Disney Schmisney

I was flipping through a magazine the other day and saw an ad for a Disney cruise, it sounded like so much fun and I found myself being bummed that we can't afford anything like that right now. And there is this ridiculous Fun Bus that comes to the preschool every Friday and you can pay extra for your kids to go and play in it. Well of course, they park the monstrosity right in front of the church so the kids see it when we come out, they even have a slide coming out of the back, A SLIDE! And once again, I feel really sad that we can't give our kids that experience (I tell them it's for older kids, shame on me). Disney Cruises? Fun Buses? Seriously? We live in Colorado for pete's sake! Why would anyone want to be stuck on some boat or in some bus when they can experience the beautifullness (new word) of the mountains? I mean, what better experience could we give them and best of all it's free! Costs nothing more than a tank of gas, if that. So you can keep your overpriced entertainment, we'll take the mountains, and you can see by these pics that D & E couldn't agree more.

Throwing rocks and sticks in the creek, they could have done this ALL DAY!


Went on a long hike, after which Daniel took a loooong gulp of water and said, " I was weally firsty." So cute!



This was at Devil's Head on Chris' birthday, amazing place and so close to town, definitely going back next year!


These are the experiences I am so thankful to be able to give them.

Potty-trained!

I am happy to report that the kids are almost 100% day potty-trained, our only issue is that Elizabeth would rather poop in her diaper than in the potty, but we're working on that. It's so great to just be able to pick up and go without worrying about diapers anymore. I was determined to have them trained by the time they are 3 and we did it! So proud of us and the kids for conquering this milestone.

Daniel the Artiste'

This morning I walked into the kitchen and saw that Daniel had drawn a couple of perfect circles on the chalkboard! He then turned them in to happy faces, he was so proud and so were we. We are pretty sure the one on the left is a Picasso. Maybe he will be an artist just like Grandpa Louie.

Well, help yourself why don't you?

I am loving being home with the kids, but it is exhausting - way more exhausting than working I can tell you that! In the mornings, I try to get up earlier than the kids and get showered before they get up, but that doesn't always happen. So on this particular morning, I turned on the kids favorite TV show and hopped in the shower and came out to find...



and then went a little further to find...


Guess I should just be glad they are eating fruit, right?

More Bedtime Blues

Let me say that the bedtime issue has gotten sooooo much better than when the mayhem first began, like tonight Chris didn't have as much work to do so he was able to sit with Daniel for just a few minutes to wind him down and he was out like a light. They were actually both asleep by 9:00, oh happy day! But here is a little glimpse into what life was like before we got the issue in hand.

Bedtime Blues

I have sucked at blogging lately. I just wasn't able to find the time while I was working and as soon as I was able to be at home again, the kids threw me for a loop. They chose the first night that Chris was out of town for training to start climbing out of their beds. It started out kinda funny and cute but turned into a total nightmare, for me, not them, they were having a blast. So long story short, I don't have as much time in the evenings as I thought I would to catch up on blogging. I should add what a HUGE blessing it is that we are going through this while I am not working, it is still stressful, but not near as much as it would be if I were trying to get a million things done at night. But still, can this phase please end quickly?

Oh yes, and the kids won't take naps now, which can make for some pretty rough dinners, for some reason, that is when they choose to melt down. Or this happens...

A Trike Built for Two

Love this video of Elizabeth giving Daniel a ride, he always says she is too heavy when she tried to catch a ride. She must have some strong legs!

Birthday Weekend

My whole family came in from Oklahoma to celebrate the kids' 3rd birthday, it was such a wonderful, perfect weekend! Unfortunately, our cameral died right before the kids' party, so my neice Cameron played photographer and snapped some great pictures. I can't find them at the moment but will post some later. Here are a few pics of our great weekend.

Driving the tractor at White Fence Farm

Feeding the animals with Aunt Cari

Cameron was nice enough to let Daniel play a game on her ipod, itouch, iphone, isomethingorother

Fun on the Slip n' Slide

Reading a story with Grandpa Danny

Smores!

Working at the car wash - yeah!

Lately I have been searching for fun stuff for the kids to do at home, one of the ideas I found on a blog was to have our own car wash. So I filled up a container of soapy water, gave the kids each a spray bottle, and they proceeded to wash their race cars. They loved it and it kept them entertained for hours and kept me busy running back and forth to fill their container. So fun!

Showing some love

Daniel giving his sissy some love and checking out her owie. He's so sweet!

Movie Night

The kids have just recently gotten into watching movies and Toy Story is their current obsession, so before we got the movies for their birthday, TS2 was coming on TV on a Sunday night and I told the kids all weekend that we were going to watch and eat popcorn - they were so excited! I make air popped popcorn so they love to stand there and wait for it it come out and jump up and down and scream when it pops. I put a sheet down on the chair since I put butter on the popcorn and just let them go to town - they loved it!

Waffle Chips Anyone?

This was from a few months ago, I am not really sure how to explain it except that Daniel stored some chips in the waffle iron and kept coming back for them until they were gone. It's tough being a twin sometimes, they really do have to share everything, maybe he just wanted these chips all to himself? Not sure what goes on in his head, but isn't he adorable?

My Birthday Weekend

My mom came in for my birthday this year which was really special since I don't think I have seen her on my birthday since I moved here. Something about having kids makes it so much more special too. We had such a great time, Saturday night Chris and I actually got to have a date night while my mom put the kids to bed, that is the first time we have ever been able to do that, it was great! It was freeeeezing cold outside but we braved it and had a nice dinner and saw a really good movie, what a treat!
On Sunday, we had a little party for me at our house, the kids had a blast of course and I got some really cool gifts, one of which was a Daniel Faraday bobble head from the Duran's, he is one of my fave characters from the greatest TV show on earth - LOST! Here he is standing next to my birthday cake that my mom and I made, it is supposed to be a purse. Yes, we are keeping our day jobs.

Taking care of Providence

I recorded Daniel talking to Providence one night when he didn't know I was there. Note the sound effect when he goes to get "lotion" for Providence's owie.

The stepstool bridge

Over the last 6 months I have noticed the kids playing together more, I love to sneak up on them when they don't know I am there and listen in on their conversations and just watch them interact. I love it when I see them working together to make up a game or building something together, like this stepstool bridge they made in the basement. I got an organizer a few months back for their playroom with a bunch of bins to hold toys, the kids dumped all of the toys out of the bins and made a bridge. I cringed because of the mess but loved that they thought of this and did it together.

The tutu - who wore it best?

When my mom came she brought a tutu and a headband for Elizabeth, it was adorable and of course, we put it on her right away. Then a little while later we looked into the living room and saw Daniel putting on the headband, we all thought, " oh how cute, he's wearing her headband" then he comes running out from behind the chair and he was also wearing the tutu! We laughed so hard, it was hilarious! He thinks it is funny to put on sissy's dresses and angel wings and twirl around in them, I keep assuring Chris it is completely normal, he is just having fun and he is all boy. Here is my sweet boy modeling his sissy's tutu and then the tutu how it was intended to be worn.

Bedtime with Elizabeth

Elizabeth is crazy about her baby dolls and stuffed animals, sometimes I can't even find her in her bed, she is surrounded by her animals, she insists on having them all in her bed before she goes to sleep. I went in the to check on her the other night a few minutes after I put them down and this is what I saw.

She had put her baby doll and Oklahoma bear to bed on her pillow and put a blankie on them. I can't even get over how adorable she is!

Bedtime with Daniel

I guess it has been a couple of months now since we broke Daniel of the pacifier, he has done really well, he only asked for it a couple of times and seemed to forget about it pretty quickly. The problem is that it obviously relaxed him and helped him get to sleep at night and now he just can't seem to wind down. He doesn't cry, he just bounces around his bed, talking, singing, keeping Elizabeth up, etc. I stood outside their door and captured this the other night.

Cheers!

The kids love to do Cheers while they eating, with us and with each other - how cute is that? Their tables manners have gotten considerably better in recent months and much less food is finding it's way to the ground, much to Providence's dismay. They really are getting too big for their high chairs but I am waiting for the MOMS Sale on March 13th to get another booster seat and then it's "bye bye high chairs!" I can't even tell you how much I won't miss washing those humongous trays!

"Look at my blue tongue!"

I had to post this pic of Elizabeth and her blue tongue that she got from a lollipop at church. We switched them to the 2 year old class in December and they absolutely love it! They were in the toddler room before which is basically just a room full of a bunch of toys where they just play for an hour. But now they are in more of a classroom where they sing songs, have a lesson and do a craft. One night they even came out with a piece of paper that they had glued things to, I was like, "you gave my kids glue?!" Well I didn't really say that but I thought it. It's just so great to see them socializing with other kids and really enjoying being somewhere like that and the best part - no tears! They are learning too, Elizabeth was going around the house saying "God gave us Jesus" over and over again. My babies are getting so big and grown up!

Playing Dress Up

Check out sweet little Elizabeth playing dress up. She loves to wear hats around the house, she found this scarf in my closet and has claimed it as her own, she finds all kinds of creative ways to wear it, even likes me to tie it around her waist as a skirt. She is such a sweet, outgoing and adventurous little girl, I see big things in her future. Maybe even a career in fashion design!

Grandpa D and Miss Carol's visit

We had a whirlwind visit from my Dad and Carol the week before Christmas. Again, the kids got some awesome gifts and had such a great time playing with Dad and Carol. They absolutely love when people come to visit us, I think they really get bored with just ole Mommy and Daddy all the time. We all went to The Wildlife Experience Winter Wonderlights and froze while looking at all the really cool lights that I am pretty sure we could have driven by and seen for free from our warm cars. We had fun though, were sad to see Grandpa Danny and Miss Carol leave but were so glad we got to see them around Christmastime!

I am pretty sure Daniel is crying in both of these pics because he kept trying to take off and all of his efforts were thwarted. Poor kid.

Santa Schmanta

Like many families, we have fallen victim to the idea that we must participate in all of the standard holiday traditions. It was actually my idea to go see Santa this year, I think maybe if I hadn't mentioned it, Chris may have not thought of it and we could have just skipped it altogether. Me and my big mouth. We had gone to a really neat (and free) Fall Festival at a local nursery and wanted to go back there to see Santa Claus. We thought it might be less crowded than the malls, but there was still a long line of people there when we arrived and we got there right when they opened. We had talked it up quite a bit and kept asking the kids if they wanted to sit with Santa, and guess what they said? "No!" I knew they weren't going to do it so why spend a Saturday morning out in the cold trying to keep 2 2 yr olds occupied for over an hour? I did try to talk Chris into leaving pretty much as soon as we got there, even tried to bribe him by suggesting we go eat, but he felt like we should say since we were already there. Well once we finally got up there, the kids had no interest in sitting with them and well....you see the end result. This is the 2nd picture with Santa I have been in with them. It's crazy, why do we do this? They didn't talk to him but did give him high 5's when we left and talked about the candy canes they got from him for days after that. All in all, it wasn't a bad experience, just not really sure it was necessary. Next year, I am keeping my mouth shut.

Mama's Boy

Thought I would share a few pics of me goofing around with my little boy. He is just the sweetest boy ever, loves his mommy and loves giving kisses. He is quite the sensitive kid, they have started watching movies lately and he gets really upset when something bad happens, like it someone gets hurt or something gets destroyed. We have had to turn a couple of movies off because he actually starts crying. Don't get me wrong, he is a rough and tumble kid too, but I am enjoying his sensitive side while it lasts.

Thanksgiving

We took the kids on the first long road trip when we went to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. We were pretty nervous about it since we had never gone more than 3 hours in the car with them before, we really had no idea how they would do. Can I just say - they did awesome! We were very pleasantly surprised. If they did this well with just some little toys to keep them happy, just imagine how well they will do when we get our tricked out minivan with a DVD player!

We had so much fun in OK, we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Kelley's on Thursday, hung out over there for awhile and the kids played with the awesome dollhouse that Cameron saved for them all these years. We were most excited to bring that back home with us! We went to Dad and Carol's that night for some desert - yum!

On Friday, we met my friend Kelli at Ted's, the best Mexican restaurant in the entire world - it was so yummy! The kids had fun afterwards playing with her daughter Meadow, we would have loved to get her twins over as well, but they were sick. Maybe next time.

On Saturday, we had Thanksgiving dinner at Dad's and played over there for awhile after that. The kids brought home some pretty awesome new toys and were just so excited to see their Oklahoma family and spend some quality time with them.

On our way out of town on Sunday, we stopped for lunch at Ted's so that I could get my fix one last time and so the kids could experience Ted's as well. I think it is safe to say that it is their favorite restaurant now too.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Oklahoma!

Now that we know the kids can handle that drive no problem, we have to get back to OK at least once a year.

Cuchara

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted anything since Halloween, I may be the worst blogger ever. This post is a bit out of order but I wanted to talk about the trip we took to Cuchara, CO. We met my mom and my sister and her family just 3 hours SW of here in a teeny, tiny little town called Cuchara. There is nothing there except for cabins and apparently a place called the Dog Bar where we were told we could have gone to watch the OU/TX game but didn't.

Anyway, Cari reserved us a great cabin where we brought all of our own food to cook and really never left there except to go on a few walks. The weather was absolutely perfect and we all just had a great time. The kids were so excited to see everyone, they just love Grandma Judy, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Cari, Cory and Cameron. We went on a little nature walk where they got to explore a little bit and check out the river. Their favorite part of the weekend was throwing pine cones in the river and watching them float away, finding cool sticks and looking at the stars at night. They are so cute and I must say adapt pretty well to different environments, they loved the cabin and slept great while we were there. They still talk about the cabin and love to look at the pictures. We may have to make it our annual Fall Break trip!