Who can resist a little girl in a leotard?

I love watching dance performances - but like the title, I may be a bit biased to the outfits! This wasn't a recital, jut a little "parent observation day". So, this one's for you Nana and Grandma!

And Brighton decided to try Hip Hop this year - pretty cute, huh? Chris wasn't sure how this would really help further Brighton along in her quest to better herself :), but I figured between this, piano, soccer, Activity Days and basketball, it's all about variety, right? And it can't hurt with the whole gaining coordination thing. (Sorry the video is so bad - I was pinning Gavin down with my legs so he wouldn't run out there with the girls while Carter was climbing on my back at the same time).

Thanksgiving Week

What a fun week of Thanksgiving activities we had! We went to parks, a fun kids climbing place, a museum, did go-cart riding and gun-shooting, cooked out, hosted Thanksgiving, had family stay with us, shopped, etc. The weather was once again just perfect!

 

We also put up our Christmas decorations this week.

 

And like I said, we were able to host Thanksgiving this year at our new home. It was so much fun to get out our China, crystal and silver and use it! We sure missed my parents, though, but did our best without them.

 

My brother Ben and his wife Emily and their 2 girls stayed with us for a few days, and Kim's family of 6 came over for the big day as well.

 

This was the grossest museum we went to - it was all about bodily fluids; you know, snot, vomit, poop, all that stuff that totally amuses kids. Very interesting...We even made homemade boogers. Hence the name "Grossology Museum".

Trick or Treat!

What a fun, exciting day for kids (and adults!). Sydney asked every 30 minutes all day long, "how many more hours until we trick or treat?". It was a fun way to meet lots of new neighbors, and we walked around with lots of new friends. But as usual, we ended the night with a Halloween-themed dinner at the Hurst's (we've been doing this for 4 years now). She's so sweet to do this each year, and we really look forward to it. It was also nice to go back to our old neighborhood and drop by the Haarala's house (our next door neighbors) and see them and their kids. We all mentioned how different it was this year w/o them! Anyway, a very fun night filled with TONS of kids and TONS of candy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Patch Days

Well, it's been raining off and on for a few weeks here, so that makes for a rather muddy pumpkin patch excursion, but a right of passage for Fall with kids, none the less. We went with Kim, Lauren, and Jill and their kids - lots of younguns', and a little wild (hence, no good group shot), but still fun. Thanks girls!

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Sweet Sydney-Lou-Who turned 6 on Thursday! Oh, how I LOVE this little girl! I have missed her so much this year while she's been in school, but she's made some very cute little friends and seems to be loving her new school. Normally I'm against this, but told her for her party this year we could go somewhere else to do her party since we've been a little busy with the move. Of course, she declined and just wanted a good, ol' fashioned yard party. I was SO happy that we were finally able to do this, though, since we finally have a big yard to do it in. Anyway, the girl's had a great time - we just rented a bounce house, decorated cupcakes, and played a few games. Fun stuff!

 

She's such a ham - don't you just love that one missing front tooth while the other's barely hanging on?

 

 

We're Home!

We're SOOO happy to be in our new home. We hope we never have to move again and will be comfortable here for a very long time. I'll have to say that moving with 4 young kids is a rather large undertaking, and I'm just now finally starting to "de-stress", but it was well worth it. We are especially loving our BIG backyard, which is the whole reason we bought the lot in the first place! Our neighbors have been extremely friendly - we've already had dinner brought to us, playdates, and many visits. So here are the pics people have been asking for; just understand that it's a "work in progress." We've got some furniture and rugs on order, no drapes have been put up, etc. There were so many pics that I just made a bunch of collages, but obviously you can click on them to see it bigger.

Front and back of house and parts of the backyard

 

Entry, formal living, formal dining

 

Family room, kitchen and nook

 

Master bathroom, study

 

Sydney's room, Brighton's room, Sydney's bathroom, Brighton's bathroom

 

Gavin's room, gameroom, boy's jack and jill bathroom, Carter's room

 

We're also SO grateful to those who helped us move, especially our brother's in law, Chris' dad, and my sister who watched my kids for me that day! We were laughing pretty hard at our "homemade" move; our caravan back and forth looked more like a "dump run" rather than a move! But it worked GREAT! Thanks again for all the help! We love you guys!

 

He's a Walkin' Boy

Gavin started walking about 1 1/2 weeks ago - just a few days after his bday. I just love these first steps!

I Need Recommendations

Since we'll be moving in 2 1/2 weeks, I'm trying to make some better choices with our utility bills. Have any of you used any VoIP services, like Vonage or Phone Power? How do you like them? Do they drop your calls often? Can you go from one end of the house to the other on the same phone? What about Dish? Anyone get a great deal somewhere? Also, who's got a great, cheap DSL service? Thanks for your help!

Happy 1st Birthday, Gavin!

That was then,
(birth)

(6 weeks)

(4 months)

(6 months)

(8 months)


...this is now! Happy bitrhday, sweet, happy, smily, BUSY, mischevious, boy!

Random

I was looking through Brighton's camera from our vacation this summer and found this; I laughed pretty hard.

Just Hold It

Carter, Gavin and I were checking out at the grocery store yesterday and I could tell that Carter really had to go potty. I told him "Just try and hold it for a few more minutes - we're almost done." His reply: "But Daddy told me I'm not supposed to hold it." Funny, literal kid.

Only 1 hr. and 12 min. to go...

...until I see my babeis again! The first day of school is always so SLOW for me, especially when I have a brand new Kindergartener!

 

 

House Pics - for Mom

Mom asked for some updates on our house - it's really coming along and we're getting SO excited for it to be finished. We close on our house we're in right now in 1 1/2 weeks (after almost 100 showings in 4 1/2 months - crazy!), will rent back from them, and then close on our new one on Oct. 10. Yay!
The front - getting close on the bricking; the back is complete.

 

The formal living room and dining room just past that; view from the entry.

 

Formal living bay window.

 

Nook and part of the kitchen (view from family room).

 

Family Room

 

Kitchen

 

Sorry - don't have any pics of bedrooms, study, etc., but these are more of the open areas and give you a better feel of the house. We miss you, Mom!

Colorado Trip Part 1

For our summer vacation this year we went to Colorado for 10 days and had the most wonderful time. I was actually quite impressed with how well the kids did in the car, too (everything's better in hind sight, right?). Does any state get more beautiful than this one? We started out in Colorado Springs and went to church there, Garden of the God's, the Zoo, and then down to Canon City to the Royal Gorge park.
This is Garden of the God's - SO beautiful! The kids loved climbing on all the rocks.