One Giant Leap for my Little Man

Jake is officially a big boy now! Last night, Jake agreed to give up his passy to the passy fairy in exchange for a big boy present. Now, we've been talking up this magical night for many months now; we originally were planning the big event for September, but as you know our life got a little complicated in September! Jake was a little aprehensive about the whole idea the closer we got to actually doing it. "But, I want to sleep with my blankie AND passy tonight mommy!" But, after a lot of touting the BIG BOY PRESENT that is going to be so super duper cool, etc, Jake reluctantly put the passy's in the bag. Now, for those of you who don't know the passy fairy, she typically likes for you to leave your passys in a bag outside on a tree. However, given that there is about a foot of snow in our front and back yards, we let Jake decide where to leave the passys! After a little bit of thought, Jake decided we should hang them on the Christmas tree :)





This morning, Jake found the Big Boy BIKE that the passy fairy left for him by the Christmas tree. Well, actually Trent (our early riser) found it and promptly reported it back to Jake! Jake was so excited to have a big boy bike!



So, how did it go the first night without passy!? Well, due to the New Year festivities the night before, we had one VERY tired little boy who (and this has never happened before) fell asleep during the reading of the bed time story! So, going to bed without passy was not even an issue (as he was already asleep when he went to bed). So I guess we shall see tonight how it will be for him. I think he'll do ok - we'll just need to remind him about his new bike!

Christmaspaloza

We spent this Christmas in Oklahoma visiting family this year. We decided with (now) 4 of us that we can't really justify the expense to fly any more (not to mention all of the presents we would need to haul to and fro), so that left one option -- to drive 10 hours with a 6 and 3 year old. Surprisingly, the trip was very easy! I spent almost a week master planning (in my head) all of the items I would pack to keep the boys occupied and out of trouble for the trip. I am happy to say that the organization paid off! The boys did so well and the trip was a breeze!

We had a great time visiting with everyone and sharing the magic of Christmas with the boys (and with our family). The only low point of our trip was a terrible snow storm that hit on Christmas Eve. It was the absolute worst winter weather I have ever experienced. Blowing snow and white out conditions. All of the highways in Oklahoma were closed for a day and a half! Oklahoma is clearly not equipped to deal with that kind of weather! Unfortunately, with all of the snow, many of our family activities were cancelled or rescheduled and we weren't able to see everyone we were hoping to see. But we left with a promise to come back in the summer this year and hopefully have a few get togethers that will enable us to hang out with some of our extended family a little more!


(Jake, Trent, Drew holding Eli, and Gavin)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas (despite inclement weather!)

November (because aparently I can only blog once a month at best)

Trent's Thanksgiving party at school:

We kicked off the holiday festivities with a classic kindergarten Thanksgiving party in Trent's class. It was very cute and Trent was mostly just so excited that I came to his classroom. I made turkey cookies that Trent proudly passed out to all of his classmates, and the class wore cute little hats and sang several Thanksgiving songs. So cute!

The Christmas Train:

Nanny and PawPaw came for Thanksgiving this year and we went up to Georgetown to ride the Christmas Train and see Santa. The train ride was very fun - the boys enjoyed it very much! During the ride, Santa came and sat with each kid and they each got to write down what they want for Christmas and give it to him. The Santa was very realistic and such a sweet old man. The boys were in awe. On their Christmas lists: Jake - a BIG airplane, and Trent - wii Lego Starwars game (to which Santa replied, "huh?") :)

Thanksgiving:

We had a great Thanksgiving celebrated with Nanny & PawPaw, and with our neighbors, The Borie's. It was my first attempt at home-made pumpkin pie, and I was pleasantly surprised that it came out so well. I won't be so scared to make it from now on! On Thanksgiving night we actually braved the crowds to shop at the Castle Rock Outlets. It was INSANE and something John will probably never do again with me! :)

Jake's 3rd Birthday!:

Capping off the holiday weekend was Jake's birthday. We got to spend it on his actual birthday and partied at a local kiddie gym called Romp n' Roll. The party was very fun, and he had lots of good friends there to celebrate with him. I love the teacher-led activities to keep all the tots busy and best of all they clean it all up when you're done - can't beat that in my book!

I can't believe my baby is three years old. It seems like only yesterday when we were bringing him home from the hospital - it's cliche, but time really does fly!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was very fun. Our neighbor's hosted a great party on Friday night (John and I went as Jon and Kate +8), and then we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. The boys got enough candy to last us through to next year I think!


(our jack-o-lanterns)


(Trent, Jake & Mackenzie trick-or-treating)


(the ninja and the dragon)


(Jon and Kate plus 8 (and a dragon))

Oh SNOW!

Yep, that's right folks, we've had a total of 3 (yes THREE) snow storms in the month of October!!! The first was just a light dusting (but Trent's first experience with the white stuff so we snapped a few pics).

The second was a little more (about 6 inches) and of course we built a snow man!

(Trent snow angel)

The third was just ridiculous, really. We got around 35 inches here in Highlands Ranch where it snowed for 2 days straight. Trent got 3 snow days (unheard of here in Denver!).

(our deck - about 1/2 way through)

(Mackenzie and Jake sledding on our drive)

(John waist deep on the deck)

It stopped and warmed up a bit just in time for trick-or-treating! This week it should be in the 60's all week. Gotta love Denver weather (or NOT!) :)

(our neighbor's Halloween inspired snow man!)

Our New Addition

Many of you already know that we have a new addition in our home since the beginning of September. My Nephew, Trent has come to live with us! Trent is a very sweet little man and we are so happy to have him here with us. Of course it's been an adjustment (having a kindergartner and another little guy around is completely different) but we've settled in and are having a great time with him (Jake especially thinks Trent's awesome)!

Here are a few pictures of Trent!

(Trent on the plane coming to Denver)

(Trent playing at the Denver Children's Museum)

(Trent's 6th Birthday)

Summer is fading...

Well, it's been over a month now since I posted here - and I promised myself I was going to keep up with this darn site! Oh well, what can I say?

Jen had baby Eli and we went to Oklahoma at the end of July/1st of August to visit and meet him. What an amazing experience! Eli was born on his due date (August 1st) just as his mommy hoped he would be (what a good boy), and I was able to be there when he was born. While we were there, I got to spend a lot of quality time with Jen and the rest of my family and Jake got to spend some quality time with his cousins, grandparents and aunts/uncles. It was so much fun. We were sad to leave, but happy to be home (Daddy missed us a lot!)

Eli Joshua Downing 8-1-09

Jake taking the tractor for a ride

Proud big brother Drew with baby Eli

Jake and Drew on Paw Paw's boat

d-day (just a few hours after Eli was born)

School has started now and the young maple tree in my back yard is already starting to change colors. I know fall is on it's way soon. This makes me very sad. I love summer so much and this year it was WAY too short here in Colorado. I hope the summer weather lingers a little longer.

But what can you do? Well, for starters, it's time to look for Halloween costumes, and plan our annual trip to see the Colorado fall foliage! That is definitely something to look forward to!