Halloween Fun!

So today we decided to dress the kids up and go to the Wildlife Experience Trick or Treat off the Street.  Planned on getting there at 10:30, alas left the house at 11.  BUT had a great time.  It wasn’t too wild and crazy.  But we had to take some before pics:

And they had a great spot there to take pictures.  So we got this one of the gang:

Kids got a bunch of loot and had a great time! 

(oh anyone interested in my weight loss I am down a total of 2.8 since I started.  Not great, but at least going in the right direction!)

Harvest Festival and Littleton Museum

Well DS had a school field trip to the Historic Littleton Museum.  We had such a good time!  The place was great and the kids had so much fun!  Since I am feeling lazy, but wanting to update, here are some pics of him and his school friends:

Ethan had so much fun, he didn’t want to leave! 

Then we went to a FREE harvest Festival in Castle Rock.  They had tractors the kids could climb on!

Then Ethan, Nyla and I went for a hay ride and had someone take our picture.

Then Ethan and Nyla enjoyed doing Tiger races!

And gavin being cute!

We got Ethan a helmet and jersey for his costume.  I guess we forgot to tell Nyla the helmet was for Ethan and not her!

Well, that is all for now.  Hope to post Halloween pics after this weekend! 

Nyla turns 2!

Well, in early October my little girl turned 2!  She is my little princess.  I emphasis LITTLE.  she moved up to the 10th Percentile in weight, up to 23 pounds!  She is also in about the 25th percentile for height.  But she is spunky!  We celebrated her birthday with our families and had a great time!

My parents were in town as well, but we didn’t get any pictures of them.  I am so bad with taking pictures!  At least my mom and mother-in-law was there to use my camera! 

Good Times!

Well, how could I forget to brag about our awesome family?!?!  In mid-September, Brian & I got to have an all-night date night.  Brian’s Brother & SIL bought us a Denver Brew’s Cruise with babysitting.  So, we got to enjoy a night of local brews with no kids to worry about.  It was great!  Check out the Denver Brew’s Cruise if you are interested!

Then, when we got home all 10 of us decided to walk to our neighborhood park.  Here are some pictures from it.

A good time was had by all!  We are so grateful to have such wonderful family/friends and that they are one in the same.

We got sent a pumpkin dress-up dress for Nyla from my niece in Minnesota.  Nyla immediately fell in love! 

Then this past weekend Ethan, Nyla and I went to a great event put together by the National Wildlife Federation.  It was called “Hike & Seek.”  All I have to say was GREAT TIME!!! It was over in Littleton and was about a mile or so walk/hike with learning stations along the way.  It was mid to high 70s during the walk….in OCTOBER!  Here are a couple shots of the kids.

Listening about mammals.

This is at the insect learning station.

We look forward to this event next year!!!

YEAH!

YEAH! So I weighed in at our weekly WW @ work meeting. I was down 1.8! Yippee! That should help kick start my motivation. This week's meeting was about why are you here? and finding an Anchor. Well, when I lost the first time and got to goal/lifetime, my motivation was to be a healthy weight before having kids. Well, now that they are here, my kids are my anchor. They are the reason I started this lifetime journey in 2005, and they are the reason I continue this journey!
My other motivation also includes summiting a 14er next summer! So I need to work towards that!
Alas, the journey continues!

Personal Accomplishment

Well, on the weight loss journey I faced my first big challenge: catered conference.  I had no idea what would be served nor if I would have options.  Well, I tried to eat well before I left home, but was running late.  I did manage to pack a bag of veggies (sugar snap peas) and a homemade roll.  When I arrived they had a breakfast buffet of muffins and sweet breads.  So I thought about passing, until I saw the bowl of fruit!  Yeah!!  I choose a small piece of banana (?) bread, and a BIG plate of fruit! 

At the first break, I got another plate of fruit, plus ate some veggies.  Then came lunch.  I filled half my plate with salad, a quarter with steamed veggies, then some noodles and protein (Chicken Parmesan).  AND I resisted the cookies during the afternoon break! 

I just felt really good about the choices made today.  After dinner, we went for a family walk and chasing the kids! 

I have also discovered that the majority of our favorite/staple dinners really aren’t that bad.  So a couple of big successes today! We shall see if the work pays off on Thursday!

Big Girls & Weight Loss Journey Begins…again

Well, Thursday was a big day for us in a variety of ways. 

Nyla started sleeping in a toddler bed instead of her crib.  Well, it is her crib, just with the one side gone.  Ethan never would sleep like that.  But luckily Nyla seems to be enjoying her new situation.  We are so happy she is transitioning well.  We sure hope this will make traveling better in the future.

Also, I started on my weight loss journey again.  We have a Weight Watchers at Work program that started that day as well.  So, I have 20 pounds to go to get back to goal.  I am going to try to keep blogging about family and this journey.  Pictures may be minimal, but it will be my outlet.

Thanks~

Adventures & Thoughts

Well, we are finally in the new century!  We officially have Skype!  WooHoo!  We have tried it out a couple of times with my Mom and Brother and it sure is fun!  What technology is the world coming to!?!?!

As Gavin keeps growing…I now know why they make Baby’s First Christmas, or Baby’s First Halloween outfits in 18 month sizes!  Gavin’s feet are so big, he has to wear a 12month sleeper and he is barely 7 months old!  How in the world is he in the 35th Percentile…I will never know! Alas, another question I had before becoming a parent has been answered.

Well here is a recent picture from Labor day of how he can roll:

Now you see him

Now you don’t

Any way, he sure is getting so big!  and we promise, his hair just goes like that, we don’t style it that way at all!!

And then, these two are just too cute!!!

Gavin 6 Months

We recently had Gavin’s 6 month check up (where in the world has the time gone!!!????).  As most of you know, our older two were always on the skinny side.  However, our Gavin is not quite so small, not big, but definitely bigger than the other 2 were!  Perhaps that is the survival of the fittest.  He needs that extra umph to protect himself against his older sister and brother. 

Well, our baby is up to 16.5 lbs!!! (By the way, Nyla is 22 lbs.) He is in the 35th Percentile for weight and 70th or so for height. 

He is officially mobile as well!  He can roll from point A to point B as he chooses. We love watching him grow.  He can put his knees under him and can get up on his arms, but not yet at the same time.  Once he does, he is off. 

Summer Vacation

We had a good summer vacation.  It started is the lovely town of Grand Island, Nebraska!  We had a family reunion with my Mom’s side of the family.  We got to see some family and spend time with them.  It was great.  As we were getting ready to depart GI to head towards Wisconsin Dells, my parents van died.  So, us and my brother’s family continued toward the Dells.  We ended up meeting up with Mom & Dad in the Dells a day late (and they had a rental as the van didn’t get fixed in time). 

Then we spent almost a week at the Wilderness Territory resort in the Dells.  They have 6 water parks and tons of stuff for the kiddos to do.  We missed my Sister all week, and missed Mom & Dad for the first day and a half.  We had a great condo and were able to get some great time with my brother’s family and his parents-in-law.  Ethan loved swimming and Nyla loved running around.  Gavin chilled and did love swimming as well. 

We have our limited pictures posted here: Picasa July Album

We were too busy having a good time to take pictures. 

We also went to the Douglas County Fair with my sister and enjoyed checking out the animals.

Then had a couple great camping trips.  Of note was our trip to Red Feather Lakes to visit our good friends’ parents (Adam’s parents, Alice & Bob).  Although we had some rain the first night, Saturday was beautiful and Alice & Bob had us over for breakfast. Then Bob took us fishing and Ethan got to fish for the first time.  Although we didn’t catch anything, a good time was had by all. 

Ethan had his first week of school before our last camping trip.  Photos from this are here: August Album

We had a wonderful summer with our family and friends and are looking forward to more good times!

The Kids are Growing up!

In the interest of time, I will update without photos for now...Still gotta download vacation pics then I will talk about that.

Well, Gavin is officially mobile! He rolls from his back to his front and back to his back again! How can that be?!?! Isn't he still my infant! He is growing his personality so much each day. It is fun to watch. He is also REALLY into his big brother and sister. If one is crying all he will do is look for him/her. It is cute!

Nyla is talking more and more. She is a rough and tumble girly girl. She loves her purses and pretty stuff, but also wants to run and get dirty with the older kids! She has a strong independent personality that is flourishing. I can't believe she will be 2 soon!

Ethan starts his second and last year of preschool in 2 weeks! He loves riding his bicycle and entertaining his younger siblings. He has had a couple special days recently...one with his Aunt Theresa they went to see Cars2, and then with his Gramma & Papa he got to see Winnie the Pooh! I think he enjoyed those special days!

We had a great time on vacation and I will post more about that later. Just wanted to get something up! In case anyone is actually reading this!

Camping!

Just got home from our second camping trip of the year.  We tried somewhere new and was pleasantly surprised.  We have been to many sites off of Highway 67 north of Woodland Park and this is one of the better ones.  We were at South Meadows campground.  Very wooded and great camp hosts!  Ethan loves camping!  Nyla still needs to adjust to sleeping away from her own crib. Gavin is great and is happy wherever his older siblings are.  Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Sister doing everything big brother does.

Our Site

Ethan

Aunt Theresa with Gavin & Nyla

Nyla being her Diva self

Bike trailer doubling as napping quarters

Aunt Theresa’s housing for the weekend

Gavin playing in the camper

Daddy & Nyla

We had a great time and will definitely be back to this campground. (hint hint Missy & Amy!  We all gotta go here next year!)

We have another camping trip planned and then off for a family reunion!