I Heart Summer in Colorado

This weekend we took a quick trip to Copper Mountain.  John's company was one of the premier sponsors for the Children's Hospital Courage Classic bike ride and fund raiser.  We had a great time together riding the ski lift, hiking, shopping and playing in the bumper boats.  The weather was beautiful (my favorite time of year to enjoy the mountains!).  The boys were very exhausted after the fun filled day and turned in early (which meant some down time for mom and dad relaxing in the condo).  On the way home, we got in some back-to-school shopping at the Outlet Mall in Silverthorn.  Great fun-filled weekend and yet one more weekend avoiding the looming "to do list".  School starts in 6 days and the weather will be changing before we know it, so there will be plenty of time for the "to do's" I think!

Trent and John riding the ski lift up

Family pic at the top

Little mountain man

Mommy and Jake taking a break

Trent and Jake

View from the ski lift

Dad and Jake on the bumper boat

Trent on the bumper boat

It's About Time You Should Meet...

For those of you who have not yet heard, we're baking another little turkey. This time, SHE is due 10 days before her big brother's birthday (November 18). We are so excited to grow our family some more and we can't wait to meet her. Things are so much different the second time around - the time is passing so quickly and there is so much to do yet! Trent and Jake are both very excited (of course they don't have any idea what they are in for :)) John and I are well aware however, so we're enjoying our last few months' sleep before the big day!!

Jamaican Us Crazy... So We Went to Jamaica

Many of you know that we've had a crazy/busy/emotional year in 2009, so John and I decided to take a last-minute trip in February to Jamaica. If you have never been there, you should definitely add it to your list. There was not one thing we did not like about it (people, food, weather, resort, etc - all amazing!). Not to mention that we got to get away from the bitter Colorado cold spell and into 80 degree weather (exactly what the Dr. ordered!) We picked Jamaica because, although it does have some cool things to see, we really just wanted to relax and stay on the resort and really DO NOTHING (something we have not done in a very long time). Luckilly, John and I are the perfect pair and both enjoyed doing nothing but laying at the pool/beach, eating, sleeping and reading! We were also very lucky to have a great nanny here at home watching the boys - they adore her and had so much fun while we were gone (I don't think they even missed us!) Here are some pictures of our trip!

(a view from our balcony)

(a view of the Mountains behind our resort)

(John relaxing on the beach!)

(Leslie on the beach)

(a view of the resort at sun set)

(going out for dinner at the resort)

I Can Hardly Contain Myself!

My latest obsession... Organizing (everything)! I don't know if it's because of the New Year, because of the mountain of new toys we acquired for Christmas, or maybe it's all of the advertisements bombarding me. Regardless, I can't get enough!

The toy room closet!

(before)


(after)

A new bookshelf for the boys!



New shelves in the garage!



Coat and boot racks in the garage!


(masterminded by moi, installed by John)

The list goes on and on, but that's all we could manage to do over the weekend! Up next, my closet (yikes!)

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!