Christmas 2007

Wishing everyone the very best this holiday season! We love you and miss those we won't see this year. Please keep in touch!

Signs of the Season

Saturday evening it started to snow and when we woke up in the morning on Sunday, we had about 6 inches on the ground. It was the first official Shoveling Snow! Darren and the kids played in it while I took pictures. Tevin enjoyed hauling loads of the white stuff up and down the sidewalk in his yellow dump truck. Brynlee enjoyed crawling in it but quickly realized she'd rather walk (holding my hands, of course, so I couldn't get pictures of that). Tevin made a snow angel without my prompting which is something he had seen on Elmo's World in recent weeks. We had a fun few minutes in the snow before the gloves fell off and fingers started to freeze. I'm sure we're in for a lot more snow before this winter is over. We do hope it doesn't snow quite as much as it did last year but we do love the seasons here in Colorado.

Here is our tree! We put it up the first weekend in December. The tree is situated in the front room because we figured it would be the best place for the kids to ignore it. That theory works most of the time although we always know when Brynlee has wandered into the tree room because it gets very quiet and we soon find her pulling on the ornaments!

Most Determined Award

We knew going to bed that snow was going to fall all night and the roads would be icy. We heard on the news last night that this morning's rush hour was going to be bad. Little did we know the rails would be bad too! Around 6 a.m. a coal train derailed, and shortly thereafter, a light rail train hit that coal train, shutting down the line Darren normally rides to work. Around 6:30 a.m., Darren called me to find out whether or not the train was even running. At that time, the news had said NO. The road he was on was shut down due to the train crash investigation. So he started driving toward the East Lines, which would mean at least an hour on one of the highways just to get over to the crowded train station on the other side of town. After spending a considerable amount of time in stand-still traffic, he was about to run out of gas and slowly made his way to a station (they are few and far between in this particular part of town) only to find the pumps were not working. I kept telling him he should come home until we figured out this mess, and the worst-case scenario would be that he'd get there by lunch. Darren was just so determined to get to work, so he back tracked and ended up getting on the road he was originally on (which had reopened) and getting on the train north of where the crash was. He had so many things go wrong this morning but he made it to work about 2 1/2 hours after he left the house. I hereby give Darren the Most Determined Award for the season!

Crazy Hair

Ok this post is kind of silly but I wanted to put SOMETHING on the site because I haven't done much lately. Here it is, December 5th, and my latest post is from November! How lazy of me! ;) Seriously though, we are staying very busy. This past Sunday, we put up our tree. I started working on lights for the outside of the house yesterday but the wind halted my progress about halfway through. If I don't get another nice day before too long, we're going to have just one sad string of lights along the gutter above the garage! I guess I shouldn't complain; this is the first year we have put lights on the house since, well, WAY before we had two small kiddos running around.

We're excited for the coming events of the season! Check back often for updated posts of all our holiday shenanigans!

SNOW!

We woke up on Wednesday morning to find snow in our backyard. I had told Tevin the night before that he could put on his boots in the morning and go out in the snow. So of course, he woke up and said "Wanna go outside!" He was very excited to see the white stuff all over the patio and lawn; he almost skipped breakfast (his favorite and sometimes ONLY meal of the day) just to get out there. But we quickly ate our whole-wheat waffles and bundled up to play. Brynlee was content to be in my arms for a few minutes while we were out watching Tevin but quickly realized she would rather be down on the ground. Of course, I had not prepared for this... she had no snowsuit, boots, or waterproof gloves and so putting her down in it was out of the question. It would have meant a sure trip to the doctor for pneumonia or something... I had to bring her back inside to watch from the warmth of the dining room but as you can see, she was not happy about that at all. Needless to say, I went out on Saturday and bought her an outfit for the next time it snows. :)

Memorial to Michael

Mike Janelle died in Avon, Colorado last night. He was 40 years old. Michael was a wonderful son, brother, husband, and soon-to-be father. He was my cousin: my mom's brother's eldest son. Mike was an avid bicyclist in the warm months and ski instructor in the cold months. He will be missed by so many. He journaled his cycling at http://www.michaeljanelle.com/. He's got some great racing photos.

Here is Mike with his parents after racing up Mt. Evans (Colorado) in July of 2005.

Mike with his new wife Maribel in October 2006. Maribel is due in March 2008 with the couple's first child.

Please pray for the family as they mourn the loss of such a wonderful man.

Mommy's 30th Birthday at CB

We decided no birthday is complete without a trip to Casa Bonita! For those of you who are not from here, I will give a brief history. Nestled between a magic shop and a dollar store in a pretty run-down neighborhood strip-mall, I will swear that Casa Bonita has not changed since it opened in 1974. It's a Mexican restaurant with flair. Looking at the place from the outside, you would be amazed that so much entertainment awaits you: cliff divers, arcade, Black Bart's Cave, full-stage magic show, puppet show, and the Mariachis. Having grown up in the Denver area, I've been there probably a dozen or more times since I was a small child, but even Darren (who grew up 6 hours away in Dodge City) remembers going there when he was a wee lad. This is the place you take your friends when they come in from out of town. The food is sub-par but the entertainment is something you have to experience just once in your lifetime. My adventurous cousin Patrick had his last experience a couple of years ago when he was banished for life after jumping into the pool. Read his recounting of the events here: http://i-heart.blogspot.com/2006/02/being-in-colorado-reminds-me.html ;)

The kids are ready to enjoy the entertainment!

Brynlee can't get enough of the lights. This place looks like Christmas all year-round!

After Mom and Dad win about 45 game tickets, Tevin gets his pick of the 5-ticket prizes from the arcade prize counter. He picked 4 different colored smiley face erasers. Woo Hoo!

The Denver Zoo

A few weeks ago we went to the zoo on a nice October afternoon. It looks cold, but the wind was mostly the reason for the coats. We saw all kinds of great animals, including hippos, which Tevin is in love with! We didn't get any pictures of the live creatures because they were submerged underwater. We think Tevin was a little disappointed that the real hippos don't look anything like his pink Hippo Girl.. at least he liked posing with the bronze statues!

Here, Tev and Bryn are watching in awe as the huge bengal tiger jaunted back and forth in front of them. We explained that they were like big kitties, to which Tevin replied, "Meow, like Toby!". Of course, Toby is our 10-lb. domestic short hair house cat and couldn't hurt a fly even if he wanted to. We had a great day at the zoo with Grandpa, Uncle Logan, and Gammy K!

Halloween Fun

We went for an early evening trip to Grandpa's house where Gammy and Uncle Logan were part of the audience witnessing Tevin's very first Trick-or-Treating! Tevin was a natural, and even said "Trick or Treat PLEASE!!" to Granpda as he opened the door with a giant bowl of candy for Tevin to pick from. Of course he grabbed suckers, chocolates, and anything else that could fit in his small grasp. Brynlee just watched in awe at the festivities. She didn't have a lot to say but did seem to like her Bee costume. Later, we went back to our house, put Brynlee to bed, and when Darren got home from work, he and Tevin and I went out to a few houses around ours (mostly to people we knew) to give Tevin a real taste of Halloween. He loved it, as you can imagine! What could be better than asking for candy and actually GETTING some (as opposed to the constant NO he gets from mom and dad!)? Tevin got a lot of comments on his costume and people were surprised that it was homemade! By 7:00 we were back at our house and having fun with Tevin as the loads of kids came by. Every time the doorbell rang, Tevin would say, "Uh oh!!" in his most excited voice and would run to the door. Surely all the sugar he had eaten had nothing to do with his unusually high level of energy! ;) We hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Bryn's Party

Brynlee smiled for us on the morning of her big day. She was all ready to party!

We had a great gathering of friends and family for our Very Pink celebration. We started with appetizers and beverages for our guests and then moved into the living room for gift opening. We had lots of help from Tevin and cousin Kyler (5 years).

Brynlee got a very cute hoodie sweatshirt from Uncle Logan. She is showing it off while cousin Tayla (7 months) admires her style. :)

Tevin even got a gift or two from Grandpa and Uncle Logan. The gifts came just in time because he was starting to get very jealous of his little sister's growing pile of loot.

Brynlee was getting very tired at this point but we managed to sing to her and serve her the cake Darren made (along with 47 cupcakes that our guests enjoyed). We had a great day celebrating the birth of our wonderful daughter!

Happy Birthday Brynlee!!

Wishing our baby girl a very happy first birthday! We love you Brynlee!

Clothing Cutie

Brynlee's great grandparents in Arizona bought her a cute outfit for her birthday but it turned out to be too big. We've got quite the petite little girl on our hands! So we went and exchanged it for this lovely ensemble. Thanks so much Mike and Helen for sharing Brynlee's birthday with us!

Brynlee loves clothes. She gravitates toward clothing, whether dirty laundry in a basket, brand new stuff hanging on the racks, or piles of shirts painstakingly stacked on her big brother's shelves. She will practically swim in the stuff.... which makes me think twice about leaving dirty laundry on the floor!

Tractor Tevin

Yesterday we went to the 19th Annual Pumpkin Festival over near Chatfield Reservoir in Littleton. They had a corn maze, kiddie rides and games, food, and hayrides! Although both kids were too young for both the maze and kiddie rides/games, they LOVED the hayride. Tevin couldn't take his eyes off of the big red tractor pulling our trailer. The picture is of our tractor driver. He was so nice and said that if he didn't have to keep giving rides to people, he would have let Tevin ride on the tractor with him! Both kids enjoyed the pumpkin patch. Tevin was proud to pick out his very own pumpkin. He was especially pleased that his was bigger than his little sister's. We are enjoying being in Colorado during the autumn season. The colors are amazing and the cooler weather is a nice change of pace from being in the desert.

Brynlee's Arizona Birthday

Over Columbus Day weekend we travelled to Arizona to have Brynlee's birthday party with our family and friends from down there. Grandma Sandy and I decorated cupcakes for Bryn. They were so delicious that Great Granddad Mike ate one of the "Bs" before we could sing to her! Brynlee decided that she liked the foil wrapper around the cupcake more than the cake itself! We were blessed to be able to share Brynlee's big milestone birthday with our loved ones.

The Children's Museum

We visit the Children's Museum of Denver quite often thanks to my mom who got us a membership for the entire year. Tevin's favorite playscape is the wooden trains. He will link a few together but he doesn't really like to lead them around the track. Instead, he watches other kids do it. He does like putting the pieces of track together to make circles. He always makes sure Hippo is nearby to watch him play.

Brynlee enjoys the Center for the Young Child because she can explore on her hands and knees without getting hurt. She even tried going up and down the stairs for the first time, and had a blast watching Tevin come up the other side of the bridge with a big grin on his face. We enjoy our playtime together!

"Mackie G"

Just want to say a quick congratulations to my best friend Angie up in Redwood City, CA who just had her first baby, a BEAUTIFUL little girl named Mackenzie Green!! Angie gave birth on Monday October 1 to her little 6 lb. 13 oz. bundle of beauty. Both are home and doing well! Congrats Ang! Love you so much and can't wait to meet her!

Baby Dress-ups

Well, despite the loss to the Colts today, Brynlee was interested in the game. Truthfully, she likes sports on TV, especially football and hockey because they are fast-paced. We put her in her Broncos best and enjoyed the day together. You may recognize this outfit from when Tevin wore it, though he wore it about 4 months earlier than Brynlee was able to fit into it!





Tevin got dressed in his high-heeled best. He just loves putting on our shoes because he thinks they make him taller. He also likes clicking around on the hardwood floors in my heels.

Peek-a-boo, where are you?

Brynlee had fun this weekend crawling around with a towel on her head. We thought at first she might not like it (since she hates having anything on her head) so we figured it would be short-lived fun. But she got upset when the towel was removed! So we put the towel back on and she'd charge ahead again, laughing with delight. This girl is full of surprises!

"I'm on fire!"

Tevin loves to play with cars. He rolls them all over the place, shoving them across the couch and onto the floor. When the cars land belly up, he believes they have crashed and are on fire. He was riding his little big wheel this weekend and crashed. We were busy taking pictures of Brynlee with the towel over her head and we heard Tevin exclaim, "I'm on fire, Daddy!!" We looked over and there he was, belly up!

11 Months

Our little princess is 11 months old! Brynlee poses for me as we play at Starbucks, something both kids have come to expect out of a normal weekday. The kids enjoy roaming the lobby and sharing the "Starbucks Toys" (a bin of the manager's children's toys) with any other baby or toddler who's mom needed a break that day as well.

Brynlee has changed so much this past month, especially since she started crawling a few weeks ago. She is eating more, although still mostly from a jar but has started to include things like Mexican rice, waffle crusts (Tevin's rejects), and almost an entire serving of macaroni and cheese. She shovels that stuff right in!

Check out my new shoes!

Tevin is particularly proud of these Nikes I bought him this past weekend. He likes the "Swooshes" and thinks they make him super fast. Daddy wasn't sure about his shoes not being black (Darren mostly wears black shoes and so did Tevin!) .. he thought the white ones looked a little strange but I think they're growing on him.

Brynlee is Crawling!

Last Friday (Sept. 7) Brynlee took off on her hands and knees! Since then, she hasn't looked back. Now Tevin has to really hide those sacred toys he doesn't want his sister getting her hands on. Brynlee is getting faster and faster, so much so that we have to make sure to watch her nearly all the time or she will end up somewhere she's not supposed to be (like going headfirst down the basement stairs or getting stuck behind the toilet -- eew!). She has even pulled herself up to a standing position on the bottom step. She does this and turns her head around, smiling from ear to ear as if to say, "I did it!"

We've Joined BlogLand

I was sitting here trying to think up a name for our Blog and was drawing a blank. So I asked Darren. That's when he said "Dorksville". If you know us, you KNOW this name is fitting! So welcome to Dorksville!