What's a happenin'

We've had a busy week, or at least I feel I have but here are some highlights, okay maybe more than just highlights.

Monday--Elizabeth had another art class and here's the result.

Tuesday--soccer practice for Elizabeth. Even though it was a little chilly and windy, we had our second official practice. They made me laugh with "huddles" to talk strategy during the scrimmage and the ingenuity (and pride in it) of team names--red team and green team. Oh how I love 5 & 6 year olds!

I also love 12 &13 year old girls and how silly they can be. I drove them around to pick up items for our youth activity and I couldn't believe they didn't know what a Chinese fire drill was. We didn't officially do one (safety, I know blah, blah) but they loved getting in and out of the car to get things off people's porch.

Wednesday--6 month check-up for Evelyn. She's still small but growing--14 lbs 15 oz. and 24 1/2 inches. We officially started on solids and this is what Evelyn thought of that.

My little girl can sit up by herself for a little bit and loves to play peek-a-boo. Where did the past 6 months go?

One of our other neighbors from Ohio, Rima and family, came for some work her husband had down in Colorado Springs (one of those Air Force bases down there) so I visited with Justina & Rima while the kids played so well together quietly in the basement. I miss all the families on Fryer Ct!

The kids quietly watching a movie
Jasmine posing for me
Meghan, Jennifer, & Rachel
Rima, me, & Justina

I also played my own co-ed soccer game and felt so old and out of shape. Who thought 29 was old? I still feel like a spring chicken, just have to get my soccer legs and touch back.

Thursday--a "blizzard" hit our area. What's the white stuff doing here in Spring? We only got a few inches but it was blowing pretty hard and got really cold. Perfect setting to drink hot cocoa by the fire.

Shirt worn by Elizabeth representing her mood.
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This kind of face from Rachel
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The kind of day we had while the weather outside was frightful.

Friday--I got to experience what it would be like to have 7 kids 6 and under. Can't say that I'd want it but I survived since the babies took long naps and the older kids played together very well.

Saturday--a trip for the kids to Aunt Lisa's while we went to the temple. Baby shower to attend for me. Elizabeth went and got fish #2 with her own money, a betta fish this time so hopefully it lasts.

Today--starting off with some bling.


P.S. From Eric - Only a few inches of snow? Spoken like someone who didn't shovel it. It was piled two and three feet deep in some places. We probably got around a foot though, maybe a little less.

Out with the old, in with the new

After five years it was finally time to say goodbye to my first bike (as an adult, that is). It was a Giant Cypress Hybrid bike, and it served me well for the time I had it. I modified it a lot as I got more and more into bicycling but it finally hit a point where it didn't make sense to keep spending money on changing a bike I didn't like. So, I sold it and bought a new one.

Here's the new bike, it's a Redline 925. It's a single speed/fixed gear commuter bike (get it, nine to five?). So far I'm loving it. As I said, it's a single speed, which means no shifters and only one gear ratio. I haven't done it yet but you can flip the rear wheel and run it fixed gear (as in, the rear wheel does what your pedals do - no coasting!). Obviously hills are somewhat challenging, but I find my 10 mile commute doable and I'm not dead at the end of it. More importantly, it's much more nimble and lighter than my old bike. That think was a tank! It came with fenders but I took them off, we don't usually have standing water here in Denver and in a downpour they're almost useless anyway. The handlebars are called bullhorn bars and I've found that I like them quite a bit. The main reason I got a single speed was less maintenance. It's fun learning how to work on my bike, but I like to do it on my own schedule, not when I'm forced to. This should be pretty easy to maintain. This is much cheaper than a full road bike too, one nice thing about the recession is the deals you can score!

Welcome Spring

Art courtesy of Elizabeth

Dear Spring,

I would officially like to welcome you here to Denver, Colorado. It's so nice of you to come and make everything start to bloom (even though my allergies don't really like it). I'm looking forward to many days of sunshine, a few days of rain to make everything green, and nice warm weather.

Sincerely,
Alicia

I bought the headband at Target yesterday as I thought it would make for a cute picture.
Popcorn popping on I don't know what kind of tree in our backyard.

On a side note, Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! 33 years and counting. Sorry, my pictures of you guys in your younger years are limited so this is what you get. Picture taken February 1981. I'm the cute girl in my mom's arms, Theresa is in dad's and on the right is my cousin Carl.

Museum Visit

So we've been here in Denver for over a year and haven't visited many of the museums and other downtown attractions. Saturday we tried to remedy this by going to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and we even bought a family membership so we can come back and enjoy some more exhibits with friends and family. Elizabeth and Rachel wanted to see the dinosaur exhibit so we went there first, then enjoyed a planetarium show about astronauts, then the special exhibit on natural disasters. That's all they were up to for one visit before asking to go home but I did get a few pictures.

Learning all about trilobites.

Posing in front of the dinosaur skulls.

Some wild big pig in the exhibit.

Since spring is almost here, I thought I'd put Evelyn in a cute spring dress and hat for church. Isn't she just adorable?

Big Sister

Elizabeth is a great big sister not only to Rachel (they can play for hours by themselves) but also to Evelyn. Evelyn has the biggest smile when she hears her sister's voice and Elizabeth loves to play pat-a-cake with her and try to make her happy when I'm "ignoring" her to try and get something done. Here are some pictures of the two of them.

Do you think they also look alike? Here's a picture of Elizabeth around 5 months.

And Evelyn today, I hope the ribbon doesn't look too Rambo.

I also thought this was too funny to pass up taking a picture of. Elizabeth is great at tying knots and says she just tied the bear to the basket so he wouldn't fall. To the naked eye it looks like death by hanging but I guess that wasn't the intent.