October 2010

October 31, 2010

I've been a really lazy blogger lately, but that's mostly because I'm exhausted by the time the kids go to bed. I've been subbing pretty much nonstop since the second week of September. In fact, I've been in the same preschool class since the end of September. I'll be with this class through Christmas, and may need to do a few weeks after school starts again in January, but we aren't sure about that yet. The teacher I'm subbing for broke her kneecap, so it just depends on how well she's healing at Christmas. It's been both good and bad. I'm glad I've had steady work, which means my phone doesn't start ringing at 5:30 in the morning. The money will be nice too! On the other hand, it feels like I'm working full time again, which I don't want to do. I still have Mondays off, which allows me to go help in Erik's class, but I'm sad that I can't help out more often. I also miss being able to do things during the day with the kids. I have realized that I really don't want to work full time anymore, even though some days I feel that way.

Here are some things that happened during October:

*Enjoying the gorgeous weather by playing outside almost EVERY day! We ride bikes/scooters, go to the park, climb trees, play baseball (t-ball), play four square and just run around with our friends. We're taking advantage of the sunshine for as long as we can! The temperature has been great too: 60s and 70s for most of the month!

* The fall festival/carnival at Erik's school. I didn't get any pictures of this because I was working one of the booth's for half of the time. They had little carnival games, treats and a bounce house for the kids to enjoy. Erik and Lily LOVED playing the games. Erik saved up his tokens because he was determined to get a little Broncos basketball! He needed 150 points and he kept track of how many he had after each game. Lily won quite a bit too, but she didn't have a specific prize she was going for. Even Drew had fun playing a couple games, but he mostly liked running around.

* The Dragon Dash at Erik's school. They have each grade level run in a different group. Erik was looking forward to this for weeks! He kept talking about it. I wasn't able to be there to watch, but Daniel told me he did awesome! He started near the back of the big mob of 1st graders and stopped and turned around when a girl fell down, but then he picked up his pace. Sometime during the race his shoe fell off and he had to stop and put it back on. He ended up coming in 3rd out of all the 1st graders! Daniel said the boy who came in 1st must have been practicing for this because his dad ran along at the beginning encouraging him. I guess he really wanted his 1st grader to win! I'm so proud of Erik though! I hope he keeps up his love of running (or his enjoyment at least). :)

Warming up.

Runnin hard!

* Lily's class went to a pumpkin patch. I was able to go with her since they met on a Monday. It just happened to be the COLDEST and windiest day in the past two weeks! We found our pumpkins pretty quickly and then spent about 10 minutes looking at the animals and playing in the hay maze. After that it was just too darn cold, so some of us went up to McDonald's to let the kids play together and the adults visit....in the warmth of the McDonald's play area. Lily had a great time! I'm glad I was able to share this experience with her.

It was cold and windy, but she found the perfect pumpkin!

* Our ward Halloween party/trunk or treat and Halloween. Our ward had a chili cook off, which seems to be the LDS way to celebrate Halloween. :) Daniel's chili didn't win this year, but the judges liked it. I didn't try it because he said it was too spicy for my liking....which is no spice. As for the party itself, I wasn't too impressed. Last year they had a few little games for the kids to play, but this year all they did was a parade around the stage and the trunk or treat after dinner. Kind of lame, especially because some of the older kids (especially the boys) almost ran over the little kids in order to get 3rds on the candy. It wasn't very organized, which is a big pet peeve of mine! On Halloween we went up to Longmont to visit my aunt, uncle and grandparents. Lily was a fairy, Erik was a cowboy and Drew was Elmo (when he decided to wear his costume). A lady in the ward made Erik's belt and vest, just because she wanted to and happened to have the leather in her material cupboard! Then she just happend to be at Goodwill and found a shirt that said Bull Rider in Erik's size, so she bought that. A HUGE thanks to LaVon for making Erik's costume AWESOME!!!! Drew was Elmo, which he would wear for a few minutes, then take it off. Erik and Lily went out trick or treating, and when Drew noticed he ran out the door after them....without his costume or plastic pumpkin. People gave him candy anyway, just because he's sooo cute! Lily picked out her own skirt and wings from Walmart and LOVES wearing them! We had a fun night and the kids ended up with a TON of candy! The kids LOVED their costumes and looked fabulous! Drew figured out the trick or treating thing pretty fast, and even went to a few houses on his own when Erik and Lily were running ahead. It was fun to watch.

One of the few moments he actually wore his costume!

This vest turned out AMAZING!!! Erik was so proud of his costume.

* Carving pumpkins. Erik and Lily really enjoyed carving pumpkins this year. They had fun scooping out the "guts" and even told us exactly how they wanted their jack-o-lantern carved. I Drew Erik's on the pumpkin so he could tell me if it was right or wrong. He had a specific way he wanted the mouth done (3 jagged teeth in the middle and the end teeth on both sides were longer/taller). Apparently I wasn't doing it quite right because when I was done drawing I asked Erik if the mouth was right. He nodded and said yes, but he followed that up with "Next year I'll just have Dad do it." He told me how to fix the mouth, and I guess I did ok because there wasn't any more mumbling. Haha You won't see Drew in any of these pictures because he wouldn't even come near the pumpkins. Every time he tried he would start gagging! I don't know if it was the smell or the look of the guts but I seriously thought he was going to puke all over everything. Lucky for us that didn't happen. He was fine after he went out to play on the deck! Too funny!!!

I am looking forward to the rest of this holiday season. Thanksgiving is my favorite and we'll be able to spend time with family. I'm also looking forward to spending a relaxing Christmas at home as a family. It's going to be busy, but I'm hoping we don't let ourselves get too stressed out this year. I'm also looking forward to the newest Harry Potter movie that is coming out this month, which is why I have the background I have. So excited!

Playing Dress-Up

Drew LOVES to wear other people's shoes. He also LOVES to wear hats, but he always puts them on backwards or sideways. Lately he's also been putting on some of Lily's beads. He tries to put my ponytail holders in his hair as well. He also LOVES to wear sunglasses. He's such a funny boy. Here's a look of his we've been seeing quite a bit lately. We sure love this boy!

September 2010

Admiring the fish and the waterfall at the Botanic Gardens.

One morning while Erik was in school, Daniel and I took Lily and Drew down to spend some time at the Botanic Garden. We haven't been since last Christmas and figured it was time to go again. The Moore Sculptures were beautiful and so was the weather! We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed walking through all the different gardens. The lily pad pond was one of my favorite places!

Lily pad pond.

Earlier this month I loaded up the kids and headed down to south Denver (the Littleton/Centennial area) to go to the corn maze at the Botanic Gardens at Chatfield. First we did the mini maze. The kids had fun just wandering around. They weren't too concerned with trying to find the right way out. After the mini maze we headed over to the big maze. We spent about 45 minutes trying to follow the map in order to find our way through the maze. Didn't work so well. We wandered as far as we could, but came to a dead end, so we just headed back out the same way we came in. We never did find our way to the exit, and we didn't try the second half of the maze. I asked the kids if they wanted to try again, but they told me they wanted to leave. So we went to play in the kids area for awhile, then headed home. The corn maze wasn't anything really exciting, so I don't know if we'll be going again anytime soon.

Playing by the pond.

Drew playing in the treehouse.

Last weekend was Broomfield Days. I loaded Drew in the stroller and the kids and I walked over to the park with our friends Emily, Carson and Tristan. Daniel met us a bit later. I gave the kids $20 worth of tickets, but then they had to use their own money for anything else they wanted. Erik and Lily spent some time playing on the rides, then we headed over to watch the parade. Drew loved this because there were fire trucks and ambulances! He got pretty excited when he saw those. We watched for about 30 minutes and it was much better this year because the entries were much closer together. Then we headed back over to the rides and wandered through the booths where Erik and Lily each bought a toy using their money. Lunch consisted of hot dogs, chips and funnel cake! I LOVE funnel cake, and so did the kids. Good thing we only eat in once a year! Luckily the weather this year was much more enjoyable than last year. Last year we got sunburned, this year it was cloudy and overcast/foggy for most of the day. It was only about 60, so it was perfect! I tried to get Drew to jump in a bounce house, but he had no desire! He just wanted to play on the playground. It was a great time and no one got sick from too much fair food, which was an added bonus! Can't wait until next year!

Enjoying a nice, healthy, fair lunch.

Drew LOVED playing with the bubbles!

He was so tired by the end of the day, but he was a trooper and did a great job!

The Big 2!

I can't believe my baby is 2! Drew Alan Dangerfield turned 2 on August 22, 2010. Where has the time gone?? We invited some friends over for a healthy dinner of pizza and cake. I decided to make Drew a fire truck cake since he LOVES trucks, but especially fire trucks. I found a fairly easy video online, but it sure turned out to be a LOT of work. And let me tell ya....getting a true red frosting is NOT easy! I don't know how often I'll make these special cakes since it took so much time....especially since we just cut it into small pieces anyway. Drew loved it though, and it did turn out pretty cute. He wasn't sure about everyone singing to him at first, but after a minute he did great. He didn't even mind getting cake all over himself in the process. He got some new trucks, a stuffed dog, a bubble machine and a Fisher-Price garage. It turned out to be a great day of celebrating a wonderful, cute, adorable and strong-willed child! We love you Drew! Happy birthday!

We now have 3 of these big dump trucks at our house.

The whole gang.

Playing the shy little boy.


Enjoying the bubble machine. Too bad they go through bubbles sooo fast!

First Day

Erik started school August 17th this year. He loves first grade and his teacher, Ms. Remington, but I think he's still trying to adjust to being gone all day, everyday. He comes home tired and we're working through the grouchy/whiny/tantrum phase. Hopefully we move through this quickly! He is learning so much! He's a great artist and loves to read and write. It's still difficult to read some of his words, but he's doing a great job and learning so much! He reads to me a lot at night now. Tonight he read all but the last two pages of a book to me, and it wasn't one of those easy books with a few words on each page. This was an easier version of "The Nightengale." We are so proud of him! I'll have to post some video of him reading and some examples of his writing. He is growing up so fast! We love you Erik!

Oregon Coast 2010

Lincoln City, Oregon

At the beginning of August we flew up to Washington to spend the weekend at my parents' house. It was my grandpa's 80th birthday party, so most of the family was able to get together and celebrate. It was so fun seeing cousins, aunts and uncles that we haven't been able to see much in the past few years. I always love getting together with family. We have such a fun time playing games, visiting and just being crazy.

Playing at the church

After the birthday weekend, my family (parents, siblings, spouses and kids) went over for a fun-filled week in Lincoln City, Oregon.

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls

My mom's friend let us use her family's coast house, so we were all able to be together in the same place, which was really nice! It was great to be able to put the kids to bed and still be able to visit and play games. The weather was cool, cloudy and foggy/misty the first few days. I don't think the temperature got above 60 the first few days, but it never rained so we were still able to enjoy the beach and other sites in the area.

The Beach!!!!

Lily, me, Erik and Corbin

The one place it was finally ok to throw sand!


Foulweather Point-the fog moved in within 5 minutes of us stopping here.

We went down to Newport and saw sea lions, visited the aquarium and went to Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was so cool to watch and listen to the sea lions. A couple times they would start fighting. On the other side of the dock was a rocky island with a lot of sea lions bathing in the sun. It was neat to see them swim and play in the water too. We could have stayed here for awhile. (I tried to load the video, but it won't work. I'll keep trying, but maybe it will work on facebook).

Newport Aquarium

jellyfish

MWAH!

In the shark tunnel.

It was so cool to see the sharks swimming over our heads!

This seal was playing with us at the window. Pretty cool!

The little play area. The kids had fun.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Thursday, Friday and Saturday brought 70s and sunshine. Jeff, Erin and their kids were able to come down for those last few days as well (my siblings all left Thursday).

We spent a lot of time playing on the beach, running in the waves (which were pretty big and REALLY loud) and exploring. We flew kites, built sand castles, watched a beautiful sunset and found lots of shells. The water was VERY cold so we didn't swim, but we did get wet. Drew didn't like being by the water because the waves crashing was too loud for him, but he did like playing in the sand. We ate salt water taffy, yummy seafood and Tillamook ice cream. On the way to Portland, we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory and sampled some of their yummy cheese. The best was a Vintage White Sharp Cheddar. It was sooo good! We spent the weekend in Vancouver with Jeff and Erin, then headed home Monday the 16th, just in time for Erik to start school the next day!

Celebrating Drew's 2nd birthday with the family. He LOVES flags, hence the cake.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

We had such a fun time! I love going to the beach, and I think the kids do too! The beach is definitely a place we will visit again for future family vacations! Thanks mom and dad! It was great being together with everyone. We love and miss you!