was so proud of me. He loves guns and has slowly warmed me up to the idea of them. I actually enjoyed shooting Mike's guns. He was very patient with me. It was funny to observe how patient people are with strangers, overly nice and positive, and impatient with their own family. I was laughing out loud at one point!

Eat lunch with your Child Day

The kids go to school on a 'closed campus'. I get the safety thing, but it is bummy. You can't go sit with your child at lunch?!? Is this normal? But, twice a year we are invited to eat on the field. My girls were both thrilled I could come and since they don't share the same lunch, we were there for 2 hours. Spencer played on the jungle gym the whole time. I think his favorite subject will be PE!

home with Spencer

It is so much fun spending my day with Spencer. We are buddies (except when I tell him "no"). He loves my camera and seeing pictures that have been taken of himself. I think that is common to this generation. "let me see!" One more year until kinder! I will enjoy every second of it.

Swim Team

Savanah has loved being on a swim team. She has to practice 5 nights a week and I haven't ever heard her complain. She is also the youngest in her swim age group (9-11) so she doesn't ever get ribbons. But I love her attitude and stick-to-it-ivness. Her favorite stroke is the back stroke. Saturday she signed up to do the 100 meter back stroke. She was pooped, but did a great job!

Allie Apple Seed

This year Allie wanted to do a science project. I love doing these with my kids and learning hands on about the scientific method. She was so proud of her poster and she even made a pattern with the apple seeds on her graph.

District Merry-go-round

For the past few weeks we have been choosing one night while Savanah is at swimming, to go across the street to the District and ride the Merry-Go-Round. Yesterday, when KC took the kids, he'd found they had taken it away. It was so cute. Not only could you choose from horses, but just about any other animal you can think of. I'm so glad we enjoyed it while it was there!