Baby Brigade

We had a reunion of our Paris crew this last weekend - and with four new additions since we went on that trip 2 years ago things have really changed!

Sophia and Pete - Pete is running around everywhere and growing up so fast!
Isabella and Leland - Leland is very hip when it comes to music - he giggles whenever he hears Boom Boom Pow! So cute
After dinner we took the baby brigade for a walk to the park - it was fun putting all the kids in the swings and watching them smile!
All of the kids went down the slides, I don't know if the parents had more fun or the babies :)

The girls had a great time hanging out with their little friends - until next time... au revoir!

The Score

Parents: 2
Babies: 1

Since we had such great success taking the bottles and the binkies away over the last few months I decided it was time to get rid of the crib bumpers as well. The girls use them to snuggle with in their cribs but their primary function was to serve as binky holders... without the bumpers we were in their room at least 10-15 times every night picking binkies up off the floor! They are kind of a pain for me because it takes me forever to change both crib beddings when I have to remove and reattach both bumpers...so yesterday I just thought I would get rid of the bumpers and figured they would get used to it quickly. HA!! They haven't taken a nap since!! Needless to say, as it stands today with two very cranky sleep-deprived girls (not to mention a cranky sleep-deprived mommy) I am giving in and putting the bumpers back - whew!

Summer Storm

Well, once again our pergola work has been delayed! This time by a crazy summer storm that came in around 10pm Monday night. The wind was wild and we had so much hail that there was still little piles in our back yard on Wednesday morning! Some of our screens got damaged and there is lots of clean-up in the backyard :( So we have been busy cleaning up all of the leaves the last few evenings, which means James has not been able to stain the pergola, which means we are still not done! This is the never-ending job!! Here are some pictures I took when the storm was finished - crazy!

The hail on our back patio...

There was rivers of slushy hail running down the street!
The storm was so loud the girls monitor was lit up red from all of the noise - funny thing is they never even woke up! Everybody else in Arvada was awake that night :)

Whiting Picnic

James and I haven't been to the whiting picnic for the last couple years since it moved to Heritage Square so we decided to go check it out this year. It's always so much fun with a great horseshoe competition, yummy food and lots of stuff for the kids to do. The girls were pretty crabby since they skipped their afternoon nap but they ended up finding a few fun things to do!

Sophia had a great time walking around checking everything out...

The ice-bucket kept them entertained for at least an hour! Isabella stayed there forever and would give everyone who walked up to get a drink one of her looks - they all thought she was so cute :)

The guys playing a friendly game of horseshoes - James won the competition again this year!
Thanks for inviting us to the picnic Papa - we had a great time!

On the move

Both girls have taken their first steps alone! Sophia started trying about a week ago, taking one or two steps before realizing she wasn't holding onto someone and then sitting down. She still crawls everywhere but will take a few steps here and there. I sure wasn't expecting Isabella to walk across the room before Sophia did, but today she did! Our little baby Bella finally caught up to her sister :) She figured out this morning that she could stand up all by herself in the middle of the room, so she kept trying and falling all day long, cracking up the whole time. Then finally when James got home she finally made it! She walked over to him! Then, as soon as she crashed into James lap Sophia walked across the room behind him - it was super cute. They are both so proud that they can walk, smiling ear to ear and cracking up. I have a feeling things are about to get crazy around here...

Beautiful girls!

Sophia was pouting because I took her sippy cup away - but I love how beautiful she looks in this picture with her big blue eyes
Sophia having fun in the park

There were lots of sweet messages written in sidewalk chalk at the park that day

Little Isabella wants to go outside with her daddy so badly! The pergola is thisclose to being done but we are going crazy not being able to go out there...

Isabella cracks herself up riding her little pony around - watch out Sophie she will run you over!
And she carries her toys around with her in the basket - especially dolly. Dolly goes everywhere with Isabella lately

They love hanging out on daddys lap

4th of July

Well...we certainly missed our traditional (though quite dangerous) 4th of July celebration in Butte MT but we made up for it galavanting around Keystone for the weekend with the family. Mimi, Papa, Bradley, Jolene, Joseph, Andrew, James, me and the girls all stayed in the condo for the weekend. We had a great time together and are all looking forward to next time :)

They all took Joseph tubing down dercum mountain Friday before I got there - on snow! He loved it and everyone else said it was quite a thrill... That night we watched fireworks over lake dillon while mimi stayed back with the girls. Joseph was so cute sitting in his carseat and eating popcorn while watching the show...
Andrew was adorable and smiling the whole time. He is the happiest baby I have ever seen - he smiles and laughs anytime anybody just looks at him! Look at how cute he is!!

On the 4th we all went swimming in the pool with the kids - it was a blast! Everybody had a great time and we are so happy the girls love being in the water. We also took Joseph down to the keystone lake to paddle boat and feed the ducks

We spent the evening at a keystone ranch bbq and barndance. It was pouring rain when we got there so we got our food and headed for cover to eat.

Just when we finished the sun came out and we were able to enjoy some of the festivities. They had big bounce-houses for the kids...

Isabella just loved bouncing up and down - she cracks up with her cute little laugh...
...and a pony ride for Joseph

Once again Sophia loved seeing all of the "dogs"! She just loves to look at animals and she gets really excited saying dog dog dog!! So adorable. Here they are watching cousin Joseph on the pony ride

Later that night I stayed back with the girls and Andrew while everybody else went to Frisco to watch the fireworks. Since Bradley knows the guy who puts on the show they got VIP seating in the front row and got to see lots of "big booms" as Joseph says. They even got to sign the big artillery shells before they got sent up. Sounds like fun!

We took the girls swimming again Sunday before we came home - this time with the camera... Sophia loves to wear sunglasses lately, she knows we all think it is funny so she puts them on and smiles for us!

We had such a great weekend! Thanks everybody for the fun times and for making us such yummy meals! We cherish all of our memories in Keystone and feel so lucky we get to spend time up there together. This is the sweet life!

We will miss you Molokai!

What an incredible vacation. Mahalo Auntie Geri and Steve for sharing your beautiful beachfront home!! We were able to snorkle, fish, kayak, play in the sand and the water and watch sea turtles right from the house! We were lucky to celebrate Fathers day, Pete's first birthday and our 4th wedding anniversary while we were there. We spent the days playing hawaiian style and the nights on the lanai listening to hawaiian music, drinking mai tais and making fantastic dinners with our good friends Carrie, Christian and Pete. Here are the rest of our vacation pictures - we will truly miss you Molokai!

This is the 2 mile long white sand beach on the west side of the island - where else can you find a beautiful beach like this with nobody else around?!? It was amazing...

James used the machete to crack open fresh coconuts from the tree in the back yard

We took a tour of the macadamia nut farm one day...

The girls loved eating fresh macademia nuts that we cracked open for them

James and Christian tried their hand at fishing several times... Looks like we are going to have to book another vacation there to try again to actually catch a fish!

This is the view from our mule ride down the sea cliffs - incredible!

Our pictures from down at the bottom of the cliffs did not turn out very good, I will post better ones when I get Carrie's pictures :) Here we are at the bottom. Words simply cannot describe the beauty at Kalaupapa.

Finally the girls got used to the sand and the ocean and even started to love it just before we left! Here they are playing on the beach behind the house.

Isabella carried seashells with her everywhere - she loved them!

James playing with the girls in the water

Our little hawaiian princess holding a mango. One thing is for sure - the girls LOVED all things hawaiian. They ate tons of papaya, mango, pineapple, sweet bread, spam and mocha mamas!

The happiest Isabella has ever been - in the shower with her daddy

Walking on the beach

All of our toes in the sand

After Carrie and I went snorkeling we came back to find the guys playing cards with all the babies...they were all having so much fun

Fast forward to the teenage years - we are in sooooo much trouble with this little one!

All 3 babies in the water in their little boats - they loved it

Playing with the girls in the ocean right behind the house

The babies getting ready to head out to sea in the kayak :)