Monkey Bizness

Last Thursday morning, Tera and I took our little ones to a new place in town called "Monkey Bizness". My little ones and I had never been there, so we were excited to go.







What a fun place for crawlers and toddlers! Bree enjoyed all the open space to crawl on and explore (until the building became over-crowded). Bree just learned to crawl a couple of weeks ago. It's a whole new world for her.







Tera's little Ethan had a blast. He is an experienced walker and climber, and an adventurous one at that. So Monkey Bizness was right up his alley. At Monkey Bizness, the rules state that everyone must remove their shoes before entering the play areas. That part is perfect for Ethan, too, since he doesn't like to wear shoes.







There were lots of different surfaces with different textures for Bree to try out.







Felicity loves slides, and Monkey Bizness has no shortage of them. Felicity gave each one a try before choosing a favorite.







Here's Brynna, posing for me. Isn't she gorgeous?







Felicity enjoyed riding the tractors around the play areas, too.







It wasn't long before Felicity begged me to take her to the art room. She loves to paint. Doesn't her hair look pretty? She was so proud of it.







That's a funny smile, Felicity.







That's a funny smile, too, but a pretty picture you are painting.







Bree is starting to get the hang of stairs. This is both scary and exciting for me as a mom.







This slide became Felicity's favorite. She went down it dozens of times while we were there. I even had Tera hold Bree for me so that I could go down this slide with her once. It was fast!







That smile says it all.







Here Felicity is acting like a true monkey--just hanging around.







Like the amazing mom that she is, Tera took Ethan down the slide. Again, and again, and again...







This was Brynna's favorite slide.







This is Felicity's impression of a caged animal.







I took Bree down the slide with me and few times. It was fun for a while until my broken tailbone began to ache.







Ooh! This is fun for Felicity.



What a fun and exhausting couple of hours. Bree was asleep before we left the parking lot to go home. Good times.


Cara

When I See You Smile

"When I See You Smile"
-Bad English

Sometimes I wonder if I'd ever make it through
Through this world without having you, I just wouldn't have a clue
'Cuz sometimes it seems like this world's closing in on me
And there's no way of breaking free, and then I see you reach for me








Sometimes I wanna give up, I wanna give in, I wanna quit the fight
And then I see you baby, and everything's alright, everything's alright








When I see you smile, I can face the world, oh oh, you know I can do anything
When I see you smile, I see a ray of light, oh oh
I see it shining right thru the rain
When I see you smile, baby when I see you smile at me, oh yeah








Baby there's nothing in this world that could ever do
What a touch of your hand can do, it's like nothing that I ever knew hey









And when the rain is falling, I don't feel it, 'cuz you're here with me now
And one look at you baby, is all I'll ever need, it's all I'll ever need









When I see you smile, I can face the world, oh oh, you know I can do anything
When I see you smile, I see a ray of light, oh oh
I see it shining right thru the rain
When I see you smile, baby, baby when I see you smile at me








Sometimes I wanna give up, I wanna give in, I wanna quit the fight
Then one look at you baby, and everything's alright, hey everything's alright
So right








When I see you smile, I can face the world, oh oh, you know I can do anything
When I see you smile, I see a ray of light, oh oh
I see it shining right thru the rain, yeah
When I see you smile, yeah I can face the world, oh oh, you know I can do anything
When I see you smile, oh yeah, baby when I see you smile, smile at me



This song is dedicated to you, my sweet Bree, for making me smile.








"When I See You Smile" was a popular song when I was in high school. I loved it then, and I love it now. Not long ago I was listening to a 90's channel on Music Choice, and this song came on. Immediately it made me think of you.







You give me so much to smile about.







You find joy in the simple things in life--like a warm bath...








...and hamming it up for the camera...








...and playing with toys...








...and getting dressed up, even if you don't have anywhere to go.








Let us not forget the best part of your smile: your dimples!








Oh, yes, your dimples slay me...








...especially when you are discovering something new.








Like the dishwasher and stairs in the pictures above.








Yes, when I see you smile, I can face the world, I know I can do anything. I love you, angel.


Cara

An Engineer In The Making

Dallin is an engineer in the making.


Last week Mimi broke the handle off my make-up mirror (the second mirror of mine she has broken in the past couple of months). Since the mirror was inexpensive and can easily be replaced, I wrote it down on my shopping list.






Today Dallin noticed the mirror's handle was missing. When he got home from school, he pulled out his erector set, and designed and built me a new handle/stand. The new stand even allows for me to tilt the mirror up and down at different angles. Don't that beat all!






Since Dallin was a little boy, he has enjoyed designing, building, and working with his hands. Even as a toddler, if his favorite toys were confiscated--such as his beloved vacuum--he'd just build new ones to play with. Dallin is passionate about Legos, Tinker Toys, erector sets, Mega Blocks, and Lincoln Logs, just to name a few.

As a little boy, Dallin was fascinated by big equipment (excavators, bulldozers, compactors, scrapers, etc) and would spend hours watching the progress at construction sites. Dallin also loved small equipment like power tools. So in love was he that his favorite bedtime stories were his daddy reading to him out of the Home Depot catalog. By age four, Dallin could site and name six types of saws. He also knew all major brand names and where they could be purchased. A trip to Home Depot was never complete without obtaining an updated tool catalog to study with the younger siblings.

Semi-trucks are another passion of Dallin's, one he can talk about at length. So if you are ever in the market for a semi-truck or road train, Dallin can recommend the best brands to you such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Western Star, or Mack. Dallin can also draw any model of said trucks, with your preferred features.

But vacuums were Dallin's first love. Even as a baby Dallin was enraptured by them. I can remember leaving my vacuum out in the family room all day when he was little; it made him happy. Sometimes I would vacuum my family room many times in a day, because it would calm Dallin down. As Dallin got a bit older, he would play with the vacuum, using the on-board attachments to his liking and make his own sound effects. Any time we went to a department store he would beg me to take him down the vacuum aisle. He could look at and study vacuums for hours. When he went to anyone's house, the first thing he would ask is, "Do you have a vacuum? Can I see it?"

Over the years, our family has had to retire old vacuums and purchase new ones. When we have needed to purchase new vacuums, Dallin is our guide. He asks about the suction power, amps, available tools and attachments, whether the vacuum is bagless, and how often the filters must be changed. He is a true asset.

I'm surprised that he has never taken one of our vacuums apart to find out how it works...Yet...

At age 11, Dallin can still spend hours building with his Legos. He has created some amazing things!










If you want to know anything about the above Lego creations, check out my blog of the same name.


When building and designing, Dallin has the patience of a saint--even when it comes to a house of cards. Check out these pics.











Oh yes, Dallin is an engineer in the making, and I couldn't be more proud.


Cara

That Saturday Was A Special Day

Given the recent bad weather, I write this next post to remind myself that just a few short weeks ago we Coloradans were blessed with a gorgeous Saturday. As a family, we took advantage of it and instead of working inside, we worked outside before playing.


Since the previous Saturday we had washed all of the windows and screens on the house, it was time to scrub all the blinds.




First Dallin washed our driveway with Rich's power washer. That was a big job and required a lot of work in order that we could do the real work!



One by one, Rich pulled each set down from the windows and placed them on the driveway.




That's me scrubbing dirty blinds with the car washing brush. Knowing that we were going to work outside, I put on old clothes and decided to save the shower for later. In this picture I am wearing a jacket, but before long I was able to shed it.




After I scrubbed, Elijah rinsed. He liked that job. A lot.




When we were all done, Elijah took a break with Bree. He is so amazing with her.



Mimi and Felicity took a break by riding their bikes at our park across the street. But before they took off on their bike ride, Mimi thought that Tyke the dog looked as though he needed a break from the sun, too. So she let Tyke borrow her sunglasses.





He looks cooler already, eh?




Tyke's future's so bright, he's gotta wear shades.



As if scrubbing blinds wasn't enough, after a short break, I then shampooed Tyke. Sadly no one took pictures of that. Sorry.


When all was said and done, it was an exhausting day. A great day, but a busy one. There's nothing like that fantastic feeling of accomplishment and knowledge of a job well-done.


Cara


P.S. Now we can't wait till we can start taking care of the lawns again! Our family loves to work and play outside.