Christmas!

This Christmas we drove to my dad's house over on the western slope of Colorado. This entailed tackling the mountains, weather and traffic. Thankfully all cooperated for us and we made it safely.

On Christmas Eve day we drove up to the Grand Mesa (the largest mesa in the country, maybe even the world) and went showshoeing. It was a lot of fun for most of us...except maybe Kellen. He's too young to snowshoe so we brought our little toboggan to pull him, but he didn't seem to enjoy it too much. He was a trooper for the most part, but I think he was glad when it was over. We showshoed (if that's the proper term) about 2 miles around a frozen lake covered with snow and Aidan "walked" the whole way without much complaint.

As evening came the kids were chomping at the bit for Santa to come. They left cookies for Santa and they got to open up one gift...pj's. They love them and for the next couple of days I could barely get Kellen out of them. He'd wear clothes for about an hour, but then after coming indoors wet from the snow he'd want to change into his pj's again.

On Wednesday, Rick and Aidan drove to the Grand Mesa again and took skiing and snowboarding lessons at Powderhorn Resort. They had a blast. Aidan loved skiing and Rick, of course blew away his instructor and ended up leaving the class after an hour and a half. Kellen and I stayed at my dad's and hung out. Pretty uneventful day for us.

All in all it was a good Christmas and I'm glad we were able to spend it with family.

Kellen's birthday

It was a subdued birthday for Kellen this year, but he didn't seem to mind. He opened some gifts from us and his grandparents, then went to preschool where they helped celebrate his birthday.

We ended his day with spaghetti and meatballs (one of his favorite dishes) and a homemade cookies and creme cake! Yum!

Kellen's Christmas program

A couple of week's ago Kellen's preschool had a Christmas program showcasing all the hard work the children put into their singing skills. It was one of the cutest things I've seen. The director told me they worked really hard during practice, but when they walked in and saw all their parents and other family members most of them refused to sing. We just had fun watching Kellen's reactions from looking about to cry to goofing around with one of his classmates.





Even though most didn't sing they were absolutely adorable and fun to watch. If I can get the proper software program installed I will download the video I took. Here are some pictures from that night.

Happy Birthday Monkey!

Kellen is 3 today and it's amazing at how quickly time flies. On one hand, turning 3 isn't such a big number, especially when the person who is typing this will be turning the BIG 35 next spring, but a lot has occurred over Kellen's last 3 years of life.

I remember when I was pregnant with him and wondering how the heck will I love another child as much as I love Aidan? I was even crazy enough to ask my friends...strange as that sounds, but maybe not. To love your children is such an all encompassing thing that it almost seems impossible to have more love to give, but of course you do.

I was so excited to find out that Kellen was a boy too. After my brother and his family came to visit when Aidan was only 18 months old and I saw how his two oldest boys played together I really wanted Aidan to have a buddy he could play with and count on at all times. Sure they fight and get into trouble, but even though they are 3 1/2 years apart they are truly buddies and partners in crime.

I can see as Kellen gets older he will be the one to try and persuade his big brother to do things they shouldn't be doing. (And Aidan will be the one to say we shouldn't be do this.) Kellen's just that kind of kid. He's our little wanderer...in the middle of the night. Rick's no longer sleeping very well because he's concerned Kellen is wandering somewhere around the house. And he usually is. I hope the novelty wears off.

Happy Birthday Monkey! We love you and we're so glad you're a part of our family.

Christmas Traditions

I read this off two of my friend's blogs and liked it so here's mine:



1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? REAL! Even with the mess of the needles. I love going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting one down.

3.When do you put up the tree? Around the 1st of December

4. When do you take the tree down? Day after Christmas. I get tired of looking at our destroyed tree by that time.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but I don't drink it often because it's so fattening, which is so hypocritical because I eat so much junk anyway...go figure.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm, not sure, but maybe my Barbie house and car.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes

8. Hardest person to buy for? Rick

9. Easiest person to buy for? The kids

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't remember

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? MAIL! I usually do everything via email, but with Christmas cards it has to be mailed

12 . Favorite Christmas movie? Funny - Christmas Vacation; Traditional - It's a Wonderful Life

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After Thanksgiving

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Don't think so

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The sweets...especially the homemade ones

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? stay home, but we're traveling to my dad's this year

19. Can you name all of Santa's' reindeer? probably not

20. Angel on the treetop or a star? an etched star on clear glass...hard to explain

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. Sometimes we'd open up one gift on Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The crowds

23. What I love most about Christmas? That everyone is a little more kind and centered on Christ
24. Favorite Christmas Tradition? We don't really have any, but spending time with family, eating a good, big meal and cutting down our Christmas tree.

Denver Zoo Lights

On Friday night we drove into Denver and met up with one of my high school friends (Jen) and her family (husband Sunil and 5 month old son Rohan). We had a great time, even though it was snowing and wet outside. Dinner was great, thanks Jen for the suggestion and the zoo lights were fabulous. The kids...well my kids had a blast running around in the slushy snow. Rohan was nice and cozy and fast asleep in his stroller.

Like a total loser I forgot to take pictures of the adults and the following pictures aren't that great because the snow looks like huge white globs in the pictures. Oh well, it gives you an idea!

Starting to take shape

Here are the latest pictures of our house. They finished framing it and are now working on the siding, stone work and hopefully the roof. On Saturday we walked around inside and it was pretty cool to see how things are coming along. Even though the drywall isn't up yet we can definitely see what it's going to look like and we got to see what our views will be through the windows. We'll definitely have views of the front range through our front upstairs windows which is pretty cool.

front of house (siding is not the color we've chosen)

Downtown Denver

The weather has been so nice here that I've been wanting to spend as much time outdoors as possible. So, on Saturday we drove up to Denver to check out some sights. Our first stop was 16th Street Mall. An outdoor pedestrian street filled with shops and restaurants several blocks long. I remember loving 16th Street Mall as a child. They have some great shops, but none of us were in the mood to go shopping.

So instead we walked down to the State Capital building. 31 years ago my dad took a picture of me standing on the steps. (I was the same age as Kellen in the picture.) Now why is that so significant? Well besides the fact I visited that same site many years later with my children, one step is etched with the words, "One mile above sea level". I always thought that was pretty cool.

What's a trip to downtown Denver without visiting a museum? We ended our journey with The Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Once again, another trip down memory lane because I always remembered the huge T-Rex in the entrance. I wasn't disappointed, they still have it at the entrance. Unfortunately that kind've made up Kellen's mind about the museum. He didn't want to see any of the exhibits. Oh well, that didn't stop us. Rick and I just took turns trying to appease Kellen with some kid-friendly sites while Aidan enjoyed everything.

And for a little Christmas cheer...we decorated our Trader Joe's gingerbread house. Thanks Elva for bringing it at Thanksgiving!