Halloween part one

We've had several days of non-stop Halloween fun! On Saturday we were invited to a Halloween party at one Aidan's taekwondo buddies house. The kids had a blast running around the house, terrorizing their pets and jumping on their trampoline. (Currently their trampoline is in their unfinished basement. A perfect location for younger kids and cold winters. Aidan thought this was especially cool.) They also had a scavenger hunt which was a huge hit. The kids were on overdrive by the time we came home. Us parents had a great time getting to know our soon to be extended neighbors (they all live in the Meadows, but not our particular development) and watching the Rockies game.

Yesterday was Aidan's school spooktacular event. They decided to create a fun-filled evening dedicated to everything Halloween so the kids and teachers could focus on the academics today. Aidan had a lot of fun going through the haunted house with his dad. Kellen just had fun running around doing whatever his big brother was doing...minus the haunted house.

Today, Halloween day, Kellen's preschool had a Harvest Festival. They had their school pictures taken and then got dressed up in their costumes, had a parade and ate some goodies.

Tonight is gearing up for another fun-filled, candy overloaded night. We'll be hitting the shops in downtown Castle Rock for trick-or-treating and then heading out the door to go trick-or-treating some more in the neighborhood. So stay tuned for part deux.....

Mother of the Year....

...ain't gonna be me! I'm not sure if it's because we're just renting a house and I don't feel completely settled, but I just can't get into the holiday spirit. Halloween is just around the corner and I'm barely thinking about where I'm going to take the kids trick-or-treating. This morning I finally made myself sit down with the kids and put together our first Halloween craft. (The only thing besides the pumpkins sitting outside our door that reminds me it's even Halloween.) I usually have our house decorated fairly nicely for the holidays, although I'm not one of those moms who buys every cute crafty decoration for all the holidays, but you definitely know coming to my house that we're all set for Halloween. Not this year. I haven't failed miserably though, we did buy the kids their costumes in advance, even though they are the lovely Target costumes, they'll do. I refuse to spend a fortune on costumes after looking all over for the cutest Barney costume for Aidan 3 years ago and he barely wore it. However, I will get our family together to carve our pumpkins tonight so I can at least feel like I did something worthy this Halloween with the kids.

As for my other failure? Potty training! It sucks. I hate doing it and I know it must rub off on my kids. I had a HORRIFIC time getting Aidan potty trained so I have no desire to go through the same fiasco with Kellen. Although, I truly think once he gets the hang of it he will cooperate and go. I just keep forgetting to put him on the potty on a regular basis. I thought sending him to preschool would keep me motivated, but obviously not. We're no farther along than we were a month ago when I started. And I refuse to spend my day at home putting him on the potty every few minutes. I think I would go crazy and I'm sure Kellen would too.

Oh, and my last failure? Remembering to sit down with the kids to read everyday. We read a story at night, but I really wanted to have storytime. I love snuggling up with them and reading stories, but with school and after-school activities then coming home making dinner, baths, getting ready for bed... the list goes on and on. Oh and homework? Thankfully Aidan really doesn't have much of that yet, but I'm supposed to be helping him with his sight words and writing his numbers and letters. How does it all get done? Any supermoms out there???

Whew! I feel better now. This blogging thing is very theraputic. Maybe I'll feel like supermom again tomorrow or after I'm over my cold.

Colorado weather...what's the norm?

Sun is the norm! However, today was our first official snowfall of the season. We received about 5 inches of snow which isn't a big deal, but to truly explain Colorado weather let me just tell you it was in the mid-70's on Friday and Saturday! And tomorrow, once again it'll be sunny and by mid-week we'll be in the 70's again. As my friend once said of Colorado weather, it's neurotic. But that's one of the joys of Colorado...it's sunny most of the time and the snow doesn't usually last long.

Here are a few pictures of the kids playing in the snow:

Fall Festival

On Saturday we had a nice surprise from Jose (Elva's husband) who drives a truck and since he ran out of hours (in Colorado no less) he spent the day with us.

I already had plans to take the kids to a Fall Festival at a local church/preschool and once again the kids had a blast. The Castle Rock fire department came and talked to the kids and showed off their truck and all their gadgets. An ambulance came (still gives me a shudder seeing one of those and thinking about Aidan's trip to the hospital in one), but the kids had fun breathing through the oxygen mask.

They had bouncy slides and obstacle courses, a pumpkin chucking catapult, and pony rides. Plus a bake sale...yum and a playground for the kids to wear off the rest of their energy.

Aidan's riding without training wheels!

I've been holding out on this post because I wanted my family to see Aidan's big accomplishment live, and now that my sister has seen it and my mom and step-dad are here I'm ready to release the news to the public.

Aidan is so proud of himself. I know he's been wanting to learn to ride without training wheels for so long, but he just needed the confidence to do it. Well now he does and he's riding all over the place. He wants to ride to school everyday and practice riding every chance he gets.

Go Aidan! We're so proud of you!

The Children's Museum

The kids didn't have school on Friday so I met my friend Theresa (whom I met while working at Adobe and then Ariba and who moved to Denver about 2 years ago) at The Children's Museum. I hate comparing places to their counterparts in SJ, but I guess it's inevitable, but this place was really cute. In some ways I like it more than SJ's Chilren's Museum (probably the lack of crowds), but in other ways I don't. It's definitely smaller and in about a year Aidan won't think the place is quite so great, but for now it's a great place to go and in a great city.

After leaving the museum Theresa took us to a really cute and yummy pizza joint! The surrounding area is really cool and I can't wait until I have time to wander some of the "hip" streets in downtown Denver.

Field Day at Buffalo Ridge Elementary School

Field Day nowadays are a heck of a lot better than when I was a kid. Aidan's looked like a blast. Each grade chose their theme (i.e. the kindie's were Power Rangers) and they had a select time to come out and enjoy the fun. They started at the bouncy house. One for boys and one for girls (probably a good idea with how rough boys usually play). They then headed out to the field and played a Darth Vader game. A huge black blow up ball was Darth and two kids at a time had a chance to push the ball into other kids. Just looking at the children they looked like they were having a blast. Then it was time for the "donut fight". Two kids at a time tried to knock each other down by pushing against the "donut" surrounding their bodies. Once again, it looked like a total blast. Unfortunately I needed to head back home to put Kellen down for a nap so I didn't see all the activities, but Aidan said there was an obstacle course, which was his favorite event. They also got to eat a popsicle after the event another highlight to the day.
fun! Can I be a kindergartener again?

Kellen's first day of preschool

Kellen started preschool yesterday! As expected he loves it and he's very excited to be going to school like a big boy. When we walked into his room and saw a train set was set up I knew he definitely wouldn't have any problems on his first day. His teacher, Ms. Gail seems really nice and the class size is small - only 7 kids including him. So far, mom and child are pretty happy with the school.

Big brother Aidan is pretty proud and excited for his little brother to be going to school too.

Over the hill and through the woods to Grandpa's house we go...

We spent last weekend at my dad and step-mom's house in a little town called Battlement Mesa. It's about 3 1/2 hours west of us and about an hour east of Grand Junction.

My dad has about an acre of land which was a lot of fun for the kids to explore, but the highlight of their yard is the pond and waterfall. Kellen constantly wanted to play car wash and Aidan just had fun watching the water fall and playing with the "rock town" my step-mom Valentina painted.

Besides playing in the yard we enjoyed their jacuzzi complete with amazing views of the mesas and swam at their rec. center. I couldn't believe how much the boys ate too! I don't think we've ever seen them eat so much and definitely not at someone else's house. Especially when there is a great backyard to play in.

The drive to and from my dad's house is one of the best I've seen. What could be better than traveling through all the ski resorts enjoying the beautiful fall colors. (Okay, maybe PCH is better, but you're comparing ocean and mountain and that's not the same.) Plus the added bonus of a little snow on our drive back home. Thankfully none on the road, but some snow scattered along the mountain tops. We stopped off at Glenwood Springs - world renowned for their hot springs. The kids, once again had a blast playing in the pool and they were actually tall enough (both of them) to go down the waterslides with us.

The closest ski resort is only about 1 1/2 hours away! We're looking forward to ski/snowboard season! I'm trying to entice Kellen to get potty trained in time for ski season so he can go to ski school too like his brother. So far it's not working too well....I still hold out hope.