Our Little Bubble

Yeah for Collages

2012-01-31T09:40:00.002-05:00

I'm rather obsessed with picture collages at the moment and have been pinning them like crazy on Pinterest. I have to rely on pictures for ideas, I just don't trust my judgement on the spacing and what looks right. This one is still a little off, but it wasn't bad for the quickie I gave it. And those pic frames were uber expensive from the dollar store. Yah, we're big ballers :) I'll buy nicer frames someday (for now the boys have knocked them off the wall a couple times and broke one already... no need to ~~spend~~ say more)

My first go at it in the new pad. Right before Mason was born I decided the red-headed step children's bedroom needed some love. Poor little boys, their room was baren, cold looking and so un-cozy.

I ordered mostly goofy pictures of them in the sepia color. There are lots of brown and tan tones in their curtains and I painted the P and K so they would always know who's bed was who's :) I would like to eventually do a collage with a mixture of kids paintings, drawings and cute photos of them.

Here's a favorite wall collage we did from 08' on my favorite mango wall! It was John's favorite color too, I'm certain all men would agree.

An unhealthy relationship?!?

2012-01-30T11:14:00.000-05:00

Your always there when I need you. You pick me up when I am down. You've been like a best friend lately. Although, sometimes I fear our relationship might start becoming a little bit too dependent (on MY END for sure) and I'm slightly obsessed, but I don't even care! It might even be unhealthy at times and someday the time will come that I will eventually wein you out of my life and replace you with something healthier... but until then your getting me through a tough time! Coffee-- your the best... thank you :)

and nursing a 4 week old all night isn't even the main cause of my sleep deprivation. no really.

if only Kellen and Preston could sleep in until sometime-- anytime after 5:15am. please, please little ones!

Much Love Baby...

2012-01-28T12:15:00.001-05:00

Showing Mason some love :)

thank goodness for this baby sling! I've used it more in the last 2 weeks than I have in four years.

YES my kids are in their jammie's, for pictures.... again!

I wasn't planning on taking pics of all of them yet, but Adrian insisted! He is becoming somewhat of a picture hog. I will take full responsibility for that... I've created a mini monster.

Bringing home Mason hasen't rocked the boy's world as much as I thought it might. Adrian says he'd like to be a baby again too, just like Mason and he asks to hold him a lot. Preston is always asking us if he can "pet" the baby (I have to remind him Mason is not a dog) and he likes to touch his tiny fingers. Kellen gets curious only when he thinks we aren't looking. But the minute Mason cries... Kellen is the first to run and tell us to go get him.

Lucky guy, he's got some pretty sweet brothers!

Photo shoot with Mason

2012-01-24T13:34:00.000-05:00

I had so much fun having a little mini photo shoot with Mason last week. Here are a couple of the shots (more to post later) He's very photogenic :) I just love babies at this age... they make the perfect little subjects to take pictures of! Next I'd like to try to get some pics of all 4 boys together. That will be the REAL CHALLENGE!! I've got to pick a day that I have much more patience than normal :)

that sweet little half smile.

He looks like a fake doll in this one. And yes he is as sweet as he looks!

For your viewing pleasure.

2012-01-21T10:51:00.002-05:00

An awesome collection of some sky photography I've captured over the last couple months. Many days I'll notice more than 3 or 4 different types of clouds within view at one time. Somedays, the sky here reminds me of the Tampa skyline over the ocean. Looking at the sky is like looking at beautiful artwork.

This looks like someone took a paint brush to these clouds, it doesn't look real.

How crazy, wicked is this cloud? This was on one of the few grey days we've had. This weird giant grey mushroom hung out over us all day. Bizarre.

A dusting of snow on the mountains, beautiful!!

John and I picked the kids up from school one day... I was hungry and pregnant and admiring the cotton candy-like clouds.

A Review AND Giveaway: Green Cleaner (Hey Ladies & Moms!)

2012-01-19T13:56:00.004-05:00

First, let me state that I would never entertain the idea of doing a product review on something I didn't really believe in and want to use myself. With that being said, I was flattered when "Parents of a dozen" asked me to review a couple "Shaklee" products.

What is Shaklee? They are a natural nutrition company that has been around for over 50 years. And they make the planet healthier along the way. Here are 3 important statements for their product philosophy, which are: "always safe", "always works" and "always green", they are one of the leading health product manufactures globally.

If you follow my blog at all then you know I have been slowly trying to "Go Green" and incorporate more Organic products and foods into our home. I really believe that there are more harmful chemicals in our cleaning products and in our foods today than 50 years ago when our parents were growing up. I feel that chemicals and unnatural substances in our foods, cleaning products, and pollutants in our environment are affecting the development of our children today. Knowing that I won't be able to control what chemicals my kids are around and what they are putting in their mouths when they get older, it makes me feel great that I can do something about it now and hopefully teach them at a young age the importance of healthy living and the benefits of a more natural lifestyle. Of course it's most often easier and cheaper to just grap what's on sale regardless of what chemicals it contains and how clean the item is (trust me, budgetting a family of six now is no easy task) But it's a give and take, and I've made this more of a hobby and passion.

So that's it-- that's my story and that's why I enjoyed this review and giveaway :)

So here we go....

First I used this tiny package of wonderfulness... this tiny tube makes 2 bottles of powerful cleaner when diluted in 16 ounces of water.

Basic H2 could be used on any washable surface – indoors or out.

Walls, Windows and Mirrors, Countertops, Floors, Appliances, Stoves, Sealed Woodwork, Pots and Pans, Furniture. Clean Credentials: Nontoxic, Natural, Doubly Concentrated and Biodegradable Surfactants.

I used it on my counters and on my stainless steal appliances (the pictures didn't do it justice because of the marble texture counters and glare) but I normally use a couple popular chemical free all purpose cleaners and this H2 did the same great job.

Here's the "Scour Off" I tried out. It's a heavy duty paste. I loved that it worked well and had no weird or strong smell to it.

It cleaned the stove nicely and did a wonderful job on the stainless steal as well.
(yes my stove was a hot mess!! that's what happens when you have 3 crazy boys and a 2 week old newborn... cleaning my stove is not top on the priority list. But this review was a good excuse to do so :)

foamed up nice

The Basic H2 Cleaner worked great on my sink.

Overall, I was very happy with the performance of both of these products and look forward to trying out some more Green products in the Shaklee Line.

If you'd like to check out more information on the Shaklee product line and to get cleaning tips, decorating tips, etc. or to visit this wonderful family that belongs to Sharon and Doug, just go here: Parents of a Dozen.

Also, here is a great resource if your just getting started in your journey to get Green Cleaning :)
Get Clean Kits.

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The Giveaway
(10 winners, open until 1/27)

A free sample of the Basic H2-- this makes 2 bottles of powerful cleaner:

2 drops to 16 oz. of water in a Get Clean Spray Bottle for cleaning windows and mirrors. Then, mix 1/4 tsp. to 16 oz. of water in a Get Clean Spray Bottle for all-purpose cleaning.

POD (Parents of a Dozen) will giveaway 10 of these Basic H2 packets, So if you'd like to try it out, (it's FREE and worth it :) just leave a comment here stating you'd like to give it a shot and also for an additional entry go to Parents of a Dozen and leave a comment that you've subscribed to their blog and would like to try out the Basic H2. And last, if you become a Shaklee lover you will get a special offer for new members that order through the POD website.

Happy and Healthy Cleaning Ladies!!

Eighteen Days and Big Bros

2012-01-18T20:56:00.001-05:00

18 days into his new life and Mason is a well behaved, low maintenance baby :) and now that I just typed that, he'll develop colic behavior, gas issues and spit up like it's his job. Really tho, other than having his days and nights a little mixed up, he's making having a fourth child slightly, slightly easy... so far. And now if I could just get the other 3 boys to sleep past 5:15am 7 days a week we might be onto something like a decent schedule with at least 5 to 6 hours of sleep for me somewhere in there. Seriously our boys have got to be used to the 2 hour Mountain Time change by now!!!

The boys really seem to love having a tiny new little brother. I catch Preston and Adrian staring at him sleeping in the pack n play and talking to him quite often. They're doing great in their big brother role.

Mini John #1 holding Mini John #2 :)

I can't wait to post the pics of my mini photo shoot I did with Mason.

Hopefully I'll be finished with them next week.

Currently, "Jammie Day" at our house is about 4 days a week.

The trio sporting their super cute new jammies from Gma Honey. Perfect since we wear these types of threads more than anything these days. And since bringing Mason home, there are somedays we go from jammies to bathtime to new jammies. Yeah!

Now I can get this shirt.

2012-01-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

My next t-shirt purchase!

Boy Mom T-shirts
(they have girl mom ones too and I think boy/girl ones even)

I'm a boy mom. When we were at Target a couple months ago this sweet little old lady saw us with all three boys and stopped to chat in the middle of an isle. She complimented us on our family then proceded to tell me that I will get a free pass into heaven for raising all these boys :) (first I've heard that one) and gosh she didn't even notice my growing bump under my jacket either. I wasn't about show her and open up that convo.
So I have to wonder, does this mean since having Mason-- will this put me in the "two" free passes category?!?! :)

I love these shirts!

Sweet Pea Pictures

2012-01-12T08:48:00.001-05:00

I'm actually too tired to type anything with much substance. I'm staring at a pile of hospital paperwork to go through, Insurance papers, mail from last week, and pre-school registration papers for next year, a desk that's a hot mess... and my head is spinning. I save this stuff to finish when the kids are still sleeping at night or in the morning, now I just need some motivation and my morning cup of coffee... stat!

Hitting up the Hills and Slopes

2012-01-10T08:15:00.002-05:00

Right before Mason was born we made time to hit up this huge hill in our neighborhood with the kids. This seems to be a "hot spot" for sledding fun, it was packed full of parents, kids, sleds, tubes, boogie boards and snowboards.

The boys had a blast! John was at the bottom down there figuring out how to get Kellen and the sleds back up the hill. All while Adrian kept sliding back down the hill while walking up it.

Poor John was whooped after about 6 trips down the hill. Next time I'll be a non-pregnant participant and able to help out more.

Kellen's is still too little and could only ride with dad.

We think Adrian might be a great candidate for snowboarding next year. He has no fear and loves trying new things in the snow. Let's hope so, John can't wait to have one of his sons be a snowboard buddy!

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John did hit the real slopes this weekend at Breckenridge. He's been chomping at the bit to go snowboarding ever since we moved to Colorado. And finally... his day came this weekend :) It was well deserved by our hard working man!!

Our friend Geoff from college-- checking out that beautiful view.

The Wonderful Colorful House

2012-01-07T08:20:00.002-05:00

The boys received this cool house as a gift for Christmas (thank you!! xoxo) and let me tell you, it was a wonderful source of entertainment for them. A great idea for those who have some young kids that like to color and play house. It was made by Discover Kids. It's a cardboard house that you can put together in about 10 minutes and then color with markers. The boys spent about 4 straight days coloring and decorating, and playing in it. They wore it out after about a week (they ARE boys), but it occupied them so much during that time and it was something the whole house contributed to coloring and playing with.

It's always fun to be a kid again!

Baby Mason Update & a Guest Post

2012-01-05T08:33:00.002-05:00

It's a Guest Post... a first for my little blog.

First a Quick Update: We've been home for not quite 24 hrs and it's pretty crazy... and crazy busy! Although the boys are very sweet and gentle to their new brother, we still have to protect him and keep a watchful eye on all 4 boys 24/7. Mason will spend lots of time in his baby sling being cared around by mom! It's already sinking in just how much harder this is going to be than when we brought Kellen home 2 1/2 years ago. I feel like we were mentally preparing for 9 months and now that he is here, we're preparing all over again :) However, I wouldn't trade this craziness for anything... I absolutely love having a baby in the house again!!!

teeny tiny

So... while we are very busy and sleep deprived with a new baby and getting our life on some sort of schedule I thought it would be a perfect time to slip in a guest post by a favorite blog of mine.

Without further ado... Meet Lesley from "The Floyd Boys", a new found blogging mom friend :) she's a great mom to 2 very cute little boys, she's adorable, smart and sweet and I'm certain you'll think so to!

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Hi there! I'm Lesley and I blog over here. My blog is where I share my life, memories and pictures of our two little boys.

I really love Christa's blog, and am so happy to be guest posting for her.

I wanted to share a few things that motherhood has taught me along the way. I'm still a newbie at this since my boys are only 1 and 3 years old, but I'm sure we all can agree that you learn quite a bit from toddlers.

The first thing I think of when it relates to my boys is, unconditional love. I understand this so much more now that I'm a mother. It doesn't matter how bad a day, how many things were broken or how many tantrums my 3 year old had. My love for him never waivers. My kids don't have to do anything to earn my love and they will never lose it.

Selflessness :: Motherhood is literally laying down your life for your children. I do have dreams and goals for my own life, but in this season that my children are little, I'm setting them aside to invest in their lives. This is everything that goes against what the world says you should want for yourself. It should be all about you, because you deserve it. The bible says there is no greater love, than laying down your life.

Letting go :: I can be such a perfectionist. I love an organized home and little boys with clean clothes and faces. I've learned that's not going to get me anywhere in life. In the end, I don't want to feel regretful that I didn't make more c~~rafts~~ "crabs"with my boys or that we didn't just leave the house a mess and head to the park for the day. These are the things I want to remember when I look back on my life. Even if I got all the laundry done that day, there will be more tomorrow. But those little boys wont be little for long.

So, those are just a few things that I try to remember during this season of my boy's "little years". Please stop by and say hello, or even share with me what motherhood has taught you.

Congrats to you and your family Christa! Your hands are full of good things :)

Our New Year's Day Baby!!

2012-01-03T15:10:00.002-05:00

Mason James
5.4 lbs 19.25 inches
1/1/2012

NY's Superstitions: Babies born on the New Year are said to be lucky for life and the family of a New Year's baby will have good luck that year.

Here he is! Our surprise gift on New Year's Day.
We just need one more boy to make a real, legit basketball team :)

Mason is beautiful and handsome like his brothers-- healthy and perfect!
We are very lucky, blessed and in love!!!
and tired :)

I could just stare at him for hours and hours...

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And this is a gift for him below (it's not as brutal as it looks). My mom sent me this picture... Mason's brother's made him a birthday cake today in preparation for his arrival home. They're so sweet! It's got diapers on the bottom, layered with kleenex a purple man magnet, and gobs of A&D ointment so they were able to stick the nail file "candle" to the top of the cake. Very creative!

A couple hours of light therapy for Mason and we'll be heading home sweet home.

A New Year and the Liebster Blog Award

2011-12-31T13:32:00.009-05:00

We are about to embark on another New Year!! WhooHoo to that!
A New Year and adding on a new little face to these fun and goofy pictures.

(they love their pretend glasses, i mean LOVE)

Here's to 2012... I feel the same as I did last New Years and have the same message,
2011 post: Happy New Year

** However, I would like to add on more "balance" or "a better juggling act" in 2012.
I hope to find the right balance for all the things that I love.

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I'm honored to have been presented with the:

Given by to me by: The Floyd Boys

a new fav too... (thanks Lesley!!)

Now, you might be wondering what the heck is a Liebster Blog Award. I had no idea? It originated in Germany and recognizes up-and-coming bloggers. It is meant to showcase those who have fewer than 200 followers. (Liebster means “ favorite” or “dearest” in German) In the spirit of pay-it-forward... I have picked 4 of my favorite blogs to share from 2011. (and I have so many more, but not enough time)

Starr Family Blog

This was a no brainer. I really, really enjoy this blog! Kate is so fun and creative and has extraordinary decorating taste and awesome DIY tutorials, and adds a little bit of fun family life in between. And she's from my my old neck of the woods, my hometown in Ohio, so that's a bonus and a rare one.

Mommie Couture

This has been one of my steady follows for some time now. Jenn is sweet, cute, stylish and a newer mom and has a neat creative little website/blog design company called Chirp & Bloom (cute name!) And she's from our former temporary home state of Florida.

Trey and Lucy

Now I didn't follow this award by the book (this blog has a lot more than 200 followers) but it's a wonderful DIY cratfty blog that was a favorite for a long time. It looks as though Tanya has been a little busy but her "tutorial" link is great and has some awesome ideas!! I tried this one out last year Eyelit Trim Belt. It was super easy and added a cute accessory to some of my Blah shirts.

Running in Heals

Nicole is a young fun loving spirited blogger and runner. I suppose I live a tad bit vicariously through her young life. She blogs about anything and everything and running too. She was also a great brain to pick when we were moving to CO. She used to attend school here and had wonderful advise to give about the areas. We actually moved to one of the towns she raved about. Through blogs I have discovered once again just how small this world can be.

It seems that the blogs I enjoy are always changing and growing... it really depends on what's going on in my world. If I'm in a crafty mood then it's DIY and decor blogs, if I'm pregnant than I gravitate towards mom and pregnancy blogs. My taste is ever evolving and that's a good thing... broadening those old horizons of mine :)

Top 11 of 2011

2011-12-29T08:37:00.004-05:00

I jumped at the chance to put together my top favorite 11 photos of our children of 2011. I thought this would be a fun link-up. It's been nice sifting through pictures from the last year.

It was very hard to pick just 11!!!

Now for a mini walk down memory lane of 2011.

Our first walk on the new trail in our backyard in CO this past September. I love the mountains and the freedom this picture represents, all three little boys running to the park on the trail. It was a gorgeous day!

Our first visit at the our favorite park down the street from our new neighborhood. Adrian was a monkey that day.

Adrian is so excited about this new baby and just so loving and protective. I think that this picture shows that. And of course the foothills and awesome blue sky in the background are gorgeous.

I like this action shot. Family picture out take. I'm trying to get the kids to stand still, look at the camera, quit goofing around and John is patiently waiting to smile for the 100th picture taken that day. It's just typical... a little chaos mixed with some patients, a laid back dad, a mom with a challenge and a goal of trying for that perfect family picture (or just everyone looking in the same direction would have been satisfying :)

I love how relaxed John is and how much Kellen is enjoying his peaceful time with dad.

All my boys enjoying a sunny day in Ohio right before the big move this summer.

All three boys connecting with one another. Of course... this one is priceless no doubt :) I wish they weren't sporting their jammies tho.

More brotherly love.

I had to make a dual picture out of this so I could include them both. Preston looks so cute in my brothers hat and I love Kellen's eyes and his unique brown spec. It's such an innocent picture.

It's priceless the way Adrian is looking at my grandma Julia, and she is priceless!

Walking with my little ducklings.

Link up here at:

Click. Pray. Love, Click It Up A Notch, or Naptime Momtog.

Homestretch: The End is Near!

2011-12-27T17:00:00.004-05:00

Is the end getting close for this pregnancy? Perhaps? Maybe? I do think so!!
My prediction is this new baby will bless us shortly after the New Year.

34.4 weeks 36 weeks

(In just a little more than a week the baby and this belly has popped out at least another inch or 2)

Signs that the end is near:

the waddle walk has already begun
the cravings for ice cream and carbs are overpowering (as I type this, I just polished off a pint of mocha chocolate chip ice cream, Sooo Yum! thanks Amy & Jeff)
I feel the need to cram a bunch of cleaning, nesting, errands, and list making into the next few weeks
feel like I borrowed my hips from my 80+ year old grandmother
standing up from the sitting position on the floor takes me entirely too long
I'm ready to pack my hospital bag
I got a great pedicure the other day (can't have jacked up, un-manicured feet for my OB when he delivers)
can't keep my eyes open past 8:30
breathing is challenging as my lungs feel totally crushed
nighttime trips to the potty have doubled, no tripled
I've had to break out the belly support band to help hold up the baby/belly
I can't tell the difference between growing belly pains and braxton hicks (you'd think after 3 kids this would be a cinch, not so!)
moving much slower, like turtle speed
I'm actually sitting down trying to relax for a couple hours each day and that is very unusual for me.
I'm starting to get nervous and John's requested that I hold the baby in until Feb or March... oh sure thing!

He was here! Cookies & Milk... Ho Ho Ho

2011-12-25T14:01:00.001-05:00

The past couple days we've been preparing to feed the white haired, big belly, red cheeked, jolly old man. I feel like we're having just as much fun as the kids are this year, reliving our childhood dreams of catching Santa in the act and waking up to oodles of gifts under the tree.

The best part is eating them. For me and the boys! I was almost sugar shocked and sick after eating a little too much cookie dough and frosting. I had no self control and it's always like this for me these last couple weeks of pregnancy. Weak I am!! So Weak... to sugar and excess of carbs! They are my best friends right now.

6:45 am Santa has left his gifts, eaten our cookies, drank our milk and left a sweet note.

A box of kleenex moment!
The boys listening to a book that was pre-recorded and read by Great Grandma Julia! Yes, a Sob-fest!
It was so sweet! I'm sure we'll be listening to grandma read this every night to all of us.
Miss all of our family and friends and hope everyone had a great Christmas!
Big Hugs and Kisses!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-23T08:31:00.008-05:00

And here it is... this years Christmas card that I opted not to mail out this year. Too tired, too pregnant and I just didn't have the energy.

From our Family to Yours...

We Hope Everyone has a Wonderful Christmas and Fantastic New Years!! xoxo

This Santa was much better than Last Years Santa: 2010. The "she-man" Santa. It was a women with a bad beard. But it was sweet, she tried to be a dude and tried to have a man voice... and we appreciated it!

And the boys look so little in 2009's Christmas Card.

Telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas was absolutely priceless to watch.

I hope they believe in Saint Nicolas for a very long time because it's just so sweet!

John tells me that the kids are perfecting his fake "cheeeeese" smile. Yes, it's obvious in these 2 shots :) John, Kellen and Adrian's faces. It usually starts happening around the 20th time I say "say cheeeese" or "show me your teeth." I don't blame them, I am definitely that annoying mom, pathological picture taker!!!

After our visit with Santa we took the boys out to lunch (we try this about once a month... and it's not always a pleasure, about 50/50 :) Maybe it was the excitement from seeing Santa, I'm not sure... but the boys were on their best behavior and it was probably the best "out to eat" experience with all of them in a long time. It made for a great day!

(and now it's documented so when we try this again in January and it's a total nightmare we can look back at this and not lose hope :)

X Factor Krajcik Magic: Go Josh!

2011-12-22T08:43:00.005-05:00

Wow, I can't believe (I actually can since he is amazing!) but it was a little surreal watching Josh last night on the Xfactor now in the top 3! His performance was breathtaking and moving. It was so neat to see my former high school on the show last night. No doubt Josh has a BIG following! His voice is wonderful, he is unique and a great, great performer and this is definitely his time to shine! Now we'll patiently wait in anticipation untl 7:00pm Mountain Time tonight to see if he'll win 1st place. Regardless if he wins this show or not I'm certain he'll sign with a big label, make popular records, tour and start getting the recognition he's deserved for the past 15 years. And I have this feeling that we'll be able to watch him perform at the Red Rock Ampatheater in CO someday in the future!! And that my friends would be AWESOME!

Go Josh, Krajcik Magic, Sing Beast Sing, Beast to Win it!

In case you need a recap: Josh's Xfactor Audition

Recap of: Last nights amazing final performance

Successfully stretching out my Josh Krajcik T-shirt. We were preparing for the viewing of the show last night.

Little Josh (Krajcik Magic) fans :)

Official Fan Page

Out with the OLD and in with the NEW: A lesson in giving.

2011-12-20T10:56:00.003-05:00

Teaching the meaning of giving.

Most of my weekend was spent picking through our current toys with the kids, figuring out what they'd like to give to children in need and what they'd like to keep. I told them that Santa can't bring them more toys because we have no more room. And Santa needs more toys to give to other little kids. It's a wonderful lesson for them to learn and I hope we're successful at raising children that are caring, empathetic, and sympathetic to others. Such an important lesson!

They took it to the extreme at first... they started throwing ALL of their toys in the bags, overly generous. I had to explain this process a couple more times before they understood it more clearly. I was pleasantly surprised they were willing to give just about anything to the "giving bag" without any hesitation or a fight.

That green suede stool that doubles for a toy box is my favorite! They are the best dual purpose toy box/seating must haves (Target: about $15 or so). We have three and I usually keep them in the living room so when company comes over we can just toss all the toys in and then it "looks" clean :)

It's still congested but with 3 little kids, there's just no hiding it all. Their main play area is the landing upstairs so it's sort of hidden from the main view, which is nice.

I'd like to keep up the "giving" activity and do this 2x a year. Christmas and Spring.

(2 bags and 1 big box to donate)

We're ready for Santa baby!

Sunday Confessions: My Boys

2011-12-18T14:15:00.010-05:00

This post is a tiny bit daring for me as I teater back and forth with my blog as to what's too much to put out there and how vulnerable or opinionated do I really want to sound. I admit I love these link-ups, it gives me an excuse to write and post about different things other than the same old, same old.

So here it goes my first Sunday Confessional blog post.

The last 8-9 months I've actually enjoyed (no I really have) the look on peoples faces, mostly strangers when they see my growing belly and then find out we have 3 little boys... sometimes it's "wow, another kid", "wow, four of them", "your done, right?" and then it's, "are you hoping for pink?", "oh I bet you'd love a girl", "I bet it's a girl this time around" all of these just make me laugh! Maybe it's because it's towards the end of my pregnancy and I've heard it all by now. The truth is, of course I'd be delighted with some pink in our family, now or someday. My friends and family all know this, no secret there, we all joke and laugh about it and that's fun and maybe this baby will be our pink addition? and maybe not? But the reality is, we really just wanted a big family and... Mission Accomplished :) Now Pink or Blue this baby was planned and created with lot's of love and will be the perfect fit to our family no matter what the gender is.

And here's the real reason I wrote this today. Yesterday we went to see Santa and the woman in front of us had 4 little kids with her, 2 boys, 2 girls and all about 2 years apart. We ended up chatting and she confessed to me that she wanted 4 boys (no lie!! really!) She said she was rather devastated (her exact words) when her 2nd child was a girl. I was very surprised at this, never would I think a mom would say this. I assumed all moms of boys would like a girl at some point?!? I assumed wrong. I felt this sense of comfort talking to her, call it fate or whatever but that conversation with her happened for a reason, I needed that, I needed her to confess that to me. In 3-4 weeks I just might be living this random woman's dream of 4 boys? I feel more ready than ever to have this baby! In the last 2 years, all the time we've contemplated adding on to our family, I've thought of all the scenarios... a boy or a girl. Will this be our last baby? maybe? probably. If we have four boys, could I see us adopting a girl someday? If I am an all boy mom will we have lot's of granddaughters? If this is a girl will I know how to be a good girl mom? Would I care for a girl the same way as my boys? I have a soft spot for boys and they can throw a fit and I don't feel as annoyed as when I see a little girl throwing the same tantrum. Weird, I know.

And my last confession, my least favorite thing to hear someone say when they are pregnant or trying to become pregnant for the second time is this:

"I already have my boy and I want a girl now, OR I already have my girl and I only want a boy"

What happened to the cliche "just a healthy baby would be great" I really like that one and it would never rub anyone the wrong way. And what about those who have had to endure hurdles of testing, medications and interventions to become pregnant, and then some do and some don't become parents. I bet those comments would be slightly agitating, just like it might be to someone parenting all one gender. Everyone is of course entitled to be picky and to their own opinion. Thank goodness for that. I just chose to share mine today and maybe my Sunday Confession's might be too open book-like, but today I decided that I don't really mind if they are :)

walking my little basketball team of boys to go see santa yesterday

"Before you were conceived I wanted you, Before you were born I loved you, Before you were here an hour I would die for you, This is the miracle of love"
-Maureen Hawkins

Linking up with AdelynSTONE

Super Hero's and Sugar Highs

2011-12-17T10:30:00.005-05:00

After we took Rachel and Chase to the airport Sunday we continued on with our full weekend and headed to northern Denver for a SUPER HERO BIRTHDAY! Melissa and Adam threw their son Blake a fantab Birthday Partay!! We are very lucky to have met this family... they are all good eggs!

Kellen loved Blake and Karson's piano.

What a cool idea, I loved the Super Hero theme! What little boy wouldn't be in heaven?!? The kids had masks and capes and wonderful goody bags filled with super hero treasures gallor.

We all had so much fun and Preston ate so much frosting that he threw it all up at 2 am. Blue and green carpet and sheets. Totally my fault... that's what happens when I don't regulate enough and didn't make him eat more dinner before all the sweet stuff. And at one point Kellen wasn't even using his hands, just face diving into his frosting filled cupcake. Sugar can be a parents worst nightmare yet we can't take all that fun away. I mean we could I suppose but who wants to be that evil vilan, no fun parent? On normal (non-birthday party) days I think we do pretty well at cutting back on that kiddy crack-like substance.
Sugar, Sugar, Sugar!!

Oh the joys of parenting-- and still learning to parent even after 3 kids. Trial and error... A parent learns a new lesson everyday!!!

Kids Crafty Christmas Tree

2011-12-16T10:55:00.005-05:00

Have I mentioned lately how much my kids love scissors, glue, play-doh and construction paper?!?!

We try to squeeze in one crafty project a week. Last week it was a homemade Christmas tree. Oh how do I love the dollar tree :) we get all of our crafty supplies there. Lot's of glitter, poster board, foam, colored popcycle sticks and puff ball thingymagigers.

Such an in the moment, Adorable Picture!

Santa Preston... in deep thought contemplating his next play-doh project.

As simple as cutting, coloring, drawing and gluing can bring so much joy. It's the basic things, the simple things... it's the small things!

I've found that glue on a paper plate, applied with a Q-tip is much easier and less messy.

And yes, we do just about everything in our jammies in the morning before school.

Holiday's are such a great time to incorporate kids crafts and turn it into a teaching lesson about these special days that we celebrate every year.

Linking up with:
Happiness Is... (Handmade)

Colorado Welcomes Hotlanta

2011-12-13T16:21:00.004-05:00

Such perfect timing...

One of my closest friends and her son visited us from Atlanta. It was a great weekend of site seeing, hanging out, playing with the kids and lot's of catching up! It's always a good time when we get together. Rachel has always been one of those "mom" inspirations! She makes being a mom of four kids look so easy.

Last summer's visit.

The previous summer's visit.

We laughed until our belly's hurt. We stayed up too late (for a tired pregnant woman) and we probably crammed too much into the weekend, but it was fun! And with the baby coming in 4-5 weeks... some good ole girl time was just what my OBGYN ordered.

Just a tad bit excited for a girl's dinner night out!

Headed up to lookout point, learned about Buffalo Bill and took some classic cowboy pictures and mountain view pics.

Classic.

And an amazing background.

A view of Downtown Denver from lookout point.

We took the light rail (my kids thought it was a real train :) to downtown for lunch.

Buddies

The boys played in the snow.

We went to the Botanical Gardens for the light show.

And a PJ Partay!

Ipod Pics

2011-12-11T10:07:00.002-05:00

It's been busy, busy!

My very good friend came to visit this weekend from Atlanta with her son. We've been busy site seeing and doing things with the kiddos. Can't wait to post the pics this week. But until I get to them I thought I'd dump some of our Ipod and cell pics.

Personalized Message from Santa

2011-12-06T11:06:00.007-05:00

It's that time of year when we trick our kids into believing that Santa's the real deal and will come down the chimney even tho they can clearly see that it's way too small. And we'll make Saint Nick some cookies and leave them out for John and I to stuff our faces with after the kids fall asleep.

Adrian's full of questions this year. He keeps asking about the chimney and how Santa will be able to break through the glass on our electric fire place. And when we actually use the fireplace he's always telling us to turn it off so Santa doesn't burn his bum. It's pretty cute stuff! I just hope the innocent belief in the jolly old fat man lasts for at least a couple more years before Adrian realizes the truth and ruins it for his brothers.

I will milk this alllll month long... I've already threatened to call Santa about 20x so far. And it's worked every time. Not sure how long that will last? Hopefully till their 7 or 8 :)

Like we did last year, we used the free PNP personalized santa message website. The boys were stuck to the computer like glue watching Santa talk to each of them, telling them if they were on the naughty or nice list and what they need to work on to be good boys. The lovely thing about this... I can change them to the naughty list and resend them a message if they are bad! I'm sure I'll have the chance to try that one out by tomorrow.

click here: Portable North Pole (PNP) to Create a Message from Santa

Adrian's Message from Santa

Preston's Message from Santa

Kellen's Message from Santa

Santa Adrian 2010

Compliments of Adrian's sweet pre-school teacher Courtney from last year.

The Man has a Birthday!

2011-12-05T10:53:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to The Man!

Yo man, my man, the dad man, de man, the man with the master plan.

Just know dear... you still get to kick it in your early thirties for a couple more years :)

We celebrated with a fab date night at our new favorite place The Melting Pot. I still can't believe we have never gone to this place before last month. We've been missing out! It's such a wonderful, relaxing, dining experience.

we are so relaxed!

fondue dessert... to die for!

For anyone who hasn't been to this place and loves fondue and taking their good old time eating, I recommend finding an excuse to celebrate something, anything, heck make something up, or spoil yourself just because and go make a reservation.

Every nerd, wannabe astronomer needs a telescope. The new birthday toy for the birthday boy.
Actually all the boys are chomping at the bit to try this thing out.
Soooo, if and when it stops snowing we can start to learn about planets and stars and all that stuff above. It'll be our home school astronomy class :)

Independence, always a good thing?!?

2011-12-02T14:06:00.007-05:00

Would I rather my kids wake me up at night OR give it a go on their own?!?!? Hmm.. I suppose it depends on how big of a mess I will have to clean up in the morning? Sleep is pretty important in the last home stretch of my pregnancy!! For real!

Independent Adrian didn't want to bother us and wake us up the other night (thanks buddy!) but the boy was thirsty, so he got up on his own headed to the kitchen and chugged on some coffee creamer to quench his thirst.

Eweeew.. I know, nasty, nasty stuff!!

awesome reenactment

Adrian told us all about it in the morning. I am sure he was aiming for the milk but we get ours delivered from a local farm and the glass bottles are uber heavy, so the little container of creamer was probably all he could reach and lift out. Poor guy. But very funny!

Independent Preston. These were taken the week we stayed at my aunt and uncles house while we were waiting to move to CO. Preston found some dog tags and my shades. This kid loves to dress up!! And he's found interest in picking out his own clothes. He may not match very often, but I have an extra 5 minutes added onto my day.

I promise we feed him... he's just small :)

I think I'll make a book next year of all the boys and their dress up outfits over the last 4 years. Then whenever the boys make me mad I can just look at the book and laugh it off!

So, this is how I used to roll with no prob last year!

Stick a couple dum-dums in my purse and I could easily get through a shopping trip, but that all changes with time. It'll get harder for a period then it'll get easier again, then harder then easier :)

Independence and "me"... with 3 little guys 2, 3 and 5, every now and again I like to test out my own independence with the munchkins. Tonight we are picking up daddy at the airport from a biz trip and I was thinking of having them make a cute sign and we'll go in to greet dad... maybe or maybe not?!? I might be crazy? These boys are anti-stroller right now, so not being confined, if one runs one way and one another way, and then one has a melt down... I'd be in trouble, not to mention totally embarrassed! We'll see how adventurous I am feeling tonight. Curbside pick-up might be sounding awesome and easy :)

Truthfully, it's probably been the single hardest thing I've had to give up ever since we decided to have a larger family so quickly. I've just had to be honest to the fact that there are things I just can't do solo sometimes with so many little tots tow.

A Volcano Eruption

2011-11-30T11:30:00.004-05:00

Bringing back some elementary school memories! This was always one of my favorite projects as a kids. I just knew the boys would LOVE it!

Here's our homemade volcano made of dough. Super easy, took us maybe 25 minutes to create.

Supplies:

Flour

Water

Salt (dash)

Oil (couple tbsps)

White Vinegar (food coloring if you desire red lava)

Baking Soda

You can mix the first 4 ingredients to the consistency that feels right for molding. I did make the mistake of making my first batch (lower part of the volcano) too moist, look how the base flattened out.

We molded around a bottle very easily, then let it dry for 4 or 5 hours, I painted a little brown acrylic paint on it for effect. The kids added some dinosaurs. I also added a couple drops of red food coloring to my bottle of vinegar... it's all about effect people :)

When it's time for some exploding action, I put a couple large tablespoons of baking powder in the bottle, then proceded to pour some vinegar in, just until I thought it would start to spew. It's a little bit trial and error.

Kellen caught in the act. This child will eat anything! Currently we are trying to brake him of his play-doh eating habit. It's awful, he just won't stop no matter what we do... so for now, Preston and Adrian can only play with their play-doh when Kellen is napping.

The BIG explosion! OooEwww.... Aaahhhh!!

We had this thing explode about 10x. I kept dumping out the tray and doing it all over again.

What I Wore Wednesday.

2011-11-30T11:04:00.005-05:00

With a "Bump" :)

Linking up with "what I wore wednesday" at the Pleated Poppy.

I've done this once before, last summer, it's a fun blog activity to participate in and always very interesting to see everyone else is sporting these days. Even with the babe bump in tow, I felt sort of stylish this day. It's hard to feel a sense of style with that big bump in front :)

Tights: Macy's $9.99 sale

Boots: Khol's $29.99

Sweater: Khol's $14.99 sale

Skinny Belt: Super Target (sorta free.. it came on another skirt)

A Love/Hate Relationship: 32 Weeks

2011-11-27T10:29:00.003-05:00

I DO.... I have this love/hate relationship with being pregnant. I'd say about 80% of the time I actually enjoy it (or else I couldn't do this 4x!) and the other 20% of the time I'm ready for the ride to be over.

First 12 wks: half of it is usually spent sick and nauseous (in my case, 2 bouts of fun food poisoning).

Next 18 wks: easy, joyful, fun to break out those maternity clothes and feel and look pregnant.

30 wks and beyond: paranoid about going into labor early, raging hormones, bad hips, stretching pains and the maternity clothes are reminding me more and more of a dreaded uniform I'd rather NOT wear.

the B-U-M-P

I predict I'll go into labor shortly after New Year's, after week 37 I'm ready!

I don't know-- I think John looked pretty excited about my dollar store purchase?!? and even more excited that I was taking his picture! he thinks I'm weird.

A helpful hand or sharing is the end of me?

2011-11-26T10:24:00.002-05:00

There are times when I watch my kids be kind, sweet and helpful to one another and I am over the moon with happiness. Lately, Adrian really loves showing his siblings better ways to do things, if he sees them struggle with something, he's right there to help them out. Preston wasn't holding his marker quite right, so Adrian was telling him and showing him how to "pinch" his marker. When I see the kids in this light, it makes me feel like we're doing something right. It balances everything out...

Like the "flip side" of sharing and being helpful. Oh my my.... I have said easily 50x or more in the past month that "sharing might be the end of me!!"

How do you get siblings to share when they don't want to? Three of them that all want the same cup, toy, blanket, plate, chair, hat, shirt, spoon, scissors, marker... I don't care what it is... it could be a stick, a rock or a piece of dirt and they'd still all want it. I know it's totally normal and it's how they learn important skills as they grow up. But like everything in life, there are some days that are just better than others. And I'm convinced the reason why some days are better than others-- this happens so we don't start to take the good days for granted-- makes perfect sense. And when I see more of these pictures and acts of kindness and caring from my kids, it sure does make the few difficult days more bearable.

The best is when Adrian and Preston are arguing over who will get something and little Kellen busts out in the background of chaos and yells "Sharing Is Caring" :) Ah yes, we've beat that one into the floor and it's often a great reminder. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. ~Franklin P. Jones

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. ~ Lao Tzu

He that can have patience can have what he will. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Thankful for this guy!

2011-11-23T10:42:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Spending it how you wish, with whom you wish and doing what you wish :) and being Thankful for it all.

At the risk of sounding overly gushing and probably embarrassing the guy below, I'd like to mention just how thankful I am for that guy!

My top 10 list of why I love him so:

he's a great father
a wonderful provider
such a giver
my best friend
he's very laid back (even with 3 kids, shocking!)
the most honest person I've even met
lot's of fun
totally smart
very loyal
last and my favorite, he makes an Extraordinary Husband!

He deserves a BIG shot out and lot's of recognition for all that he does and all that he is! WE love you!

Dr. Adrian checks on the baby

2011-11-23T10:33:00.003-05:00

The boys are finding much joy in feeling their new sibling kick in my belly. Once the baby stops moving for a couple minutes, they declare the baby must be tired and have fallen asleep.

I love that this is the first time our kids have really understood what's going on with the pregnancy, what it means, and are genuinely excited about having a baby in the house. It's made this experience much different from the last pregnancies. It's truly "a family affair" this time around. And I think this time I am guarantied to have 3 little helpers with this new bambino! Even if it's just fetching the wipes/diapers for me or just for entertaining purposes.

Dr. Adrian thought he might try to crack the baby out of my belly with light taps of his tiny shovel.

Adrian's Solo Performance

2011-11-21T10:11:00.001-05:00

This past summer the boys did a trio performance of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Well, Adrian is performing on his own now, here's his solo performance...

And a group shot of our little boy band :)

John was trying to watch the Browns yesterday. The boys decided they were going to put on a concert. They were so cute I couldn't make them stop for the Browns (which we thought would lose anyway.. and for the record we still love them regardless :) So John had to put on his noise canceling headphones to finish watching the game. A wonderful purchase for anyone with loud little kids, they work great!!

Rub-a-dub dub and squeezing in some "Priorities"

2011-11-20T09:31:00.006-05:00

My three little handsome, so fresh and so clean, dudes in a tub :)

And of course they managed to pull in every towel that was in reachable distance of them. They professed they were camping and needed sleeping bags. No biggy tho, they could have made more of a mess than that I suppose.

My new moto I'm adopting for distasters/messes/chaos/life's craziness:

"It could be worse"

(I think it just might get me through the next 18 years :)

Priorities... (make me laugh sometimes, if not I'd probably go loco)

these are it... right now these 3 little guys and the husband that's not pictured above. And taking my prenatal vitamins, those are all priorities. But my hair, my eyebrows, my skin, and my nails have not made the priority list for quite a long time. It's been so long it's almost to the point of embarrassing. Except for a quick pedi I managed to squeeze in last month while the grocery getters oil was getting changed. So currently, I feel like an uncomfortable pregnant women, skin stretched to the max, with dry skin, man nails, and bad brows, AND as of yesterday... really bad hips (yes, already and I'm only 30 weeks right now, that's scary and definitely not a good sign) I feel as if I'm falling apart here.

It's time to admit that I am in need of some good old mama maintenance... stat!

(google images)

Have I mentioned it's a little dry in the mid-west?? I think I could exfoliate every other day and it still might not be enough to keep the flaking at bay. At least all my lotions are getting used up finally. Bonus! Ya know those same 5 random bottles of lotion in your bathroom under your sink that you've had for more than 3 years. Well, mine will soon be gone.

And here's my new priority list:

1- File/trim/buff nails (paint too if time permits, wishful thinking)

2- Pluck and shape brows

3- Find a new face regiment (try moisture masks??)

4- Go get my hair trimmed and maybe colored

5- Schedule another pedicure before baby arrives

Just 5 simple steps that might make me feel a whole lot better :)

Who am I kidding, first thing is first for my Sunday - NOT SO Fun Day. Go through my weeks (maybe 2?) worth of mail build up, pay some bills (blah!) cut my coupons and make my meal list and grocery list for the week. All while inserting my brow maintenance and nail love in there somewhere I swear!

Our Thankful Tree

2011-11-19T09:49:00.006-05:00

Thankful Tree Project

Since the kids are getting older this makes projects so much more fun (especially now that it's not just "me" doing all the work :) In celebration of Thanksgiving we working on a "Thankful Tree" this week. Some of their answers cracked me up!! Candy, Red... etc. (kids start out in life so naturally honest, I mean what kid wouldn't be thankful for candy?!?)

I was very proud of their answers.

Cutting leaves out of construction paper.

It was a rewarding moment when Adrian and Preston got some big kuddos from the pre-school staff at conferences this week on their fine motor skills. All the cutting, writing and tracing at home is paying off.

For the longer words, I dotted the entire word as an outline for them to trace.

He's so proud!

We are thankful for so much!!

Our family, our friends: old and new ones, keeping in touch with everyone since we've moved, our health, great opportunities, our beliefs, our children and the blessing of a new baby soon... Oh, the list could go on and on!

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! XOXO

Sharing our crafty project at:

Foothills Hike

2011-11-18T10:06:00.001-05:00

We all took a walk up to the foothills about 15 minutes from our house last weekend. It was a nice little adventure for all of us. Adrian was a little bored and kept saying he wanted to climb a mountain. Maybe someday little dude!

The bones that everyone was staring at.

Boys just love dirt! I'm pretty sure they're just hard-wired to gravitate towards it :)

I Loath Potty Training!

2011-11-15T11:13:00.007-05:00

Sending out an SOS!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I loath potty training!! I make NO secret of it!

I absolutely hate it, it hates me, I'm not good at it, as a matter a fact I think I suck at it... this is being brutally honest here. For the most part our first child was easy, Adrian wanted to be like his dad, but now I'm working on P and K and I am suffering. This week is attempt #6 I believe, not really sure I've lost track. To top it off, it makes it more difficult when the active participants show "0" interest. Actually maybe a 2 on a scale from 1-10.

I'd almost rather pay someone big money to come into my home and do it for me. But since that's not realistic for us, I will grin (slightly) and bare it and keep trying. I have a personal time crunch here... and that's before the baby arrives. That time is dwindling down VERY fast. Here's to my very own potty pitty party this week... it's going to be a long, busy and frustrating one. I'm sure.

(our "station")

1 inspirational poster, 1 homemade potty book, 1 store bought book... let's do this!

If anyone has any pointers... suggestions, input they'd like to share, my ears and blog are open :)

Mucho appreciation!

Thanks & much love,

Christa

The Mellow Shroom

2011-11-15T10:14:00.000-05:00

While the older boys where in preschool, John and I took the opportunity to take Kellen on a date lunch to a favorite restaurant of ours, The Mellow Mushroom. They have the coolest atmosphere and some of the best pizza!

Kellen absolutely loved hanging out with just mom and dad. I think that one-on-one time with each of our children is SO very important!

Silent Sunday

2011-11-13T10:26:00.011-05:00

A Silent Sunday
and
The Simple Things

A Railroad Museum

2011-11-12T17:40:00.001-05:00

We ventured to a neat little Railroad/Train museum tucked away in the foothills west of Denver. It reminded me of a train graveyard. There were all sorts of different trains from really old ones to more modern ones sitting all around on a couple acres of land. The boys were in train heaven. We even got to take a train ride on a very old school one.

3 little monkeys climbing (what they do best) all over the trains.

Here was the little silver one we got to ride. I kind of thought we were going to ride a really big train, with some cars and pulling a caboose, and all that jazz. Not quite. But the boys didn't mind and loved every minute of our 10 minute ride around the circle track graveyard of trains.

The miniature Thomas

(the boys tried climbing the fence to get to him... unsuccessful!)

X Factor Wannabe Video: Part 2

2011-11-10T22:01:00.003-05:00

Kellen is definitely the show off in the family right now and we love every minute of his entertainment!

In preparation for X-factor last night I made a quick trip to the dollar store for microphones for the boys. I didn't want them fighting over the turkey bastor again, which eventually happened anyways.

Once again here's Kellen showing his love of music and performing. He chose to be a solo artist last night. I'm thinking he may just be destin to be a star someday!?!? He loves watching these performances and pays such close attention so he can mimic them.

So hardcore and so serious!!

Kellen's annoyed...

how's he supposed to put on a concert when his brothers are trying to vacuum on the table? No, we don't normally let the kids stand on our dinning room table. It lasted 3 minutes then I busted out with the rules... again.

Yes, we've created a small monster (or 3) and now he's obsessed with standing and singing/dancing on anything that might resemble a stage. Good luck to us! Every time we turn around we've got 3 monkeys standing on the table, countertops, end tables, bar stools....

Growing Up: Catch 22

2011-11-09T23:09:00.006-05:00

Lately I've caught myself saying a lot of, "when the kids get a little older, they can...." "in another year or two the kids will be able to...." "if X was a little older then...."

As the kids get older they become these little big people (does that make sense?), they're not babies and they've grown out of the toddler stage, and then one day we notice we can suddenly have mini adult-like conversations with them. It's crazy really, just how quickly things change. Then I look at our kids and I suddenly wish they were babies again. It's totally a catch 22 situation. Sometimes I want them to hurry and grow up a few more years, then other times I want them to freeze and stay little forever.

How peaceful does Lil P look? He fell asleep working with his play-dough. He's trying so hard to grow up on us and deny his once consistant daily nap. Although Preston doesn't think so, this little guy still needs a nap.

Preston and Kellen got me up at 5:45 for the 4th day in a row (actually 5:20 this morning, wayyy too early!) This time-change blows for morning routines or now-- lack there of. This would explain my desire to go straight to bed when we're done putting the kids down at night, combined with third trimester exhaustion. To be honest, not much matters to me lately-- as long as the kids make it to pre-school, they're fed, John's happy and I can be in bed by 8:30...

Life is great!!!

X Factor Wannabe's: Video

2011-11-06T09:55:00.002-05:00

We've been watching X Factor every week to cheer on this guy Josh Krajcik and the two little boys have been picking up some singing and dancing moves.

Such little show-offs here with their turkey bastor microphone and hand mixer mic (btw... Adrian wants nothing to do with them when they act like this). Now we just need to have the boys add some real words and we might have something.

I'm pretty sure John was envisioning the dream of a family boy band as he was recording this. Probably bringing back old memories of the old band days, way back when it was okay to be selfish and life was simple and nothing was ever a big deal.

Snowflake Mobile

2011-11-06T08:56:00.004-05:00

We thought this was an appropriate crafty activity given the weather this past Wednesday.

I'm still not sure about Adrian and Kellen yet? They show interest in these activities for about 15 minutes.

But Preston on the other hand is lucky that art class was his moms favorite class of all time!

I look at him and see his interest in arts and crafts as a reminder of my young self.

Super Easy Snowflake Mobile:

Just cut your flakes, color them, get some string and tie them to a hanger.

Snow Fun in the Sun

2011-11-04T11:16:00.003-04:00

It's snowed 2x so far (last year it didn't snow here until Nov. 15th, go figure) because we moved here.

There's still some snow in the yards, but John was able to wear a t-shirt and running pants to the store yesterday and actually complained of being hot on the drive there. It's kind of strange to us and very different than the snow season we are used to in OH. The kids were able to play in the snow without being too cold since it was mild and sunny while they played. The sun makes a world of difference.

We are lucky that the deck off the back of the house is shaded, so the snow stays there the longest, which gives the kids the opportunity to have fun out there for a couple extra days. They are loving it!

Last week at the park 70 and sunny and

this week...

The boys were pretending to serve each other "snow" cookies. I just love their young imaginations!

Adrian finally got to use one of grandma Julia's unique treasure gifts :) his snowball maker.

It work's great!!

Preston comes off as the quiet, shy guy. I was shocked to see him shoving snow in Kellen's face as I was taking pictures. I'm surprised that Adrian didn't do it to Preston first. That's usually how it all starts.

And then we have the absolute best part about playing in the snow...

the hot coco and marshmallows afterwards.

I think even after being in FL for 6-7 years, I still wouldn't want to give up these beautiful four seasons.

(ask me after 5 more months of winter :) will I feel the same? We'll see :)

Homemade Yogurt

2011-11-02T23:44:00.004-04:00

Yogurt is another staple food in our house. Our kids eat a ton of it! So by making it homemade I can make our own organic yogurt and save $$. A win win. I've tried a couple recipes and so far this one is my new "Go To" recipe! Given to me by my MIL recently and passed down from family members, it's one of those "for sure" things. Another added bonus, it only takes 5 to 10 minutes to make, sets in 12 hours and whaalaa... you have your yogurt. Super easy!

Instructions:

1.) heat 2 cups of milk (can use skim or 2%) in a bowl (I used a microwave for 2 minutes and 13 seconds)

2.) while its hot stir in a tablespoon or two of sugar if you want sweet yogurt...(If you want plain then skip this step)

3.) If you like vanilla add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

4.) While it's still hot mix in 1/4 cup of instant non fat dry milk which makes it a little thicker (we added a little more to get a thicker yogurt result)

5.) Wait a few minutes until the milk temperature is a little cooler and add 1 tablespoon of yogurt that you already have and stir gently.

6) cover the bowl and place in a warm place for 12 hours (you can use the oven with just the light on or since our oven light was broke I used the microwave, worked just fine)

After 12-14 hours you will have a bowl of fresh yogurt that only needs a little stir to get the lumps out.

and don't eat all of it.... save at least a tablespoon for use in your next batch. (It makes about 6 servings, I've learned to double the recipe and make is less frequently)

** I bought some local preserves at the farmers market (our favs are raspberry and blueberry) and we add just about a half a tablespoon to a serving to personalize the flavor to whatever the boys are craving that day.

Organic Valley: Organic Nonfat Dry Milk Powder

(order these types of items in bulk on Amazon and save $ on organic)

Vanilla French Toast

2011-11-02T10:34:00.006-04:00

Who doesn't like French Toast??
This easy recipe is fantastic & we love it!

I get so tired of making the kids the same things for breakfast. This puts an awesome twist on our traditional french toast.

Ingredients:

6 slices cinnamon raisin bread or Whole Wheat or MultiGrain (whatever you have)
1/2 cup vanilla lowfat yogurt or any yogurt (we used Stonyfield Strawberry or our homemade yogurt) or you can use plain yogurt and add a spoon full of your preserves.
1/4 cup lowfat or 2% milk
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Syrup:

In a pan on the stove I stirred up our maple syrup mixed with a spoon full of our Organic blueberry jelly preserve... and YUM!

Mix It:

In a mixing bowl, beat together eggs, yogurt, milk, spices and vanilla extract. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or skillet over medium-high flame. Dunk each slice of bread in egg/yogurt mixture, soaking both sides. Place in pan, sprinkle with some extra cinnamon (this house loves cinnamon!) and cook on both sides until golden. Serve hot and top with extra yogurt, fresh berries or your own fruit syrup concoction.

adapted from: http://www.organicitsworthit.org/

(make it organic by just using organic products)

Trick or Treat and a Sugar Buzz

2011-11-01T10:12:00.007-04:00

We did it! We are done and it was actually a really busy and fun filled day of Halloween celebrations! I have to say that as the kids get older they are so much more fun when it comes to these holidays. (and they get much easier to manage... a big booyeah for John and I)!! All 3 boys were super excited for Halloween!

We began with a preschool party and then ended with trick or treating in the neighborhood last night. This came at a perfect time as I was getting antsy and really wanted to meet more of the neighbors. All which are lovely and very kind, happy people with lots of kids. So a couple houses down a dad dressed as Spongebob had a sweet set-up with a train on a table that delivered candy to the kids standing by (big hit with the boys) and served "adult" spiked warm cider (big hit with the adults, John said it was delicious) I of course opted for the kid friendly version of cider since I have the bump.

The weather was very nice and mild, I think this was the first time in 3 years the kids didn't freeze their hinneys off, it was about 60-65ish, perfect for the occasion.

2010 (layered in lots of long underwear)

2009 (hit up just 5 houses because it was just that cold)

2008 (time for some adult halloween fun... too!)

John really wanted to do Alvin, Simon and Theodore, yes it would have been very cute (maybe next year?)

Kellen loved going to preschool, he fit right in as soon as we got there. Next year buddy!!

Of course all the kids were adorable, but Preston made the cuttest darn clown ever! John said I should enjoy it while it lasts because there's no way the boys will let me get away with that type of costume in a couple more years... and I know he's right.

Their teacher is pretty cool too. She had a giant water bottle in her awesome pink-do. Very creative!

I had to hide the candy from the kids (and John) they are all candy/sugar/chocolate feins and I really can't take it when they get all sugar buzzed, it's like someone posses them and instead of having 3 kids it feels like 10, they are off the hook, insane sugar drunk. So at the rate I'd like them to eat their candy, this giant stockpile of sugar should last us at least 6 months.

A Baby Bump & Family Pictures

2011-10-28T15:45:00.007-04:00

In January this family picture of ours will be obsolete and incomplete. Boy or girl, this soon to be new family member will bring a whole different and exciting element to our family. This little person will once again change not just our family pictures, but our family dynamics forever.

Dear Baby,

We promise to love you with all of our hearts little one and can't wait to meet you in January!
Right now you are keeping me up at night by kicking constantly and I'm pretty certain your doing summersaults. I'm not sure your brothers moved this much, or maybe I just forget with each pregnancy? Maybe your telling me to lay back on the coffee? It seems that as soon as I relax and get sleepy at night, you let me know that you are definitely not tired. Your growing rapidly and about 15 inches long and just 2.5 lbs, but to me you feel much bigger already! We hope you can stay put for at least 9 more weeks, then we will be ready to meet you after the New Year!

I'm very lucky to have these 4 in my life!

So... four pregnancies later, I've always wanted to do some sort of maternity-type pictures. Glad I got that out of my system and didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for it! I think I disliked 90% of the belly pics. And I now know that I should be putting tape over my bellybutton so it doesn't look like it's going to bust right through my shirt, eww!

The all so familiar, traditional and not very unique heart with hands on belly shot :)

Linking up with Happiness is...

Super Granola Bars

2011-10-28T14:07:00.003-04:00

Super Granola Bars - homemade

I've been slowly trying to make and buy organic of the "staple" foods that the kids eat the most of. At the top of the most eaten list is in our house is... granola bars!

I'm happy to report that the kids love the new homemade ones!!

I was shocked because they're picky about their granola bars. These ones are almost gone and it's only been 4 days. We'll be making more and adding new nuts, seeds, dried fruit and any other healthy things I can hide in them.

I took a couple recipes from online and tweaked them and came up with this:

Ingredients

Most of the ingredients are organic from the bulk section at Whole Foods Market

2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. regular flour (I'm slowly easing into using more wheat flour, very slowly :)
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract (not necessary)
1 tbsp. cinnamon (more or less to the liking)
1/4 c. of each, olive oil and vegetable oil
1/2 c. local honey (I try to use raw honey as well, it needs to be softened in the microwave)
1/4 c. agave nectar (not necessary)
1 egg beaten
1/4 c. melted butter
1/2 c. sweet carob chips
1/2 c. dark organic choc. chips

You can pick and choose whatever healthy items you'd like your family to eat. Here's what we went with for the first time.

sesame seeds (couple table spoons)
flax seeds (couple table spoons - you don't want to be able to taste them)
multigrain cereal from the bulk section (couple tbsps) it had a bunch of diff. grains and oats so I thought it would be healthy to add
1/2 c. coconut shavings
1/2 c. raisins
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Mixing It

Mix all the dry ingredients first, then work in the other ingredients (using your hand works well, but messy) and add more of the "glue" ingredients (honey, peanut butter, etc.) IF you think it's not sticking together enough. It will pack in the pan and cook together more tightly than you might suspect.

***Make sure to add the chocolate chips LAST and slowly fold into the mixture right before you transfer to the pan.

Baking It

Pack down into a greased 9x13
Cook at 350 degrees for 30-35 min. until they start to get golden just a little bit.
Let cool for 10 or 15 minutes then cut into squares, don't let them cool too long or they will be too hard to cut. Let cool completely after cutting (maybe an hour or two) then transfer your squares to a sealed container.

They are a tiny bit more loose than the store bought ones, but not falling apart too much, if yours are falling apart a ton then you probably need to add more glue ingredients and tweak it a bit.

Angry Bird Pumpkins

2011-10-26T11:16:00.008-04:00

~~The kids and~~ John really wanted to paint Angry Bird pumpkins for our porch. Our pumpkin masterpieces have gotten many compliments from the 8-12 age group of boys in our hood :) We have the "cool" pumpkins. Let's hope we can keep up the cool factor for when our boys are older! It was so cute when one of the neighbor boys told John that his dad would love our pumpkins... a proud John moment. HA

Have I mentioned yet how many kids live in our town... a ton!! I bet kids easily out number adults. And we've found that the child labor is cheap. A couple neighborhood boys offered to rake our leaves this weekend for $4, that's all, that's cheap 2 kids for $4 (I tipped them more of course). Our front yard is small, only about the size of a small driveway, but it was sweet and nice to see kids want to earn some money the old fashion way and not just ask their parents for it.

Hard at work. I can't lie, it was quite the mess painting with acrylics with Preston and Kellen. At one point Preston had a white tongue, yes bad boy, I know!!

We took lots of family pictures this past weekend at the foothills. I hope to post them soon! :)

Gettin Crafty for Fall

2011-10-24T11:20:00.003-04:00

What mom doesn't love "Michael's" the arts and crafts store?

Nana Lu picked up some fun from there the other day. Finding creative things to keep the boys busy last week during Fall break. But it's back to school today! And a YEAH for that :)

Kellen doing arts and crafts with a turkey bastor aka his microphone and some crayons.

And the final product is now a center piece above the fireplace. Very Purdy!!!

Pirates and Chill Spaces

2011-10-23T09:55:00.000-04:00

Dressing up is the new favorite past time. I even headed to the local thrift store this weekend to pick up some more play costumes for the boys. On Friday they dressed up as Pirate/Sailors and stood in their green ship while we enjoyed some "Jake and the Neverland Pirates".

Preston is the most random dresser, I can't wait to watch him pick out his own clothes for school in a couple years, should be very interesting .

We couldn't possibly smile at the same time for mom.

We have this cubby area in the wall of our dinning room and we've come to the conclusion it makes the perfect chill place for the boys. They love their new space!

Fall Break

2011-10-19T15:09:00.002-04:00

The kids are on Fall break for 2 weeks. Last week we spent coughing with the croup and this week we've been trying to get out and about and entertain the kids with some Denver attractions. We hit up the Denver Children's Museum yesterday.

A big, big hit!!

These two could have spent half the day in the fire truck.

The Veterinarian Clinic, another favorite!

The little boys in the background scheduling vet appointments :)

Adrian was so sweet. I told him that his job was to protect Preston from the bigger kids that were running around like maniacs and he did an amazing job!

A little boys dream! A Handymanny station with real saws that actually cut wood, a whowah!

Saws, nails, and screwdrivers... oh my!

Puppet Show

Bubble Factory

A Pirate's 5th Birthday

2011-10-16T22:16:00.006-04:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet Adrian!!

We celebrated Adrian's 5th Birthday with a Pirate Party and our new friends Melissa, Adam and their adorable boys, Blake and Karson. (Denver transplants from Ohio as well! :)

It was such a fun filled day... 80 degree weather, lot's of sunshine, talking, eating and 5 little boys just playing about having a good old time!

Hanging out with Melissa and Adam.

Everyone enjoyed having a present to open.

Adrian's showing intrest in golf and he's pretty good at it.

We've been waiting to give Adrian his personalized story book for 6 months.
(and yes another fab Groupon deal :)
He was so happy and surprised to see his face all over his new book, it was great!!

"FlattenMe" http://www.flattenme.com/ was where the book came from. Love this idea!

The pinata was a hit! Look at the little scavengers below. A couple kids were doubled up on the suckers in their mouths and definitely got their sugar fill for the day... and then some.

We took a little break and walked a couple of the boys down to the park in the back while admiring the mountains and the colorful fall trees.

K & K (Karson and Kellen) such cute little buddies!!

And thanks to Melissa and Adam for the giant cookie cake. Of course we ended up breaking into it last night... the kids were already sugar wasted, so I figured... why not? right? they were begging and the pregnant mom that's craving sugar all the time was sympathetic, so I said sure... and it was very delicious!
Then the kids proceded to have at least 3 tantrums each and were whooped and asleep by 7.

My Little Potato People

2011-10-14T16:41:00.002-04:00

Preston started the goofiness of trying on Mr. Potato Head parts and the other two boys joined right in. Our trio of little dudes are very entertaining to say the least.

Kellen decided he was done for the night.

Look it's a Pinata

2011-10-12T08:54:00.003-04:00

Taking it back to 1990 (last time I remember doing this) with a classic paper mache pinata. Our sweet Adrian will be 5 years old this week and he's having a little Pirate Birthday shindig. So in celebration we've been slowly working on this pinata for the kids to beat on this weekend.

Now it's not the prettiest thing in the world (nope, not winning any contests) but Adrian thinks is pretty cool and that's all that matters because it's his birthday :)

This was even easier than I remember it being.

Paste Recipe

ONE part flour to TWO parts water
You want it a little runny, not lumpy or too thick.
Took about a day to dry and I waited a couple hours in between layers.
I just did 2 layers of newspaper strips, you want it to be breakable.

Preston helped me decorate it with crate paper while his brothers napped most of the day. The pattern of sleep in our house as of lately (since the lovely Croup has entered it) boys up at night barking like seals and coughing, then sleeping during the day. It's as if we have 3 newborns, preparing me for January!! Oh... I am so not ready for this baby!!

The bright side is, they are on the upswing to recovering from it and hopefully we can cross that illness off the list of germs they will bring home from preschool in the next 8 months.

And Whayla! Here's the beautiful pinata in all it's glory :)

A sample of some of the goodies that I put inside of it. I'm in love with Super Target (now just 2 miles from our house, this will definitely get me in some financial trouble!) And the Dollar Tree has great cheap little doodads for kids to play with for 5 minutes then forget about.

My Grandma Julia always tells me, if they entertain themselves for 5 minutes then it was worth the $1 or whatever she might have paid for it at the garage sale she was just at :) she's just awesome!!
We miss our Juliaisms!

The Denver Sky

2011-10-09T12:12:00.002-04:00

is beautiful!

The little boys are my alarm clock that goes off at 6:30 every morning. This is what I awoke to the other day. I'm going to make a habit of snapping more sky pics now that I'm trying to work with my camera more, shooting some unique shots.

I've never seen stars twinkle the way I do here. And 80% of the time the skies are clear and you can see for miles and miles. It's different, serene, calm and just beautiful!

(although I have to give it up for a Tampa Bay ocean sunset too, they're unique and just as gorgeous!)

I love this picture of Adrian! I just got a Groupon for a large canvas wrap print, this picture will be perfect. The sun in the background is perfect and Adrian is perfect!!

Adrian's new favorite thing to do at our park. He sat here for probably 20 minutes, just hanging out observing his surroundings. Our oldest son, almost 5 years old now and becoming such a little young adult, it makes me cry tears of happiness because he's growing and learning and tears of sadness because he's not a toddler/baby anymore. My favorite moment of our morning today... he's engulfed in his cartoon, but takes a break to look over at me while I'm drinking my coffee and says "Mom, I love you".
The little boys heard him and then they all came over and tackle me with overwhelming tightest of tight hugs and sloppy kisses.

I love our boys!
will they always treat their mom like this? A mom can dream!

Of course Kellen just had to walk in the water with his shoes on. I look forward to next summer when he boys can wear their swim suits and play in this creek.

"the thinker"

Bedroom Decor & Letters

2011-10-07T09:41:00.011-04:00

Since I wasn't blessed with a great eye for decor like most of my family, instead I just browse online until I find things I like rather than take forever thinking of my own decorating ideas. And I am finding that the more kids we have the more I long for simple and no hassle. Ya know... the less is more moto, plus the majority of our accessories seem to be TOYS!

I saw this "initials" idea and thought it might work in our new bedroom, especially since we have lots of basic black accents. So here it is... our "J & C". John can't stand a bedroom that's too girly with any fufu stuff... hence the very basic comforter we have. John was cool with it since it lacked color :) I will definitely be adding some pop of color, the room needs it, but I haven't decided what to go with yet.

(long list of supplies: wood letters from Hobby Lobby & black acrylic paint) and if we get sick of it we are only out $8.00

And Kate aka Star Family Blog, if you happen to read this post, I am a total slacker and did NOT end up making my own headboard using your awesome headboard tutorial. Just one of those things on my list I didn't get to. This white manufactured one is my easy way out now. It truly needs a pop of color on that wall behind it! And the headboard also needs to be higher but we didn't mount it on the legs yet.

L-A-Z-Y... we just "half-ed it" like so many other things right now.

More with letters.

I really like this idea too. It's cool that the letters are incorporated but aren't the main focus.

Inspiration for the kids rooms someday.

eclectic bedroom design

Might be fun for a playroom.

It's different.

Photography 101

2011-10-04T09:35:00.003-04:00

Gotta love Groupon!!

I hooked myself up with a 2 hour "Photography 101" class for very cheap with a recent Groupon. This past Sunday I headed downtown for my class at Chimpsy. I was surprised to see that is was right next to the OSU backer bar "Crocks" downtown Denver. And it just so happened to be a gorgeous 80 degree sunny day, perfect for shooting pictures.

The class was good and very motivating. All in all, I learned a lot and it was just good to pay some attention to my camera and learn some features rather than pressing "auto" every time I take a picture in order to wing it the lazy way.

Our creative shot challenge I used these bicycles. I thought it worked out well.

We played with lighting (what a difference, right?) a first for me and my Nikon, my poor camera that I've had since last Christmas and still haven't read the manual. Bad Christa.

The coolest street in Denver, where all the shopping and eating happens. It's very lively there!

Pizza... Pizza Dadio

2011-10-02T10:40:00.009-04:00

New traditions!

We are trying to incorporate new little family traditions, hopefully ones that the boys will enjoy :) A friend sent me the link to a food blog and I love it! Not just because this mom happens to have 4 little boys (yes, this could possibly be us come January?!?!) but because she's got great meal planning menu's and makes a lot from scratch, tries to be healthy, and excludes most recipes that take forever and have a million ingredients. Time is of essence when 60% of the time you have meltdown city at your house from 4-6ish.

Here's her blog Mel's Kitchen Cafe and the link the the Homemade Pizza and Sauce Recipe (also at the bottom of this post)

So hopefully we can make a pizza every Friday or Saturday night, which ever is less busy... and we can all make it together and try new ideas and change it up.

As you can see Adrian stuffed his face most of the time :)

Things I think that made the biggest difference to other homemade pizza's we've made:

new cooking stone
fresh mozz cheese we grated, melts amazingly
homemade sauce recipe (really good and John approved, he's picky about sauce)
homemade dough (there's a fast one you can make in 20min or one you can make the night b4)
1/2 wheat and 1/2 regular unbleached flour we used for the dough recipe (we are trying to incorporate more wheat and whole grains... "trying" being the keyword :)

We started our new tradition last night and it was an absolute success with the kids!! They loved helping and EVERYONE ate all of their dinner and loved it! A mom's dream :)

Pizza Sauce

*Makes enough for 2 16-18 inch pizzas

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Fast and Easy Pizza Dough

3 cups flour, more or less (incorporate a little whole wheat flour if you'd like)
1 tablespoon honey, heaping
1 tablespoon oil, heaping
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Put your pizza stone in the oven about 20-30 min. at 475 degrees before cooking the pizza. Then cook pizza about 9-12 minutes.

First's

2011-09-30T11:08:00.001-04:00

Wednesday was Preston's first day of pre-school ever... and Adrian's first day of pre-school at their new school. John and I got to drop them off, it was bitter sweet! I have to say I'm very glad to have 2.50 hours of kid free time to get things done around here!! (well, Kellen sleeps during that time, so technically one kid, but a sleeping one) I have forgotten just how important that time is to me. No wonder I feel behind on everything. Here's to maybe finally catching up now. Actually, who am I kidding?? I doubt I will ever be caught up :) oh well, so it is...

lunch on the deck before school

Preston's such a trooper. He totally bit it in the parking lot on the way in just 2 min. before this picture. I think he was too excited for school to care that he just scratched up his forehead.

Josh Krajcik + X Factor = One Amazing Audition

2011-09-28T23:23:00.014-04:00

Must give it up for this amazing guy Josh Krajcik who BLEW the judges away during his X FACTOR audition (shocking Simon even... that's just amazing in itself) along with the audience, which he got a standing "O" from! He's from my (usually sleepy... but not tonight) little hometown in Ohio, my old street even, he was my neighbor for many years, his brother Zack was in my class growing up and their mom Lisa was my Jr. High teacher and cheerleading coach (she is a hoot and so so sweet, just look at the video and see!) Watching this was a tear jerker (understatement!) seeing how proud Lisa was of her son and listening to his AMAZING voice during his audition, the combo was a set up for a box of kleenex for sure!!

When John and I lived in Tampa, we'd come and visit Big Woo (Wooster, Oh) for some of the holiday's and we'd try to go watch Josh if he was playing at a local spot. My husband who is more of a music enthusiast than myself always wowed over Josh's talent, much like everyone who heard him did!

Good Luck to Josh and I can't wait to watch every episode of this show, cheer him on and vote 1000x! :)

link: Josh's YouTube X Factor Audition

link: Josh's Audition plus pre-audition work up (best quality)

(warning: if your a woman or have any sort of emotion, grab some kleenex!!)

Getting All Geared Up for Halloween

2011-09-27T19:17:00.001-04:00

I love Halloween and it just gets better and better with the kids the older they get! Here's Adrian and Preston picking out what they want to wear this year. A pirate with a light saber and a Rino911 popo!

All we have left to do is let Kellen pick out his costume and we will be ready hit up the new hood and score some candy. John and I really wanted the kids to be Simon, Alvin and Theadore from the chipmunks but Adrian vetoed that one... oh but it would be SO CUTE tho! All 3 boys remind me of those characters!

(captured by my wonderful blurry cell phone)

The "New" Trail

2011-09-25T11:26:00.003-04:00

I have lots of posts on here of the old trail we used to live next to in Ohio and walk/ride on all the time. Here's some pics of our new trail. The view of the mountains is breathtaking as we walked a little less than a mile to the park from our backyard. This trail goes through the entire suburb that we live in. John could even ride his bike on it to the lightrail which is 8 minutes from our house, and then it's a 20 minute train ride right into downtown Denver. I'm actually taking the lightrail tonight to go meet a new friend for dinner :) really looking forward to it!!! A much needed break from unpacking. John spent the day at the OSU backer bar downtown yesterday with our old friend Jeff from college. My turn for some adult time :)

Here's the back of the house. The trail is right in our backyard. We see lot's of little kids biking and riding their scooters to school on it. Pretty neat.

Adrian's checking out the giant grasshoppers that like to sun themselves on the path.

the walk back

and a 22 week belly shot, physically I feel more like 30-35 weeks but I think it's the effects of the new altitude adjustment and being on my feet 18 hours a day.

Cell Pics Dump

2011-09-23T10:44:00.004-04:00

Still unpacking and organizing... really fun stuff!! I'd almost rather be getting my wisdom teeth out again for the 2nd time and paying someone else to do all this.

I thought I'd dump my recent cell pictures on here since I still haven't busted out the camera.

At our hotel in Omaha, Kellen looks a little ghost-like... really creepy. It must be that high quality camera on my cell phone. My new every two can't come fast enough!

Eating breakfast yesterday, it's wonderful that we are slowly getting used to the 2 hour time difference and back on a "normal" schedule.

I got to meet my new OB yesterday. Preston went with me. I'm so lucky he is such an easily entertained lil dude and so laid back. We ended up being there waiting for an hour and a half and of course for my first visit he'd have an emergency to tend to... lucky me.
Preston was amazing! He drew pictures and was an angel the entire time.

At the park down the street yesterday... Adrian met a little friend who coincidentally was named Preston and there was another Kellen there too, strange, and I thought those names were a sort of unique... I guess not in Colorado!

Adrian and his new buddy Preston climbed to the top of this cool contraption, then yelled at me to throw him a rope to pull him down. I had a feeling he'd get all the way up there and then be scared to climb down. I used to be the same way as a kid, I was the one getting stuck in trees all the time. So my pregnant butt climbed about half way up and it gave him the confidence to make the journey back down.

Fitting In... Denver

2011-09-21T09:59:00.014-04:00

So we're here, we've made it to the Denver burbs! Safe and sound and no one was injured and the kids weren't psychologically damaged. The boys really seem to like the new area (probably because there are 15 parks within 3 miles of our house) and Adrian has told me "I really like this new house" about 5x. They can see the mountains from our porch and everyday Adrian's been asking me when we can go play on them. I hope soon, but I feel like we will be unpacking for days... and days! My mom is staying with us for a year thank goodness!! I don't know what I would do without her at times!!

I think we will fit right in here. The town we are in is definitely larger family oriented and small children friendly. Everywhere I look I see parents our age with a couple elementary kids or babies in toe. Having a large family here seems much more common than the previous areas we've lived. Even at the airport when we visited last month, we saw all these families getting on planes with 3 and even four kids. We were a little shocked to see parents with more than 2 kids attempt a flight, especially with all wee lil tots.

I really wanted to post some pretty mountain pics, but since we haven't adventured out there yet, and I can't even tell you where my camera is right now, a picture of the famous Dugger clan will have to do. This is how John see's our family after this next baby is born. He cracks me up!! But when you come from an area where I litteral only knew maybe 3 or 4 families with 4 kids or more... it's refreshing to be here where some of the families seem rather big compared to the "norm" whatever that is... like 2.1 kids??

Cool Denver pics coming soon!

It's The Final Countdown... Part III

2011-09-18T23:35:00.001-04:00

Aunt Amy, Uncle Jeff and Grandma Julia babysat so we could go out to dinner and have a lovely, peaceful evening with John's parents and say goodbye the night before we hit the road to Denver.

Here are the family pics we took when we got home (our temp home at Amy and Jeff's :)

Adrian took a bunch of pictures and I love this one. It's an actual true, genuine smile... not a fast, fake, forced smile for the 25th picture I've snapped of an annoyed John.

Aunt Amy, Grandma with Kellen and Adrian

It's The Final Countdown... Part II

2011-09-18T08:36:00.006-04:00

Well, we're half way there! This is a long trip with the 3 kids and a little nuts at times (there's no sugar coating it) travelling this distance with all of them is definitely a challenge. I have already learned that I need to pack much differently... the first night we got to our hotel at 11pm, 3 sleeping kids, 3 suitcases (since I had stuff just everywhere) and a couple duffle bags in toe. I had no clue where I packed the toothbrushes, diapers and bath stuff. It was not easy transition to our room. Needless to say, I've learned quite a bit on this first long road trip with the whole fam! Lot's of do's and don'ts for next time.

These are just more goodbye/get together pictures that I didn't have time to post this past week.

We had a great dinner at my in-laws last weekend.
Here's John showing his nephew Kaleb the ropes on the guitar.

The boys petting their new Cousin Presley :)

Um ya, pretty sure Grandma Honey won't get all the grandkids looking at the camera for a group shot for at least a couple more years.

Little Presley sporting her new hair accessory her aunt Christa made for her :) she's a little doll.

Next gathering...

Aunt Mikki's house for a fun and interesting "low boil" dinner! Never have done one of these and we loved it! They cover the table with newspaper, low boiled some corn, shrimp, potatoes, sausage and veggies. You throw a couple piles of food on the table and some side dishes of butter and proceed to chow down using lot's of napkins, it was pretty cool and low maintenance. I like low maintenance!

This is all that Kellen wanted to do while we ate dinner. He's obsessed with his car keys and driving. He sleeps with his keys and the other night I heard him wake up at 5 am... sit up and say "where are my keys?" since I had taken them after he fell asleep.

He's definitely full blown terrible 2's and just in time for this trip. He's quite ornery right now and a stubborn little man!!

Adore Them!

2011-09-14T11:42:00.000-04:00

The boys with our favorite Preschool Teacher, Miss Courtney! She has helped us beyond measure and we are so grateful to have her in our lives. A wonderful teacher to Adrian and friend/sitter to the boys :) it's great people like this that make it comforting to send our babies to school for the first time.

And Adrians favorite tutor, Danny! She's been a huge part of Adrian's world for the last year and we will miss her dearly! I have such a huge respect for teachers and educators, these people are just the greatest!!

THANK YOU for loving our children and teaching them! We'll miss you both more than you'll know!

XOXO