Breck

We surprised my Mom the day she arrived in CO with a weekend getaway to Breckenridge in celebration of her birthday. God's provision for our lodging in a beautifully quint town was an affirmation of His love for us. We are so thankful.

On the day of my Mom's birthday she awoke to the kids singing 'happy birthday' alongside many strands of crate paper and colorful balloons around the condo. The kids were so excited to celebrate with her and made her feel special the entire day.

After a yummy breakfast we rode the gondola up the mountain.
When we got to the top we took another chair lift up higher and rode the Alpine Slide down the mountain. It was thrilling!That evening I cooked an Italian feast for my Mom's birthday dinner. I made this delicious Chicken Saltimbocca alongside wine, pasta, salad and bread with homemade pesto sauce for dipping.
We topped it all off with mom's favorite chocolate brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was a par-tay!
We spent the rest of our weekend relaxing at the Lodge, swimming, trail walking, taking in the sights of downtown, and just spending time together in God's creation. It was a weekend full of sweet memories.

ABC

"Preschool" is back in session. The twins started on Monday.
Mommy thinks summer vacation was too short and is still not feeling ready for this new routine.

The kids think summer vacation was way too long. They were ready to go back to school after one week. literally.

One morning midway through the summer Carissa even cried for her 'little tiny baby'. I'm not saying she just shed a few tears, I'm saying she all-out wailed for her favorite little baby doll from Ms. Vicki's classroom.

C & C love learning +
C & C love playing with other children +
C & C love Ms. Vicki =
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love love love preschool

Here's a couple more pics from their first day!
Here they are running to their classroom with great enthusiasm. Carissa's hiding a 'surprise' for Ms. Vicki behind her back (pictures of them for their cubby).Here's to a great year!

Sunshiny Day

Personalize a free digital scrapbook I gift to you a smilebox of my two kiddos. I just couldn't resist.

Arizona

Yes, we returned from AZ about 5 weeks ago. I've been out of the blog-o-sphere but I'm back and will be posting some up-dates. In AZ we did a lot of swimming. It was great. Even if the pool felt more like a hot tub than a swimming pool!
My mom's sweet neighbor gave the kidlets these cute little beanie babies. Carissa was especially enthralled with "Spotter" the wild cat and Caleb with "Derby" the horse. Thanks Paulette!
The kids and I made a couple trips across town to hang out with this crew.
Carissa, Joshua, Eli, & Caleb had lots of fun with marbles and other toys in their basement.And had lots of fun hugging.

This is a clip of my brother, aka 'Uncle B' sharing what its like trying to have a coherent conversation over dinner with three little ones.

Cabin Camping

(Nana and her three grandchildren)

As soon as our flight landed in Phoenix myself and kids were off to the beautiful Mogollon Rim area of Arizona with my mom, brother, sis-in-law, and their cute baby Kyle. We landed at a cozy cabin in Forest Lakes, home to lakes and many many tall trees.(Brian aka 'Uncle B', Nun (longtime nickname for our Mom) and Angie)

(Brian, Angela, Baby Kyle, Kalua)

Caleb was ready to go fishing from "hello cabin"No fishy bites, so after awhile he made up his own fun with a plastic zip-lock bag. He declared it as 'jello' and kept saying "I want jello, just so ya know" in a sing song voice

Carissa was more in to batting her blue beauties than fishing

Back at the cabin we just hung out, ate good food, took walks, played card games, croquet and loved on baby Kyle.
Oh yeah, and the older kids were thrilled to drive 'BIGFOOT'
On our last day Carissa and I took a hike around the Woods Canyon Lake to this area. If you look closely in the right half of the tree lines you can see a Bald Eagles Nest (approx. 5" in diameter) holding two baby eagles. We hiked back to this side of the lake where telescopes were set up to view the Eaglets in their natural habitat. It was fascinating. When we got back to our picnic area we all witnessed the mommy bald eagle swoop down into the lake, get a fish and fly it to the nesting babies. It was breathtaking.

Bits-and-Pieces

• Oliver Paxton. Our kids have a new cousin! Jeff's brother and his wife had a precious baby boy in late June. We went to see him at one day old. I love this sweet pic of him with his older sister Olivia and his older cousins holding his wee little body.

• Hot Wheels Carry Case. Caleb wanted me to take a picture of his vintage hot wheels carrying case because he thinks it is cool. This hot wheels case really is vintage - it was his father's when he was a boy.

• Skito Bites. A couple of weeks ago Caleb woke up with a huge one inch circle on his forehead. At first I thought he had bumped his head (in the night?) but then we wondered if it was an insect bite. Two days later he awoke with 8 more red circles. Redness around the site, intense swelling, and itching made for an uncomfortable child. Jeff and I finally concluded that he had giant mosquito bites. The pending question, "Why is Caleb getting bit but we aren't?" Jeff did find two mosquitoes and killed them but the next morning Caleb awoke with more bites. After a through search of the room we wondered if the humidifier might be the issue. Although we hadn't used the humidifier for several months it still had some water in the bottom of it. Could the mosquitoes be multiplying in the humidifier? It seemed possible (gross!). We did get rid of the humidifier in his room, washed and dried it and the problem seems to have improved. (yeah) Caleb has decided he doesn't like 'skitos' because they suck his blood. Poor little guy!

• French Braids. I put in double french braids to Carissa's hair for the first time recently. She was so proud of her three stranded braids that she told everyone at church "I have french braids!" (as if they didn't know).
• Poppy's Popped. Each year I await for the three days post pop to enjoy these blazing orange beauties.
  
• We've recently had a house full of good friends visiting us. Six adults and five children make for a grand time!
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• Right now I am in Arizona with the kiddos spending time with my mom. The first week of our trip was challenging with sick kiddos but our second week has been quite enjoyable. Except of course when you step outside and your make-up melts and your skin starts to blister. That's what I call f-u-n.
  

A Camping We Will Go

We enjoyed a fun weekend camping at Lake Pueblo State Park. Papa and Grandma joined us with their fishing boat for lots of (sweltering) fun in the sun.