Colorado: Part Two

I planned on publishing this post the day after part one...and here we are, already at the end of the week.  I just flipped through the rest of the photos yesterday, and here I sit, missing Colorado so much all over again.  Even though they have a fresh 7 inches of snow, I wish I was still there!

Part two of our mountain toddler tales starts during our last few days, when the twin cousins and awesome Aunt Jules finally arrived!!  I love when the quads are together.  Jules and I stood around laughing at the huffing and puffing toddlers asking to be carried, proclaiming they were tired, yet still managed to battle the high altitude.

Our days were jumbled with tea parties, visiting "the girls" (chickens and ducks), fighting over who got which swing on the playground, playing with Scotia (the best mountain pup I ever did see), a cute treasure hunt for children of the forest, teepee shenanigans, hammock love and more.  My favorite activity was watching the treasure hunt.  The kids reactions were precious, my mom is so clever and creative.  What fun memories we all made together.  

Love for Aunt Jess

Lucie June loves to blow bubbles

Tea Party at their newly made mushroom table!

Little girls love to twirl

supercalifragilisticexpialiSCOIOUS!!  we love her

Reading about the children of the forest before the hunt

Lucie had pigtails, so naturally Kaleb and AJ HAD to have them too

A fresh duck egg for each toddler

Hope to visit BMA, Michael, Aunt Jess and Scotia again soon.  Miss and love you all.  Thank you again for such a wonderful trip!!

Colorado: Part One

We had such a fabulous vacation in the Rocky Mountains, and SO many photos I need to break it up in two parts!

Coloring activities on the plane ride.  They were travel professionals!

The boys were the very best travel companions I could ever dream up!  They listened, stayed close, were uber charming, had the entire back end of the plane laughing while waiting on our arrival gate and helped make some of the best memories in our lives yet!!!

My mom always blows me away by her generosity and welcome party.  She greeted us inside the airport, with two new matchbox cars and all the happy hugs and helpfulness I could have asked for.

Our first days were full of time-zone confusion and stormy weather, but it was perfect to get adjusted.  K&A have never been so hilarious, and are simply the best company in the world.  We had a great time exploring the final days of late Autumn.  The boys loved our daily walks to feed the girls (chickens and ducks), visiting the blue aspens in Breckenridge (accidentally got covered in blue....but no worries it's non-toxic and wiped right off), had our very first music lesson in Aunt Jessica's studio, helped BMA in his sewing studio and made some fantastic paintings!

AJ was SO excited when he started playing!

Always gathering leaves for BMA!

Peace and Love

Sewing all by himself!

Incase you didn't already know.....Kaleb's favorite color is RED

The boys and I had a fantastic week and couldn't wait to see the twin cousins.  Part two coming up next.

Happy Fall

Happy FALL!!  

It's officially my favorite time of the year.
Color changing scenery, saying goodbye to mosquito's, pumpkins for days, planting (which I need to do), the return of HOCKEY and apples upon apples!!!!  

Since we are apple pigs over here I thought I'd share our orchard adventure this week.  The boys and I frequently visit the Patterson's Fruit Farm for donut dates and play, but we've never actually been to their family picking orchard.  Now that we've been, holy smokes, we'll have a hard time deciding which site to visit.  One has freshly baked donuts, apple fritters and apple cider slushes (winning in my eyes), the other has corn mazes, tractor rides, a giant corn play pit, tire swings and haystacks for jumping and climbing (winning for K&A). In any case we enjoyed our pants off and left with apple filled bellies and exhausted toddler tornado's.  

This morning library class was all about apples too!  The boys did a fun coloring craft and had to put their masterpieces in sequence (which I've never thought of working on) and AJ was so brave he actually went in front of the class on his own today.  He jumped up when Miss Debbie called his name, took three steps, looked around.....hesitated, then conquered his fear and completed his task.  I was so proud.  However; the rest of the time he had a difficult time listening, so next week I'll discuss "listening dust" a little more thoroughly with him.

And, although my sister suggested I begin a book review section of the blog (like her's, and it's fabulous), which for now I'm not planning on, I do have to share Ruth Orbach's APPLE PIGS!  It's SO good I simply must buy it!  The illustrations are charming and delightful and the story reads so smooth.  Hints of rhyming throughout, a new scene on every page and a really great meaning!  A must find for all library readers!

Also, Geno is so funny.  He loves story time, and reads books with us every night....and sometimes during the day too.

Tomorrow the boys go to their first KinderMusic class!!  If they love it, I hope to make this a weekly activity.

Zoo Adventures

We were lucky to receive free zoo passes for the second time, and couldn't pass up the adventure.  We had a busy weekend first in Pittsburgh, where I got to celebrate one of my very best girlfriends first baby!  And, we had a pizza party to love and sing a very happy birthday to my big sister! 

AJ was still walking around the house today singing "happy birthday Aunt Rachael", and Kman was standing at the sink, brushing his teeth, and pretending to still eat Aunt Rachael's birthday cake.  They are too funny.

We got home late, late from Pittsburgh, so we didn't get to the zoo the following day until the afternoon.  Since the boys slept in everyone stayed in happy spirits without naps.  Phew!  The weather was cool, sunny and happy!  We seriously had such a perfect day.  

All smiles!  Win!

The twin giraffe's have gotten SO big, and they are by far my favorite animal to visit!  The boys loved the elephants and aquarium best.  Kman was so captivated by all the fish, taking his time between two salt water tanks, talking-watching-trying to touch, then chose a fish to ride on the carousal.  

Uncle Timmy hopping like a kangaroo 

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Happy last few days of summer.

September Happenings

Mums for Days

I meant to update last weekend, since inspiration was there...but we jumped on the road for a couple days to celebrate Labor Day with family in Pittsburgh, then blinked our eyes and it's Saturday night.

We are half way through September already.  Jeesh, where is this year going?  I'm planning the boys Halloween costumes, downsizing our toy collection, taking advantage of MAJOR sales by stocking the boys closet with some cute summer clothes for next year and making plans for fall activities to keep the boys entertained.  So far, beginning next Wednesday, the boys are signed up for an hour library class with a wonderful teacher named Debbie, who snuck us in even when the class was listed as full.  I'm so grateful!  The boys will be working with other 2 and 3 year olds playing games, listening to stories and doing arts and crafts.  They're going to L.O.V.E it!

Aside from future plans, we'll touch base with past happenings.  

Last weekend we took the boys to the annual county fair, and it was AWESOME!  Firetrucks, animals, rides, food trucks and tractors!  On the way home Kaleb made us laugh so hard when he requested "go back fair, get more funnel cake!"

The boys favorite.  All smiles & laughing, then they put their arms in the air and yelled "weeee"

We had a wonderful visit with family for Labor Day at my Dads.  I don't know what's wrong with me....I only took a picture of the plum cake I made and nothing else.  

We've also been jumping around Apple Orchards, visiting new Farm parks, enjoying the almost complete patio makeover and laying low this weekend since I'm not feeling the best.

Two pink pigs laying in the mud...bottom left.  AJ wanted IN!

Mostly all meals have been out here since last weekend!  We are replacing the fan and plastic siding next!

Hope everyone is enjoying the month.  Shana Tovah my friends and family!