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!
Just a few highlights of Zane's 10th month:
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 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. 
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. 
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.
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!"
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.
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 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!
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!
Sabrina found a ladybug in the garden this afternoon. I just love this picture!
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. 
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.
Wyatt is loving this great spring weather! He spends most of the afternoon outside and keeps me updated on how all of our various plants and trees are doing.
Danny has been tossing our boys in the air since they were babies. Sabrina thought this was fun to watch, but was not the least bit excited about experiencing it for herself - until now!
Colter made the transition from his tricycle to a bike with training wheels. The problem is that the only bike with training wheels is Sabrina's princess bike! He look good in pink, right? Much to Colter's relief, Danny has plans to order him a new bike this week.
Monique loves "Baby Emma" and takes care of her all day long. Whenever I sit down to feed Zane or put him down for a nap I can guarantee that Baby Emma will be doing the same thing in just a few minutes!
Speaking of Zane, he has given up his army crawl in favor of hands and knees. After a couple of days practicing the movement he finally got it down. The kids have learned that nothing on the floor is safe from their baby brother!
Wyatt and Sabrina had their Spring Music Program at school tonight. Since we only live a few blocks from church/school, we decided to take the kids in the wagon. I would have never imagined we would fit five kids in that wagon!
Here is Wyatt waving at us before the program started.
Sabrina saying the pledge, and trying to catch a glimpse of Mom and Dad for reassurance!
