Thank you Toyota Sequoia!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.