Estes Park

I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful weekend to spend up in Estes Park! It was about 70 degrees, the sun was shining, and a cool breeze was floating across kissing my face...simply perfect :)

The kids had fun feeding the ducks, playing in the water and plain ol' goofing around. The scenery is amazing and people watching was lots of fun.

We hope to make it up there again at the end of the month to see all of the beautiful trees as they change to orange and golden yellow. Just another one of God's gifts that takes my breath away.

Boondocks!

'Twas the day before school starting and I decided to take the kids to Boondocks as a great way to end the summer. Granted, they have been driving me up the wall the last few weeks; but, as most parents know, this usually happens right before school is about to start. So, despite their lack of mutual respect for eachother, if that even exists between siblings before the age of 23, I take them out for a night of fun. First, Tommy, Madison and I hit the photo booth. We were laughing because we made such a huge effort to get Tommy to fit in the little circle so he's in the picture with us, and then we get the pics and he's not even in them! LOL! Then, they have a little race car action...Next it's time to cool off in the boats.Madison gets out, walks toward me, everything is fine. I turn my back to grab my phone out of the stroller and I hear, "Mom, I fell into the water!" OMG!!! Apparently some kid bumped Andrew's boat as he was getting out and knocked him into the water! Yes, completely submerged! I have a spare outfit for my 6 month old, but definetly not for my 11 year old.You can always count on Andrew for a good laugh! I was crying from laughing so hard as I'm telling my girlfriend about it. As I'm typing this, I can't help but to giggle about it again. He's gonna kill me for sharing but I couldn't resist!

Slacking...

Okay, so I'm a HUGE slacker when it comes to blogging! I am way behind on posting pics and events from our family, so, here is a condensed version of the past few months:

Update Part 1: Tommy

Tommy is almost 6 months old! OMG!! 6 months have past already?! Scary! He's already eating 1st foods. He loves sweet potatoes and bananas. I sometimes think I'm Martha Stewart and can make anything. Case in point, the ugly dolls (http://www.uglydolls.com/). I think the ugly dolls are adorable and thought, hey, I could make one of those for Tommy. My first ugly doll wasn't very successful. Of course the kids thought it was cool and Tommy loved it so it wasn't a total loss. I decided to try it again only this time I added things I thought he would like. I put a rattle in his belly so when he shakes it, it will make a noise. I gave it hair so he could pull it and give mine and Madison's hair a rest. Lastly, I gave it a protruding googly eye. He LOVES his new and improved ugly doll. Look out Martha! LOL.

Sitting up on his own is slow coming but I'm sure that soon enough I'll be wishing he stood still :) He is constantly babbling but says 'Ma ma' clear as day, which melts my heart.

By far, he is the silliest baby of the 3. He is so loveable and cute and the kids can't get enough of him. I was worried at first about the age difference, but now, I wouldn't have it any other way. I have come to truly realize how quickly they grow and I'm cherishing each and every moment.

Update Part 2: Madison

Madison is growing like a weed! Bad choice of words for my sweet Madison...she's growing like a Sunflower ;) She is tall, very tall....don't ask where she gets those long, skinny legs of hers 'cause they didn't come from me, unfortunatley :O

She learned how to ride her bike a few weeks ago and now I can't keep her off of it. Yes, she is 8 and just recently learned how to ride a bike! She was too scared and decided it wasn't for her. That is, until her friends from the neighborhood all rode bikes and Madison grew tired of getting left behind! The first few days were hard and she had bruises from her ankles up to her knees. I have a pic of her bruised legs but for some reason it won't let me post it :/

She is still a 'Mama's girl' and is always scrappin' along side of me. She is always eager to learn new techniques and gets just as excited as I do when walking thru our LSS. Can't complain there! I'm enjoying her as much as I can because 12 years old is right around the corner :(

Update Part 3: Andrew

Andrew has grown so much that he has a full beard! Thankfully he is still a kid at heart. He is at that age where he is in between being a little kid and a young man. Oh boy is it tough! He is a good kid and does very well in school so I have to be thankful for that! One night, my little brother, Ray, girlfriend, Afton, came over and they took turns painting on eachother with these face paint crayons. It was hilarious!He has his 6th grade orientation for Jr. High tomorrow...AHHH! I think I'm more nervous than he is! LOL. I can't believe I have a kid old enough to be in Jr. High! Heck, I still remember Jr. High, was it really that long ago?! I have people on Facebook that I've know since then :O

Andrew has already started football practice with Broomfield Blitz NFC team. I can't wait for his games to start. He went to a few football camps, one at Northglenn High School and one at East High School. He will be a lineman again on Offense and Defense so he will get plenty of playing time. We are hoping for a successful season like last year!

Tommy is 3!

It's so hard to believe that Tommy is already 3 months old! A blink of an eye and I'll be blogging about his 1st birthday! Ahhh! He is such a great baby. I will be the first to admit, I was worried. I thought everyone has that terror child or that child that tests you every chance, but so far, so good. (knock on wood!) He wakes up with a giant smile that lights up his face and the loudest and cutest little coos. Unfortunately for me, he is an early bird like his brother and dad, but I can usually get an early morning nap (my version of early) in and cuddle with him. He is constantly smiling until I get the camera out! Then he goes for that deer in headlights look that isn't so good for scrapbooking. Urgh! I think the picture below is so funny because it looks like he's pointing at his chubby belly! LOL! Here is the standard, "what the heck are you doing Mommy" look I get when I try to take pictures. Of course I think he's adorable but he so much cuter when he has his big smile on his face!

And those toes, I'm just so in love with his adorable little feet!

Way to go!

We are SO proud of Andrew! In April Andrew took a test to see if he could take Honors classes at Silver Hills and out of 700 or so kids, only 80 made it and Andrew is one of them! We were pretty confident that he would make the Honors Math, but to our surprise he also made the Honors Language Arts class as well!

We hope that he is successful at Silver Hills and welcomes the challenge that harder classes bring. Great job!

Smiley Eyes

Tommy has just started to smile like crazy and giggle. I absolutely love it! I can always get a squeel out of him when I play patty cake with him but every time I pull out the Flip video, he won't let me capture it on film. I cannot help but smile with him. I just had to share!

Big Red

We had another Dr. appointment today and my little Tommy isn't so little. He weighed in at 12 pounds 8 ounces which is the 95 percentile. He is 25 1/2 inches long which puts him clear off the charts. Dr. Mark told me it was in the 110th percentile! His head is growing with the rest of him and is 16 1/4 inches which is right in the 90th percentile. He is getting even bigger and growing faster than I anticipated!

In these two pictures his head looks big and bald, poor guy lost the hair, but in most of his other pictures his hair is strawberry blonde. (See Flickr photos at side bar). I was hoping for at least one of my kids to have black hair and instead I get a red head!

He had his first round of shots and doesn't have to be seen 'till he is four months old. It'll be interesting to see how much he'll grow from now until then.