Post Christmas!

Christmas is over, and so's my birthday. Booo....

But, what an awesome last week it has been! Courtney helped me make a ton of different cookies. We made ornaments and gingerbread houses (both real and foam). We wrapped gifts. We did a ton of different and fun things!
Kasey decorated herself instead of her gingerbread house!
Courtney making ornaments!

Finally Christmas Eve arrived! Hubby and I got up at 4am and put the prime rib on the smoker. (Then went back to bed.) Later in the morning, Courtney and I went to the Children's Service at church. They do an adorable children's service at 10:30am. They have a lot of costumes for any kid that comes to the service. Kids can be an angel, a Shepard, or a wise man. Then they get to participate in the live nativity. It's a short service, but its so cute! I saw lots of my friends, and we sang lots of Christmas carols.

After church we stopped at Wild Birds Unlimited to get my dad one last gift. They have a cute little area outside to cater to birds that includes a pond. Wouldn't you know they have about 15 ducks that live in the pond. They let Courtney feed the ducks some corn. She got a kick out of that!

We then went home and had lunch and naps. After that, we got ready for our big dinner! Our friends Glenn and Alexis joined us for dinner. We had prime rib, cheesy zucchini, roasted potatoes, salad, and homemade bread. The food was delicious! For dessert we had pecan pie and homemade ice cream.

I forgot to mention that the day before we got an ice cream maker. Hubby had several gift certificates to William Sonoma from work, so we got an ice cream maker!

We had made reindeer food earlier in the day, so Courtney and Kasey went outside after dinner and sprinkled that on the lawn. Plus we put out the cookies and milk for Santa! We also spent a good portion of the evening tracking Santa, thanks to NORAD. We finally got the girls in bed, and Courtney told me she was going to lay in bed and listen for the reindeer landing on the roof.
The girls with Hubby checking on Santa's progress.

In the morning she woke us up about 7am, not too bad! She was upset because she was sure Santa had not come because she didn't hear the reindeer land on the roof. So, she was happily surprised to see the Santa gifts when we got downstairs! He did indeed come! And he ate his cookies and drank his milk!

The girls went crazy and opened all their gifts! Santa brought Courtney exactly what she asked for: a ladybug pillow pet, Princess and the Frog movie, and Toy Story movies. She was very happy! The other big hit for her was the Hungrey Hungrey Hippo game her Great Grandma (GG) gave her, and her twilight ladybug that Grammy and Granddad gave her.

Kasey really enjoyed the Monkey Pillow Pet Santa brought, the baby doll that GG gave her and the twilight turtle that Grammy and Granddad gave her. In fact here we are a few days later and she is still quite attached to those toys.

After naps we headed down to my parents' house. The girls had more presents to open there. Kasey got a big garage like toy for her cars. She is so funny, she is into baby dolls, but she is also very into cars! She's very well rounded! :)

Courtney was very excited when she opened a 7 Princess Doll toy. It has 7 of the Disney Princesses in one large box, like Snow White, Cinderella, Tianna, Sleeping Beauty, etc. She exclaimed that it's what she wanted and Santa didn't bring it! It was cute!

We had a good time opening gifts there! And then we had a large turkey dinner. After dinner we opened our stockings. And after that we pigged out on Christmas cookies for dessert. It was a great time! We brought two very tired little girls home and tucked them into bed.

The next day was my birthday! We were planning on going to brunch at The Sunbird, which I love and I was very excited that my birthday fell on a Sunday so we could do it! I was quite surprised to see about 30 of my friends there when we arrived! Hubby threw me a surprise party! It was wonderful!

After pigging out and spending time with my friends, we headed for home. Kasey crashed in the car. So, we got the girls home and in bed. During nap time, Zak and Susan came up to stay with the girls. Hubby and I went and got pedicures. That was nice and relaxing!

After we got home, we got the girls ready to go and we headed to Giuseppe's for dinner. We had a nice quiet family dinner. I didn't get much family time at brunch that morning, so it was nice to have time with just them. Plus the food was delicious!

My birthday was amazing! And there were some unplanned surprises in there too that made the day even better! One of our friends went into labor, and another set got engaged!

I tell you what, the last month has been quite amazing and so fun! Now I can't wait for Christmas again next year! I am so thankful for my Hubby and my girls who made this Christmas season so amazing!

And here we are at the end of the year. What a year this has been for me. I feel like I have gone through some big changes this past year. I feel so much happier and at peace. I try really hard to let go of the things that I can not control or that make me mad. I try really hard to pay attention to the mood I am projecting. I wish to always project a happy mood, not a grouchy one. And all of those things have made a big difference in my overall disposition! I feel like 2010 wasn't a perfect year, but it wasn't a bad year! In fact, overall, it was a pretty darn good year!

We of course have a ton of pictures from Christmas, and it's hard to pick a few to put up here, so I invite you to go to our gallery and check them out!

Christmas is one week away!

This time of year is sooo fun!!

Today we went to the zoo for preschool. We learned about grizzly bears. We have learned about them before, but I love it when we learn about them. We get to go up to the bear hut and be about 3 feet from them! Oh they are sooo cute that close. You just want to squeeze them! They really look like big teddy bears with cute furry ears! There is always a parent in the group who gets quite freaked about how close you actually are. There is a huge piece of steel mesh between the bears and us, but it is really close. It's even closer when the kids feed the bears sticks covered in honey... I know those bears could kill us in an instant, but I just want to give them some pets or hugs! Oh they are cute!

And our moose, Tahoma, was up walking around today, so I got to be feet from him today too! He's getting so big! Those animal babies grow up just as fast as kiddos!
After preschool we spent quite some time in the education center. Courtney loves that place. I know we go there a lot when we walk in the door and the keeper says "Hi Courtney" as we are walking in the door. (She didn't have a name tag on or anything either). Anyway, Courtney pet a leopard gecko, Tiger Lilly the skunk, 2 tortoises (Timmy and Tammy), and a few other things I think. She also made a few tubes for Tiger Lilly's cage. We were the only ones in there, so we had all the keepers to ourselves and so Courtney got anything she asked for. And she asks... That is why she loves that place. She regularly gets to help feed animals, pet animals, and more in their education center. When we were leaving the keeper said "she always asks such great questions! Which is a great way to learn!"

It's been a busy week here, as you would expect for this time of year. We have been doing LOTS of fun things! Making cookies for one. I think we are at about a batch a day. And we have about 4 different kinds I want to make this upcoming week, so we are going to be busy. Which will be very handy since Courtney is done with school until next year!
No, I didn't make the house, it was $8 at Target as a kit, and Courtney thought it was the best thing ever!
Kasey says: thanks for letting me lick the beater Mom!!!

Kasey came down with something the other day. Wednesday she woke up from nap and was her usual happy self. Then suddenly about 4pm she did a 180. She was miserable, and felt HOT, and she just wanted to be held. I took her temp and it was 102.9! We kept her on Tylenol and Motrin, but even that only brought her fever down to about 101.7. The next afternoon I took her to the doctor. He checked her ears and swabbed her for strep. Ears were fine and the strep test was negative. So, the thought was that she was either teething, or she was fighting something. She isn't a typical fever teether, she usually gets a runny nose when she teethes. So, she was probably fighting something. Friday morning, she was back down to 99.4 without med, and a happier kid. Today she seemed just about normal! Who knows what that was all about. Of course Courtney woke up with a slight runny nose. If it's not one, its the other! That is the NON-fun part of this time of year.

We did finally get some snow! Just about an inch, but it was a very welcome sight! It was 60 degrees on Monday or Tuesday and then snowing Thursday and Friday! Since Kasey felt miserable on Thursday and Friday and it was snowing the girls and I watched a few Christmas movies. We watched White Christmas and 2 Sesame Street ones over the course of 2 days. We still have a few more to watch, but I have to get them to stretch until Christmas!

Monday night we went to the preview party for Electric Safari at the zoo. It was fun. It wasn't quite as fun as last year, but it was still fun. They had free pony rides, so both girls were able to enjoy that. And free merry-go-round rides! We all took part in that too! They started the evening with some amazing food as usual and then we headed out to check out the zoo. They got some cool new lights scenes this year. We really enjoy the benefit of getting to go to the preview party. Its not nearly as crowded as it is once its open to the public!The front of the zoo all lit up!

The 3 dark figures are Hubby and the girls walking around the zoo!

Sunday (sorry, I am kind of working backwards here) we did more baking! I had a neighborhood cookie exchange that afternoon to attend, and I needed to bring 3 dozen cookies! The cookie exchange was so fun! I got to meet several neighbors I have never met before and spend some time with others I see regularly! Plus I got some really good cookies and their recipes! Here are Courtney and Hubby mixing up the peppermint chocolate chip cookies for the exchange.

Prior to the cookie exchange we went to the P's house to celebrate a very important birthday! Makala turned 1! It was a cute party and Makala really got into her cake (as you can see from the picture).

Saturday was a busy day for us too! (Last Saturday). Hubby had a test in the morning in Denver for a certification. I had a luncheon at the Colorado Springs Country Club. The mentor mom in my MOPS small group invited all the girls in our small group to lunch (7 of us) to her Courtney Club. It was very nice and the food was delicious! We had a white elephant gift exchange and it was a great time had by all!

That evening we went to my Ministry Team Christmas Party at another friend's house. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the girls from the Ministry Team and also getting to meet everyone's husbands! We ate lots of good food, had lots of good conversation, and played a few games.

Each evening we have been doing the Advent calendar still, one night she actually picked staying home and doing the calendar to going to the library for story time! And usually all it says it to find items I have hidden to put in the donation box! Then usually Courtney helps me wrap a few presents. Its hard for me to let go of presents looking perfect, but she loves helping, so I am working on letting it go...

Tonight the Advent calendar told Courtney that she got to pick where we were going out to dinner. She picked Noodles (not a huge surprise to us). First we stopped at the mall to check out the gingerbread house display they had there. It was pretty neat! A local culinary school made a bunch of them (that were quite detailed) to support the local Ronald McDonald house. Since Courtney has been so into gingerbread houses and such, she loved it! Plus we did a bit of a walking around the mall. Not sure what we were thinking, going to the mall the last Saturday before Christmas. It was insane. We hit 2 stores and left!

On the way home from dinner we stopped at a house to check out their light display that was recommended by some friends. It was well worth it! I uploaded two of the songs to You Tube, you can watch them here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez6dDISQ3m0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hruETBmd7pg

I am really looking forward to the next week! Cooking, baking, Christmas movies, present wrapping and more! I am going to be sad to see Christmas end....

I love December

Tonight in our Advent calendar it said: Let's go out to dinner, Kasey gets to choose where! "Kasey" chose Gunther Toody's. It's a 50's style diner. Mommy really likes those nights!

We have been in Christmas mode still. Courtney has been in the mood to bake. At school all this past week they were talking about Gingerbread boys/girls/houses etc. So, she has really been on a kick to bake gingerbread men. I haven't gotten gutsy enough to try them. Maybe next week... But it's been funny to pick her up each day. If she isn't covered in frosting, the room at school is. I am not sure what activities they have been up to, but one day she had dried icing all over her face! Including her eyelids. The next day, it looked like a sack of flour had exploded in the room. Several mothers made comments and one of the teachers aids made some sort of comment about having fun that day...

We did however make some Christmas cupcakes. I had a recipe from a magazine I received recenlty. The cupcakes were on the cover. They looked really tasty. Courtney saw them a few days ago and has been bugging me to make them too. So, I caved on that one. Except we didn't make them from scratch like the recipe called for. I cheated and got boxed mix. And I bought white canned frosting. Courtney helped make the cupcakes and put them in the cupcake pan (she's getting really good at that). After they were baked and cooled, we mixed up 3 batches of frosting. One green, one red and one white, all with some peppermint extract mixed in. Mmm, that made for some yummy toppings to chocolate cupcakes! And Courtney decorated them with Christmas sprinkles. They were sooo tasty! Courtney named them Christmas cupcakes. I think we might have to make them a tradition every year! We delivered some to some of our neighbors too, they were too yummy to not share! Plus, we really didn't need to eat all 24 of them...
The girls have been very into Christmas music. Courtney wants it on in the car all the time, and we sing Christmas carols before bed every night. They both LOVE Rudolph. Kasey makes the motions and Courtney sings along at the top of her lungs.

The other day I went for my annual eye exam (I still have 20/20 vision by the way). My eye doctor has been my eye doctor for 10+ years. We were discussing kids. He said: no one can explain to you (pre-kids) how much kids change your life. So true, which got me to thinking that no one can also explain to non-parents how magical the Christmas season is with little kids. It really used to bother me to see Christmas stuff hitting the stores at Halloween time. This year, I started to feel excited when I saw it! And once December hits, it's like the whole month is magical! I know that this magic thing really probably only lasts for a short time, but it's so fun while we have it! I hope we are able to keep it for a few more years.

Although, we have had lots of unseasonably warm weather this month, and not much snow. I really would appreciate some more snow to make it a tad more Christmasy around here! But the warm days are nice too, I guess. Except I find myself outside putting up more lights every time it gets above 50 degrees. If this keeps up my house is going to look like the Griswald's by Christmas!

MOPS is on break until next year, so our neighbor came over for a play date today. It was nice to not have to get up and rush off. The girls had a fun time playing, and the mommies had a good time talking.

Yesterday Kasey had a speech evaluation. She came in on the borderline for being average and having issues. They found she was dropping syllables in the middle of words or not pronouncing any at all. So, they told us to really pronounciate words the next few months. If she is still having issues when she turns 2 we need to go back for another evaluation. They said she is an "at risk" kid at the moment and the next 4 months are crucial. Which is why we really need to work with her hard for the next 4 months.

On of the things they said to me as we were starting the evaluation was "so she is 20 months old". In my head I thought 'no, she is 19 months.' Then I thought 'wait, the 8th was the day before, shoot, I guess she is 20 months!' Wasn't it just yesterday I was having to adjust to her being 19 months old! That last month really flew by!

Well, I need to go and make 3 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange on Sunday! Hope everyone is well!

Busy weekend!

Its been busy here! We had our Annual Friends dinner on Friday night. We figure this was probably the 10th or 11th year it's been done. We met up at Giuseppe's downtown. It was fun. The food was good and we sat in the perfect room. We weren't surrounded by other people and the way we were positioned, we could be as loud as we wanted! It was great! Plus we got to spend lots of time with Little Esten, so that was nice too.We took the girls to my parents house for the evening. When we came to pick them up, they were so happy! It was WAY past bedtime, and they were still awake, but Kasey was BEAMING! It was obvious they had a wonderful time. It was so cute!

A few months ago, Hubby's calf started bothering him. Mostly when he was on it all day when he was teaching. The doctor checked it out and said it was probably strained and to take it easy on it. A few months go by and suddenly it really starts bothering him again, pretty bad. So, he went back to the doctor, but saw a D.O. in their office who deals a lot with sports medicine. After a thorough exam and lots of pushing where it hurts, it was determined that Hubby has micro tears in his calf. The doctor gave him this cream that he has to apply 4 times a day to the area. It apparently is an anti-inflammatory in cream form. He has to do this for 2 weeks and then see how it feels. We are still in that 2 week period and he says it is still pretty sore. Next may be some physical therapy.

Speaking of physical therapy, Courtney will be going back into PT. We are going to be running out of insurance covered visits for her occupational therapy soon. Kaiser only allows her 20 visits per year. And the year is renewable at the end of May for her. We will run out of visits at the end of January. That is quite a gap for her to go without therapy. We don't want that to happen, plus she still needs PT. So, she had to get evaluated again. She is 50 months old, but she comes in at a 30-37 month old level for her physical abilities. But she is pretty able to function normally in society. But of course some PT wouldn't hurt. And it will keep her in some sort of therapy. So, we will start that up Mid-January. I am hoping to get her back into Hippo therapy, but I am not sure we will be able to work that with our schedule. We will see.

If you remember, Courtney has also been lactose allergic for some time. It's been a while since we have let her try milk. She has always been ok with yogurt, cheese, etc, but to give her straight milk was a problem. The other night when we were at Noodles, she saw a chocolate milk carton and really wanted chocolate milk. I went ahead and let her try it just to see. Guess what, no complaints of pain! So, over the last few days I have given her a serving of regular milk just to see what happens. No complaints!!! She usually complains of stomach pain. So, she may finally be past it! I am slowly going to switch her over! It will make life a little easier if that is indeed the case! Kasey still can't tolerate regular milk, but it gives me hope! YAY!

So, I got a new advent calendar for this year. I got one of those boxes that have little doors for the girls to open. I did something a bit different. I bought a lot of travel sized products to use with the calendar. Every evening I hid whatever the box is going to ask the girls to find. Such as last night was: find 2 blue mouthwashes for our donation box. Then once they find them, they put them in our donation box. At the end of the month we will drop off the donation at ESM at our church. Hopefully this starts to instill giving into our kids. Ok, Kasey may be a bit too young, but hopefully Courtney starts to get it. We talk about why we collect these things and who will get them, etc. The calendar doesn't have all donations though, there are some fun ones mixed in there too. The other night we got: let's go out to dinner and Daddy chooses where. He chose The Elephant Bar because we had a large gift certificate for them. I just looked, tonight's is: let's go out for ice cream! Whoo hoo!

Saturday morning we had zoo preschool. We learned all about snow leopards. After we did our craft and learned all about them, we headed to the snow leopard exhibit. When we got there, they weren't out yet. So, we got to walk around and go to the leopard house! We got to be inside with them! Well, they were in cages, but it was so cool to be so close to the 2 snow leopards and 1 amur leopard.Snow leopard

Later that night we went to the Festival of Lights downtown. It's the winter parade I guess you could say. It was cold, as I guess it should be for a winter parade. We bundeled up and headed out. We picked up dinner on the way and put it in a cooler to try to keep it warm! While we were walking in we ran into our friend Kim and her girls. They had some saved seats, so we joined them. Here are the girls all bundled up:

Kasey stayed in her stroller to keep her contained....

One of the floats.

After the parade we ducked into a cafe for some warming up and to hopefully let traffic subside a bit. We had cookies and juice while the girls had fun together. It was fun.

The fun of the holiday season is upon us and I couldn't be more excited!

December is upon us

I have been feeling a little frustrated the last few days. It seems there aren't enough hours in the day. I could use a few more to get everything done that I need to get done. Especially a few more hours of daylight would be really helpful. Oh well...

So, a few months ago, like in about May, I did a will up online. I got everything done and in order! YAY! I printed it out! YAY! Then I just had to get it notarized and signed by 2 witnesses. Yea, I finally did that today. Ok, so I am slow. Anyway, I didn't take the time to look over my will before I had it witnessed and notarized today. Should have done that.... I saw that in several places I have Susan and Zak Keller down. Now that they are (CENSORED AT MY MOTHER'S DEMAND), that needs to be changed. Grrrr. Thankfully because I did my will online I can change it easily to one of them or the other. Then I will have to get it re-witnessed and notarized. I guess it really doesn't matter. I guess it would have been needed to be changed anyway, but I wish I had seen it before I had gotten it done today. Oh well. I am sure over the years it will need to be updated and redone. But right away? Ugh.

Christmas is coming to our house slowly. The girls and I put the tree up the other day. It only had about 10 ornaments on it, but it's up and lit! Hey, people on the street can't tell it's not decorated, unless they look closely. We got our outside ground decorations up last weekend, and then yesterday it got warm enough again for us to get the icicle lights up. I did a majority of the prep work, then Hubby came home and just popped them up into place and got power run to them. Slowly but surely. Heck, by the time Christmas gets here, we just may be ready!

The girls are both doing really well. Kasey has figured out how to plug her ears. She was playing around with it today. Then I went through the car wash, and she did it in there. She doesn't like the car wash. And then, on the way home from the car wash, Courtney and I were singing along with the radio and she did it again! Should I be crushed? She plugs her ears when I sing!

I got my first Christmas package off today. It's to our friend who is currently deployed overseas. So, I needed to make the December 4th deadline to get it out. No problem! Now I just need to work on getting the rest of my packages wrapped and out and life will be golden. Again, this is where I need more hours in the day.

So, it's been getting cold here. This apparently has led to mice coming indoors. One was nice enough to die right next to my shoes for me to discover on Thanksgiving morning. Then on Tuesday night, Hubby and I spent the better part of an hour trying to get a live one out of our house! The darn thing was under the birdcage, then he went behind our hutch. We finally we able to get him to run out the door to the garage. I hope he kept running right on out of my house, but I doubt it. That's fine. He can stay hidden in my garage not bothering me and I will be just fine with it. But I want him to STAY OUT OF MY HOUSE!

It's shaping up to be a busy month as December always is. I am looking forward to it. It's so fun once the kids start to get to that age of enjoying things! We are going to go to the Festival of Lights parade on Saturday night. We went last year too and had a great time! Courtney loved it. And of course Electric Safari kicks off soon. We got invited to the premier party! We had a great time at that last year too! I remember so clearly how it was 6 degrees and a layer of snow was on everything. It was so cold it kept the amount of people down, and the people that were there were following Santa around. So, we did our own thing and it was like we had the zoo to ourselves. We were so bundled up that the cold didn't bother any of us. In fact we would get hot when we went indoors. I have a feeling it's not going to be 6 degrees this year when we go, but it will still be a good time. That I know.

We took the girls to dinner the other night at Noodles. (If you don't know what that is, it's pretty much fast food noodle dishes). Courtney got plain buttered noodles. No cheese or anything. She said to us, "mmm, this is the best dinner I have ever had." Really? Cause I make that at home for her all the time! I guess eating the same thing at a "restaurant" makes it taste better. Silly girl.

Well, time to head for bed. Night all!

Happy Post Thanksgiving!

Hello all!!!

Well, Thanksgiving has now come and gone. What a day it was! We had several people to our house.

My day started with running my first 5K race! Our local Y(mca) that I work out at hosts an annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. I think this was their 14th or 15th year doing it. And for the first time ever, I participated!

Hubby and I registered about a month ago. Zak also agreed to run it with us, Hubby and I were going to walk it with the girls. Well, Zak kept putting off registering. And we kept inviting people to Thanksgiving dinner. So Hubby decided he was going to need to stay home that morning and cook, and so Zak could run as Hubby. So Zak was my 40 year old Hubby! LOL, for the first (and probably last) time ever, Hubby ran a 5K! Kind of....

The forecast was for extremely cold weather. Whitney and her girls were also going to walk the Trot with us. But because it was forecasted to be so cold, Whitney and her girls came over to our house to help Hubby with our girls while I was running the race.

Anyway, Thanksgiving morning came, Zak came and picked me up at 8:15am, we were all bundled up, and we hit the road. It was 16 degrees when we left the house, and 19 by the time we got to the Y. Brrrrrrrrr

We finally started the race just after 9am. I didn't know if I was going to be able to run any of it. But because it was so cold, that is all I found myself wanting to do! So, I really surprised myself! I ran most of it! There were only 3 times where I stopped to walk. And when I did stop to walk, it didn't last long because it was so cold! We ran through the neighborhood just across the street from the Y. Colorado Springs Police Department had all the roads blocked off for us. Some of the people who live in the neighborhood were outside to watch about 2000 people run, jog, or walk by their house. It was quite a site! Some people really got into the spirit with costumes and decorated with turkeys and such. It was fun!

I am now hoping to run the 5K at the Race for the Cure in September next year! There's my goal!

Zak (aka Hubby) finished in 26:53 (minutes) and in 660th place. I finished in 37:22 and in 1425th place. That is out of 1744 timed contestants. They gave us these cool little chip things to wear on our shoe. We had to run over these blue pads in the road when we started and when we finished. That did our time for us! Pretty nifty! Of course the Y sent out an email Thanksgiving night informing all of us that someone set the course up wrong and it was actually only 2.8 miles instead of the 3.1 to make a full 5K, so I guess technically I didn't run a 5k. Boo....

Anyway, we didn't stick around for long after we both crossed the finish line. We got in the car, and turned on the heat. Then we went to Starbucks. It was so cold, that to drink cold water was painful. Drinking warm coffee was MUCH better. I felt almost good by the time we got back to my house! Zak dropped me off and headed back to my parents house. I ran inside and jumped in the shower.

After I was done showering, the fun began. The fun of cooking and getting all the food ready for lunch! We made ham and turkey breasts. Not any ham, FRESH HAM! Just about all hams you get are precooked or presmoked. It is hard to find fresh ham that hasn't been cooked. But Whole Foods had 2 of them. I got one and we smoked it! Hubby put the turkey breasts and ham out on the smoker at 11pm the night before.

We also made manchego mashed potatoes, smashed sweet potatoes, some with chipotles some without. Plus corn muffins, crescent rolls, dressing, and assorted munchie foods. One family brought a veggie tray, and Kaluah cake. I made a pumpkin gooey cake for dessert, and my mom brought a pie. Oh and Susan made a platter of deviled eggs that didn't last long at all.

We had our babysitter's and their family. They came for another Thanksgiving years ago, and since they didn't go anywhere this year, we had them over. Plus Whitney and her 2 girls. Plus all my family. We also had our neighbor's dog because they went to Denver all day. And Phoebe was here. The dogs ran around the back yard most of the day.

I had such a good time, the food was yummy and I just enjoyed all the people here. Whitney and the girls planned on staying overnight. So, after we fed them some dinner, we plopped them in the tub and then got them all down for bed. We stayed up a bit and played some Spades. What fun!

Friday we didn't do much of anything. Hubby made homemade waffles for breakfast, and then Whit and the girls left. I stayed in my jammies all day. My muscles were so sore and I was just beat. So, we did a whole lot of nothing. It was wonderful.

Today we need to recover the house, and I need to go get dog food. Hubby and Courtney are out having some Daddy/Courtney time. So I think soon Kasey and I will run our errands. Tonight we are going to my parents house for another Thanksgiving dinner. Tomorrow I am having a 31 party at my house.

Well, I guess Kasey and I need to get moving. I hope your Thanksgiving was awesome!

Our day at the zoo

Oy, tough day today. Last night one of the giraffes at our zoo slipped and fell into a pit below where people feed them crackers. Well, pit, ravine, moat, people don't have a good word for it. The giraffe, Uhura, was 20 years old, born at our zoo, and has had 10 kids, 5 of which still live at the zoo. Colorado Springs Fire Department brought in their high angle rescue equipment to try to help. They were apparently able to get her back out to flat ground and the high angle rescue equipment was able to help her get to standing. However, she was not able to stand on her own. So, the vet staff decided the best thing to do was to euthanize her. You can read the story here:

http://www.gazette.com/articles/responding-108335-firefighters-need.html

If you know me at all you know how much I: A)love animals B) love our zoo and C) love giraffes. The news was just devastating to me.

I can't even imagine having to work at the zoo and make that decision. The lead animal curator has been there since the birth of Uhura. I spoke with my friend who is the VP of the zoo and has worked there for 10 years. She said yesterday was the hardest day she has ever had at the zoo.

A tragic freak accident that ended in having to make a very hard decision.We were of course supposed to have zoo preschool today. And we did, the zoo was open for business as usual, except the giraffes weren't allowed out in the main yard. They have to make sure it's safe. Of course, that yard has been open for 7 years, but now that something has happened, they have to have a safety review.

So, we went to the zoo, we had an amazing day, other than the fact that there was a very somber mood hanging over the zoo. We stopped to see the brand new baby giraffe first. She was born last Sunday. She is sooo cute! So tiny and knobby still.
From there we stopped over to see the Meerkats. Wouldn't you know that the keeper came up to feed them just as we were standing there, and asked Courtney to help. This included getting to go in with the Meerkats! She got to put their food bowls down. Pretty cool!
From there we went to preschool and learned all about turkeys. Our "craft" today was to make a cupcake into a turkey. And once they did that, they devoured the turkey.
Kasey enjoyed watching her big sister make a turkey cupcake. I think she was a bit jealous too.

From there we went to see the real turkeys. Courtney fed them crickets. Real live crickets. Thankfully she has no fear.

After that we stopped at the education center where she got to help feed the tortises. She got to feed a lot of animals today! Some pretty fun experiences.
That was our fun and exciting day at the zoo. But there was just this somber mood over the zoo.

North Pole Pictures

Enjoy pictures from our recent trip to the North Pole

The girls and Daddy on the Ferris Wheel!

Feeding the animals!

Look at Courtney way up there!

Aww, aren't they soo cute!

Riding the Merry Go Round!

Here we come down the big slide!

Here come Daddy and Kasey!


Aww, ladybugs!

This was later that same night!

Kasey

Good golly, what a week's it's been. As you know from my last post, Kasey was getting a tooth. This causes her nose to run. In turn she ended up coughing. On Tuesday afternoon the cough started to get worse and worse fast. So, we headed off to the pediatrician. Guess what? She had croup! Plus she is most likely asthmatic which is why whenever her nose runs she ends up with a cough.

Great....

So, the doctor put her on oral steroids and her breathing treatments. She also informed us that whenever she starts getting a runny nose for any reason, we need to start breathing treatments.

So, we get all her meds, we made it through Tuesday night without a trip to the hospital. She had a rough night as far as coughing and waking up, but she didn't need intervention. I was so thankful croup hit during the day and we were able to get in 2 breathing treatments and one dose of steroids before bedtime. Croup is always bad the first night, and gets better from there, but you have to make it thought that first night. If you recall, back in June, Courtney got croup and spent a night in the hospital.

Kasey just finished her third and final dose of steroids this evening. She has another few days of antibiotics and breathing treatments. Poor kid. But she sure sounds a lot better. Of course now she is super grumpy. I swear those steroids make her super grumpy. I am a bit worried about her attitude tomorrow. But, we shall see.

We are supposed to go to MOPS tomorrow, but because the steroids lower your immune system, I really don't want to put her in a room full of other toddlers. That would be recipe for disaster, or at least recipe for more sickness.

So, we have had to cancel all plans for the past few days. No swim lessons, no booster flu shot, no leaving the house much. I am getting a little cabin fever. Courtney has continued to go to preschool, but that's about the only place we have been going, other than Walgreen's to get medicines!

I haven't been to the gym in a week. Ugh, I feel so suddenly out of shape. I feel like it's going to take a month to get back to where I was! Of course, I haven't been eating the healthiest either. That certainly doesn't help. I think like most mom's it hard to eat healthy all the time, especially when Hubby is out of town for a week. I really struggle with healthy balanced meals.

Anyway, that has been our last few days. My father in law just had hip replacement surgery. And today is his birthday. The joke is that for his birthday he got a new hip! Haha. But apparently he is doing quite well. Surgery yesterday and was already up and moving today! Isn't technology wonderful! My mother in law got him an iPad for his birthday, so he has something to keep himself entertained while he is recovering.

Well, I am wiped out. So, I am going to go and veg out in front of the TV. Hugs!

Silly Kids

In a little over 12 hours a lady will be at my home to evaluate Kasey, again.

Let me back up and explain. As most of you know our story, Courtney wasn't diagnosed until she was older (3-ish). We missed the crucial window of getting into The Resource Exchange (TRE) here in town because A) no one told me about it and B) by the time I did find out about it, it was too late. They only service 0-3 year old's. Had I known about this program when Courtney fit that age category, most likely she would have her Individualized Education Program (IEP) and would be receiving FREE services through the school district. BUT that's a whole other rant on it's own, which I believe I have done on here before.

ANYWAY, I didn't want to miss a darn thing with Kasey, so I had her evaluated when she was probably about 9 months old. Guess what? She was just fine and passed their test with flying colors. I was/am fine with that.

Fast forward to the last few months. I don't know if you remember, but she started to talk early just like her sister did. Even used a few 2 word phrases. Then suddenly, one day, it was gone. That worried the pediatrician. So, she ordered a hearing test and a speech evaluation. I did go and get the hearing test done, which again, she passed with flying colors. I figured that would happen. I also figured that her speech would come around. It has started to, but slowly. Last time we saw the pediatrician she again asked about a speech eval. Ok, fine, I will get her one. I called TRE because this time I didn't want to miss my window if it is indeed needed. So, tomorrow, the lady (same one) is coming back to re-evaluate Kasey. We will see!

So, here I sit, 12 hours out, just filling out their SHEETS of paperwork I have to have done for our 8:30am appointment. Yes, I have had them for over a week, but that's ok. Nothing like procrastinating! Plus, so much could change in a week, right? She could have suddenly started talking in sentences!

Speaking of changing. I have been able to see the point of one of her eye teeth on the top for weeks. It finally broke through last night. Between the hours of 12am-1am to be exact. I know this because she woke up crying. And for the first time in a long time, she didn't settle down. So I went in to comfort her. But for the first time ever, she was inconsolable. Poor thing! I gave her some Tylenol, held her, and rocked her, and worried about her. After a while she finally settled down. I was able to put her back down and she went back to sleep. This morning I noticed the point was through. I felt it with my finger and sure enough there it was! Sharp as the dickens too! And of course, as per usual when she gets top teeth, her nose is running like a faucet. Poor thing. She also doesn't sleep well. It's going to be a long night too night too I think. So fun, since Hubby just left this morning.

We spent a quiet day at home, we all got to bed late last night because of dinner at our neighbors' house. Between that and getting up again a few hours later because of a tooth, we needed a quiet day. The only place we went was to the grocery store. I let the girls watch too much TV and I did a lot of cooking.

I am on a mission to make 3 different meals, for 4 different families. I have one set of friends who just had a baby (on Friday, Esten and Julie welcomed Esten Lee). I have another friend who has mono! And she has twin 3 year old's. One more friend has a husband deployed to Iraq and I think she could use a little pick me up, and the fourth family is ours. Hey, if I am making all that food, I might as well makes some for us!

I already got the Realtor soup done, as we call the recipe. It's called that because our friend got the recipe off a card a Realtor had sent out as an advertisement. And it is tasty! Next dish is going to be chicken tortilla casserole, and the final dish is just going to be chicken and rice. Nothing to wild or crazy!

Oh, I did get my Christmas/birthday gift from my wonderful husband on Friday night. He got me an iPad! It's 1/3rd the memory of his, but no biggie. I don't need all the music and movies and all that. We were able to save 15% at Target when we bought it too! Of course it's my gift, but I paid for 1/2 of it with my commission check from my 31 parties last month. Anyway, this is one of those times that I don't mind a birthmus gift (Christmas/Birthday). When it's something big like that! I love it already. Well, I already knew I would, but the really nice thing is that I can take my calendar with me now! That was one thing I always disliked. We use an online calendar. So, I have to wait to get home to make most appointments, book parties, etc, because I had to be in front of my computer. But now I can take my calendar with me any where I go! But our online calendar system works extremely well for us. This way I can see my calendar, Hubby's calendar, and the girls calendar all at once!

Kasey is quite the little swimmer. In fact Little Miss Independent as we like to call her, really seems to think she can swim on her own. She can't, but she sure likes to try! And her favorite thing to do at the pool is climb out the side, walk over to the stair and go down the stairs back into the pool. I am not sure why, but that girl loves stairs! Any stairs! And she is not big on listening to her swim teacher and doing what the swim teacher wants her to do. Maybe one day she might listen and then she might actually learn to swim! Crazy kid!

I have some cute recent kid moments to share:

Last week Courtney points to the back of her head and says "this is where my brain is." I said, "yes, you are right! Did your teacher tell you that?" She replies, "no, my brain said 'hey this is where I am!'"

Silly kid.

Today at the grocery store I got a bottle of water for the kids to share as they were riding around in the cart. Our cart looked like a car with them riding at the front. So I couldn't see them too easily. But I could tell from the noise they were fighting over the bottle of water. So, I stopped the cart, went around front and squatted down to look at them. Courtney wouldn't share the bottle with Kasey. So, I took the bottle from Courtney and gave it to Kasey for her to take a few sips. Kasey takes the bottle from me, looks at me and says "bye-bye" as she waves at me. She made me laugh out loud right there in the grocery store!

Ah, these are the days!

Ok, enough procrastinating, I have to go fill out that paperwork and make the next set of meals! HUGS!

North Pole

Well, today we were at the North Pole. That always sounds so funny to say. Courtney's preschool class had a field trip there. Once we arrived we discovered it was actually all of District 11's preschool, but it still wasn't too crowded! Apparently the kind owners let all the kids and their immediate family members come in for free! They aren't open during the week this time of year, so it was a special thing and so we really had the park to ourselves.

Courtney loves the North Pole as she discovered earlier this summer. And of course today was no different. It was different for Kasey however. This time she got to ride most of the rides with her sister. Last time she got to ride in the stroller only.

We were a little worried before today about the weather. The weather men were scaring us with predictions of snow and rain and cold temperatures. It has been unseasonably warm here recently, in fact it was in the 70's over the weekend. And we still haven't seen our first snowfall which for us is very odd. Anyway, we were a little worried about what we would wake up to.

Hubby and I decided last night that we would hit The Donut Mill in Woodland Park for breakfast. They are so yummy, and Hubby swears they have the best gravy ever. Any chance we get to go there, we take it!

But of course our day started at 6:30am as usual. Courtney was up at her regular time (the kid does NOT understand sleeping in). So, Courtney and Kasey had a bit of breakfast at the house. We were very happy to wake up to sunshine and few clouds instead of rain like we were worried about. We finally headed out and up the pass and ate our yummy breakfast! Courtney was so happy when we were done so we could FINALLY head to the North Pole. She has known this day has been coming for about a week and of course at 4 years old, when you are excited about something, it takes forever to get here!

Right as we were leaving a few flakes started to fall from the sky! Funny thing was there was still sunshine and blue sky all around! Just one dark cloud dropping the flakes on us! Thankfully there were no flakes on us at the North Pole. We all had a few layers on, and as the morning went on, it got a bit warmer! With all the layers we had on, none of needed our coats! Or any of the other 10,000 warm things I brought. But I figured that if I wasn't prepared for whatever weather may come our way, then we would be miserable.

We rode a ton of rides! Kasey rode most of them with Courtney or one of us. There were very few she couldn't go on! We did the big slide 5 or 6 times (maybe more). We had lunch at one of the little cafe's. It was a great time! Oh and of course Courtney got to see Santa! Kasey was too shy and wouldn't sit on his lap, but Courtney hopped right up! We finally headed out about 1:30pm. Kasey was asleep within a matter of moments and Courtney made it until we were almost home. We unloaded them and put them straight down for nap. Then Hubby headed out to work for a few hours. At the moment, the house is silent! Ahhhh.....

As we were leaving we saw the storm coming in. It's moving in from the North, and it was certainly on it's way. I think we left at a great time! By the time we got through the pass and headed back into town, it started to sprinkle. Since we have been home the wind has really kicked up, the sun is gone, the clouds are all here, and it's still sprinkling. They are saying tonight it's supposed to snow! We will see! It has also dropped 5 degrees since we got home.

Well, I need to go and take advantage of the silence! Hugs to all! I will upload pictures soon and pass them along!

Halloween Pictures

Makala the ladybug!

The gang getting ready to head out.

Me and my girls!

Kasey puppy!

The girls checking out their loot after we got done!

Halloween

Ahh, Halloween has finally arrived. Courtney spent the day asking me if it was time to go trick or treating. I have a feeling I have several more years of this. FINALLY, after naps and snack, it was time to head to our neighbors' house. Our neighbors, the H's, had us over for dinner, and the P's came too! So, we had 3 - 4 year olds, 3 toddlers, 3 mommies, 1 daddy, and 1 mother in law there for dinner. The craziness started after dinner when the 4 year olds realized it was time. Time had come for that moment they have been waiting for all month. Time to costume up and go trick or treating! Of course today Courtney decided she didn't want to be a dog like originally planned. She wanted to be a princess. No problem, got that one covered! So, no big fight there.

We got everyone suited up, pictures taken and out the door we went. We went to probably 20 houses. Much different than last year when we went to I think 5 houses. Maybe 10. We went with the H's last year too, since they live across the street. We put the toddlers in strollers and headed off! Courtney freaked out any time she saw kids in masks or something scary on someone's porch. She can't stand not seeing someone's face. So, I had to hold her hand most of the time. Poor kid! Where is that coming from? The other kids weren't scared.

Anyway, we made the loop around the neighborhood just in time to get back to our house for a potty break. We then hit one more house before heading back to the H's house to pick up all our stuff. The 4 year olds ran inside and all dumped out their candy on the floor to compare what they got. They all were allowed 1 piece of candy tonight.

After we finally got all the kids to pick up all their candy, and got the little one's packed up, we headed out. The P's got in their truck to head for home. We had to stop at another neighbor's house to drop something off on our way home, 2 houses up, but we headed out too.

Once we got to the next neighbor's house, it was another 45 minutes there. They made homemade calzones for dinner. The girls each ate some, I had another glass of wine. Just what I needed. Courtney played a game of Mario Kart with our neighbor's grand-kids who are her age. It was actually a good time there too! Kasey was just about at the end of her rope, so we finally headed out. We came home, I got the girls in bed, and then I took a nice long hot shower. For some reason my back muscles feel sore. Anyway, the girls are now crashed out and I am not far behind.

I feel so blessed to have spent the evening with 2 really good friends taking our girls trick or treating! It was so fun! I did take lots of pictures, but I am too tired to upload them at the moment. I will do that soon. I had a great evening. I am so sorry that Hubby had to miss it, he left on a plane at noon today for a trip. Halloween just keeps getting better and better!!!!

I hope all of you had a great evening!

Babysitters

Nana and Papa are coming to babysit the girls today while Hubby and I go to a football game. Courtney is a little too excited about this. All week she has been asking 'is today the day?' Finally the day has come, and Courtney was up at 6am. And with her going in and out of her room, and everything she woke her sister up. So, yes, we have all been up since 6am. Well, except Hubby, I was extremely kind and let him stay in bed. I am currently questioning that decision.

Anyway I came downstairs and fed the girls breakfast. About 5 minutes after breakfast Courtney was asking if the babysitters were here yet. I explained that the babysitters wouldn't be here until after lunch. 2 minutes later she says to me: "Mom, will you make me some lunch?"

Ah kids, gotta love em!

Pictures

Kasey tries the Wii!

Waiting for Boo at the Zoo to start!

Hey, you look familiar!







End of the night!

How many dogs do you see in this picture?