Our friends

We were lucky enough to meet our cute neighbors on one of the first nice days in February. We were out playing in the sun, and we hear "Hewwo! Hewwoo!" So of course, Korrali calls back "Hello! Hello!" Turns out it's a little girl 4 days older than Korrali - how perfect is that? They are very similar in temperament.

We have had several play dates - at one point the fence fell prey to toddler whim and one loose board turned into an entry to their yard and Korrali would just walk on over whenever they were out playing. The fence has been fixed, but our kind neighbors are cute enough to seriously debate whether or not another more permanent solution should be found to enable spontaneous playdates.

"Look, friend, a fountain is in this enclosure! O, and I guess there's a polar bear in there too."

"Where should we run to next? Our Adults want to go left, so we definitely should go right."

Korrali connects this friend with the word adventure.. so if I say we are going on an adventure, she assumes the neighbor girl is coming too.  This results in much screaming of her friends name in the car, and much running next door when we are late to other playdates.

We went to her b-day party, and one of the au pairs there assumed I was also an au pair. I laughed, then realized she was right - I was the youngest mom there by about 10 years. You'd think I was Mormon or something.
I hope you will forgive the weird face Korrali has started to decide is her having fun face..

Teo in the sunshine

This is one J took; it warms my heart.

She loves to chill in the yard with Teo, and just lie in the grass and look at the sky. I love her style - camo boots, a frilly tshirt and jeans.

Picnic for two. He enjoyed it until she sprayed him with her new water bottle. Bwahahah.

Teo likes to run into the pathway of the swing. Who know why.

She likes to yell "WATCH OUT TEO!!!"

Watching the hours tick by

We love Frozen. We will often take it with us on adventures - like on airplanes or to restaurants. Here she ran into the room, lay down and clicked her tongue like a clock.

Precious Moments

We went to Chicago the day after my new nephew was born to help out.
It was great to see a couple of our old friends again, and even more precious to be able to hold our new family member and help out his wonderful mommy.

I made the mistake the night before we left of forewarning Korrali that we would leave the next morning to visit - she tried every trick she could think of to get out of bed and leave right away for the airport.

I don't blame her, I was excited too.. and it lived up to expectations.

Korrali palled around with Eli - she would often just stare at him and he'd make funny faces at her. He is such a sweet boy, we could tell he was a proud older brother.

Yep, proud.

I kept forgetting the little one was a newborn; I don't often get the pleasure of associating with babies so close to birth. It was sooo fun to see him just be a great little baby - I finally understand why the phrase "sleeping like a baby" even exists. And, I'm in love with him. He's just so sweet natured and calm. 

Korrali was in love too. "Hold my baby????" Was the most common phrase she uttered. At one point she sat and held him and watched tv for about 15 minutes before an adult decided it had been long enough.

Ali helped her make a blanket fort while I was making dinner, and this picture cracked me up. 

Aww..

Never was there so much fun to be had, as cousins plus a trampoline.

There was a huge worm one morning waiting for the bus.

It also was a little chilly, and to save space I didn't bring coats so Korrali borrowed Eli's. Then she tried to board the bus and go to school with them. Good thing we had a baby at home, or I would have been a Mean Mommy. All of these cute kids are growing up so fast! I am so glad we were able to go and hang out with them for a week, although it wasn't long enough and I'm still a little annoyed that we had to move away from them. Congratulations on the newest member of the family!!!!

Easter

We had Easter fun -  The Bunny left an egg trail for Korrali leading to various stuffed animals and candy and stickers. The Bunny also brought a squirt bottle and sidewalk chalk. We just happened to spot a bunny in the yard a few days before Easter, so now Korrali is somewhat convinced the Easter bunny is real and that he lives in Grammy's back yard. Bwahahah... 

Happy Easter!!

I have to admit though, we  had more fun doing General Conference brunch with our friends the day before Easter. Thanks to my sister in law Katie I used some fun child activity ideas to keep children happy and grown ups able to focus on the messages of Easter and Family and truth coming through our tv. We missed them the next day; I had more trouble helping one toddler to focus without all the other friends.

This is what happened between Arizona and Chicago

We flew home to Denver - Korrali, as usual, charmed the crew (yes, she is sitting on the Pilot's lap - her Grandpa Henderson would be proud). She turned left instead of right as we entered the plane and the pilot and copilot jumped at the opportunity to teach her how to fly ie: encourage her to push any one of the hundreds of buttons they use every day. For once my toddler was overwhelmed by excitement and almost didn't even touch anything. I was a little overwhelmed by their generosity and child-friendliness.

We got home just in time to dog watch a very sweet dog down the street. We walked over twice a day for a little over a week to play with and let out the tiny morsel of fluff. Korrali still talks about her - it's been over a month since we finished.

Shortly after we returned, my sister in law and her husband came to visit for a wonderful week. Korrali held these babies when they were only a few months old, and it was so fun to see them play together now that they are older. Well, after she got over the initial shock of sharing toys. The boys were sooo much fun - I can still hear their giggles and I miss them terribly.

A couple days later our very very good friends from Chicago rolled through Denver on their way to Arches National Park (we almost went with them... the hold up was that it would have been Korrali's first time camping, my first time camping alone with her, and she isn't old enough to be perfect at following directions like "don't run away from me over the edge of the cliff!") In case you're wondering why I have a random picture of a boy walking as my photo, look way in the back, you can see Korrali and her tiny friend sitting next to each other. They are about a week apart, and I think they're adorable together.

We went to the off-leash dog toddler park, where Korrali got to follow and pet many a puppy (talk about toddler heaven), and where I turned into the meanest mommy ever because I wouldn't let her jump into the tiny stream all the other dogs were swimming in.

It was around 80 degrees a for a few days, and we celebrated by making bubbles - a "bath" as she called it - and played with chalk. 

J and I went on a fabulous night out for pie day. We have loved having someone home to watch our baby monitor for us after bed time!!

Korrali made her first tea party - complete with frustration that her animals refused to eat her food. Those cheeky stuffed animals.

Cousins, cousins, and more cousins

K and I traveled to Mesa to visit her second cousins once removed and her Grammy Great. We had pretty much non-stop fun. If there is any truth to genetic memory, it was evident in the immediate friendship that sprung up between K and her cousins. It was as much of a vacation for me as for her; I always feel like I've found long-lost sisters when I spend time with the women from the Blau/Castillo clans.

This is especially true of the wonderful cousins who gave us a place to stay while there -

Geneva Convention of Fun

Our first day there K and J made friends - J asked for help getting the stroller with K in it to the tile so she could push her easily.

M was going down, K was going up, and J was patiently waiting her turn, and commenting on the dirty puddle of water remaining from the last rain at the top of the slide.

No barriers will prevent downwards sliding - especially when those yellow barriers truly don't mind being sat on.

Oh, this car. M Loves this car - I think it might be his go-to toy - but his mom would know better than I. K loved it too, so naturally everyone had to play on it.

Sharing is car-ing 

Our next stop was a blast... just Wach us have such a great time!

K loved loved their baby chicks

 We visited the day they also watched some other children (13 in total, counting K), and K loved the house full of children for a while, especially their indoor swing and back yard roller coaster. What a fun, fun house. After a few hours K decided she just wanted to be with me for a while - I didn't realize she had a play/chaos limit, but she definitely needed some space. We watched some tv while I got in some work in the guest room they let us stay in, and then she was right back out and playing.

We visited the Lehi Days Rodeo - we missed the pony rides but they let us sit on the horse

We watched the rodeo - I don't know what it was called but they galloped down and picked up a passenger and then rode back. It was pretty tricky looking and I was impressed.

We loved our stay with them - and realized that while K and Benji couldn't stay away from each other, they also couldn't play long without screaming "MINE" at each other and chasing one another with Intent... It was pretty funny.

Great Times with Grandma and the Richardsons

Our next night was spent in Grandma Great's spare room - and we loved playing with even more cousins and our beloved Grandma.

They played outside, and everyone needed a hat, 

They were playing Ghost Airplane I think, and someone said "someone should tickle us - YOU should!!" 

Photographic evidence that Aunt Donnie makes excellent smoothies, and that everyone should have as fun an older sister as "Auntie Laila" (Korrali has an auntie Laila, so when her 2nd cousin once removed had the same name, she defaulted to the familiar one. I guess, in Hawaiian culture, it's probably pretty accurate). 

More evidence that we love our Arizona cousins. We were so grateful for the shuttling, and housing, and feeding and playing that everyone was so gracious to give us! 

We had so much fun, so much sun, and came back feeling so much love!!