Picture of the Day -- Week 52

December 25th – We celebrated Christmas in Colorado this year. It was wonderful to have Pete & Carol spend the holiday with us. The kids were absolutely spoiled with gifts. They are very lucky to have so many wonderful people in their lives that love them so much.


December 26th – Pete & Carol sure enjoyed the sunshine while they were here visiting and didn’t miss having a white Christmas one little bit!!!


December 27th – Terry came for a visit and we had a very relaxing day of food, football and fun!


December 28th – Jeff took Pete, Carol, Alex & Mattea to Breckenridge for the day while I took Josh to basketball camp. They had a really great time!


December 29th – Mother Nature kept the snow away while Pete & Carol were here, but made up for it once they were gone. Cody is not a fan of the cold or snow, but he looks so cute with snowflakes on his fur!


December 30th – We spent a lot of time cleaning out our storage area in the basement. We pitched broken toys and random pieces from incomplete games/puzzles, we took a Yukon full of stuff to Goodwill and the kids put the rest of the toys away in their rooms. It was definitely a team effort and it feels good to be done!


December 31st – New Year’s Eve was very chill this year. We watched movies (while Josh & Mattea tee-peed her room!), played balloon volleyball, donned our festive gear and waited for the ball to drop. The kids had a blast throwing confetti at midnight. It’s been a great year… here’s to another great year in 2011!!!

Picture of the Day -- Week 51

December 19th – Grandpa Pete & Grandma Carol came to visit today. We are so excited to have family here for the holidays. We took the kids (mostly Mattea) to visit Santa at the Park Meadows Mall. Santa listened to Mattea’s wishes and gave a jolly “Ho Ho Ho”! I bet she’ll get everything she wanted!


December 20th – Pete & I took the kids to the outdoor ice skating rink at The Pond at Southlands. The boys had ice skated before, but it was Mattea’s first time. She was a natural. I skated as well and I’m proud to say that I didn’t fall once!!!


December 21st – Today, we went to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Mattea was particularly interested in seeing the Egypt & Africa exhibits since she was studying that in school. Alex loved the gems & minerals exhibits and Josh had a blast in the health & body exhibit.


December 22nd – Pete, Mattea and I spent most of the day in the kitchen dipping pretzels and baking cookies. It was nice to have some helpers… actually, I had help with the making AND the eating!!!


December 23rd – We took Grandma Carol and Grandpa Pete to the Hudson Holiday light show in Littleton. We had never been to it before either, so it was fun for all of us!


December 24th – We followed Santa online using the NORAD Santa Tracker. We checked it sporadically and I just happened to check it when the next stop was Denver, Colorado!!! Luckily, the kiddos were all snuggled in their beds with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads!

Picture of the Day -- Week 50

December 12th – I did most of my Christmas shopping online, so we had lots of packing bubbles. The kids had a blast popping them. It was LOUD!


December 13th – Jeff & I spotted this dog bed at HomeGoods and thought Indy deserved it. Jeff calls it his “retirement” bed!


December 14th – Mattea got a reward today at school for knowing all of her sight words. She has really become an amazing reader. We are so proud of her!


December 15th – I got a wild hair and decided to make homemade Christmas ornaments this year. We had a lot of fun decorating them; however, I had to convince the kids that they weren’t edible even though they looked just like sugar cookies!


December 16th – I saw an idea online for making homemade body scrub for teacher gifts. I gave it a whirl and it turned out really well. Josh liked it so much he asked for his own supply! (Shhh… don’t tell him I told you!)


December 17th – Mattea decorated a sugar cookie at her holiday party at Rolling Hills. She also made a reindeer puppet, played musical books and had snacks. What a great party!


December 18th – Alex, Nick and Jayna were playing Pokemon on the front porch and it was a little chilly outside. They are die-hard Pokemon players!!!

Picture of the Day -- Week 49

December 5th – We started decorating for Christmas and I wanted to make sure I documented it this year so we could look back on it and remember. To display our Christmas cards this year, we posted them on the wall. We all enjoyed looking at the new ones as they were hung up.


December 6th – Here’s a peek at the mantle during the holiday season. Jeff wasn’t thrilled with my trendy “be merry and bright” picture, but I liked it. Mattea sat on Santa’s lap this year and I just love that picture.


December 7th – I made this “believe” banner with my scrapbooking supplies. I really love how it turned out.


December 8th – I was summoned for jury duty and had to report today. I went to the County Clerk building, filled out some paperwork, waited, got moved upstairs with the other potential jurors, waited some more, got called into the courtroom, listened to the judge give his spiel, listened to the prosecution’s & defendant’s attorneys question the potential jurors (not me) and got dismissed. I was bummed that I wasn’t selected, but it was interesting to be a part of the selection process.


December 9th – Mattea went to a nursing home tonight to sing Christmas carols with the other local Girl Scout troops. It was wonderful to see the smiles on everyone’s faces as the girls sang.


December 10th – I wanted to do a family photo shoot for our Christmas cards, but it kept getting postponed. Finally, I told the kids to put on some decent clothes, took them out in the back field and snapped away. We were done in about 15 minutes since they have learned to just humor me and smile. It goes MUCH faster that way!


December 11th – We had Mattea’s birthday party with her friends at Jumpstreet. It was a really fun time! I’m quite sure all the girls went home tired!!!

Picture of the Day -- Week 48

November 28th - Jeff took Alex to get a haircut and he came home sporting a crew cut. Jeff even bought some hair gel so Alex can keep it looking stylish. We’ll see how long that lasts!


November 29th – Mattea brought home this kindergarten project about gratitude. It makes me so happy that she is thankful for her family and friends.


November 30th – I ordered this cool memo board from Dayspring. It’s fun to write something inspirational, funny or relevant each day. It’s also fun knowing that it’s ALL MINE and off limits to the kiddos!


December 1st – One of the many things I love about December is Christmas movies!!! We all enjoyed watching “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”.


December 2nd – Mattea’s kindergarten class is studying Egypt. She came home all made up like an Egyptian and paraded around in her costume. It was too cute!


December 3rd – Tonight, Daddy & Mattea attended the Sweetheart Dance. Mattea was thrilled that she got to wear her Christmas dress (the one she has been begging me to wear since I bought it last year!) and her new silver shoes. Daddy was less than thrilled to leave his work clothes on for a few more hours! I took some pictures before they left and sent them on their way. I desperately wanted to go and observe and smile and take pictures and feel my heart grow bigger as I watched them dance together, but, this was their thing. {Sigh...} So, I stayed home with my boys and waited to hear all about it!


December 4th – Josh’s basketball team had their first game today. The whole family went along to watch. Josh played great and his team won 29-4. Way to go, Spartans!!!

Picture of the Day -- Week 47

November 21st – We had a birthday party for Mattea while we were in Dubuque. Grandma Judie, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Carol, Grandpa Pete, Aunt Julie, Jamie & Lindsey along with our family all helped her celebrate. She received lots of wonderful presents and was ecstatic about every single one. She’s pretty easy to please at this age!


November 22nd – We drove down to the Quad Cities for the day. We met up with Stacy Ihrig & Jon Meeks for lunch and then Jeff went to the shooting range with Jon while I took the kids to visit the Bachman’s. After a fun visit, we met up with the Jacobsen’s at Incredible Pizza to play games, laser tag and eat at the buffet.


November 23rd – Josh, Mattea and I spent the night at Grandma Judie and Grandpa Bob’s. Grandpa Bob made his “famous” popcorn (even though all of us had vowed we would be too stuffed for popcorn after dinner AND dessert). It was SUCH a treat! After the kids went to bed, Mom and I got to sit down and watch a movie together, too. What a great night!!!


November 24th – A Thanksgiving vacation isn’t complete until we play some cards at the Dolan’s. Typically, one or more of us partake in alcoholic beverages which seems to make the game more entertaining as faces get numb, funny stories are told, Spanish is spoken and we fall off our chairs.


November 25th – We spent most of the day hanging out with the Skahill’s. We pigged out on an amazing Thanksgiving feast, ran around on the golf course trying to keep the football out of Charlie’s mouth, watched football and then did our usual photo shoot.


November 26th – We enjoyed a wonderful meal at Grandma Judie and Grandpa Bob’s house. We also did an early Christmas gift exchange with the kids since we knew we wouldn’t be together at Christmas. We quickly put Josh’s new flag football set to use. The teams were decided (Josh didn’t even pick his own Mom for his team!) and any time one of the kids complained, Tim quickly informed them that the football game was his birthday gift. It worked like a charm… we finished an intense game complete with amazing plays and flawless strategies and minor amounts of whining.


November 27th – Since we wouldn’t be back for Christmas this year, we did an early gift exchange. The kids were very excited with their presents!!!

Picture of the Day -- Week 46

November 14th - Mattea learned how to put in pony tail holders, so we played beauty salon and I was her first customer. I think she did a great job!


November 15th – Sometimes when I am downloading pictures from my camera, I find pictures that I know I didn’t take. I love to see the kids’ perspective on things… these pictures always make me smile.


November 16th – Josh was totally into this book he was reading. I found him engrossed in his book while he was eating breakfast before school this morning. I am so happy that he enjoys reading so much!


November 17th – Mattea lost her first tooth today. She had been working on it for weeks and it was very, very wiggly. There was quite a bit of drama around pulling her tooth out and then this morning, she bumped it with her tongue and it fell right out! The tooth fairy came and left her a $5 bill and a sweet note. Mattea woke up the next morning and she was ECSTATIC!


November 18th – Today is Mattea’s 6th birthday!!! She is such a happy, funny, sweet and loving little girl. It’s hard to believe that she is growing up so fast! We cherish our baby girl and love her to the moon and back!


November 19th – We arrived in Iowa today about 3:45am CST. It was a LONG day of driving, so we literally dropped into bed and crashed for several hours. After lunch, we had chocolate pie. It was very yummy and such a nice treat!


November 20th – We took the kids and Grandma Judie, Grandma Carol and Grandpa Pete to Dubuque’s Festival of Trees today. They loved seeing the different decorations and hearing the choir singing Christmas carols. Alex put a pushpin on Denver on the World Map that was posted to see where everyone came from. Josh wanted to be funny and put a pushpin somewhere else like Chad. That’s so Josh.