Monsoons!

Monsoon Season is no joke here. Growing up in Vegas, we had monsoons, but it was a flood and disappear the next day kind of thing. This city has a flood-everyday-during-the-season monsoon! We love the rain though, And the lightening that comes with it is spectacular. Not to mention, we actually get to use the rain boots we thought we'd never bring out again after moving from Reno...

Claire's Birthday (week!)

I swear Claire thinks that it's her birthday everyday now because she has 're-lived' it each day for the past week. They celebrated at preschool Thursday, in her regular class, then on Friday, in her Spanish immersion class. Then, we took her out for breakfast and let her open gifts on her real birthday, Saturday. And, because we weren't sure if Jeff was working Saturday, her birthday party was Sunday. And it carried on to the week with a shopping spree with birthday money and her free ice cream scoop at Baskin Robbins. Whew! That girl knows how to celebrate. :-)


We took Claire to IHOP for Saturday breakfast. She got a free breakfast, and then they topped it off with delicious ice cream and VERY loud singing, which scared her a little.

Then the girls went home and played dress-up all day:

We had a little party for her Sunday, complete with a bounce house. They loved it, and it is way more affordable than having a party somewhere else. However, it has been raining nonstop here and I had to have backups. So, we also had pin the tail on the donkey, and a pinata for the kids. We invited Claire's classmates from preschool and about half of them came. The best part was dress-up for the girls. They all loved the clothes, and played in them the whole time. It was the perfect party for the kiddos.

Party Photos:

Nolan broke it open.

Frankie

Annie

Ivy and Kari

It was a whirlwind of fun!

Sweet, sweet Claire....

You are FOUR! Four years old! 

Officially a preschooler, and the boss of the house. I say this about every stage (well, almost), but I TRULY love the stage you are in. You are wonderful to teach new things to, like writing letters and numbers, and how to ride a big girl bike. You are more and more sweet with your sister everyday, and are learning patience as Cadence gets into the terrible two stage. 

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We can't wait for another fun year! 

1st Day of Preschool

We are off to Sunshine School! Today marks the first of many sad-sweet moments. 

Vegas Vacation

It's been a year since all of the Spillers family has been together, and my how it has changed in that year! We all decided to meet in Vegas, halfway between Tucson and Reno, and where Chris and Marilyn were spending their vacation. It was a blast, and it was like nothing had changed, except our little kiddos were not so little anymore. 

We drove Thursday morning, and got in around 2pm. The girls were fine after Phoenix, after Cadence was carsick, and Claire had an accident. Rough start, but we recovered!  Thursday night was just hanging out with Chris and Marilyn, with a little bit of swimming and Robertos! 

I had the opportunity to meet up with one of my half-sisters at the Cosmopolitan that night. What a fancy place (and in fancy, I mean expensive- haha). 

Then, Friday, everyone came down from Reno, and the party started immediately, with a little jumping on the bed. The cousins were inseparable from that point on. We ended up at Marilyn's mom's house, and enjoyed pizza, and catching up on life.

Saturday, the boys went golfing, and the girls tackled photography of the grand-kids and Grandma. Of all four Claire was the least cooperative, which is ironic because she's most likely to smile on cue. So the group shot was a no-go, but when the kids were with Grandma individually, it was a dream. Marilyn did a great job! We went swimming later in the day, and that evening, Susan watched the grand-kids and the siblings went out to dinner. We ate at Firefly, a tapas restaurant. It was delish! Jeff had a little heatstroke, so I ate for the both of us, and was happy to. :-)

Sunday, we said our goodbyes over breakfast. I still wanted to see my other sister, Kayla.  so we drove over to her place, went swimming, had lunch,  and caught up on her life. Then, we headed out. The girls were great on the way home!

More photo overload:

We can't wait for another reunion, maybe NC? Who knows!