Good Byes- Sniff sniff

Good Bye Thrilling Thursday

in Reno!

After 3+ wonderful years of swim lessons we say good bye to Silver Bear Swim School. William has had amazing swim coaches here and he has turned into a little fish. Thursdays started with swim lessons and then heading straight to our playgroup adventure. It was a fun filled day and always guaranteed great naps.

Coach Cory, William, Coach Nicole, and Samantha

Teddy Bear 3 class

Playgroup

WOW! We have been blessed with AMAZING friends. Our group formed from a New Mom's Support Group at the hospital. We met most Thursdays when the older kids were just days/weeks old. When the kids were about 6 months old we felt a need to form a "playgroup" and continue meeting on Thursdays. Over the years we have formed wonderful friendships. It has been great sharing the joys and challenges of parenting, encourage and support one another, provide laughter and share tears but most of all share in FUN.

Miss Inga was brave to walk the 1/2 mile with 3 toddlers and a stroller down a busy street from the park to Squeeze In for lunch.

Annabel was sleeping in the car (or not- notice the rain gear on) so I drove.

Squeeze In- AWESOME restaurant for breakfast, brunch, lunch!

They were so accommodating-
9 mommies
9 x 3 1/2 years olds

6 x 1 year olds

= loud organized CHAOS

I mean 24 hungry people

By golly they could handle us AND handle us well. They got a kick that they could fit us all in. (we had a back room all to ourselves) Much to everyone's surprise ALL the kids did wonderful. This is a great place to go with kids- they provide baskets of toys, wonderful kids menus, fast and wonderful food.

Good Bye dear Friends!

They also made us a wonderful "going away" gift. It is a "Friendship Tree" with all the little hands traced and forms a tree. We will cherish it always.

If you could believe it, everyone was able to make it and give us a wonderful send off.

We love you guys!

SNIFF SNIFF

William's Last day of Preschool

William was enrolled in a preschool co-op 3 mornings a week.

He LOVED going and loved learning. He made some wonderful friends

here and was sad to say good bye.

William and Miss Soupha

Classmates

Time with Cousins

Lunch with Beka, Kira and Auntie Jackie
Sleepover with Timothy and Caelyn

Due to tons of rain our trip back home was delayed by a day. We decided to break up the drive and make a stop in Folsom for a sleep over. Boy did the kids have fun!

Getting ready for bed

We made a really BIG deal out of sleeping in the same room together for the big boys.
The girls wanting in on the FUN

Bath time
4 cousins in the tub!

Matching jammies
Cuddle time!

Sleep tight

The boys did awesome! We read stories, said prayers and allowed them to chat for a couple of minutes while we put the girls to bed and they were satisfied with that. We never had to go in there and tell them to "be quiet, or go to bed". The trick...We had played hard all afternoon and wore them out and held a "blanket show." Works everytime. The idea of the blanket show came from my Grandfather and lives on. Thanks Grandpa Ed for the idea.

Preparing to move

The preparation begins....

With any move you need LOTS and LOTS of boxes.
Who new a Subaru could hold so much. Packed floor to ceiling with boxes and paper.
THANKS Ronkas for the boxes and paper!
William having fun riding in Grandpop chair
gathering paper as we pack the kitchen.

Annabel could not be left out.


Hours of fun hiding in boxes


NO- we did not pack William. He is just entertaining himself.
NO we did not pack William!
Teamwork
Annabel pushing Big Brother all over the house.

I LOVE that they play so well together.

William did not want to miss any packing.
Many days I found him in curled up at the top of the stairs with his blanket, pillow and animals asleep.

Thrilling Thrusday

Another wonderful Thrilling Thursday at the park.
We LOVE Rancho San Rafael Park

Playing "Duck duck goose"

It was pretty funny to see some "get it" and others no clue what to do.

"Lets all help Anika"

OPs- A little too much help!

"OK Now RUN Anika"
The Big kids are so helpful with the little ones.

Easter

Easter at Auntie Amber, Uncle Brian, Timothy and Caelyn

Brian and Amber hosted a lovely Easter Brunch. The cousins LOVE being together! The day was bitter sweet, not only did we celebrate but we (the Banta's) said our good byes.

Cousins waiting for the egg hunt to begin

Beka, Annabel, William and Timothy
The BIG boys are ready
a sneak peek

"Look what I got"

2 eggs YEAH

Going on an egg hunt...

Goin' find some eggs!

The Dowd Family-3 generations

We had a great day despite the rain! The weather put a damper on some outdoor fun- testing out the pool, outdoor egg hunt, but we made up for it inside. We hit the road earlier than planned in hopes of avoiding freezing temperatures over Summit. Unfortunately, we hit SNOW at a super low elevation and crawled back to Reno. We thought we might turn around but Ryan needed to get back to Reno for an early Monday morning. 4 hours later with chains we made it back home. It was a long drive but so worth it. This was the first time in seven years of living in Nevada that we put chains on and it was the middle of APRIL!