Visiting the animals with Natalie

We are back in Texas visiting family for the holidays. We went out to Tammy's house today. (R's sister) The kids got to check out the new baby pig and ride a really old horse named "Buttermilk". They had a great time. Unfortunately these pics were taken with a video camera. They definitey lack quality.

November Fun

It's time for Christmas decor. The kids were entertained for days . My girl is growing up so fast.

Grandma is here for a visit. What a great time we are having.

This is a pic of E at the zoo from a few weeks ago.

Uncle Josh came for a visit this month. We had a great time and Josh and the kids really enjoyed the snow.Snowball fight

Gotta love making snow angels.

A few more Birthday pics

My friend Kristen took these and I thought I'd share them with you all. Enjoy more Birthday fun. Above, Ethan always is very uncomfortable when people sing Happy Birthday. Not sure why.

Pin the tail...

Prestents.

Birthday Party for Ethan and Elllie!

We had Ellie and Ethan's birthday party today. It was a hit. We decide to do a Breakfast Pajama party for the kids. All the kids were invited for breakfast and fun to celebrate Ethan and Ellie's day. EThan and ELlie before their guests arrive below. Ethan with his first guest , Emily. All pajammad out...so cute!

With the help my fiend, Kristen I made this Pink Barbie princess cake and Ethan a chocolate cupcake cake.

Ellie - exhausted and watching some of her friends play with her new toys.

Presents= chaos

More pictures too come.

Nice day for a hike at Palmer Park

We decided to pack the kids, Sasha and some food up and take the 10 minute drive over to Palmer Park today. Beautiful November day here in the Springs. Perfect for hiking and watching fly overs by the United Sates Air Force. SO today is a really big USAF football game. They play ARMY. So, we got to watch as the F-15s (?) practiced their fly over. Pretty cool.

Me and my boy.

Daddy and Ellie. We are all so happy to have him home after his travels.

Halloween Fun

Trick or Treat? Very exciting for Ethan and Ellie - their first real trick-or-treat adventure. The kids in action.

Below, our beautiful pink princess and valiant warrior. I'm luckty to get this shot. Ethan wasn't as enthusiatic about his costume the rest of the evening. (He chose it, but I guess it was too long ago)

We started the morning off at a hayride today. So much fun. The kids loved it. Ellie and Ethan got to feed some horses. Ethan is finally through his fear of animals stage.

Camping in Taos

This is one morning last week, before school. You can tell who is excited and who is not so sure. We took a trip down to Taos, New Mexico . To meet my parents for some camping. A friend told me about this great kid's store called "Twirl" . The store is fabulous and even better- They have a great playground out back. SO Rich and my Dad watched the kids play while my mom and I got to do some shopping around town. Fun was had by all.

hmmm....just noticed that Ellie is missing shoes in this picture.

Ethan and Ellie's first "Smores"

They were so excited to crawl in their sleeping bags and fall asleep in the camper.

Awe... some brotherly /sisterly love and new jammies.

A cold Weekend in October

Fall is upon us and it seems Winter too... some days.

We had a great weekend with some visting family from Texas. We took a drive up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday. This time we had a great tour guide. A Texas Native who spends his summers in Colorado. Just when we were finishing up the tour a snow storm blew in. SO- we played. Below is Ethan getting ready to throw thisbig snow ball at his selected target.

Ellie, loving the snow.

Daddy, Ethan and Ellie making snow balls.

The infamous Stanley Hotel. Where Stephen King is known to have thought up "The Shining" while staying at it.

They have great tours.

This pictures is not from this weekend. I just found it and wanted to include it.

Finally, after almost 2 years of living in Colorado, we had our first "wild" bear sighting. This was taken with a cell phone, so it is definitely not clear. But the bear was about 50 ft from us.... (maybe?) We wer safe in our car. So no worries. It was beautiful.

Our first picture of Ethan and Llie "holding up Balance Rock" at Garden of the Gods. I can't beleive after all the times we've been there... we've never had them do this.