Fun at the YMCA

We got a sweet deal on a three-month family pass to the YMCA for only $85! The boys and I go swimming there 3 to 4 days a week. I really like that the pool is indoors-so nice here in Vegas! I get to work out while the boys play in daycare and Paul can hit the gym before work!

Alec just finished swim lessons there as well-he's ready for the final level now.

We are pretty excited that there are four of them located in Las Vegas, and each one offers different amenities. We plan to go as a family a week from Saturday to the one with outdoor waterslides and Paul and I are planning a date night to the one with a rock climbing wall! So fun!

Lazy Morning

I love the lazy mornings when the whole family congregates in one space.

Pioneer Day

When my brother invited us to the Pioneer Day celebration I had flashbacks to Colorado celebrations-dressing in period costumes, pushing handcarts, listening to heroic stories, role playing in family groups. Here in Vegas, it's a carnival (disappointed sigh).

Alec loved the inflatable water slides,(he kept disappearing to run off & slide some more) & James loved the snow cones

2 Months Old!

We had a busy morning at the Russell household. New carpets were being installed in the bedrooms (yay!), Alec had swim lessons & then we headed to the DeLong's for swimming with friends. Alec + 3 other wild little boys = loads of splashing & jumping. He was in heaven. James is doing great kicking & keeping himself upright whilst wearing a life jacket now. I stay near him in the water, but he doesn't want me to touch him. Both of my boys are so independent!

In the afternoon, Evy had her two month old checkup. She's growing wonderfully-12.5 pounds now. She's average height (the boys were both below average), but 90th percentile for weight (like all my babies). The worst part was the shots! Poor little girl got three today, so her daddy had to get some infants' Tylenol to help. I did time the appointment so that I could nurse her immediately following the shots which also helped. We are all so in love with her and now that she's smiling when we talk to her she's absolutely irresistible! It's still a chore to try and get the boys to stop touching and kissing her. But, I'm so glad they love their sister.

Titles of Liberty

After Alec's swim lessons, my workout & the boys enjoying some free swim time, we made our treats for FHE. We decided to use some Granny Smith apples and bake them in the slow cooker. The boys really enjoyed measuring out the ingredients, mixing them together and then stuffing them in the apples. Yum!

Our lesson was on Capt. Moroni and choosing the right. After we went to the story, the boys each got to make a title of liberty that we taped to a straw. We asked them to draw pictures of the things they thought were the most important in their lives. Alec drew a heart to represent love and a smiley face to represent happiness. James, on the other hand, drew Darth Maul! His love of 'Star Wars' bad guys never ceases to make us laugh!

Swimming in the Rain

Aunt Linda had been inviting us to go swimming all week, so we finally made it over Friday morning and of course it started to rain! The weather has been really bizarre out here lately.

But, even though it was drizzling we decided to swim as the temperature was still rather warm. Firstly though, the boys wanted to help clean the pool. I love that they want to help so much! It will be really nice when it doesn't slow things down though.…

Springs Preserve Farmers Market

On Thursday we decided to go to the Springs preserve with my mom and my niece and nephew. After we hit the nature exchange so Alec could get a large moth (after trading his cicada skin and seeds), we decided to check out the farmers market. It had so much great food! The boys loved the samples everywhere and I was excited to find a source of local honey to help with our allergies. The boys picked out a small punnet of raspberries to share and they were gone within a few minutes.

Although fun, it was difficult to navigate with so many small children, so we abandoned the effort after about 10 minutes and headed to the Venom exhibit. Something indoors to climb on was a hit, as the weather had gotten a way too hot to be outside (Monday it hit 116°). we wandered around the Ori-Gen museum a bit longer until Evy had had enough.

Free Slurpee Day!

7/11 is free slurpee day at 7-Eleven, so the boys & I had to stop by!

Evelyn smiling

Evelyn has begun smiling when we talk to her, which is so wonderful!

The doctor told us she had reflux, but we have figured out how long she can nurse and keep the food down without throwing up so it's not much of a problem. We've found the hardest part is that she falls asleep while nursing and then get gas in her tummy and wakes up fussy. Otherwise, she is a very sweet and mellow baby-calmly enduring the constant hugs and kisses from her brothers.

Swimming at the Y

We found an awesome deal on the radio shopping show to get a three-month family pass to the YMCA for $85. Paul is able to work out before work, and I am able to work out around Alec's swim schedule. The YMCA is really close to my parents, so I can drop Evelyn off there easily (and occasionally James).

Alec really wanted to continue swim lessons after Sandi's classes had ended, so we signed him up for a session at the YMCA. He loves going to his classes there and his teacher's name is Kelsey which he thought was wonderful, since he has an aunt named Kelsey!

Every other day James and I get in the pool to play around as well whilst Alec takes his lessons, then the three of us play together afterwards. Alec is also fascinated with the showers out in public.

Making pretzels!

On Monday, we decided to make pretzels for family home evening. Alec was very good at being able to roll out the dough and shape it into a pretzel. James, not so much. It was fun shaping them, watching them rise, boiling them and then baking them. We decided to flavor them with cinnamon sugar. They rose more than we expected, so they were a little funny looking in the end-but tasted yummy!

Nana and grandpa came over for FHE. James enjoyed bossing grandpa around, by telling him which part of his picture to color.

Grinding wheat

This morning the boys decided to help me grind wheat to make the flour for our bread. Since I do it outside, it was great to have them help in something that I didn't have to worry about cleaning up!

Osmosis

Alec loves doing science experiments! I guess he gets that from his father…

So, this week we decided to do one on osmosis, using celery stalks and food dye. The boys each chose two colors to dye the celery and made observations and predictions in their science journals (well, Alec has a little notebook James just had a piece of paper to scribble on). The drawings Alec made were my favorite part of this experiment!

While we were waiting in between observations the boys wanted to get the moon dough out again to bury trains in a snowstorm.

4th of July

The fourth of July fell on a Wednesday this year, which always makes an odd day off for Paul to have-it kept feeling like we should be getting ready for church the next day.

We decided to go to Summerlin in the morning for the parade, but had a slightly late start. The parade started at nine and we left our house a few minutes before it started, so that meant quite a hike from a parking space we could find to the parade but Paul carried James and I had Evelyn in the stroller. When we arrived a very kind family offered us a space on the grass next to them, so Paul and the boys could see the parade easily. I needed to nurse Evelyn anyway so she and I stayed back a bit. The highlight of the parade for the boys was definitely the Star Wars bit, they were happily waving to the storm troopers.

We lasted about 45 minutes sweating in the sun, before we left the parade to go home and get swim clothes on. We drove to my parents and the boys and Paul went swimming. My brother and his family were there also, so we enjoyed an awesome barbecue, let the kids do a craft and played games! My brother had bought a box of, what he thought were sparklers and fireworks, but they turned out to be poppers mainly. The boys loved them though and a surprise rainfall made it a plus that we could do them indoors! We lasted until about 430, then headed home. The boys were already very tired (James had fallen asleep in the car on the drive back) so it was an early night for all of us.

So many people shoot off fireworks across the valley, that we could watch fireworks from our windows! It was incredibly noisy, but the children all slept through it and the dogs stayed calm.

Baking soda & colored vinegar

It's nice to have a little activity to do inside in the afternoon during the heat out here. So, I went through Pinterest and found some we could do easily, then put them on the calendar so we could keep organized.

On Monday, I gave each of the boys a Pyrex dish with baking soda. Then I dyed cups of vinegar and gave each boy a spoon. They loved putting the vinegar on the baking soda and watching it fizz! In the end, they started to dump the cups of vinegar to create lava flow and it more resembled a black swamp.

Evy in the morning!

I'm so happy with how well Evy is sleeping! I love having bigger babies so that they sleep through the night sooner. She's starting to smile, but it's brief and I'm struggling to catch it on camera.

The boys still want to touch her at every opportunity and kiss her face.