The second week of Spring Break

We had lots more fun last week.  We spent Easter morning with the Ray family.  Gio, Millie, and Shannon had tons of Easter Morning fun looking for baskets and eggs.  That crazy Easter Bunny hides those baskets in the silliest places.  

We also are so excited that the Gecks are back in town!  Danielle and Tony had a party at my Mom's house to celebrate A.J.'s 2nd birthday.  Millie and Gio were so excited to spend time with their cousins.  They also were very helpful when it came to opening and playing with the birthday presents.  Gio was really excited that A.J. received so many "Cars" themed gifts!  Millie just wanted to hold Kayla. And give her kisses...

Our final family adventure involved an afternoon at the park.  We ventured out on Saturday morning with our sights set on the butterflies at the Wild Animal Park.  We always go to the Park on our days off, Tuesday or Wednesday.  We forgot that it is a wildly famous tourist attraction that happens to be less than five minutes from our house and that a Saturday during beautiful weather and butterflies was the worst idea ever!  So the parking lot was so packed that our plans quickly changed to the regular park instead.  Greg had lots of fun playing, so did the kids!  Greg tried to play catch with the kids, Millie was slightly interested but not so skilled.  Gio only ran away.  Hopefully Greg will have a catch partner someday...

Millie and I have to share our picture with everyone.  Carol bought us matching apron sets.  They include Easter themed, embroidered aprons and appropriately sized oven mitts and pot holders.  They are so cute.  We had to take a picture, Carol said.  Here it is!

Spring break!

What a crazy week we've had!  Millie, Shannon and I visited the Wild Animal Park.  The girls had a great time.  Millie was very brave and held a small cup of nectar for the Lorikeets.  The birds lined up on the railing and drank from the cup.  Now,  Millie wants cups of nectar for all of the birds she sees. 

The whole family went over tho the Yingst home for dinner the other night.  Alan and Barbara were there too.  As soon as we arrived,  Millie and Ciera jumped into the princess dresses and Gio headed for Keane's room, A.K.A. the room with the noisy toys.  As soon as we were finished eating our tasty dinner it was time to ROCK!  The kids had a chance to play Rock Band first and Ciera wowed us with her amazing vocals on Nirvana's "In Bloom".  Yes.  She actually sings it with the mic part turned on and knows all of the words.  She calls this song "Sell the kids for food" which makes it even better.  Gio is great at helping the band's drummer fail out consistently and Millie preferred to "cook" food for everyone in the play kitchen.  The grown ups got a chance while to play while the Dads took turns watching the kids.  I am officially the worst drummer on the planet and decided to become the band photographer :)

To cap off the fun filled week Gio, Millie, and I went to the zoo with our friends Kristen and Kayana.  The kids were champs.  They all took turns walking.  They all seemed to enjoy most the time we spent eating lunch.  We sat on logs in a little grassy area and the kids chased each other around.  Gio even found a new family... I looked over to see him sitting with a family who was trying to take a photo.  Gio thought he'd join their family picture!  They thought it was funny; I could hardly contain myself enough to get him off of their laps.  

Watch out for more fun! Gio's school decided that spring break should be two weeks.  We will see what happens next week.

A Visit to the Fire Station

Today was just beautiful!  Gio, Millie, and I went for a walk up the hill on campus.  We have a volunteer fire station located on the campus.  They are responsible for saving all of our buildings from the fires in October.  We were lucky enough to catch the firemen at an opportune time this afternoon.  Gio and Millie got to sit in the fire truck and even wear a real fireman helmet! It is so heavy that Gio had to hold onto it and it gave Millie bobblehead syndrome.  Millie decided to skip the sirens although they offered to turn them on for the kids :)  What wonderful neighbors we have.

Visit to Seattle

Millie and I went to Seattle for a quick visit last week.  We were lucky enough to have the better part of one day to spend with my best friend, Cicely and her adorable son Quin.  Millie and "Baby Quin", as she likes to call him, played in the Kids Quest children's museum.  This is Millie in one of the cool bird houses.  She and Quin had so much fun and Cicely and I were able to do a lot of catching up, Mom style.  I really enjoyed our time together.  It is strange to think about hanging out as Moms with my best friend but it was great!

Millie and Quin afforded us the opportunity to take embarrassing pictures of bathtime which of course I have posted here for all to see :)

Fast Forward

So that was the past, here is the present.  Gio goes to preschool at Juniper Elementary.  He loves his class!  He always comes home singing new songs he learned in school.  It is a challenge for me to learn all of them so we can sing together.  Millie has been attending a ballet class once a week which has been tons of fun.  We are always having pretend ballet shows where everyone is prompted to clap for Millie once she has finished.  The hardest part about ballet class is all of the rules.  So far Millie has broken most of them, specifically the no talking in class rule.  I don't know where she gets that!

The beginning of our family

Greg and I married on July 13, 2002. After graduating from the University of Northern Colorado in 2004 we were given the best job of all. On December 22, 2004 we became the parents of a beautiful baby girl whom we named Miller Elizabeth. Her early birth was just the beginning of the adventures of our wonderful family.
In November of 2006 Gio became part of our little family! Millie is so glad to have a brother and our family felt complete.

We live near our parents and the kids have enjoyed having quality grandparent time. Our sisters Franki and Danielle have also been near, either in location or in spirit, throughout this time and our children are lucky to have their love.

We have been living and working at the San Pasqual Academy since 2004. This residential facility and school for foster teens has granted us the opportunity to extend our family. Millie and Gio have enjoyed many more "sisters". We have had many adventures and hopefully we will keep up on the ones to come...