Sandia Peak Tramway

   There are so many cool things to do in and around Albuquerque.  With Grandma Dhreen and Grandpa Scott visiting for just a few days, we wanted to go and see cool things around town.  One of the days they were here we went up the Sandia Peak Tramway, the longest aerial tram in the Americas and the world's third longest single span of tramway.
  The day we went was cold and cloudy, but once we got above the clouds it was crystal clear and beautiful. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

Let the two year update begin

   I thought I'd lost hundreds of pictures on my phone a couple weeks ago, something that I can never get back once they disappear.  Now that Halloween is over, I am going to dedicate as much time as I can to putting the last two years of pictures from my phone up onto my blog.  ...something that has been on my to do list for the past two years.  So!  Here we go.

The three oldest love doing crafts.  It is good, educational entertainment for them.

Grandpa Scott has always enjoyed lifting little kids into the air from a standing position on his lap.

Duke and Gerald enjoying some pats on the head.

Eating at Blake's Lotaburger

Becca's big, beautiful brown eyes.

Andrew and I have always been grateful for roly babies. 

Look at all that chunk

Annd Gerald. This pup dug so many holes it was maddening.  And now the newest pup we have is doing the same thing.  It's so exhausting and I'm looking forward to the puppy stage being over.

Birth Date Dates

  I got the idea from two family friends of ours who both have five kids. When parents have more than one child, it is hard to find one on one time for each child on a regular basis.  To make sure that each child gets "Mommy/Daddy and me" time at least once each month, our friends do something special with each child on their birth date.  For example, Ellie's birthday is July 13th.  So each month on the 13th we do something special with Ellie.  Sometimes it is both Andrew and I, but usually it is just one of us. 
  We have only been doing this for 3 months now but all of the girls are so excited when their special day comes around.  This month things didn't go as I would have planned with Ellie's day but we made do with what time we were given.  Andrew was at work all day and wouldn't be back until late so Ellie had her special time in the morning with me...and Becca.  We drove down to the beach bridge to get donuts but the shop was closed.  Gah!  Instead we bought some hotcakes at McDonalds and drove back up to Holley By The Sea to feed the ducks.  Ellie has done this for all of her special days (feed the ducks, that is) and she isn't tired of it yet.  We all had a really good time together.

As soon as we parked the ducks started waddling our way.  Ellie was constantly telling them, "No ducks!  Don't take my food!" and "Sit. Sit. Sit!!"  There's a momma duck to Ellie's left that had a bunch of little ducklings around her.  They ended up crossing the street to stay away from the little people.  Smart choice.

 Ellie leading her orchestra of ducks.

 Becca enjoyed following the ducks but never tried to touch them.

 Ellie was excited to see the turtles come up out of the water towards her.  The ducks still wanted some food but Ellie was firm when telling them "No!" and "Sit!"

Please imagine Ellie using her high pitched baby voice when calling the turtle to her.  It was adorably amusing. 

 Ellie found another momma duck with just three ducklings.  She only ever got this close to them because the poor little ducklings were waddling as fast as they could to get away from Ellie that they were tripping over themselves.  I told Ellie to not chase them anymore and she practiced some serious self restraint and obeyed me.

 Walking along the edge of the pond made lots of turtles swim towards Ellie.

 The top turtle was super determined to get some food from Ellie.  He almost got all the way up to the top of the hill.

  We left hot and happy but ready for some cool down time.  

First Week of School

  School started last week and both Abby and Kate loved every day.  Their teachers are wonderful.  Kate is lucky enough to have two teachers AND she has her best friend from church in her class too.  Abby's teacher just happens to be her swim instructor from summer swim lessons, who all of our girls have favored over the other instructors.  She is extra sweet and patient with the children and so I was very relieved when finding out Abby was going to be her student this year in Kindergarten. 
  Don't mind the foggy picture.  We live in Florida and it is 99% humidity.  I didn't realize the humidity had fogged up my camera lens until it was too late.  

 Ellie was excited for Kate and Abby's first day of school and wished she could have gone to school with them.  

 We saw plenty of sad kiddos saying bye to their parents.  Not this one.  She was happy to be there even if she didn't know anyone, yet.

 Ellie and Becca have played out in the back yard a lot since school began.  I no longer have my little helpers around so I get to spend a lot more time out in the back yard too.  

 The hose is almost always brought out to play with.  Between the heat and the sand, the hose is hard to keep put away.

 Don't let Becca's face fool you, she LOVES playing in the water.  If she is sad inside, all I have to do is let her out back and 9.5/10 times she is happy immediately. 

 And then this happens.  

 First day of school pick up always takes forever.  Becca convinced me that she needed to be out of her car seat while we waited for her sisters. 

 Kate past her testing and earned her yellow belt last week.  I am so proud of her!  She did everything so well and all while the parents and other students were watching.  I know that was nerve wrecking for her but she pushed through and did an awesome job!

 The students were told to toss their old belt up in the air on the count of three.  Kate had the biggest grin on her face after tossing hers!

 Ellie, Becca, and I spent Friday morning at Grammy's pool.  Ellie is getting a little more clingy at the pool but Becca just jumps in without me.  When I hold onto her for too long she gets mad and lets me know she can float on her own. 

 Kate and Abby were thrilled to find not one, but two toads once they got home from school on Friday.  All four girls had fun playing with their amphibian friends. 

 And after 5 days of being at school, Kate is our first kid to get sick.  Didn't take long.  Saturday morning, Kate and Dad went to the doctor and Kate tested positive for strep throat.  Not the worse sickness to have.  She felt crummy for 24 hour and then was up and running around the house Sunday morning.  And then back to school today.  

  One week down, lots to go.

Lice

  All of last week Kate had been complaining about itchy scalp. Every time she complained about it I searched her head and found nothing. I chalked it up to dry scalp and even got her some new shampoo to help with the dryness.  Until Sunday. She was scratching her head again, I looked at her hair, and there they were. Eggs. Everywhere.
  Andrew had just left for his meeting at church so I called him immediately in hopes of catching him before his meeting started.  Mostly I wanted to have someone to talk everything out to; what needed to be done and all that.  First was to deal with Kate's hair.
  The only thing we had at home that could help her out at all was mayonnaise.  Some Google reviews said it works great, others said it won't kill the bugs. At this point I didn't care about killing the lice, I just need them to not fall out of her head and spread everywhere. So mayo it was.

Kate and I had fun getting the mayo spread onto her head.  I was the one putting it on but we were both laughing the whole time because I was so grossed out about it.  Talk about sensory overload.  Get a hand full of cold mayo and massage it through someone's hair. 

  Once Andrew was done with his meeting he went to Walgreens to get real lice treatment. The rest of the day was filled with shampooing, combing, laundry, more laundry, more shampooing, and more combing.  It was a long day.  Ellie and I did get an hour break to go to church, which we both enjoyed.   

Abby started scratching her head later in the afternoon so I treated her hair just in case.  I didn't find a single bug in her hair, which was a relief. 

  I have combed through Kate's hair each day since Sunday.  Each day I find fewer and fewer bugs.  I'm hoping to be done with them by the start of next week.  As with everything in life, I have learned a lot experiencing this for the first time.  I thought it was the end of the world Sunday morning and didn't want Kate to touch anything or anyone.  I was contemplating total isolation for her, but, I'm happy to say I have relaxed from that viewpoint. This hasn't been an enjoyable experience but there are definitely worse things to deal with.