Elvis!

The long awaited classroom pet Elvis the guinea pig came to stay with us this past weekend. Since we don't have any pets yet, the girls were estatic! It was a great experience for them and the weekend went smoothly minus the 2 hours Lauren and I were at one of her classmates b-day parties and Shannon was home w/ Daddy and decided to feed Elvis part of a bag of mini carrots all by herself :) Thankfully he didn't OD on carrot sticks and we were able to return him to school this morning all in one piece :)

How we unwind after school....

After school, the tights come off...and the sillies come out :)
Lauren has a great sense of humor and keeps us laughing :) Her favorite stunt is to put her pj's on in the wrong order (panties on head, shirt on legs, and pants on arms).... I'll have to keep looking for that pic. In the meantime, here are a few other's...

Did I mention Shannon is silly and funny too? :)

(note: the potty seat on the head is gross on so many levels but in all fairness, I keep that seat a mighty clean)

hhhmmm...besides from us being silly, I wonder whom else may influence those sillies?

Growing Girls

Sept. 16th, 2008
Feb. 10, 2008
Sept 2008

Geesh, the girls are getting bigger! It has been so fun to watch their sisterly bond and true friendship grow. I think it is so important to have them tight, family first, so that when they are older and in different grades, they will always have a special bond between them.

We love you Lauren and Shannon!

Grandparents Day at Preschool

My mom was able to represent all of Lauren's grandma's and grandpa's for Grandparents Day at school last week. Its hard to live so far from family for one thing, but you are easily reminded how important it is for the girls to have their grandparents around....they just love them all to pieces! ....this includes Daniel's aunt and uncle whom a few weekends ago I can recall Shannon and Lauren using Uncle Harold as a horse :) I think our kids feel deprived of extended family because whenever we get around any they beam and glow with glee. Thank goodness the holidays are coming!

And thank you mom for planning your trip around this special day at school since we would have never heard the last of it had no one been able to come. oxo

oh and P.S... You were the best looking grandma there :)

Let's go to the Circus!

My mom was in town for the week and one of the fun things we were able to do with her was visit the circus. The last time my mom, Lauren, and I were at the Arco arena was for a Wiggles concert back in 2006 where we were the first to leave the concert and last to leave the arena (circular building=all exits look the same :) This time my mom made sure we knew where we parked :)

...except when you leave the markers are not visable from the arena so you have to walk down and try and guesstime where you parked. This time we were not the last to leave, but darn near close and my night driving was enough to scare the socks off my mom...and myself :)

Virginia City, Nevada

After the Balloon races we had lunch and a rest at Barb and Harolds then headed 30 minutes up a wild twisty mountainside to old town Virginia City (famous boomtown of old west and home to Mark Twain) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_City,_Nevada We ended up going the same weekend of their famous camel races but just walked along the old store fronts to stay out of the heat and enjoyed an ice cream.

With the early morning start the girls enjoyed early bedtimes and so did I. Daniel must have taken this picture and put her back in bed while I was out as well :)

Balloon Races

This past weekend we spent it in Reno with Daniel's aunt Barbara and uncle Harold. This was our third trip to the Balloon Races and by far our easiest trip travelwise with a 4 and 3 year old. To watch the dawn patrol, we had to get up a bit before 4am to get everyone dressed and out the door for the glow show. Last year Lauren was able to go up in a tethered balloon ride which was the highlight of her day.