Hikes and mustaches

Happy Birthday to Riley!!!  He hasn't officially turned 8 yet, at least not for another hour or so lol, but I still can't believe he is 8 years old. Where does time go? This year he wanted a "Mustache Bash" party (in fact he wanted it for his birthday last year, but I had already started work on the Star Wars theme he told me he wanted so I had to tell him to wait until this year). So we did a Mustache Theme. Thankfully I thought ahead, and ordered everything in February (when I got things for valentine's from Oriental Trading) so I had very little work to do. In fact the only major thing I did was the cake. It was shaped like a mustache!  So cool!!  It's been a while since I did a fancy cake like this for a birthday, actually since Riley's First birthday I think. So it was fun for me. And really simple. Just bake a regular double layer round cake and then cut it like a ying yang. turn the two pieces and it makes the two sides of a mustache!  (gotta love Pinterest!) All the signs and stuff were also printed off from pinterest. And since I didn't really plan any games or anything it was an easy party. The boys (And Amara) just played outside the whole time until the presents, then they were inside playing with the gifts! lol. I did set up a "photo booth" with all the kids in Mustaches and with hats/glasses/beards and such. It was so cute! And something I hope Riley never forgets, I certainly won't!

This year we gave Riley another big birthday gift (one that he again has to share with his siblings though) - A Dirt Bike!!  Cam has been wanting to get the boys riding dirt bikes since before they were even conceived! And how/why I caved on this I will never know. I just keep telling myself, if they are out having fun then they aren't getting into trouble, and if they are outside, they aren't inside playing video games. Oh well. It's a really cool little thing though if I do say so! It's kid sized, and it even has TRAINING WHEELS!!!!  So Jayce could ride it if he wanted too. And most importantly from Mommy's angle -it has a throttle stop, so the rider can't yank on the throttle and jolt off. :) Riley didn't want to ride it today (which doesn't surprise me - he's more timid about new stuff like that) but I'm sure he'll get into it and we won't be able to get him off!

But my favorite part of the whole birthday. . . . Earlier this week I asked Riley what kind of cake he wants for his birthday party. In my head I'm expecting an answer like chocolate, vanilla, with sprinkles, etc. Instead he says "Gluten Free, so Zack can have some too." Zack is his buddy from school, and he needs a gluten free diet. They've been best buds since Kindergarten. My heart melted. What 8 year old is thinking of his best friend when selecting his birthday cake?  Apparently my little soft-hearted Riley!  It was a proud mama moment for sure. And I'm so happy that he has such a considerate heart.

Ok, enough water works!  School's only been out for a week now, but we've already had a ton of fun!  Even though you wouldn't think so after looking at the weather for the past few weeks! Once again it's rained for what seems like forever out here. Rivers are still at flood stages, and while it's dried out some, everything is so saturated it will probably take the entire summer for some things to go back to normal. So on a wet chilly day after school was out we headed down to Loveland for Cam and Riley to run in Riley's first official 5K race!  It was one of those novelty runs, where running is the secondary part after the fun. You know, like the color run where you wear white and people throw colored dye at you while you run, or the mud races with the obstacle courses. Well this one was the Insane Inflatables 5K. And it was insane!!  I'm talking like 10 of these bounce houses that are spaced throughout the race, one of them being 6 stories high!!  But the guys did awesome, and more importantly had a blast doing it! Cam was surprised that Riley finished that faster than when he ran around the lake (less than a 5k) but I'm not - It was FUN!!!!  Just see for yourself - every picture he is smiling so big! And he can't wait to do another one! 

Yes even Daddy got into it! How could you NOT have fun!

So I think we are going to sign the whole family up for another similar one coming up. That should be interesting! lol.  He was so proud of his medal and he wanted to show everyone!  It was so cute. Great Job Riley!!

Then this week we attempted to go hiking. I had told some of my Mops friends that I would lead them and their littles on some hikes this summer, so we tried to make it work. The weather looked best on Wednesday, but no one was available that day. One could go on Thursday, but the weather forecast was a little iffy that day. So I told her we'd try it. But I wasn't going to pass up a beautiful day on Wednesday to hike, so the kids and I went anyways!!  We did our traditional Horsetooth Falls hike. Since springtime is the best chance of seeing water in the falls, and with all the rain we've had it should have been over-flowing!  And we were right!!  In all my years of hiking this trail since I became a ranger, I have NEVER seen so much water along that trail. Not just in the waterfall itself, but all along the trail! The creek that is usually a trickle or completely dry, the gullies that I didn't know were actually gullies, the muddy spots on the trail that aren't usually muddy!  It was crazy, and beautiful! Everything was so green, flowers were already blooming, it was incredible!  I can't wait to spend more time hiking this summer! And oh will we!!  All the kids did amazing hiking!  Riley of course is a pro now (I can barely keep up with him!!) and Jayce made the whole thing with little complaining (comparatively), even with almost getting his sandal completely lost in a mud hole. But Amara was the big surprise. She hiked the ENTIRE 2.2 miles all on her own!! What a trooper!!  She did complain a little towards the end, but with a little (and I do mean very little) coaxing she made it the whole time, and even smiled all the way at the end for a photo!! I couldn't believe it! Neither of the boys made it that far at this age. Riley made it close at 2, but I had to carry him for the last 1/2 mile or so. But not Amara - she's gonna show those boys up for sure!  :)

This is the aftermath from the mud hole. everyone made it through almost unscathed . . . except for Jayce.

Smiling right through to the end! What an Amazing little girl she is!

Then on Thursday the weather ended up holding out for us to get a hike in with my friend Keah. She has a 2 year old (almost 3) and a new baby, and was missing her outdoor lifestyle but didn't know how/where to get her daughters started in it. And I completely understood where she is coming from. That was me not too long ago! So I told her you just have to do it!  And do it again, and again, and eventually it will get easier and become a habit, then a lifestyle. So we did it!  After finding out the trail we had intended to do was closed (because it was too muddy - go figure!) we found an open trail that was fun for the kids. I ended up bringing a couple of our other friends along from across the street, so each of the Louie Kids had an age (and gender) appropriate buddy to hike with! Not to mention each one of the 7 kids did amazing!! They hiked the whole thing so well, Jayce and Amara were a little more pooped than usual, understandably after the hike they just did the day before. But there was still little complaining from everyone. They played by the reservoir, made moats in the sand bank, and shared snacks with their buddies. And everyone made it back safe and sound!

Amara and her buddy!

Jayce and his Buddy!

Digging in the mud

Making moats

So that's a snapshot into what we've been up to lately. Summer is in full swing for us, and we've got a ton of things planned. Stay tuned for the next couple weeks, it's going to be a busy June!!!  :)

Mother to Big Kids

So much has happened in the last couple weeks, I figured I better update now before it gets away from me. I had time today because we have just had awful weather this spring. Well, that's not true. I like the rain, and living in Colorado I have learned to appreciate it more and more. There's a lack of it usually, and so when it does come we are SOOOO grateful. But this Month of may it has been borderline ridiculous. We (being Denver airport's official numbers) have received over 4 inches of rain THIS MONTH ALONE!!!! That's not including here in Northern Co, where we've gotten more than that, or the mountains where it has been snow. In fact, the one ski resort that still open (all the others closed because we had such a warm and dry February and March there was almost no snow left!) has had over 30 inches of snow in the last week!!!!  Everyone is flocking to A basin to go skiing. It's like April in the midwest for us. We never see weather like this. And frankly, after a cold winter of stuck inside, I'm ready for sunshine and 80's. So anyways, today it is yet again raining, and also only a high of like 43 degrees. So it's cold on top of that. The boys' schools had a bunch of fun things planned this week for the end of school, and they have all been canceled. Today Jayce was supposed to have "Water Day" at preschool. Nope. Not happening. Tomorrow Riley was going to have a Field day at the middle school. Nope. Not happening. Thursday is the last day of school, and the preschool was doing a park playdate for lunch instead of regular school day. That one is still a maybe, but I highly doubt it will happen. The teachers said if it's cloudy they will probably try to brave it, but if it's all out raining (which so rarely happens in Colorado, but has been the consistent for the last 2 weeks) they will cancel and have a regular school day. Poor Kiddos!  So many fun things that can't happen because of weather.

So we've spent a lot of time indoors, but the few days it's been nice, we've spend outside making the most of it!  Our Farm Friends, Trista and Kinsey, have some new baby goats!  One of their goats got pregnant this year, and so we were able to visit the "kids" just a day after they were born. They are so cute and tiny!  The light colored one is a girl, and her name is Phoebe (Trista and I are both big Friends fans!) and the darker boy is named Rowdy - because HE. IS. ROWDY!  I was surprised that Amara was so taken with them! She didn't want to hold one, but she wanted to pet them, which is really good for her. she's usually so timid around new things, I was really proud of her for not being scared! Jayce loved them!  He wanted to chase them and pick them up, and hold them forever! He is such a cuddler and a lover!  Riley of course was indifferent. :) He was anxious to see them, but once he did, he was over it and spent the rest of the time climbing on all the old farm equipment and piles of wood/etc. around the farm. That kid is so his own little person. Here's some photos from our trip to see the goats!

Rowdy and Pheobe

Amara wanted to pet them Right Away!!

Rowdy was a hard one to catch

Kinsey was anxious to pet them too!

Mama goat (Bella) and the kids

Jayce holding Pheobe, Ryder TRYING to hold Rowdy

Kinsey would sit here with her all day if she could!

For Mother's Day weekend (it was again rainy) so we headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We bought a family pass this year, so I'm excited to see all the different exhibits as they change. This time it was Mythical Creatures (I'm waiting for the Poison one and Sherlock Holmes!!! later this year!) and it was really cool. They had figures and histories of a lot of mythical creatures: mermaids, unicorns, dragons, griffins, Pegasus, and more; and then explained possibilities of real life creatures or things that could be the source of such myths. For instance a Narwhal tusk for a unicorn horn, or packs of whales coming up for air that resemble the many loops a sea serpent makes. It was really cool to see!  Best part - to spend time as a family!

After that we had a few "nice" days. Still cool, but sunshine!  So we were able to get our house painted!! Yay!! It's been 8 years since we moved into this house, and the Colorado sun was started to really affect the south and west sides. Cameron has been thinking about doing it himself, but after we got a free estimate and realized how affordable it was - we couldn't pass it up. Especially since they were done in 2 days!  2 days!!!!! It would have taken Cameron a full summer of weekends to do the whole job! And it turned out really nice. We decided to change the colors up. No more boring grey or tan like the rest of the neighborhood. We are now a bold rusty red color!  I really love it! What do you think?

Also those few nice days we spent some time outside playing. Jayce has been riding with training wheels on his bike for a year or so now, but only because he wasn't tall enough to reach the ground on the balance bike. After his growth spurt this winter he is now tall enough, and he really took to riding the balance bike. It took Riley about the whole summer to get good at balancing with no pedals, but Jayce picked it up in about a week!  By the time we were playing outside last week he was a pro - leaning around corners, coasting down the sidewalk with his feet up, and even going up and down the curb!  ( I attribute it to his scooter balance which he perfected at a young age to keep up with Riley!)

So this last weekend I told Cam he's ready for no training wheels, and we took them off. And he DID IT!!!  I was so proud that he picked it up just as fast as Riley did!! By the first pass down the street Cam was barely holding on to him, and on the way back to me he was letting go completely! At one point he rode down the street, around a car, and around the corner all by himself!!  It was amazing to watch! He's still not real bold in wanting to do it, but that will come with time. Just like Riley his first time on 2 wheels, Jayce was done after about 3 passes and didn't want to do anymore. So we are waiting for some better weather so we can practice more.

Speaking of Big Kids - Amara is (yes I'm going to dare to say it) POTTY TRAINED!!!!  It's been an uphill battle to get her to wear undies, so finally one day a couple weeks ago (a Friday) I told her no diapers, and if she didn't want to wear undies then she would be naked. She went for that, and after giving her a LOT of tea that morning (so there was no way she could hold it until naptime when I put her in a diaper - the obstacle we had reached until that point) She peed in the potty all on her own - as in, I was out of the room and she went to the potty chair by herself and did it!!! I was so excited I almost peed MY pants!!  Then she continued that way the rest of the day, and the rest of the weekend. By Monday I was bold enough to put her in undies when we went to MOPS. She had a few accidents, (mostly #2's) but by Wednesday that week she had figured out #2 as well!! I wasn't sure what to do, it was NEVER this easy with the boys! So she's been wearing undies all day long for over a week now with only one accident (and it was funny, she was outside and took her pants and undies off before peeing right there on the deck! I'm sure one of the boys peed in the yard and she thought she could too. ugh.) AND . . . the last 3 nights she has woken up with a dry diaper too!!! I can't believe it! Everyone says Girls are easier, but I didn't believe it after the months of her refusing to wear undies! So I think it's safe to say she is potty trained! She may have a few more accidents here and there, I'm sure, but this is amazing. I may be able to get rid of all the diapers in the house by the end of summer!!! YAY!! (and then the bitter sweet feeling of my babies growing up. :( 

I still haven't decided how I'm going to approach road trips with that yet though. We have one coming up in a couple weeks, to Moab - an 8 hour drive, with one stint where there are absolutely NO exits or facilities for MILES, and the big trip to Indy next month. I would like to try it and see if she can make it (she's risen to everything thus far!) but on the other hand we may be stuck in the middle of Utah with a wet carseat and no washing machine. Yep that's right. All of our vacations this summer will be road trips. We've got a few little mini vacations planned, and a bunch of other stuff fun us to do on a daily basis. I'm really excited for this summer and all we have going on! Keep checking back, especially at the end of this month for Riley's birthday! He picked out a cute theme, and it will make for some fun Pictures!  :)