Family

 

These last two days, B and I had the pleasure of going on a mini-vacation to Estes Park!  Thanks to LivingSocial, I got a good deal at a nice lodge, Murphy's River Lodge.  Thanks to my mom, we had someone we love and trust taking care of the kids.  Unfortunately, we had a few issues with the room temperature not working correctly and hearing everything above us, but the room was nice and the staff was really friendly.  There was a jacuzzi in our room, so we got to relax in that and watch movies in the evening.  Believe me, it was hard not to pick an animated movie, but we did it.:)  The river was frozen, so B didn't do any fishing.

The town was beautiful and quiet.  A lot of the shops were closed, and we weren't used to not seeing hordes of people on the street.  We did discover a nice knitting shop, which was my favorite, but I didn't by anything.  I love perusing knitting shops and I LOVE alpaca yarn, but at $15-$20 a skein, I can't bring myself to buy it.  Maybe when we become rich.:)  We did buy some souvenirs for the kids, though.  F and Cb's love Brave, so we bought them each a bow and arrows.  Cb's bow has black bears carved on it and F's has moose.  The tips are rubber, so they can't do too much damage.  I didn't think they'd be able to shoot them, but they figured it out quickly.  I set up some stuffed animals in the living room for them to "hunt".  Let's just say, the angry birds and stuffed pug didn't make it.  Little A loves sorting things, so we bought her some nesting dolls.  The shop where we bought the nesting dolls was awesome!  They had so many cool nesting doll sets.  B bought a cute Winnie the Pooh nesting set for himself.  Tiny A doesn't like too much, yet, so we bought him a stuffed moose.  He's more interested in playing with whatever everyone else doesn't want him touching.:)

Before leaving for our trip, I took some pictures of these adorable faces.  Enjoy!

Crafting and Happy Faces

 I don't know where F picked these up, but I think he's flashing some gang signs.  Beware of the silly-tongued gangsta!  Holla! 

 Here are some things we've made recently.

Since F is sharing a room with tiny A, now, I have him pick out his clothes before he goes to bed so that he doesn't wake the baby up in the morning.  To help motivate him, I made a cardboard F for him to dress each night.  I made a cardboard Cb's, too, but she got tired of dressing her.  Now, she is just hanging by the window in her room, creepily staring at them while they sleep.  Before we got used to cardboard F hanging around in the hall, everytime I turned around I got a little start my immediate reaction was to tell him to go back to bed.  Thankfully, I'm used to seeing cardboard F, now.

My sweet friend and sister-in-law had her 30th birthday this month!  I was so excited to surprise her and take her out for her birthday.  B and the kids hung out at Granny and Grampy's and were very gracious to give me the day off to celebrate this wonderful lady.  I am in love with fingerless gloves, so I knit her these.  I love the color and the little sparkle that's in the yarn, which you can't really see in the picture.

Little A felt her water bottle deserved a picture.  She is rockin' the potty train!

Today, tiny A decided to help himself to a snack.  He went into the cupboard and pulled out a few things, as you can see, but settled on the Chex.  How can you be upset when the little man is so happy and proud of himself!?

A Tiny Birthday!

 Our littlest man turned 1!  We had a tiny-sized bash to celebrate.

Christmas Countdown Day 4

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High." Luke 1:32

Today, we got to make snowflakes for our Christmas countdown activity.  I folded the paper and drew designs on each one for the kids to cut out.  Cutting through all those layers was a little difficult for their little hands, though.  Cb's managed to "cut through" and made a very nice snowflake all by herself!

Here are just a few things that gave me joy, today:

Homemade Skinny Pumpkin Spiced Latte

Tiny A sucking his thumb while sleeping

Tiny A smiling brightly at me, even though I had to wake him up from his nap to go pick up his big bro from preschool.

F running around the living room with a booster chair strapped to his butt!

Summer Food!

What?  Do I have something on my face?

Atticus is eating solid foods now, and though he is darn cute, he isn't the best aim when it comes to getting the food in his mouth.  Nevertheless, he is having fun with this new chapter of his life!

Brad and the kids ended the summer with a backyard campout.  We used Jumbo marshmallows to make our s'mores and they were quite tasty!

Cadence got the prize for the messiest eater.

Finn, surprisingly, was the cleanest eater.

 

Aria, was the stickiest eater, getting marshmallow all over her hands, face, dress and hair.  Into the bathtub with her!