Girls Night Out

Before school started, along with our 20 hours of activities for the fall, Ben decided he wanted to take a boys camping trip. He left yesterday afternoon, as I left to take Aubrie to gymnastics. I decided since they were having a boys trip, we were going to have a girls night out. After gymnastics we grabbed dinner and then went to Despicable Me. I have never taken both girls to see a movie. Typically, Sophia does alright, but rarely sits still the whole time. Since it was a special night, I pulled out all the stops. Once the girls got seated in the theatre, I ran out to "check something" and came back with a kid Icee pack for each of them. They were so excited. Sophia kept telling me thank you through out the movie. Both of them were so good. Aubrie was her helpful self, and Sophia sat through most of it, sitting on my lap for only the last 20 minutes. The movie was very funny, and also heartwarming. The girls loved the night out together, and so did I. I'm so lucky to have two amazing girls!

Sophia's First Dance Class

Sophia was so excited for dance she couldn't stand it. She took readily took her nap, when I told her she would go to dance once she napped. When she woke up she said, "Mom, I'm done! Can I go to dance now!" She was so cute, and all my friends at the studio couldn't believe that she is old enough to dance now. Time goes by so fast! They remember when I brought her into the studio when she was 4 days old. I can't believe that she is this old! My Mom was so excited, too. She drove down to watch her. My Mom has been looking forward to this day for a long time. Sophia was happy to see her there. Sophia and my Mom are VERY close. Her face brightened up even more when she saw tha when it was done. I told her we would have to wait another week. Yesterday, while watching Aubrie at the gym, she said, "I want to go home and get my dance clothes on and come here". I'm thinking that it's a good thing I signed her up for an hour of gymnastics, too.

Love One Another

Our Monday started off with us taking Sophia to the dance apparel store to get her first tap and ballet shoes, and a few dance outfits. All the kids were so excited for her. The boys sat there watching her getting fitted for her shoes, and then they started picking out leotard's and such that they thought would look cute on her. Of course, Aubrie was in on the action, too, but I just thought how sweet it was watching her brothers get excited for her. In the dressing room they were all oohing and ahhing over their favorites and how cute she was. Sophia was so excited to be trying on her clothes and shoes. She couldn't wait for her dance class that night.

After trying on several things, we walked out of there with her shoes, two CUTE leotards with tutu's and two cute pair of shorts.

After the dance store, we headed to Old Navy to get Boston some more of his favorite socks (this kid wears tennis shoes all year long) and a new pair of PJ's. He picked out a Yankee's T-shirt for his PJ top, and was a little nervous that Ben might be upset about it. I told him that he would get over it, and that he can like whatever baseball team he wanted. (Inside I'm hoping he'll switch back to the Red Sox!) After Old Navy the kids begged to go to the Mall. Tilly's was the first stop, and Boston was elated when I finally bought him the purple skinny jeans he has been wanting. We left the mall with minimal damage.

On the way home I realized that Aubrie was the only one who didn't get anything. I started to realized how mature she is getting, not complaining ONCE about it. She was more excited seeing everyone else get what they wanted.

When we got home I put Sophia down for bed, and had the kids read while I worked on my Family Home Evening Lesson. Ethan complained that he didn't want to read, but wanted to take a nap. I told him to go ahead, not believing he really wanted to nap. About twenty minutes later I found him here.

Whats up with my kids putting themselves to sleep.

I went back to my lesson, which part of it was writing the kids notes. I asked Heavenly Father that I might be inspired to say what each kid needed to hear. It was amazing how each letter was different. I felt it very important to let Boston know that I know he is great at many things (sports, school, etc) but that's not why I love him. I love him because he has a sweet gentle spirit, and even if he makes mistakes I will still love him. I know that's what he needed to hear. He is a perfectionist, I think he may feel that we love him based on how well he does. I know he needed to hear that wasn't true. I have seen a bit of a change in him since he read it. Aubrie's was just a letter of appreciation for all she does, and acknowledging how old and mature she is getting, and all the things she does that is proving that. Ethan's was all about how sweet and creative he is and how lucky I am to have him as a son. All the kids have responded so well to their letters, and Family Home Evening was amazing. It was on love and service, and the kids have really been focusing on loving one another. For each act of love someone spots, they secretly go put that person's color star on the Love chart. They are having fun with it, and its great to see how they look for opportunities to love, and how they also try to spot others showing love.

Rocky Point in August?

Going to Utah for 5 days just wasn't enough vacationing for this family, who likes to keep the road hot. Ben asked me if we could squeeze in a quick trip to Rocky Point before school started. The weather is just so muggy and hot during August, and it wasn't my number one pick. I checked the weather, and it said it was going to be in the 80's and have isolated thunderstorms. I knew what that meant; overcast, warm and perfect! We booked our favorite room and headed out Friday. Its much easier to be spontaneous when you don't have to pack all the baby stuff.

The first day we got there it was sunny and hot. We spent the first few hours at the pool as we were waiting for our condo to be ready. The kids had fun on the slide and soaking in the hot tub. They made some friends in the process. Once our room was ready, unpacked the car and then headed to the beach. They just added these awesome umbrella's, which provided a great escape from the heat.

I left my camera in the room, but the older two had fun jumping the waves, while Ethan and Sophia played in the sand. After a few hours at the beach, we came in for dinner, got cleaned up, and went out for Thrifty. Sophia fell asleep on the way there, but had no problem waking up for her scoop of ice cream. When we got back we watched some of the X Games, and I read a bit. I was so tired, and we all went to bed about 9:30.

The next morning I woke up to find Boston here. Guess he figured if he was awake he might as well enjoy the day.

I sat out with Boston for about 20 minutes and enjoyed this view. The overcast sky was a welcoming sight. I knew it would be a nice enjoyable time on the beach. We still had the warm air and water, but breezy and shaded! Everyone else woke up about a half an hour later. We had some breakfast on the patio and I read my book a bit. Here is Sophia with her "baby cup". She wanted to use this everywhere. Picture this scene, Sophia walking to the beach with this shot glass of orange juice. Hopefully people knew we weren't the world's most irresponsible parents giving their 3 year old a screwdriver to start her day!
Ben trying to take a picture of me after I just got up....hasn't her learned? The tide was a bit different this time. This time low tied was a bit later in the morning, which was fine with me. No rushing out at the crack of dawn! This time, it wasn't as far back either, but in return, we also got some great waves to play in later in the day. When we got to the beach, the kids didn't waste anytime looking for sea life. This time we brought a net. Sophia had fun looking at the small sea crabs who found refuge in little shells. Aubrie spent most of her time trying to catch fish. I joined in the fun. We ended up catching five.

Before the hair braids!

After

Ethan's "home for the crabs"

Our kids are the only ones wearing goggles at the beach. It's very smart actually. It keeps the salt from burning their eyes!

Relax is Ethan's middle name!

Corn Dog hair!

The vendors got lazy and just hung out in one spot! This time we just bought bracelets.

We stayed at the beach for about 4 hours, and then went back for some lunch. We spent some time inside just relaxing. I finished my book out on the patio while I enjoyed my lunch, and the kids and Ben watched some more X-games. Then we went to the pool. Boston was happy to find that his new friend was staying in our Condo tower and he and all the kids played tag for about an hour, while Sophia spent her time swimming in the pool and sitting in the hot tub. The kids started diving and doing flips off the waterfall, and the others kids joined in, until security came by and told us that wasn't allowed.
Here is the view of our room from our private pool. No pictures of the main pool this time.

After a few hours at the pool, we headed back to the beach for a few more hours of jumping waves and enjoying the warm breezy weather. After our time at the beach we went to the pool for about another hour and then we cleaned up and went into town for dinner. Sophia fell asleep on the way there, and slept on Ben through most of dinner. Again, I didn't bring my camera. But we had a great table right by the water. The kids had fun throwing chips at the seagulls and pelicans. Ben and I ordered a fish platter for two. I was a little nervous since we hadn't eaten at this place before. It turned out to be very good. Aubrie had a shrimp cocktail, and the boys played it safe with quesadillas. After dinner we walked through the shops. Ethan got a few shirts, and he was dying for this arrow gun and kept eyeballing the sling shots. We finally left and headed to Thrifty. Boston was happy that they had his favortie at this particular Thrifty. The night before they didnt' have his Cotton Candy ice cream and he had to get Bubble Gum. He got two scoops, I guess to make up for not having it the night before. I could hardly stomach one spoonful of that sickly sweet ice cream, neverless two whole scoops. Blah. Ethan was sad because he wanted that dart gun. Ice cream wasn't enough to cheer him up. You know its bad when ice cream cant do the trick. He tried to hide how sad he was, but you could see it in his eyes. Ben took the boys on a "walk" and came back with two of the guns. Ethan was happy! He said "I knew in my mind you were going to get this!" I then asked him why he was so sad then if he knew he was getting it. He then said, "I just knew in my mind right now!" LOL

After dinner we went home and watched some more X games, and Sophia and I played her Leapster together. Yes, Ben asked me to get the braids this time, too. It was nice to keep my hair out of my face, but they hurt my head, and made sleeping miserable. They came out the night we got home.

Ben and the kids spent a lot of time play Mappy on the DS! Then we all played the fasted round of Clue every (Aubrie winning on her second turn). Then we played a round of Yatzee. In the middle of the game Sophia came to us and said she was tired. We told her to get her PJ's on. Then she came back in her PJ's and said she was tired. A few minutes later she came to tell us she turned down the covers. She sat in Ben's lap for a bit, and then took her Leapster into the room. Then next thing I know she is out like a light, under the covers with the fan aimed at her head. I told Ben, "There is some great parenting right there, when your 3 year old puts themselves to bed!"

The next moring we packed up the car and then headed to the beach. We had fun jumping calmer waves and just hanging out in the water. Ethan and I also spent time builing a sandcastle with a fortress wall around it. Sophia spent a lot of her time just sitting on the shoreline letting the water rush over her legs. Around noon we headed up to the pool for some lunch, but the cook hadn't come in yet. After swimming for about an hour, and still no cook, we changed and went into town for lunch. We couldn't decide on anything we wanted, so we all agreed that two scoops of Thrifty ice cream sounded good! The kids thought they were in Heaven, but soon realized an hour into the trip why Mom insists on lunch first. They were all hungry, and so we snacked for another hour, until we made it to the McDonalds at Gila Bend. Luckily we got across the border fast, or it would have been a long wait till dinner.

Ben and I both agreed that the trip was awesome. It was so laid back, and fighting was almost non existant. The kids all had a great time, and the weather was awesome. I'm glad we had this one last trip before the craziness of the Fall hits us!