Salsa Fest

Today we went to a little festival downtown called Salsa Fest. They had lots of local vendors, contests, games for the kids, yummy food, local bands, chihuahua races and salsa sampling, of course. It was HOT but fun.Whoops, they came out wearing the same thing, ha ha. But, at least they're both showing their ASU pride!
Isn't he cute? Good luck in the races little guy!

The caboose of the train ride

and a bouncy house and we're officially ready for Fall weather!

Grandma & Grandpa Durfee

We all had fun visiting with Grandma & Grandpa Durfee for a few hours. They made a quick trip to visit Robert at the dentists office, then stopped by to say hi. (Gabs insisted her baby doll be in the picture too)

Let's go to the movies

For Gabby's 4th birthday, she wanted a movie-themed party. She chose to watch the new Barbie movie and we turned our living room into a movie theater. We sent out her movie ticket invitiations but she is such a social butterfly she couldn't resist inviting a few of the older girls in our ward too. It was a big neighborhood party!They each got fake dollar bills that they could use to buy popcorn and candy for the movie.
Nate wondered how he ended up in a house full of crazy girls but he loved all the attention :)

Hope you had a fun day Gabby girl!

Happy Birthday Gabby!

Today, Gabby turns 4 years old! She is both the sweet and silly of our family. Some of her favorites right now are:

Favorite color: Pink

Favorite toy: Paislee doll

Favorite movie: Barbie movies

Favorite food: Mac n'cheese and baked potatoes

Favorite animal: giraffe

Favorite book: When I was little

Favorite song: I am a child of God

Favorite place to visit: Tucson

Favorite treat: Milky Way

Favorite game: Outburst

We love you Gabs! Happy Birthday!

Feed the birds

The other morning, as we were driving away from dropping Carter off, Gabby said, "I just really don't like it when Carter has to go school." So to help Gabby transition to school schedules again, I have been spending more one-on-one time with her during Nate's naps. Sometimes we will read or play games but this day we decided to take on a project. We made little bird feeders to hang in the trees. Gabs did most of the project all by herself!
The finished product

And it made the long afternoon seem shorter

(Looks like someone had a little sample of the peanut butter :)

Representing

Everyone wanted to wear their Classy Closets (with old school logo) pajama shirts last night...and take pictures, of course.

Squishy Faces

...and tomorrow, clean windows is #1 on the to do list.

Tuck

Robert went outside our front door on Sunday and found this little guy on our doorstep. He is a red-eared slider turtle! Google said he spends 80% of his time under water so we're wondering what he was doing crawling around in AZ?We made him a little home in our laundry room for now and decided to name him Tuck. He is getting more comfortable around us now and doesn't play dead when someone walks into the room. If you are missing a turtle, we have him! (Although, he might really like it here in the laundry room...)

Carter McPhee- The loose tooth saga

Carter's two front teeth have been loose for a while but recently one of them was so loose, it moved towards the middle and left a gap on the side. When my family was here visiting, it looked so funny that everybody took a turn wiggling that tooth and trying to make it fall out. We decided that Carter looked like Nanny McPhee with that crazy tooth. A few days ago we had corn on the cob for dinner and Carter's tooth came out while she was eating and she swallowed it...but it wasn't her crazy tooth, it was the other front tooth!
Here is the note she wrote to the tooth fairy, she got right to the point: Dear Tooth Fairy, I swallowed my tooth. Put the money under my pillow. Love, Carter

The crazy tooth came out a few days later at school and now she is toothless! Very cute!

Grammy, Grandad & Aunties

Just some cute pics from the visit: Grandad & Gabs having a serious conversation
Grammy & Carter having a dance off

The kids with Auntie Becky & Auntie Amy

And I do my little turn on the catwalk

We had a very fun (and very quick) trip to the catwalk in NM with my family. We could have stayed all day but because of car troubles, we got a late start. Side story: A few weeks ago I was asking Carter what sports she wanted to play this year. I suggested t-ball or soccer. Carter said that she would like to do science or gardening, or maybe ice-skating.

Well, this same child led the whole way on the hike. She looovvved it. Who knew?

First day of first grade

Carter was more than ready to go to her first day of first grade at a new school. (she could finally wear the outfit that has been on the foot of her bed for 2 weeks :)
Saying goodbye to Gabby

Carter's friend, Chaleese, is in her primary class at church and they ended up in the same school class! Chaleese was waiting for Carter to get to school so she could show her the ropes. It was the cutest thing ever. They walked hand in hand all around the playground until the bell rang.

Looks like it will be a great year with lots to do and lots to learn!

Watch out ladies...

Tea Party

Carter has been planning/begging for a tea party with her friends ever since her Auntie Becky gave her a Fancy Nancy Tea Parties book. She wanted a butterfly themed party with all of her guests dressed in the fanciest our dress-up box had to offer. She made signs and place cards to add to the ambiance.
Decorate-your-own butterfly sugar cookies and strawberry milk were on the menu.

Tessa demonstrates the proper way to drink your milk, pinkies up!

100% Cotton

There are cotton fields everywhere you look here. We borrowed one to snap a few pics of the kids :)

Who let the frogs out?

When we went outside to watch fireworks last night, we saw that the streets were covered with frogs, all outside from the rain. A diaper-clad Nate was not afraid to get close and tried to pick a few up.
Cute little hopper

My girls, however, were freaked out and would barely get close enough for a picture. Makes me laugh that their frog ended up with evil eyes in this shot.