Three cheers for the weather!  70's and sunny means outdoor activities!  Spring is definitely here and summer is on its way.  Life has been continuing forward at rapid speed.  Below are some updates from the past few weeks.  Not necessarily in order, however - the upload thing was a little chaotic.    

1. Thayden wants to join the swim team.  We went swimming a couple weeks ago and Thayden can swim all by himself.  We are usually in the pool with the kids, so I don't have many pictures, but he's a good swimmer and working hard.  I just signed him up for the swim team today (signs ups were full within 5 minutes of it going online).  Tryouts are mid-April and he needs to swim one length of the pool (half lap) with the freestyle (aka front crawl) and one length with the back stroke.  Right now, he's terrified and refuses to get into the lap pool, so we have some work to do in the next month.  Sierra also loves swimming and thinks she can do it all by herself, but in reality she goes under the second you give her any independence.  I am sure she swallows half her weight in pool water.

A few weeks ago when I wasn't in the pool

2.  In January we joined the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (aka the science museum) and it has turned out to be a great investment.  The kids love going there and it's nice being able to go for a couple hours, see a couple things and then head back home.  Troy has taken the kids a few times by himself when I work the weekends as well.  Here are a couple pics from a visit a couple weeks ago. 

Butterflies and bugs

Life cycle of a butterfly - this fits great with his class as they are getting caterpillars soon!

Sierra demanded her pic be taken by the butterflies too

The kids putting together a giant block floor puzzle

Sierra spent her time climbing up and jumping off the block puzzle

Reading about dinosaurs before going to see the exhibits

3.  Now it has been beautiful outside and we are spending time outdoors!   Looking forward to 80's tomorrow!  (even though I'm mostly inside, I still like the idea and it puts me in a good mood.)

Sierra is still trying to climb up the slide.

Still not getting the pedaling down

T is riding his big blue bike without training wheels now

 4.  Thayden is now on antibiotics for an ear infection.  Unfortunately, amoxicillin has pretty much everything Thayden is not supposed to have in his special diet, and his behavior reflects it.  He hasn't been doing too bad at school, but has mood swings and poor behavior at home.  It's not out of control, but it is frustrating to slide backwards.  In any case, before the antibiotics in his diet we have introduced whole milk, yogurt, butter, and cheese.   

mac and cheese with rice noodles.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a big hit.

Shrimp stirfry is always a hit

Chicken, rice, grilled veggies, and spinach. 

5.  Dinosaur Eggs art project.  I'm not sure why but I got a bug to do something creative a few weeks ago so I researched some projects for kids.  I came across this dinosaur egg paper mache project which is perfect because both the kids are into dinosaurs right now.  The "glue" is made from flour and water and then you put the paper strips on the balloons.  When they dry, you can pop the balloons and decorate the eggs however you'd like. 

Getting ready for some fun

I bought cheap balloons and we ended up popping several, and T wasn't able to blow 'em up

Getting started.  Yes, T has sensory issues.  He did not like messy hands and had to go wash them several times.

(Side note: His face is painted like a cat for Dr. Seuss' birthday)

Hard at work, messy work

Finishing up his first one

The completed first round!

The giant mess. Glad we used the old sheet.

I was hoping to have the dinosaur eggs done before I posted it to the blog, but it's been a couple weeks and with the nice weather we haven't even starting the decorating.  Next week might be a little cooler and maybe time for indoor projects. :)  Or maybe they can be big Easter eggs instead of dinosaur eggs.

6.  Soccer.  Along with swimming, Thayden has been obsessed with soccer lately.  (Nice, two sports that neither of his parents have ever done.)  I signed him up for a city league team for this spring and tonight was his first practice.  He did great!  He really is a natural athlete.   

During practice

After practice he still wanted to play, and so did Sierra

Playing soccer

 Thayden and Sierra have really been playing well together recently.  It usually still ends in tears or screams by one or both, but it lasts a lot longer until it gets there.  They play out in the back yard together (usually soccer) long enough for me to make a quick dinner, which is a pretty awesome feeling!