Rainy Day Activities

We've been getting a lot of much needed rain and so we have had a lot of "rainy day activities" but I think this has been the best so far! A good friend of ours (thanks Warren - and Aubrey & Clayton!) gave us this bounce house a couple of months ago. We've had it in the garage and the kids know exactly what it is. Well, as I was setting out to get my hair done (a yearly event) I tell Brett, "Hey, here is our camping tarp, why don't you set the little bounce house up in the garage - I am sure there is plenty of room". (I was obviously thinking it was the smaller type!) And I came home to this! (Granted, my garage could be cleaner... but I am getting ready for a garage sale!)

Needless to say they had so much fun! Brett took these pictures and when I got home, it was only Cameron left bouncing... Carolyn was fast asleep in my rocking chair! Good exercise!

We are expecting rain on Thursday! :)

Tour of California Bicycle Race

Yesterday the Tour of California Amgen Bicycle Race came through Paso and it was an awesome sight to see and we were so happy to have gotten to be a part of it! The kids were home with a babysitter and we had a two hour break! (They would have gotten bored with waiting for the bikers to come - and I've since shown them these pictures and they call it a parade.)

The whole Spring Street (our main street) was lined and packed down at the finish line. It was amazing to see these guys coming. They had ridden 120 miles and passed us in their last sprint at 42 miles an hour! They were here and gone so fast you could feel the whhooosssshhhhh as they went by! Exhilerating!

Like I said, they went by so fast!!! And they were so close you could almost reach out and touch them!

We didn't get to see Lance Armstrong (well, technically I did - I just don't know which rider he was!) but we know he was there!

Ga-brellas

It has been raining here a lot (we are very happy about that!) and the kids have enjoyed a couple of jaunts in the rain with their "gabrellas"! And sometimes Carolyn calls it a "bralella". It is fun to hear the cute words they say!

At Thanksgiving time in our Parent & Me class, they made "turkey hands" by painting their palm and printing it on a piece of paper - making it look like a turkey. Cameron had no problem having his palm painted and really liked it. Carolyn, (who for a long time didn't like getting her hand stamped) on the other hand, I knew wouldn't like it... so I called them "turkey hands" and tried to make it fun. So then a few days later while driving, Carolyn saw the white hand in the cross walk and started yelling... "look, there's a turkey hand!" They still point them out!

Valentines Party

We had a Valentine Party with Cam & Car's friends. We had 16 little kids here... sounds like a lot but it sure didn't feel like it! We decorated cookies, made water globes, laminated placemats, & made valentines for some ladies at our church.

The Real Deal

I am the primary children's music chorister at Church on Sunday and I just taught the kids the song "Feliz Cumpleanos". For those of you unfamiliar with the song, it has 6 different nationalities in it saying "Happy Birthday". I had several people dress up as the different countries and Carolyn was our Norweigen. Her dress is authentic from Austria. Aunt Molly bought it years ago when my niece Karinne was Car's age and Molly took a trip to Europe.

Cameron was our Korean because I had the little "china doll" outfits I used for Halloween a few years ago. It barely fit, but it worked and most importantly he felt just as involved as Carolyn was. (There is a lot of healthy competition at our house!) I don't have a picture of that - but it was cute!

"Good News From Wisconsin"

Brett forwarded this in an email to me today and I laughed so hard! This is a shout out to all my family and friends from and in the midwest! Stay warm!

Got some good news from Wisconsin today!

Winter is almost over; we can see the deer wandering around now.

So I caught the 'Twilight' Bug

For over a year my friends have been telling me to read the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer, so I finally borrowed one and read it. I couldn't put it down and now I have just read the first 3 books (of 4) in the last 5 days! And they are between 500 and 600 pages each! (Brett can't believe I've been reading this much!)

So now I'm dying (Ha, no pun intended!) to get my hands on the last one! I plan to have it in my hands by the end of today!!!

(Oh, and I can't wait to see the movie for the first time when it comes out on DVD on March 21st! I'm thinking of pre-ordering... does that make me crazy?)