Post Holidays

Well, we made it though the holidays. Courtney really got into it this year, although she had some confusing times. Sometimes she wanted to go with Santa to deliver all the gifts to kids all around the world (her words), one commercial we saw of Santa running to Target to get last minute gifts caused her panic and she was anxiously telling us that we needed to go to Target and go help Santa. It was cute, poor thing!

She was very excited Christmas morning. This year she opened her gifts, and of course she wanted us to open all the packaging too. But we were under a bit of a time crunch so most gifts had to stay in the packaging until later. She had asked Santa, several times, for a pony. Well, wouldn't you know it, Santa brought her an animated pony! She was very excited. She got a lot of gifts that she just LOVED.

Kasey is still too young. But she played with the gifts we took out of the packages for her. She is also too busy figuring out how to furniture surf. Yes, she stands and is starting to take steps while holding on. We can not believe it! I have a feeling this kid will walk early, but who knows. Tooth number 6 is trying really hard to come in, but her gum is doing a fine job at holding it back.

But let me back up, I skipped right to Christmas day. Let's see, we had Courtney's last zoo preschool for December. We learned about leopards. So, we took meat-cilcles up to the leopards and the zoo keeper put them in the leopard cage. We got to watch the leopard find them and eat them, quite cute!

Next day Courtney, Kasey and I went to ArtSports again. It's been 2 weeks since last time we were there. What a difference two weeks makes. Between Kasey crawling all over the place and Reagan walking, Molly (my neighbor) and I were busy chasing kids. But the girls seemed to have a great time again.

Kinsey had a dance recital. Hubby and Courtney went to see it. Apparently Courtney loved it, because now all she talks about is going to her recital so we can see her dance.

Christmas Eve I took Courtney to a children's service at our church. They had costumes for all the kids as they came in, Courtney was given an Angel costume, although she wasn't interested in putting it on. They had shepards, angels, animals, and Wise Men costumes. At certain times during the service they would ask for all the angels or all the wise men, etc. Courtney did go up when they asked for all the angels and sat with all the kids up front. She seemed to really enjoy it. They had a couple with a real baby and Courtney kept asking when Jesus was going to get big, or she kept asking to see the baby, it was quite cute.

Later that afternoon Susan and Zak came over. Susan has the gift of organization where I do not. So, she helped me to organize the playroom. She did a fabulous job. Of course, now that Christmas has come and gone, I need her to come back down and help me again. She also helped Courtney make Santa's treats, which were rice krispie treats.

That evening we went to my parents' house. We had smoked a prime rib all day and we took that plus dressing to my parents house. We all consumed yummy food until we were stuffed. We opened up some gifts and headed for homes. It was late and the girls were getting pretty worn out.

Anyway, then it was Christmas, which I covered first.

Next day was my 29th birthday! We met my parents and Susan and Zak at Edelweiss, a Bavarian/German/American restaurant. After a yummy lunch, we headed to my parents house for cake and gifts. I got some good stuff! After that we headed home and all 4 of us napped. After nap Rick came over for dinner and games. After the girls were in bed we broke into my new Wii Sports Resort game. It is really fun! We played for a few hours before Rick headed out.

So, the big present of the year was a car. Zak surprised Susan (and all of us) with a new car. Here is the video he sneakily recorded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_FIUyRJd6Q

It was so fun!!! I hope your holidays were wonderful too!!! Here's to a new decade arriving (or ending depending on how you look at it)!

Time really flies

Seriously, where does the time go? Kasey is pulling to standing all the time now! And teeth #4 #5 have arrived! She crawls FAST and is into everything! I forgot how hard it is to diaper and dress a squirming kid! She also is trying to climb the stairs. She is growing up so fast, I can't get over it!So is Courtney. I still can't get over how excited she is for the holiday season! It's so exciting and fun for her, which makes it fun and exciting for us also! She is singing Christmas carols, gasps at every decorated house she sees and talks about Santa coming all the time! As you know there are several Christmas specials on TV, just about something every night. We have been letting her stay up to watch some. She has watched Rudolph, Shrek the Halls and the Polar Express. She is really looking forward to watching Frosty the Snowman on Friday. She is very into Frosty. We have to read that book almost every night and sing the song daily.

Monday morning she fell on her face again in the kitchen. She really knocked her 2 front teeth back and up. They are once again gray and they are moved. At the time she was bleeding, so off we went to the pediatric dentist. They took x-rays. Good news is that no teeth are broken. However we won't know if she is going to lose either of the teeth for a few weeks.

Last Monday was a preview at our zoo for the Winter Wildland. That is where they decorate the whole zoo in tons and tons of Christmas Lights. The night they had the preview it was 6 degrees. It was COLD! We left Kasey with my mom and dad and we took Courtney up. We were all dresses in several layers. They served dinner and the food was fabulous. After dinner we headed out and walked around the zoo. Santa was there, we ran into him, Courtney told him she wants a pony... he said he would see what he could do.

Speaking of ponies, they had the pony rides open! And Courtney's favorite horse, Amiga, was all decked out for Christmas. So, in 6 degree weather, Courtney got to ride her! And they also let her feed Amiga a carrot. Courtney loved it.Because of all the snow, the lights were just beautiful. The animals were all pretty active, in fact the lion and the tiger came right up to the window to see Courtney. It was so peaceful and quiet at the zoo, and Courtney was so excited, it was one of the best trips we have had to the zoo!The next morning was miserable weather. It was cold and blowing snow. All the schools in town were canceled. Courtney was supposed to go to Psychical therapy, but there was no way I was taking the girls out in that weather. So, I called our neighbor across the street. I knew her daughter's preschool had also been closed. So, I packed up the girls and we ran across the street. We spent the cold snowy morning over there. Courtney played with Ava and Kasey followed Regan around. We stayed there through lunch, and then packed up and headed home for nap time. It was so nice!

Wednesday my mom had her last chemo treatment! My sister came down and she and I accompanied my mom to it. Although we had to leave before she was done. Sue had to hit the road to make it to work that night, and I had to get home to go to the doctor with Courtney.

We took Courtney to see her GI doc. We are pretty sure she has a lactose allergy. So, we have to really watch what we give her. Her blood tests all came back fine, but that only tests for the type of allergies that exhibit with swollen face/neck and hives and such. Her allergy is more intestinal.

Thursday was zoo preschool day. Hubby went with us this time. He has been jealous of all the fun activities we have done. Thursday we learned about Moose and Reindeer. Then we went up to see Tahoma the Moose and the visiting Reindeer, Jingles and Mistletoe. This upcoming Thursday we are going to be learning about the Snow Leopards.
Friday night I had dinner with my MOPS small group. The leader of our group had us all over for dinner, it was nice! Except there were only 4 out of the 7 of us. But that is what happens this time of year.

Saturday and Sunday we spent the whole days moving the playroom from the basement to the loft and the office from the loft to the basement. We are closer to being done, but we are not 100% there yet. It was a lot more work that either one of us anticipated! We got the loft (old office) all cleaned out and furniture moved. Today I moved all the toys from the basement up to the loft. I have some more moving of toys to do from the main level to the toy room, but it's almost all done! I can't wait until it is!

Well, time for me to hit the sack!

Christmas Season is here!

I love it, Courtney is really starting to get into Christmas this year! She loves looking for lights on houses and singing Christmas carols and all kinds of other things that go along with the season. Last night we took her to the Festival of Lights parade they do in downtown. It was the first time Hubby and I have ever been to the parade too! We met up with the Zeigner's downtown and Kelly and I ended up sitting on a blanket on the street, so we had GREAT seats!

There was the usual bands, and floats and fire trucks. Everyone and everything had LIGHTS. It was great! Courtney spent half the time on Hubby's shoulders and the other half of the time with me on the street. She was yelling 'Happy Holidays' and 'Merry Christmas' and 'whoohoo'! She was waving and high five-ing people coming by. She was really getting into it!

It was COLD though. Our car thermometer said 30 degrees. Courtney had on 3 layers on her legs and three layers under her big winter coat. Hubby and I also had on several layers. We left Kasey with my Mom and Dad since it was so cold. It was too cold for her! But Courtney had a GREAT time, she talked about it the whole way home. Here are some pics.

Friday our neighbor called and asked us if we wanted to join her and her daughters on their trip to a gym called ArtSports. It is a really cool place that has lots and lots of trampolines and a few foam pits. Courtney and Ava ran all over the place and had a blast. The babies sat on a trampoline and had a blast being bounced.



The day before that (Thursday) was our Zoo preschool day. It was 8 degrees and a little snowy, so we once again were the only people to show up for preschool. We learned all about polar bears. Since our zoo doesn't have any polar bears, we got to make treats for our grizzly bears. We have 2, Emmit and Digger who were saved from being put down up in Wyoming or somewhere because they kept getting into people's trash. So, now they belong to us!

Anyway, Courtney put peanut butter on sticks and we took them up to the grizzly bears. They opened the door and Digger came over to the cage. They let Courtney give him a stick though the bars! It was so neat!!! We really are enjoying our zoo preschool!

Yes, we have hit a cold snap recently and it's been super cold! Right now, at 9:45pm it's 10 degrees outside our house. I don't even think we got up to 20 degrees today! BRRRR! We have also had light snow on and off all day. I have to say, so far this winter season has been pretty cold and snowy!

Tonight we had our annual "Friend's Holiday Dinner". Basically our Christmas party with our close group of friends. Sometimes due to busy lives and such it's hard for all of us to get together at once. But most of us were able to make the dinner and get some catching up done. I always look forward to the dinner.

Well, my hands are freezing and so is the rest of me, so I guess I will go and put on some warm PJ's and go turn on my heating blanket! Stay warm everyone!

More Kasey updates and post Thanksgiving

So, Kasey now claps when you start singing and tonight she PULLED TO STANDING! Oh boy, this kid is going to be running in no time. Of course the poor thing also has a pretty bad cold, but that hardly slows her down!
Our family tradition is that on Thanksgiving before we eat we say what we are thankful for. This year I am thankful for:
-My two beautiful girls
-Susan and Zak being back in Colorado
-Friends and extended family
-Wonderful In-Laws who I LOVE
-A wonderful Hubby
-Most important, I am thankful it wasn't in the lymph nodes!!!

Courtney was thankful for:
-Aunt Suzi and Uncle Zak
-Mommy and Daddy and Kasey
-She also loves Nana, Papa, Grammy and Granddad too
(her little speech was pretty darn cute, it even made my sister cry. She said a few other things, but I don't remember what they were.)

After dinner we put up the tree and the next day we decorated outside. While putting up the tree we also decorated the kids!

Today we took the girls to see Santa! Courtney told Santa she wants a real pony and it needs to be pink, because pink is her favorite color. Santa informed her that may be a little difficult since pink ponies don't exist.

Last night I took Courtney down town to the church we go to. They were having a night they called Simply Christmas. They had about 30 crafts for people to make. They had some from simple to more difficult. There were a few Courtney could even do herself and she loved it! It was a lot of fun! And it only cost us $4.50 to go!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Ok, I finally have a moment to update the blog! Things have been busy here, Courtney has been keeping me busy with doctors appointments and therapy. Plus our cousin Bridget was visiting from Ireland. The day she left is the same day Hubby's parents flew in. They left this morning.

When Bridget was here we took her up to the Wolf and Wildlife Center in Divide. For those of you who were at Hubby and I's wedding, it's now just about across the street from where we got married!

Anyway, Bridget and I got in one of the pens with the wolves. We got in with 2 "puppies". Puppies as far as age, they were under a year. Not as far as size, they were HUGE! They were so cute and lovable! On of them is disabled from a rough start to life so he is a little shy, but the other one was quite playful! Micah and Nakai were there names.

We also got to get in a feed the foxes. They were adorable also!

Courtney finished her preschool at the zoo for November. For her 3 sessions she learned about bears, lions and gorillas. She will have another 3 sessions next month. It will be interesting to see what she gets to learn about next month. For the bears, gorillas and lions, the kids made them all treat bags that we then took to them and a zookeeper gave them. So the kids got to see the animals eat their treats. It was really fun!

We are testing Courtney for lactose allergies. Looks like she has some sort of food allergy, we are just trying to narrow down what.

While Hubby's parents were here, Hubby and I got the chance to escape for a night. We just headed up the road to Denver. Hubby had a free night's stay at a Marriott, so we used that up. We really didn't do anything but relax. We stayed closed to 16th street, so we walked down to a restaurant there for dinner. Other than that, we hung out in the room doing nothing. I finished my book, Hubby caught up on news, it was quiet and relaxing.

Of course Thanksgiving was yesterday. We had Hubby's parents, my parents, Suzi and Zak and Dana and Alex. Dana works with Hubby and Alex is her fiance (I don't know how to put the fancy little thing over the e). Dana and Hubby did most of the cooking. It was great! I didn't have to do much but stay out of the way! The food was wonderful as usual. But I really think it's more about spending time with family and remembering what we are thankful for. And this year I have A LOT to be thankful for.

Well, time to go put Courtney down for a nap, which means nap time for me too!

Kasey Update

In the past week Kasey has:

-started crawling
-started sitting up on her own
-started clapping

It's been a busy week for her!!!

Patience

I know I have been a bit behind on my posts. For that I apologize. Life has been busy here. First, Bridget has been visiting from Ireland, so free moments were spent with her, and of course there were not enough free moments!

Second, we have been dealing a lot with Courtney recently. Getting her evaluated and adding services. Life is feeling a little tough at the moment. Actually, thinking about it, it's been a rough few months! And it will continue for a few more. That's just one big piece of our current puzzle. There are other pieces of course...

I do my best to be positive all the time, but if there is a lag between posts, it may also be because I just don't have the energy to be positive. To all of those who I have had gaps in communication with, I apologize, hang in there with me, I will be back one day, when I have more energy.

I will still post, and like I said, please just be patient!

Time Flies

Courtney had her last October preschool at the zoo. It was a really blustery and snowy day, but we still went. Out of the 3 families that were in the class, we were the only ones to show up. We learned about bats that day! It was pretty cool, they brought their fruit bats down to see us. Here is what we saw on our way up to the zoo that morning:

Halloween has come and gone. But if you ask Courtney, it's still Halloween. She really fell in love with Halloween! The night before Halloween her gym, named My Gym, (that sure confuses a 3 year old) had a Halloween party. We all dressed up and took her. The Zeigner's were there too. Here's the ghost, skeleton (with his party shirt on) and our little pumpkins!

The next morning we had a Halloween party of a friend of mine from High School. It's kind of odd, but we reconnected on Facebook and her best friend is another mom from My Gym and she is also in MOPS with me! What a small world! Courtney had a blast at that party playing games will all kinds of kids! Plus she lives not far from us!
That night we had our neighbors over for dinner before trick or treating. Then our two girls went out. They have a girl 6 months older than Courtney and another girl 6 months older than Kasey! Here is Ava and Courtney out trick or treating!


After we trick or treated the neighborhood, we put them in the car and went to the local senior's center. They do trick or treating for the kids too. Basically you walk in the front door and there is a table with all the candy on it, and several of the residents sitting around watching the kids come in and out. Both girls had a great time that night and the weather was pretty nice too! We ran out of candy at our house in about 2 hours. I don't think we have ever run out of candy that fast!

My MOPS group had a Mission day. Our small group and another small group went to the Ronald McDonald house. We all brought some sort of food donation and then we all raked leaves. Here we are at the end with the pile of bags, and the scary thing is that you can't even see all the bags in this picture.


Last weekend kept us busy with Esten and Julie's wedding. Friday night we had the rehearsal and dinner. The wedding took place at a lodge (like thing) up in Palmer Lake, which is about 30 minutes north of us. We had a baby sitter for that night and left the girls at home. Esten and Julie really wanted kids included for the wedding and reception, so we took them with us. Brian was an usher with Tony. Here are Brian and Courtney watching the ceremony.


And at the reception:
My mom's cousin from Ireland is here visiting! She came with Courtney and I to her preschool class. We learned about bears. And then the kids put together goodie bags for the bears! They all got to throw in raisins, and raisin bran, and prunes! Then the keepers put the goodies bags on a zip line and got them down into the bears dens. It was fun to watch the bears get the bags and eat them.
We celebrated my dad's birthday on Sunday! Hubby smoked a prime rib and it was YUMMY! We also had mashed potatoes and asparagus.

We got our Halloween decorations down the day after Halloween and got our blow up turkey up. Yes, we have a blow up turkey. He is about 8 feet tall and Courtney just thinks he is great. He "sleeps" during the day and then the time turns him on at night and he "wakes up". He also lights up inside so you can see him in the dark. It's great!

Speaking of decorations, some people are too excited about Christmas. There is an apartment complex not far from here and a few nights ago I noticed that one of the apartments already has their tree up and lights in every window and their balcony. And ON! It's a little early if you ask me...

Well, life has been busy and the house has gotten away from us. So, I guess I better go and try to take it back a bit!