Fall Festival and Halloween

Halloween has come and gone and I am sad to say I have no pics of Halloween night. It was a blast though, we got the kids dressed up and went to the Fall Festival at church. We had more fun this year because the kids were older could play more of the games, the ring toss, knocking down milk jugs, kicking the giant soccer ball into the net and basketball. Their bags were full of candy by the time we left and it was time to head home to greet the trick or treaters.

When we got home, we cooked our Jack O Lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's, which was really cute and yummy and may very well be our new Halloween tradition. The kids had so much fun running to the door to see the trick or treaters, they would get so excited to see them! Especially Elizabeth, our social butterfly, she even yelled "Happy Birthday" after one of the kids, I think she got her holidays confused. They were all about the candy too, even more than we thought they would be. We didn't even think they knew what candy was, but it must be a pretty simple concept for them to grasp.

The week before we went to a Fall Festival at a local nursery and did a tractor hayride and corn maze. It was alot of fun, and I do have some pics to show from that of the kids in their costumes. As the kids get older, these holiday adventures get more fun with their ability to grasp what it's all about and how they can get involved. Not that I want them to grow up too fast.

We also did our first pumpkin carving with the kids the night before Halloween, they just watched of course, I did try to get them to stick their hand in the pumpkin, but they weren't into it. We had fun though!

Who needs Water World?

Chris had the really great idea to put our little plastic slide in the kid's kiddy pool, so they could slide on it into the water. Let me just say, they loved it! Our own little waterpark, right in our own backyard!

2009 Summer Recap

Wow, did we ever have a great summer! The kids were so much more mobile this year (D had just started walking in August last year and E didn't start until after Labor Day) so we spent as much time as possible outside. The kids just love being outside and we love it b/c they seem to burn off so much more energy that way! We went swimming a couple of times this summer, and the kids had their first water park experience, and ate popsicles, ice cream cones, and s'mores for the first time (not all at once, of course). We also took them to Tiny Town to ride the train twice which they talk about all the time, and we all rode in a surrey for the first time, that was a blast! But I think the best part of all of it was just playing in our backyard, cooking on the grill as much as possible (less clean up for mommy) and eating outside, one of my favorite things about summer. But alas, summer has almost ended and soon the kids will be snuggled in their warm pj's and watching Daddy shovel snow (sigh), but with the change of seasons comes anticipation of the coming holidays and so much more fun to be had.

How My Babies Have Grown

Well, it finally got hot here so we got out the kid's baby pool that they got for their birthday last year. They still loved playing in it but there was certainly a lot less room to move around this year. The first pic is from last year and the second pic is this year's, check out my chubby babies turned lean toddlers!

It's Like Looking in a Mirror

I just love this picture, I don't even know when they took it, one day when I was at work, I guess. So this is what they do all day, play and have fun? That's how it should be. I would love to be the one at home with them and know I will be soon enough, but they have THE BEST daddy ever and as you can see by this pic, Elizabeth thinks so too. That is my little girl right there, sometimes I still can't believe it.

Fun in the pool, Floaties rule

We have taken the kids swimming a couple of times this year, well when I say swimming I mean we take them to a friends neighborhood pool to play in the 1 foot baby pool. The first time we just let them walk around but they kept falling over and into the water and even though we were right there, it really stressed me out. So this time we got them Floaties and they worked great! It was much more relaxing this time, and the kids had a blast! Daniel even sort of figured out swimming and was bending his knees and floating in the water. Elizabeth is our little fish, she absolutely loves swimming and couldn't get enough! We are encouraging them to blow bubbles in the water in the pool and the bathtub, apparently that is the first step in getting them used to swimming underwater. We will probably look into official swimming lessons soon.

Cousins

I love this picture of Cameron and Elizabeth wearing their matching shirts that Grandma Judy brought back from Cozumel. They are even sitting the same way in the chair, how cute is that? Elizabeth was crazy about Cameron from the second she got here, she must have said her name a million times that week. And she is still talking about her a month after she left. How I wish they lived closer and we could see them more often!

The fireworks that never were.

We decided this year that we would keep the kids up late on the 4th of July and take them to see fireworks. They had been hearing them quite a bit from our neighbors and were getting pretty curious. The outdoor mall by our house does a big display every year so we thought we would drive to the Schmome Schmepot parking lot which overlooks the mall and we would have a pretty good view. We all piled into the car and took off about 9:00 pm, it had been raining and was pretty cool so I had put warm clothes on the kids and brought their blankies. We rushed up there thinking they might have already started, but they hadn't and we were able to get a prime spot. We all climbed into the back of the truck and waited, and waited, and waited. We ended up closing the back door and just rolling down the back window so the kids could look out. Except for a few cranky moments, the kids were great and had a blast! They just knew they were out late and doing something exciting and different, they just had no idea what. We saw a few fireworks going off in some random directions but the ones from Schmouthlands never went off. Finally, after waiting an entire hour for these stinkin' fireworks, we got back into the car and drove over to the mall to ask one of the security guys what was up. He said they weren't having fireworks this year which they had posted on their website but he had still had at least 100 people ask him that night. So we went home to check and sure enough, it said right there on their site which Chris and I had both looked at earlier but had obviously misread. But we weren't the only ones, there were several of us suckers sitting in that parking lot waiting for the fireworks to start. It was disappointing because the kids were really excited to see them, so when we got home Chris set off the (legal) fireworks he had gotten and we watched from the house. The kids loved them and asked for more, but that was all we had and it was 10:30 and time for bed.

It ended up being such a fun night and one we will probably be laughing about for awhile.

And they say boys are hard to potty train...

So we had gotten the kids a potty for their 2nd birthday, I wanted them to open it and us make a big deal out of it so they would think it was something special. I am pretty sure by the time I got the wrapping paper off they had moved on to something else though, as kids will do. I didn't even know if I would start it right away, there is such conflicting information out there about when to start potty training, I didn't want to start it too early and then have us all frustrated.

So just last Friday night we had the potty out and I put it in the bathroom before bathtime and was asking the kids if they wanted to sit on it and go peepee. I took their diapers off and they took turns sitting down on it and fighting over it (hmmm, maybe I should have bought 2?) They were just playing with it after a while and opening and closing the lid, when I saw it - someone had gone poopy! I was so shocked I thought someone must have been playing a trick on me! I know it was Daniel because he had been on it the most and was on it last. My shocked reaction made him feel like he had done something wrong at first, but then I quickly went into cheerleader mode and made sure he knew he had done a very good thing. I don't think he did it on purpose, I think it just happened, but my positive reaction and his reward (high fives and chocolate popcorn) will hopefully mean more poops in the potty in the near future. I mean, think about it, that was one poopy diaper I didn't have to change. We are well on our way!

Our own little tribute to Michael

Upon hearing the sad news of Michael Jackson's death, I got out my Thriller CD and played it for the kids intent on introducing them to the musical genius that was the incomparable Michael Jackson. Elizabeth is our little dancer as you can see in the video and Daniel was doing something that looked close to break dancing in the breakground. These kids are such a blast!

We are Family

It was so great having my whole family here for the kids' b-day, it's hard to live so far from home and I was thrilled that everyone wanted to make the trip to celebrate the kids birthday. Daniel and Elizabeth's new cousin Braden was the youngest guest attendance, just a little more than a month old. My cousins were in town this year for the party and we got a great pic of me, my cousin, my sister and our kids, the only one missing was Shelby who was in Oklahoma. These are some of the family pics we got at the party.

Elizabeth and the "baby singing" song

Elizabeth loves "God You Reign" by Lincoln Brewster because towards the end of the song he has his kids on there talking, she always giggles and says, "baby singing, baby singing!"

Awesome birthday week

My family came into town to visit us for a week and celebrate the kids' 2nd birthday with us. The kids warmed up to them very quickly especially Elizabeth with her cousin Cameron and their doggy Lucky or as Elizabeth called her "Yucky".

We headed South to Manitou Springs to eat at The Mission Bell and then drove through Garden of the Gods, one of my favorite places.

We also headed North to Estes Park, another one my favorite places and spent a beautiful day there.

We had beautiful weather and played outside with the kid's water table, which was their early b-day present from us.

My dad and Carol arrived on Friday and came for pizza that night which was the kid's actual birthday, we had cupcakes that night and sang to the kids, Daniel wasn't sure what was going on and Elizabeth cried, it was pretty funny.

The party on Saturday was a huge success, thanks mostly to my mom who did all of the cooking, she made the most yummy bbq beef for sandwiches and the best potato salad ever. It ended up being the coolest day of the week and was a bit rainy but it turned out okay and most people were able to eat outside which was what I was hoping for. The kids had a great time, got some really cool gifts, and this time Daniel was all cute and smiley when we sang to him and Elizabeth smiled and laughed, we must have been more on key this time around.

It was a fun and exhausting week and I just can't believe my sweet little babies are 2!

Come swing with me!

A few weeks ago we took the kids to see their new cousin Braden at Chris' sister's house, they live really close to Wash Park, a really huge, awesome park in Denver. We wanted to take the kids there to see the ducks, play on the playground and have a picnic. They were a little bit too small to really play on the playground and it was really crowded so we mostly stuck with the swings, and as you can see from these pics, they love to swing! You have to click on the pictures to enlarge them to see their adorable faces. I am trying to get Chris to build the kids a swingset, he is really good at that kind of thing. Don't hear any pounding going on in the garage yet, but I will keep working on him kids, I promise!