First Day of 4th Grade!

Shanna started 4th grade today. She was excited, but really nervous. I hope her day is great and she comes home with a big smile! Kaci misses her, she was asking at 9:30am if Shanna's school was almost over. I miss having her here too, but am excited to have her back in school and get our routine back in order again. Dance started this week also, we will be busy busy!!

I was looking back at her previous first day of school pictures, and I can't believe how fast she's growing up!

4th Grade

3rd Grade

2nd Grade

1st Grade

Kindergarten

She informed me that she is already half way to being in college... Is there any way to slow down the next 9 years?? Sweet girl, stop growing up so fast!

Summer Fun.. Swenson Style

Washing the dog...

I love these people... and the dog.. (the dog most of the time, the people all of the time) I love seeing my kids being able to experience moments like this. Look at this hot man who is their Daddy!!!

Summer fun also means letting child #3 stuff her mouth full of chocolate.... fully knowing it will stain your clothes. She is enjoying it though!

Oh my sweet Kaci... she got to be "Bat Girl" at Shanna's softball game tonight. She was so proud... and so cute!! Notice the chocolate on her face too!

Sara was fussy, so Shanna gave her an old binkie. Sara loved playing with it...

She especially loved the challenge of picking it up off the floor with no hands!

Sara loves flowers!

This summer has been crazy, busy and also fun. We have been swimming lots, biking, taking care of our garden and flowers and looking forward to a weekend in the mountains!

Money, Spiders and Butterflies

We took the girls to Denver today for a tour of the US Mint. I have no pictures, because along with purses, strollers and bottles, cameras were not allowed. I guess if I was responsible for $80 billion worth of gold, I would take precautions like that too.

We didn't even bring our good camera which was a bummer because we went to the Butterfly Pavilion after our tour. It would have been so sweet to photo the girls' faces as the butterflies flew around them.

We did however snap a few pictures with our grainy cell phone camera of Kaci and Rosie. Who is Rosie? Rosie is the tarantula who lives at the Butterfly Pavilion. You get a sticker if you hold Rosie. I don't know where Kaci gets her sense of adventure, but she was the only one who wanted to hold Rosie. I love that she's up for trying anything. She wasn't scared, and even went back to hold Rosie again.

Sara might end up being adventurous like Kaci because she was reaching for Rosie. I didn't think pictures of a one year old holding a tarantula would be very appropriate though. We'll let her hold Rosie next time maybe.

Summer's Here!!

I have been so bad at keeping my blog up to date. I don't seem to sit down until I fall into bed at night. I have been wanting to post pictures of the last few months, so here's the quick (meaning sitting and editing a slide show for the past hour) way of showing them off!

Shanna turned 9, (I need to get the pictures off the other computer to post of her parties)We had crazy end of the school year events. Field trips, days at the park, Kaci's preschool graduation (kind of... she isn't quite old enough for Kindergarten next year) Shanna's last day of school, Sara started walking and then turned one... Every day has been full of adventure!

I am still trying to settle into a good Summer routine. I feel like I am either too lazy or too much a Drill Sargent. I am loving having the girls here, especially Shanna. I feel like I never get to see her during the school year. We have been riding bikes and hoping for nicer weather so that we can swim lots.

Happy Summer!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sugar & Spice

Kaci wants to do "Big Girl" stuff. We made cookies three days this week. I love her sweet smile and funny off the wall comments...

I took my eyes off of her for one minute...

Oooohhhh... is she a handful!

In My World...

You'll find this funny if you have seen Horton Hears a Who... You know the part where the little girls says something about "in my world, everyone's a pony and they eat rainbows and poop butterflies..."

Well, tonight Kaci was eating milk and cookies and was drinking her milk with a spoon. I told her to stop and to pick up her cup to drink.

She says, "Well, in my world, people use their spoons to drink milk."

(I am trying not to laugh, because we have been working very hard about teaching them not to argue...)

So, I told her that in her world, she still has a Mommy who can tell her what to do, and that she better put her spoon down and pick up her glass to drink.

And she says "well then you better go back to your world, because people here don't like rules like that."

I was bursting at the seams trying not to laugh and to be the stern parent who doesn't-like-being-talked-to-like-that. It didn't work so well. She is so hilarious...