Papa and Grandma - June 11-15

We had so much fun when Danny's grandparents, Papa and Grandma, came to visit us from Florida. Here are some of the highlights...

Wyatt and Papa spent at least a few hours each day snuggled up in the chair reading and discussing Wyatt's tree books. Wyatt even took Papa on little "field trips" around our yard to see all of the different trees. He was so excited to have someone new to "talk trees" with him!

Our kids love to read books so there was lots of reading and snuggling on the couch.

We took a trip to the Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon one afternoon. The kids loved showing Papa and Grandma some of their favorite things at the museum.


We also spent lots of time outside, swinging and sliding on the slide.

We are so happy Papa and Grandma were able to come visit us! The kids are so blessed to have been able to spend this time with their great-grandparents.

These Three... - June 11

I took this picture (along with many more!) while we were all outside on the porch enjoying popsicles. As I was browsing through them later on the computer, I realized that just one short year ago these three were not here. Oh, they were already part of our family, we were praying for them and each one had a special place in our hearts, but all we knew is that they were coming. We didn't know them. How did we ever live without them? They have each brought so much joy to our family and helped make our life richer. God has blessed us greatly in the last twelve months!

Swimming Fun - June 9

It has been really windy lately which is not very conducive to backyard swimming. We finally had a calm day today, so we pulled out the swimming pool. The kids had fun splashing, sliding and jumping into the water!
Zane has his own little swimming mat, so he can splash in the water and watch all of the commotion in the other pool without getting stepped on or knocked over!
I think next year we may have to get a bigger pool!

Vacation Bible School - June 2-6

This week was VBS at church. Danny and I helped with Sabrina's class. There are lots of sweet kids in her class and it was fun to spend time with them and watch her developing so many strong friendships.
The kids always like playing musical chairs at the end of music class. This is Wyatt (in the red) and some of his buddies fighting for that last chair.
Colter and Monique's class did a quick little program for us at the end of the week. They were the cutest little cowboys up there!

Legacy Park - June 3

I had to make a quick day trip to Lubbock, so we left after breakfast and spent the morning at Legacy Park. If you can't tell from their smiles, the kids' favorite part was the super tall slide!

Zane hung out in the stroller and snacked on crackers. My mom met us there and took my camera from me so that I would be in some pictures. Thanks, Mom!

Driving in the car for almost three hours round trip is not exactly fun for these guys, so a trip to the park certainly helped sweeten the deal!

Zane @ 10 months - May 30

Just a few highlights of Zane's 10th month:

• He is starting to get some hints of curls in the back! Still too slight to get any pictures, but be watching for some in the next couple of months.
  
  
• He finally has teeth! Those pesky two bottom teeth finally made an appearance this month. Again, no pictures yet - they're still just two little white spots.
  
  
• He has discovered the power of communication! He started waving "bye-bye" and doing the signs for "milk", "eat" and, my favorite, "mama".
  

Last Day of School - May 28

The last day of school at the kids' preschool is always "bike day." The kids love riding their bikes around the parking lot and eating snow cones! As a special treat I let our three ride their bikes home from school. I had Colter and Monique in the stroller and we slowly made our way home. They did a great job, although I thought it was going to be all over when one of the neighborhood dogs started following us (Sabrina has a big fear of animals, especially dogs)! Thankfully they just kept shouting "No!" and pedaling their little bikes and we made it home just fine.

Wyatt's Graduation - May 27

Wyatt's preschool graduation was today. I got this picture of him in the hallway before they walked in - so Wyatt!
My favorite part of the graduation was when each child shared their name, their age, what they like about school and what they want to be when the grow up. Here is Wyatt's: "My name is Wyatt Griffis and I am five years old. My favorite thing about school is the swings. When I grow up I want to be a mountain climber and a tree climber." Once again - so Wyatt!
Wyatt getting his diploma from Mrs. Pybus. She has been such a blessing to our family and especially to Wyatt. She "gets him" and his crazy little personality. She doesn't let him get away with anything, but also understands his frustrations. We are so glad that Wyatt will get to enjoy another year with her as his teacher.

Wyatt's Presentation - May 26

Since Wyatt will be the "kindergarten helper" in his preschool class next year (we will be homeschooling him for kindergarten, but he will still go to preschool in the mornings) we really wanted to find something that would make his position unique. We are going to work with his teacher to select a topic each month that he will research at home and then do a presentation on at school. Wyatt was so excited about it that he wanted to start this month, so he learned about the different habitats in Rocky Mountain National Park while we were on our trip. He and Danny created a poster with all of the information and Wyatt shared it will his class. I love that not only does he like learning new things, but he also likes sharing his knowledge with others.

Playing Together - May 20

To the casual observer these are simply pictures of my kids playing together, but to me they represent so much more. They show the relationship that has developed between a group of brothers and sisters who only six months ago didn't even know each other! On this particular afternoon I was working on supper and the girls were playing in the playroom. I heard Sabrina say, "I'm going outside to play with my brothers," and Monique quickly added, "And I'm going to go play with Zane." It means so much to see the bond that continues to grow between all of our kids.

New Bikes - May 20

Wyatt and Colter came home from vacation to a fun surprise - new bikes! Wyatt was needing a bigger bike to help him ride without training wheels and Colter had outgrown his tricycle and was ready for a "big boy bike". We decided to get them matching bikes in different colors that will last them a couple a few years. Wyatt's favorite part is that he can ride "super fast" and Colter loves the water bottle that is "just like Daddy's!"

Water, Rocks and Trees - May 17

My absolute favorite day was the last day of our trip. We drove up into the mountains, found a creek and just let the kids play. It was so relaxing! The kids enjoyed exploring, hiking and throwing rocks in the creek. It was the perfect combination - water, rocks and trees!

Colorado - May 9-18

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Colorado. Hopefully they will give you a little glimpse into our time away...

We left for Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon and spent the night with Danny's parents (aka "Gigi and G-Pa"). On Saturday morning all nine of us drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park and spent three nights in a cabin at the Y-Camp near Estes Park. Danny's parents introduced us to the Y-Camp a few years ago and it has become one of our favorite places to visit.

Wyatt, of course, loved all of the trees! Our cabin was in a spectacular location and when we pulled up (Wyatt, Sabrina, Gigi and G-Pa had already been there for about 20 minutes) Wyatt greeted us with "I think we need to stay here forever!"

This was just one of those sweet moments - Colter helped Danny build the fire and then sat back with him to enjoy their hard work!

I just love this picture of Sabrina! She loved exploring around the cabin with her brothers.

The next day (Mother's Day) we went to Bear Lake and hiked the nature trail around the lake. There was still lots of snow, so the kids had fun with that adventure!

Here are the nine of us after our hike. After this we went to a nearby picnic area, had a quick lunch and walked around a little more.

I took this picture of Sabrina talking on the phone to her cousin Abbie who is only a few days older her! They haven't met yet because Abbie lives in Tennessee, but they enjoyed talking on the phone. My favorite part of their conversation was their discussion about their favorite colors - very important stuff for four year old girls!

More hiking on Monday (another picture I just love!) and then on Tuesday we went backpacking. You can see those pictures on Danny's blog. Wednesday night we headed back to Colorado Springs.

Thursday we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. Everyone enjoyed feeding the giraffes, even Zane!

Here are our five little monkeys at the zoo! Notice that by this point Zane had lost both his sock and his fleece bootie on one foot. We had been working hard the whole time trying to keep track of them (Danny even backtracked a couple of times to find one or both of them!) and then right at the end we noticed they were gone again. Oh well, he'd almost outgrown them anyway!

The boys loved introducing the girls to the bunk beds at Gigi and G-pa's house. All five kids slept in the same room - Wyatt on the top bunk, Colter on the bottom bunk, the girls on a mattress on the floor and Zane in the pack-and-play. It was a great big slumber party for four nights!

Danny had a continuing education conference in Denver on Friday morning, so we spent some time at the park across the street. Zane loves to swing!

Monique is a little monkey! She would climb everything the bigger kids did without any hesitation.

We spent Saturday by a creek (more about that in the next post) and went to Florissant National Monument to see the petrified trees (seeing "trees that have turned into rocks" was exciting to both Wyatt and Colter!). Wyatt isn't really hugging the tree, he's just trying to see how big around it is!

We drove home on Sunday and took a little detour to see Bent's Old Fort National Monument. The kids enjoyed touring the fort and it was a great way to break up the trip. It was a terrific way to end such a relaxing and enjoyable vacation!

Baseball Fever - May 6

Baseball fever has hit our house! While all of the kids enjoy playing baseball with Daddy, Colter is the one who is really intense about it. It's still a couple of years before he can play T-ball, but that isn't going to stop him from practicing now!

Zane's Photo Shoot - May 6

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from a quick photo shoot I did with Zane. If you look closely you can still see a bruise under his eye. He had a slight run-in with the little toy piano in the playroom. I know this is just the first of many injuries for this little guy as he starts exploring his world!

Two Little Ladies - May 4

Sabrina found a ladybug in the garden this afternoon. I just love this picture!

Birdfeeders - May 3

The kids have loved watching and listening to all of the birds these past couple of weeks, so we made some bird feeders to hang on our trees.

Crazy Kids - May 2

Wyatt was at school and Zane was napping, so the other three decided they wanted to go on their own adventure! They love dressing up and playing pretend together.