Time flies when you are having fun!

I can't believe how fast the past few weeks have gone by. It is a blur. It was so fun to have my neice Jessica (my sister Melissa's oldest) here for a week. And then to have Mel and the rest of her fam come. They returned to Denver the Wednesday before Easter and took Garrett and Ashlyn with them. (Since we would be joining them that weekend.) I love my kids but it was incredible to get Alec and Rachel off too school and have complete silence. I couldn't believe how much I got done without Garrett wanting to play with me and Ashlyn hanging on my leg. I found out I'm not a half bad house keeper, when no one is there to mess it up! :)
Unfortunately, we got bad news from Darren's work the next day. Their project is coming to a close and they don't have additional projects yet. So, we are facing possible layoffs. They thought originally the end of May but now we are looking at August time frame, if they don't secure more work.
Despite the bad news we were able to go to Denver and have a great Easter weekend. The Easter Bunny out did himself! I still have Easter candy and we left half of it there! I don't have any pics to post right now because I stupidly left my camera at home thinking I wouldn't need it. Obviously I completely forgot it was Easter. Which I don't know how I did since that was why we were going!!! Mom and Dad let me use their camera but I haven't gotten the pics from them yet.
Darren flew home on Monday and we stayed the following week (our spring break). Melissa put me on a "cookie" diet. Don't let the name fool you. The "cookies" tasted like flavored cardboard. Yuck! Mel says "They are supposed to taste bad so you don't want to eat a lot of them." Well trust me I didn't want to eat a lot. I didn't want to eat any. Especially with all that Easter candy laying around. But I did it and we exercised by walking Jane and Grace to and from school everyday. I lost 3 lbs. Wahoo!! Trust me that was a big accomplishment!
Rachel is determined to start tumbling again... so I told her she needed to get some of the basics down really well and I would sign her up. She has been practicing everyday and wants me to watch. She won't do a cartwheel unless I am watching and gets upset if I miss one. I am impressed with her improvement.
Soccer has started for Alec again. We missed the first few weeks due to sickness and being out of town but he played Saturday. He likes being a defender which is why his comment below was so funny to me.
Baseball is about to start, I signed both boys up. Rachel didn't want to play. We went tonight to the parent meeting and met their coaches and got their uniforms. Alec will be playing machine pitch and is on the Bluejays team. And Garrett will be playing Tee Ball and is on the Angels team. We purchased bats, balls, gloves and a Tee last week. We have only ever had wiffleballs. And since my mitt is probably in Mom and Dad's basement somewhere and Darren doesn't have one, we bought an adult mitt too. Garrett is absolutely passionate about it, he wants to play catch everyday. Alec likes it as long as you don't tell him how to do anything! But I told him his coach would be giving him pointers and he should just get used to it, since we are trying to help him learn. I am amazed how much they have improved in just a few days time. It is really fun to play with them. I forgot how much I like to play.
Alec has now played Basketball, soccer and is learning baseball. I asked him which one he likes best so far and he said all of them. He said his favorite part of...basketball is shooting, soccer is kicking a goal and baseball will be hitting a home run!
Garrett attended kindergarten round up last week. I can't believe he will finally be in kindergarten! He has been ready for so long.
We were accepted to a local charter school so all the kids will attend there next year. They have a Spanish emphasis and the kids are excited to learn. They have been practising their Spanish around the house. It is so fun.
Well I guess I shouldn't forget Ashlyn. Not that she would let you. She is talking a ton. She repeats almost everything you say. And what is more amazing to me is she understands it all. She is completely independent and headstrong like Rachel (and her mother). And she is a total joy! She is so dang cute. We just love her. She loves being outside. You can't open the door without her trying to escape and she doesn't want to come in. Personally I think she has had the winter blues.
Well, I think that is enough.
Enjoy the spring! We certainly are!

Ears

True story:
I have wanted Rachel to get her ears pierced since she was about 5. She refused and I was not going to force her. She was scared because she thought it would hurt. It didn't matter what I said she just knew it would really hurt and it wasn't worth the pain to her. I told her I'd take her if ever she wanted to. She said she would never want to so I gave up.
Well, Jessica (Rachel's cousin) came to stay with us for a week and I guess Jessica talked to Rachel about it because the next thing I knew Rachel wanted to get her ears pierced. So, Rachel went with her cousins last weekend and got her ears pierced! She was nervous but Jessica, Jane and Grace all held her hand. It was so cute. She is so excited to have her ears pierced. After so much anticipation and anxiety I think it was a real let down for her...it didn't hurt like she thought it would. She told me she wishes she would have done it before because it only hurt a little. She told me to say "Rachel loves her ears pierced!"