Alice's Preschool Graduation

Alice had a wonderful year at Hope Center. She loved her teachers Ms. Carol and Ms. Flor and made lots of friends. Her school worked very hard on a graduation performance. They sang "Hero" and "True colors" and we enjoyed listening to her practice singing every morning.

We had a little bit of a crisis getting to graduation. Right before it was time for us to leave Freya got a bead stuck up her nose and we couldn't get it out. I talked to a nurse at their pediatricians office who wanted us to bring her in but we would miss graduation so the nurse told us to blow really hard into Freya's nose. I was on the phone talking Bryan through the instructions while Grandma Lorraine held Freya down. Freya was thrashing around but Bryan managed to get a good seal on her nose and pop that bead out. His beard was covered in snot but we were so relieved to get that bead out. We made it to graduation on time and we went to Chic-fila afterwards to celebrate.

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Paint Mines

We went to Paint Mines Interpretive park for Memorial Day. We started with a picnic and then hiked through the formations.

I insisted on getting a photo of all the Brooks cousins together. It took several parents to corral them for this shotLouis and Alice

Ashley and NateCan you spot Norah?Alice told me her favorite part of the day was finding caves and pretending she was a bathoodoos!

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Norah's 8th Birthday Party

Norah is 8!!!!!!!!  We celebrated for about a week! She had an early birthday party with friends and cousins at Bounce Gymnastics on May 20th. I made her a special birthday breakfast on her birthday (German pancake with strawberries and a candle) and also had a family dinner for her (and another cake) on May 27th. Here are some pics from her party. Side note - Norah and Alice have been taking gymnastics classes at Bounce since February.



On the far right you can see two ladies running the party - Ms. Robin and Ms. Ashley. Ms. Robin was a PE teacher at Norah's school until she started her job managing Bounce and Ms. Ashley still is a PE teacher at the school. It was really fun for Norah to have them celebrate with her. Ms. Ashley told us that Norah is very creative with her imaginative play on the playground at school.

Freya loves Nathan so much she came out to play with him during the party

The obligatory candle blowing shot

We gave out chicken flingers for party favors and the kids were flinging them all over after the party

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Natalie's Graduation

Last weekend we celebrated Natalie graduating from the University of Wyoming with a BS in nursing. She's headed to Cheyenne for the summer to work as an ER nurse.

Norah's first piano recital

Norah had her first piano recital on May 6th. She played Blue Danube by Strauss. I'm so proud of how hard Norah has worked this year at piano. She is fortunate to have an incredible (and incredibly overqualified) teacher, Dr. Irina Moreland, and under her instruction she has learned so much. Most of my piano recitals were in the cozy living rooms of my piano teachers. Norah's was in a beautiful and intimidating auditorium at a grand piano and in front of a large audience made up of family members of students. She had never played a grand piano before, let along in front of such a large audience. I am sure I would have run out of the hall crying at her age but she was brave and composed. Brava Norah!

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Taos Road Trip

This color blue is everywhere in TaosSelfie by the gateThere were bells just like this one on many of the buildings TaosCouse StudioHorses grazing outside of the PuebloWhat remains of the  old San Geronimo Church which was built in 1619. It was destroyed in 1847 by the US Army. All the Puebloans who were able had fled to the mountains but those too young or old took shelter inside the church and were killedAnother view of the old church

The new San Geronimo church built in 1850 A window in the churchHlauuma (North House) which is 1000 years old!The back of the San Francisco de Asis church in TaosA sample of the whimsical architecture at Earthship BiotectureA wind turbine at Earthship Biotecture
Stations of the Cross Shrine in San Luis Colorado. Ashley and I pulled over and hiked up for a closer lookA glimpse of our scenic drive home through southern Colorado

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Easter Egg Hunt

Our neighbors Dwaine and Don are always so kind to the girls. They generally spoil them but they went all out for Easter even by their standards! They brought the girls each an easter basket filled with fun things like sidewalk chalk, bubbles, stuffed bunnies and treats and then provided an egg hunt for them in the courtyard. They even assigned the girls each a color so they would each find the same number of eggs! The girls had a fabulous time.

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