Monday, November 7, 2011

The Wheels on the Bus

 This past weekend we had the fun opportunity to take your family up to Frisco,CO with some of the Valor Discovery Kenya Team from last year. Mark drove a school van with our family and 5 teenagers. The trip up there usually takes around an hour and a half but took us much longer seeing as it was snowing once we reached the mountains. Plus an accident occurred and we sat for a good 45 minutes before it was cleared and the road plowed. fun times!  
 We were able to stay at Britta's (the Kenya leader last yet- she teaches English at Valor) parents vacation home in Frisco- it was BEAUTIFUL and had plenty of space for our group! 
 Here we all are! Britta is holding Elijah:) 
We got all settled into and the all my kids were SO excited to sleep under a Christmas tree:)


 We hung out for a while and played lots of board games- the teenagers were SO sweet and played tons of games with our kiddos!~ It made them feel so special! 
 Arianna was very proud that she beat Chase in checkers!


We went to dinner at The Boat Yard- it was FANTASTIC! 

Ella formed quite the attachment to Ben! He was so patient with her and she just hung all over him and cried when he couldnt sleep in our room that night:) 
 We stayed up late watching Lord of the Rings movie 
(although I only made it thru half of the first one! I'm getting too old!)
 That morning the group planned out their Valor Discovery Trip presentation for chapel, while Mark and I cooked bacon, waffles and eggs for everyone! 
It was an epic breakfast! Boy can teenagers eat! 




 It was such a fun trip! Hanging out, getting to know some pretty awesome teenagers! 
And this summer, Mark is leading the trip to Kenya! 
What a privilege! Excited to see the group that is put together for the summer!



Saturday, November 5, 2011

Trick-or-Treat...Smell my feet...

 Yes, Elijah was a cow for Halloween-this was his first pick and he stuck with it for a while. I found his costume for $2 at a consignment sale and sewed on the utter so he wouldnt be confused with a dalmatian. 
As we were riding to Grandmas house, Elijah said, "Mom, I'm thirsty. I need some milk." and then proceeded to suck on the utter! Mark and I DIED laughing which of course encouraged him more! 


 The girls were all Strawberry Fairies! I found these costumes last spring at Gymboree for $5! Then this summer I found all the accessories at Gymboree Outlet in Silverthorn for really cheap! I will resell the whole set and probably make more than I bought them for- thats how well Gymboree costumes resell! This is a side note, but I primarily only buy Gymboree clothes for my kids, not because I am snobby or rich:)  They wear SO well and last forever without ripping, fading,etc.(and are SO cute) AND the added bonus is that I resell mostly all their clothes and make very near and sometimes more than I paid for them! I only shop SALES at Gymboree and if you have the coupon or Gymbucks, I get most items for around $5-$10. I resell on Craigslist, Ebay or JBF consignment sales. Then I use the money to buy new wardrobes for the kids. Also, to get the cheap deals at Gymboree, you have to buy off season. So, I have bins of clothes waiting for the next year for each of my kids. Gymboree runs really true to size and sometimes a tad big and I have had no problem buying a year in advance. (except with shoes- I dont do that! because feet grow weirdly in my family!:) So, overall its a great gig that I started when the twins were around 3 yrs old. 
Okay, I am done.. back to trick or treating! 


 On Saturday, we went to Aspen Grove for Trick or Treat Street- it was fun! 




 Our yearly Trick or Treat tradition is to go to Grandma and Grandpas for pizza dinner and then trick or treat in their development! Lots of houses participate and they are really close together so its easy to walk. 
This year Elijah REALLY got into it! He knew what to say and did most of it himself! 
Although, Elijah saw this weird joker guy with a very scarey face and he STILL talks about the man with the horns being in his closet,etc. Poor guy! It scared him pretty badly!


 Grandpa got all the kids glow stick necklaces that they were pretty excited about! And of course, they had to pay the Granpa candy tax after when they looked at all the loot! (aka- Almond Joys) 
 Sophia and Arianna got out all the Milky Ways for their teacher and gave them to her the next day- it was cute! 


Another funny story...
The twins heard the little rhymn about trick or treat at school 
but they only heard the below version
and said it this way for weeks before trick or treating!
"Trick or treat. 
Smell my feet. 
Give me something good to eat. 
If you dont, I dont care.
 I'll take all your candy."
Now, thats not the version I knew as a little kid and I was happy with their innocent ignorance and of course, I never corrected the little ditty! .
But innocence doesnt last forever... after we were done getting candy, the kids passed out candy at Grandmas house. Well, this big group of older kids came up the steps and started saying the rhyme really loud.. I cringed as I knew what was coming! 
The last line really goes..
"I'll pull down your underwear."
When the older kids got to that line, the girls looked at me to gather my reaction. I was laughing so hard because I knew what was coming and the whole story struck me as very funny! So of course, they started roaring with laughter! Afterwards though, Ella told me that they were still going to say it the old way because she thought it wasnt nice to talk about underwear! And amazingly, I havent heard them repeat the new version! We will see how the rhyme changes next year! 

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Grandma's Visit

 We were priviledged to have Grandma (my mom) come all the way from PA to spend a long weekend with us! It was such a fun time to reconnect with mom and the kids to spend some quality time with grandma! 
She played lots of games with Ella and Lij.
We even got to swim at the hotel pool! 


 One of my moms required stops was SAJ Mediteranian Grill. Its her favorite! 

On Saturday we made a treck up to Boulder for some pumpkins and to do the Celestial Seasonings Tour!
Wasnt a good day at all for pumpkins- the field was a mud pit and there was still snow all over.
At least we got some cute pictures and pumpkins!






I really liked the tea tour- so informative, filled with yummy aromas and the gift shop was super cute!



We also did some trick or treating but I'll save that post for tomorrow!
on a side note, if you are my mom and you are reading this- my cell is out till tomorrow.
Hope you havent been calling:)
Love you!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

We're Missing Grandma!

I asked the kids what they missed about their grandma in PA... here are their responses! 
 Ella said, "I miss doing laundry together."
 Elijah said, "I just miss her alot."
 Sophia and Arianna both said, "We miss going out to breakfast with just her!"
(mom took each kid to get bagel poppers and chat for breakfast- very memorable) 


And I miss all the great help I had with her around:) She was so busy, cleaning, doing laundry and dishes! 
We also had a great time looking at all the great shopping places around here- IKEA, WORLD MARKET, ANTHROPOLOGY, POTTERY BARN! It was so fun to spend time with my mom! I miss her! 


Monday, October 31, 2011

Pumpkin Carving Fun!


We splurged this year on the pumpkin carving and got more detailed! It was fun and the kids enjoyed scooping the "guts" out of their pumpkins! They were all lit up last night for a few hours! 
Can you guess who picked which pumpkin pattern? 



 Arianna did the spider

Sophia chose the skeleton and cat
Ella chose a traditional pumpkin face
and WE chose the ghosts for Elijah since it was one of the easier ones and it was past bedtime!

So, there you have it! Pumpkin carving done! 
Special thanks to my husband who helped in this long process of carving 4 pumpkins! 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Unnie Bunnie

 Arianna is 7 yrs old and in 2nd Grade at Mark Hopkins Elementary.
Her teacher is Mrs. Sustr.
Arianna wants to grow her hair long again but keep her bangs.
She has only lost 2 teeth.
Arianna continues to be SOOOOOOO picky about what she eats. We make her eat a bite or two of meat every meal but she still gags and doesnt like it. very frustrating.
Arianna loves breakfast. 
 Arianna bites her fingernails.
She likes Sprite.
She still loves to wear knit pants and doesnt like jeans at all.
Her favorite shoes are still Crocs.
Arianna LOVES animals of all kind.
She and Sophia still love to play Barbie house and they LOVE pretending with little animals and Barbies.
 Ariannas Beta Fish- Nemo- also died the same night Ellas fish died. 
Arianna cried and cried over the loss of her fish for which I was the sole care giver! 
Arianna likes to walk to the park near our house and play with her sisters- all by herself!
She really likes Hello Kitty right now.
Ariannas teacher started calling her "Ari"( R-E) and now all her school friends call her that! 
Arianna loves to sing and is participating so much more in our church services-
 she continues to be sensitive toward the Gospel. 

{ From the Mouth of Arianna }
my favorite color: All the colors of the rainbow and add pink
my favorite toy: Laura, her pet battery operated hamster
my best friend: Shea, Cheyenne, Savanna, Garrett, Brody, Madeliene
my favorite part about church: learning about God
my favorite food: mac and cheese
my favorite thing about school: independent reading, duck of the day and starting the day by giving Miss Sustr and hug- can you tell she REALLY likes school?
my favorite song: Completely Done and The Fathers Love
what I want to be when I grow up: veterinarian 
my favorite movie/show: The Avengers and Pink Panther