Happy Anniversary

It's been 7 years today....... .........and so the journey continues, together. We've messed up, laughed at each other, been entirely overwhelmed, cried, hugged, loved, given the silent treatment, learned, carried each other along, encouraged one another, been humbled, prayed, amongst many other things, and grown in the process. Here's to another year in the journey! Love you babe.

FYI

I have published a few posts from old dates so they do not pop up as the newest blog post. Check them out at previous dates. Stay tuned for some Christmas festivities......

Tebow Time!

Yep, Broncos vs Patriots today! It's a big game (according to my husband who most of my football knowledge and influence comes from) Yes, we are all pumped that the Broncos are winning some games!!! I'm also pumped to see how God has placed a godly man, like Tim Tebow in the realm of NFL football. It's refreshing to see someone who actually lives out a genuine relationship with His King in the midst of the limelight (and the "heat")......and amongst a tough mission field of typically self-sufficient people that don't "need" God and are typically egocentric (can you get an idea of how I really feel about NFL?! :)) Can I get an AMEN! Addie tebowing.

Random Happy's

These shots are all random, but they make me happy. I love having pics of typical days at our house. In the future I may be more excited to reflect back on these.

Christmas @ Thanksgiving

We had a pre-Christmas Christmas with the Unrein family over Thanksgiving weekend. Pictured below are all the cousins awaiting gift opening from youngest to oldest (minus 'lil Tessa who is pictured after). It was a fun weekend of cousin chaos, large & hearty meals, great weather in the 70's, nights at camp, father/son golfing, vampire movies for the sister-in-laws, late day Black Friday shopping, a trip to see Great Grandpa Ed with ANOTHER yummy & hearty meal, movies and coffee talk among adults, and burning lots of energy from 7 kids under the age of 7! So thankful for weekends like these! Drew, Kai, Issac, Ella, Addie, Eli Tessa @ 3months Eli catching on to this present idea! At Thanksgiving, Eli found a cozy spot with Aunt Mimi for a quick snooze!

Favs

Absolutely love these pics of my kiddos! Cherishing the moments.

Uncle Kyle time!

It was awesome to have my brother Kyle for an unexpected visit a few days in November. The kids loved it. Uncle Kyle played all their games, went to the zoo with them, ate with them, snacked with them and napped with them. I'm not exaggerating much. :) We all just enjoyed having him around. Even tonight, a month later, Kai was helping me lick the nasty Christmas card envelopes and asked who each one was being sent to. When we got to several family members he asked "is this one for Uncle Kyle?" I had to explain that Uncle Kyle's card was being sent in his gift since he couldn't spend Christmas with us. Kai gave a sigh then on a bright note stated, "guess it'll just be me and Uncle Reid." Ah the bond of boys! :) Eli and Uncle Kyle making trouble with their stallion! Goofin' around Boyz at the Cheyenne Mtn Zoo Addie flipping through pics with Uncle Kyle

A quick 5 to jumpstart November

It's been awhile...............just a quick 5 to jumpstart the month of November. 1. Lately, Addie has been whispering most of her non-frustrated language. She also has a strong opinion on most of the clothes I pick out for her to wear. The other day she ran up to me with a shirt SHE picked out from her drawer and whispered, "can you put on this precious shirt?" Ever since then, a few select shirts have become her precious shirts. 2. I have re-named Eli my "little sidearm slinger." He winds his right arm all the way back and whacks everything lately (whips his blankets or clothes around, whacks with toys, or aims anything at Addie). Let the hitting phase begin.......along with the time-out step. One of the benefits of multiple children in similar stages is they sort of know the drill when it come to discipline. Eli only gets up on the time-out step when he hits but his body language and facial expressions indicate remorse. He sits still and only moves his head with his eyes tilted low to his toes. It's sweet. Other times he's so proud he's one of the big kids on the step, he just smiles. I usually have a problem keeping my "serious" face either way! 3. I'm griping on to Kai's dwindling nap time by small threads these last 2 weeks. I'm trying to come to terms with less "alone" time in the afternoon (when it does play out that way). He's become the culprit for preventing his little bro and sis from a nap that is VERY needed due to his singing, talking, jumping in bed, etc. So we've switched rooms (Kai and Eli are now roommates) hoping that will help and allow Eli to get used to sharing his room. 4. This week I took all the kids to TOYS R US (Pretty sure I was sober and sane when I decided to do that). The first 45 minutes in the store were actually pretty good then the egocentric toddler mode set in. I think getting everyone out of the shopping cart to play at the Thomas the Train table in the store was where everything went downhill. Although we left with crying and frustration, Kai was able to sum up our visit, "Mom, just get me the huge gun and the McQueen riding car okay?" 5. Kai asked for hot chocolate this morning with his breakfast. After breakfast he asked if he could drink it on the couch with me for "coffee talk." Now, he's reading his bible with Daddy on the couch. I think he skipped a few years there somewhere?!?!

Halloween 2011

Halloween is very "-pooky," says Kai and Addie. What turned into a COLD fall walk with our plastic pumpkins (to collect sticks) started off the night of pumpkin carving! Love this pic of Kai and Addie. Everyone was excited about cutting the top off to see the pumpkin "guts." They even decided to wear their white tank tops together in case the guts were messy. LOL Addie started off enthusiastic to help clean out the pumpkin, but she decided otherwise with the smell and slime. Kai and Daddy did all the dirty work! When Eli sat on the table to get in on the action, he enjoyed sticking his hand in the pumpkin and pulling them out quickly..... laughing when he touched the slime. In fact, Kai loved the slime and guts. He's going to be a "man's man." Addie did decide it would be okay for her to help gather the pumpkin seeds so we could oven roast them (which I burned this year ANd last year!) Funny though, she picked them up one at a time! Who is this girlie girl? Our Pirate, Puppy, and Fairy. This pic is Halloween morning when this NBA player momma (my costume by day) took the kids to a nursing home with other friends to visit and show off our costumes. This is probably the only time of day Addie agreeably wore a costume. She wasn't into costumes this year.....maybe due to the scratchy fairy costume, coldness, or simply a bad mood. In the evening we took her costume off at Papa and MooMoo's house because she was so cranky about it and she refused to put it back on! MooMoo graciously found her some special dress-up clothes of Aunt Mimi's before we left so her costume would not be "naked toddler in tights" (thanks MooMoo). I called him "Black Stache." Note the chest hair. He was pretty proud of that. We had a great Halloween together with friends from our church, Alethia. We shared chili in the barn amongst the hay and toured a "-pooky" maze. The hubby and I's night costume was cowboy, redneck, hillbilly....or whatever you call John Deere and a cowgirl hat. :) Then we went Trunk-or-Treating in a nearby field. A circle of cars and a few headlights kept kids in sight and able to walk from trunk to trunk to play carnival games and get candy. A first for me, but very great idea (especially for all our little guys). Happy Halloween everyone. Hello November.

Eli's time to shine in a little update

Ah, my little booger.....he's my cuddle bug and my happy man. He is mommy's little delight. He's so easy going and lovable. Eli's 16 months now. He's on the go, growing and exploring all the time. He's starting to run. Addie tries to get him to chase her all around the house....it won't be too long before he's fast enough to keep up! We no longer have baby gates on the stairs so he roams the house freely with the other kids. Although, we have learned the hard way that we need to keep the bathroom doors shut (we have a toilet water/TP magnet on our hands)! Eli plays well with both Kai and Addie, mainly following their lead or just following them around. Like my last blog post, he gets wrangled into some of Kai's dress up and imaginary play OR he sits and looks at books with Addie or snuggles and tends to all her stuffed animals and babies. He only has 3 or so distinguishable words but he understands multi-step commands (ie "put your book on the toy box and go get your blankie" or "go get your shoes and bring them to me"). He's starting to make sounds/grunts for lots of new things...so I think he's communication is in the growing stage as we speak. He's really loving books lately so we're trying to be intentional about reading with/to him by himself to help with communication skills. He still has stellar facial expressions when he's trying to convey something that do all the talking. This has been one of my favorite ages with Eli. He's been a SUPER snuggler (which I'm taking advantage of). He is constantly smiling and has the best chuckle when you hit his tickle spots. His momma is diggin' this phase! He's such a blessing to all of us. Little Bronco Buddy String-o-drool from those molars! Mommy's helper. Not long ago Eli would cry hysterically whenever we turned on any kind of vacuum, now he chases the upright vacuum and cries when I take this one out of his hands. Eli's first go at Playdoh with his big bro and sis.

Some latest happenings

In case you are not a Facebook follower, didn't want you to miss this: Yes, Kai is leading Eli around like a dog with some sort of leash attached to his overalls and then ties him up to the door. Yes, Eli is LOVING playing with his big bro (note his facial expression in the 1st pic). Best playmate ever. Last week we got to take baby Gavin (my roommate from college, Lindsey's little guy) to the Cheyenne Mtn. Zoo! Can't you tell his excitement in the 1st pic? Well, what if I told you he pooped through his clothes 2x during his visit..... you know he was excited! This was an exciting visit for Eli as well, he was attacked by a peacock taking a stab at his PB&J sandwich! Scary. I turned to help set up K & A's lunch and suddenly this peacock is practically climbing into the stroller by Eli's feet and pecking at his sandwich! Eli finally started yelping and I pushed the peacock across the deck by the neck (I know, not the most humane way, but this thing was ravenous and I was protecting my young)!

Fall Colors

The last weekend of September we ventured into the mountains to "hunt" for leaves. It was suppose to be the peak weekend for viewing beautiful colors. We didn't have to hunt very far before finding ravenous mountain slopes of yellow, with splashes of orange and the occasional red. This is near Mueller State Park. This is the southwest side of Pikes Peak. We started our adventure with a loop drive to encompass as many colorful leaves as possible. We ended up with 3 backseat nappers (which was awesome) so Derrick and I were able to thoroughly enjoy the ride! Our destination was Mueller State Park where we planned a picnic and hike. Here we are gobbling up our PB&Js at the picnic spot. There are some scavenger birds that I'm sure are used to being fed in the picnic areas.......although no complaints, they provided up-close and hair-raising entertainment as they dove for our crackers. Kai and Addie found a tipee/cave in the rocks to play in not far from where we had our picnic. Eli and Addie gearing up for our hike....... one or both of them was carried almost the entire way. Here's Addie perching on a bed of moss we found on a walk around a tiny pond along the trail. This is a cute pic of Addie double fisting the buckets! We came prepared with sand toys for collecting rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. Last year I remember spending much more idle time around the picnic area, probably due to a nursing Eli who was only 3 or 4 months old. But we ate and were off on our hike this year. This pic of Addie is the only time I remember the buckets being held. A semi-serious look from my little rider, Eli. He did hang in there with no nap except for the brief car snooze. Kai has learned the on-command smile when we ask. He was on cloud 9 the whole day in the mountains. He wore his hiking boots, had his hiking pants on (better known as jeans), brought all his hiking supplies and got to use daddy's special outdoor tool (which he called a GERBER). Kai came "strapped" for the hunting trip (play pistol and rifle), whether it was stumps or trees or dirt he was determined to spend as much time as possible using Daddy's GERBER (well, pliers were the only thing he was allowed to use). Mueller State Park 2010 Mueller State Park 2011

The Thursday quick 5

Happy Thursday from the Broncos hood-lems and their sis! Yes, it's a quick 5 today. We are pounding down the Tylenol already this morning. 1. Oh Joy! This little guy is getting new molars! This means, he's up in the night every few hours and grinding his jaw like crazy! Thankfully he is not completely awake and is content to be held and put back down with Ora-gel, some Tylenol, and some lovin'. 2. Kai woke up with a nasty cough (and is quick to remind me he is sick) and Addie has red cheeks and hasn't moved from her spot on the couch in almost 45 mins. Bring on more Tylenol. 3. For months Kai has been excited to move to the 4 yr old class at church. He has several friends in the class and has anticipated being one of the "big kids." Derrick and I were helping teach through the games portion of their James 2 curriculum this last weekend. We discussed the simple differences between judgement (something given that is deserved) and mercy (something given that is undeserved) and gave examples of favortism in relation to the so-called golden rule, "love others as you love yourself (which I'm not so in agreement this should be called the golden rule, but that's a story for another time). Anyway, it's awesome to see how God uses the faith of a child to share their simple understanding of something with such LARGE implications like judgement and mercy. Kai has been giving Addie lessons all week on these topics. He uses the same examples we gave in church to help explain it to her then he'll quiz her with questions to see if she's following. He's even been pointing out some of the familiar terminology in the Christian rap we listen to in the car (yes, you heard right. I do listen to certain rap even when Derrick's not in the car-LOL). 4. Addie's verbal communication is improving every week. She randomly busted a few phrases out at the dinner table last night that caught me by surprise: "Mom, I really love you. You're the best." (something I'm used to hearing from Kai's mouth, but only nods or hugs of agreement from her.) It was a great compliment from my sweet Addalyn. 5. This last week after nap time, Eli has started putting his index finger up to his lips and spitting "shhhh" when he comes out of his room incase Kai or Addie are still napping. Pretty sweet. At least I know he gets it. Well, really not much news to share. Enjoy your fall day.