The Twiss Family Journey

7.18.11-7.24.11: a quiet house, Shawn Birthday, a CHAMPion of a pedicure!

2011-07-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

My brother-in-law, Shawn turned 32 on Wednesday. We brought the best part of the birthday over to their house to celebrate that night, DQ Reese's PB cup Blizzard cake, yum yum, it was a hit! This weekend Chad, Shawn and the kids are in Wray. My in-law's are adding on an addition to their house and the boys have offered their help once again. I thought maybe the kids would want to tag along with them this weekend since they don't get to see them much and I could maybe catch a break. I'm so far behind on this blog, pictures in general, house stuff, etc. Chad agreed that he would take them down. The idea sounded fabulous until they headed out Friday and then I think I second guessed my brilliant idea. Man, it is terribly quiet in this house this weekend, almost scary quiet. This is the 1st time that they have all been away and I'm home alone. I will really think twice about that next time around! It has been really nice to have a break, every mom needs one every now and then. I've got stuff accomplished that would take me months to get done if they were all here, its constant inturruption around here! I was feeling a little down on Friday night when they left, so Alissa called and wanted me to meet up with her to get a pedicure. How can you say no to that? ;-) It gets better. She gets to the salon and texts me that she is parked next to Champ Bailey and to hurry. So I hurry as fast as I possibly can. I get there and there's an open spot on the right side of his Bentley. I didn't think she meant he would be in the nail salon, but i guessed wrong! We got into our chairs and I ended up being 3 seats away from him! Just simply crazy! Chad can now stop making fun of men who get pedicures! I guess that's what the players do when there's spare time with a lockout and you have money to burn..;-) He was with his wife/girlfriend, not really sure her title. They had their adorable little boy in there, he was so, so good. At first i didn't realize he was with them it was so quiet, until Alissa pointed out the stroller. Very impressed being it was probably between 15-18 months old. He has quite the ugly beard going on, hoping its a bet/dare with this lockout and maybe when the lockout is over, he'll return to his handsome self! So that was a fun adventure to the nail salon, it is a neat nail salon! After pedicures, we went to Panera for some dinner and then off to the movie, "Friends with Benefits", it was super cute! Definetly good therapy to end the week and this sad mama/wife. I'm sure the kids are having fun. Chad has kept me updated throughout the day via text saying it was 101 degrees most of the day, with about 80% humidity, so it was miserable working outside. I'm sure he'll be very ready to return to his nice air conditioned office job come Monday!

7.11.11-7.1711: NCAA '12, more dentist, community picnic, heat scare

2011-07-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

For the last probably 6 months, i'm reminded quite often of the countdown until Chad's favorite PS3 makes it debut. This is the week it came out. He got super lucky this year and was able to get it earlier. He always takes that Tuesday off it comes out and plays it all day....well he has good intentions at least! Its hard with kids now and the fact that i'm WORKING upstairs and have other plans for his day off! He was sweet enough to switch me dentist appointments the day he had off. It just made it easy all around! Since he got the game over the weekend, he was able to get his 'fix' he usually gets on that Tuesday! So i've got one happy husband! On Saturday, we attended our annual community picnic. They always throw such an awesome event, we try not to miss it! Free bbq, lots ofinflatable jumpers, petting zoo, kids train rides, face painting, fun balloon characters, tatoos, cotton candy, snow cones, pizza for the kids, game booths, etc..our kids LOVE it! We always walk down ther, its next to our community elementary school. Very hot day, we were prepared for that..at least we thought we were. What unfolded in the next hour was something I never want to experience again. We let the kids do a few of the inflatable bouncers. It was getting hot and Chad and I had not ate breakfast, so we were hungry and in need of shade, if that's what you call it in 100 heat. We were all eating under a big tent. Bray kept telling us his tummy hurt, he was bright red as he usually gets, we have to be on him about cooling down and drinking a lot, red heads must be much more prone to the heat. Bray was starting to fall asleep on us, which was a signal to both of us that something might be wrong. Since we had walked, Chad ran as fast as he could back to our house to get our vehicle. In the time he was gone, he didn't get any better. A guy, whom I didn't know, but must of been in the medical field, told me we needed to get him laid down and cooled off with cold water and that i needed to call 911. WHAT?!?!? Was this a bad dream?? I was just not wanting to believe he was getting this bad. I was so scared, my phone was nearly dead, so i tried and was able to get through. I have to tell you, I have no idea how i held up through the call, i was so scared for him and the situation we were in, but there are certainly angels out there, the guy who was assisting me on the phone was so helpful and patience and reassuring that an ambulance was on its way. The ambulance arrived in no time at all, and right after them, Chad arrived with the car. I was a bit more relieved to have them there, but still felt in a bad dream. We had moved him under the drink tent and cooling him down as much as possible. They then took him into the ambulance with Chad to check all his vitals. In the meantime, I had one of my daycare girls with us and brynley. I was trying to find one of our neighbor friends to take the girls so I could be in there with him too and luckily we did. When i got into the ambulance, I remember looking at Bray and had never seen him so pale in his life. I was scared, but the situation was much more calming, everything was checking out fine. The paramedics phoned the ER doctor and suggested since he nearly passed out that we should take him to the ER to get checked out. We opted to drive him there. We were worried about having to wait for a logn while, but got right in! We are so very lucky to have Children's Hospital ER dept. at Parker Adventist, it is wonderful! The doctor gave him a few gatorades to get him hydrated, made sure he went potty and we were checked out. Needless to say, we spent the rest of our day in our cool basement watching movies, we were all exhausted. We are so very thankful to all the wonderful neighbors at our picnic that assisted with Bray, the amazing paramedics who were caring, professional and very knowledgeable. We are thankful that Bray is healthy again.

7.4.11-7.10.11: Independence Day, Grandpa Bert, Elitches, Jeff turns 40

2011-07-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well our holiday weekend started off not so great. We got news on the Saturday before the 4th that Chad's grandpa had passed away. We knew that eventually this would be happening, he had had a stroke not long ago and just seemed to get the best of him. We were blessed to be able to take a day and go down to see him before he passed away. Its been a rough year for Chad, he's lost 2 grandpa's and a cousin, so I'm hoping this is it for a long while. Its been rough on him, always hard to lose someone so close and have so many fond memories with. But, it is also comforting to know he's not suffering anymore and in heaven. I had hoped we could make it down to Wray for the 4th of July, but since we are going down at the end of the month for Wray Daze, we opted to stay put, not cheap to travel these days, gas is just insane. We celebrated the 4th at our neighbor's house, the Martinez's for a bbq. It was super, super hot but ended up being a beautiful, relaxing day! Towards dusk we headed over to meet Shawn and Alissa up on a hill near they house that they recently discovered to watch fireworks! It was a beautiful spot and an even more beautiful evening of fireworks, even Rozzum enjoyed them! Saturday was a busy, busy day for us. Alissa's company was having a big bbq/get together at Elitches and she was able to extend the invitation to us, how could we not pass on that?? Poor Chad had already offered to help a co-worker with his new home, so the kids and I, Aunt Brit and Shawn & Alissa had a blast at Elitchs, it was kids 1st time there, they had so much fun, next time we'll take Daddy! I think I've came to the conclusion that its much more fun to watch my kids partake in the rides than myself, after I puked over and over a few years back when Chad & I went there for our anniversary. My wild amusement days are over, but that's ok! That evening the kids stayed with their Aunt Brit and Chad and I went to Jeff Dankenbring's surprise 40th birthday bbq at their home. All in all, a fun day and week!

6.27.11-7.3.11: Charlie, Brooklynn turns 2, heat relief

2011-07-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

Its been a more mellow week thank goodness! I know this will not last, as the kids get older and start getting more involved in activities, we'll be wishing to go back to these years, so I'm enjoying the calmness while i can! We welcomed a new addition to our neighborhood block this past Friday. Our neighbor friends, the Tawaters, welcomed baby Charlie Hall on Friday afternoon! So happy for them! Teresa and I left our kiddos with Trav, as Chad was out of town for reunion weekend, and went to go visit Kari, Greg and baby. Always so amazed at new life..what a gift from above!! Happy Birthday to one of my daycare kids, Brooklynn, who turned 2 on the 29th, she's such a cutie and growing up so fast, what happened to the 8 week old I started with not too long ago?? It has been a hot, hot summer. We are trying to find as much relief as possible, the kids favorite thing seems to be our slip n' slide so far!!

6.20.11-6.26.11: Dora & Diego storytime, kids dentist, Chad's 15 year reunion weekend

2011-07-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was super excited on one of the many trips to the library, I noticed a flyer for a Dora & Diego storytime hour! I immediately got us signed up for it, since that is my kiddos favorite characters right now, i knew they'd love it. I figured they would have a few people dressed up as the characters and obviously tell a few stories and such...boy was i wrong! The kids were so hyped up to meet them, as Chad and I had played it up that they 'flew in from Mexico on an airplane today'. Well we got there, there was no sign of the characters, they started storytime, had a do-it-yourself yogurt parfait snack for the kids and a craft to make. While it was fun, i began to wonder if i had opened my mouth and assumed things..yep, sure did. There was no characters dressed up as Dora & Diego, boy did I feel like the worst mom in the world having to explain to 2 very disappointed kids that i misunderstood what this event was all about. They eventually got over it, but i definetly learned my lesson for next time. The kids had a checkup at the dentist this week, they both did awesome, and got a clean bill of dental health thank goodness! I better enjoy it now, i know that will always be the case. Chad and a few of his good friends, Ryan and Omar took off for an long, fun weekend in Wray celebrating their 15 years of high school. Hard to believe. I know they had a great trip, lots of golfing and catching up with classmates they haven't seen in awhile. Not a great turnout, but still nice to see the ones that did come!

6.13.11-6.19.11: Father's Day..remembering Marr..rollerskating for the 1st time

2011-07-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

This week I remember my amazing great grandmother, Eva Bowman, aka "Marr", whom would of turned 100 years old on the 13th. I miss her dearly, she was such a remarkable woman, I really wish she would of been able to meet my kids, she would of been so proud of them! On Thursday I took my kids and Jessica to Skate City in Aurora to a "pixie class". It was our 1st time, i ran into a random mom at a park one afternoon that recommend we try it out, I'm glad we did, the kids had a blast! Its every Thursday for an hour and a half. The instructors work so well with the kids, lots of fun kids music, snacks and just plain, affordable fun! The weekend ended with us celebrating Father's Day! This year was so special, because Bray could actually write "Daddy" on his envelope with my help, he is just growing up too fast, so darn cute! We spent the day going swimming (Bray's 1st time down the slide!), on a walk along Cherry Creek trail, dinner at Ted's Montana Grill at Southlands. The kids and I got him a delicious, huge chocolate chip cookie from paradise bakery. It was a great day!

more pics..

6.6.11-6.12.11 Parker Days, kids to Wray, aunt's move

2011-07-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the annual Parker Days celebration, always something we really look forward to. Usually this time of year, we send the kids to Wray to spend some time with Aunt Brit, Grandma and Grandpa Twiss and the rest of our extended family there, but since Aunt Brit is up here going to school, we still wanted to keep the tradition alive, so we sent them down for a weekend with Grandma/pa Twiss! I know they had fun, we don't get down as often as we'd like or see them too often! It was a nice break for us to be able to spend time together and get a break! We got together with some friends and some of Chad's sisters in the evenings at Parker Days! Let's just say I had a little too much fun one of those nights..thanks Brit for putting up with me and getting us back to Shawn & Alissa's house somehow! Another big happening this weekend was that two of Chad's sister's that are living here going to beauty school moved into an apartment together! We helped them get all situated, much easier to do without kids for sure. It will be so nice to be surrounded by family. We have one of my brother's a mile and a half one direction, and my sister-in-law's and brother-in-law and Alissa the other direction! I never thought I'd want family living too close, but its nice! We have been blessed to only have to get a sitter once since the kids have been born, thanks to our wonderful family!!

5.30.11-6.5.11: 10 YEARS!! new camera!! 2 birthday parties!

2011-07-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

Another big week for the Twiss family! Most importantly, we have reached our 1st significant milestone in our marriage, we celebrated 10 years of marriage!! What a journey its been, we've definetly had our ups and downs, but I really believe our marriage has blossomed so much! Brad Paisley's song "And I thought I loved you then" pretty much sums the feeling up! Shawn and Alissa were able to watch the kiddos and we went out for a nice dinner at White Chocolate Grill (yum!) and then went to see the movie, "Hangover 2", romantic huh? ;-) I know both of us were hoping to be on a beach. I was hoping we'd get to be in Maui (somewhere I've dreamed of going for our 10 year), but we both want to be healthy and of course, it was just not in the cards right now, one of these days, we'll get there! Chad got me such an awesome, much needed gift...a NEW CAMERA!! I had just found our old camera and the front cover was starting to come off and holding on with tape :-), we both knew we needed to save up for one, so even though I knew we'd eventually get one, this was a wonderful surprise!! I haven't had time to read the manual and get educated with it, but i know the basics and its such a huge improvement, I'm loving it!! The kids were invited to 2 parties on Saturday. We were able to make both, it was a fun day celebrating Gavin's 1st birthday party and Anabel's 6th birthday! Again, the pictures that were taken were lost, so I'm borrowing some for the time being!

5.23.11-5.29.11: End of school year, long weekend

2011-07-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

This week marked the end of of Bray's 1st year of preschool! Its been such a fantastic experience for him!! We had no idea, having never been through this, what to expect. I would say both of us were very pleased with his school and how much he learned and enjoyed it! It was sad to see the year already at an end, but I would say that I will be relieved to have a 3 month break from having to haul multiple children to and from preschool 2 days a week, that in itself, is quite the job itself! I am very thankful Chad would go in earlier on these days so he could pick up Bray, that helped me tremendously! We celebrated with his class at Challenger Park. It was a pretty windy and chilly day, but other than that it was great! We were suppose to go to Wray for Memorial Day weekend for Roxanne & Tyson's wedding and Chad's cousin's graduation, but Bryn and I ended up not feeling that great, so that was a huge bummer. By Monday, both of us were feeling much better and we had the day off, so we ventured to Colorado Springs to go the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Garden of the Gods! I have been telling Chad i'd love to take the kids there, I hadn't been there in years and Chad had never been. I'm SO glad we did, I have to say, the zoo was better than I remembered it. If I had the choice to go to the Denver Zoo or CMZ, I would definetly choose Cheyenne Mountain, it is well worth the drive! I had never been to the Garden of the Gods, so on the way home we decided to check it out. OH MY, probably one of the best decisions ever!! I had saw pictures, but that just doesn't do it justice until you are actually there. SIMPLY AMAZING, one of my favorite spots in Colorado so far. Can't believe I've never been here. The kids LOVED it! Bray couldn't understand why he couldn't climb the rocks like the experts that were doing it, I think we have a rock climber on our hands! The biggest bummer of all was that all these pictures from today were lost :-(( Chad reassured me its ok, just an excuse to go back, he's right, we will be back, hopefully very soon!

5.16.11-5.22.11: Santus Real, Travis graduation, Kari baby shower

2011-07-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

A neighbor friend I do daycare for and whom also goes to our church and I were able to go see Santus Real, The Afters and Stephanie Smith at our church one night this week! It was a great concert!! I really have enjoyed getting to know Santus Real's music, but I think my favorite was The After's, they are a favorite christian band of mine now! On Saturday, we all drove down to Weldona to Chad's cousin, Travis's, high school graduation, it was nice to catch up with family you don't see much, it was especially fun to see Trav's sisters, Christine and Susie's, new babies, born within a few weeks of each other! On Sunday, Teresa and I and a few other gals threw a fun, small baby shower for our neighbor friend, Kari, who's expecting her 2nd boy in mid June, it was such a great idea (Teresa) and I think all of us mom's agreed, MUCH needed and deserved! ;-)

5.9.11-5.15.11: Mother's Day recap, Reece Colfax marathon

2011-07-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

Really sad I still didn't have my camera this week, but it was still a great Mother's Day! I am SO honored and blessed to be a mother to 2 BEAUTIFUL KIDS, just simply amazes me what God has done for us, I didn't even know in the beginning of the journey we would be able to have even 1, simply amazing!! I could never imagine life without them, they put SO, SO much joy into our lives, always making me smile!! We did our annual outing to Tagawa Gardens, LOVE that place! Also, went to a few of the other local stores to find more stuff for the garden. In the evening we all went out to Red Lobster, love, love seafood! The next weekend, my youngest brother, Reece, was up here to run the Colfax half marathon. This was his 1st attempt at one and he finished it, a little over 13 miles, just plain crazy if you ask me, someday i'll get there, but I'm so proud of him! Wish i would of been able to go watch him, but getting up on a Sunday at 4am didn't sound so appealing!

5.2.11-5.8.11: Muffins for Mom, Its a GIRL!, Haidyn birthday

2011-07-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

This was a busy and exciting week for us! On Wednesday we found out that Shawn & Alisa are having a GIRL!! VERY excited to be a 1st time aunt, the kids are just so excited too! Bray keeps asking when Miss Camdyn is coming out and if she's still cooking! ;-) I made lasanga with fixings and we went over for dinner to find out what they were having. Alissa & Shawn had put some pink socks and cute pink bath towel on their table letting us know what the gender would be! Camdyn Claire will be her name, how cute is that?!? On Thursday, Bray's preschool class had "Muffins for Mom" even in his classroom! I got to enjoy muffins, lemonade and they all made their mamas a homemade trivet, absolutely the best gift you can get from your child, it will be cherished forever!! On Saturday, the kids and I went to our little neigbhor girl, Haidyn's, 1st birthday party and on Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day, more on that next week! Unfortunetly, i was still missing my camera at this time and some pics were taken on my other phone which i can't retrieve right now, so not many pictures this week, just memories! All in all, a busy and fun week!

excuse the quality and lack of, pics...

2011-07-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

Bray has been really sneaky about getting hold of my camera, he really enjoys taking pictures on it and then hiding it from me. Recently went missing for longer than i wanted, to a point that I was getting worried what happened to it, it was at least a few months. One afternoon, while packing the kids lunch in a insulated cooler i use quite a bit, I opened one of the pockets, and guess what I stumble upon? Yep, MY CAMERA!! It had probably been there the whole time, geez.....What a sigh of relief! I'm so glad i went with my instinct and held off on purchasing a new one. I've had a few experiences where I've went to buy a new item of the one thing that's missing, only to turn around a few days later and find it! I'm hoping one of these days, we will have saved up a little to get a new camera, its definetly time to upgrade!

4.25.11-5.1.11: my birthday, Lily daycare welcome, scrapbook retreat

2011-07-23T02:01:00.000-07:00

You know its going to be a great week when your birthday starts off the week! Chad had worked 60+ hours last week, so he sweetly (and more deservingly) took the day off with the kids and I. I decided to also take the day off from daycare as well! We had a fun day, we ended up going over to the mall around noon and walking around and then eating lunch in the food court. Afterwards, we went down the road to the movie theatre and saw Disney’s “African Cats”, cute! After the movie, we met up with Shawn & Alissa and had dinner at the Rio! All in all a great birthday! The fun really began this weekend though when I got to escape everyday life and go on a scrapbook retreat down the road with my friend, Kirsten! I was certainly ready for a girls weekend after a very crazy week. Our neighbor is back from maternity leave, so I now have Miss Lily and Rocco full time now! On Thursday I had 7 kids, on Friday it was 8…simply insane and exhausting! The last few times I’ve came I haven’t been able to scrapbook. All my stuff is still in boxes from basement construction, so since I am so far behind on my blog, this has been my project both times! I really hope next time I come, I will actually be able to scrapbook, I’m itching to do it badly!! It is such a blast to get away, clear my mind and to have a break! We slept in until 9am this morning, uninterrupted sleep, I haven’t done that since we were here last November, it felt incredible!! Then to top it off, to walk down to have breakfast made for you, especially when you are the only cook…amazing!! There is a free happy hour each evening for a few hours as well, we take full advantage of that! We also have brought some of our own drinks and snacks, went to dinner and a Starbucks run! It has been a great weekend, I’m officially caught up and made my goal, it feels so good! To reward myself, I’m going to go get a chair massage in the next hour, I should feel like a million bucks here soon and sleep like a baby again! I’m so thankful to my Mom, who graciously was suppose to watch my kids last night and today. She ended up getting pretty sick, so Chad ended up taking over early this morning! Definetly something he really hasn’t done for that amount of time, so I’m sure he will be ready for me to be home tomorrow! What a perfect birthday gift, thanks Chad!!

4.18.11-4.24.11: Rozz shower, Easter

2011-07-23T01:51:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty funny moment this week when we were down in the basement watching tv. CJ had come back into the tv room and told us to go look in the bathroom. We go look and this is what we see. Rozz sitting patiently in the shower waiting for water to pour out, it was too cute! He was determined water would eventually come out of it! Another exciting thing this week was that I have 2 of the lighter colored tulips blooming so far! I know I’m really going to like the other color, which is like an eggplant color, my favorite color! Can’t wait! We ended the weekend celebrating my 2nd favorite holiday, Easter. It was our turn to go back to Wray, so we arrived late Friday evening in Wray and stayed with Brit and Dan. Bray had slept half of the way down, so he was ready to party when we got there, he ended up being up until 1:30 that next morning and then sleeping in Sat. morning, they both get so out of routine, they are exhausted by the time we get home! Saturday we spent the day coloring eggs and then I made some fun ‘bird’s nests’ treats. My brother-in-law is a fabulous cook and made us Mexican lasagna that evening, very yummy! Sunday we went to chuch, which ended up being pretty disappointing for us. The kids were not very good and we barely made it to the end of service. Hopefully I can catch the rest of it online one of these days! We then went up to my in-law’s for the Easter feast! It was very delicious. We had our usual yummy ham, his grandma’s super delicious scalloped potatoes and her pecan pie and many more great dishes! Of course, we stuffed ourselves! We ended up going through Idalia on the way home and stopping at my aunt and uncles house outside Idalia to see my grandparents and the rest of the family before arriving home around 10 that evening! It was a fun weekend, always enjoy going back home!

4.11.11-4.17.11: new hobby, Uncle Reece & nose waxing!

2011-07-23T01:36:00.000-07:00

I’ve had this idea to attempt to make my first tutu for awhile now! I decided to finally put my knowledge to use and try it out! I made our new neighbor baby girl a Colorado Rockies colored tutu with a matching onesie, I thought it turned out pretty darn adorable!! I can’t wait to make B one now! I also made B some decorated flip flops for pictures this weekend, she absolutely adores them! Uncle Reece visited us this past weekend as well! Bryn and him had fun shooting hoops in the house, B’s becoming quite the little baller! He also got suckered into getting his nose waxed, he was a little nervous about it, but did good and was surprised as well! We ended up making a quick overnight and day trip to Wray on Saturday. Alissa, the kids and I went down Friday evening and the kids had their pictures taken by the fabulous Emily Kline in my grandparents backyard Saturday morning. I had seen her work and had been wanting to get the kids pictures taken since they haven’t had them done since they were 2 & 3, so it ended up being a perfect opportunity for me as we were down for a bridal shower that day as well! I wasn’t for sure how they’d turn out, B was being a little stinker, didn’t want to smile (no surprise) and then refused to wear her sweater towards the end. Bray did an amazing job with listening and doing what he was told. A few days later I got the pics from Emily and just broke out in tears as I watched them, she just blew me away, I was so amazed at her work, I can’t stop looking at them! I’m excited to get them printed and hung in our home!

4.4.11-4.10.11: George Strait/Reba & 1st tulips

2011-07-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, I got a call from one of my brother’s who works at Centennial Airport. He gets to see many celebrities and athletes that fly in and out of there. Today, he met George Strait who was in town for him and Reba’s concert that evening. George had came up to him and asked if he liked country music and of course he said yes! He gave him 2 tickets to his concert!! Jason already had tickets for the concert, so he was a sweet brother and called me up to see if Chad and I wanted to go! If you know me, you know I LOVE concerts, this one has been sold out for awhile now! We didn’t have any plans which was good! Chad would of gone, but he sweetly let my sister-in-law and I go and he stayed home with the kids. It was such a great concert!! Leeann Womack opened for them, then Reba came on and finally George. It was a pretty long concert, we didn’t get home and in bed until about 1! I’m so glad my brother thought of me, we had a blast!!
On another note, my tulips I planted last fall are coming through. I accidently planted ½ of them too deep and was able to dig and replant them, so they may not bloom this year or bloom late, but I’m excited to see what they look like here soon!

3.28.11-4.3.11: new coffee machine, cereal boy, learning r/c cars

2011-07-23T01:26:00.000-07:00

We have a new coffeemaker in the house!! Its been a long few weeks, but there is caffeine flowing in this house again and I couldn’t be more excited about it! It is pictured with my favorite coffee that comes out in Feb. from Starbucks, Casi Cielo! There’s also a pic or 2 of Bray enjoying his favorite meal at breakfast, cereal! He also got to play with daddy’s rc car, he had a fun time with that!

3.21.11-3.27.11: clippie hair, sharing spaghetti, Shawn's St. Pat's 'do'!

2011-07-23T01:19:00.000-07:00

There were some cute moments this week, I just soak them up!! The things they learn to do and come up with just makes me smile! One of the days, Bray took all of B’s clippies and put them in her hair! The other moment, they were sharing a spaghetti noodle! Just love when they get along so well and come up with these cute moments!

3.14.11-3.20.11: Aunt Brit visit, trampoline and park fun!

2011-07-23T01:14:00.001-07:00

Another big week for the Twiss’s! This week I took the kids to a different park to play. It’s always nice to change it up a bit, our neighborhood parks can get old after awhile! The boys had a blast on the trampoline! I discovered one of the older ones “meditating” at one point & teaching the other boys (pretty funny, considering they are nothing short of rowdy!) I cooked our traditional St. Patty’s feast and Rozzum’s birthday! He gets a McDonald’s cheeseburger for his birthday every year. No surprise he inhales it! Uncle Shawn had Chad shave a shamrock in his head, that was pretty funny to see! At the end of the week, we got a visit from Aunt Brit and Uncle Dan! Aunt Brit loves to fix B’s hair and turn B into a little diva, and B really enjoys it!!

Braylon's preschool class 2010-2011

2011-07-23T01:13:00.001-07:00

Bray had preschool class pictures this week! He was excited to wear his polo shirt, I love that he loves to look so handsome! We didn’t get the picture back for about 2-3 weeks. When we did, we noticed that Bray just didn’t didn’t look like Bray. I got many opinions from our friends and family. I’m not sure what the photographer did, but it was kind of disappointing. Take a look for yourself and any of you experts can tell me what you think!

3.7.11-3.13.11: Wildlife Experience, brother bonding

2011-07-23T01:07:00.000-07:00

The kids and I met up with my cousin’s wife and their 4 kids at the Wildlife Experience on Saturday afternoon. Surprisingly, we have never been here and its only 4 miles from my house, how pathetic am I? ;-) I’ve heard mixed reviews from friends, so I guess that has been why its not been on my priority list! Chad and Shawn spent the afternoon bonding and playing with their ‘toys’!

2.28.11-3.6.11: preschool field trip, daycare pigtails, birthday party

2011-07-23T01:02:00.000-07:00

This week was a pretty busy week for us! Bray’s preschool class got to take a field trip to Little Monkey Bizness in Parker, they all had a great time as usual! One day this week, I put all my daycare girls and B in pigtails and took a picture, that is always fun! The kids got to go up the street to their friend’s 4th birthday party, of course, they think that is the best thing ever! All in all, a great week!

2.21.11-2.27.11: meet little O, last day of basketball

2011-07-23T00:58:00.001-07:00

One of Chad’s good friend adopted a little boy a few weeks ago after a long road of infertility. I just can’t imagine going through that journey. We only went through a measly year of it, I just can’t imagine any longer or not being able to have one period. We are SO incredibly happy for them! They named him Owen, such a cute name! We finally made it down to their home this week to meet baby Owen! Such a little thing and adorable! They seem really happy and we couldn’t be happier for them! This weekend was Bray’s last day of basketball. They had a trophy presentation, they each get there own little trophy and cake and juice! It was a great experience for him and he was fun to watch!

2.14.11-2.20.11: Valentine's day

2011-07-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

Valentine’s Day started off the week. I had a fun, little party for my kids and the daycare kids. It really isn’t very enjoyable to go out on Valentine’s Day anymore, I hate the crowds, it has become a little too overrated for me! Yes, I love to celebrate the little holidays, especially with kids, but shouldn’t show love towards each other everyday and not hype it up on one special day? Don’t get me flowers (they die), or a box of chocolates (only more temptation I don’t need in the house) Just tell me you love me and spend some quality time (my love language for those of you who’ve read the book!) and I’m a happy girl!! Only 1 more week of basketball for Bray, the season goes way too fast, but he’s learning so much!

2.7.11-2.13.11: more snow, Valentine's party, puddles

2011-07-23T00:48:00.000-07:00

We are finally receiving a little bit more moisture, this winter sure has been a dry one. We attended Bray’s valentine party at preschool, Bray found puddles to jump in (he LOVES that!) and of course, basketball!

1.31.11-2.6.11: B's hair, snowball fight, volcanos, bb update

2011-07-23T00:35:00.000-07:00

After a rough January, February is turning out pretty good so far! We had snowball fights, Bray LOVES volcanos, so I found a fun little one at Michaels the other day! I can’t believe how long Bryn’s hair is getting. She does NOT like it combed by me, we usually put up a daily battle to get it combed, oh the price of beauty!! This particular day she wanted to do it herself, little miss independent B! ;-) Other than that, not too exciting of a week, we ended the week with Bray’s basketball.

1.24.11-1.30.11: Cousin Justin, Baby Lily

2011-07-23T00:29:00.000-07:00

Yet another death in the family this week, again in Chad’s family, so not fair. Chad’s cousin, Justin, from Wiggins, suddenly passed away during surgery at the young age of 37 and left behind a wife and 2 boys, 16 mo. & 5 months. It was such a rough week for all of us. The funeral was held on Friday at Wiggins High School gym, such a tear jerker, but beautiful celebration of his life. I obviously didn’t know him as well as Chad did, but from the service, I really wish I would have know him better. God gained yet another angel. As one leaves us, we received another gift from heaven. Our neighbor friends had a beautiful baby GIRL, Lily Noelle, Saturday morning! We went to visit them that evening, what an awesome addition to our neighborhood and daycare (in 3 months!)

Here is Justin's obituary:

Justin Covelli, 37
Was manager of Wiggins Co-Op
Posted: 01/26/2011 03:17:52 PM MST

Justin David Covelli, 37, died Saturday, January 22, 2011, after a short illness at the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, CO. He was born June 2, 1973, in Brush, to Barry and Michelle Covelli.
Justin graduated from Fort Morgan High School in 1991 and University of Northern Colorado in 1995. At the time of his death, Justin was manager of the Wiggins Co-Op. Justin married Melissa Ruhl on July 30, 2007, in Las Vegas, NV.

Justin enjoyed playing golf, playing and watching basketball (especially Duke Blue Devils), reading, and spending time with his family.

Survivors include his wife, Melissa, 2 sons, Mason and Aidan, his parents, Barry and Michelle Covelli, all of Fort Morgan; his brother, Josh, and his wife, Laura, of Greeley; his grandparents, Bert and Dorothy Covelli and Glen and Marilyn Perkins, all of Fort Morgan, and Betty Marshall of Wray, CO; his in-laws, Tom and Sandy Ruhl of Wiggins, Gerald and Bonnie Egan and 2 brothers Marc Ruhl, and his wife, Cassie, all of Greeley, and Jeff Ruhl, and his wife Nancy of Wiggins.

A memorial service will be Friday at 11:00 a.m. at the Wiggins Event Center. The service will conclude at the center. The Heer & Dahl Mortuaries & Crematory are entrusted with the arrangements. Friends who wish may make memorial gifts to the Justin Covelli family Memorial Fund, c/o High Plains Bank, in Wiggins.

1.17.11-1.23.11: an additional 2 feet, more basketball!

2011-07-23T00:22:00.000-07:00

This week we added another 2 feet to our home! No, not referring to a baby, but another adult! My sister-in-law, CJ, has moved into the new bedroom we have in our basement now while she attends beauty school here! Very exciting to have her here, the kids are LOVING it..not sure they are going to love it when she has to leave though! This week we also had a snow day and the kids were loving the snow!! To finish out the week, it was another Saturday of basketball!

1.10.11-1.16.11: basketball, baby shower, snow & two belated Christmas parties!

2011-07-23T00:11:00.000-07:00

this week's highlights:

1. 1st basketball
2. baby shower
3. snow day!
4. belated Christmas parties!!

This past weekend, Bray had his 1st basketball practice! I sure hope he enjoys it, it will be fun to watch him grow and mature as the quick season goes on! His team is called the “Stingrays” and we were lucky enough to get a coach that we really like! His son played on Bray’s tball team last summer! Also the same day, Bryn and I went to Castle Rock for our neighbor’s baby shower! We are excited to see what they will be having (as they are not finding out! They have a 2 year old boy that I watch, so it would be neat to have a girl!)..so the guessing continues until the end of the month! B was able to play with one of the hostesses daughter’s that was about the same age, so they had fun dressing up! We ended the week with a busy weekend. Chad’s company Christmas party was Friday evening at the Inverness Hotel, always a fun time! Saturday evening my family got together to celebrate a belated Christmas. We went out to Hacienda, then went bowling at Brunswick! I have to say my bowling skills are not so great anymore, I’m pretty sure my great grandmother could of beat me that night if she was still with us today! The kids had lots of fun!

1.3.11-1.9-11 a rough start..

2011-07-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

2011 has started our pretty rough for us. Never a good thing when you are excited about a new year, and the new year brings us a death in the family. Chad’s grandpa, “Pa” as we all call him, passed away yesterday, January 2, 2011. Yesterday was also my Mom’s 52nd birthday, also a day I lost my great grandfather as well 5 years ago, so its crazy how we both lost a grandpa on this same day. Since I couldn’t take much time off and they weren’t having a funeral, I stayed home with the kids and Chad and Shawn were able to go back and be with their family and reminisce and celebrate their grandpa’s life. He will certainly be missed, we love you Pa!

1.1.11: Happy New Year!!

2011-07-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope this year is one of the best for all of you! I am taking a different approach to my blog this year. It only took 4 months into the year to figure that out, hehe! Instead of a ‘picture of the day’ format, I will keep you all updated weekly, with pictures and stories throughout our week! Our life is crazy enough that I could do a picture a day, but I just don’t have the time I use too and it really bites when I get so far behind like I did these past almost 7 months, yikes! I will add additional blog posts in here occasionally, like recipes and such when I have more to say than weekly updates! I hope you are enjoying a glimpse into our lives as we venture into 2011!

12.31.10 2010: looking back

2011-07-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

Well, another year has come and gone, can’t believe it! It gets faster every year it seems! 2010 has certainly been good to our family! We both kept really busy with our jobs. Chad & I attended our 1st marriage conference that was simply amazing and life changing for us! I attempted to get Bryn potty trained, NO MORE DIAPERS, LOVIN’ IT!!!!! Attended a Daughty concert for my birthday. Our last sibling (Chad’s sister) graduated high school, we celebrated 9 years of marriage and had fun at Water World! Bray played t-ball & basketball for the 1st time!! Toy Story 3 was a BIG hit at our house! Bray started preschool! Chad and I took our 1st trip away from the kids out of state and went to Michigan! We celebrated a 3rd & 4th birthday at the rec center!! Bryon began contruction and completion on our basement! Many weddings and new babies as well! A year of many 1st’s for all of us, and it will continue to be that way every year I’m sure! What a great year it was and we are excited to see what 2011 has in store for our family!

12.30.10 new man cave approved furniture!

2011-07-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

We were able to sell one of our older couch sets recently and save up for a nice couch set for our new basement! We ended up with 3 brown microfiber couchs! They all recline (very important to Chad!) and they are super comfortable! They were a little bigger than we imagined when we got them set up, but it is so nice to have something to fall back on after a long, stressful day! The boys also finished up hooking up the surround sound too, so its pretty easy for me to want to veg in the basement when the kids go to bed and watch movies and catch up on all my recorded shows on the dvr!

12.29.10 a much needed change..

2011-07-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

Bryn received cute new Hello Kitty bedding from her Nana for Christmas. This is such a nice change from what she had and its looking more and more like a girly room! Being the 2nd child (and quite a surprise I might add!) you didn’t get the cool room your brother did! For not having too much time with another newborn, you still got a pretty cute ladybug room though! I feel you are at the age where you need a more girlier room now! I hope that we can accomplish this task this coming year for you now that you have some cute bedding!

12.28.10 cousin's annual get together

2011-07-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

Every year, my cousin and I try to plan a little get together to get all of us and our families together and catch up with life! We use to get together all the time when we were younger, but it gets so much harder to do that when you grow and the family gets so big! This year we chose to get together after Christmas up in Loveland where most my cousins live! One of my cousin’s and his family was here from Houston, so it worked out perfectly! We got the kids together at an inflatable bounce place and then headed over to my cousin’s house for a prime rib dinner! Such a great day, it was so good to see them all again, I wish we were able to see each other more often!

12.27.10 B's new bike!

2011-07-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

It has become tradition that Chad has plenty of hours saved up and he is able to take the week off! Since I’ve had daycare, I’ve also taken this week off too, so it is such a nice tradition we’ve started and we look forward to unwinding from Christmas and enjoying our time together as a family before a new year starts! Today we took our traditional walk around our block and B got to try our her new bike! We got Bray his 1st bike last year, so it was B's year for her bike! Bray loves to walk Rozzum on the leash, so it was nice to get out and enjoy a somewhat nice day outside!

12.26.10 continued Christmas photos

2011-07-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

there were obviously SO many pictures taken yesterday, so here's more pics from yesterday...today's agenda was definetly lazy and relax! There was one word that summed up this Christmas: BLESSED!!

12.25.10 Merry CHRISTmas!!

2011-07-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone!! What an amazing day this is, my absolute favorite holiday and with kids now, it only makes it much more magical!! This was the 1st year that Bray really got into the spirit of Christmas and figuring out what it is all about, it’s truly amazing to watch! Brynley was a ton of fun too, but I’d say 4 is really the age is starts becoming so real for them and they just get it! The kids were overwhelmed with the amount of gifts they received, it took us a majority of the morning to open all their gifts! Their big gifts from us were: their 1st bike (Bryn) and a train table (Bray), plus many more smaller gifts! They loved them all! One of Bray’s favorites was from Grandma and Grandpa Twiss…a whoopie cushion (those inflatable circle looking things that fart when you sit on them or squish them). Seriously, he could of just got that for Christmas and been set! After gifts we enjoyed a delicious prime rib. It was the 1st time I had cooked one, it didn’t turn out too bad! The rest of the day was spent spending time with our families and trying to squeeze in a little snooze! What a perfect day it ended up being! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas as well!

12.24.10 Just in the nick of time...COMPLETION!!

2011-07-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

This was no ordinary Christmas Eve day. We were hosting Christmas this year at our home and there was still a lot of work to be done to host everyone. We wanted the tree in our new basement and to be able to have Christmas down there. I believe we worked until 2am Christmas morning to get it all done, but we made it! I certainly don’t want to have to spend all day doing that again, but the lack of sleep was worth it! We can finally say the basement is COMPLETE!! There is still a lot of decorating to do and little projects here and there, but it is such a huge relief to be done with it. HUGE thanks to Chad’s buddy, Bryon, for all his hard, amazing work over the past 3 months!! We are so happy with it and glad that after 10 years, we have accomplished a huge goal of ours!

12.23.10 2010 Twiss Christmas Card

2011-07-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

As I blogged about just a few days ago, here is our 2011 Christmas card!! We had the hardest time coming up with a fun idea this year, but all the credit goes to my wonderful husband who came up with the idea!

12.22.10 wiring

2011-07-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky to have my brother-in-law’s knowledge of wiring when it came to wiring up the basement for cable and internet! Chad has quite a bit of knowledge too, so its nice that they were able get the basement prepped for surround sound, tv and internet. I’m pretty sure we could have an internet café down there the way it sounds from Chad and my brother-in-law!

12.21.10 Neighbor buddies

2011-07-22T23:19:00.000-07:00

My neighbor friend up the street gave me this photo recently and I just melted! Bray and her daughter, who is almost 6 were walking back to our home hand in hand one afternoon recently, it was just way too cute not to share!

12.20.10 CARPET!!

2011-07-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Probably one of our harder decisions was choosing a carpet for the basement. Luckily we have a good friend that is in that business and told us what was good and what wasn’t! We ended up with a tannish speckled Stainmaster carpet. There is nothing like the smell of new carpet! We had a bad experience with Home Depot for our carpet that is on our main level and upstairs, so we certainly didn’t want to go through that again, and we learned from our friend that those are the last places to get carpet from. I think all of us did “carpet angels’ in the carpet when it was complete, such a great change from the not so great carpet we have on our main level and upstairs and the wood flooring…we are loving it!

12.19.10 almost there...

2011-07-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

It was painting day for our new basement! Again, the hardest part was picking out a color, but I think we settled on a good one (and according to my sister-in-law that works for Home Depot, it’s one of the most popular ones too!) Bryon had a sprayer and was going to use it to spray the basement, but it ended up not working, so Chad rented one from Home Depot and they frantically tried to get it done as tomorrow is carpet install and it had to be done along with the trim. It ended up being a long night for them, but finished in the nick of time! Looking more and more complete!

12.18.10 Christmas card idea

2011-07-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

“better not pout I’m telling you why…Santa Claus is coming to town”!! One week ‘til Christmas! Had you not taken this picture, Bray, daddy wouldn’t of came up with our annual Christmas card photos! Thank goodness for daddy, he always has such good ideas, stay tuned our 2010 Christmas card!

12.17.10 beautiful tile!

2011-07-22T23:06:00.001-07:00

We had our tile installed in our bar area and bathroom in the basement today! The hardest part was picking out the tile to match the carpet and everything else, but I’m really happy with our choice, it is beautiful, at least we think so!

12.16.10 busy day!

2011-07-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

It was a big day for us today! Bray had his Christmas party at preschool and they both had dentist appointments! At their party, they each brought a wrapped book that they got to exchange, Bray got a good one, “How the Grinch stole Christmas”. After the party we headed across the street to the kid’s dentist. Bryn wasn’t quite up for having a checkup and cleaning, but they both ended up doing fine! They love the fact they get to play video games there, I wasn’t for sure we were going to get out of there!

12.15.10 a cute little masked person roaming our home..

2011-07-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

I found this cute, little “Batwoman” roaming my house the other day, doesn’t she make a cute one? ;-)

12.14.10 messy, messy mudding & texturing

2011-07-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

Today was the mudding and texturing of the drywall. Bryon brought in a group to do that messy job, I don’t blame him, it doesn’t look one bit fun! It took them no time at all to finish that, now we move onto painting!

12.13.10 Chad's favorite time of year!

2011-07-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

You know the traditional Christmas song, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year?” Yep, that is my husband’s theme song this time of year, meaning its college bowl season! The schedule is posted on our cabinet and he is giddy with excitement, especially since our Wolverines made it to a bowl this year!

12.12.10 a favorite time of the year...

2011-07-22T22:50:00.000-07:00

I have told Chad for the longest time that I would love to have a ‘real’ Christmas tree again! We’ve had an artificial tree since we’ve been married, so I was ready for a change! A friend of mine has a tradition with her family every year that her and her family go up to a designated sight in the mountains and cut down a tree and bring it home. Just love that idea! We haven’t done that yet, but I would like to do something like that sometime! Chad surprised me with a cute, little real Christmas tree today! We spent the day decorating it and the house! It is so much fun to see the kids get so excited about Christmas!!

12.11.10 creative juices in winter..

2011-07-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

While the best part of being born & raised in Colorado is the changing of the seasons, I think the least favorite season is Winter. I do enjoy skiing and the beauty of the snow, but after awhile I’ve had my fair share and get really antsy when I’m stuck inside more than I wish, especially with kids now! You really have to get your creative juices flowing when you are stuck inside all day with kids. Today I found Bryn’s ladybug tent under her bed and got it set up and it has been a huge hit!! I know my kids will have a blast this summer in one!

12.10.10 a blessing for Bray..

2011-07-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

Last month, I added a 5 year old boy, Luke, into daycare, just on Fridays when he is doesn’t have Jr. Kindergarten. This has been such a good change for Bray, as he has not had any boy his age to play with here, its been a constant crowd of girls and 1 boy that is 2. He thinks these older boys are just the best thing ever! He is such a follower and will spend all day following him around! Good thing Luke is such a good kid and doesn’t mind that! Being around girls so much, Bray tends to really enjoy all the girly stuff, so this is really want he needed to be a boy. Its amazing to see him be such a boy when Luke is around, he doesn’t care one bit about girl stuff, which makes his daddy especially happy!

12.9.10 Bray's preschool Christmas program

2011-07-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today was Bray’s 1st Christmas program at preschool! I was really looking forward to this, it was nothing short of cuteness! We gathered in a big community room at our church and the kids got up in front of a big crowd and sang 3 or so songs! Bray was very shy, no surprise there, but still very proud of him! Getting up in front of a big audience at that age has to be quite overwhelming for them! After the program we went back to their classroom and enjoyed lots of goodies!

12.8.10 a new recipe tradition? i think so..

2011-07-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

The other night, I attempted to make my first clam chowder. I had a recipe from a friend of mine that is an amazing cook, so I gave it a try! It certainly didn’t disappoint, and will go down as one of our family favorites! I’m thinking of making this a tradition during the Christmas holiday!

12.7.10 shower install

2011-07-22T22:36:00.001-07:00

Today was installation of the shower in our basement bathroom! It will be nice to have our guests use their own shower and not have to use ours all the time! The bathroom is really shaping up nicely, it is one of my favorite places in the basement!

12.6.10 big helper!

2011-07-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

Yet again, more basement work! The cement that Bryon and Chad had to chop up to redo the plumbing in the basement was temporarily put outside in our backyard. Today, Chad and his big helper got to pick it all up and dispose of it, so it looks a little better in our backyard now!

12.5.10 Broncos Sunday!

2011-07-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

Another Broncos Sunday in this house! We will be excited to celebrate them in our new basement soon! One of Chad’s bosses came upon this website that sells authentic looking Broncos jerseys for much less. Chad got a Eddie Royal jersey and Bray got a Time Tebow one that he will hopefully be able to wear for quite a while I hope!

12.4.10 annual community party

2011-07-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

Every December, our community puts on a Winter Social. This was the 1st one we’ve been too. It is very kid friendly and the kids had a fun time! We got to go on a carriage ride around part of the neighborhood, play on inflatables, meet Santa, get hot chocolate and lots of other goodies! We will have to continue this tradition for as long as we are living here!

12.3.10 a priceless craft..

2011-07-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Bray is doing so well in preschool and it is so fun to see the crafts they make and bring home! Yesterday at preschool he made this manger out of a toilet paper roll! It has definetly been the centerpiece of our kitchen table, love it!

12.2.10 minions in our bed..

2011-07-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

This was one of those moments that just made me smile and go and get my camera! Bryn had neatly tucked one their “Despicable Me” minions in our bed one day, the minion also looks too real, it was definetly a good laugh for the day!

12.1.10 little techies

2011-07-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we’ve sadly came to the stage where my kids have figured out that our cellphones are the coolest things ever! I, myself have even learned a lot in this stage they are in. Who knew there were these kid friendly apps. and games out there to upload to our phones. Technology simply amazes and scares me at the same time. I’ve got games on there where you blow into my phone and it blows up a balloon and pops it. Really?? Another one that is right up my kid’s alley..a roll of toilet paper that you unroll! Of course there are tons of puzzles and drawing/coloring programs and games with their favorite characters right now, Dora & Diego! Sometimes I wonder why we even spend the money on those expensive leapster games, when all they want is our phones! It amazes me how quickly they can figure a game out, especially Bray. He will get ahold of my phone and upload a game he found and I have no idea how he picked that up! They both also love to take pictures and video on our phones. Lucky for us, we were able to find a camera/video attachment for his Leapster and finally get that part of our phones back!

11.30.10 biggest phase yet

2011-07-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest phases of our basement finish has arrived, the hanging of the drywall! The guys were able to get it down to the basement somehow and Bryon started what looks like not a fun job of hanging it. Chad was able to help out (especially with the ceilings) when he was home from work! It is really starting to look like a basement now, I believe we’ve turned a big corner to completion!

11.29.10: A fun, friendly neigbhor rivalry!

2011-07-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

It sure makes it fun when you have great neighbors that have a good sense of humor! When we got back from Wray this past weekend, we found this piece of paper along with some goodies on our doorstep! They (or I should say the husband) is a big Ohio State fan and as many of you know, Chad a HUGE Michigan fan, so with those 2 teams being huge rivals, I can say we are going to have fun with this one!

11.28.10 Grandpa Dennis visit

2011-05-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

We headed back to Parker at a decent time today as Chad’s dad from California had traveled there for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with Chad’s grandma, aunt & uncle. We had not seen him for a few years, so it was nice to see him again, wishing Mary (Chad’s stepmom) would have been able to make it too. We met up with them and had dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants in Parker, Hickory House. It was nice to catch up on life and he loved being able to see the kids again. We really need to make a trip out there here soon, as they live pretty darn close to Disneyland, and many, many other of those fun attractions! My great aunt & uncle also live not too far from them as well, in Pasadena, would love to see them again too! Hopefully one of these days!

11.27.10 State Championship!

2011-05-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

It worked out perfectly that it was our year to be here for Thanksgiving as Chad & I’s high school football team had made it all the way to the state game and better yet, was being hosted in Wray! We left the kids with my in-law’s, we figured it was a bit chilly and they wouldn’t have the attention span to sit through it! They were playing one of their rival teams, whom we’ve met up with many times for playoff games, Burlington Cougars, just an hour south of Wray. So we knew that it would be packed, so we planned on being there early! Wray was expected to win this hands down, by quite a few points, but sadly it didn’t end up being the case. Our quarterback (which by the way was my SON’S age when I first met him because my mother-in-law use to watch him, so crazy, makes me feel so old) had mono and a high fever from what we had heard, so it was such a bummer to see him struggle the whole game, but so impressed he was able to have the ambition to play out the entire game.

11.26.10 nose hair!

2011-05-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

One of the ‘fun’ highlights this year was my sister-in-law, who’s currently attending beauty school up here in Parker, learning all these fun, new things and guess who get’s to be her guinea pigs? Ha! Well, she kept telling us about ‘waxing your nose hairs’…seriously?? That has got to hurt I’m thinking. I get waxed more than I want to, but it certainly isn’t one thing I enjoy as a wacked out hormonal woman! She kept reassuring us that there is no pain and there is nothing to it! She had done a few of our other family members before hand, so we let Chad & Shawn go first. I tell ya, since men don’t have to get waxed usually, they are such wimps! They made it look like it stung a little bit, so I was a bit nervous when I was up next! CJ inserted a popsicle looking stick covered in wax up my nose, makes sure she gets the hairs she needs, waits a few minutes, pinches the upper part of my nose and pulls it out quickly! I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was! The guys certainly made a big deal out of it, but it is nothing like getting your face waxed! It was a good laugh for sure!

11.25.10 Thanksgiving 2010

2011-05-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!! Each year, there is so much more to be thankful for and I feel so incredibly blessed and thankful for everything and everyone that God has placed into my life! We of course stuffed ourselves at my in-law’s this year, always so yummy! One of my favorite meals, especially Chad’s grandma’s amazing scalloped potatoes and another favorite, pumpkin pie and my mother-in-law’s cheesecake too! Yum, yum!

11.24.10 Rozz's much needed bath

2011-05-30T16:13:00.001-07:00

Rozzum has always had some major allergy issues. They can’t quite figure out what it is he’s allergic too, but we are constantly giving him people Benedryl to subside the constant scratching he does to himself. We took him into the vet before we left for the Thanksgiving holiday so that they could hopefully give him something to help subside all the symptoms he was having. It had been months since Chad had given him a bath, and the vet gave us some special shampoo with a hefty price to help him out, so when we got to Wray, that was Chad’s job! I know Rozz has to feel a ton better, the bath water certainly showed it! He isn’t really fond of the bath, but he LOVES drinking the water!

11.23.10 back home for Thanksgiving!

2011-05-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

This year it was our turn to be in Wray at my in-law's for Thanksgiving. We try to make it fair to his family since both his sister and parents live there. This time we stayed at my sister and brother in law’s house. We always have a fun time as you can see by this picture, my brother-in-law is steam cleaning Chad’s pants he got dirty!

11.22.10 excitement is building!

2010-12-04T23:20:00.000-08:00

Now that their birthday's are past, its time to move onto Christmas! They are getting so excited about it this year, so neat to see! We've been getting some toy catalogs in the mail and flyers through our paper, and they just love to look through them together and pick out their wishlists! Speaking of wishlists, I've tried for a few years now to keep up a wishlist for their birthdays and Christmas through Toys R' us. Its such a nice option for those that ask what they want or are too far away to know what they are into! Heck, it even helps us find all the new toys and helps from getting duplicates of toys and having to return them!

11.21.10 little office buddy!

2010-12-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

I always joke with Chad that if Rozz could talk, he'd say, "Save me from all the chaos here and take me to work with you!" He loves his daddy! Everytime Chad finds himself at our computer desk at home, someone is quick to follow underneath his feet, he follows him everywhere! I just know that if Chad was allowed to take Rozz to work, he'd just stay plomped right under his desk and feet all day, he's got quite the life you know?

11.20.10 drywall delivery

2010-12-04T23:12:00.000-08:00

This morning, we had drywall delivered to our house, much much easier than the alternative! I believe we had 44+ 12' sheets, so it became a project for 3 strong men to carry them from the garage to the basement! Thankfully, they made it in one piece, and now begins one of the biggest phases yet!

11.19.10 another phase complete!

2010-12-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

Insulation is complete, yeah!! Amazing the sound difference already!

11.18.10 Bray's Thanksgiving program

2010-12-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

Today was an exciting day at Bray's preschool. They had their very first program with all the parents as an audience! It was so darn cute to watch and can't believe how grown up he is! He was extra shy in doing some of the motions, but we were still very proud of him that he performed in front of a lot of people! They sang 2 songs about Thanksgiving, this is what they like to call a practice run in front of a group of people before they perform their Christmas program here soon in front of many people, so I'm sure we'll see some adorable moments, can't wait for that!

11.17.10 another favorite find!

2010-12-04T22:22:00.001-08:00

As I was stating in an earlier post, with this new lifestyle comes a whole new world, its like learning a new language. Thank goodness for our library, I will checkout books every now and then to see how they are. If they are keepers, I end up buying them, if not, I'm glad I didn't waste my money! Its definetly been a challenge to find a good gluten/dairy free cookbook. This one is definetly a keeper! I have yet to go get it yet or try recipes, but the recipes all sound so amazing, I can't wait to try them! It does help that the author of this book was previously the editor-in-chief of "Everyday with Rachel Ray" & "Food & Wine" magazines and owned her own Italian bakery among many other culinary accomplishments! I have already recommended the book to a few other friends who have gluten issues. I hope they will enjoy it as much as I will!

11.16.10 more pretend play from B

2010-12-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

It is so fun to just sit and listen to B pretend play with her babies. Tonight as I was sitting with her, she was feeding her babies and doing such a good job! What a good little mama she will make someday!

11.15.10 more favorite finds!

2010-12-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

When I haven't bought something before, I'm a little skeptical about buying and trying it. Its been hard with this new lifestyle to know what is good and not so good without feeling like you've wasted money, as its a tad more expensive for some of this stuff! So far, its been pleasing. The Van's waffles are yummy and the Udi's bread (from a recommendation of the checkout lady at Sprouts and many different referrals from internet finds), is the way to go and they are right! I am lucky too, because it is a Colorado company and I know many people that have visited here say that can't get it everywhere and its the best they've had!

11.14.10 pumpkins comin' out my ears!!

2010-12-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, we have grown pumpkins in the garden. This year, we grew the ones that you can make into pumpkin puree for all kinds of yummy pumpkin treats! They are much smaller, almost the perfect size, but they do take up a huge part of the garden! I finally got around to getting them prepared recently for puree. It is a lot of work, but the fact it will save us some money and be homemade is well worth it! I think we ended up with about a half dozen or so pumpkins and they made about 16 cups of puree, so let the baking begin!! Of course, we don't waste the seeds either, we LOVE our pumpkin seeds!

Nice giveaway for all you bloggers, hurry though!!

2010-11-30T13:06:00.000-08:00

Taken from the Leelou blog site: "Lots of bloggers get their blogs printed off yearly. I get many of emails asking which company I recommend to do the printing. I didn't use to have much of an opinion. I've seen some ok companies, but they never really impressed me a ton. Then I saw some books printed by Blurb and couldn't believe it. They're significantly better then any other ones I've seen. And Blurb prints any kind of book. Whether you want to make recipe books, vacation books, family reunion books, biographies...it's obviously endless what you can do. But I choose Blurb because they really are the highest quality I've ever seen at a great price. Love, love, love them.
And they're giving the winner a $250 gift card! That is HUGE!!!"

11.13.10 yet another big phase complete!

2010-11-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Friday, Bryon was able to finish up all the framing and fireblocking! Saturday, Chad and him finished up part of the bartop in the bar area we will have. Now comes the waiting of another inspection and then onto insulation and drywall, its starting to look more complete! He keeps telling me when drywall gets up, I will be amazed how it really looks more like a basement, can't wait!

11.12.10 new discovery and experience

2010-11-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

After a long Friday, we thought it would be best that we get out of the house and go eat a bite somewhere. Both of us have a new favorite place to eat, Fish City Grill, at Park Meadows (outdoor Vista area) across from Borders. Thanks to Chris & Rhiannon for the awesome recommendation!! We have now addicted a few more friends of ours! This was a bit scary for me as this was my first time eating out at a restaurant with this new gluten free/dairy free thing. I didn't completely stay away from it (forgot to order no cheese on my side salad), but I did much more better at making a smarter choice than I usually would have made. It was actually one of the few times that I left a restaurant feeling perfectly full, not overstuffed or bloated, so I must of done something right! Chad has the usual, their famous fish tacos (which I've had before, but can't have). I had the honey chipolte corn tacos, excellent! After dinner, we walked through a few stores in the mall (i don't get there much anymore, so there's always some new store to see!) and then wanted to check out the American Girl store. I had always heard so many cool things about it, but never had ventured into one. Oh my, I must say that we were missing out, what a cute, cute store! Brynley loved it, of course we had to check out the bathrooms (which were pink too) while we were there. I think I know what she will be getting for Christmas and birthdays to come!

11.11.10 kids and a box

2010-11-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure I've posted a picture like this in the past, but I pulled out another box the other day and the kids just LOVED it, what simple, fun entertainment a box brings!

11.10.10 Fish

2010-11-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad this household likes fish as much as I do because with this new 'lifestyle' of mine, we've been eating a lot of this! Tonight's menu was Mahi Mahi, salad, rice and a glass of wine!

11.9.10 Bray's 4 yr. checkup & 1ST SNOW!!

2010-11-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

Today, Chad was able to take Bray to his 4 yr. checkup. As we had assumed, he is off the charts in height and continues to grow like crazy! Dr. Steven's believes he will be a big boy, we sure hope so! He weighs 44 lbs. 6 ozs. which puts him in the 95th percentile for weight and is 44 1/2 inches tall which puts him above the 97th percentile in height! His BMI, blood pressure and everything else checked out just fine!
We also got our 1st snow of the season today, FINALLY!! Bray was at preschool this afternoon when it started, but Bryn was super excited about it! It had barely began to snow and she was requesting her snow gear to be put on so she could go outside. She is definetly fascinated with it! We are hoping that we can get them up to the slopes for the 1st time here soon so they can learn how to ski, I know they will love it!

11.8.10 Legos

2010-11-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

You can add this to my resume now..lego building skillmaster! Bray got some neat Lego sets for his birthday, so we are having fun with them!

11.7.10 sick hubby..

2010-11-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

So as I quoted from Becky Higgins in my last blog post:

"And it always, always feels best to come back home."

Well...this wasn't the case for me. I went to go meet my mom and dad to pick up the kids and went home to a hubby and daddy that was not feeling his best. Thankfully not stomach sick, but just achy, sleepy and cranky. We couldn't of picked a better weekend to be gone. So, needless to say when the kids and I got home, we unpacked our stuff and got out of the house as much as we could because you know what they say about men and being sick or at least probably know how I feel about it...they are the biggest babies (sorry honey!)

11.6.10 Day 2 of therapy (ha!) :-)

2010-11-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

This morning we were able to sleep in until 10, it was simply amazing!! We went down and enjoyed a yummy breakfast in the lobby and then spent the rest of the day scrapbooking (Kirsten) and blogging (me). Another productive, fun day! We are getting ready to go downstairs and enjoy happy hour now and then probably go enjoy dinner out somewhere and a late night Starbucks run, doesn’t get much better than that huh? Oh, except for a HUGE MI WIN!! I didn’t watch the game, but Chad kept me updated..67-65 triple overtime!! My parents are watching the kids this weekend and so far they are doing well, they always love to go somewhere else, it’s a healthy thing for all of us to all have a break from each other every now and then!

I just read my scrapbooking 'idol', Becky Higgin's blog (who's in my blog list for those interested) about a recent weekend away to here in Colorado, I take this quote straight from her because I feel the same way after these type of weekends:

"I come home exhausted and yet completely refreshed. I am grateful for friends who uplift and inspire me. We all love motherhood. We all adore our husbands. This isn’t about escaping our lives at home. This is about reconnecting, reminiscing, laughing our heads off, and just plain having fun."

And it always, always feels best to come back home."

Enough said...:)

11.5.10 Scrapbooking weekend!!

2010-11-14T16:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend, my friend, Kirsten and I attended a scrapbooking retreat at the Embassy Suites hotel not too far away from home! The last time I did this same thing was right after I finished breastfeeding Brynley at 13 months, so 2 years and definetly something I needed again! Such good therapy!! We share a hotel room, its put on my some Creative Memories consultants and there are about 200 of us here on 2 floors I believe. We have big desks in our rooms to scrapbook the weekend away! Your welcome to do whatever you wish! I did not choose to scrapbook this weekend. With finishing the basement, my stuff is packed in tons of boxes and I just did not have the time to get it all together before it started. That was totally fine with me. I was so far behind on this blog and a few other projects I just can’t seem to get done at home, so it has been the perfect weekend to get caught up so far! I didn’t get here until about 8 last night, so a little of a late start. We stayed up until 1:30 Saturday morning and then slept in until almost 10 Saturday morning!! I can’t tell you how much I needed this and have enjoyed myself so far! Kirsten’s such a great friend, we share so many of the same ideas and think alike and both are moms, so we are totally enjoying ourselves! Wine, gluten free/dairy free snacks (except a few pieces of toffee Kirsten is forcing me to eat, ha! ;-) tv, music, uninterrupted work and sleep, no chores, someone else cooking for us, socializing, you can’t beat that!! They do this 2 times a year, I need to do this more often!! I was able to catch up on my blog and typed 9,000+ words, now that’s a productive weekend! I love that its at the Embassy Suites, its my favorite hotel to stay at! We stayed in one in MI for most our trip. They have a free happy hour in the evenings and a cooked to order breakfast in the morning, plus very clean, roomy rooms, its been perfect! There is a cheese festival and wine/beer tasting here as well this weekend, oh how I’d love to be at that too! Its funny to see people that aren’t here for scrapbooking and they had no idea how huge of a hobby this really is. All this scrapbooking is making me want to pull mine out again, I can’t wait for the basement to be done, so I have a little space to do it, I’ve barely got Bray’s album started. Yikes!

11.4.10 Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

2010-11-14T16:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a super, simple recipe for a recipe I made the other night with the pumpkin seeds we had from all the pumpkins!

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds: (makes 8 servings)

1 1/2 T. margarine, melted
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. garlic salt
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
2 cups raw pumpkin seeds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
2. Combine the margarine, salt, garlic salt, worcestershire sauce and pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly and place in a shallow baking dish
3. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy!!

11.3.10 another phase complete!

2010-11-14T16:07:00.001-08:00

This past week, Chad and Shawn have been installing new windows in our basement. Talk about a HUGE improvement from the horrible, aluminum ones we had! I was so proud of him for doing this all on their own, this is the first experience with doing something like this and they did well and didn’t have too many issues at all! One more step down!

11.2.10 Election day

2010-11-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

I have to say I’m glad this day is hear and gone, I can’t stand one more nasty political ad. I have all the respect and excited that Hickenlooper is our next Governor, not 1 nasty political ad and I think he will do so much good for our state! This day was a big day for our family. My dad was running for a State Senate seat in a big district that included much of the Eastern Plains, including Wray. He was running as a Democrat. Back where we come from, its very much Republican. I have all respect for him for running and proud he chose to do what he’s always wanted to do. I know it’s not the end of the road for him, he’s always got so many things on his plate (hummm…I wonder where I get that from?? :-) and will still do what he can to help the district out. My dad is an AMAZING, extremely intelligent dad and I’m so proud of him!!

11.1.10 A new lifestyle

2010-11-14T15:56:00.000-08:00

For a year and a half now, I have been diagnosed with a milk allergy. Have I respected it and obeyed it? Not one bit. Have I pretended that maybe it will just go away and I will get better? Sure have. I was in denial of this and it hasn’t improved whatsoever. I’ve had so many health issues lately and I know it stems from some of this. I LOVE my cheese, especially blue. I love my milk, butter, ice cream, etc. It was just a shock to me to get this news, it was like my world came crashing down and I rebelled big time. Almost everything you eat has some sort of dairy ingredient in it, so its been challenging. I have taken a liking to soy milk and yogurt, some almond ice cream, but that is about it so far. There is not a good non-dairy cheese yet….:( On the flipside, I have heard from a few friends and in doing research and reading books, that I most likely need to be going gluten free as well. I didn’t want to jump into it, dairy free is hard enough, so I was careful with this transition, baby steps is key! Nor, do I claim this is a diet, I HATE that word, I've failed at so many, plus the word "diet" seems temporary to me, this is something that will most likely be a journey for years until I possibly outgrow this allergy and intolerance. I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism for 6 or 7 years now and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) for 5 years or so. I am finding out that if you have thyroid issues like I do, that you most likely have a gluten intolerance as well. I could get tested, but it is expensive and I don’t know if insurance would cover it or not, so I’m just taking it as I do and seeing if it will help me out. I have seen in the grocery stores that is very well marked if its gluten free or not. I also really love Sprouts too, which has a huge selection of what I need as well. The only hard part is finding both gluten & dairy free things. I got a few Amy’s frozen entrees that I’ve actually been pleased with and a few snacks at Sprouts that I really enjoy as well. So far, its proving to be much easier than dairy free, but I’m trying my hardest to stay away from dairy too, I’d say I’m about 95% dairy free and almost 100% gluten free right now. By the 3rd day on this, I could definetly feel a difference already, I didn’t feel as bloated, I can already feel like I’m thinning a tad and I seem to have more energy, yeah!! Now if I could conquer the water intake, I get an F on that..baby steps, Jamie, babysteps!! So far, day 6 of this new lifestyle and I’m loving it, I hope it will do wonders for me, it’s a learning experience everyday.

Halloween!

2010-11-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

Let the trick or treating begin! Tonight we were invited over to our neighbor’s house for chili and pictures before taking the kids out as a group around the block! I had fun making some 'Mummy Dogs' (which by the way were delish!) It was kind of challenging to get a good picture of all of them, but so much fun! This was the 1st year Bray was really into it! They both LOVED dressing up! Bray was Batman, Bryn was a bumble bee fairy. I ended up having to go ahead of our group as Bray was sprinting from one house to the next! Bryn’s shoes were hurting her halfway around the block and I wanted to go home and pass out candy, so we both went home to do that! Chad took Bray to finish the block plus another ½ block and was grinning from ear to ear when he came back as he got a beer from some guy at one of their stops, that’s his kind of trick or treating!

10.30.10 Happy 30th Jason!

2010-11-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

Today marks my other ‘little’ brother’s 30th birthday! We are almost exactly 18 mo. apart. Hard to believe we are both in our 30’s now. Happy Birthday Jason!

10.29.10 visiting daddy for trick or treating!

2010-11-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

Every year, Chad’s office hosts a trick or treating around the office for all the employee’s kids/grandkids. We have done it every year and it is so much fun! This year, I had a few extra in tow with me since I was working that day, Brooklynn and Jessica. It was fun and lots of work to get them all dressed up and to the office in time! Luckily I had Alissa’s help, otherwise I may not have been able to pull it off! We had a lot of fun seeing everyone and the kids got too much candy as always! It was a sugar filled fun time riding home! ;-)

10.28.10 soup & pumpkin carving

2010-11-14T15:29:00.000-08:00

Now that things are slowing down a little bit, we found some time to do some pumpkin carving with Alissa and Shawn tonight. My parent’s good friends back home in Wray have a pumpkin patch, so my mom has brought back 4 big pumpkins from there, we always get good compliments on them and asked if we grew them ourselves, I wish! We did grow pumpkins this year, I grew the small ones you use for pumpkin pie. That will be one of my projects here soon is to bake them and puree them for pumpkin pie, bread, cheesecake or anything pumpkin! The night got off to a late start as both Alissa and I had flat tires and spent a few hours at the tire store getting them patched. Once we were finished with that, the guys and kids carved pumpkins and Alissa and I made Southwest Chicken Corn Chowder for dinner and I baked pumpkin seeds in the late evening! It was a fun evening and hope it becomes a tradtion every year to do this!I just realized that I never did get any pictures of their finished carvings, bummer, because they turned out pretty awesome!

10.27.10 way overdue..

2010-11-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

We'll just say that there is little girl in this house who is trying to be patient about the first snow, still no snow yet, the latest snow on record in Denver is Nov. 21st, doubt we'll make that record! Until then, patience is in full swing here..

10.26.10 Bryn's 3 yr. checkup

2010-11-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

Today was Bryn’s 3 yr. checkup. She was all excited about it when I told her, but once we got there, she wasn’t too sure what to think. She got in this funky mood and changed her mind quickly. This is the 1st checkup that they take their blood pressure, calculate their BMI and do a vision screening. She did great in all areas. She turned super shy before the eye exam and I didn’t think she was going to tell the lady what she was seeing, but with some convincing she did it! When it came time for the 1 shot she needed, it was not so fun for her, they did warn me this one would sting a little and you could tell it did, but she got over it quickly. I’ve been hearing and doing some research on the flu shot and so I’m happy to say that despite our ped. trying to talk me out of it, I declined it for our kids this year. There is just too much scary info. and research out there on the junky ingredients in those shots, so I’m hoping I made the right decision. Like I said earlier, I’m leaning more and more towards doing things the natural way. I was telling a friend, that if I had to do this all over again, I may of thought twice about putting any of the shots into my kid’s body. I know I’m second guessing the decision on getting this last shot B needed and having her talk me into it, especially since the next day she had a little reaction from it even though the nurses I called through our ped. nurse line said it wasn’t. Grrr…. Anyways, off my soapbox for now, sorry. Her appointment went very well. She was 32 pounds 6 oz. which puts her in the 75% percentile for weight, and 37 3/4 inches tall which put her in the 70% percentile in height. I hope she continues to grow tall too!