Smarty pants

It was getting close to bedtime and it had been a long day. Mattea was in the other room and she called "Mommy!".

I didn't answer.

"Mommy!" <2 second pause> "Mommy!"

"Don't you know ANY other words than Mommy?"

<10 second pause> "Trrrrraaaaaaaaaaaacccyyyyyy!"


What a smarty pants.

Santa's Elf & Reindeer

We went to visit one of Santa's head elves and reindeer at the library last night. It was very chilly, but that just enhanced the rosy color of the elf's cheeks and the reindeer didn't seem to mind at all! The kids learned that you should pet reindeer by standing behind their antlers. I never knew that... of course, I had never pet a reindeer before! It was a fun experience!

It CAN'T be December already...

So, Mom told me that I hadn't posted any pics or news during November. I thought she was crazy. Apparently, she was NOT! So, here's a recap of November:

* We had a fun family day in downtown Denver - lunch, bowling and A Christmas Carol movie.

* We counted down for Mattea's birthday. She couldn't WAIT to turn five!!!

* We played a family game of RISK and it was such a riot. The kids learned all about strategy. Amazingly enough, there were patient playing the game and we had a really fun time.

* Mattea & I attended a Fancy Nancy story/play time at Border's. We followed that up with some shopping. It was a very fun day!

* We cheered when we heard about our new baby niece/cousin, Kristina Ann Harron. We can't wait to meet her in person... she's gorgeous in the pictures we have seen!

* Mattea received an early birthday present via Skype from Grandma Judie & Grandpa Bob. Grandma had her convinced that she sent it through the computer. I'm sure it was nauseating to watch her open her gift on the web cam, but I think Grandma & Grandpa could FEEL her excitement as she tore open the box containing the beloved Baby Alive!

* We celebrated Mattea's birthday (FINALLY!). She had chocolate cake for breakfast (in bed!!!), was showered with gifts, flowers and a balloon from us. She received huge hugs and a loud "Happy Birthday" from her friends at preschool.

* Jeff had a day off work and he chose to spend it with Mattea. They did the usual... breakfast at Village Inn followed by shoe shopping at Target (she came home with 2 new pairs of shoes!).

* We attended Alex's 1st choir concert. He played the hand bells and did an amazing job. We are SO proud of him!

* We did some home improvements - rearranged bedroom furniture, rearranged our home office, painted the dining room & hung new curtains.

* Grandpa Pete, Grandma Carol and Aunt Julie came for a visit. They took Mattea birthday shopping, got pedicures and celebrated Thanksgiving with us. As the ladies were in the kitchen preparing for the Thanksgiving feast, Kevin walked in!!! This was a total surprise as he had told us he wouldn't be able to join us this year.

* We decked the halls outside and inside. The kids LOVE decorating for Christmas. They all have 3 foot trees in their bedrooms that they got to decorate themselves. The musical Christmas decorations can be heard throughout the house and there is a magical feeling in the air. I have begun using "Santa's watching" to curb any less-than-perfect behaviors! Love it!!!

It was a great month and I can't believe it's almost Christmas! I'm happy to say that I have a good chunk of shopping done. We're hoping to get our Christmas picture done this weekend so we can get our cards sent out in a timely manner. Only time will tell if that happens!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!!!

BOO!

We are all ready for Halloween! Hopefully, the sidewalks will be clear enough for us to trick-or-treat. We'll see.

Alex is a street rat (think Aladdin) this year. His costume inspiration was finding a HUGE orc sword and figuring out what he could be so I would buy him the sword. He is an adorable street rat!

Josh is a ninja just like he was last year. It's all about the weapons with these boys. He has double-swords on his back and some other weapon for the hand that isn't holding the candy bag! For school, he is dressed as a football player since they can't take weapons to school.

Mattea is Tinkerbell. I tried to talk her into being a ballerina since she has that beautiful, expensive costume from her recital, but she didn't go for that. Oh well, I'm sure she will wear the costume when she plays dress-up too.

The treats are strawberry ghosts and monster eyeball cookies. I am taking them in for Alex's class party.

Hope you all have a spooky Halloween!!!

Are we snowed in?

-- Mattea wasn't too jazzed about all the blowing snow in her face! --


-- A view of our backyard --


-- Alex, Mattea & the neighbor dogs playing in the snow! --


-- Cody amidst the boots, coats, snow pants, hats & gloves --


-- Indy in snow up to his giblets! --


-- Cody navigating his way through the winter wonderland! --



Oh yeah... we've got snow. School and preschool was cancelled today. The kids kept busy watching cartoons, playing board games, playing outside and warming up with hot chocolate. Who knows if we'll get out tomorrow for trick-or-treating!

Catching up

Cody and his birthday bone!
Flag football fan club - Mattea & Jordan
Josh on Crazy Hair Day
Alex & Daddy at Joshie's game

We celebrated Cody's 1st birthday on October 18th. Alex insisted we buy Cody a HUGE bone. It was hilarious watching him try to carry it around!

Josh finished up his flag football season this week. He had a great time playing and the coach had very nice things to say about Josh. We are very proud of him.

Jeff stumbled on a furniture closeout sale on Friday and we totally scored!!! We found a side table for the office which allowed us to rearrange the furniture to accommodate my new work printer/scanner/copier/fax machine, monitor & business phone. It was getting a bit crowded in there! My wonderful husband set up my new printer and got everything all organized for me. He was very patient and made sure it was just how I wanted it. He is too sweet and it looks absolutely fabulous!!! We also found some new bedroom furniture, so we spent all day Saturday moving the bedrooms around. Josh got Alex's computer desk and dresser, Alex got our old dresser and we got the new stuff!!! It's been 14 years of the same bedroom furniture for Jeff & I, so we are feeling pretty special!

We are counting down the days until Thanksgiving when we can see Pete, Carol & Julie... maybe Kevin, too! We are also waiting to hear baby news from Tim & Katie. I'm also planning Mattea's birthday party. I can't believe our baby will be 5 years old next month!!! She has been WAITING and WAITING to turn 5. She knows that we're going to Disney (next March) and that she starts kindergarten (next July) when she's 5, so she has really been looking forward to it.

Happy 14th Wedding Anniversary!!!!

Anniversary celebration

Jeff & I returned this evening from our wonderful weekend in Summit County, CO. We left at 3pm on Friday and headed to Cordillera Lodge & Spa in Edwards, CO. When we passed Loveland, we noticed they were making snow, so I HAD to call Terry to tell him. He was 6 feet below ground in a hole working on something at Cascade Mountain, but of course he answered the phone. We had a nice chat until I lost service driving through the mountains. The lodge was amazing... gorgeous views, fabulous service and beautifully decorated rooms. We had dinner Friday night at the hotel restaurant and it was the most delicious dinner Jeff & I have had in a very long time. On Saturday morning, I enjoyed a facial (my first ever!) at the spa. It was so relaxing and my skin felt as soft as a baby when I was done. After that, we headed into Vail for some shopping and lunch. Next, we headed to a small mountain town called Red Cliff to ride ATV's. After riding for 10 minutes, we discovered we had a flat tire, so we had to head back to the ranch to exchange our ride. Once we got that taken care of, it was smooth riding. We enjoyed beautiful scenery and found some mud & snow to get us dirty (that made Jeff very happy). We had such a fun time tooling around on ATV's in the mountains. We stopped at Gore Ranch Brewery for dinner (very yummy!) and then hit the local movie theatre to see Couples Retreat (funny!). On Sunday, we sadly checked out of our hotel room. We headed to Wolcott, CO for our last adventure of the weekend... zip lining!!! Let me just say that the thought of zip lining is much scarier than actually doing it. Once you get a feel for how well the harness holds you in, you get over the fear. It was awesome to look down into the canyon and take in the beauty of the area. Of course, I was snapping pictures & video along the way... I just can't help myself! We headed back to Vail for lunch where we found a sports bar so we could watch the Broncos game while we ate. After a little more shopping, we headed back home. The kids were excited to see us and told us how great Aunt Julie had been all weekend. THANK YOU, JULIE, FOR HELPING US TO ENJOY OUR ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND!!! We had a fabulous time!

Back to Vail!!!

Jeff & I are heading back to Vail, Colorado where we spent our honeymoon almost 14 years ago!!! Julie is literally on a plane right now so she can spend the weekend with the chitlins while we have some much-needed couple time. We really appreciate her generosity for allowing us to have this time together. We have plans to stay at a very nice lodge & spa. I have a facial planned for Saturday morning... I can't wait! It will be my first time, but Julie has assured me that I will enjoy it thoroughly! On Sunday, we are going ziplining. I am THRILLED about this exciting opportunity. Here is the website for the ziplining place. Watch the video!

http://www.zipadventures.com/

As of right now, we don't think Jeff has pneumonia so we shouldn't have to spend any time in the ER like we did on our first trip to Vail! Knock on wood, baby!!!

I'll post pictures when we return on Sunday. Woo Hoo!!!

Sleepy Joshie

Alex came upstairs to go to bed and insisted I go downstairs. This is what I found in the basement...



My Joshie... fast asleep in the bin of blankets. At least he found a comfy spot!!!

A mini-vacation

We took a weekend trip to Glenwood Springs and had a fabulous time! The drive through Glenwood Canyon is amazingly beautiful. Mattea thoroughly enjoyed driving through the tunnels and made us hold our breath every time. (Of course, she doesn't realize holding her breath means she should also be plugging her nose!!!) We spent some time late Friday night at the indoor waterpark after we got checked into our hotel. The water was chilly, but once we got used to it, we all had a blast!

On Saturday, we took a tram from our hotel up the mountain to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. What a fun place... there was something for everyone! We got day passes, so we were able to do everything (except the cave tour) as many times as we wanted. We DEFINITELY got our money's worth!!! We climbed the rock wall, did the bungee trampoline, ran thru the maze in record time, conquered the Speleo box, took aim at the shooting range, rode on the Canyon Flyer alpine coaster, swung out over the canyon on the Swing Shot, took the cave tour, watched a 4D movie, played laser tag, rode Demon the mechanical bull and watched a gun fight. We rode the tram back down around dinner time to chill in the hotel and grab a bite to eat. We all decided that we wanted a few more rides on the alpine coaster and the kids wanted to bounce again on the bungee trampoline, so we headed back up the mountain. We literally closed the place down. We were on the very last alpine coaster ride of the day!!! We will definitely go back there again another time.

On Sunday, the kids hit the waterpark again until it was time to check out of the hotel. We opted to skip our planned hike to Hanging Lake. As wonderful as it sounded, we knew the kids were exhausted and it would have been too much to pack into the weekend. We will go back again sometime and do the hike because we have heard it's amazing. On our way back home, we stopped in Vail. Ahhhh... the memories. I took Jeff's picture next to the Vail Valley Medical Center emergency sign since we had spent so much time there almost 14 years ago on our honeymoon!!! Josh took our picture in front of the Marriott that we stayed in and then we did some shopping. I insisted that we go home with Vail t-shirts since we hadn't gotten any 14 years ago!

It's always nice to be back home, but I sure wish the weekends were longer!