Cole @ 4 o'clock Sans Nap

We are trying to wean Cole off the pacifiers because he just keeps chewing on them and breaking them, but without it, he will NOT go to sleep - either for a nap or at bedtime. He fights it tooth and nail! Well, today he was SO cranky and just cried and cried and cried. Finally, I picked him up and just sat in the chair with him and he fell asleep sitting there on my lap. Poor little guy! But of course, it was only 4 o'clock and I can't put him to bed that early, so I laid him on the bean bag in hopes that he wouldn't sleep so long. Maybe next time he'll take his nap!!

Scrapbook-a-holic

I have always LOVED scrapbooking, although I find that I never have any time to do it. Well, in late October, my new neighbor, Judy, and I are planning a Halloween Bunko to meet all our new neighbors and I decided I wanted to scrapbook the invitations. Well, they turned out SO cool!!! I was really impressed with myself (yes, a little pat on the back for me) and I wanted to share it - I took pictures and you can decide what you think of them, but I LOVE them! It was SO much fun and it didn't take long at all!

Spook-tacular!

The picture is a little fuzzy, but we decorated the front porch for Halloween before Gary has to leave on Friday - I think it turned out pretty cute!

Adventures in Playset Construction

Thanks to Mommy and Daddy, Memaw and Pepaw, and Memere and Pepere, we purchased a Cedar Works playset as an early christmas present. We wanted to get it early so the kids would have time to use it and they LOVE it!! Olivia was up at 4 a.m. asking us for her surprise but we didn't start working on it until 9a.m. It took us pretty much all day, but it was totally worth it! Mommy and Daddy make a great team and Olivia and Cole think we are super heroes!

The finished product

What a great team!

Olivia - waiting with anticipation!

Colvin on the swings

Time to slide!

Colvin, Daddy and Olivia

Happy Birthday to me (and Alyson)!

My birthday dinner at Carino's - it's Italian. If I were to give this place a review, I'd have to say the food is good, but not good enough to make up for atmosphere, which is super noisy from conversation and the kitchen noise, but that aside, it was really nice to get out with my honey and the kids and enjoy a nice dinner. Thank you sweetness for making my birthday special. :)

But, for all the rest of you, I won't reveal my age..... I'm 29 forever baby!

Zoo Day with the Doehrings

This weekend was Military Appreciation Weekend at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, so we saved over $12 per person, which was too good a deal to pass up. The weather was awesome - sunny and warm - and the company was perfect! Olivia just loves Jenna and Miss Judy - she absolutely talked our ears off. :) Andy, Drew and Luke were with us too - the guys - but Gary and Cole stayed home because Cole was sick. We missed them, but had a great time anyway! Take a look at some of our pictures!

Diana's Pumpkin Patch

Since Happy Apple Farm wasn't all we had hoped it would be, we decided to check out Diana's Pumpkin Patch in Canon City on Saturday. And although it was small, we were pleasantly surprised by the small-town hospitality and friendliness of the owners. It was actually a real pumpkin patch and we even got to go to the 'back' patch to pick out Bird Neck gourds - they look like geese - and some cinderella pumpkins and smaller pumpkins and gourds. We also had some yummy roasted sweet corn - it was delicious! Definitely worth the trip!

Happy Apple Farm

The kids had a day off from school, so my neighbor, Judy, and I decided to drive to Penrose and take the kids out to Happy Apple Farm to pick some apples and pumpkins. The farm wasn't that great and the produce was even worse, but we really enjoyed ourselves and had a great time! We picked berries, a couple apples and one pumpkin - and Olivia made a new best friend - Jenna (Judy's daughter). Overall it was a very nice day!

VOTE FOR OLIVIA!!

Click on the link below to vote for Olivia in the "Who's the Fairest One of All?" Disney contest!!

http://family.go.com/princess-picture-contest/who-is-the-fairest/princess-olivia-15261/

God Bless America

I feel really guilty that I had to ask why the flags were at half mast today ... sometimes we get so wrapped up in our daily lives that we forget about those who have given their lives for ours. Thank God for our troops serving, both at home and overseas, and the families that take care of the home front so they can do their jobs and we can sleep peacefully. God Bless America.

Today's the Day!! LIFT OFF!

Today we had a successful launch at the Colorado Balloon Festival. I don't think there were as many balloons as they anticipated - being the last day of the event, many had already left - but it was really neat to see. There is a slide show of pictures - I took too many to just post - and it was really cool! We can't wait until next year's "Hop" Air Balloon Festival! (That's what Olivia called it).

My two favorite photos...

A reflection off the lake of a balloon in the air.

This is the 'chase' balloon - it is the first to lift off and the balloon all others try to catch.

Slide Show ... (LOTS of pictures)

Pictures from a craft booth - the balloons are made out of light bulbs and copper wire and take anywhere from two weeks to many months to make. My favorite is the second picture - all are handmade and hand-painted and this one was probably the most intricate balloon he had made. The cost? $575.00! But absolutely beautiful!

A video of one of the balloons 'kissing' the lake - this one skimmed the surface of the water almost all the way across the lake. These balloon pilots are pretty talented to do it, but most of them touch and lift off. This was impressive enough that we thought it was worthy of a small video clip.