a week at a glance

so for those of you who are wondering how our week went.......

• tues. ~ isaac & lauryn each had their own tumbling class to attend. isaac did rather well because he's so athletic & has so much pent up energy. this was lauryn's second class & she basically just wanted to swing on the bar for 20 min. maybe next week we'll be able to get her to walk the plank......i mean the beam, or do a somersault. after that we headed over to the activity pool where we met laurie & avary. they took off around the time jerolyn & her girls showed up. we spent 3 hours there. what a great way to cool off when it is 105 degrees outside. we brought lunches along & isaac enjoyed a treat from the ice cream truck. both kids (&me2) were wiped out by the time we got home at 3:00. dennis volunteered some time at church to assist in delivering & handing out bottles of water to homeless people. makes you feel doubly blessed when we can just get water from our handy little button on our fridge after filling the glass full of ice.
• wed. ~ isaac had his first tennis lesson. there were 12-14 kids in the class. we knew his friends olivia & tess were going to be taking the lessons with him, but we were pleasantly surprised to see friend malaya there as well. next we were headed to the free summer movie at the theater.
• thurs. ~ took a trip to the library. checked out some (by some i mean a lot!) of books before joining a small group for storytime. fun stories to listen to & songs to sing &, wouldn't you know it, we ran into malaya for the second day in a row. her mom told me that she said to malaya, "just tell them to stop following you around." my friend kelcey came over that afternoon. we had b'day gifts to exchange.......we're a bit slow. her b'day was may 8th & mine june 13th. she got me lots of fun things from ulta ~ hair ties, nail polish, bath gels & lotions. yum! i had choir practice that evening to get ready for our church's "one nation under god" concert we'll be performing at 2 services this coming sunday to celebrate the 4th of july.
• fri. ~ so the day has just begun & it's full of laundry & taking a break to go to the gym. you may think that i'm in great shape........but the gym is almost more for the kids than it is for me. it gets them out of the house for a few hours & a chance to play with others & be wild'n'crazy outside of the house. it's nice to get that out of their system. if we're lucky, dennis & i may be able to stay awake to watch an entire movie tonight. :)

now that you've read how our week has gone, you can read the same post next week, the week after, the week after that..........ha, ha, because for a few things here & there.........it just repeats itself. you're lucky i left out the part about the neverending stack of dishes, the continual covering of dust even though i JUST dusted, & racking my brain every day for something good to make for supper!

she wore a raspberry beret....

the kind you find in a second-hand store.

raspberry beret,

and if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more.

raspberry beret,

i think i lo-o-ove her!

~prince~

saturday morning we decided to brave the heat & head out for a bike ride. we took off exploring some neighborhoods nearby that we hadn't been to before. isaac was very concerned that we wouldn't know exactly how to get back to our house. he's very observant and shares ALL of these observations with us. lauryn was a bit cranky as we left on the ride. turns out she was tired! this is how we found her when we got back home.

after relaxing a bit isaac headed over to a friend's house to celebrate her birthday. lauryn, dennis, & i decided it was time to hit the pool & cool off. lauryn got dressed up in her new swim outfit..........and headed out to the baby pool. :) she splashed around in there until we coaxed her into the big pool & made her have some fun! dennis was off to work the hbo fight (ricky hatton vs. jose luis castillo) at the thomas & mack while the rest of us were off to the........

CIRCUS!!

along with us were friends kole, avary, & malaya. as the kids enjoyed their $12 cotton candy ($3 worth of which isaac dropped on the floor) they enjoyed the elephants, horses, tigers, & dogs. the trapeze acts & high wire walkers were amazing. the kids had a lot of fun but were ready after 2 hours to get home & relax after their busy day.

Malaya, Isaac, & Kole

wake me up before i go-go

the other day i went to check on lauryn while she was napping. i found her butt naked! she had whipped the diaper off at some point & hurled it onto the floor. when i walked into her room, i saw her sleeping on her belly with her knees hunched up under her, sleeping peacefully. i tried to sneak out as quickly & quietly as i could to get the camera. i returned & she was in the process of waking up. apparently, when it's a scorching 105 degrees outside & it's 85 degrees inside (thank you nevada power!) lauryn thinks it's cooler to be au naturale. so i got a diaper on her as quickly as possible because the other day when she had it off for a minute she was squatting & doing the deed before i could even comprehend what was going on. oh that little biscuit!

happy father's day!

happy father's day to the #1 dad!

the day flew by........

we hung out together this morning just relaxing until it was time to go to church. isaac helped dennis & me be greeters before our service started. he draws a lot more attention than we do.

after church, we again headed to the district where we had lunch at the elephant bar. delish!

on the way home, our biscuit crashed. she was so tired she didn't wake up when daddy brought her in the house & laid her down. that is why she didn't make it into the father's day picture. oops! isaac was so eager for dennis to open his cards & his gift that we did it while lauryn was napping. we got dennis an inspirational quote that we had matted & framed. the picture reads:

Champions aren't

made in gyms.

Champions are made

from something they

have deep inside them ~

a desire, a dream,

a vision.

~muhammed ali, 1975~

father's day bbq

on saturday our friends ed & seres held their annual father's day bbq. we had a fun time visiting with friends, eating yummy food, & swimming in the pool. the pressure is on now for friends chris & dana and kenny & tammy to each have a girl. right now, they each have a boy & the other 5 of us couples have a boy & a girl. what are the odds of that happening? it was a great day & we were all exhausted by the time we got home. we hit the showers & then the beds!

the future's so bright.........

........we gotta wear shades!

thanks uncle nate & auntie dee for the cool sunglasses!

bike ride

the other night we decided to go for a bike ride. first it was just lauryn & maxie in the cart because isaac rode his bike around with us for awhile. when he got tired out we put him in with the girls. this was the first (& only) time maxie had ridden with them. she was a bit too nervous about the ride & she didn't leave much room for isaac's long legs. we've been enjoying our bike rides. we try to go in the morning or in the evening when the sun is going down. otherwise, it's just too hot!

biscuit recipe

HOW TO MAKE BISCUITS
ingredients:
love
laughter
smiles
hugs
kisses
patience
directions:
start with a lotta love, stir in some laughter, throw in handfuls of smiles, constantly add an unending number of hugs & kisses, and mix in some patience here and there.
the end result:
a love biscuit by the name of lauryn

sleepyhead

isaac missed me this evening since i had been gone for a few hours. he asked me to come lay with him & i happily obliged! we talked for awhile about what he did with daddy while i was out of the house ~ he told me that lauryn wasn't too fired up about going to bed, & we said our prayers, including uncle nate & auntie dee (formerly known by isaac as "uncle dee dee"). we prayed for their baby to grow strong in dee's belly. isaac wanted to know what kind of baby they are having, but i explained to him we'll have to wait awhile to find out. he's very excited about the baby! as i put my arm around him, & he so kindly reciprocated the gesture, i said "it's time to stop talking now & close your eyes."
isaac said, "but there are so many questions that you have to ask when some people go to sleep."
and then he was off to dreamland!

jen's b'day

yesterday was no. 34 for me........yikes! i had a great day. the kids & i met my friend laurie & her kids, kole & avary, at an outdoor aquatic center at one of the rec centers. we spent a few hours frolicking in the water before we headed home for lunch and much needed naps. i received so many calls, cards, & e-mails from friends - thanks everyone, you made my day! macaroni grill was on the menu for the evening & it was sooooooooo good! i ordered the chicken florentine salad (my friend kelcey introduced it to me), dennis had the twice baked lasagna, & isaac ordered the spaghetti with one giant meatball. poor lauryn had to fight for our scraps. :) afterwards, we headed to the district (a local shopping area) to walk off some of those calories we inhaled. it was a beautiful evening.......until lauryn decided that she'd had enough. once home, i was serenaded with happy b'day & we enjoyed the semi-homemade jello cake i made for myself. it was light & refreshing & kept isaac quiet for a few minutes. i opened gifts - fun! but my favorite gifts were the hugs & kisses i got from my family. love you!!!!!

carousel

last week the kids & i went to the mall for storytime. our friends jerolyn & ellie met us there for story, songs, carousel ride, & the best thing ~ ICE CREAM!

isaac sat along side his friends olivia & tess. when ellie arrived she hopped right over to isaac. lauryn couldn't make up her mind if she wanted to join them or sit with me on the bench. isaac sat protectively watching over ellie, sometimes with his arm around her. so sweet! it reminded me of when jerolyn babysat isaac, & ellie's sister, maggie, would do the same thing to isaac. i can't count the number of times that 4 year old maggie picked up 1 year old isaac & carried him around. it was so endearing yet would make you cringe & say a silent prayer, "please don't drop him..........it's a tile floor!" anyway, i thought it was so sweet to see isaac reciprocating with ellie. i guess it's the circle of life.......what goes around comes around. that's why i'm so thankful that we found jerolyn & her family to watch isaac when he was just a teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy baby. the stephens family fell in love with him right off the bat & now 4 years later, we count them as some of our dearest friends.

rock on!

i thank you american idol & blake lewis from the bottom of my heart. oh yeah, and add bon jovi to the list. because of you i get to hear my son blaring at the top of his lungs,

"shot through the heart, and you're to blame, you give love a bad name....bad name!"

really, it is so cute that isaac loves the song & could pick up on it so quickly. he has a talent for that. but after hearing it 10 times in a row ~ENOUGH ALREADY!

let's make a deal

remember in the may 31st preschool post i wrote about isaac praying to God to "please help me turn 5"??? i too am praying for that!

isaac has been needing help wiping after dropping the kids off at the pool even though i bought him the kandoo wipes for kids. when he bellows "i need help!" supermom (in her invisible cape, you know the one all moms wear!) comes to his rescue, asking him why he can't do this himself. his answer, "i will do it when i'm 5." (refer back to the may 21st post). apparently i forgot this deal that we had because this morning after he finished his job i said, "the kandoo wipes are right there, you can do it yourself."

isaac replied, "i'm not 5 yet!"

needless to say, i'm looking forward to february 2nd, 2008!

a trip to lake mead

sunday was our very first outing to lake mead. we've lived here for almost 10 years & we hadn't been there before. our friends ryan & myrna invited us to go on their boat along with another couple. we left the house at 8:30 & headed to the grocery store to buy some "lake food" ~ pringles, licorice, sunflower seeds, beer ~ all the good stuff! as the boat pulled up to the dock to get us, lauryn started crying. she cried even harder as i put her life jacket on, but once the boat started moving, she settled in. we ended up on a steep, sandy beach to hang out for the better part of the day. we spent the time just lounging around, snacking, fishing, floating, & playing in the sand. dennis & isaac played bocce ball until the sand was too hot to stand in any longer for dennis in his flip flops. at about 3:00 we started to load up the boat to head back to the marina. lauryn fell asleep on the boat ride back & isaac fell asleep in the truck on the drive home. we were wiped out by the time we bathed & ate supper. what a fun day!

isaac thought it was pretty funny to be buried in the sand.

lauryn & her new friend kaylee.

things we learned from our day at lake mead:

1. lauryn is scared of waves when they lap upon the shore.

2. sand is crunchy when you eat it, as discovered by isaac.

3. a day of fresh air & fun is exhausting for everyone!

4. we enjoyed ourselves & hope to go again sometime soon.

holyland adventure

saturday evening isaac took part in holyland adventure at our church. the kids got to be a part of one of the 12 tribes of israel. isaac was in the tribe of asher. they learned what it was like to live during the time of Jesus. lauryn joined in on the closing song.