Picture of the Day -- Week 3

January 15 - Alex and I had a great time building Lego ships. Behold our fabulous creations!!!


January 16 - The Herrald’s came for dinner and we had a great time. The kids played Wii, hide & seek and watched a movie. The grown-ups chatted & played Rock Band.


January 17 - Jeff, Josh & I went for a bike ride on this beautiful day in January. We did run into some ice & snow, but nothing we couldn’t plow through.


January 18 - These are Mattea’s sassy new jeans. They have butterflies and sparkles all over them. She LOVES them!!!


January 19 - Today was Hat Day at Rolling Hills. The boys each paid a quarter to wear their hats. The money raised goes towards feeding homeless children in Denver.


January 20 - Mattea had a bad cough, so she stayed home from school. She enjoyed having lunch in her Princess chair.


January 21 - The kids VERY much enjoyed dessert… chocolate covered strawberries. They were all mad they only got to eat one!

Picture of the Day -- Week 2

January 8 - We had such a blast babysitting Preston Drake Martinez. Everyone got involved and he was such an angel!


January 9 - Josh played in his first basketball game. He took a lot of great shots and showed lots of hustle. We are so proud of him!


January 10 - Jeff, Mattea & I shared this delicious brownie sundae at Lodo’s while the boys were at a birthday party. YUMMY!


January 11 - Jeff & Josh started guitar lessons tonight. They were both very excited about starting this new adventure together.


January 12 - Alex spotted a coyote in the field behind our house. He came running upstairs to tell us about it and we all stood at the window watching the coyote.


January 13 - Alex’s Christmas present was backordered and FINALLY arrived today. He was thrilled to play with his new remote control JLX Overdrive!


January 14 - Josh made this really cool clay dragon in art class. I love displaying my kids’ creations around the house.

Picture of the Day -- Week 1

As some of you know, I have taken on a challenge. I will be taking at least one picture a day and creating a Year At A Glance scrapbook for our family for 2010. I know that I take a lot of pictures, but I didn't realize how difficult it would be to actually make sure I take one EVERY day. I have done well so far. I will be posting the pics & journaling each week on the blog as well.

January 1 - After spending the holidays in Iowa & Illinois, we said goodbye to Grandma Carol & Grandpa Pete as they headed back home.

January 2 - We had lunch and a nice chat at Village Inn with the Ruffer’s before we headed back to Colorado.


January 3 - This is all of the stuff we had jam-packed in the Jeep for our trip back to Colorado. (This didn’t include the 2 boxes of stuff that we had to ship home!!!)


January 4 - I returned to the daily grind after a wonderful 16 day break.


January 5 - The boys FINALLY went back to school after their break. They had been off track since two days before Thanksgiving!!!


January 6 - My BFF (since the playpen), Tara, and her wonderful children, Noah, Avery & Ellie stopped by for a visit while they were in town visiting her sister. -- PIC TO BE ADDED (TARA TOOK IT & HASN'T SENT IT TO ME YET!)

January 7 - Alex’s 5th grade took a field trip to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. They got to dissect a sheep’s heart and lungs. Very cool!

Vacation... ahhhhhhh!

Our trip back to the Midwest for the holidays was just what we needed. It is a long drive, but the kids travel well and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than flying!!! We were able to leave Colorado about 2pm MT on Tuesday, December 22nd. Jeff had been checking the weather for a few days and saw a nasty storm along our route. This was our incentive to drive straight through and just get there. We arrived, exhausted, at 4:40am CST. Jeff and I had survived the trip on good conversations, guess-the-artist-singing-the-Christmas-tune games, vanilla lattes & Mt. Dew. Hey... whatever works!

Some highlights of our trip - in no particular order (don't be offended if I forgot something -- I have a terrible memory!)...

* Jeff & I sleeping in as often as we could (thanks to Grandma for helping the kids with breakfast!)

* Meeting our new baby niece, Kristina -- she's a sweet, precious angel!

* Santa finding us on Christmas (and not giving us coal!!!)

* Spending time with our families (Terry - we really missed you!)

* Visits with the Bachman's, Meeks', Ruff's, Hamm's and Breitbach's

* Baking with Josh (he is loving his new cookbook!)

* Watching the kids (including Trae) have fun at Jumpin' Janes

* Eating lots of delicious food that I didn't have to prepare!!!

* Wearing fun holiday socks

* Playing around with the features on my new camera

* Playing volleyball at Courtside with lots of friends we haven't seen in a long time

* Dinner at the Rausch's -- it was so awesome to see the Trumm's, Rausch's, Eklund's and McQuillen's
* Enjoying the kids interacting with their grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles & cousins

* Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (we laugh so hard EVERY time!)

* Sledding with Uncle Tim, Jake & Justin

* Presents -- giving & receiving (being woke up at 6:00am instead of 7:00am was not so good!)

* Seeing Mattea "dive" for hugs & kisses after opening a present

* Eating Happy Joe's pizza, Donut Boy donuts & Pickle Barrel subs (Jeff snuck in a Long Island Ice Tea at the Mining Co., too!)

* Celebrating Tyler Skahill's 1st birthday and seeing the Skahill & Lucas families

* Seeing the kids enjoy their new toys & clothes

* Playing cards until 2:30am (have you made that list yet, Jules???)

* Spending New Year's Eve with the Dolan's, Mishler's & Jacobsen's eating yummy food, singing karaoke, playing pool & the Wii and toasting with champagne & blowing party horns at midnight

* Pedicures/toe painting with Julie & Mattea (Julie & Mattea got matching blue toes w/ white snowflakes!)

Our trip back home was much the same as the way out. We ran into bad weather in Nebraska, but pushed through and made it back home safely in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday. We have many wonderful memories from this trip. It was great seeing everyone, but we're glad to be home, too. Now that the unpacking from the trip is done, it's time to "undecorate" from Christmas. Ugh. : )

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!!!