Christmas time

So far we've had a great Christmas break. It's nice to have my mom and step-dad in town, good weather (albeit cold) and fun time with the kiddos. (We've hardly had any snow, but thankfully the mountains are being pounded with snowstorm after snowstorm. Great news for all the ski resorts.)

Some highlights thus far:

Mr. Biggs fun center in Littleton - lots of good times for the two older boys. An air ball, fun house-type place...not sure what they call it, but it's where Aidan and Kellen spent most of their time. They have all these tubes you suck the balls into so you can shoot other people or have them gather in a huge bin that eventually drops a ton 'o balls once it's gets too full.

Miniature golf, laser tag, Twister ride, bouncy houses. Like I said we spent the majority of time in the ball area and then Rick and the boys played a round of miniature golf.

Rick and I went on a date with our friend's/neighbor's The Joneses. It was SOOO nice to be a party of 4 ADULTS!

Finally a picture with all of us -Sunday before Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve (in the afternoon, that is) at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I have to say this is one of the best museums I have been to...ever! There is so much to see and so many things of interest for the young and old. We spent 3-4 hours there and barely scratched the surface of the place.

Leaving cookies for Santa and new Christmas jammies

Christmas day...well I'm sure you can imagine. Thankfully the kids slept in - until 7-7:30am, thank goodness. Aidan was super excited Santa brought a Wii. He's barely stopped playing it and had his friend's over playing for the last 2 days. Everyone received lots of great gifts and we had a fabulous dinner (if I do say so myself) of Prime Rib, twice baked potatoes, garlic-almond green beans (thanks Annie), holiday salad (thanks Thomalee), rolls and ice cream cake (thanks Cold Stone). I'm not a huge fan of Prime Rib, but it was pretty good and tasty.

New coaster/plasma car - thanks Grandpa

playing Wii - surprise, surprise

Curren's new Christmas jammies and being cuddled by Pop Pop

Rick got to go to a Nuggets game last night with his 14er buddy and one of Aidan's buddy's dad last night. Nuggets won - way to go!

Today we drove down to The Springs (or for you not in the know it's Colorado Springs) to The Garden of the Gods. It's an amazing place, but unfortunately we picked a VERY cold and windy day to walk around there. We made a quick loop around the major rock formations and left. I can't wait to go back and hike some of the trails in the late spring or summer. Beautiful! Truly one of God's greatest creations.

We were hoping to head up to Copper Mountain so Rick and Aidan could go snowboarding and Kellen could attend ski school, but Aidan's snowboarding pass is blacked-out during the holiday season so Rick will go next week (he has a 4 day pass that is good during the holiday season) and we'll plan a weekend trip maybe with our friend's the Joneses:) if they can make it. They have a son close to Kellen's age and it would be fun to have them in the same ski lesson.

Not sure what the New Year will bring us, but I can tell you one thing. I won't be up to ring in the new year if I can help it. (Although knowing Curren I will be up feeding him while half-asleep.)

Happy 5 months baby Curren!

On Christmas Day Curren officially turned 5 months old!

Some highlights:

-Loves people, especially family. He's always trying to get our attention

-Loves to smile and giggle

-Loves to be carried in the Ergo baby carrier

-Has started to really enjoy rice cereal (although his first feeding doesn't look like it. He was too tired to enjoy it.)

-Is trying to roll over, but hasn't mastered that skill just yet

-Can sit-up unsupported for a few seconds

-Still isn't sleeping through the night. Usually wakes up 2 times to eat. But many mornings he sleeps in:)

Happy 5 months baby Curren, we love you!

The most perfect afternoon...if even for an hour

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays and the hustle and bustle of having an infant and two other rambunctious boys I've been feeling grumpy, depressed, stressed, overwhelmed, trapped, etc. (You get the picture). So yesterday while hanging out in Curren's bedroom with my boys I told the two older ones to get some books and I'll read to them. Aidan decided to grab some of the books his reading tutor gave him over the holidays. So between the two of us we read to Kellen and Curren. It was so wonderful to see Aidan feel confident enough to read to his brothers. When I noticed Curren rubbing his eyes I put him down for a nap and then Aidan, Kellen and I moved to my bed and finished reading stories and cuddled under the blankets.

I've really been missing those days. Aidan, Kellen and I used to always cuddle in my bed and read stories. I can't wait until Curren gets older so he can join us.

It was such a wonderful afternoon and I actually felt human again. I know some of you may be thinking? What? you can't handle 3 kiddos? But when the youngest still doesn't sleep well at night and knowing 3 is your limit, yes I've been feeling overwhelmed and a little trapped. Yesterday afternoon with my babies made it all worthwhile.

Kellen is already 4?

Today is Kellen's 4th birthday! Wow, it seems like yesterday when he was as young as Curren. Where does the time go?

What can I say about Kellen? He's the funniest, sweetest, cutest middle child on the whole earth. I just love that kid! He can drive me absolutely bonkers at times, but for the most part he's just adorable and is always thinking about his brothers.

Whenever we go to the library he always looks for books he thinks Aidan would like. Last week it was one of his classmates' birthdays and Kellen received a goody bag which included a candy cane and a fruit roll-up. Aidan was upset Kellen got all the goodies and especially wanted the fruit roll-up. Well Kellen gave him the candy cane instead (it was his goody bag after all), but the next day at preschool the same classmate passed out goody bags again and immediately when we walked into the classroom to pick him up, Kellen says handing the fruit roll-up to Aidan, "Here you go, Aidan." Now how sweet is that? My little sourpuss (aka Aidan at times) probably wouldn't be so generous.

I'm so glad Kellen is here and has graced our lives with his love, sense of humor and his Kellenisms.

Happy 4th birthday Monkey, we love you to pieces!

Here are some pictures of Kellen's b-day party we had this past Saturday. We invited the neighborhood kids and they seemed to have a great time!

Ms. Lynnea and baby Curren

making some crafts at Kellen's party

Aidan making a snowflake

All the daddy's staying as far away from the craft table as possible:)

Rick smoozing with the neighborhood mommies. (Notice it's pretty much the mom's at the craft table?)

What could be better than cake and ice cream?

Can you say gift overload?

Why our kitties stay indoors

Rick happened to look out our back windows this afternoon and saw this:

You can see our back fence and how close he is. He tried to pounce on some animal, but didn't get it.




What a beautiful animal. I've seen deer really close to one of the arterial streets leading in/out of The Meadows. I've read deer and other wildlife seem more active in the winter since they are forced to come closer to residential areas in search of food.

And a Blue Jay enjoying the bird seed we put out for them.

Oh and if you aren't jealous of the beautiful wildlife we get to witness on a regular basis this will sure get you. It's a balmy 10 degrees outside today. Lovely. It's usually never this cold, but we're experiencing an artic cold front. Thank heavens for nice and warm houses.

If Aidan keeps this trend up...

he'll be eating what Curren will have for Christmas...rice cereal. (He has 4 more loose teeth.)

Miscellaneous...

I didn't know what to call this post because it's mainly just pictures I thought worthy posting on my blog. Enjoy!

My 3 lovely boys

Rick's best buddy Brett with Curren

Could've been an awesome family picture had Aidan been around to be in it...bummer.

Thanksgiving weekend

Well to sum it up we had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Rick's mom Elva arrived Monday and then his sister Susie and her husband Ryan arrived late Wednesday night. We had lots of Scott's over at our house enjoying some thanksgiving grub and I have to say it was really good. My sister, Elva's husband Jose and Rick's uncle Rico and his girlfriend Rebecca all joined us on Thanksgiving day.

Yummo TG feast

Hanging out with his human jungle gym - Uncle Ryan

Finally captured a smile on camera

Friday I was expecting some snow, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day and we spent it in this cute little town nestled in the foothills called Morrison. It's home to The Morrison Natural History Museum. (Super cute and very informative museum, primarily focusing on dinosaurs. Did you know a ton of dinosaurs lived here in CO?) And Morrison is home to one of the best concert venues - Red Rocks Amphitheater. Seriously it's way cool. I saw my first concert there at the ripe old age of 12 (without parents, can you even do that nowadays?). Can you guess who I saw? Depeche Mode, baby! It was GREAT! And for those of you fans of U2 (yep, that's you Linda) The Sunday Bloody Sunday concert video was filmed at Red Rocks. And if I remember correctly one of our family friends was at that concert, cool huh? Well maybe just to me, but being at Red Rocks sure brings back some memories.

Big T-Rex at the Morrison Natural History Museum

Petting Silvy the snake

Helping to excavate a real dinosaur fossil found right here in Morrison, CO

Kellen's turn

At Red Rocks

Pretty cool place for a concert, huh? Aidan in the blue in the middle.

Saturday we received some snow, but Sunday when we weren't expecting any snow we were slammed with a pretty good storm. About 6 inches! It made my sister-in-law very happy! Plus the two older boys were excited too. What's better than playing in the snow with their aunt and uncle.

I didn't get any pictures, but our neighbor was having a blast "helping" to clear out our cul-de-sac with his ATV. It was fun to watch all the fathers outside clearing out their driveways a couple of times that day.

Now it's back to reality. Although Rick's been enjoying himself this week. One of his BFF (I know sounds girlie, but it's true) Brett flew into CO to meet up with his brothers and sister in the VERY posh resort town of Beaver Creek. And since Rick's practically a Galbraith he got to join them. They've been spending time snowboarding their little hearts out and roughing it Ritz Carlton style. Poor babies, huh? I just keep reminding him, one of these days I'll be heading out for some serious fun without the kiddos too! But until then the kiddos and I have been having a pretty good time at home. They really have been pretty good, I have to admit. (It does help that I've bribed them with their own choice of dinners and reminding them Santa is watching and will bring coal if they aren't good.)

2nd snowman of the season

Some Christmas decorations. It's hard to put lights on our house. Can't climb on the tile roof and it's too high.