Fun with cousins... and friends

I did warn you about the fountains. I am, it turns out, true to my word. Ella and Xiana caught in action running from...towards the fountains.
Brian bought Xiana these sunglasses because every two-year-old needs to be up on fashion. She was very excited about them. I will admit, though I'm not a big fan of the gigantic glasses trend, they do look darling.
Waiting for Joyce and Kate to arrive at Joyce's house...
The Vances invited us to come swim at the Peppermill pool which made it twice in two months for us. It was great despite being windy. Xiana discovered that she really loves the "hot pool." But she also discovered that she can "yook at me guys... I'm swimming," all by herself (with only a little help from her mommy. A Sweet row of girls with personality for days.
Hopscotch just got a little bit better... drum roll please... WATER! Yes indeed, Kacie managed to find a water filled hopscotch and "she buy that for me!" It's really cute but for such a tiny little thing it sure does wreak havoc on the grass. Perhaps next time we will set it up on the cement. I had Ella and Rowan for a few days and it was wonderful. I don't know what it is about having more kids around that makes it feel like significantly less, but they do. When it's just Xiana and I she needs constant and exciting entertainment. When her cousins are over, I can get stuff done while they play. So, I put the sprinkler on the trampoline and watered the garden. The entire time I could hear their laughter and see that they were perfectly safe. I kept thinking, 'this is the life. This is the way I always envisioned motherhood. One eye on the kids with the other on the chores. A heart made light with laughter and a husband coming home any minute.' Such was this day. Don't ask me about others because I'll have to laugh at my picture perfect little vision, but for this moment, on this day, it was everything I never could have imagined.
I thought Xiana would fit into her 24 month swimsuits this year, but I was wrong. Thank goodness for the heads up from Kate I managed to snag a few more 18 monthers from Old Navy... wait till you see them. She's so cute in them I can hardly stand it! When the tramp gets wet even the smallest bouncer (ie Xiana) makes a thunderous sound like deep loud drums. Now, and even when it's not wet, Xiana says, "and when you jump it goes (extra low voice) boom boom boom."
What safer place than a wet trampoline to enjoy popsicles? These cousins love each other so much and they play so wonderfully together. It's marvelous.

A day of births...

Because on a day when you are going to two birthday parties... you can never have too much cake :) Brian's friend Al is now single handedly keeping Xiana in the donuts-bigger-than-your-head club. She loves it. I would be lying if I didn't admit to secretly eating half of this particular one (even though Brian took pity on me and brought me my very own).
We were fortunate to be able to go to and host a birthday party on Saturday. It was an exciting day. Xiana truly leads such a charmed life. This little summer outfit was too big last summer and is now almost too small. Despite popular beliefs, she is growing.
Charlie's birthday party was at Starz gym and it made me want to enroll Xiana in gymnastics. It was so much fun and she did such an excellent job listening to instructions. They started with some stretching and running (which she later assured me was "doing yoga just like Garrett"). Then they jumped in a foam pit which proved to be too great a temptation for Kate and I to ignore. We also partook in the foam pit and while it was great fun to get in... it was more than challenging to get out.
Xiana is so light she just floated over the top of it.
ALL the kids had a ton of fun. This was such a wonderful party.
The instructor said to do a somersault and Xiana did. She was very impressed particularly since the majority of the kids at the party were 4 and 5... not 2!
They were really cute with the kids and helped them jump...
walk on balance beams... and jump on trampolines.
The birthday boy seemed to really enjoy his special day. He is such a great kid. He always takes care of Xiana wherever they go and has already adopted a very gentlemanly way.
Because donuts, cake, and m&ms weren't nearly enough sugar for one day, we headed home to host Kylee's party.... I use the term host very lightly here. Really all we did was let Kevin throw her party at our house. I went to the store earlier in the day to get presents for both parties and when I returned, the house was spotless. You cannot imagine either my astonishment or gratitude. My cup truly runneth over. Xiana and Kylee helped fill up our new pool.
Then did their favorite thing and played on the trampoline.
Once the kids arrived we pigged out on the ridiculous amount of food that Kevin brought (it was really tasty too) and just hung out. It is so nice to have so much family close.
The kids splashed and froze.
Xiana lasted all of two minutes in the pool, but when Mark was making a video he asked her how long she swam and she responded, "a couple hours. It was really cold."
Mark and Tosh and their mini mes. It's so cute: Ella looks just like Tosh and Rowan looks just like Mark. I am so excited to see what Brian and my children will look like.
It was a bit cold to swim, but the kids enjoyed themselves nevertheless.
Then we came in for cake and presents and it was delicious. So Xiana by the end of the day had ingested: donut, egg roll, string cheese, cake, m&ms, pizza, juice, cake, ice cream, cake, nerds. Healthy, I know. Who knew being born was so delicious.
Kylee opened her presents and then the kids watch Toy Story. They play so nicely together it's sad to see the party end. We had such a wonderful day. Poor Ekco was there too, but this was post hospital visit and she scarcely left the couch. It's really too bad that she was too sick to enjoy herself. We will have to make up for it big time next visit. Brian gave her a blessing that night and it was touching, heartwarming, and secure to be reassured that the priesthood is in my home. What more could a girl ask for?

It's summer time...Ekco's here!

Xiana eagerly awaited the arrival of her sister to spend two whole weeks with us. Every day she asked if Ecko was here yet and when the day finally came, she checked out the window every five minutes. I was also very excited for Ecko to come. It's a great opportunity to get to take her to lots of fun places and for her to get a better glimpse into the life of her father.
She is a VERY artistic girl. She loves to do are projects and repeatedly asked for materials. The girls made cards for Father's day (I should have taken a picture) in the shape of shirts and she cleverly designed the material and added buttons. Later I got out these cornstarch noodles that you get wet and then create things. She instantly stated that she was going to make a mermaid (she's obsessed). I said great but secretly thought that was an impossibility. It turns out I only thought that because I am not creative enough to devise a pattern to make one. It took her all of 5 minutes to make a mermaid appear for herself and for Ella.
Xiana mainly just made a mess, but what else is new?
Ekco even brook little pieces of the noodles to make hair, and flowers for the hair of her mermaids. She also draws a mean mermaid. She's got skills!
Ekco was not feeling very well when we picked her up and complained throughout the week of her back hurting and coughed a lot. We watched it, but didn't take her in until the end of the week. This was the day before and she was not feeling well at all. The following day Brian took her to urgent care because he recognized that she was losing sleep from being sick and was concerned. From urgent care they sent her to the emergency room to get chest xrays where they immediately diagnosed her with pneumonia. Poor girl. She was very very sick. She really could not move from the bed or couch for the next two days and finally opted to head back to Battle Mountain with her mom cutting her trip short. We were sad to see her go, but very encouraged to know that she will be heading back here in a few weeks to finish the rest of her trip in GOOD health so that I won't feel so guilty about taking her to water parks and pools. She also follows my heart with her love for all things water.
Earlier in the week we went to Kate's and did some slip'n'slide and sprinklers.
We also washed our cars.
And put EVERYBODY to work.
They also had an opportunity to relax. Xiana loves Kate's kids and we play with them really often. It was a bonus that Nikki and Ekco hit it off wonderfully!
For FHE we returned to Boomtown where the girls rode the horse approximately 30 times.
And the carousal
And pretended to play some of the games once they ran out of tokens.
I also took them to Wild Waters which, coupled with the trip to Stampede, probably didn't do much to assuage or prevent her pneumonia. Still, she had a blast and literally would have stayed all day long.
She is quite the swimmer.
Xiana took a nap in my arms for about an hour. It was perfect because I sat at the edge of the wave pool staying nice and cool and Ecko swam where I could see her. It was a great day.

Stampede

We went to Stampede for the day to meet up with some of Brian's family and swim. It was a lot of fun.... but very, very cold. We packed for summer with high hopes of spending the day in the water. As we were leaving Brian asked, "did you pack sweatshirts for everyone?" Indeed I had not and thought it quite silly. What great foresight on his part.
We got in until our extremities were numb and then spent the rest of the day trying to fight off hypothermia and pneumonia. Some were successful, some were not... more on that next post.
Brian and Ekco wading in the water which was, just for the record, not as cold on this side than the first.
Mark brought his boat and the kids didn't even need to be out on the water to enjoy themselves.
But it helped...
This little boat can really book and it was exciting to bounce around the lake. Xiana went, first with me, then insisted that she not be left out when Aunt Ali and Ekco went. True to her roots, she is a water girl through and through.
Then it was time to leave. Xiana was not happy :( Most parents would have reached for their children to console them. I reached for my camera. She was just too cute.

Summer begins....

Summer is finally here and it has been a long time coming. It has been such a cold Spring... never mind that it's my first Northern NV spring for some time. Everybody says this year has been cold. Anyway, my dear friend Nixie came up from Fresno to a cabin nearby so Xiana and I met up with her for the day. We had a lot of fun and Xiana LOVES Meka. They blew bubbles, danced, and played wii while mommies caught up and reminisced.
Life sure has changed.
My nephew Rowan came over and played for a couple of days and he and Xiana are kindred spirits. They covered themselves in dirt for hours and loved every second of it. I let them run free in the backyard only later finding out that the "dark dirt" is not wet; it's oil. Oops. The next day I opted for more structured play time. Still, they were cute and you should have seen the ring around the tub.
Rowan had to throw in a nose pick just to help illustrate how filthy they were.
Day two.... see, I told you they were much cleaner.
Xiana wanted flip flops like mommy so I bought her some. They lasted all of two seconds before she complained about them hurting her feet. She doesn't like the feeling between her toes. At least I got a pic first. We'll try again later.
We went to play group in our new ward, shortly before we discovered we were attending the wrong ward. Xiana loves play group though. Any one will do.
The next day we revisited our old ward's play group. Soon we might have 3 ward playgroups to attend.
Brian is in a trap shooting league and one night he was telling his fellow gun club-ers about how Xiana had taken a little bite out of every donut in the box. The following week his good friend Al brought this for his little buddy....
I went to get a plate for it so I could cut some and turned around to this.... She put down probably half the donut. Brian's friend is a genuinely nice guy. He is so kind to Xiana and always shows her around and entertains her. It is interesting that she immediately took to him. It didn't take her long to get past her shy hiding and start bossing him around. Kids really do have a sixth sense sometimes.
This is froggie pool take one. This didn't actually work, but much to my surprise, I took it back to Target in a plastic bag and they exchanged it. I have had such horrible experiences trying to return stuff there that I was really surprised. The next one worked much better.
Remember last summer when every post involved fountains, Xiana, and swimsuits? It's baaaccck....
She must be older because the cold really bothers her a lot more now than it has in the past. She gets frigid fast and then bails. We'll see how the rest of the summer goes. I guess it's only just begun.
My dear friend Hillary came to town for her annual visit and I got to spend my yearly park day with her and other friends. It is wonderful to see her and though we grew apart for a long time, I still feel like I know her so well, and her life (thanks primarily to Blog world). Isn't it remarkable how when you've known someone for so long, the details of the decades are less important than your intimate knowledge of who they are and vice versa? We were best friends growing up and though our lives change, the integrity of our characters never changes. Thus, those who knew you as a child, often know you as well or better than your adult friends. It's interesting.. I'm just saying...
It really was great. Thanks Hill!