Ranch Hands

Littleton Bible Chapel (our church) had a Harvest Party hosted by a great family in our church the Scotts! They have a ranch out in Parker and we had a GREAT time riding horses, eating great chili and exploring the ranch! They had a hay fort, barn swing, mini horses...
It was fun and cold!

The kids LOVED riding the horses and weren't scared at all! Sophia and Arianna keep telling me they want to have a ranch when they grow up!

Chunky snowflakes are falling...

All day today, snow has been falling.
Wet, chunky, heavy snow.
It has not been sticking to the roads, but we have a good 4 inches in our yard!
This is the first REAL snow in Denver- we have had 2 days of flurries...
We dropped the twins off at Sparks and went to Peets Coffee to get our FREE drinks-
(sign up for their emails at the store and they mail you a coupon)
I LOVE drinking coffee on nights like this.
yummy and cozy
I do love the first real snow of the season!

P.S. Marks dad called tonight and Marks cousin Maria was hit by a car.
She is in surgery now and has several severe injuries- please pray for her and her family.

Graduation Day

My last born child has now graduated from a crawler to a walker.
Where has the time gone?
It seems like yesterday that I was holding his little body
all wrapped up and warm, and now I can hardly get a hold of the little guy.
He loves to walk in circles around our house and almost breaks into a run here and there!
He is the cutest little walker around-
the way he holds his hands up in the air to balance himself.
Hard to believe he is my last baby.
I'll never experience the sheer joy of seeing first steps again.
sorta sad....
Life is full of these moments- firsts quickly become lasts
the last time I will rock him to sleep
the last time I will hold him
the last bedtime story
It makes me savor those moments because before you know it,
he will be grown and I will not have those special "childhood" times with him.
(can you believe I am crying while I type this?)
I do love my children and even though many times I think I will loose my mind,
they are so special to me and all those little "moments" are priceless.
I am privileged to be a mother.

The Butterfly Place

I was made aware by a friend that museums have Culture Passes that you can get to go to museums FREE- so I checked one out of the library for the
Butterfly Place and went with my good friend Sarah.

My children (of course) were deathly afraid of the butterflies. Arianna would scream as soon as one flew by her head, which I might add, was quite often. Sophia warmed up, Elijah was oblivious, but Ella and Arianna were on the brink of tears about every 30 seconds.
The picture above says a thousand words about the experience.
After the butterfly part, we saw the insects and that was fun!
They got to touch a horseshoe crab and a starfish...

I got to hold Rosie the tarantula! It was cool...

The girls only pretended to be spiders....

and we ended the day with a nature walk. Here are the 2 Elijahs...

I am so thankful to have a good friend like Sarah to share these experiences with-
she helps me keep my sanity in a world full of toddlers!

Birthday Pics for Dad

Here are our FREE pics from Picture People- I got an 8x10, (2) 5x7's and 8 wallets absolutely free- no sitting fee either- this is the second time I have used these coupons and they are so great at not pressuring you into buying more- I was pleased!
Here are the proofs:

I gave Mark the one above for his birthday:)

Birthday Wishes

We started the day with a big breakfast for daddy with a special treat-
Orange juice (which I never buy because it is too expensive)
I got the kids picture taken in a cute frame for Mark to bring to school.
(it was free at Picture People)
and I gave him some flowers and a card!

I suprised Mark at Valor with balloons, and a few of his favorite things-
Dr. Pepper, Mac magazine, Kit Kat and Pumpkin Roll:)

When Mark got home, we had our first snow of the winter- only a flurry but still SNOW!

Ella and Elijah painted daddy a coffee mug (to match teh one I had the girls paint for him when they were 2) Arianna got him a belt and Sophia a sweater.
Marks parents came over with a yummy cake and
babysat while we went to TGIFridays and got FREE burgers!
It was a good day:)

special times

Last Wednesday, I was able to take my 2 little munchkins to the zoo for the morning for a FREE day! Its amazing how many FREE things and places you can find if you are actively looking.
Anyway, I am really enjoying the twins being in school since I get to spend some quality time doing things with ella and elijah! I remember getting that opportunity with the twins (obviously) and now its the little ones turn.
Ella LOVED it and kept asking me to take her picture by everything:)

It was a fun morning!