Summer visit from Josh and Kristin

Okay... So- I really think God was showing off when he created this creature. This peacock put on quite a show for us and was so beautiful. Definitely My favorite today.
The end of a long morning. Halle had enough. But the rest of the fam was happy to pose. Here Ellie gazes at a Orangutan.

Cheese...

Ethan (Peanut Butter Jelly smile) and baby gorilla.

Kaden reading to Ellie, Halle and Ethan their first night together here.

Welcome our new baby niece...

Richard's sister Vicki and husband, Craig welcomed their baby daughter , Kalyn Evi Jo Killingsworth into this world on Thursday, May 21 at 5:40pm . She weighed in at 6lbs 11 ounces... We are so happy for them and can't wait to hold our precious niece.

Summer stuff

Summer Fun!!!

Summer is here (pretty much). Last night we slept with our windows open. -I love that about Colorado. The days are warm (what you Texans would call cool ) and breezy and night cool. -Perfect. So, here is the beginning of my Garden for this summer.. You can see my Strawberries doing great along the fence. The dirt is where I've planted seeds... Waiting for later harvest.

Daddy's girl.

There have been some requests for more pictures of Sasha. .....

Ellie

I just love this picture and had to post it!

Sand Box Project

We decided to start a new project yesterday. We got some free rock from an obliging neighbor. So we rented this machine to scoop, gather and transport all of the tons of rocks to our front yard. Then I got to shovel and rake rocks for hours. So fun. But when we are finally done with new and improved side yard/ sand box/ rock garden it will all have been worth it. Here are some pics of Rich in action on his rented sand toy.

OH, doesn't my girl look so sweet! This her favorite new dress ( I got at a garage sale this weekend for 33 cents)

And what kid doesn't love shucking corn? This was in preparation of our little dinner party Friday night.

Ethan's Pre-School Spring Program

Well, it was a smash. Ethan did so great. We are so proud of him this time. He actually participated and sang and did the motions. Of course he knew that we were going out for Ice Cream afterwards. Who wouldn't sing their heart out for some ice cream? His little buddy Ava got a little nervous, as you can see. Here is one of E really getting into it . Unfortunatly this camera didn't capture great pics(bad lighting and we were too far away), but I did take some with the good ol' 35 mm too.

Ellie just loved getting a night out on the town and seeing so many kids.

Okay now this little video was taken with R's Blackberry so the quality is very poor. Mostly I'm putting this on here for Grandma, Paboo ,Mimi and Pappa to see. If you do watch, Ethan is front and center with a green shirt and jeans. A girl in a black dress is to the right of him. Enjoy!

May Day celebrations

I had a wonderful Birthday this year. I got to celebrate with friends Friday night. We went to a fantastic little Greek restaurant . And of course the kids had to have "Birthday cake" (the kids, not me).. So this year we went with the Cookie Cake - a childhood favorite of mine. It was a big hit with the 2 E's.

Saturday, was a cold rainey day here in Colroado Springs.. But that didn't stop us from enjoying some great Tex-mex. Richard found a new favorite.

Ethan and ladybug, Ellie shopping

Ethan was so excited to find this ladybug yesterday. Today we all went Petco to buy Sasha some new chew toys. Ellie and Ethan both were so excited to see that they had "shopper in training " carts. So they pushed a tiny cart around the store and found lots of fun goodies for Sasha. Ellie especially loved it ... when she wasn't busy commenting on stranger's painted finger nails and telling them about her new flip flops.

Josh and Dana visit from DC

Fun in the mud!

Our friends, Josh and Dana came out for a visit from DC. They have two little boys, Jack and baby Henry. Both Ethan and Ellie had so much fun with Jack.

The kids had so much fun having new friends to play with. Mr Josh was a great playmate for all .. especially at 5am when he was up with the baby and our kids decided to get up too..."Play time"!

Ethan, took it upon himself to be sort of big brother to Jack. They played so great and Ethan even enjoyed pretending to be Jack part of the time. Cheeeeese!

Unfortunately it was a blizzard the first two days of their visit. But the kids got to go out and play in some snow...

Easter Sunday 2009

Easter Sunday in Colorado Springs. Ethan , Chillin' in the Coffee shop- looking rather James Dean-ish... Except he has sweater vest on and no cigarette. I don't think Dean ever wore a sweater vest.

Ellie, of course enjoying her yummy Pancakes.. -who wouldn't?

Easter Sunday, we are in the lobby at church.. and yes, that is a fire burning in the fire place because it is a frosty 31 degrees outside. It snowed from 7am until well after noon. Thanks to Kim she brought her camera and took pics of us... I thought it about time that she be "blog -worthy"

Fun Picnic at the Park

With winter drawing to a close (hopefully), we are enjoying some great spring weather. Perfect for days outside. Today, we went tothis great park. That is not but maybe 20 minutes from the house. We had a great time there today with Kim , James and baby Troy Buchanan.. picnicking and playing in some gorgeous Colorado Springs weather.

This is Kim attempting a great shot from above... It didn't really work though... Try getting getting a 2 , 3 and 4 year old to all look up (while spinning) in the sun at the same time.... Not gonna happen.

Sasha's first trip to the Groomer...

So here is our new dog.... (She looks very Poodle-ish now) I think I miss her her fluffs... Official Before:

And After:

When the groomer brought Sasha out both Ellie and Ethan did not believe that this was our dog. The whole drive home Ellie kept telling me.."Mama, go back. We got the wrong dog. That's not Sasha"... I'm not sure she even beleives me now 2 hours later... But after Sasha stole one of Ellie's PBJ squares - I think Ethan is convinced that it is indeed Sasha....

Blizzard

One of the things that I love about Colorado is that it can be 70 degrees one day and then blizzard the next. So, we had a blizzard come through Thursday and Friday. It was so nice to get this beautiful blanket of snow. But by today most of it has already melted away.

This was from one of our recent Zoo visits...

Ahhh... the joys of snow play..

Snow, Snow, Snow

Snow day! Our Puppy is growing so fast. She loves to roll around in the snow. Awe.... So sweet! (you should have seen them 2 minutes after this)

I guess this is Ethan and Ellie's attempt at a U2 photo op! A nice little family bike ride at Red Rock Caynon Open space.