Christmas Kids

These three pics are from Christmas at my mom's (a.k.a Gammy K) on December 20th. Brynlee loves her Doctor Kit! Tevin got a Grocery Store Checkout that helps him learn about the food groups and giving change. We had a lot of fun at Gammy's!

LOVE in the New Year

Darren's sister and her family have been taking pictures at "Love" for years now. The sculpture is in the middle of Scottsdale Civic Park, and this year was the first year that ALL of us got to pose on these somewhat-famous letters.

The Grandkids

The Hobens

The Stauths (Part 1)

The Stauths (Part 2)

Catching up on Christmas

I know it's already 2009, but so much happened between our last post and now that I'd really like to get you all up to date! This first picture is Tevin and Brynlee just before Tevin's Preschool Christmas Program. May I say that I have the most amazing 3-year-old ever? He was such a little man up there on the stage, and he did all of the signs to "Silent Night" - probably better than most of the other 3s! He brought tears to my eyes with his composure and cuteness.

Here are our two goobers on Christmas Morning (actually, it was the 24th... we had to leave so early on Christmas Day that Santa came early just for us). Tevin got a cool race track and Brynlee got a new kitchen. Both of them love their gifts from Santa!

Here is the Stauth Family Christmas Picture, taken annually since, well.... as long as I've been a member of the family (and before). The rest of the family (Grandmother, Granddad, Brent, Jennifer, and Andrew) usually poses but this is all we could fit in that part of the entry. We had a wonderful time in Phoenix!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A new family member..

NO, we're not pregnant! Wouldn't that be crazy? Meet Snowman (creative name, right?), our VERY FIRST SNOWMAN made as a family!

As we rolled the huge balls of snowman-perfect snow, I realized that this is also the first snowman Darren and I made together. In TWELVE YEARS?? But it makes sense: we met back in 1996 and rushed right off to Dallas. 14 months later, we packed up and headed to the desert, where it did actually snow once when we were there (Valentine's Day 1999) but of course it melted upon contact. Two years ago, we finally moved to Denver, and in our first winter we had a record number of inches of snowfall but with two babies (yes two... neither Tevin nor Brynlee was able to walk), we weren't outside too often! Last winter, Brynlee was just crawling, so cabin fever was the name of our game once again. FINALLY, this year, we've got two walking, talking kids, and it's been SO wonderful to experience the fun of the cold weather with them.



Our next door neighbors happened to be outside at the same time so we started building snowthings together! Darren made the Snowfish, and then all of us built a fort around Tevin and Dylan. FUN DAY!

Sitting Pretty

They say if a child starts to ASK to use the potty, that means he or she is showing interest and *might* be ready to start potty training, right? Well... does it count if she asks AFTER she's already done her business in her diaper? On more than one occasion, she has come to me to tell me she has "tooted" and wants to use the potty. It only took twice (I'm a slow learner) for me to realize that I need to clean her up BEFORE sitting her on the potty (eew, what a mess). Anyway, here she is, all glammed up and just kind of waiting. She did actually "go" the other day but she didn't even associate it with anything positive so I wasn't sure how to reward that! She was just excited that she gets to sit on the potty like all the other people dwelling in this house. Go Brynlee! ;)

November

The month started with unseasonably warm weather. Darren and the kids got outside one Saturday to finish raking leaves before the inevitable first snow (we knew it was right around the corner). I was out at the salon getting a manicure, pedicure, and haircut (a birthday treat from my mom!!) while they had fun playing in the leaves. Brynlee got an "owee" on her chin and decided she wanted to put her own BandAid on. Nice, eh? Tevin just sat and watched his silly sissy.

The warm weather stayed around through my birthday, which we celebrated with my dad at our house. Darren bought me a really delicious Raspberry Truffle cake from Cold Stone. I got some new winter boots, a new purse, and some "diamond" earrings from Darren and the kids. My dad sent me some beautiful flowers, and I got Starbucks from my brothers Trent, Logan, and Ryan and more from my friend Eva! Randy and Sandy and Mike and Helen sent me cards with cash so I'll be headed to the mall soon for even more new digs. Thanks everyone for making this a fun birthday!

Snow finally arrived on Friday the 14th. I took this picture when the ground was finally covered, only to watch it continue to snow and snow! By the time it was done, I think we had nearly 3 inches! Of course, two days later, it's 65 degrees out and sunny. Such is "Fall" in Colorado!