Catching Up: Part 2 (Christmas)

We had a great and busy Christmas. Leah has loved to sing Jingle Bells, and Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer for the last several weeks. She was also very excited to meet Santa, until it was time to actually meet him. I didn't make her sit on his lap, so we were spared the crying baby picture, but she was brave enough to stand next to Santa and hold Ryan's hand.

I don't think anything will beat her picture with Santa last year - which was also the last the year that the boys still believed in Santa.

Leah was very fascinated with the Christmas decorations. She was great about looking and gently touching the ornaments on the tree - as far as I know, nothing was broken. Her favorite thing was the talking/robotic Santa that reads The Night Before Christmas that Mr. G gave the boys the Christmas before he married my grandmother.  She was too scared to get close to it, but would ask for us to turn him on several times a day. She was able to recite the first full stanza pretty quickly.

Leah liked to play the trumpet ornament on the tree.

 We hosted 2 Christmas parties this year - one right after the other, which was nice, because we only had to clean once.

Leah was excited to wear her very dressy Christmas dress. 

Denver cousins on Christmas Eve.

Santa brought Leah a new kitchen and little table.

Ryan asked Santa for a new robe (he now walks around like Hugh Hefner) and Luke asked for a donation to the poor (don't be impressed, he really couldn't think of anything he wanted, so he went with my suggestion).  From me and Greg, Ryan got a remote control car that can go up to 30 mph and Luke got a Kindle Paperwhite to allow him to read in bed while he deals with chronic insomnia.

Leah most enjoyed her jellybeans.

But she also liked opening up each present. 

Leah got a new bike from Nana and Grandad

And a new trampoline from Papa and Grandma.  She's all set for her active little lifestyle.

Ryan and Luke were thrilled to finally make it to Sledding Hill Park. They are hoping to make it several more times this winter.

My dad turned 70 this month and Greg suggested taking him out for a nice steak (his favorite). The 3 kids did great at a fancy restaurant and the boys are hoping this will be a regular occurrence (ha!).

Ollie continues to become more and more comfortable with his new family.

We now have to keep the patio chairs away from the table so he won't help himself to sitting on top of it in order to look into the kitchen.

He loves the snow and chasing the boys around on their sleds.

I think he'd like to jump on for a ride.

Once he's had enough and is cold, he runs inside and sits inches from the fireplace in order to warm up as fast as possible so he can go back outside to play.

Leah is quite the little snacker. She likes to help herself to the pantry and especially loves to carry around a box of cereal. She can really be quite the stinker - she also thinks she's hilarious.

Catching up Part 1

Halloween 2016 was a great success. Ryan was The Claw vending machine game, Luke a tub of popcorn, and Leah a sweet black kitty cat. I love helping them come up with costume ideas and then figuring out a way to pull it all together. I did not help with Luke's Voyager 1 costume last year and I know my costume making days for Ryan and Luke will come to a halt sooner rather than later.  I am not creative, I'm just good at finding ideas on the Internet and then copying them. 

We went to Boo at the Zoo this year. The weather was gorgeous and the kids had a great time. Leah loves animals and it was fun to watch her get really excited about seeing different things. It was also hilarious to watch other people's reactions to Ryan's costume. Lots of people took pictures of him. He was really proud of himself.

Leah was the sweetest little kitty.

A girl and her Daddy.

Leah didn't really get Halloween but she totally understood that if she put her bag up and said "trick or treat" she would get candy in return.

Love the tail.

Luke's costume was a total mess. We used polyurethane spray and then added popcorn to the top layer. He shed popcorn everywhere he went. But it made his costume edible 😃

Ryan's was more of a challenge - but we found a few ideas online and created our own version. 

Annual pumpkin carving.

I love this picture - it is one of the very last I have of Davis, the inspiration for Leah's costume. I got Davis a few months before Greg and I got married 17 years ago. He was our first baby and truly the best cat ever. I took him to the vet 2 days after Halloween and we had to put him down that day due to kidney failure. I picked the boys up from school beforehand and we all got to tell Davis goodbye and be with him to the end. The 3 of us then went to Baskin Robbins and had ice cream in his honor - he would have loved that.

But to deal with my grief, I talked Greg into adopting a puppy 2 days after losing Davis.

Meet Oliver, our sweet new puppy. He has been a lot of fun and has brought a new energy and chaos to the family. Ollie has been a great dog. He has settled right in and has been energetic, tolerant, and snugly. The boys love him and Leah loves to talk to him and tell him what not to do ("No Ollie, my toy" "No barking, Ollie")

 I started seriously talking to my parents at the end of the summer about moving to Colorado. My dad said he would be willing to talk to a real estate agent to learn more about the market, and they ended up buying a house later that week. Their move was delayed a month thanks to a detached retina, but they moved a few blocks away from us at the beginning of November. It has been great having them around. I'm not 100% sure they feel the same way yet, they left a great group of friends and some family behind in Lubbock, but I'm hoping that my kids will become a regular part of their lives. 

The day they moved in was the Veteran's Day Assembly at the boys' school. Ryan and Luke were thrilled to have their Grandad be there and watch them with the flag ceremony. 

Denver cousins during Thanksgiving

Leah had a great time getting to know all about Santa Claus this year. If you ask her what Santa does on Christmas Eve, she will say he "brings presents." We went to the Littleton Christmas Tree Lighting this year and she got to see Santa from afar. 

Annual Gingerbread house making - this time at Nana's.

Leah insists on having books with her at all times. This is how her bed looks most evenings. She wants all of her books in her bed and she reads them by the light of her aquarium crib toy before falling asleep. She then wakes up and reads her books for a long time before asking to get out of bed. She knows the names of all of her books and sometimes recites them along with you as you read them out loud.

Leah went through a period where she gave herself "time outs" when she felt she was getting upset or overwhelmed. If she started to get upset or mad, she would tell us she needed a time out and then would proceed to walk to the time out spot and sit down. After about a minute, she would be just fine. She doesn't do that too much now - but fortunately time outs are few and far between.

Leah knows how to work a remote control. We  got new remotes with a voice command feature. She likes to talk into it and say "Super Why" in hopes that she can watch her favorite show.

2 Videos:

Leah's new shoes

Ollie

Enjoying a Beautiful Fall

We have had a good month. The weather has been great and we've been enjoying various activities. Last weekend was Fall Break and we headed to Glenwood Springs for a quick get away. 

The boys love coming here.

We first came the summer they turned 3. 

Leah loved the water and Ryan and Luke had a great time playing with her.

I put on floaties for Leah for the first time. She was really proud of herself for being able to float in the water on her own.

On our second day we took the gondola to the Adventure Park. Leah was pretty apprehensive about our ride up - she's wasn't too sure what was going on. 

The boys are about an inch too short to ride the alpine slide by themselves, so Greg was lucky enough to go twice.

Ryan would not ride the zipline. Luke was game, but was a bit nervous.

I think they both had a good time.

No trip is complete without lots of treats along the way.

Like father like daughter. Leah insisted on her own spoon-she is very determined to do everything on her own.

Ryan and Luke are in their last year of Cub Scouts. They made their raingutter regatta boats by themselves this year. They both did a good job and were matched up in one of the winner rounds.

Ryan wins!

Leah had the best time at the Pack meeting. She would run across the room and yell "Ryan, Ryan" and sit in Ryan's lap, and then jump up 30 seconds later, come back to me, and then started all over again. Ryan, as usual, was so sweet with her.

Ryan working on his boat.

Various pictures from the month.

Leah and I waited in the car for the boys to get out of school one day to avoid the wind. Leah had a great time climbing all over the back seats.

Bike ride!

Leah got a hold of Luke goggles and thought she was pretty hot stuff to wear them around the house.

 Ryan and Luke successfully completed their Lego Death Star.

They really worked great together on this project. They divided up tasks before they started and were patient taking their turns. It was a hard set to put together but they stuck with it and should be proud of themselves.

Bounce house fun at the neighborhood Fall Festival. Both boys were so protective of Leah around the other kids. Luke yelled at 2 other boys to watch where they were going and Ryan worked hard to help Leah jump.

Window crayons are the best.

 Various daycare pictures:

And lastly, 2 videos for our own enjoyment:

Ryan is still sticking with the trombone. He's made progress over the last month and can now play a few recognizable songs.

And Leah counting in her sweet little voice - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 11, 11....