Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year!

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Fall 2013

I love Fall. 

It was a beautiful season this year around here....sun, leaves, warm days and crisp nights. We grew 3 small pumpkins in our garden this summer, actually that's ALL we grew. The pumpkin vines took over our garden AND yard. However, the proud kids of the "homemade" pumpkins on our front steps was well worth it! Mind you, these pumpkins pictured here are bought from our neighborhood farm, the grown ones were much, much smaller!

Carving pumpkins for our porch

These two enjoying the front yard swing together, with no arguing, yelling, or sass. It's days like this moms live for!

Sharing the swing, problem solved.

Addie started dance class this year at preschool. She is LOVING it! She is especially fond of her ballet outfit she changes into for each class. It is no easy task looking this beautiful and prepared for class in 5 minutes after school is out, especially when daddy is in charge of helping with tights (however, he IS amazing like that and it gets done)!

Addie ballerina in her proper attire

Derrick and I took a vacation together without the kids for a WHOLE WEEK since...........well, never. We attended the Action Sports Ministry Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for a few days and then stayed an extra 2 days together in addition. The conference was super encouraging and refreshing! It was amazing in all ways. Need I say more.

Florida sunrise. Just wanna go back.

While in Florida, we got to see some long lost friends who maintain a beautiful yacht......yes, that is their job. It was a whole new world for us. So fun to catch up and eat REAL seafood!

Attempting the "high life" on a yacht in Ft. Lauderdale.

My brother, Reid and sister-in-law, Kelly had Olen Quinn in September. Our kids got to meet their new cousin while staying the week with grandpa and grandma in SD. Addie especially bonded with him and gave him some love!

Addie lovin' on new cousin, Olen Quinn.

Hansen grandparents dive into babysitting all 4 grandkids together!

Kai turned 6 this fall! Crazy that that is even possible. He is psyched on his new bike! It has come in handy riding on the trails near our house and riding to and from kindergarten that is 2 blocks from home.

Kai's 6th birthday gift...new bike!

He also is sold out to skateboarding since attending camps with dad this summer. He has been practicing in the garage and taking every chance at hitting the park with dad. He wanted his birthday party at the skate park.....his daddy is tickled about this passion.

6th birthday party at sk8 park.....including new camelback

There couldn't be a more perfect father/son day.....Broncos game! Derrick enjoyed the time together!

Derrick and his dad at the Broncos vs Redskins game!

We all spent Halloween in SD meeting Olen and hanging with family (2 trips in 1 month)! We trick-or-treated several blocks, which is the farthest we've ever gone. We got 3 pumpkins full of candy.....shesh! Great times!

My 3 "scouts" for Halloween in Rapid City.

Kai ready to earn some real badges as a boy scout.

We found girl scout and boy scout shirts at the thrift store, but then added our own patches we picked out from Hobby Lobby. Addie had not-so-traditional patches with pink princesses and a castle and the boys went with a more 'military feel' to their patches. Very fun to jazz them up though!

Wouldn't you buy cookies from this girl scout?? Addie's Halloween costume.

My lil homies hangin' at the sk8 park 

Just love that they enjoy hanging there. Watch out peeps....we got some lil rippers.

Put on your seat belts.........it's a ride through summer with us!

Since I can't seem to get it together and keep up with this blog.....here comes (& goes) our summer in 

a pic blog! These start in Sept and go back through July. Buckle your seat belts........

TODAY!

Kai got his cast off today after 6 wks! Thank goodness, that thing was barely green anymore and smelled aweful! He will wear this black brace during "activity" for 3 wks.

 LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

Annual Balloon Classic on Labor Day weekend! It's our favorite Gaw family and glorious donut breakfast!

Addie and Mom enjoying the bright colors on the balloons.

Camping at Manitou Lake near Woodland Park 

Addie and Eli practicing walking the slack line....Eli's galoshes  are helping him keep his balance :)

Man and man's best friend.....Scout joined our camping trip. She did surprisingly well. She was just glad to be with us!

Hiking at Cheeseman Resevoir.....the water was like a mirror and you could see an amazing reflection!

The kids were fully experiencing the outdoors.....Addie was filing her stick with the Gerber tool.  She looks a little too devious for my liking.

Kai got a supervised lesson with the axe. Sometime he's a bit TOO confident with dangerous tools! Yikes.

First Day of Kindergarten 

Kai is attending James Irwin Charter Academy. It is 2 blocks from home. We walk to and from school most days. He has consistently resisted the idea of school all summer.....but surprisingly he is loving it! He dresses himself, packs his own snack, does his homework and changes out of his uniform as soon as he gets home, and has had a great attitude about hard work and focus and the learning/growing process. All is new and he comes home exhausted after 1/2 day. He stated this week "mom, sometime I wish I could just go back to being 1 It's so much easier" LOL

Yes, Kai wears a uniform to school. 

A goofy out-take.

Preschool Prep

Addie starts preschool! She met her teacher, Mrs. Roth (same as Kai), explored her classroom, and found where she will hang her backpack. She is thrilled to start next Tuesday and I have no doubts she will be an excellent student!

Annual Father/Son Campout

This is at some friends property "the farm" and is all church friends. Eli got to go too! I am convinced it is burping, farting, eating who knows what, and minimal rules.....a boys dream!

Eli getting aggressive with his smore.

Lots of boys, sticks, and fire. Glad the dads were supervising on this one!

My cowboys!

My lil SK8ers. Watching at the Rocky Mtn. Rampage.

Buds. A very nurturing big sis.

Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo

4 cowboys and a skater :)

Gotta have our cowboy/cowgirl gear on when we head to the rodeo! Great day! My kids have been WAY into wearing their hats, boots etc all summer.

Olympic Training Downtown

Colorado Springs put on a free event downtown to feature all the sports in the State Games. Almost all the Olympic sports had hands on activities, stickers, tatoos, pencils etc. The kids did trampolining adn they even had a sand volleyball court in the middle of Tejon St. Very cool.

Eli the Olympic weightlifter.

Kai the Olympic boxer.

Eli was quite a hit at the dentist's office! Too cute.

Mud Run

Derrick talked me into doing 2 different 5K runs through the mud with him! One we did with the YMCA and the other with our church, Alethia.

Big Dog Brag. Not bragging :), but we ran walked it twice. Once together and once with our Y students.

Dirty Dash

Kai started Tae Kwando. It stresses character, respect, responsibility, and concentration. Kai really likes it and is practicing his moves at home. He also has to keep track of the above stressed areas with a little weekly report card.....motivated by some rewards from his instructors.

So there you have it......I know I missed a ton of stuff but I'm officially caught up for now :)

Department store

Thought I'd drop some quick happenings and quotes straight from the isles of the department store........

  I took the kids to a department store at the mall yesterday. It's not a usual shopping place for all of us together....we usually venture quickly to places like Walmart, Target, or Safeway. I wanted to look for a new dress for a wedding we are attending and time constraints prevented any time shopping on my own before the wedding. So many red flags were flying in my mind as I thought "we'll just peruse through the dresses and see if any pop out that I could try on fast and make a decision fast." For those of you that know me well this would potentially be disastrous for the kids but also for me....I don't make decisions like this on the fly well.

So I grabbed a few dresses off the racks and headed with munchkins in tow to the dressing rooms. I was "on my game" and immediately sat them in a row on the bench in the handicap dressing room. I handed out my shopping pad to draw pictures, my phone to drawing, and a random pad lock from the depths of my purse to entertain the munchkins. I tried on all the dresses.....of course I liked a few but I second guessed the sizes so.....I got dressed, we packed up, trudged back to the racks and picked new sizes, then trudged back to the dressing rooms. After they sat, we switched entertainment options. By the end of our time in the dressing room, 2 kids were hiding among the crazy amounts of dresses I tried on and pretending it was a fort and the other was using the padlock to lock dress straps together. Gezzo! I was thankful I could actually try things on and they were able to keep quiet, mostly. We left with a new dress purchased and 3 kids with all their appendages. Success.

I would also like to mention the kid's enthrawal with manikins...not normally seen in the above listed shopping venues. It never occurred to me when I had the great idea to shop at a department store that I would have to referee the manikins. The common phrases concerning manikins sounded like:
1. " get off the manikins"
2. "stop touching them, you are making them wobble"
3. "do not lift the clothes off the manikins again"

We may just be back to Walmart and Target next time :)

Territory Days 2013

Since our kids are wearing cowboy hats and riding horses around the house daily, we thought the annual Territory Days here in CO Springs would be the perfect Memorial Day experience. It is a festival in Old Colorado City taking us back to the old days....cowboys and indians.

We last ventured to Territory Days several weeks before Eli was born. We had a new double stroller to try out through major traffic and walking pregnant in the hot sun with flip flops.....this time was much more enjoyable for me. Surprisingly, Kai was the one that didn't like the loud gun shots (the one who plays with guns every day)! But he spent 15 mins detailing the inside of the tipi, Native American weapons, skins, gear, etc.

Wearing their deputy badges at the mock gun shoot out!

Peeking out of the tipi.

We sat along the street to watch and listen to a Native American band and traditional dancers. Addie loved the jingle dresses and men with head dresses, all in traditional Lakota attire. There was even a young girl about Addie's age trailing around with her mom. Addie asked to go close after the show to see her dress and say goodbye. So we did, but didn't get to talk to her.

Squeezing out a smile after hours walking in the sun!

Sitting in the back of a firetruck!

Driving the firetruck!

 The fire engines with the ladders were holding a huge american flag high in the sky in celebration of Memorial Day. It was a somber reminder of the sacrifice of soldiers leaving home and family and losing life. Feeling thankful to be part of this country.

Lunch!

We can't go the Territory Days without turkey legs and root beer! We had a little picnic in the grass listening to some good 'ole country music! My kids were diggin' it! Great day together in the sun!

Kai's preschool graduation

We went from this nervous boy last Sept 2012.....

Kai on his 1st day of preschool standing next to his coat hook.

To a strong finish here.

Kai graduating preschool May 2013 with teachers, Mrs. Roth and Mrs. Blanton.

The Rainbow class had an excellent program highlighting their whole year. It was a good recap for this mom to remember all the topics they hit on in what seemed like such a quick year.

Singing in the program. Kai tried not to look at us spectating in the 2nd row but smiled every time he did!! LOL

Proud of his Rainbow bracelet to remember his Rainbow preschool year.

Papa and MooMoo attended to celebrate Kai!

Kai and his buddy Noah being silly!

We had our encouraging and discouraging moments over the year, but overall I think Derrick and I probably took just as much away from preschool and parenting a school-aged child as Kai did! We learned a little about preparing a child to be prepared. Yeah, that one slapped me in the face. We learned in what ways Kai needs extra encouragement in his weaknesses or how to challenge him in strengths and where he is self-motivated. We are proud of his accomplishments and are looking forward to full day Kindergarten at Taylor Elementary next fall.