Birthday WEEK!!

Well, it is official... I'm in my thirties now! Last week was full of celebrations, thanks to my wonderful family and friends! Mike took the boys and I out to breakfast the morning of the big day & Mom took us all out to dinner that night... My mommy friends threw together a girl's night out, then came movie night to celebrate Mike's brother Adam's birthday (2 days after mine). Lastly came the BBQ surprise party that was true to its name! So long to my twenties and THANKS everyone for making my day (or days) so special!!!!

These girls make being a stay at home mom so exciting!  It was nice to actually get to finish our conversations that evening!

Mike and Megan are the great party planners (sorry, we didn't get any pictures of Mike). I couldn't ask for a better husband or best friend!  You guys are wonderful!

I knew Mike's family was coming over for a BBQ, but I was a bit confused when I saw all the decor and when my friends started showing up!

candle blow out

This picture was just too cute to leave out... Josh and Mallory celebrated by dressing up.

I Heart Faces- week 40 "EXCITED!"

This week's contest at I Heart Faces is themed as 'excited'... Josh is always excited about something and last fall (when he was 2), he loved to play 'tackle football' with daddy. I had fun capturing the energy he expended. I think our dog was even amazed at his excitement! To see the other great entries go to I Heart Faces!

Music Class for Toddlers

Now that Joshua is in preschool for a couple of mornings a week, we enrolled Kyle in a music fun class at the local community center.  They get to shake, sing and dance their wiggles out!  I personally think he just enjoys the one on one attention that he gets.  Today, Mike was able to stop by on the way to his work to see what it was all about and Kyle was actually showing off in front of daddy. 

Shake, Shake, Shake!

Shake & Kiss

Sizzle, Sizzle, Sizzle, Sizzle... Pop, Pop, Pop

Bubble time is his favorite!

Trains, Trains & more Trains!

Trains are a part of everyday play at our house... We have metal trains, wooden trains, plastic train, train stickers, train coloring books and train movies.  After our trip to see Thomas the Tank Engine, the trains have gained extra popularity.  The boys could chooo choo all day long- even Jacob enjoyed watching the engines come to life by way of the two offical conductors.

Josh has been into writing and spotting letters lately, so he wanted to turn his train tracks into letters.  He did a great job as he did the J, O & H all by himself! 

Denver Trip part IV- Business Parkway

Our original plan on the final evening of our our trip was to go the Denver Oktoberfest, but we were sick of crowds and didn't think the kids could have handled another trip in the car.... We decided to expore the area close to the hotel and stumbled across a huge awesome business park.  It was so lush with trees, grass, ponds, creeks, gazebos, bridges, etc (the pictures don't really give a broad view of this lovely park). This ended up being the best thing for everyone to catch some fresh air!

So sweet, Mike is such a great dad!

Kyle got to see ducks and birds

Josh let out his steam by doing his turbo sprints

What a cool effect the low sun had on the water!

Denver Trip part III- Day out with Thomas

So this day of our trip brought us to the main event, the reason that we traveled to Denver with 3 little boys- we saw Thomas the Tank Engine!  It was held at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO.  We also got to meet up with our friends that recently moved to CO. 

This happy train, named Thomas is what all the fuss was about!

There were lots of trains to explore in the roundhouse and train yard

This is the train we got to ride, it was headed up by Thomas himself.

The boys were ready to depart

Josh being himself!

This is the scowl look that Kyle has been giving lately...he looks so serious, but really he isn't!

Sir Topham Hat was there to greet everyone- the line was way to long to meet him, so we just watched as parents brought their screaming kids to meet him... personlly, I think he looked a bit scary too!

The museum offered tons of model train cities to look at- Train Heaven for the boys!

Lego Train- Kyle was more interested in eating his sucker!

There was a petting zoo

Even though we own a train table, we still had to peel Kyle away from toy trains!

What a good big brother!

Denver Trip part II- Garden of the Gods State Park

We stopped at the Garden of the Gods State Park on our way up to Denver.  We had such a great time there!  You can see the natural beauty in this park from the pictures, but the weather was great too.  This place has many trails that are paved sidewalks, making it very stroller friendly... This stop is highly recomended if you are in the area.

Who would have thought that rocks sticking out of the ground could be so beautiful?!

Cool views in every direction!

A nice young couple stopped us in our tracks to tell us that we really have our hands full, then they offered to take our picture!

Josh had fun climbing on some of the 'big rocks'

This picture was taken behind the window tinted glass of our van while we were driving- stunning!

I had to throw this picture of Jacob in because he was enjoying the ride too!

Denver Trip part I- Cheyenne Mountain Resort

This past weekend we took a family trip up to CO... First stop, Colorado Springs.  We found a great deal on a room at Cheyenne Mountain Resort (off season AAA discount rate), we would love to go back some day in the summer to enjoy all the summer activities they offer!

This was the view from our room

We took a walk down to the lake after the long car ride...

just playing with the lighting on my camera

Poor Kyle is always stuck behind a seat belt!

The rain was coming and hit us on our walk back... Mike had to run up a huge hill to get the car to pick us up. 

The next day we went to the pool/beach/play area to explore- Josh was eyeing the pool, to bad it was closed for the season.

Kyle had fun exploring

This place has lots of fun for young kiddos: playground, splash park & kids pool (closed for the season) and lake front beach... This place is totally kid friendly!

The mountains had snow on them already!

This is what happens when we let Kyle out of the stroller, he runs for his freedom!