The Scott Clan

A day in the life of Curren the Terrible!

2011-03-22T21:12:00.002-06:00

This post is dedicated to all things Curren, ~~little devil child~~. (But one only a mother could love!) He's in the throws of the terrible twos! UGH, Double UGH and Screaming UGH!

Yesterday morning, I got him out of bed and dressed then told him to head downstairs to play with his brothers while I changed into my workout clothes. I found him standing by our fireplace with a large bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal. He had pulled the cereal out of the pantry, carried the box along with the step stool over to the cabinet where his bowls are stored. (Thank heavens he can't reach the milk!)

About a half hour after breakfast I found him with a granola bar. He once again got into our pantry grabbed a granola bar and grabbed some child scissors from the "craft" cabinet and opened the packaging.

Note to self: Must buy lock for pantry door.

Later that morning we headed to Kohl's so I could buy Aidan some new church shoes. We walked in and I proceeded to grab one of their shopping carts that have the child seat attached, but the first one I grabbed happened to have two seats. Since neither Kellen or Aidan need to sit in one of the seats I started to grab a single cart. However, Curren had other plans and wanted Kellen to sit in the two-seater with him and when I said no he started SCREAMING at the top of his lungs.

Like a good conscientious mother that I am grabbed him kicking and screaming and walked out of the store until he calmed down. A few minutes later we headed back in the store and I decided to let him run around the store like a wild banshee.

It's now getting close to lunchtime and I still need to go grocery shopping so I decided to take the kids to Chick-fil-a for lunch. They happened to have balloons for the kids and of course Curren is more concerned with where his balloon is stored for safety than eating lunch. And then once I finally get him eating he remembers there is a child's play section and jumps down from his chair and walks over to the entrance of the playroom. Thankfully Kellen was about done with lunch and took Curren in there with him.

Being the kind mom that I am, I let them play in the playroom for a little while, but Curren for the first time has figured out how to actually climb the climbing contraption that they have and is now at the top of the play structure refusing to come down and is of course afraid of the slide. Thank heavens for older brothers because Aidan climbed to the top and pulled Curren down from the structure. While I'm at the bottom bribing him with ice cream. (I was not planning on buying them ice cream, but now must because I'm an honest mom as well.)

We now finally head over to the grocery store where Curren loves to ride in those obnoxiously HUGE kid-friendly shopping carts. However, like a typical ~~obnoxious~~ 2 year old wants to get out of the cart halfway through my shopping and insists on helping me pull the cart. I'm thankful for his help, but I proceed to practically run him over several times. At least there was no screaming involved.

Later, after naptime we go outside to play with our neighborhood friends. He really loves playing with the boys his age, but like a typical 2 year old doesn't enjoy sharing and always wants what his friends are playing with. We have a few screaming fits that afternoon as well.

That evening I gave Curren and Kellen a bath. While I changed into my pj's Curren decided to dump water out of the tub. Fun times!

We had donuts for our FHE treat. It was a 2 donut night for me.

Love the kid, but the terrible twos, threes and fours are not my fav!

Leprechauns have foiled us again!

2011-03-22T20:50:00.000-06:00

Well we tried, but the leprechauns escaped their trap and wreaked havoc on our house.

The leprechaun trap Aidan made. (Kellen made the rainbow.) It was a great trap, but those leprechauns are pretty slick and got away. They even took the coins we put in the trap to entice them.

It looks like Chula got in a tousle with one of the leprechauns. They also overturned our couch pillows and scattered paper and placemats all over the downstairs great room.

We'll get them next year!

Green belt

2011-03-22T20:43:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Aidan tested for his green belt in martial arts. He was really excited and also a little nervous to test, but he did great and was presented with his green belt at the following class.

Way to go Aidan!!!

We're your Backyardigans!

2011-03-22T08:32:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right the older boys love the Backyardigans almost as much as little Curren. And I have a picture to prove it!

Cabo San Lucas...yes again!

2011-02-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Last week we took the kids (and my mom and step-dad) back to Cabo San Lucas, MX. We just love it there and since we finally broke down and bought a timeshare there we thought we'd escape the cold temps and snow for a little while. Plus, with purchasing the timeshare we also received some bonus points so it allowed us to stay in one of their penthouse rooms. It was HUGE with great views of the ocean and pool.

The kids had a blast playing in the pool as well as the beach. It was Curren's first time at the beach as well as playing in "real" sand and he couldn't get enough of it. The water...not so much.

Most of the time was spent at our resort, but we did take everyone out to some great local taquerias, down in to Cabo San Lucas (we now stay just north in San Jose del Cabo) to Pedregal to see some whales on the Pacific side as well as a local beach Chilleno where we usually go snorkeling.

It was a great trip! Nice and relaxing and a good amount of time for the kids. By Friday (the day we left) they were ready to head home to their normal surroundings. We did have a snafu with our flight, which could've been disasterous..at least from a mom perscpective, but thankfully turned out well. As the flight was taxiing on the runway the pilot told us they were having problems with their electrical system. Of course Curren was napping at that time and I was hoping he's sleep a good portion of the flight. (It's only 3 hours.) To make a long story short, we sat on the tarmac for 3 hours while they tried to fix the problem and ended up taking off from MX when we were supposed to land in Denver. UGH! But the kids were troopers and behaved well. Thankfully it wasn't a full flight so it was easy for them to get up and move around. The pilot made up some time, thankfully and we got to Denver in 2 1/2 hours.

Can't wait to go back again! It's nice going to a place we love and a place we're familiar with too. It's easy for us to navigate through town and we know some great, but inexpensive places to eat. Plus it doesn't hurt that Rick's BFF lives down there with his family too.

Snow, snow, snow

2011-02-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

It took a long time for us to really get some snow, but over the last few days and weeks we've been hit with some good storms as well as some REALLY, REALLY cold temperatures. (Thankfully we were in Cabo San Lucas for the cold temps.) Anyway, here are some pictures of the boys playing in the snow a few weeks ago when we didn't have school.

BTW, it's so bright outside that I make them wear their goggles/sunglasses. Learned a couple years back when the older boys eyeballs, yes their eyeballs got sunburned while sledding.

Kellen is 6!

2010-12-27T21:59:00.006-07:00

It's hard to believe, but Kellen is 6 years old already! We celebrated by going to Chuck E. Cheese. (Unfortunately, Aidan was really sick the week of his birthday so he couldn't join us.:()

(A visit from Chuck E. Cheese!)

(Kellen and his buddies)

(Kellen in the ticket blaster)

Then the following evening my parents took the family out to Red Lobster for Kellen's birthday dinner. Of course in typical fashion, Curren woke up from his nap with a high fever so I ended up staying at home with him. (At least Rick brought me some dinner.) Even with sick siblings Kellen still had a great birthday and received lots and lots and lots of Hot Wheels toys! Nothing's better than that!

Christmas

2010-12-27T21:15:00.017-07:00

Hard to believe Christmas has come and gone already with 2011 right around the corner! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. My whole, and I mean WHOLE family came to town. My brother and his family (6 of them) drove from NC, plus my dad and step-mom came from Western CO and of course my sister, mom and step-dad who live here locally. So that means 16 people spent most of Christmas week at our house.

(Love, love, love this picture of all of us!)

The cousins had so much fun playing with each other and us adults had a great time talking and hanging out. We went to the Denver Mint, The Denver Art Museum (The DAM) to view the King Tut exhibit, Rick and my brother David spent a day on the slopes at Copper Mountain, Rick, Aidan, David and one of his sons' Quin went to a Colorado Avalanche game (hockey). Did a little hiking on Spruce Mountain down near Larkspur and we enjoyed lots of good food.

(Aidan, Kellen, Truman and Quin outside the State Capitol Building)

(All the kids around the gingerbread train my dad and step-mom made. A Christmas tradition in Sweden. The kids couldn't wait to eat one of the cars.)

(Kellen, Truman and Aidan leaving cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.)

(My nephew Grey is an amazing artist. He likes to design his own shoes with sharpies.)

Christmas morning actually started off later than expected...thankfully. The kids didn't start stirring until 7:45am or so and we actually had to finally wake Aidan up so he didn't miss out on the gift opening festivities.

The weather has been very California-like. No snow anywhere in sight.... well you can see the snow topped mountains from our house, but none in the Denver Metro area. In fact, Christmas day was in the 50's so we spent a lot of time outside, playing basketball and riding bikes.

(Aidan's new bike - a gift from everyone - thanks!)

(Playing a little basketball with Kellen in the foreground trying out his new scooter.)

The week with my family sped by way too fast and we were really sad to say good-bye to everyone, especially the cousins. Too bad there is about 1600 miles separating us. Thankfully we did get some great pictures of my whole family to memorialize Christmas 2010.

(Eden (17), Kellen (6), Quin (11), Truman (9), Curren (2), Aidan (9) and Grey (15))

(David, me and Kirsten - just for the record, I'm the baby:))

Testing for his yellow belt

2010-11-13T13:25:00.008-07:00

Today Aidan tested for his yellow belt in martial arts. He was pretty nervous (because this was his first time testing and he didn't know what to expect), but he did great. Master Scott gave him some good critique to focus on for the future. However, we did have to explain to him that Master Scott wasn't mad at him, but giving him some information on how to improve. Isn't that what life is about? I believe he will be presented with his yellow belt in class on Monday.

WAY TO GO AIDAN!!!

(FYI - the video is just a snippet of all the things he had to perform during his test. And this was taken with my iPhone so I'm unable to zoom in.)

Halloween weekend

2010-11-01T13:23:00.018-06:00

Nowadays it seems Halloween isn't just a day it's a whole weekend. At least that makes it fun for the kids, but exhausting for the adults. (Although I had fun too, watching my kiddos have fun.)

Friday were Aidan's and Kellen's school parties. Their school doesn't allow them to dress up and the party must be called a "fall party". Go figure. At least it's something they get to look forward too. Of course with Kellen being in afternoon kindergarten their parties were at the same time.

So I split my time between the two of them.

Kellen's class had a little visitor before I arrived. A nice hairy, brown and black tarantula! EEEEK! I walked into the room just as Kellen was getting ready to touch the thing. Eeek! I really don't like spiders and definitely not the big hairy kind.

Afterward, his class separated into groups with one group making spider cookies and the other group making a spider treat holder. Curren had fun eating his spider cookie.

Heading over to Aidan's class I walked in while he was decorating his mummy cup. After he was finished he got to fill it up with candy. They had some games, face painting, food, lots and lots and lots of popcorn (A big black garbage bag was filled with popcorn, graciously donated by the movie theater.) And boxes filled with disgusting items to feel with your hands.

That evening Aidan and his friend Parker headed over to Aidan's martial arts gym to eat pizza, snacks and watch the new Karate Kid. When I went to pick them up after the movie they said they had a good time and the place was filled with kids. Great event by his martial arts instructors. (Not to mention a great PR event for them as well.)

Saturday was our ward's trunk or treat event. We had a chili cook-off, a spook alley (my kids had no desire to participate in that), an amazing Thriller re-enactment and of course the kid's favorite - trunk-or-treating.

Sunday evening I did allow the boys to trick-or treating on our street. They were pretty bummed they couldn't trick-or-treat the whole neighborhood, but it was a Sunday. They ended up being good sports and had fun handing out candy to the kids who came to our house and emptying out their bags to see what goodies they received. It was also really cute to see how quickly Curren caught on to this whole trick-or-treating thing. Once he realized from his trunk-or-treat experience that he receives candy in the bag mom was holding for him there was NO way he was going to let me hold it while we trick-or-treated the few houses in our cul-de-sac.

Weirdly enough we didn't get many trick-or-treaters this year. Not sure why, but we did handout candy by the handful so we only had a few pieces left. I've also convinced my kids to sell their candy to their pediatric dentist. They receive $1/pound of candy and the dentist's office ships the candy overseas to our troops.

Now it's time to take down the Halloween decorations and gear up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Isn't it almost that time again?

Fall

2010-10-18T13:35:00.018-06:00

In a nutshell here are some pictures to highlight some of the things we've been doing this fall. As I type the kids are on week 2 of fall break. So far it's been pretty good, with only a few fights and meltdowns. What else could a mom ask for? (NOTE: 2 cute videos below)

At the beginning of October we took the boys up Rampart Range Road (kind've near Devil's Head) to a trail system called Indian Creek. Gorgeous colors - all the aspen were turning yellow. Curren had fun walking a portion of the trail and then on mom he went. (Rick had hurt his achilles so he couldn't carry the extra load.)

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A couple of weekends ago we took the boys to a pumpkin festival Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield (near my old CO stomping grounds) was putting on. They had some bounce houses and rides, but the kids weren't too interested in waiting in line for the rides and instead had a blast running around the pumpkin patch and the border of the corn maze. The cool thing about most pumpkin patches here is that you actually go to the actual pumpkin patch - the place where the pumpkins grow. All of the pumpkins had been picked off their vines, but they were still in the fields or along the perimeter of the fields.

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Last Friday I, along with some other friends took our boys (there were 10 of them and no girls) to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in CO Springs. It's a pretty cool smallish zoo. The nice thing about this zoo as opposed to Denver Zoo is you're able to get a little more up close and personal with some of the animals. You can feed the giraffes - always a big hit. And as you can see from the picture above, the gorilla was enjoying a little company. Although he kept making some hand gestures which made me think he was trying to tell us to screw off. Either way I did capture a good pic with him and Curren.

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Last Saturday after Aidan's martial arts class we drove over to our neighborhood speciality store - Tony's Market to buy some caramel apples. They were making them especially for kids. The boys could choose up to 3 toppings. As you can see from Kellen's apple they were GIGANTIC. Two was plenty for the 5 of us. And they were sure yummy!

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Today I took the boys to see their pediatric dentist. And even Curren cooperated and had his teeth cleaned. It was a sight to behold. What a cutie. And even after eating those yummy caramel apples all boys have cavity-free teeth. Yippee!

Breckenridge

2010-09-17T19:22:00.008-06:00

Labor Day weekend was spent in Breckenridge. Love, love, love this town! We stayed in such a great location too. We were able to walk to town for shopping, dining, people watching, etc.

Rick participated in the Breck Crest which is a 5k, half-marathon and marathon. Rick did the half and he said that was tough! They climbed for 6 miles straight and then traversed a mountain for a short bit. He did awesome considering all the climbing. It started at 8k feet above sea level and topped out at about 12,500 feet above sea level. He also said it was beautiful running in the mountains too.

We also took the gondola up to peak 10 (I think) to play at Breck's fun zone. They have alpine slides, bungee trampoline jumping, miniature golf, and you can also take a chairlift to the top and hike around or ride your bike down.

Aidan decided he wanted to do the bungee jumping. They had one in town he tried and then he tried the one at the fun zone. He flew! I was amazed at how much air they catch on those things. He loved it though. Me, can't even try it. Not only am I terrified of heights I would be sick to my stomach on the first jump.

(The bungee jump in town)

(The bungee jump at the fun zone. Got some air?)

Kellen loves miniature golfing so of course he was dying to play. So while Aidan, Rick and Curren waited in a long line for the bungee jump, Kellen and I played miniature golf. He's getting pretty good. We might have a little golfer on our hands. He even loves to watch golf on tv. Go figure.

On Monday after returning from Breck we headed over to my mom and Jerry's house for a BBQ. Yummy food, fine times had by all. The kids love spending time with their grandparents.

(Curren helping Pop Pop clean the grill)

School's back in session

2010-08-06T14:10:00.006-06:00

Today was Aidan's and Kellen's first day of school. It's a big milestone for Kellen because he started kindergarten today! Now I have two kids at the same school. Yippee! Although kindergarten is half-day so that means if I didn't carpool with my friend I'd be heading to school 3 times a day. Not fun! Because of budget cuts they now charge to ride the bus. I'm boycotting the bus...but I may back down and utilize the bus when the weather turns bad. We'll see.

(Perfect picture of Aidan on the first day. Not overly excited. And when he asked why I was taking picture of him I said, "because it's the first day of school." "No it's not, mom. I am a third grader now.")

(Lining up to go inside. Aidan's teacher is the woman in the white sweater holding the sign.)

(Kellen, a kindergartener now)

(With his teacher, Mrs. Hamilton-Jones who happens to be LDS too.)

(Kellen with his neighborhood, church and now school buddy - Tanner)

Summer re-cap

2010-08-06T13:23:00.012-06:00

Yikes! I guess I've been too busy this summer because I haven't kept up with what we've been doing over the summer. So here it is in a nutshell:

Girls' weekend in San Diego. I had a blast! It was so great to see my Cali girlfriends. We're planning to do this every year, but in different locations. Can't wait til next year.

Aidan's 9th birthday! Wow! It's hard to believe he's already nine years old. Where does the time go? I still remember heading to the hospital to deliver my little Aidan.

For his birthday, he invited a couple of friend's over for some pizza, cake and ice cream. Then we opened presents and headed outside to play a little basketball. For any of you reading this who don't know. Our families and us (his parents) all chipped in and purchased a permanent basketball backboard. Best investment ever. The kids are always playing a little hoop and most of the neighborhood kids head over to play some hoop too. Anyway, after playing outside for a bit I took the boys over to the theaters to see Despicable Me. What a cute movie. I wasn't really looking forward to seeing it because the previews didn't look that interesting, but I was pleasantly surprised. And that evening we topped Aidan's birthday off by heading to Red Lobster for a family dinner. My mom and Jerry told me on each child's birthday they'd like to take the family out to dinner. The birthday child gets to choose the restaurant.

(Our neighbor and cake decorator extradonnaire made Aidan's cake. As you can see he wanted a Broncos themed cake.)

4 days later we celebrated Curren's 2nd birthday. Now talk about time flying by! No more babies in this household. Curren didn't really know or care it was his birthday, but I still think he had a good day. We went to church and then the fam came over for dinner, opening presents and cake. He was very excited after opening up each toy. I think we could've just bought him one toy and he would've been fine with that. He now has a water table for playing outside which has kept him pretty happy and wet over the last few weeks.

(Curren's cake - store bought. He kept trying to grab the cake, hence the reason it's so far away from him in this picture.)

The last weekend in July we headed up to Steamboat Springs. We've never been there before and I'm glad we went. It's such a great town. And lots to do during the summer. Most ski destinations are also great destination points in the summer too. We rented a condo for the weekend with another family and had a great time with them.

(Fish Creek Falls)

The first full day Rick and the two older boys rode the alpine slide. Always a huge hit. Then the second day we went to The Old Town Hot Springs pool. Once again the kids had a blast. And Kellen passed the swim test so he was able to ride the big waterslides. That was pretty much all he wanted to do. Either Rick or I would ride the other slide and meet him at the bottom to give him a little help exiting the pool. Aidan also passed a swim test and was able to jump off the diving board without a parent standing by to watch. The boys are really turning into such great swimmers. Definitely a life skill I insisted they learn. I never want my kids to be afraid of water.

(What's could be more fun for boys than throwing/skipping rocks in a river)

The rest of the summer has been spent going to our neighborhood pool, playing at the park, playing with friends or hanging out in the cul-de-sac.

Oh ya, almost forgot. Yesterday the boys (along with their neighborhood friends) found two small frogs in our backyard. They must burrow in the rocks where water accumulates. We put them in a bucket and wandered around the rest of the 'hood to show off their frogs. Thankfully, before heading inside they put the frong back where they belong.

Overall, we had a wonderful summer break. Now on to the busy, hectic life of the school year. Aidan is taking martial arts classes once again and loves it. Kellen will be starting soccer and both boys are still in swim lessons...at least for now.

South Dakota

2010-06-23T19:46:00.029-06:00

Last weekend we drove to South Dakota via Wyoming. That's one cool thing about living a little more central is the proximity to a number of amazing locales such as Mt. Rushmore and The Black Hills. (If we can't have the beach we might as well be close to lots of other things, right?)

The drive took about 7 hours which included a lunch break. Not too bad of a drive and quite pretty although very remote. As a side note, did you know that Wyoming is the least populated state with a little over 500,000 people? Definitely by far not one of the smallest states. I think it's one of the top 10 largest states. Having driven through parts of Wyoming I can see that not too many people live there. Like I said, it's very pretty, but a TON of open space.

South Dakota was pretty similar too. We stayed in Rapid City which has about 67,000 people. It's the largest city on the western side of the state. Hmm, wow! Coming from Cali and CO that's on the small side.

The main purpose of our trip was to see Mt. Rushmore, but there is a whole lot more to do there than see 4 former Presidents immortalized in stone. Pretty amazing in and of itself, but didn't completely impress the boys. Mainly because they can't appreciate what Mt. Rushmore symbolizes nor can they appreciate how difficult it was to carve such large faces in stone....which happens to be on the side of a mountain.

Friday, the day we visited Mt. Rushmore (which is located in Keystone, pop. 311) the boys and Rick enjoyed the alpine slides and a helicopter tour. The helicopter tour only lasts about 7 minutes, but according to Rick it was worth it. They flew over The Black Hills and got to see Mt. Rushmore from a distance. The older boys had such a blast, the pilot had to turn down the volume on their headsets.

We also went to a place called Bear Country USA. You drive through this "open wildlife park" to see elk, wolves, mt. goats, mt. lions, bison and as the name suggests bears. And lots of them. All the animals except the mt. lions have the ability to wander freely through their area. Each section is cordoned off by those rails on the road. You know those kind that keep the cows from crossing the road. Don't know the technical term. The wolves and bears roam together and it was pretty cool to see them wander by our cars. If I didn't know any better I would've thought we came across them in a national park.

After the car tour you can walk through babyland. As the name implies you get to see lots of young animals....and grizzly bears. (Go figure.) I guess Grizzlies are too aggressive to wander "freely" near cars. Glad they figured that out before we arrived.

Saturday we drove to Reptile Gardens. Another great place, albeit a tourist trap to rack in the dough from from visitors like us. They also have a lot of great animals to see. We saw the alligator/crocodile show. Pretty funny and it was cool to see a Steve Irwin "The Crocodile Hunter" like character "wrestling" alligators. Rick and the older boys watched a snake show while I watched some of a bird show with Curren. They also have giant tortoises - they were HUGE! the boys could touch and pet. Plus a large dome enclosure which housed a large variety of snakes. Aidan really liked seeing the most venomous snake in the world - Inland Taipan snake or the Fierce snake found in Australia. Wouldn't want to come across that thing, even if it's pretty docile. Not a huge fan of snakes in general.

Afterwards, we drove to Deadwood. It's a town just north of Rapid City and steeped in history. Actually the whole town is on the National History Registry. It's claim to fame is "Wild Bill" Hickock and Calamity Jane. Look them up if you're curious who they are.

(Saloon where "Wild Bill" Hickock was shot)

The town is situated in beautiful area of The Black Hills. Pine trees surround the whole town and most, if not all the buildings in the main downtown area are historic, gorgeous looking and well-kept. The weekend we were there the town was celebrating "Wild Bill Days". They had a lot of events going on including a dog agility competition called Dockdogs. One dog, named Jet from Colorado had just moved on to the pro round because he jumped 24 feet! Amazing. The owner throws a ball or toy into a pool of water and the dog jumps to fetch it. It was amazing seeing how far they jump and how well trained they are.

Sunday, before leaving for home we took a little detour and stopped off at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth AFB. They had some pretty cool jets and bombers. I'm not an airplane buff so I couldn't really tell all we saw except they were dated from WWII to present. A nice little Father's Day gift for Rick especially since he had to drive us home.

We had a great time, but it's always nice to come back home. I told Rick as we rounded a turn and saw the Denver skyline that I love the best of both worlds. City life and open space. We live in such a beautiful country.

Devil's Head - Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-04T20:26:00.012-06:00

This past Memorial Day weekend was spent with Rick's family visiting from California. We took them to downtown Denver and stopped off at Wash Park and then headed over to 16th Street Mall.

Washington Park (better known by the locals as Wash Park) is a HUGE park with a lake, playground, small botanic garden and a couple of trails that run the perimeter of the park itself. Rick's sister and her husband (known as Aunt Susie and Uncle Muscles or Uncle Ryan) took the two older boys on the paddle boats. The first trip lasted about 5 minutes when Kellen said he was down and wanted to head back to shore. So Ryan and Aidan went out and enjoyed themselves on the lake.

While they were enjoying the paddle boats, Rick's mom (Elva or Abue to the boys, short for Abuela or Abuelita - grandmother in Spanish), Rick, Curren and I walked the perimeter of the park.

After spending some time at Wash Park we decided to take our Cali relatives to the 16th Street Mall. This is a pedestrian friendly outdoor mall in heart of downtown Denver. It's a great area to do some shopping and some serious people watching. Never a dull moment on the 16th Street Mall.

On Monday we decided a good hike was in order so we packed ourselves into the Sequoia (love having a big SUV) and headed over to Devil's Head. It's about a 45 minute drive up into the foothills. And the majority of the drive is on a windy dirt road. Devil's Head is located in Pike National Forest which takes in a good portion of the area just west and south of us. Devil's Head is a US Forest fire lookout tower built back in 1912. The views extend 100 miles in every direction. It was AMAZING!

The hike to the base of the lookout tower is about 2 miles of switchbacks. Not too bad of a climb, however, for sea level dwellers it was a bit more challenging, but everyone made it! Yay! The last section is a set of steep stairs that lead you to the lookout tower where a forest ranger greets you with a card stating,

"This certifies that on 5/31/10, (insert name) climbed Devil's Head Lookout Station guarding the Pike National Forest against fire, and is therefore recognized as a member of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Squirrels. Signed by the lookout person.

Then you get to sign a book proving you were at the lookout tower. The elevation is 9748 ft. Not too shabby.

(At the lookout tower)

(view of Pike's Peak - a 14er from the lookout tower)

Curren did pretty good on the way up...on Rick's back, but he was ready to get down and do some of his own hiking. Thankfully there's a large flat resting area before you climb the stairs so he got to explore. However, when it was time to head back down the mountain Curren decided he wasn't quite ready to go and threw and absolute tantrum and refused to go back in the Ergo baby carrier. The only thing he wanted at that point was being in mom's arms. Ugh! I walked a few steps with him and realized this was NOT going to work. The kid weighs 33lbs. So I told Rick to force him on my back and off we went. He screamed for a few minutes more, but then calmed down and relaxed. Poor kid was tired and just wanted his two feet on the ground.

(one the way up - Devil's Head)

(coming down the mountain)

We ended the Memorial Day by having a BBQ with our Cali relatives along with my mom and Jerry. What a great day to honor those who have and are serving our country!

Tuesday could've been a pretty uneventful day of swim lessons and a little bit of swimming at our local neighborhood pool. However, our little Curren, who's almost 2 mind you (think terrible two's here) decided he already knows how to swim and needs no help from anyone while heading off to the deep end. He didn't want me holding him or touching him in the pool. Everytime his chin went under the water I grabbed him and brought him back to the shallow end. And everytime he screamed and screamed. I think I handled the defiance for quite a while (about an hour) and decided I couldn't take it anymore. And I'm sure most everyone else at the pool had about enough of this screaming child. So I got him changed and off Elva and I went to head home and put Curren down for a nap. (Aunt Susie and Uncle Ryan stayed a little longer with Aidan and Kellen.)

Curren fell asleep before we even left the parking lot. So once home I carried him into the house. I hadn't even got that far when all of sudden he throws up all over my back. I start walking him toward the kitchen sink because he's still making noises like he's going to throw up again and instead of making it into the sink he vomits all over the front of me and then one more time for good measure. He'd swallowed so much pool water from refusing to let me help him in the pool that his poor tummy couldn't handle it. ICK! So as quickly as I could I wiped him down (most of the junk was on me) undressed him and headed upstairs. Thankfully Elva was kind enough to clean up the mess.

Can you say YUCK!?! Oh well, that's life and now it's documented so I can show this to Curren one day when he's older.

Overall, besides the vomit episode we had a wonderful time with Elva, Susie and Ryan. We can't wait until they come back again!

Cabo 2010

2010-05-11T13:39:00.021-06:00

As most of you know already, Rick and I just returned from a great week down in Cabo san Lucas, Mexico. Our vacay was just what we both needed. Time away from the kids and time spent together. Last time we took a trip like this, Aidan was 2 1/2! It was a week of doing a lot of relaxing by the pool and eating a lot of great food. Didn't bother to weigh myself when I returned. I seriously don't want to know how much weight I probably gained. Brought my workout clothes, but didn't workout either. How pathetic huh?

(pretty much what I did all week)

(Cabo Bello beach - where our friend Brett lives. His daughter, Leah, latched on to Rick. I guess she's the daughter he never had.)

We originally stayed at a resort called Casa Dorada on Medano beach along the Sea of Cortez. It's one of the few beaches where you can swim and participate in water sports. Elsewhere along the coast (either the Pacific side or Sea of Cortez side there are massive shore breaks or undertides which prevent swimming). Surfing is a yes. We actually saw some friends from Cali who came down to Cabo for a surfing trip.

(Casa Dorada - view from our room)

Anyway, Casa Dorada is nice although it's right behind two beachfront restaurants so it's pretty loud. The pool water was ice cold so I never got further than getting my feet wet...kind've a bummer. Awesome views of Land's End and super close to town.

(Land's End - southern most tip in Baja - view from our room)

Besides lounging by the pool and eating at some great restaurants we also went snorkeling a couple of times at Chilenos Beach. The first time, on Monday was PERFECT! Tons and tons of fish, water temp just right (actually warmer than at our resort pool) and perfect sunny weather. We also tried snorkeling on Thursday, but there was too much of a surge so not as good. I actually never went in that time since we both kind've figured it wouldn't be great because of the surf report we received from our buddy Brett. Great day for surfing, not so for snorkeling. Oh well. One great day is better than none!

(Chileno's beach - great place for snorkeling)

Since Rick and I never go to movies anymore we also saw two while there! Clash of the Titans and Ironman 2. (We had a date night with Brett and Sherri and saw Ironman 2 with them.)

On Wednesday we headed up to San Jose del Cabo (about a 20 minute drive north of Cabo san Lucas) to visit Brett at the new resort he works at. It's called Cabo Azul. It was a FABULOUS resort, CA owned and finally a perfect place for Rick and I to decide to purchase a place there. Well, truly it's like a timeshare, but works on a point system. We were also able to stay there one night and loved it. Once again, happy with our purchase. It'll be great when we bring the kids down too because it has a full kitchen and the rooms are large and spacious.

(Cabo Azul - view of the pools to the beach. They are all really warm and not chlorinated - saline instead.)

(architect rendering of Cabo Azul)

(kitchen - Cabo Azul)

(living area - Cabo Azul)

(bedroom - Cabo Azul)

Wednesday afternoon on our way back to Cabo we stopped off near Zippers (a surf spot) and found our Cali friends. 13 guys all met in Cabo for a long weekend of surfing. It was great seeing them and it looked like they were having a great time too.

(Our buddy Shaun - friend from Cali)

Oh and did I mention I got the most relaxing 80 minute massage? It was heavenly! Just what the doctor ordered. Wish I could get a massage once a week!

Any of you considering a nice getaway, go to Cabo. It's close, convenient, and not crazy crowded like Cancun. The only bummer, the locals have finally realized what a great destination they have and it's reflected in their food prices. Yikes! Eating there used to be such a good bargain, not anymore! Oh well, it was only a matter of time.

Thank you Toyota Sequoia!

2010-04-25T19:01:00.006-06:00

Friday, weather-wise was a doozy! Thursday night while watching the news the weatherman informed his viewers that we (meaning us lucky ones living south of Denver) were going to get about 1 ft. of snow. Usually I have to admit the weather people are pretty right-on, however, this time around I really didn't think it would be possible. Not because we haven't had massive winter storms in the spring, but I guess because I was just in denial and didn't want to deal with snow anymore this season.

Friday morning - snow! Ugh! But school was operating on a normal schedule. However, at 12pm I got a call from Aidan's school telling me they were canceling school effective immediately.

The roads were absolutely the worst I've ever experienced since being here. People left and right were stranded on the roads or in their driveways. And I didn't even have to drive that far to pick up Aidan. Maybe a mile if that! (They ended up shutting down a stretch of freeway because of the weather and I have never experienced that before...except in the mountains.)

After getting Aidan, I dropped him and Curren off at home and then ventured to pick up Kellen from preschool. (Which was a farther jaunt...yikes!) However, I noticed one of my neighbor's stuck right outside her cul-de-sac. She was on her way to pick up her kids so I offered to get them and bring them back home.

Well, to make a long story short and after an hour on the road, I rescued all my kids (and a couple of others) from school and my Toyota Sequoia handled like a champ! I was amazed at how many cars and suvs were stranded on the road! Of course about 45 minutes after getting home the skies began to clear. So had Douglas County not canceled school everything would have been just fine. Oh well! It made for an exciting day!

Easter Fun

2010-04-03T13:57:00.022-06:00

I love Easter time. Not just because we get to reflect on Christ's atonement (the most important reason to celebrate), but it also means spring is here and the kid's get to enjoy the excitement of the Easter bunny, egg hunts and coloring eggs.

This week we colored some eggs. Aidan I think, is kind've growing out of the novelty of dyeing eggs, but Kellen still loves it and of course it was Curren's first time to experience it. Curren was getting very frustrated with me because he couldn't understand why I wouldn't leave the bowl with the dye and egg right next to him so he could splash to his heart's desire. Aidan colored one egg and was done and Kellen waited patiently for the dye to color each egg accordingly.

Today, Saturday our neighborhood - The Meadows was having two Easter Egg events. One put on by the association, an Eggstravaganza, and one by a neighborhood church. We opted for the neighborhood church. They were supposed to drop eggs from a helicopter, but in typical Colorado springtime fashion it was way too windy. So instead the volunteers laid the eggs all over the field. They had two fields to cover, one for the 7 and up crowd and one for the 6 and under crowd. We decided to keep Aidan with us as long as he agreed not to be too pushy.

Look at all them eggs

Aidan's school buddies and their siblings

As you can see from the pictures there were plenty of eggs to go around. Everyone had their buckets filled. Once Curren got the hang of the Easter egg hunt business he just had fun collecting eggs, filled with goodies or not. It was taking the egg apart and putting it back together which intrigued him the most.

Look at all their loot!

The boys emptied the contents from their eggs. The best part for Curren

Tomorrow, the Easter bunny should leave some goodies for the kids and hide some eggs then, we'll enjoy the rest of General Conference and my mom and step-dad will come over for dinner. Can't wait to enjoy our food! Honey-baked ham, roasted asparagus, green bean casserole (Rick insists), potatoes au gratin (courtesy of Food Network, hope it turns out as well as it looks), homemade rolls, salad and ice-cream cake from Baskin-Robbins.

Here's to a wonderful Easter everyone!

Teenage Mayhem

2010-04-02T19:28:00.018-06:00

We had a little excitement brewing in our cul-de-sac this afternoon. We had just come outside to play when a tan truck raced up our street. Curren had just crossed the sidewalk onto the street so I had to race down the driveway to get him out of the way. I was a little perturbed the driver was driving so fast when it was clear there were kids out playing. I expected him to just turn around, but instead he parked a couple houses down from us. Two teenage (tree-hugger type) boys hopped out and crossed my neighbors yard. I could tell they were going to hop my neighbor's fence and head to the open space behind all our yards so I was about to yell at them to tell them that's private property so get out, but instead of completely hopping the fence they walked along the top of the fence to the open space. (I opted to play the "cool mom" and let them go do whatever they were going to do in the open space until a few minutes later. Which I'll explain in a second. I originally thought they were probably going to smoke some pot.)

About 5-10 minutes later my neighbor Leanne and I noticed some smoke billowing near the top of the hill behind her house. At first my suspicions came to fruition, yep they were smokin' some pot. But then we noticed it was quite a bit of smoke and we became concerned they were going to start a fire. There is a ton of brush on the hills behind our house and considering how dry it can get we could see a catastrophe brewing.

Our other neighbor Tim came out and after having a little pow-wow we decided we'd better call 911. Let them decide if it's a true emergency or not.

(Originally there were about 6 trucks, but since it was a small only two remained.)

The fire trucks finally showed up and once they had crested the road behind my house (also a hill) we saw the teenage boys book it up the rest of the hill. The fire trucks parked at our cul-de-sac, climbed the hill and put the fire out. One of the firemen climbed the remainder of the hill to see if they could track down the teenagers, but no luck.

(The little yellow dot is one of the firemen.)

The oldest firemen climbed back down the hill and told us they had started a fire in a little "man-made" fire pit. (Rick already knew it was a fire pit because he's run down that hill before.) It's illegal to start any fire in open space unless it's at a designated campground.

The fire investigator arrived a little while later and my neighbor Leanne and I provided statements since we both saw the boys climb the hill. Then a little while after that the CRPD arrived and they ended up towing the truck.

I guess I could've saved those boys quite a bit of money and trouble (from their parents and authorities) had I yelled at them. But then who's dumb enough to park their car where people saw them climb out of it, climb a hill (one with a bright orange beanie) and start a fire? Oh ya, I guess that would be teenagers. Was I this dumb when I was their age?

I'm hoping all the neighborhood boys who saw what happened will learn a little lesson.

Thankfully nothing more serious occurred. Besides the serious trouble those boys are in.

Food

2010-03-23T19:47:00.005-06:00

Never thought I'd say this, but the kids got to play and climb all over breakfast food on Saturday. We headed up to Cherry Creek Mall in Denver and they have a play area (just like at Valley Fair and Oakridge) although this seems to be the only one here so it's kind've a big deal for Denverites.

The kids had a blast running around with every other kid in Denver. Especially Curren who's never had the opportunity to play on a "soft playground" before.

Afterwards, we headed over to "5 Guys, Burger and Fries". People have told us it's really good and we're always up for a great burger. The place didn't disappoint and I kind've felt like I was walking into an "In 'n Out". Same color scheme, simple menu, etc, etc, etc.

Overall a nice little jaunt outside of our family-friendly town called Castle Rock.

Hewo! Hewo!

2010-03-05T19:46:00.006-07:00

The other day I was in the bathroom getting ready when I heard Curren saying, "Hewo, hewo" as he's walking down the hall towards the bathroom. In his hand (with it up to his ear) was this:

Too cute! I just love toddlers. (BTW, it's our ceiling fan remote.)

A post with no name

2010-02-23T12:39:00.009-07:00

Playing a little bit of catch up again. Aidan finished his first basketball season and as a parent I LOVED it. What a great and exciting sport. And not only that, we don't have to contend with weather...well unless there is a blizzard and no one can go anywhere. Practice and games are always inside and the rec. center who organized his season is so on top of things. I'm very impressed and really hope Aidan wants to play again.
I think he really enjoys it, until it's game time. He gets so nervous thinking everyone is staring at him. So every Saturday I have to re-remind him that no one except his family is paying attention to him. (Unless of course he has the ball.) And actually one Saturday in particular he did get the ball and took it down court and ended up passing it. I did notice his little face was bright red. Poor little guy, he's my extra shy one. Too cute.

Anyway, his team had a great season and his coach was the best. So supportive and definitely knew her stuff.

Also, in February his class and D-track class had a musical performance which was also great. What cute songs about some American Heroes. I forgot my regular camera so I could only take a couple of group pics with my iphone.

Aidan's in the 2nd row behind the boy in the suit.

Curren thoroughly enjoying the performance. It was that good. He even sang along too.

And lastly, a picture of my favorite boys. They were all sitting on the couch together just waiting for me to take a picture. How could I not?

Kellen and the tooth

2010-02-16T12:15:00.003-07:00

Kellen lost his first tooth, but he didn't even know it. He was walking by me this morning and I noticed something different. So I told him to open his mouth and low and behold there's now a little space where his tooth used to be.

When I asked him where his tooth was he had no idea, but he and Rick headed upstairs and looked in his bed. Behold! The tooth appeareth. Such a cutie! He looked scared because he thought he lost it thinking he was in trouble. Thankfully the tooth fairy is very forgiving and would've given his some money anyway.

Pinewood Derby

2010-01-29T20:38:00.005-07:00

Aidan experienced his first Pinewood Derby. And wow! Can't believe the whole thing is SUCH a big deal. It's cool and fun and all, but seriously some parents (aka dad's) really take the whole thing a tad too seriously. Just google pinewood derby and you'll see what I mean.

Weighing down the car

Being two totally clueless parents on this whole event we had to search the internet, borrow a dremmel and make due with our limited resources. Aidan's car looked pretty cool I think, but once again clueless parents that we are didn't know there were some tricks to make the wheels perform better than Aidan's did. Kind've a bummer, but thankfully Aidan wasn't too bummed he came in dead last, yep that's right, dead last. He still received a ribbon and certificate. He handled his loss like a gentleman!

Getting ready to press the button to start the race

Each child's car participated in 4 heats and finally before the 4th heat they allowed us to mess around with Aidan's car and wheels and he finally came in second. What a bummer we didn't know that sooner. Oh well, there's always next year.

Christmas....a really past due post

2010-01-29T20:18:00.007-07:00

New Christmas pj's and leaving cookies for Santa.

Yeah, yeah I know, Christmas has come and gone. However, I haven't sat down to blog about our Christmas until now so all of you reading this get to re-live our moments now. (And probably reminince about yours.)

My sister-in-law Susie and her hubby Ryan arrived late Christmas Eve and stayed over the weekend. We had a great time with them and I know the kiddos loved having their "other" auntie and uncle around.

Curren's stash - frankly he was content playing with the first present he opened up.

Aidan's stash

Kellen's stash

As you can see, Christmas Morn - was all about the kids

Later that morning my mom and step-dad arrived and we had a very enjoyable, yet low-key Christmas. Food was good, company was good, life IS good.

I wanted to take Susie and Ryan to the mountains somewhere and was thinking of taking them to Breckenridge, but thankfully Rick reminded me traffic would probably be a nightmare on I-70 so we opted to take them to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. Great choice. Love those places. And even though we didn't stay for a long time we had a great time walking around town and venturing into one of the most beautiful parks.

Candy Cane making

2009-12-21T20:22:00.013-07:00

A friend of mine from church invited our family over tonight to make candy canes for FHE. How fun is that? I've never made candy canes and I thought the kids would have a great time learning how they're made.

A little background (because I think it's cool) this friend of mine (Julie) I've known for years. Since we were little girls. Her older sister and I were best buddies growing up and now that we've moved back to CO I lucked out in being in their ward. They are such great people and I really enjoy spending time with them. Also, Julie's dad was my dentist when I was a child so I thank him for my wonderful straight, cavity-free teeth. (However, I guess I should thank my family for such good genes, huh?) Her dad is also the temple president and although the kids don't really get that I think it's pretty cool we get to see them so often.

Anyway, candy cane making is a family tradition of theirs. They start off telling the kids what the candy cane stands for and what the colors symbolize then each child gets a chance to see the candy heating up on the stove and once they pull the candy off the stove and slightly cool it on a cookie sheet each child had an opportunity to twist and turn the candy.

After that green and red was added to the white and sections are cut, given to the kids to make into a cane. Lots of fun! We now have a ton of candy canes at home.

Kellen is five!

2009-12-17T20:44:00.009-07:00

Today is my sweet Kellen's birthday! I can't believe he is 5 years old. When I look at Curren I sometimes forget that it's him and not Kellen just because the last 5 years have gone by in an instant.

What can I say about Kellen? He's such a sweet boy, probably our most laid back...in some situations and is a great big brother and little brother. He absolutely loves his brothers and also idolizes Aidan. They have such a great relationship/friendship it's so fun to watch the two of them interact. I'm so fortunate I have kids who really like to spend time together.

We had a pretty low-key celebration today. We dedicated a day to Kellen while we were in Disneyworld (although he didn't want to wear his birthday pin they gave him nor did he want us to tell the waitress it was his birthday either.) But tonight at dinner (he chose to go to The Olive Garden) my mom brought a cake and we all sang happy birthday to him. He was pretty embarrassed.

I love my little monkey! I'm so glad he decided to join our family 5 years ago. Our family would not be complete without him!

Happy 5th birthday Kellen! We love you to pieces!

Disneyworld!

2009-12-11T19:24:00.059-07:00

Well we made it! Survived our first major trip with 3 kiddos in tow and our first ever trip to the magic of Disneyworld. This post will probably be a long one. I want to document all the little details I currently remember about this trip. So if you're not interested in all the nitty gritty feel free to browse through all the pictures I'm posting to capture the highlights.

First off, the kids were great on both flights. Especially Curren whom I was most stressed out about. What is more annoying to people than a crying child you can't escape from? Yeah that's right. I was really worried with the long flight he'd get restless or frustrated and start crying uncontrollably. Not only did he take good naps on both flights he was pretty content just sitting in his seat eating or playing with toys. Thank heavens is all I have to say!

Since we arrived at WDW in the early evening we never ventured to any park, but instead ate dinner then wandered around our resort - The Wilderness Lodge. If you're looking for a great place to stay, close to The Magic Kingdom with wonderful scenery and a fun pool for the kids, this is it. Really I'm sure any WDW resort is great. They definitely aim to please. Although we couldn't see the castle from our resort I still think the landscaping and ambience was wonderful.

The Wilderness Lodge

The mousekeeping we returned to every afternoon

Our first full day at WDW started off great. We headed over to The Grand Floridian Resort (very plantation-like) to enjoy our first character meal! Yipee! The kids were really excited. We met Alice (as in Alice in Wonderland), Mary Poppins, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Tigger. The Mad Hater never made it to our table in time. I hear he's a show stopper. I'm sure because of that he has to linger at tables a lot longer.

After breakfast we took the monorail to The Magic Kingdom. And although it was very lightly sprinkling when we left our resort we never thought to bring our rain coats. BIG MISTAKE!!! We arrived at The Kingdom and quickly realized we needed to throw down $30 for 4 measly plastic rain ponchos. At least they kept us dry....for a little while. It continued to rain, pour, drizzle and while Rick and Aidan headed over to Space Mountain I thought I'd take Kellen and Curren over to Mickey's Toon Town Fair. We arrived at Mickey's house and Kellen didn't want to get out of the stroller. So, being as it was around Curren's naptime and raining I decided we'd head back to the room for a break. Kellen did not like that one bit and threw himself a little tantrum. One good thing about him is his tantrums in public are usually pretty quiet. Annoyingly quiet that is. Because I can hear him whine and cry, but most others can't. However, I was not going to give in because I knew he still wouldn't get out of the stroller or maybe would one time and then decide he was too cold or wet to get out again. So we took the boat over to The Wilderness Lodge and Kellen watched Phineas and Ferb while Curren napped. Rick and Aidan returned and told us they had fun on Space Mountain and also decided to ride the cars. Fun, but the seats were totally wet so they got soaked.

Yep, this about sums it up. Miserable!

Notice the sea of Disney ponchos?

After Curren's nap we decided to try our luck outside again and this time a little more prepared for the rain. The boys had waterproof rain coats, but I only had a water-resistant rain jacket and Rick, well he still just had that cheaply made (but costly) rain poncho. I was told there are quite a few indoor options at Epcot so I thought we should head over there and wander around. I actually enjoyed Epcot a lot more than I thought I would. Not a whole lot for the kiddos to do, especially this night, but we did go on some futuristic ride (I can't remember the name) and found a dry place to eat in the early America section. By the end of the night though my hands were as pruny as I've ever seen them. I had them covered in my jacket, but holding the stroller just made my jacket worthless over my hands and arms. Pretty miserable I must say, but memorable.

The boys in England at Epcot

That evening I contacted the company who rented us the double stroller to ask if they have a rain cover, which they did and said they would deliver it the following morning. (Of course, as luck would have it we never really needed it again, but we ended up receiving it for free and I still feel justified getting it.) Oh yeah, and we ended up heading down to Downtown Disney that same evening so we could find a rain jacket for Rick. We found one, but in typical Disney style it wasn't cheap:).

Notice the stroller cover? Too bad we didn't have it when it actually rained.

Saturday morning, looked like it was going to be another rainy day so we packed up all our rain gear and headed out to The Magic Kingdom again. It actually turned out to be a great although by Florida standards cold day. (That is in the upper 50's.) We also enjoyed another character meal. We met Eeyore, Winnie-the Pooh and Tigger (again) and Piglet. Piglet was so cute and it was really adorable watching Piglet interact with Curren. Curren was trying to share his food and Piglet was being a great sport by playing along.

After lunch we went on the Aladdin Magic Carpet Ride and the Jungle Cruise. We also walked around The Swiss Family Robinson Tree house. Curren feel asleep on the Jungle Cruise so we headed over to Mickey's Toon Town Fair and Rick took the older boys to ride The Barnstormer while I wandered around with Curren. After the ride and when Curren woke up we headed over to Mickey's house and stood in line to meet Mickey and Minnie. I think this was one of Aidan's highlights. He was really excited to meet them. Which I found very endearing since he's now 8.

Later that afternoon we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. Now that ride has changed quite a bit from what I remember as a kid. It definitely highlights the movies. Still a fun ride and the kids enjoyed it.

We came back to the resort and let the kids swim in the pool. They loved the slide! They went down the slide over and over and over again. Definitely another highlight on the trip for the kids.

After dinner at the Lodge Rick and Aidan headed back over to The Magic Kingdom and road Thunder Mountain (the boys absolute favorite) and the Tomorrowland Tranist Authority. Rick said there were so many people there they could hardly move around. As they took the boat back to the resort they watched some of the firework show. Pretty amazing.

Sunday we decided to go to Animal Kingdom. Rick was really looking forward to riding Expedition Everest. However, no one else was:). The Tree of Life is amazing and a focal point of the park. Unfortunately we never went on the safari, but the kids played in The Boneyard (a dinosaur inspired playground), watched It's Tough to Be a Bug. Which was hilarious! It was in 3D and they really are creative in entertaining everyone. (I won't spoil it by telling you what happens.)

Expedition Everest in the background

For dinner we took the boat over to the Ft. Wilderness and ate at The Trail's End Restaurant. Once we sat down a waitress made an announcement. A couple sitting across from us were celebrating their 59th, yes, 59th wedding anniversary. How sweet is that? You don't see that too often. Nor would I think you'd see a couple that age celebrating at WDW.

This little guy definitely enjoyed his dinners at WDW. Especially the mashed potatoes and mac 'n cheese

Monday, it was time to return to Magic Kingdom. We were hoping since it was no longer the weekend the crowds would be lower...nope! I guess the "low season" really isn't all that low. Although we did luck out with line wait time. Either the wait wasn't too long or any ride which was long had a fastpass option. Another cool thing about fastpass, not only do you get a pass to return at a later time with little or no wait they also allow for a baby swap. You go up to a cast member and tell them you'd like to do a baby swap. They issue you a special pass so one of us would go with the older boys while the other waits with Curren. Then we swap. It really worked out well for the boys. They got to ride twice! Aidan ended up riding Thunder Mountain 4 times, Kellen 3.

Oh and another cool story. Me and the boys were waiting to get on the train for Thunder Mountain and the man behind us said, "Hey, go Broncos!" (Aidan was wearing his Broncos jersey as well as his Rockies cap.) He asked us if we were from Colorado, I told him yes and he said they were from Texas and lived about 5 hours from Colorado Springs. He then asks where in Colorado we lived so I told him in a town called Castle Rock which is about 30 minutes south of Denver. He said, "they have great shopping there." (We have an outlet mall here.) Then he asked if we lived in The Meadows. I said yes and he told me he loved that area and would love to live there. Great views, homes etc. Pretty amazing considering most "westerners" go to Disneyland instead of Disneyworld since it's closer.

That afternoon we headed back to the resort for a break. Since Curren decided to forgo a nap all the boys enjoyed some swimming. Once again, the boys spent most of their time going down the slide. Rick took Curren over to the baby pool where he had a blast. That evening we had dinner reservations in Downtown Disney so we headed over there.

WDW is amazingly huge. 47 square miles to be exact. It's about a 1/2 hour bus ride from our resort to Downtown Disney and the kids all fell asleep. It was really quite cute watching their heads bob around. Poor little guys. Too much activity. The boys also got to pick out one item of their choice (relatively speaking) as a commerative gift to remember their Disney trip. Plus, I did buy them small Mickey Mouse stuffed toys too.

Tuesday we headed back over to Epcot. We all really wanted to ride Soarin'. It's one of those flight simulator rides and it was AMAZING! You truly felt like you were flying and I didn't notice this (maybe my nose was stuffed up), but when we flew over the orange groves you'd smell oranges and the evergreens an evergreen smell. Plus when we flew over the ocean we all got sprayed. Pretty cool. The only downfall is there was a long wait even with the fastpass so we stayed at Epcot all day and Curren wasn't too keen on this idea. Although he did finally fall asleep and took a good 2 hour nap (his first in a stroller EVER).

While waiting to ride Soarin' we walked around all the countries and the boys and Rick rode Test Track which I heard was AWESOME! It took a long time for them to ride it (even with the fastpass) so by the time they were done I wasn't interested in having Rick and Curren wait that long. Unfortunately the boys weren't interested in seeing any of the shows so we didn't catch those. Although I heard The Nemo show and the talk with Crush (from Nemo) is pretty cool Oh well!

Since I rode Soarin' with the boys first I decided to head back to the resort with Curren. We had reservations to eat at a restaurant in The Animal Kingdom, but we were so tired and just wanted to unwind by the pool that I was lucky enough to land a reservation at our resort restaurant called The Whispering Canyon Cafe. Let me just tell you, there is nothing whispering about it. For me this was the most memorable restaurant we ate at. Not necessarily because the food tasted the best, but what occurred.

The table next to us were pretty lively (what I picture as typical New Yorkers, but in a good way. They seemed very nice, but loud and boisterous.) Anyway, after they had received their food one woman at the table asked for something from the waitress then I heard her yell out, "We need ketchup! Please give us some ketchup!" I thought, okay whatever. This is a loud restaurant the waiters and waitresses are all sarcastic and funny. (Our waitress threw napkins and straws on our table.) Anyway, a few minutes later 3 or 4 waitresses walk out carrying several bottles of ketchup and deliver them to the table next to us. Hilarious! And once again, I thought they were just goofing around with them.

A few minutes later another table yells out their need for ketchup so our neighboring table gets up and delivers all their bottles of ketchup to that table. So, I'm finally catching on. This is what happens at this restaurant.

A few minutes later our food arrives. Kellen had ordered a hamburger and fries. So....what do you think he needs? Yep, you got it, ketchup! So we all yell out our need for ketchup and 15 or so bottles are delivered to our table. So funny!

Need ketchup, anyone?

After dinner the kids were WOUND up from all the cookies they've been eating on the trip so we went to the pool and let them swim for almost 2 hours. Rick and I took turns walking around with Curren who had a blast practicing his walking skills.

Wednesday, our final day at WDW we once again had reservations at The Whispering Canyon Cafe. This was also the day we were "celebrating" Kellen's birthday. Although he refused to wear his birthday pin and didn't want us to annouce it to the restaurant staff. I'm sure they would've embarrassed him to no end.

I ordered pancakes gave one to Curren, but I still couldn't finish my meal. So in typical Whispering Canyon Cafe style the waitress made a big hoopla about it. She announced to everyone (by the way she's from Massachussets - picture the New England accent), "Hey everyone, princess here can't finish her food so everyone say choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo to help her eat." So she took a forkful of pancake and, well, fed me. I think my cheeks turned two shades of red. And when we were leaving the table next to us needed some honey. So guess what happens next. That's right, they made an announcement and they received several packets of honey. Hilarious! I really got a kick out of that restaurant.

So after breakfast Rick took the two older boys back to Magic Kingdom so they could ride the two rides Kellen wanted to go on again and I headed back to the room with Curren to pack and put him down for a nap.

Our flight out ended up leaving about an hour late and it took 1 hour and 15 minutes longer than our flight to Orlando because we had no tailwinds. I was freaking out thinking Curren is for sure going to lose it. But as I stated earlier, he was a champ and slept for half the flight.

Still reading this? Well I'm done, but can't say enough how much fun we had. I'm glad we went, but I'm not planning to do a big trip like that again for a while. I think we'll take some local trips and continue to explore this beautiful state.

Houston, we have lift-off!

2009-12-02T18:34:00.003-07:00

Curren has finally decided to start walking! Yay! He looks so cute. But of course in typical Scott Clan fashion I'm not one to actually record such events. I tend to take lots of pictures....still pics that is.

And all this occurs just in time for our trip to Disneyworld! Woo-hoo! Mickey Mouse here we come! Stay tuned for lots and lots of pictures from our trip.

Thanksgiving weekend

2009-11-28T19:12:00.009-07:00

Although the official Thanksgiving weekend is not over I figured I'd better post our pics before I run out of time prepping for our trip to Disneyworld.

Rick took wednesday off so we putzed around the house in the morning (mainly getting it clean before the big food feast day) and then headed just south of us to an open space hiking trail we discovered when I was preggers with Curren. Although it was muddy and ICY we had a great time hiking the part of the trail we could safely cruise on. We were bummed we didn't reach the top, but there was too much ice.

Turkey day was great and low-key. Rick took the older boys to the park, took Aidan on a muddy bike ride on the hill behind our house and we feasted and feasted and feasted with my mom, step-dad and sis. We were really missing Rick's family who've made it for TG that last two years we've been here, but we're keeping our fingers crossed they'll be here next year.

Later in the evening our neighbors called to tell us they were going to have a "lighting ceremony" in their cul-de-sac. Both neighbors really decorated their houses and it looks phenomenal. (My camera's battery died so I was unable to get pictures that evening.) They even topped off the event with hot chocolate, and roasted s'mores by their makeshift fire. What could be better? Well, for me it was the pie waiting at home.

On friday we DID NOT partake in the crazy black friday shopping deals. I think we were one of the only families who did not venture near a shopping center. When we did travel outside our housing community I couldn't believe all the traffic and how full the outlet mall was. Hope all of you who went shopping found some awesome deals.

Saturday my mom and step-dad took out us to breakfast, yummo! Rick finished putting up our lights (on the section of our house he can reach with a ladder), the kids played outside, had their neighborhood friends over and we played at the park and froze our booty's off. Hey, the kids had fun and they wore off some of their extensive energy so that's what mattered.

A pretty low-key weekend, but that's just the way I like it. Especially when we have a big trip to get ready for. Stay tuned for an update on our trip to Walt Disneyworld. Can't wait! I hope I don't forget anything.

HalloOoOoOweEeEen and the big snowstorm

2009-11-01T18:52:00.024-07:00

As many of you already know or may have heard on the news (if you don't live here in CO) we had a massive snowstorm 3 days before Halloween. Yippee! Sort've, that is. The kids were excited because that meant no school for 3 whole days! And while Curren napped, I took Aidan and Kellen to our sledding hill. What could be more fun than sledding on a snow day? I remember as a kid loving it! They would close one of our outlet streets which was perfect for sledding. And what could be better than sledding once you come inside? Hot chocolate, which once again the kids had plenty.

Now for the big meltdown. We're expected to see some 60+ degree temps this week, woo-hoo! I wonder what November will be like?

Now on to Halloween. And what a jammed filled weekend of activities. Friday I was planning on taking the kiddos to Trick-or-Treat on the Street in downtown Castle Rock. I really love taking the kids to downtown, it's just fun seeing all the other kiddos dressed up and it just reminds me what a family-friendly town we live in. However, with all the snow I wasn't sure how easy it would be to manuever the stroller so I opted not to take them this year, bummer:(. But that same evening was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat night/Chili cook-off. Chili was yummo! (Thanks Annie if you're reading this) and the trunk-or-treating was a blast for the kids. Just what we needed though, more candy. All in all it was a great night! (Thanks Jones family for all the planning you put into our ward activity.)

Saturday, we spent the day hanging out, throwing snowballs, decorating our driveway in sidewalk chalk with Halloween designs (pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, etc) and carving our thawed out pumpkins. That's right, they were frozen from sitting on our porch during the snowstorm. Then around dinner time we headed over to our neighbor's house for some pizza before heading out to trick-or-treat. Rick took the two older boys out while I manned the door. Unfortunately, Kellen is going through a little phase and became too scared of the decorations to continue trick-or-treating so he came home early. (At least he was perfectly happy about it.) And then once Rick and Aidan came home we headed over to some other neighbor's house for an after trick-or-treating party. Great times had by all!

Kellen next to his pumpkin

Aidan next to his pumpkin

Curren next to his pumpkin

The kids in the 'hood enjoying their pizza before trick-or-treating

Luigi and Mario, I mean Kellen and Aidan

Our little monkey - Curren

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating!

Now what to do with all the candy we have! I have two bags full of candy I plan to donate to the troops. (I heard a dentist is collecting it, a $1/lb. to send overseas.) And then I'll try to be a nice mommy and let the kids have their fill for the week before I get rid of the rest.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Now on to Turkey Day...can't wait! Our countdown to Walt Disney World has begun. 32 days to go!

Rick's marathon day

2009-10-18T18:38:00.009-06:00

Rick completed his first marathon in about 4 hours and he felt pretty good afterwards too. He said it took about 10 minutes just to cross the starting line. Yes, the starting line...no typos here. I don't think he'll complete another one. Too crowded, but he said it was cool to run through various parts of Denver and saw some great neighborhoods and parks. I'm sure he'll complete several more trail half-marathons. That's more his style. He loves being outdoors and he definitely prefers smaller venues.

We also got a night (an over-nighter that is) without the kiddos. My mom and step-dad came over to babysit and the kids had a blast playing with them. Rick and I stayed at The Sheraton in downtown Denver and it was in a great location, along 16th St. mall. (An outside walking mall. The road is closed to all vehicles except buses.) And it was super close to the start/finish line at Civic Center Park. The park separates the State Capital and the gov't buildings. After getting a night away we realized how desperately we need to take advantage of date nights.

Our room was HUGE!

What a wonderful weekend, beautiful weather and great accomplishments for Aidan and Rick. Way to go!

Yes, Aidan really did complete a marathon....

2009-10-17T12:40:00.006-06:00

however, not all at once. His school's PE teacher signed the school up with Kid's Running America to get the kid's interested in running and staying healthy with aerobic activity. So Aidan told me he wanted to participate. It required him to go to the school early 2 days per week and run 1.25 miles each day so they would have completed 25 miles by the time the McDonald's kids mile run occurred. (This is also in conjuction with The Denver Marathon Rick will be running, but more about that tomorrow after he's actually competed.)

We are so proud of Aidan! Not only did he complete his first marathon, but he was a fast little runner. He always came in the top 4 of the kids who participated (that's anyone in the school...so kids who are older than him) and he ran his final mile today in 8:11! Very impressive!

Fall is here

2009-10-11T17:30:00.009-06:00

Fall is one of my fav. times of the year. I love the transitional seasons...looking forward to a change of seasons. Anyway, enough of my diatribe, we've been busy with everyday life and I guess I haven't brought my camera with me to take many pictures lately, but here's a few:

Aidan's a Fireball this year

Aidan's playing soccer this fall and seems to like it. He made a goal during his 2nd game so that was pretty exciting. He was supposed to play yesterday, but the high was 33 degrees and the game was at 9am, so can you imagine? We'd all be frozen by the time the game ended. I'm really glad they canceled it, but I hate having make-up games...just more chances for reschedules due to weather. Soccer's a tough game to play here in lovely CO. Weather can be wonderful or awful in the spring or fall...you just never know.

While at Michael's last week I bought a Halloween gingerbread house. Cute idea? Yes! Great family activity? Maybe...depending on the age of your kiddos. Kind've an involved craft for an 8 and almost 5 year old, but hey it was theraputic for me. I had a RAGING headache before starting and now my headache is gone. (And yes, I had taken Excederin to no avail.)

Do you think I have what it takes to be a pastry chef? Not quite!

As for Halloween itself? Kellen will be Luigi from Super Mario Bros., Aidan plans to be Mario (if his costume arrives on time. And I have looked EVERYWHERE! Every place is backordered...keep your fingers crossed). Curren will either be a spider (what Kellen was at age 2, if he's walking by then) or a monkey (what Kellen was at 10 months). Lots of activities planned for Halloween too so I hope to post lots of pics. Stay tuned....

Weekend Excursions

2009-09-03T13:57:00.012-06:00

Now that Kellen is all better and Curren is getting older I'm getting that itch to start exploring the great state of Colorado.

Evergreen, CO

This past weekend we stayed local, but still enjoyed our outings immensely. Saturday we headed up to the foothills between the towns of Morrison and Evergreen and hiked some great trails. We didn't do anything extensive, but stayed along the creek trail which made the older boys very happy. What could be more fun than throwing rocks into water, especially rushing water. Afterwards we drove over to Evergreen and walked along the lake. Such beautiful scenery.

Lair 'O The Bear park - near Morrison, CO

Sunday, we completely spaced on stake conference and didn't start getting ready for church until it was too late so we decided to head up to Denver and check out the sights. We headed over to one of Denver's numerous parks and one of its best - Washington Park. Or as it's known by the locals - Wash Park. What an absolutely fabulous and HUGE park. There's a lake, (a couple smaller lakes) plenty of greenspace, paved trails, a playground, old bathhouses, a small botanic garden, etc., etc., etc.

We rode one of those 4 wheeled bikes, which the kids thought were so fun. The guy told us we'd have time to ride around the park twice, but since Rick and I had to do most of the pedaling we opted for one time around. After leaving the park we drove around town and discovered all the hip areas people talk about. Can't wait to go back and do some more exploring. Love Denver! It feels so much less intimidating than SF that's for sure! Although I love SF too.
Wash Park - Denver, CO

Cute story!

2009-08-27T20:33:00.005-06:00

This afternoon me and the younger boys met Aidan at the bus stop. As he and his friend Chase approached us, Chase blurted out, "Aidan swallowed his tooth (a loose one) at lunch today and was crying." So Aidan filled in the details. His friend at school gave him a Laffy Taffy (hate that stuff) and it yanked his tooth out and he swallowed it. He was really, really upset because he didn't think the tooth fairy would leave any money for him since he no longer had a tooth to leave for her. I explained to him all he needs to do is write her a note and I'm sure she'll leave him the money.

Poor little guy. When I got home from the doctor's office this afternoon (btw, Kellen is in the clear to resume normal life after his surgery) there was a missed called from the school. (Don't like seeing that because you don't know what that means....serious, not serious.....) Anyway, I guess it was his teacher calling me, probably hoping I'd be able to talk to Aidan and calm him down and let him know the tooth fairy will still leave him money.

Don't you wish life were so simple? The innocence of childhood.

Kellen is a trooper!

2009-08-13T19:26:00.007-06:00

My sweet, sweet Kellen had surgery on Wednesday. He needed to have his tonsils and adenoids removed, have ear tubes put in and turbinate performed on his nose. (It shrinks the mucus membranes in his nose.)

Considering all the things done to him he's doing really well and had finally started to gain a bit of an appetite. He told me this afternoon he was hungry (music to my ears). And ate a bowl and a half of ice cream.

It's so hard seeing one of your kids in pain and I feel so helpless, but knowing this should prevent further sicknesses and other breathing problems two weeks being on the down-low should be no problem.

He was trying to be so brave at the surgical center. He was crying a bit, but was trying so hard to hold it in. He's so sweet! I just love him to pieces. I was able to walk back with him to the OR while they put him to sleep. Although they had given him "happy juice" before hand and he was pretty relaxed being wheeled in to the OR it was hard for me to watch him being put to sleep. (Kids his age they use gas.) Broke my heart seeing him struggle for a few seconds trying to push the mask away from his face.

Before the "happy juice" trying to be so brave. Gotta love my bunny suit.

After the "happy juice" kicked in and before he was wheeled into the OR.

Aidan's special day

2009-08-01T20:03:00.007-06:00

Today was a very special day for our family. Aidan was baptized! He was really excited (and a little nervous) and surprised at how fast that actual baptismal ordinance was. (He actually said, "that was fast" as he came up out of the water.)

We are so proud of Aidan for choosing to be baptized and for setting a great example to his brothers and his friends. Congratulations Aidan! We love you!

(Unfortunately we took this picture before my sis arrived)

Proud Mama and Papa bear

A few of Aidan's friends and classmates who came to support him

Oh yeah, we have a little Cub Scout in our midst too

Curren is 1!

2009-07-25T20:11:00.011-06:00

Wow! Was it really one year ago that I was laying in the hospital holding my beautiful and perfect 3rd baby boy? Our sweet little baby has now crossed the threshold into toddlerhood.

A few hours old

One year old

He was kind enough to share his birthday with his big brother today who had his birthday party today. (A few pictures to follow later.)

What can I say? We just love our little Curren! He's brought so much joy to our lives and is our perfect caboose! He rounds off our family well. Happy 1st birthday Curren! We love you!

Do you think he liked his cake?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As I stated earlier, Aidan's birthday party was today as well. He invited 3 friends to come over and we went to see G-Force - the guinea pig movie - pretty cute too. Afterwards, we came back, ate pizza, cake and ice cream. I think Aidan had a great time. He loved the movie, that's for sure.

Being 8 is great!

2009-07-21T21:08:00.012-06:00

Today is Aidan's 8th birthday! Wow, 8 years have just flown by. I still remember going to Costco the day before he was born walking around with the cart and having to stop every so often because of labor pains. And heading to the hospital later that evening being so excited and nervous knowing I'd be leaving the hospital with our beautiful baby boy.

Aidan 1 day old

Aidan has brought such joy to our lives!. He's a great big brother and usually:) a good example to his brothers. And he takes his job as big brother seriously. He loves Kellen and Curren. He loves playing with Curren in the morning before heading off to school. And always wants Kellen to sleep in his room. They are such buddies.

The beach cake our wonderful neighbor made for Aidan

Still has homework to do even on his birthday

Even though he had to go to school today I'm pretty sure he had a great day. They celebrated his birthday at school and we had a little family party this evening. His birthday party is on Saturday - Curren's 1st birthday. Thankfully Curren could care less. He's so generous even at 1 year old.

Happy Birthday dear Aidan! We love you forever and always!

Mariokart! Yippee!

Tacos for dinner - Aidan's fav

Turquoise Lake

2009-07-19T19:57:00.010-06:00

Saturday we headed up to Turquoise Lake for a little camping! We met our friends/neighbors up there who have been going for the past two years. Great place and we lucked out with perfect weather.

My mom and step-dad arrived two days early (they just moved here) and were willing to watch little Curren which was a huge relief! It's going to be great to have them nearby and the kids just love spending time with them too.

We had a great time! We spent most of the afternoon down by the lake while the kids frolicked in the frigid cold water. They didn't seem to mind, but Iwas not stepping foot in it. It wasn't hot enough outside.

Our friend's have 3 kids - 2 girls who absolutely adore Kellen (and believe me, he loves the attention) and a boy who's about Aidan's age.

And we ended a great day with S'mores! Yummo!

1st haircut

2009-07-17T19:01:00.006-06:00

Curren got his first haircut yesterday! He looks so cute and thanks to my friend Katie (hairstylist extraordinaire) who cut his hair. As you will see it was no easy task.

(Hey this is fun, mom!)

(Hmm, not so sure about this cape thingy-ma-jig)

(Definitely not digging the haircut)

(SO not happy)

(But is was so worth it. )

Random post

2009-07-15T13:52:00.013-06:00

Not sure what to call this post since this will be a mesh of the goings on in the Scott household.

First and finally, Curren is crawling! I have late crawlers so the fact he didn't crawl by 7, 8, 9, 10 months didn't really bother me. When 11 months rolled around and he wasn't crawling I thought, hmm, maybe he'll just skip it all together and walk instead. But no, he finally started...and at a friend's house no less. So cute.

But now Curren is a little hot shot. He can't be content with crawling alone, he's pulling up to a stand. Now many of your kids may have done this almost simultaneously, but my two older boys were never huge on pulling to a stand. Curren LOVES it. He sure thinks he's hot stuff. What a cutie pie.

Last Sunday was Aidan's baptism interview with our Bishop. We bought him a suit because he's been asking for one for ages. And he took his interview very seriously. He wanted to wear his suit to his interview even though it was mighty hot that day.

Last Friday, I took Kellen and Curren to the Denver Aquarium. Not exactly the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but pretty great in its own right. Kellen loved the sting rays the best. Earlier that week he attended a preschool camp which was all about the ocean. We were hoping to see a hammerhead shark, but no such luck.

And last, but not least one of my best buddies growing up in CO was in town visiting her family. Her sister is in our ward so she came to church with them. It was so great to see her and catch up. I actually had my camera in my bag (from our aquarium trip) so I got a picture of the two of us.

4th of July

2009-07-05T18:55:00.005-06:00

4th of July was pretty low-key this year, but we had a great time. As mentioned in my previous post, Rick and Aidan hiked a 14er - woo-hoo!

Most of the afternoon and evening was spent hanging out with the neighbors, having an impromtu karaoke contest and trying to avoid getting soaked from our torrential downpour. Thankfully it cleared up later in the evening so we could let off some fireworks.

Aidan hiked his first 14er!

2009-07-04T17:53:00.007-06:00

Rick, Aidan and our neighbor's went on a campout last night and then hiked Grays' Peak. A 14,270 foot mountain. Rick said Aidan did awesome. He actually beat Rick to the top. What a set of lungs this kid has! Way to go Aidan! We're so proud of you.

(Aidan and his neighborhood buddy)

BTW, right now I'm sitting at home waiting for this torrential downpour to stop so we can try to enjoy some fireworks this evening. Love the afternoon showers, but not on the 4th of July!

1 month to toddlerhood!

2009-06-27T21:02:00.010-06:00

Once again for the umpteenth time I can't believe another month has slipped by! Curren turned 11 months old a couple of days ago. Wow!

He's such a joy to have in our family! We just love him and he just loves us too! Actually he loves anyone who pays attention to him and rewards them with an infectious smile and giggle. He's also discovered that feeding himself is pretty fun. He now likes finger foods...thank heavens! I was starting to wonder if I'd be feeding this kid for months to come:).

(A nectarine, yum, yum!)

Actually a cute story about his new love of feeding himself. We were at the grocery store last week and the two older boys walked back to the cart with their free cookies. The second Curren noticed he wasn't going to partake of the beloved cookie he screeched at his brothers. It was truly quite humorous, but of course one of those situations where you had to be there.

He's not quite crawling yet. I know in last month's post I thought for sure he'd be crawling soon, but so far he's alluded that step. He's trying so hard and has mastered getting up into a sitting position from his tummy. A huge accomplishment in its own right.

Happy 11 month birthday, Curren! One final month as a baby, we love you to pieces!

The dog days of summer....

2009-06-27T20:42:00.008-06:00

We've been enjoying our summer thus far. Although Aidan's summer is very short. He actually heads back to school as a big 2nd grader on the 8th of July! Anyhoo, here are some pictures of a few things we've been doing as of late. (Most of our outings involve zero pictures. Who wants to see yours truly in a bathing suit at the pool?)

Dino Ridge! Pretty cool place and a very inexpensive history trip. The place is located in the foothills near Red Rocks Amphitheater. I guess back about 80-90 million years ago what is now Colorado was flat, tropical and a prime location for DINOSAURS!

(The darker section of the rock is actually dinosaur bones.)

I guess several years ago a construction worker was starting to tear up the ground to build something, I can't remember what and noticed some strange markings. Strange enough to alert authorities. Low and behold, they ended up being dinosaur tracks. Wow! What foresight of the construction worker.

We've had a lot of afternoon thundershowers, which personally, I love! It keeps everything green, green, green and the temperature drops several degrees! Love that! Here are the kids with a couple of neighbors making the best of the rain. Actually this was before our torrential downpour.

Hanging out at the zoo

2009-06-17T14:41:00.005-06:00

Last Friday we headed to the zoo with Aidan's best buddy Parker and his mom and younger brother. We had a blast and actually ended up staying there most of the day. Can you say tired kids? We hit traffic on the way home so a usual half hour trip took well over an hour. Thankfully the kids slept most of the way, but I was wishing I had hired a driver so I could've caught a nap on the way home too. Anyway, here are some cute pictures of the boys:

Aidan and Parker

Kellen and Cooper

Kellen's having his first sleep over tonight.....

2009-06-14T20:25:00.003-06:00

in Aidan's room.

They are both so excited! It's actually nice having Aidan off-track for his short summer. The two boys have been playing with each other a lot and I've noticed how much closer they have grown. I love having all boys and can't wait for Curren to join in on all the fun. He's just dying to run around with them. I can tell by the look on his face and see the excitement in his little body.

Where the h(bleep) is Kellen?!?!

2009-06-10T21:37:00.005-06:00

It's 9:38pm and I had just come upstairs because Curren started crying. I noticed Kellen's bedroom door was shut and thought that odd considering he likes his door left WIDE open. Walked in to check on him....no Kellen. Walked into Aidan's room...no Kellen. What the heck? Where is he? Now I start panicking, even though there is no possible way for him to leave the upstairs without us knowing or for someone to come in without us even knowing. My mind starts thinking crazy things. So I yell down to Rick to help me find him. Well, we did:

in Aidan's bathroom. Funny thing is, Rick had gone upstairs earlier in the evening and heard Aidan "talking to himself". Ah-hem, he was actually talking to Kellen. Little stinkers. If they want to sleep in the same room together all they have to do is ask us. Aidan has a trundle bed.

VAIL Like nothing on earth

2009-06-10T13:58:00.011-06:00

(Took that title from Vail's official website..I'm not that clever, but it is true.) So as you may have guessed we just returned from another awesome trip to Vail. It's sooooo beautiful there. Pictures just don't do it justice, but they'll have to suffice...unless those of you reading this have been there and can attest to it's beauty. BTW, does anyone have a $1,000,0000 laying around we could use to buy a vacation home up there? We'll let you go there anytime...you won't regret it!

My dad got a great 4 bedroom condo for a week up at Vail and decided to invite my family and my big sis. along. Unfortunately my sister could only stay one night, but we overlapped by a few hours.

The first full day there we headed into Vail Village, shopped a little, let the kids play at the pirate park, ate lunch and then walked along the rushing creek to The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. Can you say GORGEOUS? Absolutely breathtaking. And the added bonus? There's another great park there so the kids played and played and had a blast. Weather was great too. I was afraid from looking at the forecast it was going to be pretty chilly, but it was a comfortable upper 50's/60 degrees! It rained just a little and a few clouds, but nothing much!

(Pirate park in Vail Village)

(The older boys had to stop every few seconds to throw something else into the creek...boys will be boys.)

(Betty Ford Alpine Gardens at 8700 feet above sea level)

The second day, Rick and my dad walked to another park in the morning and let the older boys play for a little bit while Curren napped. Then we headed off on a hike. We had to drive up part of a mountain (a non-paved, very bumpy road) for about 7 miles before we found the trailhead. For those of you from Cali, when you go hiking out here, you're really out in the middle of nowhere! It's awesome! You can truly commune with nature. It was supposed to be a 3.75 mile gradual hike to Lost Lake, but we never found it. And we're pretty certain we walked more than 3.75 miles one way! Rick even headed on further by himself and never found anything. Oh well, we still had a great time and the kids did great. (We hiked for about 3 hours!) Only a few grumblings here and there. Curren did get fussy as we were heading back. He was tired, hungry and I think his jacket was rubbing against his cheek...poor little fella.

(Gorgeous! On the way to the trailhead)

(Before the hike)

(Stopping for lunch. No picnic tables in this place.)

(A nature made Christmas tree farm at about 10,000 feet above sea level.)

Well, the fun is over and back to real life again. But, I'm itching to head up to the mountains again! Maybe Breckenridge this time? Or maybe we'll head south to Gunnison and check out Black Canyon. My dad showed us some pictures and it's like The Grand Canyon except the canyon is covered with black rock instead of red. Can't wait and stay tuned!!!

10 months!

2009-05-25T19:22:00.010-06:00

This past month just whizzed by. Curren is officially 10 months old today. He's such a cutie and really starting to show and tell us his preferences. I think about 3 teeth are coming in at the same time so he's drooling big time. And he's trying soooooo hard to crawl. He's such a wiggle worm that I hope he crawls soon. Actually with all the progress he's made over the last few days I wouldn't be surprised if he starts crawling by the end of the week. His two older brothers didn't crawl until they were 11 months so I haven't been expecting him to crawl any sooner. However, I'm sure he gets so frustrated seeing his brothers running around while he's plopped down with all his toys.

When I took some pictures of him this evening he was being such a ham. Everytime my mom and I would take a picture of him he'd make a silly face. Here are a few of them...typical Curren style...what a cutie!

Some catching up to do....

2009-05-25T19:10:00.007-06:00

I seem to take pictures or receive pictures and then forget to post them so here goes:

A couple of weeks ago, Rick took the two older boys on a father/son campout. They had a good time, but not the absolute best experience. They got rained on and to make matters worse, there's a coal train that goes by every 20 minutes or so and where they camped (at our Stake President's barn....lots and lots of acres of land) is close to a crossing so the train had to honk it's horn every....single....time. Can you say tired? Oh well, still fun for the most part.

And a few days ago a couple of deer decided to stop by our neighborhood while on their morning stroll. They were so close to our house, but when I called Rick and Kellen over, Aidan was jumping up and down and scared them. They must have really good hearing. Anyway, they wandered over to our neighbor's yard and eventually jumped the fence and walked around in their yard for several minutes. It was amazing to watch. I will never tire of seeing all the wildlife roaming our 'hood.

Roxborough State Park

2009-05-17T20:31:00.007-06:00

Amazing, wonderful, awe-inspiring are some of the words that come to mind when I think about our hike in Roxborough State Park this afternoon. It was a perfect day, pretty warm, a slight breeze, but tolerable. It's a great time to be out and about in nature in Colorado. Spring is so beautiful! Everything is turning green, wildflowers are blooming, weather's great.....

We immediately saw deer at the beginning of our hike. (You can barely see them in this picture, but they are right up against the scrub oak.)

Right near the car the boys noticed this fox standing about 10 feet away from them! Amazing! The fox is obviously used to people since he didn't even flinch while Rick took this picture. The boys even saw him catch something and eat it. Pretty cool!

Misc. weekend pictures

2009-05-17T20:21:00.010-06:00

Saturday was my birthday (and a great birthday it was). I got to go on a run (and walked a little too) all by my lonesome (while listening to some great music....remember Book of Love, Bow wow wow, Metallica?), got a mani-pedi with a girlfriend and went out to a fabulous dinner (thanks David) with Rick. Plus a few friends stopped by to give me some stuff too. My neighbor made me this cake (she's so crafty...and very talented):

I also took some pictures of Curren and Kellen while Curren was taking his bath this morning. It was so funny, I walked into the laundry room to start Curren's bath (he bathes in our utility sink) and got sidetracked with something so I walked out of the room (all this while holding Curren) he started crying and screaming. I couldn't figure out why he was so mad until I realized he knew what was coming and he was pissed off I stopped getting his bath ready. So just to test it out I walked back into the laundry room, he stopped crying, I walked back out of the laundry room and he starts screaming again. The kid loves his baths! Soooo cute!

Aidan's field day

2009-05-17T20:15:00.006-06:00

Aidan's field day was last Friday. (Can you believe school gets out at the end of May? Of course he only has a 5 week summer break before he enters 2nd grade.) Thankfully the weather cooperated. Here are a few pics.:

All but one were action shots of his back, but you get the idea. (And sorry to all you Californians...he's already a true Coloradoan - Broncos jerseys as well as Nuggets jerseys. Oh well, The Nuggets are in the playoffs!)

9 months!

2009-04-30T12:40:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday Curren turned 9 months old. I know I say this everytime, but where does the time go? I can't believe in 3 months he'll be a year old and officially a toddler.

Here are some stats:

Wt. - 23lbs. 3 oz - 85% (Kellen is our biggest so far)
Ht. - 29 1/4 in. - 80% (Curren is our longest so far)
HC - 18 1/4 in. - 75% (what can I say? We're a family of big heads!)

Curren isn't crawling yet. I expect that to come in a couple of months because both his big brothers didn't crawl until they were 11 months old.

He definitely can manuever himself around on his tummy and on his bum. I've put him down and look back at him a few minutes later and notice he's facing the opposite direction.

He's a happy little boy and loves, loves, loves attention. Last Sunday at church his little buddy (who was born a day before him) got down on the ground, turned to look at him and he just cackled! It was so cute. So what to do? She crawls right over to him and starts playing with his toys.

We just love this little guy! Happy 9 months baby Curren!

The biggest storm of the season!

2009-04-18T19:22:00.012-06:00

Wow talk about a storm! We received about 24 inches in 48 hours and after enjoying a California style winter. Can't wait to see the beauty this storm leaves behind. (All the lush green grass, hills, flowers....)

Look at how much snow in just 24 hours!

Rick shaking some snow off our branches. Heavy wet snow not good for wee little branches.

Our neighbor clearing out our cul-de-sac with his ATV. Cul-de-sacs are the last to be plowed.

Thankfully our other neighbor helped Rick clear our driveway for the umpteenth time!

Having fun in the snow.

A couple of guys and their son were out joy riding and got stuck. What were they thinking? It provided some good Saturday evening entertainment.

More neighbors coming out to see what's going on. Rick went out to see if they needed any help, but our neighbor down the street drove up in his mighty Ford Excursion. Ford vs. Chevy...uh oh!

It took a while, but the Ford finally got the Chevy out. Free at least!

Now the meltdown begins. We're expecting 70+ degree temperatures next week. Can you say mud? Or shall we say muddy children?

Ahhh, spring!

2009-04-15T19:21:00.011-06:00

I just love the transitional seasons and now that it's spring I'm in heaven. Even if that means we're getting late season snowfalls. It just means a more beautiful spring. Umm, let's see what have we been doing over the past few weeks? Here are some pictures to show you:

Coloring Easter eggs

My cuties in their Easter outfits

Our neighborhood Eggstravaganza. You can't tell in this picture, but the weather was pretty crappy. It was AMAZINGLY windy (you always know a weather system is coming in when it's windy) and cold. The eggstravaganza was supposed to be at a park, but the eggs kept blowing away so they moved it at the last minute to our "cabana club/community center", but Rick said it ended up being so unorganized. Oh well, the kids left with baskets full of eggs.

A family in our ward got 6 male calves from the dairy farm. (Male calves aren't too popular there since they don't produce milk.) She invited us and another family to come to the 4:30pm feeding. I thought, "What a great opportunity for the kids. When are they going to have a chance to milk a baby cow?" And it was a cool experience, but a lot more work than I thought. The calves were only 5 days old, but man are they big (as big as Kellen) and strong. And BOSSY. The mom told us they butt you so you have to push or kick back. Thankfully I had Curren in my Ergo and ended up milking one of the calves while Kellen hid and giggled behind me. Poor Aidan tried his hardest to milk another calf, but it was pretty hard to hold the bottle (especially if you don't know how to hold one properly) and I couldn't help him. He ended up stopping midway and the mom from our ward who owns the calves took over. See, us city slickers can learn a thing or two about taking care of farm animals! On the way home I told the boys what they plan to do with the calves once they are older. A bit of a surprise, but now they truly know where hamburgers and steak come from. I'm seriously interested in going in with a few other families to buy a portion of the meat. It'll be so much fresher and probably a lot healthier buying the meat from them rather than the grocery store. Lots of people do that here. Buy a 1/4 of a cow and get a load of meat. (Of course it's already divided up into certain cuts.)

Giving a bottle to two at the same time, wow! She had to take over Aidan's feeding.

He's already a pro! (His mom is the one who invited us over.)

Aidan trying very hard to not have to push a calf away.

I truly wish I had gotten a picture of Aidan milking the calf. I just didn't have enough hands.

No need for words....

2009-03-28T19:22:00.003-06:00

4 months until Curren is 1 year old!

2009-03-26T16:58:00.006-06:00

Love this look. "What the heck is that red light, mom?"

I know I say this every time, but it's hard to believe another month has gone by. Time goes by so fast with the 2nd and 3rd kid. I seem to forget all the little milestones a baby meets, but it's still exciting to enjoy the ride with Curren.

He's such a happy little guy, unless he's sleepy or hungry. He still absolutely adores his brothers. And is always looking around to see what they are doing. I'm sure he's dying for the day he's mobile and can follow them around.

Laughing at his brothers

He's sitting up really well. But occasionally gets excited and falls back so I still keep the boppy behind him just in case.

He's not getting the finger food concept. Definitely prefers someone else to feed him.

He laughs all the time or is usually smiling at someone.

He also loves to play in his designated Curren area (no small toys allowed) and roll his balls down this penguin ramp.

He's not a huge fan of rolling or being on his tummy. So the minute you lay him on his tummy he'll roll over.

Not crawling yet either. But both his big brothers didn't crawl until they were 11 months old so I'm thinking we have some time to prepare.

Happy 8 months Curren. We love our little caboose!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2009-03-15T20:21:00.011-06:00

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, would you be mine? Could you be mine? Okay, maybe a little lame to use the Mister Rogers' neighbhorhood song, but hey I thought this picture was cute.

On Friday, Aidan had his best friend over to spend the night. Since the weather has been beautiful they enjoyed some fun outside and then slowly but surely as I was cooking dinner, more and more kids wandered into our house to play a little Wii. Fun times. Man, I wish I were a kid again.

Germs, germs go away!

2009-03-08T10:42:00.015-06:00

A nasty, annoying cold germ has been targeting our household lately.

Target #1 - Kellen
Symptoms - goopy red eyes, stuffy nose and a cough.
Diagnosis - Pink eye (surprise, surprise) and his cold created an incessant cough which (along with the pink eye) kept him home from preschool two weeks ago. He's all better now, but occasionally coughs still

Target #2 - Curren
Symptoms - cough, a slight stuffy nose, and eventually pinkish looking goopy eyes
Diagnosis - A nasty bug that mimics RSV which created low oxygen levels, a rapid HR, little appetite and a double ear infection. He also worried us when I had taken him in thinking he had pink eye too and discovered the above mentioned problems. He's on the mend now with antibiotics and his appetite has returned. Along with his cheery disposition.

Target #3 - Aidan
Symptoms - cough, stuffy, runny nose and last night up from 12:30am-6am complaining/whimpering about his ear hurting. (Ibuprofen did NOT help him.)
Diagnosis - ear infection. Did you know they have chewable antibiotics? Sweet!

These germs are not welcome in our house. I don't want anyone else getting sick so go away germs! Don't come back again. Shoo, shoo!

Happy Belated Birthday Dr. Seuss

2009-03-06T13:41:00.004-07:00

The kids have been celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday this week. Here's what Kellen came home with on Wednesday:

And I thought you'd love the "true" Cat in the Hat:

Pico, always a good sport

Can he really be? 7 months already?

2009-02-25T13:40:00.008-07:00

I can't believe Curren is now closer to being a one year old than a newborn. When did that happen?

Some highlights over the last month:

*He can roll from front to back and back to front.

*He's sitting up very well, although we still lay behind him or prop the Boppy behind him just in case he gets too excited and falls backward.

*He still loves to giggle and watch his big brothers. His best entertainment thus far.

*He's now a big baby boy and has graduated from his infant seat and moved into his convertible seat.

*He's really and truly sleeping through the night! Hallelujah!!!

*He loves to go on walks.

*He got his first taste of the swing at the park last week and loves it. He especially loves it when his big brother (Kellen so far) pushes him in the swing.

Curren is still such a joy to have around! Happy 7 months baby Curren, we love you to pieces!

Curren's favorite buddies - his big brothers!

Enjoying the outdoors

2009-02-25T13:30:00.006-07:00

I feel like we're still living in California with the weather we've been having. Who said it snows in Colorado? Or more specifically the Denver Metro area? (For those of you wanting to hit the slopes...lots of snow in the mountains:). The only thing I dislike about this no snow deal is all the brown we've been seeing. Brown grass, brown hills, no leaves on the trees, but oh well, can't everything, right?

So, since the weather has been so nice we've tried to do lots of things outside with the kiddos. President's Day we went to The Chatfield Botanic Garden. Not much of a garden in the winter, but still nice to get out, have a little picnic and wander around the area. There are some old barn/farming sites and an old school house too.

And then last Saturday we headed up to Golden and hit the Colorado Railroad Museum. I have to admit it's nothing compared to the Sacramento Railroad Museum, but it was really pretty cool and the kids enjoyed it.

Gotta love the Prune face!

2009-02-14T10:27:00.008-07:00

I finally caught Curren smiling on camera. Usually when the red light appears just before I take his picture his expression turns into a "deer caught in the headlights" look. So adorable if I do say so myself. Not going to love changing his diaper in a couple of days though:)

Bragging Rights!

2009-02-13T11:38:00.011-07:00

In typical mom fashion I'm going to brag about my sweet boy Aidan! We are so proud of him.

First off, once again I am so glad we decided to wait a year before starting him in kindergarten. He really needed it, socially, emotionally, academically....And for those of you who know my boy know he's a very intense, yet shy kid who won't speak up much unless he really feels comfortable with you. That being said I'll get on to why I'm so proud of him.

At the beginning of 1st grade his teacher (who is PHENOMENAL) like most teachers gauges her students to determine their level of reading comprehension and writing ability. Aidan "tested" at the bottom of the pack. He could barely write and couldn't read even though in kindergarten he was definitely making huge progress with his reading and writing. (After talking with his teachers and me watching him over the years he has a bit of a processing issue when it comes to reading/writing.) So his teacher knowing how shy he is and knowing he needed extra help enrolled him in a program called Reading Recovery. (Not all schools in our district have this so I'm so glad we're at SHE.) For the first half of the year, Aidan would see his reading recovery teacher (who's also phenomenal) everyday for about a 1/2 hour. Lucky us and him, right? Lots of extra homework for him too. (Not so lucky for him, but it paid off.)

Well he's come a long way, baby! His reading is phenomenal (my word of the day) and his writing is awesome too! He has worked soooooo hard and we are sooooo proud of him. Poor little guy gets so nervous when being tested and he's also afraid to speak up when he's not absolutely sure of the answer. Which to most, they would think he just doesn't know the answer.

CONGRATULATIONS Aidan on a major accomplishment! We are SO PROUD OF YOU!

Buck-a-roos

2009-02-07T20:16:00.005-07:00

The other day Rick looked out our back windows and noticed this:

I think they were looking for their mates. Gotta love the open space and hills of Colorado.

A Hidden Gem

2009-02-07T19:20:00.024-07:00

This afternoon we headed over to the Littleton Historical Museum. What a neat place and I had no idea it existed until Aidan's class traveled there earlier in the school year for a field trip and it's only about 5 minutes from the church building I used to attend when I lived here as a kid.

It contains real working farms dated from the 1860's and 1890's, plus an old schoolhouse, old farmhouses, and a blacksmith.

Aidan in the blacksmith shop brushing a "rose"

Kellen's turn brushing the rose

Kellen petting one of the many farm cats...this one is Sasha

Inside the kitchen of an 1890's farmhouse kitchen.

We sure are lucky to have such fabulous houses in the 21st Century. This house was pretty nice by 1890's standards. It had heating (wood-burning stoves/furnaces in 2 of the 5 rooms.) The house consisted of a kitchen, dining room, 2 bedrooms and a living area. Where is the bathroom you wonder? A nice little outhouse with a wood path leading from the house. Can you imagine if you had to go to the bathroom when there was a blizzard? Yikes. Thank heavens for plumbing, right? But I have to admit it was kind've cool to see how simple life was. When people weren't working on the farm during the day I'm sure they spent their free time together. Not many other distractions we have these days...Wii, TV, computers, telephone, etc.

Notice the boys are only wearing sweatshirts and it's February? We've been enjoying great weather.

Why a peacock? And on a farm dated from the 1800's? The blacksmith told us farms during those times had lots of peacocks. They were/are the best "watch dogs". Have you ever heard one of them squawk? A lot louder and more alarming than a dog's bark, right? Pretty interesting tidbit of information we thought.

Couldn't forget our little cutie patootie. As you can tell he enjoyed the view from my back. Although he looks like he's wondering what the heck I'm doing with my camera.

Even though we've had great weather it does still get pretty cold at night.

An 1860's schoolhouse. Notice the little outhouse?

Aidan inside the schoolhouse. He doesn't want to have school there on a daily basis he told me.

Kellen with his Daddy

Preparing a typical 1860's supper

Preparing an 1860's meal. It was really cool. We learned these people helping prepare the meal actually signed up to do this. You prepare the meal as they would in the 1860's and then you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I would love to do this, but it's a long wait list. The lady in this picture told me she signed up last summer. So about a 6-8 month wait...yikes. It's on my to-do list one of these days.

Creating a butter mold. We had missed them actually making the butter.

Happy half-year Baby Curren!

2009-01-27T12:29:00.005-07:00

1st time in his high chair - this morning . We finally pulled it out.

Wow! 6 months have already passed. I still can't believe it. It seems like yesterday when I was waddling around outside watching my two older boys play and having my neighbors laugh at me each time I tried to get out of our very low beach chairs. (Hey, they were great for the beach, not so great for a big prego woman!)

Curren just loves, loves, loves his brothers. It so fun to watch him try to get their attention. And it's really fun watching Aidan and Kellen try anything to get Curren to laugh. Thankfully it doesn't take much!

Here's some stats.:

Wt. - 19lbs. 12 oz. - 70% (and can you believe it? 5 oz. bigger than Kellen at 6 mos.!)
Ht. -27 in. 55%
Head Cir. - 17 1/4 in. 40%

I never thought I'd have a bigger baby than Kellen, but it seems I now do. It's hard for me to see how big he is since I'm holding him and interacting with him all the time. I know that may not make sense, but it was the same for Kellen. Not until I looked at his pictures when he was a baby did I realize how big he looked to everyone else.

Some fun facts about Curren besides his love for his brothers -

-he can sit up by himself for a few seconds
- rolls from tummy to back on his right
- giggles and laughs all the time
- naps pretty well
- is really starting to love solid foods. Apples not a big hit though.
- loves to smile at everyone...I hope that lasts and we don't run into major stranger anxiety

We all just love him to pieces! And knowing this is my last baby I'm really trying to relish every moment and enjoy him while he's little.

Happy 6 months baby, we love you!!!

Copper Mountain, baby!

2009-01-19T20:42:00.025-07:00

Hallelujah! Is the first word that comes to mind regarding this weekend. Then, "what a great time we had!" I guess thinking worst-case scenario can make anything better than that just wonderful.

Ain't he the cutest?

We had a great time up at Copper Mountain this weekend. No traffic, great weather, Curren went to sleep no problem (slept all the way until 6am the first night), kids had a great time at ski/snowboarding school and our place was in the perfect location.

It would be so wonderful to have a place up in the mountains, to get away from the "city" for a weekend whenever you want, but since we're just ordinary folk we make due with finding great deals at great places in the mountains.

Enjoy some pictures from our weekend.

In the main village at Copper. Lots of cute shops and restaurants. Saturday evening they had some festivities Rick took the boys too. Fire jugglers, and a fireworks show. They had a lot of fun with Daddy that evening.

The main village also has a pond/small lake which they use for ice skating in the winter. We didn't rent skates. Who needs them when you have your tennis shoes? Later that evening when Rick took the boys out again they were in boots and he said the boots were way more slippery so when they walked on the ice both of them landed on their bootays!

Taking the shuttle bus to "The Schoolhouse". What Copper calls the location for all the lessons.

Kellen was soo excited for his ski lessons.

We dropped Kellen off inside at the schoolhouse where an instructor took him upstairs until it was time for his lesson to start. We had to wait with Aidan until his lesson began and drop him off outside by all these flags. One thing that was really cool Copper does is assign/attach a GPS tracking device to every child and instructor. So in case someone gets lost or separated they can find that person. Pretty cool. You can kind've see the red GPS device around Kellen's leg.

Aidan all geared up and ready for his lesson.

Getting ready to snowboard. Oh ya, and Burton/Sports Authority has this great deal where Burton allows you to rent a kids' board and boots for the whole season and gives you a free lesson at Copper for $100. Pretty good deal that we took advantage of.

On our way to pick up the big boys from their lessons.

Here's Aidan waiting his turn to go down the "bunny slope". I wouldn't even call it a bunny slope, it's so gradual, but great for beginners. I swear ski lessons are so much better than when I was little. The hills are so gradual, they have a magic carpet - a conveyor belts type thing which transport the kids from the bottom of the hill to the top - no chair lifts at this point. GPS tracking devices, helmets, etc. I remember when I tried skiing. I took a chairlift with another girl who inadvertently pushed me back against the chair while she was trying to get off so I had to jump from the lift as they stopped it. Very scary for a little girl who's always been afraid of heights. And no helments either. Wow, how did we all survive?

He's boarding! Even if it was just for a few seconds! Way to go!

Kellen riding up the magic carpet I explained earlier.

Such a big boy. Poor little girl behind Kellen was crying. I think she had had enough for the day!

What a cutie too huh? I didn't get any good pictures of Kellen skiing down the hill. He was farther away from where the parents were allowed to stand. (We broke the rules with this picture and stood in the snowmobile lane.) Plus there were a TON of skiers so he had to wait, and wait, and wait his turn. He was so patient though. I'm sure he loved riding up the hill the best. His teacher said he was smiling and laughing the whole day.

An exciting, yet scary FHE

2009-01-16T20:00:00.009-07:00

Hmm, interesting picture, right? And post title? Well last Monday evening while driving back home from getting ice cream for a Family Home Evening activity we were hit by another car who while trying to pass us on the right, and driving too fast for the road conditions (we had received about 6-8 inches of snow that day) fish-tailed and slammed into the front passenger corner of our car. We were hit hard enough that we landed on the median.

Thankfully we are all perfectly fine. Of course we are innocent parties so now our car is in the shop to get fixed and we received some money (very little) to replace Curren's car seat and a little extra. Only caveat, we have to sign a release that we won't go after the insurance company for any medical compensation.

I miss my car. We're driving a Chrysler Aspen, nice car, but it drives way different. It's very floaty as Rick says so I can't feel the road very well. Plus, although it's supposed to be a full-size, 8 passenger SUV, it's smaller than our Sequoia. Oh well, better to be a little inconvenienced than to have any of us hurt from the accident.

Family Fun/Parents = LOSER

2009-01-16T19:44:00.014-07:00

I've been in a bit of a funk. Not an emotional funk, I'm perfectly happy, although some days I must admit I feel like I'm going insane, but all is well at the Scott camp.

However, yesterday I finally had a chance to read/browse through my Family Fun and Parents magazines and boy do I feel like a failure. I've been so unmotivated to do fun creative things with my kids. I guess I'm laying blame on poor little baby Curren, Aidan's homework, a really great series of books I've been reading, and taking time for my new exercise program. I only get little snippets of free time and I use those to catch up on emails/facebook (yes I've become a bit of a facebook junkie), reading and working out in my beloved basement.

Anyway, I digress. The above mentioned magazines have some great crafts in there which I know I won't attempt to do with my kids right now. And they have some really great family time ideas which I must admit I really wanted to do tonight, but once again didn't do. (We had to go to REI to get some must needed items for a trip we're taking this weekend.)

So to make a long post even longer I'm feeling a bit guilty for not being creative with my kids. And I pledge to make a change to that soon. We are taking the kids to the Copper Mountain this weekend and truly I must admit this weekend is dedicated to them (and Rick). Aidan will attempt snowboarding for the first time, Kellen skiing for the first time and Rick will get another chance to go snowboarding. Me, well, I'll be hanging out in the hotel room with Curren. It's all good, but I'm just hoping and praying Curren sleeps (goes to sleep mainly) well in the hotel room. And that he's manageable at the restaurants. He's been pretty hard to take to restaurants lately and I just dread going. Stay tuned on our latest weekend excursion and say a little prayer or send good thoughts my way this weekend, I'll need it.

And since I hate posting without adding a picture here's one of our goofy cat Pico. His new favorite place to sleep these days.

Christmas time

2008-12-27T20:36:00.025-07:00

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!

2008-12-26T11:56:00.006-07:00

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

2008-12-19T19:32:00.004-07:00

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?

2008-12-17T10:32:00.012-07:00

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

2008-12-15T15:39:00.009-07:00

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...

2008-12-15T12:18:00.004-07:00

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

Miscellaneous...

2008-12-09T20:30:00.006-07:00

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

2008-12-03T20:08:00.011-07:00

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.

Our 4 month old and loosening the apron strings

2008-11-26T10:55:00.011-07:00

So, wow time just flies, Curren turned 4 months old yesterday!

(love the deer caught in the headlights look. Still can't always catch him smiling.)

Some stats. for those of you keeping track:

Wt. - 16lbs. 11 oz - 90% (a little less than Kellen, definitely more than Aidan:)

Ht. - 25.75 - 85% - our longest baby so far...hmm

HC - 16.75 - our smallest baby head:)

Curren just loves, loves people. He's always smiling, he's starting to giggle and loves to watch and interact with his big brothers.

He loves to be held, but facing out so he can see what's going on around him.

He loves playing in his playyard batting at his toys.

He's getting really good lifting his head up high while on his tummy. And amazingly enough doesn't really mind tummy time.

He usually likes sitting in his little bumbo seat while we eat dinner. He definitely feels a part of the family that way.

He's beginning to sleep better at night, but I'm still not always sure what the nighttime will bring.

His big brother's just love him to pieces. I can't wait until Curren gets a little older and starts running around and playing with them. I guess that will be the true test to see how much Kellen loves playing with him. Right now, Kellen can't wait until he can start playing cars with him.

Happy 4 months Baby Curren, we love you!

Sigh, now onto the apron strings. Aidan had his first sleepover last night. I honestly didn't think I would be so anxious and kind've sad about the whole thing. For those of you who remember when he was young he was soooo attached to me. His first year of preschool was so difficult for him. Going into nursery at church was hard. He didn't like being away from home for any length of time. Man have times changed. He has grown and matured so much. I love seeing him interact with his friends, but I have to admit a little part of me is sad that my baby is gone. I felt a little ache in my heart when I headed upstairs to bed last night and saw his door open and realized he wasn't in there fast asleep. I'm glad he had a good time and as I type this he's busy swimming his little heart out with his friend from his old school in Castle Pines.

Aidan will always be my baby, my firstborn baby, but like his brother's he's etched a special place in my heart.

Oh, and mom and dad, he made it through the night. Unlike me:) (I was notoriously bad at waking in the middle of the night wanting to go home. Thankfully my dad was so patient and would pick me up from my friend's house dressed in his pj's.)

8's, Eight's, 8's...

2008-11-23T15:23:00.014-07:00

You get the picture, I've been tagged.

8 of my favorite all-time shows (I admit, I'm a reality show junkie):

1. The Amazing Race
2. Survivor
3. So You Think You Can Dance
4. Dancing with the Stars
5. The Deadliest Catch
5. Sarah Connor Chronicles
7. My Own Worst Enemy (I've gotten hooked on that show)
8. Throwdown with Bobby Flay (and almost anything else on Food Network)

8 of my favorite restaurants (lately we only go to kid-friendly restaurants):

1. The Melting Pot
2. In-N-Out
3. Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger
4. Komatsu (haven't really been to any Japanese Restaurants in CO yet.)
5. Big Bill's Pizzeria
6. Yolanda's Taqueria
7. PF Chang's
8. The Stone Church

8 things that happened yesterday:

1. Curren only woke up once and slept until 6am - Woohoo!
2. Worked out with Tony Horton (on DVD)
3. I actually got to read a little of Breaking Dawn while Curren napped and Rick and the kids were outside
4. We attended our neighbor's (twin boys) 5th birthday party.
5. Aidan lost a tooth
6. Castle Rock 73rd annual Starlighting event
7. Ate at Papa Bello's restaurant
8. Kellen woke up complaining his ear hurt

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Thanksgiving! YUM!
2. Family coming into town
3. Christmas
4. A nice trip with the family (remember it's not a vacay with the kids in tow, but it can still be fun.)
5. doing some snowshoeing this season
6. helping out in Aidan's classroom next year...that is starting in January
7. Kellen's birthday
8. Curren truly sleeping through the night

8 items on my wish list:

1. having a real (un-rushed) date night with Rick
2. a dutch oven
3. going to see Twilight
4. Figuring out where to go on our big trip (aka vacay with kiddos) next year. Hawaii, Disneyland, Disney World?...
5. Staying focused enough to lose another 10 lbs. to get to my pre-kid weight
6. Having time to bake this holiday season
7. Hoping my kids stay healthy this season
8. Hoping I stay healthy this season

I refuse to tag anyone, so there!

Aidan happenings

2008-11-23T12:46:00.018-07:00

On Friday Aidan's class had a "Thankful Social". Kellen, Curren and I attended. It was pretty cute. We met in the library and the kids each had a picture they colored talking about the 1st Thanksgiving and then they sang a couple of songs and shared what they are thankful for. The "I Am Thankful" presentation was created on the computer using Kidz Art. Aidan says he's thankful for his two cats who make him laugh. Afterwards, we all headed over to the classroom for treats and a little socializing.

He was so cute and nervous reading his part in the program.

Apple Cider and pumpkin treats - yummo!

I really love seeing Aidan interact with his buddies. And he's still young enough to like me coming to see him at school:).

Aidan's best buddy - Parker.

(A little side note about his best buddy. A couple of weeks ago Rick had lunch with Aidan at school. When Rick arrived and walked over to wait for Aidan and his class enter the cafeteria he noticed Aidan wasn't there. He had been with his reading tutor so he walked in late. His buddy was already sitting down with some other classmates, but when he saw Aidan walk in he got up and asked him where he wanted to sit. Isn't that so sweet? I'm so glad they are buddies.)

In other news:

Aidan FINALLY lost another tooth last night. Last year he lost his two bottom teeth and then nothing. Now he has 4, I mean 3 teeth loose.

Right before bed he walked out of his room to show me he pulled his tooth out. I grabbed the tooth and put it in a little alligator tooth fairy thingy-ma-gig my mom bought him last year and set it on his dresser right by the door. (Hint, hint, easy access for the tooth fairy, right?)
For some reason I don't remember, I walk back into his room and noticed the head of the alligator was off so I asked him where he put his tooth. He told me he put it in this little glittery bag (I used this for his other two teeth because I had nothing else for him) and stuck it right under the middle of his pillow. UGH!! How the heck is the tooth fairy going to get to it? Anyway, the tooth fairy succeeded in taking the tooth and giving him $1.

It's official!

2008-11-14T15:14:00.006-07:00

Our first snowfall of the season has finally arrived!

It actually hasn't amounted to much, but when I took this picture it really had started coming down so I thought we'd get several inches of snow. As I type this post (in the later afternoon) most of it has already melted. Welcome to Colorado! We're expected to have weather in the 60's this weekend and next...go figure. And I'm not complaining. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to deal with the kids wanting to play outside and keep Curren cozy and warm inside.

As for other things, since Kellen didn't have preschool today we went with our neighbors to a new place called Little Monkey Bizness. They have a Monkey Bizness (kind've like The Jungle in Campbell for those of you who know it) which is geared more for kids Aidan's age. Little Monkey Bizness is perfect for Kellen's age and younger. Pretty cool place. Kellen and his friend Memphis played and played and played and played...well you get the idea. Thankfully Curren slept and slept and slept. I think the noise kept him asleep amazingly enough.

A fun day for Kellen...too bad Aidan had to go to school today.

Halloween...better late than never

2008-11-06T12:41:00.010-07:00

Okay so I'm a week late posting pictures, but here are some highlights on our Halloween.

On Monday for Family Home Evening we carved our pumpkins. I decided to let the kids design their own this time around.

Kellen had a little Fall Harvest party at school, but he did get to dress up and have a little parade for the parents.

Aidan had a Fall party on Halloween, but didn't get to dress-up and we had to make sure there weren't any references to Halloween...whatever! Thankfully his teacher is more lenient about the whole event so some Haloweeenish items slipped their way into the party.

After Aidan got home from school the kids and I all drove to downtown Castle Rock to do some trick-or-treating on the street. We went last year and I thought it was fun and since I wouldn't be taking the kids out trick-or-treating in the evening I wanted to see them get some candy.

Aunt Kirsten came over for dinner and after eating off the boys went (minus Curren, of course) to do some more trick-or-treating. They got LOADS of candy and unfortunately we had too much. So yours truly broke her Weight Watchers diet and had loads of candy herself and LOVED every minute of it:)

Our ward (combined with our old ward before they split) had a Trunk-or Treat night at our Stake President's barn, but since it was on All Hallow's Eve we opted not to go. Bummer! I wanted to go to both, but we have such a great neighborhood we stayed close. I'm hoping next year they'll reserve the barn early so it won't be on Halloween.

All in all a fun week and night for the kiddos. Now I just want all the candy to disappear.

3 months old today!

2008-10-25T09:58:00.018-06:00

Can you believe it? Curren is 3 months old today. Time has gone by so fast and it's really starting to get fun. (Although as you noticed in my previous post...sometimes the nights aren't so fun.)

(Love the facial expressions on these two pictures.)

Here are some highlights about our little guy:

*He loves to smile and he's starting to giggle too
*He loves to be facing out so he can see what's going on around him
*He's now able to sit in his Bumbo seat and loves to watch us while we're eating dinner
*He's not a big fan of his car seat. Lately he cries a lot. I think it's because he's facing the back and has no one to interact with. The older boys are in the 3rd row.
*He's getting pretty good about falling asleep on his own. I've got to get him fairly drowsy first by rocking him.
*He's taking naps and sleeping in his crib most of the time. Unless I'm off taking the kids somewhere.
*His neck muscles are pretty strong now. He does pretty well on his tummy and is pretty content for several minutes if I prop him on his tummy with the boppy under him.
*Kellen loves to call him "baby Curren".

Curren is such a sweetie and he really loves his big brothers. It's so cute to see all of them interact with each other. The older boys always love to play with him while he's on his play mat. They love to touch him and pick out his clothes.

Happy 3 month birthday baby Curren, we love you!