Why Not?

It has been just plain cold again here in the Rocky Mountain State.  Its typical Spring weather, but after putting my fleece away for a while, I have had to pull it out again this past week.  My has it been chilly....and windy.  Spring Fever is running rampant in our house!

This past Sunday all of my family got together to celebrate my Mom's birthday at our house.  Bob and Derek were taking care of a fallen tree in our yard and Mykennah, Kennleigh and Lily were playing outside.  It wasn't above about 45 degrees, but they were content to be in and out even with cold fingers and toes.  I was coming out of my bedroom when I heard all three of the girls storm inside and Lily, running right up to me, says excitedly, "Mommy, can we run through the splinklers?"  Thinking I misunderstood her request I replied, "You wanna do what?" and she repeated, "Mommy the splinklers!  Can we run through the splinklers in the backyard?"  Really?  "But its cold outside Lily. You will freeze!!"  She went on to tell me that they wouldn't freeze and that they really, REALLY wanted to run through the sprinklers.

Every rational, adult bone in my body began to conjure up all solid reason why running through the sprinklers was a silly idea.  Its too cold, its too late in the afternoon, they will get sick, they could slip and fall, it will make a mess....and so on.  Why in the world would I allow my child and her cousins to run through the sprinklers when it was 45 degrees out?  The answer...

WHY NOT?

I have some of the greatest memories of swimming in our pond at home when it was 60 degrees outside.  Mom let us freeze and we did, BUT, we also had a blast.

We got the girls in their suits and sent them out to play.  What a sweet and special memory.  Look at their smiles.  Look at the delight on Lily's face.  

They played in the water, sprayed the hose, doused their hair and shivered the entire time.  I'm glad I didn't miss the moment to let these three best buds be kids.  Childhood only lasts so long.

Giving Away 1 Baby Sister

Do you wish you had a sister?  Do you wonder what it would be like to have a little person following you around?  Do you like to share all of your toys all of the time?  Well I have just the thing or you!  You can have my little sister.  I would like to give her away.  At first I thought a little sister would be awesome, but lately I have discovered the undisclosed truth about having a sister and I have decided I don't want her anymore.

A few things you should know.  She screams....and often.  She really loves to scream at you.  She wants to have everything you have and take all of your toys and put them in her mouth.  She gets in your way when you watch TV and wants to lick your favorite toys all of the time.  She follows you around EVERYWHERE and finds you even if you try to hide.  She pulls on your clothes, pulls your hair, scratches you when she tries to balance on you and is even starting to bite.  Did I mention that she pinches?  Don't expect to have Mom's undivided attention anymore because this little sister is always interrupting.  You don't have freedom in your house cause there will be gates and blockades up everywhere you go. You will feel like a prisoner sometimes.  Its great....

If you would like specs and other details of this sister please send inquiries to Lily Longmire (Mom and Dad aren't really on board with the whole giving away thing).

Arizona Vacation Part 2

Well after we spent our fun filled day at the zoo each additional day could be summed up in one word, BUSY.  The weather in sunny AZ was perfect and outside was simply delightful.  Katie was so cute with little Evie and took over the big sister role so that Lily could have a break.  As you can see, Miss Evie started getting stronger and stronger practicing all of her moves.

Since I was travelling alone with the girls, I decided against bringing my jogger so the week was a well deserved running break for me.  Since Matt is a conniseur of breakfasts, I had to do something to at least even out the calorie consumption so I headed back to my old gym Fitnessworks for my 3 favorite classes.  It was so much fun to be back with the old instructors and Stepping, Pumping and Attacking my way to fitness.  After our class one morning we got to spend some time with Cassie.  Gosh I miss this girl.  She is now an IRONMAN finisher and my idol.  It was so much fun to see her IRON room and dream of the day when I will reach that goal.  

Sunday brought with it a real treat when Lily, Evie and I got to head back to our old church Love of Christ Lutheran for worship.  We have such great memories in that place, what a treat to return.  Lily and Katie enjoyed dancing to the music and Evie and I got reconnected with our dear friend Erik and met his little lady Lyla.  I love how God orchestrates things.

It was so important to me that we spend some time with all of my Arizona family while we were down there.  Sunday afternoon was the perfect time and we spent several hours with Uncle Rob, Aunt Steph, Chelsea, Michael, Nathan, Charity, Lexi and Alayna.  I miss all of this family and the time together was wonderful. All of this family hadn't met Evie yet so they were able to snuggle her a bit!

Monday and Tuesday were a couple of my favorite days.  Monday the three of us girls spend most of the day with Charity and Lexi.  Evie loved Lexi's swing and Lily was content to watch movies, or swim when there weren't bugs around.  So wonderful to spend some time getting to know Charity again as a mom instead of just a cousin.  It was special.

Tuesday we sent Katie and Mason off to school and then headed over to spend the morning with Chelsea and Michael.  Another wonderful day.  Makes me miss Chelsea a lot.  Life has changed a lot for her since Curtis died.  I am honored to know her and to share even a little bit of life with her.  She is a special woman  for sure.

Into EVERYTHING by the end of the trip

Naked swimming is the BEST!

Our time in Arizona was simply fabulous and aside from missing Bob I didn't want it to end.  

Arizona Vacation Part 1

So, um, now that Evie is crawling and into EVERYTHING, I have literally no time for blogging.  I have seriously wanted to tell everyone all about our Arizona adventure for a couple of weeks now and I just cannot sit in one place long enough to compile a thought let alone write it down and put a picture to it.  I have been rather cranky lately and it is directly linked to this new reality that I am in.  I cannot get anything done lately.  I know I will adjust, but man, Evie has taken flight with this mobility thing and wants to be in everything she shouldn't.

So as the little one is sawing zzzzzzs at present I can finally sit down and start the Arizona debrief....

What a wonderful and incredibly timely visit Arizona was for the 3 of us girls.  Getting packed and travelling out there was a little stressful, but once we arrived in the sunny desert, I was so excited.  Ahhh, a break.  Lily was simply elated upon arriving at Matt and Tara's house and finding Katie excited and ready to play.  The two of them were blossoming buds back in December and they picked up right where they left off.  Between princesses, dollhouses, books, Mickey Mouse and the pool, they fast became each others occupation.

FANTASTIC for us moms.  Even though the pool was still very chilly, Lily could not wait to dip her tootsies and self in it.  We ended up in the pool within 1 hour of arriving on the ground.  Lily is still not a completely independent swimmer, so Tara put a little inner tube around her.  Before I knew it Lily was jumping off everything including the waterfall and going down the slide.  The girls desperately wanted to sleep together that first night and after attempting the sleep over for an hour, it was clear sleep was not on the agenda.  I was a little nervous about Lily sleeping in my bed, but after one day, it was clear that so much fun lent itself to sound sleepers.  They were zonked every day!

Our first full day in Phoenix we went to the Zoo.  It was a wonderful excursion especially because my cousins Chelsea and Charity came with their little ones.  I was able to meet Lexi for the first time  and all of the little kids just couldn't get enough of the zoo fun.

Since Arizona spends much of its Summers in an oven state, the splash pads were already open and flowing for the toasty kids to run around in.  Lily was beside herself and could have stayed there all day.  

We saw animals, played on the playground, ran through the splash pads and even took a ride on the carousel.

The fellowship of all of us Mom's was wonderful and the morning was well spent.

After our zoo trip we headed to my favorite hamburger joint, In-n-Out.  Oh my heavens was it so good.  I thoroughly enjoyed my cheeseburger, fries and milkshake......so did Lily.