The Frey Family Blog

Car Ball Pit

2012-01-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

This was Ethan's ball pit from my parents, but it has now been passed down to Leah and she got to play in it for the first time today. She loved it!!

Chuck E Cheese

2012-01-23T20:28:00.000-08:00

Ethan's friend, Ryland had his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese on Saturday and it was a blast!!! Happy Birthday Ryland!!

I loved Ethan's little character!

Time for pizza!! He ate TWO pieces!

Leah had fun watching Chuck E Cheese!

Both of their faces are hilarious!

Ethan and Joe!

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

Leah could not understand this giant mouse!

Cake and ice cream!

(And a VERY tired little boy!)

We all rode in this roller coaster simulator! It was fun!

The last ride of the day.....

Having fun and Hanging out!

2012-01-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

Leah loves her ball popper and I could play with her all day with it. She is so cute and so happy when she is playing.

Leah finally loves to be pushed in the clothes basket- but only in her brothers arms. :-)

I love how happy they are together!!

I ordered lots of pictures and we replaced A LOT of frames. These are my new favorites though! :-)

Leah loves eating!!!

She's nice and messy. :-)

Last week Timo and Ethan were so cute and SO GOOD at lunch reading their books. :-)

They make my heart smile.

Talk about making my heart smile!!!!!
This baby is soooo darn cute!!!

Love her!!!

7 Months Old

2012-01-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Leah,

You are 7 months old today. They say that time flies when you are having fun and that holds true for us!! You are such a happy and fun little girl!

We love everything about you. You roll all over the place and scoot yourself everywhere- usually backed up into corners or under tables. :-) You love playing with your picnic basket shape sorter and any toy attached to links. You also enjoy your brother's hot wheels cars and dinosaurs. You love to just sit in your exersaucer watching your big brother play. He can make you laugh hysterically, by just running past and falling to the floor. He is hilarious!! Except for when you tries to wrestle with you or take one of his toys back that you were playing with. Then, he is not your favorite person, to say the least.
Daddy loves cuddling up with you and walking you around the house to show you things and teach you things. You love to stick your tongue out at daddy and act shy. It's pretty cute. But you are a mommy's girl and will reach and cry for me every time I walk in the room. It's okay, I don't mind. ;-)

You are a great little sleeper now! You go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 pm, wake up to eat around 4:30 am (sometimes not at all) and wake up between 7:30 and 8:00 am! You really are a dream. You adjust to any situation easily and do so without any fussing. You had us worried for the first 6 months, but you are not as fiesty as we originally thought you were going to be!

You are a good little eater and love to eat new foods. You enjoy pears, apples, mango, banana or peaches mixed with your oatmeal in the mornings. You love sweet potatoes and butternut squash and we mix green beans, peas, carrots and acorn squash with those two favorites to get you to eat the "not so favorite" veggies for dinner. It works, so we're happy.

We are all so proud of you and bring so much happiness to our family. You make us smile every second of the day!

Love Always,

Mommy and Daddy

Leah is getting so big!

2012-01-18T19:38:00.000-08:00

Little Lady Leah and her rosy little cheeks!

Leah has sat in a high chair at Chick Fil A before, but never at a real restaurant, with her mat and snacks. She is such a big girl!!

She was also VERY GOOD during our dinner. She didn't fuss once and ate all of her butternut squash and a few of my refried beans. :-)

Saturday

2012-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a beautiful day so we decided to hit up the zoo. Greg has only been there one other time with us and that was for the Lights at Christmas time.

This lady was sooo funny. Greg said that it was something I would do.... haha

We hadn't gone up to see the bears before...

but Ethan was more interested in their fish anyways.

They did a hippo training while we were there. It was sooo cool.

Leah is a hoot!

Then we went to Old Colorado City, got Starbucks and walked around. The kiddos napped a bit and then sat together in the stroller.

Another happy day!

Friday, the 13th

2012-01-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

I actually didn't even know it was Friday the 13th! Our day was pretty good! :-)

We hosted playgroup and had a playroom full of little ones having a blast!

Leah not only loves orange peppers, but yellow ones too!

We had a fun time in the evening too, waiting for Greg to get home.

Ethan took this picture, just as Leah almost rolls off of the ball!

This exercise ball is loads of fun- at least for the kids! :-P

Leah loves to eat her puffs right off the floor!

Happy Friday!!!

Ethan's Funnies

2012-01-16T19:07:00.000-08:00

Me: I have the hiccups now too!
Ethan: That's silly mommy. We are both hicking up now

Me: It's time to go upstairs now.
Ethan: NOOO (practically a full blown tantrum) The King is getting new tires! He can't drive without his new tires!

Ethan: My name is Ethan. What's your name?
Little boy behind us at church: Quincy
Ethan: haha Oh That's a silly name

A few extra

2012-01-12T19:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some "extra" pictures from the week.

Ethan and I made pizzas for dinner the other night. He loved it!

We eat well when daddy isn't here. :-P

And Leah wanted one of my orange peppers so I let her have it. She really loved it!

Every single item in this picture was $1. I paid less than $10 for all of it. :-)

Leah was being brave for her friend, Zander. She really hates this toy. :-P

Walking at Palmer Park

2012-01-12T19:18:00.000-08:00

Palmer Park is such a nice place and we hardly ever make it over there! It isn't far so we decided to go there on Tuesday morning before Greg flew to Atlanta for the rest of the week. It was a beautiful day!

And we've got a beautiful little girl to match. :-)

I love how you can see Garden of the Gods in front of Pikes Peak.

And downtown...

My new favorite picture!

Why can't they take as cute of pictures with me?!?!

Oh well. I love them anyways! :-P

The Zoo with Timo

2012-01-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

We went to the Zoo on Monday with our friends and we bought a membership so there will be many more fun zoo posts to come! :-)

The giraffes are amazing!

Ethan wanted to touch a chicken really bad!

He chased them until he caught one!

The otters were hilarious. The pictures didn't turn out as well as the video though.

The peacock who joined us for lunch time. :-)

The two are so cute!

I can only imagine what they were talking about. Ethan loves Timo!

6 Years

2012-01-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

Nope, no pictures of us! :-/ I may try to get one today though...

We tend to not follow the traditional gifts for our anniversary, my mom does that for us. :-) Instead I usually make something crafty for Greg and he always makes me a card. His cards have pictures on the front of the important and fun events, vacations, etc that we did each year. It's so much fun to guess what they are and then reading his words on the inside always makes me cry. I am pretty lucky!! :-)

I found this idea on Pinterest and we both thought it was a good idea so I got it all together and he helped me position the states the best way (California messed it all up!!) after he opened it. :-P

I had found this idea on Pinterest too. It is a deck of cards and on each card, I mod podged a reason why I love him. It is pretty corny, but he liked it. This is the back... I dunno why I didn't take a picture of the front, but it is in the top picture.

And of course, my roses. :-)

I still can't believe it's been 6 years!! We are already starting to save for our 10 year anniversary trip! I can't wait to go back to Sandals in 4 years! :-P

A little more fun, food and Focus on the Family

2012-01-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

Focus on the Family is the perfect place on a cool winter day.

I love making Ethan fun snacks.... they never last long though. :-P

I love my new lunch box containers!!! They are perfect.

Gosh, she is so cute!

She loves to eat what we are eating. She didn't want MumMums or even a graham cracker! She wanted pizza!

Beautiful weather

2012-01-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

We had a couple gorgeous days this past week and we spent a good amount of time outdoors!

Ethan is so good on his bike. He has his moments, but I have to keep telling myself that he is only THREE! It's amazing what he can do on the bike. The hills in our neighborhood are only nice going down.....

We spent 3 hours at the park on Thursday. It was HOT!

Ethan's Funnies

2012-01-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

Me: Christmas is coming
The goose is getting fat
Please put a penny
In the old man’s hat
If you haven’t got a penny
A ha’ penny will do
If you haven’t got a ha’ penny
Then God bless you

Ethan: God Blessed Jesus and then he could walk on water.

Ethan has a book called, "Dinosaurs Through Time".
He calls it, "Dinosaurs eat meat through time".

Ethan was coming downstairs after a nap and his underwear was on backwards.
Me: Ethan, what's wrong buddy?
Ethan: It's just that my underwear keeps trying to go up my butt.

Friends

2012-01-02T08:25:00.001-08:00

It's a good thing people are so friendly around here!!

Ethan was kind enough to share his apple with his baby sister.

And the birds were kind enough to share their food with this squirrel and the squirrel shared some of the food with the little bunny too! Do you see the little bunny in the bottom right?

So cute!

Oh and GO BUCKS!!!

New Years Eve

2012-01-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

After 5:00 mass, (where both kids napped) we had an hour or so before our friends party started and I was in need of caffeine so that I could stay awake until midnight so we went to Starbucks for some caffeine. Ethan got his first special drink!! He wanted the hot apple cider with whipped cream and caramel sauce. :-)

This is Leah and her friend Lucy, who is 17 days older than her. :-)

We didn't leave our friends house until 11pm!!! The kids did so well! When we got home, we put Leah to bed and decided to let Ethan stay up since we were only 30 minutes away from 2012!

Lucky little boy go to have sparkling grape juice with us and watch TV and then at midnight, people shot off fireworks from the top of Pikes Peak! It was a really fun New Years Eve!!

My boys are sooo crazy cute!

Happy 2012!!

Closing out 2011......

2011-12-30T08:16:00.000-08:00

Silly face

We just love going to Manitou Springs!

But Leah is not a fan of swinging....

Daddy was trying to toughen her up, but she was pretty mad about it!

Ethan has no fear though!

And!!!! He can ride his bike so well now that we went for a walk and he rode his bike the whole time!!! He is awesome!

Ethan wanted a turtle pancake....

Ahhh what the heck?! It turned out pretty cute!

Sweet little girl

2011-12-30T08:10:00.000-08:00

Leah looked so cute in this little outfit that I had to take some pictures. :-)

And then she stood on her own for a few seconds... WHAT!?!?!

Oh baby girl!

Family Day

2011-12-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

We had a really fun family day today. We went to Chick Fil A for lunch, Focus on the Family for fun and play and then walked around the Shops at Briargate because it was so nice out! We had a very nice time together and the kids napped well afterwards! :-)

Greg wasn't too pleased to see this...

But she loved it!

She is sooo big now!

Greg had never been there before and he thought it was pretty cool.

Ethan is really good at computer games now and he can even call people on Skype!

Baby Legs and G of the G!

2011-12-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

I made Leah some baby legs for Christmas and I tried out a pair yesterday. She has the chubbiest legs!!!! I just love it! She was acting like such a big girl playing with her lipstick, bracelet and purse.

She is so big!

We went to Garden of the Gods yesterday for a walk. It was so nice to enjoy the outdoors. I hadn't left the house since Thursday, except to go to mass on Christmas Eve. We all needed the fresh air!

Leah looked too cute in her owl hat!

And Ethan found lots of snow to play in!

Where's Leah!? haha

I am always intrigued by these guys who climb the rocks!

I like Garden of the Gods with snow!

Christmas Night

2011-12-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

Our babies took a bath together for the first time. (It was a real bath- no more baby tubs.)

Poor Leah kept getting picked on!

After baths and PJ's, we loaded them up in the van and drove around to look at Christmas lights.

Ethan HAD to bring his binoculars! It was such a great idea.

They both fell asleep in the car and the transfer was ridiculously easy. They must have had a busy day! ;-)

Christmas Day

2011-12-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

We woke up on Christmas morning and played with Happy Birthday balloons and read about the first Christmas. :-)

Then we went downstairs and found that Santa left Ethan a BIKE and binoculars (on video) and that Santa and the elves loved the goodies and left us a note too.

Santa left Leah a purse and a doll. I love having a girl!!

Ethan and his bike.

Silly boy!

Leah reaching out to her doll.

This doll was meant to be. Her name is Leo!!! That is Leah's nickname, given to her by her brother. We call her Leo all the time. And her birthday is July 5th, a special day to us too! :-)

Cars PEZ- Mater!

and Finn!

What else?!

A spinner toothbrush!!! Perfect after all that candy!

Leah got some silverware and baby legs in her stocking.

Daddy thinks Ethan's bike is pretty cool.

Daddy got coffee and candy in his stocking.

Leah prefers paper to just about anything.

Well, she may prefer the rum.... just like her mommy. ;-)

Her owl hat made by Samantha.

I loved how happy and grateful he was after every present. He wanted to open up every package and said "thanks you" every single time!

My happy little blessing.

Yes, he got a Light Saber. And yes, I am trying to protect Leah's head!

We got to Skype with all of our family. Alan opened his gift from us and he looked happy. We can't wait to see the pictures of his travels in Korea!

Good job buddy!

More train tracks!! He was sooo excited for them!

After he got his Mack, (another adorable video) he was happy to play with Cars for the rest of the afternoon.

Watching Giada open her gifts from us.

Daddy took Ethan out to ride his bike and Ethan did really good!

He'll master it in no time!

We Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Geason after bike riding. He loves this guitar!

He was so excited about Cars 2 that is just a blur in every picture of him with it.

Leah tried out her sippy cup. She is so advanced!!

Ethan loves this stuff. haha

I forgot to take a picture of our whole meal, but here is the pork- YUM!

We had a very merry and blessed Christmas. I am such a lucky mommy and wife. :-)

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T16:58:00.000-08:00

I love our Christmas Eve traditions. They are all very special. I also love the extra surprises and fun that our kids bring to our Christmas Eve. They are even more special!

A new tradition.... (which is an old tradition to Greg)- Beef Burgandy for dinner. I thought it was delicious! As a kid, Greg did not like it, but now he thinks its good.

After dinner, we put Baby Jesus in all the mangers.

Even Leah got to put one in!

But it didn't work out so well...

:-)

Ethan is a pro now!

We forgot to pull our Advent Calendar strip before church, so we did it after.

He loved getting the cookies, milk and note ready for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer.

Leah was quite eager to open presents!!

The last link on the chain!!

Reading Twas the night before Christmas.

Then I got to read Polar Express to Ethan.

(I practically have the book memorized. It is his favorite!)

Daddy is silly, but so is Ethan!

Santa came!!!!!!

We are blessed beyond measure.

Ethan's funnies

2011-12-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

While reading Green Eggs and Ham.....
Ethan: Mommy, who is that?
Me: I don't think they say his name.
Ethan: Well that is Sam I am so maybe that is Sam I'm not.

In the middles of mass....
(Kid starts crying a few pews up.)
Ethan: Uh-oh. Someone isn't getting any presents.

Me: Ethan, did you remember to bring your quarter?
Ethan: I dropped it....(my face starts to frown)... IN MY POCKET. HA

Ethan: Where is my new spinner toothbrush?
Me: It's on the stairs going up.
Ethan: No, it doesn't have any feet!

Ethan: Daddy, have you been folding?
Greg: Have I been farting?!
Ethan: NO, folding!
Greg: Oh yes, I folded the clothes.
Ethan: Oh.
I have been farting upstairs. That's why I couldn't fall asleep.

Christmas Eve Pictures

2011-12-25T04:56:00.001-08:00

The kids looked adorable in their Christmas outfits!

Can you tell she just woke up?

From a 1/2 hour nap... (sigh)

Yep, he just woke up too....

It didn't start out good!

But it definitely improved!

Leah at church.

Visiting with Baby Jesus in the manger.

My Little Helper

2011-12-25T04:53:00.000-08:00

Leah has been my shadow lately. It's a good thing daddy has a lot of time off now because we need to work on this little one... ;-)

She was helping me open Christmas cards on Christmas Eve. She is such a great little helper!

She is also getting pretty good at playing with toys.... as long as mommy is there to play too.

Baby in a Box

2011-12-25T04:44:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas with Ethan, we did this adorable card picture. :-) I wanted to do the same for Leah, but unfortunately, we no longer live on the beach. :-( So, this had to do.....

This little girl sure looks happy...........

Who on earth could make her this giddy?

She wants to get a hold of whoever it is!!

I see part of a face!

It's Ethan!

This big brother is just the sweetest thing!

She adores him!

HAHAHAHA

Oh these two!!

Now it's Ethan's turn to pose in the box.

He sure has changed from the first time, hasn't he?

Both babies in the box didn't work out as well....

But we got some good laughs anyways.

Almost Christmas!

2011-12-25T04:26:00.000-08:00

The anticipation of Christmas is killing me! I am trying to rub it off on my little ones as best I can! ;-)

Ethan got this Aqua Sand kit from Uncle Bill, Aunt Kelly, Ella and Luke for his birthday and I decided to try it out a few days ago. We had sooo much fun and he has played with it every day since then too!

We also made a bead sun catcher ornament,

It took 2 whole days to dry, but it turned out cute!

My boy loves pancakes so why not make a Rudolph pancake to make his day?!

Ethan loves reading to Leah. He is really good at memorizing books now and can "read" them to Leah after only hearing the story once or twice. :-)

Videos!!

2011-12-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

Ethan sledding today. He had sooo much fun. Look how far he went! He made new tracks!!

Ethan making Leah laugh. These moments make me so happy. My heart smiles when I see my babies playing together.

This was the first time we gave Leah a graham cracker. Our little piggy. :-)

Leah and her rice rusk.

Mrs. Claus at the Dinosaur Resource Center was awesome!! We had a blast!!

Leah just loves seeing herself in the mirror. Gosh, she is just so cute! ;-)

This was his wipeout while sledding today! He didn't care at all though!

More Snow!!

2011-12-20T17:55:00.000-08:00

We got more snow last night! Greg stayed home from work and we had a great day!!

The boys went out and shoveled the driveway.

We took Ethan sledding this afternoon and he had a blast!!! This kid has no fear!! I will upload the video of the tumble he took. No tears- except for when it was time to leave!

This was after his big tumble. He rolled about 3 times!

The fun must go on!

I wasn't planning on sledding, but I had to go down a couple times. Ethan was making it look so fun and he was right! It was a blast!

He was going farther than anyone had been all day. He was making new tracks in the untouched snow!

December Cuties!

2011-12-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Ethan wanted to make a bird feeder, so that is what we did this morning.

Seriously?! They are so cute!!

Did you notice Ethan's very handsome haircut?

After taking her 6 month picture, Leah wanted to make sure she looked all right.

She approved. :-)

The boys made cookies last night! YUMMY!

6 Months Old and Stats

2011-12-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

Leah had her well baby visit today and while she is a cute little chubs, she isn't nearly as chubby as we thought she would be!! She weighs 17.6 pounds (65-70th percentile) and is 26.25 inches long (65-70th percentile again). I forget how big her head was, but she was 50th percentile for her head circumference. Ethan was definitely bigger than her at this age- 29.5 inches and 21.5 pounds, both 95th percentile or higher and his head was also 95th percentile at 18 inches.

She is growing on her curve beautifully and is on track (or exceeding) all of her developments. We are so proud. :-)

Happy 6 Month Birthday Leah Gracie!!

6 Months Old and Photo Shoot Pictures

2011-12-19T19:32:00.000-08:00

Leah,

Sweet Leah Grace is half of a year old today! You are such a funny little girl and we adore you. You still love to play in your exersaucer and roll all over the floor. Pretty soon the baby gate will need to go up in front of the basement stairs because I know you will be rolling more and more. You have started on solids and you LOVE TO EAT. You decided that oatmeal is too bland for you and you don't like fruits nearly as much as your brother. You love orange and yellow veggies though! Mommy makes all of your food and you love it. :-) So far you have had carrots, bananas, peas, applesauce, pears, avocado, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. You are not a fan of the peas at all and don't care for the pears or apples much either. You just love sweet potatoes and both squashes. You eat bananas without any mommy milk added and you seem to like them very much too. You also love graham crackers and baby Mum Mums. You are good at Cheerios too! Leah, you just love to eat. :-) You also love to be outside and play with your big brother. Ethan loves to make you laugh. You two are so cute together! You are a great sleeper too. We've been lucky! You go to bed by 8am (lately it's been more like 7:15-7:30). You only wake to eat once a night- around 3am, but sometimes you wake up for your binky around midnight. You have even slept for 11-12 hours straight a couple times this past week. You are amazing, little one!! Mommy and daddy are really looking forward to your first Christmas in just a few days!

We love everything about you baby girl and we are so happy to watch you grow and show you off to the world. You are the sweetest and most cuddly baby Leo ever and we love you to pieces!

Love Always, Mommy and Daddy

School stuff

2011-12-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures of Ethan's little school area. My mom really helped me get this started for him. He loves the pouring and always tells me that he needs to use his pincher fingers to pick up the rice that spills. He is pretty good at it all though!

The back is the "hole punching". He uses a thumb tack to cut out the pictures. This is challenging and he still wants me to help him when we do that one.

The front is the lacing boards.

On the left, we have the beads to string. He really loves doing that one!! He makes necklaces all the time.

On the right, is rice with measuring spoons.

The back are the beans and measuring cups and the front are Ethan's favorites- pouring! He pours water and rice- very well, I might add!

The left are number cards. He puts beads over the dots on each number card. A new favorite, since we are using Christmas beads.

The Nativity people are on the right. The little box has all the people and a few animals and he can put them in the stable. He might enjoy this more after our big one upstairs is put away, but why play with a little version when we have a big version upstairs?

The left is the number game. He rolls the dice or pulls a card and has to jump that many times. This is great on cold days when we can't go outside.

The right are the sorting baskets. He uses the tongs to sort the orange and red beads into the basket with that color string. He loves using those tongs! haha

Leah is being such a big girl these days!

And here is her ornament from St. Nick- finally hand-printed and on the tree!

Sunday in Denver

2011-12-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

After breakfast at our hotel and church, we went to the Nature and Science Museum. We have been there before, but it is pretty awesome! And free for military is also a very nice perk!

Ethan and I in the infrared camera.

This lady was pretending to be on Mars in the year 2047. You could ask her questions about Mars and she would answer them- so cool!

Ethan was enamored with the video about rockets.

And Leah loves her mum mums.

Transferring moon rocks is a very important job!

The best part of the museum is the dinosaurs!!

This was the coolest part! Their special exhibit was the TREx Encounter. They had robotic dinosaurs and lots of really cool stuff. They didn't allow any photography so this is our only souvenir...

Ethan was roaring at the T-Rex. It was sooo funny!

He still loves zebras too.

And escalators!

And Leah loves to eat!!

We ate lunch at the first Chipotle. It was super yummy!!

We sure do love Denver!

Saturday in Denver

2011-12-18T19:33:00.001-08:00

We decided to take a trip to Denver since they have lots of things to do around Christmas time. We had such a fun weekend!!

I bought a Groupon deal to this little restaurant and we went there for breakfast. Ethan had a whole plate of scrambled eggs. Greg had a green chile breakfast burrito and I had THIS. A bananas foster waffle. Delicious! And don't worry, I shared. ;-)

Oh this face!!

Then we went into Golden and watched their Christmas parade which was really good.

Ethan dancing with the elves!

Then we went to the School of Mines Museum and looked at the rocks.
Ethan enjoyed it way more than we thought he would.

A fossil of a dinosaur leg bone.
Ethan did not think it was as cool as the plastic dinosaurs in the play area.

:-P

And a trip to Golden is not complete without a visit to the Coors Brewery.
I told Ethan to go stand by the sign so I could take his picture. He is such a little stinker!!

Leah was pretty excited!

Ethan was entertaining us during the long wait.

This kid loves pop!!

The only beer that I actually enjoy!
Greg wanted a picture of me drinking while holding a sleeping Leah.

I was starting to wonder if Ethan didn't take a sip of my Coors Light! ;-)

After a visit to Hammonds Candy Factory to pick up lots of Christmas goodies, we went downtown to the German Christmas Market and to walk around 16th Street Mall.

Then we ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and Leah enjoyed some bread crusts.

And my children love looking at themselves in the mirror.

They didn't get that from me!
haha

The downtown lights were great!!

When we got to the hotel, we put our suits on and went straight to the pool.

Leah isn't a big fan of swimming pools...

But Ethan LOVES them!

No fear!

We were all ready for showers and bed after a fun and busy day!

Food!!!

2011-12-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

When my mom was out here, she got us a GREAT start to our Montessori school stuff. I still have to take pictures of everything, but today I thought of this activity for numbers. It reminds me of Montessori.

He just put beads on the big dots and then we counted them. He really enjoyed it- surprisingly! Could my "I so do not want to learn" little boy be changing his stubborn ways?! I sure hope so!

Leah had her first Baby Mum Mum at CFA yesterday, thanks to Sarah and Ari. She loved them so much and she did so well that I bought her a box at Target and dinner was much quieter last night.

I love this baby girl's eyes.

We made puppy chow tonight and it is so good. Greg was making me laugh during these pictures so that's why I look extremely "happy". haha

Cute baby in the tub

2011-12-16T17:54:00.000-08:00

Leah sits up in the bath tub now and she is just too cute. I love giving her baths these days. Her skin gets really dry though because of the dryness out here so she only gets a bath every other night now. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Soccer Buddies!

2011-12-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

Ethan started Soccer Buddies again and he is in a class all by himself- no parents!! He did sooo well. He was a great listener and told us everything that happened that we couldn't see and/or hear. We are so proud!!

Cookie Exchange

2011-12-13T08:08:00.000-08:00

Our Monday playgroup had a cookie exhange yesterday, which explains why I NEED to go to the gym today! :-)

Leah and her friend Aydan- 2 months younger than her.

Snowflakes

2011-12-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

I spent Sunday at the church helping to organize the gifts for the giving tree so Greg had his first day alone with both kiddos. He says it all went well and the pretty snowflakes hanging above my kitchen sink prove that he can handle it and that he does a great job with them!! :-)

Santa's little helpers!

2011-12-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, she is a chubs!! :-)

Christmas at the Dinosaur Resource Center

2011-12-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we went to the Dinosaur Resource Center for their Christmas shindig! It was sooo great! Their Santa left a lot to be desired, but the rest was fabulous!

Mrs. Claus got the parents involved. This is Greg barking like a dog.

The reindeers were pulling Santa's sleigh!

Ethan was in a rush to go see the dinosaur stuff so a quick, "Hi, I would like some binaculars and cars." was all Santa got today.

Zoo Lights

2011-12-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to see zoo lights at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was such a great night!! I highly encourage everyone to go. They do a great job!!

LOVE IT!!

You can sort of see the moose in the background.

The city lights.

Amazing!

Ethan told Santa that his favorite animal was the hippopotamus.

Nemo and his daddy.

Leah was skeptical, but not at all afraid.

What cuties!!

Santa was GREAT!!

I have an excellent video of Ethan and Santa talking.

Then Mrs. Claus helped Ethan pick out a candy cane.

It was such a great night!!! :-D

St. Nick's Day!!

2011-12-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

Ethan woke up on the Feast of St. Nick and came into my room saying, "Mommy, that guy left me lots and lots of toys in my shoes." He was so giddy when we went to take a peek! He asked if he could tell St. Nick, thank you. :-)

St. Nick forgot to put Ethan's ornament in his shoes upstairs so after breakfast, we found it in his croc!!

He quickly put it on the tree.

Ethan's first year of soccer classes- 2011!

Leah woke up later so she had her own time too.

She was so cute!!

Happy Feast Day, St. Nick!!

Busy, but FeStIvE!!

2011-12-10T08:18:00.000-08:00

We've been so busy around here! But it's all been in the spirit of Christmas!

Ethan's Funnies

2011-12-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

Me: I am going to jump in the shower, Ethan. Please stay down here and play quietly.

Ethan: I will be good mom, but you shouldn't jump in the shower. You could fall and get hurt.

After playing with his Nativity set one afternoon and talking about baby Jesus' birth, I asked Ethan,

Where was baby Jesus born? (Thinking he would stay stable since I said it 20 times and compared it to a barn, etc...)

Ethan: I think in Mexico.

On our walk....

Greg: Which way do you want to go?

Ethan: Well, we've got lots of options.

My mom: Have you been watering your tree?

Ethan: No, it doesn't have a mouth!

Ethan: Where's Casper?

My mom: He's laying under the Christmas tree.

Me: He's probably wondering where the water is because he always drank our tree water.

Ethan: Grandma, you need to water your tree or else it will die.

My mom: Our tree is fake. It doesn't need any water because it came out of a box.

Ethan: Huh?! That's silly grandma.

Fun day Sunday! :-)

2011-12-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

We had a great day today! The kids started out by reading in our bedroom while we got dressed. Ethan was reading to Leah and Leah was reading to Ethan. It was so cute!

This afternoon, we made cookies!

Leah had a great time playing in her exersaucer while we played Wii!

And she loves Ethan's squishy dinosaurs. She can be found with one in her mouth almost all day.

These are some of the leftover cookies that we made today. Aren't they soooo cute?!

Ethan loved it!

A perfect end to a great day! :-)

Our big eater!

2011-12-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Leah has been really into eating lately! On Friday night, she went hog-wild!!

It started with sweet potatoes.

Then we moved onto applesauce.

She even had some avocado!

The whining wasn't stopping and in an effort to eat dinner in peace, I handed her some graham cracker thinking she would gum it and play with it for the rest of dinner.

But soon it was gone and she started in on piece number 2.

She ate an entire graham cracker before we could finish dinner.

This girl is an eater!! :-)

Christmas tree day

2011-12-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

Our house with lights and a pretty frost.
(Greg made me crop the picture way down so that people won't be able to find out where we live. HA)

All of the trees and bushes looked like this on Friday morning. It was so pretty.

Leah was extra festive in the morning too. :-)

She's been sitting up really well lately!

Then we went to get our Christmas tree!

Ethan was pretty excited!

He kept asking, "What is he going to do now?"

Leah with her first ornament on the tree!

Ethan was excited to find his Thomas ornament!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!!! :-D

Ethan's Funnies

2011-12-02T06:13:00.000-08:00

I have forgotten to write down most of Ethan's recent funnies, but here are a couple that I did.....

Me: I can't find my phone.

Ethan: Wait here. I'll go get mine and call you.

We were walking past a fire truck. The whole cab was flipped up and there were guys working on it.

Ethan: I think they have a problem.

Ethan: Mom, you have to shave. Your whiskers hurt me right now.

(Referring to my legs)

December 1st....

2011-12-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

I have been dreading this day since July, when my parents first booked their flight out here. I look forward to them coming sooo much and then BAM, the 2.5 weeks are over and I am left feeling so sad. I like Colorado, but it isn't what I thought it was going to be. In LA, it was just the two of us for most of the time. I had a great job with great friends and we made close friends that we hung out with every weekend. We didn't have Ethan very long before we found out that we were moving to Dayton and that made all the difference in the world. We were going home! The 18 months in Dayton was perfect. We loved it so much and I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE. Now we're here and I feel sooo far away from my family- even farther than I did in LA. It doesn't help that we now have 2 kids. I don't know exactly what I was expecting Colorado to be like, but this isn't it. I am so ready to be back in Dayton......

And you would think that I would be able to get over this pretty quickly since it's officially Christmas time!! Ethan is going to be a blast this Christmas and he will love his presents. Plus it's Leah's first Christmas and 6 months old is perfect for a first Christmas because she will enjoy it and be so cute. But all I can think about is how our families will miss out on seeing them and being with them on this special day and vice versa. I am a Debbie Downer.... and I need to snap out of it.....

Ethan was sad this morning too so I made snowman pancakes.

It was fun, but I still wish my parents were here!!!

:-P

In other news.....

Ethan drew his very first person!!!
In my very humble opinion, it is the cutest and most perfect little person ever!!!

And Leah has some baby food in the freezer!!

I made sweet potatoes, applesauce, carrots and butternut squash.

I'll snap out of this soon. (I hope.) My kids are too much fun, for me to be so sad all the time. :-)

Good-Byes

2011-12-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

My parents flight wasn't leaving until 11am today, but the impending snow storm had us thinking that we should probably get them up to a hotel with a shuttle on Wednesday night so that I wouldn't have to drive up to Denver and then home in the bad weather. It was a good thing that we did, because Denver seemed to be a mess, even though we just got flurries down here. They picked a hotel with a pool and when Greg got off work, we stopped at Sams Club and then went to their hotel for dinner and swimming. It was a bittersweet night.

Leah always wants to EAT!

Love it!!!

The water was warm, but the room was cold. Leah was not a fan and just clung to me. It was way different from when she went swimming at the YMCA in Estes Park. She loved that.

It didn't help that it was her bedtime. But after 5 minutes, we finally decided that she should come out.

Ethan was still all smiles though!

Leah was much happier cuddling with grandma.

And Ethan showed off his skills by jumping.....

After showers, lotion and jammies, they snacked on pistachios while we all started to get sad.

Mom and Dad, we had so much fun with you guys. I was so happy that you could come and stay so long. It felt completely normal to have you here. And now that you aren't, our home and our hearts are feeling quite empty today. The kids aren't as chipper and neither am I. We love you so much. COME BACK SOON!! :-)

A walk to the park

2011-12-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

My parents got Ethan a scooter while they were here and the weather was perfect yesterday to go for a walk.

And to take adorable pictures of a few of my favorite people.

Special Times

2011-11-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ethan and his Godparents. I need to remember to take this picture every time the 3 of them are in the same place, because I don't think it will happen too often.

Hanging out

2011-11-30T13:35:00.000-08:00

We have had so much fun while my parents and Alan were here. It feels normal to have them here and I don't know what I will do with myself when they are all gone. :-/

Leah got Greg soooo good! :-P

Tis the season

2011-11-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas time! My kids will be dressed very festively again this year. Just the way I like it!!

My favorite house decoration this year is the village on the cupboards in the kitchen! It looks so classy! :-)

Breakfast at Chick Fil A.

This girl loves her uncle!

Campfire

2011-11-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

We had a campfire and roasted hot dogs and s'mores on Sunday night. YUM YUM!

Leah fell asleep in the middle of all the action!

MOVIES!!

2011-11-29T19:52:00.001-08:00

Ethan loved pulling Leah around in this wagon. His statement at the end makes the whole video though! ;-)

We did the Portable North Pole letter from Santa for Ethan again this year. He loved seeing Santa in the Macys Parade on Thanksgiving so that evening was perfect to watch his video. :-)

Leah is already eating so many foods!! She has had applesauce, pumpkin, butternut squash and tonight she had carrots for the first time. This face is also very new to her! She was cracking us up!!

Here are a few cute and short videos from Soccer Buddies! We signed him up for a second session so he is quite excited to go back. And this time, he will go in the class by himself- no mommies or daddies are allowed on the field in the Bears class.

This one is kind of old, but it is so cute. Leah really wanted Ethan's apple and that little tongue just kills me!!!

OSU/Michigan Game

2011-11-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

We still LOVE Ohio State!!! Go Bucks!!! :-D

Leah was so excited for the buckeyes, wings and red chocolate covered pretzels that we made!

These two conked out later in the afternoon. :-)

Garden of the Gods & Manitou Springs

2011-11-29T13:36:00.000-08:00

We did a bit more touristing on Friday. Ethan fell asleep on the way to GotG and stayed asleep the whole time. I wish he had been awake bc these pictures are great, but would have been better with him in them.

How stinking cute!?

This girl loves her uncle Alan!

And a visit to Manitou isn't complete without a turn on the swings!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year. Leah enjoyed her first Thanksgiving and loved all of the attention that she got from people who love her very much. :-) Ethan enjoyed it too!!

Roasting the baby!

Ethan and I worked very hard to make these turkeys for our company. They are sooo cute!

The weather was perfect for some football and fun outside!

The kids were also great helpers!

Leah was practically licking her lips at all the good food!

Ethan could hardly wait to eat!

And now you can see why! YUM!

Time to eat!!

Leah having a little to drink.

Desserts!!

We have so much to be thankful for. :-)

Pumpkin!

2011-11-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

Leah has been eating a lot lately. She loves eating big people food! She really liked pumpkin!

I even made her some teething biscuits and she loves them too!

Touristing

2011-11-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Uncle Alan arrived in the Springs tonight and our first stop was Old Chicago!!! YUM!!

On Wednesday we went and did more touring about.

Ethan loved posing after the tour.

He sure was showing off his moves!

Lunch at Chick Fil A. Leah just wants to be big so bad!

5 Months

2011-11-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

She is camouflaged into her bed this month- polka dots and a flower head band! haha

Leah,

You are 5 months old already!! It's hard for us to believe how fast you are growing and how beautiful you are. Your big brother is your favorite form of entertainment. He makes you laugh and laugh and you just adore him. He loves you too, although sometimes he is a bit rough when showing it. ;-) He very lovingly calls you, Baby Leo. We don't know why, but that is Ethan for you! You roll all over the place now and we can find you in many different areas of the room when we let you go! You put everything into your mouth. You love to chew on your brothers dinosaurs, links and the teething biscuits that mommy made for you. You were dying to eat big people food so we went ahead and officially "started" you on solids!! We started you on oatmeal and quickly went to butternut squash and pumpkin. Tonight you had some banana mixed in with your oatmeal and that was a big hit. Your next new food will be sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving! You are doing VERY well with it and after only a few days, you are already into a routine of wanting to eat at dinner time. If you see a cup, glass, mug or soda can you start kicking your legs and flailing your arms to try and grab it. You do the same when you see a mirror. You LOVE talking to that cute baby in the mirror. It's the cutest thing! You go to bed at 8:00 pm and while you were only waking up once a night, the past two weeks you decided that it would be fun to wake up every 3 hours all night long. Not cool, Leah Grace! We decided to start sleep training and after 2 nights, you are already doing better! Hopefully tonight will be the last night that mommy has to hear you screaming at 1am. It sure does make me sad. :-( You recognize mommy and daddy and reach your arms out to us now. Grandma and Grandpa Geason have been here for the past week and you adore them too. You will even reach for grandma from mommy now!! You are a sweet, sweet girl and we are so proud to be your mommy and daddy and we love you more then you will ever know Leah Gracie.

Love Always,

Mommy and Daddy

Crafty

2011-11-20T15:15:00.001-08:00

I have been getting A LOT done since my parents are here!! I am loving all this "free time"!!

My house is clean. I started Ethan's Montessori activities for his "school time". I planned a bunch of activities to do with him and was even able to do one of them already. (Pictures of turkeys in our Thanksgiving post.) I also made our Advent Calendar. It took me 4 days to finish it, but it is well worth all the time I put into it. I really like it!!!

Did I mention how much I love Ikea?!

These frames are perfect for my project!

THE Advent Calendar. I did all of the numbers and letters free hand, which is why it isn't perfect. But it was made with love and I love the "homemade look". (Don't look too close. I haven't cut all the threads yet. haha)