My little readers

Today, as I was in the kitchen doing dishes, I realized I was hearing... silence. Uh-oh, I thought, what are the kids up to? Well, this is what I found and it sure made me smile...

Merry-Go-Round fun!

My Mom and I took the girls to one of our malls yesterday. At Superstition Springs, they have a really cool double decker merry-go-round. Eva chose the top of course! Sophia had never ridden one before, so it was extra special! Here are the girls on their animals...

Still more to come...

Alrighty... I have about 3-5 more posts to go to catch up, so be on the lookout. They will be after May 15th.

Thanks for all your patience! : )

Happy Father's Day!

Shane's Dad was here for a visit and it happened to be over Father's Day (I feel bad I never got a picture of him with the girls while here : ( ). We went out to eat with my parents to In and Out - great place!
As you can see, Eva liked her grilled cheese. : )

Sophia liked the french fries....Yum!

When we got home, the weather was nice, the sun was perfect, so we opted for some family photos in our front yard...

I DID NOT plan it, but I thought it was quite funny that Shane and I coordinated with the girls. ; )

African thunderstorm

I have always liked a cappella groups for the wonders that they can perform with just their voices/mouths. Here is a group from Slovenia that sings the song Africa from back in 1982! It is really cool. Please click on this link to hear a performance!

African thunderstorm

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Library time...

Eva and Sophia really enjoy going to the library. Now that Sophia walks she has really enjoyed going and exploring things that she had only seen from the stroller!
Here she is "picking out books" to bring home.

Of course, they both like the castle that is in the children's area - they can climb the stairs and play at the top or run around down on the ground...

Eva always has to use the computer - Dr. Seuss' Cat and the Hat book is read to her as it plays out the story.

This summer, both Eva and Sophia participated in the summer reading program at the library. They both finished in less than 2 weeks! : ) Our girls love to read. The prizes they each got were a sticky thing you throw at the wall, a blow up round "monster" that are actually cute, a giant bouncy ball, a bag, and a ticket to a Diamondbacks game (baseball).

What fun!

In one of our outdoor malls, there is a cute and fun play area. While my Mom took Sophia into a store, I stayed outside while Eva played.
Here she is on the butterfly.

This is the grasshopper.

She liked crawling on the caterpillar.

There was a "tree" slide and some giant flowers that you can crawl on.

As long as the weather is not too hot, this is a fun place to play!

Eva's Swimming Lessons

For the past 2 weeks, Eva and Sophia have taken swimming lessons. This is Eva's 3rd summer. Because she is under 4 years old, she was in a parent-assisted class called Shrimps. Next year, Eva is able to start with Level 1 - all by herself! : )

Here are some pictures from class... our lessons were held in the "vortex" (during open swim, jets shoot the water around the circle and it makes quite a current!).

The City of Apache Junction has a great pool facility. This was our area of the pool.

Aahhh... how relaxing. Eve is practicing back floats. : )

My Mom watched the girls while the other was in class... here is Eva "watching" Sophia's class.

Half of the AJ pool has a beach entry with a lot of fun water sprayers, etc. One of the days, we were in the beach entry so the kids could practice in the shallow water (she us grabbing for sticks under the water) and see what it is like to walk in the water. That was our instructor with the hat (for both girls), Jaime. Yes, the water was FREEZING!! She was in it for 4 hours in the morning, so she got pretty cold! You wouldn't think that Arizona would have cold water, but that amount of water doesn't warm up too fast. Plus, we had a few cloudy days and the beginning of June wasn't that hot either!

Eva LOVES to jump in the water. She wanted to do it all the time, and still does.

Did I mention she LOVES jumping in? ; )

Practicing kicking.

Sophia's Swimming Lessons

This was Sophia's first year for lessons and she really enjoyed it. We had a small class - only 4 children. Sophia was the oldest - the age for the "Parent and Infant" class is 6 months to 24 months. Sophia was 13 months, Brody was 10 months, Faith was 7-8 months, and Veva was 6-7 months.
Here is Sophia waiting for Eva to be done.

Sophia's class - L to R - instructor Jaime, Sophia and Mommy, Faith, Veva, and Brody.

Practicing front floats.

Sophia really liked the beach entry pool. She was able to walk in the water and "play" more.

Trying out the back float - definitely not one of her favorites! : )

Getting ready to "jump" in...

Boy has time flown!!

So, when I finally had time (okay made time) to update this blog, I was amazed at how long I had let it get since my last posting. : (
For those that have been checking over the last 2.5 months, I am SO SO sorry that I have been so poor with adding new pics and info! Over the next few days I will be adding some postings...make that over 15 postings. I already have the pics written down, so I am praying that it will go quickly. I am planning on backdating them to around the dates of the pictures and happenings, so make sure to check all the way back to 3-14-09, which was the last time I posted.