The Colorado Nachrichten

No more photos?!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:17:00 +0000

Blogger is telling me that I have exhausted my supply of free photo uploads. I am too frugal to pay them, so unless I figure something else out with the blog, I will be using another solution to share photos. If you are still interested in receiving photo updates from us, please let me know. You can e-mail me, or comment on this post and I will keep you in the loop!

Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:46:00 +0000

We had our first "real" snow here a week or so ago. Here are some pictures.

Abbey had her clothes and her coat on as quickly as she could so she could go outside.

Amelia was a bit more resistant to the layers, but was happy to play outside.

Yum!

Cookie.

Pumpkin cupcake:

So. Tired.

October

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Climbing (she had her feet on the shelves, but didn't get a picture of it)...

Climbing...

...and done.

Not sure who was responsible for this odd assortment of items:

When mom won't let you have a pacifier during the day, improvise...

Her selection of the day:

Grandad came for a visit!

I love this one:

Trick or treating with friends:

(yes, Abbey loves purple).

Amelia was determined to make it up this big hill. I don't think she ever did.

More trick or treating...

Fall Parties and a Costume

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:47:00 +0000

Lots of fall fun the past week!

Amelia's favorite aspect of festivals- food.

This is the pumpkin she picked:

Why would you just want a plain orange one?

More food... (the secret to keeping her happy):

This day was seriously the most perfect fall day you could have. Look at that sky! Great for a pumpkin patch day.

(About 50,000 other Coloradoans thought so, too)

Amelia wanted to jump on the bouncy pillow, too. There were so many kids and it cost a small fortune, so we decided no. She was satisfied with swinging.

Old barrels- a nice, rickety alternative to the spinning tea cups:

The next festival was one where kids dressed up. Abbey and I were reading "Elephants Cannot Dance," by Mo Willems and we decided that dressing up like Piggy and Elephant would be the perfect Halloween costume. I was excited because it was creative and different (even though Stu maintained- probably correctly- that nobody would know who we were). She already had a pink tutu, I would just need to get a pig costume for her and an elephant trunk and ears for me, and some sweat pants and a sweat band (google the book title and you will hopefully see an image). We were set. Then we were reading a Little People Halloween book and she saw a girl in a princess costume and my creativity and planning was all for not. She was going to be a princess, and there was no swaying her. *sigh* Oh well. I still had the pink tutu I could use. I refused to buy her the standard Disney princess costume and decided to make the skirt and hat. If she is going to be a princess, at least she will be a different princess.

The original tutu costume (from her ballet recital):

Transformed to a princess gown with a hat:

and her self-chosen princess boots:

But really... what girl wouldn't love those boots???

Amelia... show a little modesty.

Unsere kleine Fräulein...

For some reason I love this picture...

She is so fearless. I set her down to walk around and she made a bee-line straight for the bull. Yes, she is trying to climb in to the pin.

I think Amelia was wondering if we could bring him home.

By the way, if you have pre-schoolers (I might have already mentioned this), check out the Piggy and Elephant books by Mo Willems. Fantastic.

Cheerios

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 14:52:00 +0000

Stu gave the girls some Cheerios while I was making dinner last night. He took this progression of photos. They speak for themselves (forgive the blur... they were taken with the iPad).

Make sure you zoom in on this one:

The best part about it is that you can see Amelia's Cheerios right in front of her.

Stu's Project

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Stu and I have been trying to figure out a way to make our back patio more usable and safer for the little ones (the littlest one, in particular). We looked into making it a one-level deck, but it was too expensive to hire it out and Stu didn't have the time to invest into a multi-week project. He finally came up with the idea to partition it off so we can put a gate in to keep Amelia from going down the steps unmonitored. He got to work on Monday morning and finished it today... well done to him for finishing it in less than a week. He took a couple of vacation days, but had to squeeze in some office work throughout the week. Plus he always has 2 little distractions wandering about. Let's be honest... he has 3 distractions.

See, we don't really need a boy. I am guessing that two little girls that adore their dad are just as enthusiastic about a project (pink polka-dot skirt and all)!

Amelia had to be involved.

Perfectly level!

She is pointing at something...

Seriously, Mom. Why can't I be out there??

The finished project:

Now we'll have to wait and see if our Homeowner's Association notices it, and what they will say if they do!

Good job, Stu!

October Visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 20:24:00 +0000

Our first two weeks of October brought visitors!

The first was my mom... Stu had a trip to Barcelona. While I would have loved to visit Barcelona, I think my mom coming out made it about an even score for Stu and me. If my dad had been able to come out, I would have definitely had the better end of the deal! As it was, the girls enjoyed having another face to look at, other than mine.

A new game... they were pretending to fly on an airplane. They played this a lot.

Making cupcakes:

I tried to get a picture of the 3 of them. This was the best one:

It has started to get chilly here!

My cousin from Prague came to visit our grandmother, and they stayed with us. It was fun for the kids to play. N is a year younger than Abbey and O is a few months younger than Amelia.

N spent most of his time playing with the train.

Amelia "talking" to Aunt P and O.

Abbey and N on a late afternoon walk to the park:

Abbey reading to O:

September

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 03:09:00 +0000

When we were still in Germany, my friend put on a little blogging course for those of us that wanted to have an easy way to update family at a distance. Thus began the blog. The majority of those in attendance were moms, and the majority of the moms had their kids with them. This is prevalent information. I was seated on the floor during the "workshop" and along came a toddler that toppled straight down onto my laptop. My computer was never the same. :) Amazingly, it lasted an additional two and a half years, bent screen and all. I'll be honest... my computer issues have very little to do with outside factors. They are mainly internal factors... or really internal factor: me. Electrical devices have little hope in my hand. We usually by extended warranties. I bought a 3-year warranty with my last laptop, and I used and abused that warranty. It definitely paid for itself. I had to get a new hard drive, a new motherboard, a new battery, and I think one other thing, but I really don't remember what it was. Here is where I am going with all of that: I finally had to get a new computer. A bit over a week ago, I turned on my computer and the screen went: flicker-flicker-flicker... off. Good bye, Dell XPS, Hello iMac. Here's hoping I have better luck.

On to the girls:

You would never guess by looking at this picture what troubles we went through in the first year when it came to this little girl and sleep. Now when I say, "Amelia, it's time for nap (or bed)," she crawls to the stairs. Sometimes she even does it unprompted! What a love.

Matching PJ's:

They were all playing the drums:

Looking out at the open space behind us:

They must have found it unsatisfactory, because we haven't seen them since.

The ocean (I am slated to paint an elephant on her arm tomorrow. I am horrible at drawing elephants. I am hoping I can talk her into a horse instead).

Cheese.

Following in my footsteps? We'll see! (She's more creative than I ever was)!

Putting her shoes "on."

Amelia is a climber:

Action shot:

Hilarious:

Abbey and I made fresh pumpkin pie one day (thank you very much, Dora book). We didn't finish it until bedtime, so I promised her she could have it after breakfast the next morning.

Amelia thoroughly enjoyed it, as well.

I always knew it would be harder to keep sweets and things out of younger siblings hands. There is no pulling the wool over Amelia's eyes. I figured a small piece of pie was no different than a pop-tart.

We spent the majority of September outside. The weather here was absolutely perfect... 72 degrees (22 celsius), little breeze, gorgeous sunshine (a bit cool in the shade).

More climbing:

Talking to Daddy, working in the basement.

Abbey LOVES to help.

More climbing:

I am looking at all the pictures... I really don't keep the girls in their PJs all day (although that would be Abbey's preference). It just looks that way because a lot of times I have the camera out first thing in the morning!

1!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:19:00 +0000

Shortly after Abbey turned one while we were in Germany, Stu went to get his haircut by the German speaking Vietnamese woman next door to us. The conversations with her were always pretty nice because German was pretty clearly the second language for all involved. Stu was telling her about our baby, Abbey and she asked how old she was. When Stu responded that she was one, the woman said, "Das ist nicht ein Baby... das ist ein Kind!" or, "That is not a baby... that is a kid!" I bring the story up now, because that is officially where we are with Amelia now. Wir haben nicht mehr ein baby... wir haben zwei kinder. Our "little" Amelia is no longer so little. Her favorite things to say are, "Hi!" "Hi, baby," and "Abbey." She wears 18 month clothing. She is taking her first steps. Her favorite activity is going up and down and up and down stairs. She is a toddler.

The morning started off a bit rough. Amelia woke up at 4:45 and cried off and on until she finally passed out at 6. Not sure what the deal was. So the first few pictures you can definitely see the tired eyes.

Abbey was of course more excited about opening presents than Amelia was.

Starting to get the hang of it:

There we go:

I think she loved the pants as much as I do:

My sous chef ready to help with frosting the cake:

She was looking at our friend Miss Cynthia:

Miss Cynthia asked, "Do you like your pizza?" Amelia's response:

This is generally her smile... what a sweet little ham:

My "Abby Ca-Elmo" cake. Abbey said Amelia would probably want a purple or a blue cake, instead of red, so we went with purple.

The remaining pictures are the progression of her eating the cake. Stu put it well... she ate just like her personality. For those who don't know Amelia, you get a glimpse into her boisterous nature.

The pristine one:

Happy birthday, Amelia! We love you!

I don't care... I am still going to call her a baby.

70!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 01:38:00 +0000

Stu's dad is turning 70 so the family had a surprise birthday for him in Minnesota this past weekend.

Checking the basket for crayfish (or crawdads, if you prefer)...

"oooh! Dog!"

Abbey wanted to pull the little ones...

She did a good job...

But didn't last very long:

Cousin L:

Amelia loves sharing toys (for now):

Older cousins (Abbey has older cousins on both sides of the family. She loves playing with older kids... so do Stu and I because they all do such a good job taking care of her!)

The big surprise party... he was truly surprised!

Oh how our little girls love their daddy.

Amelia and L spent a lot of time in the little red wagon. I am afraid that as the older cousin she was a bit of a bully. These pats on the head really are quite gentile:

Took the pacifier:

Classic.

Poor thing. I did rescue him (after I took the picture).

She gave up on L and made a new friend.

"I can even poke this one in the eye and he doesn't make a sound!"

Abbey checking out Grandpa's gifts.

This group has grown quite a bit in the almost 10 years that I have know Stu.

(My apologies to John for the sun burst on half of your face... I didn't really realize it until I saw it on the computer).

Oldest (17!) cousin:

We were eating lunch on our last day there... I kept imploring Abbey to eat and she was just sitting there fidgeting. Finally after one request of, "Abbey, please eat your lunch," she said, "But Mommy, I'm so tired!" Did she want to take a nap? Yes, please!

End of August

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 03:10:00 +0000

There were some pretty cute pictures I had to post that I didn't have in my previous August blog. I couldn't very well post them in a "September" blog, could I?!

Our quick fix for the bottom of the stairs is clearly not sufficient:

Play-dough snow man that Abbey made...

I was looking at Abbey's preschool's website and it explained something they play with called "Mat Man." After her nap one day she was sitting in my lap waking up and I said, "Abbey, can you tell me about 'Mat Man?'" She started crying hysterically. I was wondering if something bad had happened at preschool, so I just let it go. About five minutes later she said, "Mommy, I like playing Mat Man!" Phew! So, when we were playing with play-dough, she decided to make Mat Man.

Amelia's response to my statement of, "Amelia, not in mouth."

Last comes the nose:

We were preparing to leave for swimming classes and I needed to give Amelia a snack. Abbey said, "Mommy, I can give Amelia her snack while you get ready." What a honey!

Drag racing:

(I don't think Amelia actually won...)

Swimming on a Summer Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 03:03:00 +0000

We bought a little mini-pool for the backyard.

So... cold...

Out of order... but cute.

August...

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 02:57:00 +0000

(Most of it, anyway).

This is what big sisters are for, right?

Dragging...

This is awesome

(Stu and I frequently talk about the day when "Little A" is no longer littler and pay-back will occur. I'll be honest... we end up laughing when we imagine it.)

Please, can they stop growing up so fast?!

This picture is for my mom:

Pouring sand is serious work:

Climbing rope ladders is serious work:

Going down the slide is serious work:

Cute picture...

...and a close up of the hair:

Tonight Abbey and Stu went to get some ice cream. She finished it about the time she is normally getting ready for bed. Here Stu is trying to get her to run off some of the sugar:

"Here, Daddy. Let me help you up!"

"Oops!"

Jump over Daddy!

Jump over Abbey!

Hmmm... who got tired first?

Out of order... "Mommy, can you take our picture?"

Talking on the phone while driving... oh dear.

First Day of School!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:40:00 +0000

Today is Abbey's first day of preschool! So incredibly early in the summer, but what can you do?

I rode the bike there... it was 0.7 miles downhill and it took about 2 minutes to get there. Consequently...

First one at the school!

The way home was 0.7 miles uphill. It took a bit longer. However, I was one kid lighter, so it wasn't as difficult!

Abbey is at preschool, Amelia is napping. Now what do I do?

Fishing

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 02:36:00 +0000

Abbey had her first fishing trip while we were visiting family. I stayed home to hang out with Amelia (monitoring an adventurous 10 month old crawling around on a fishing dock didn't sound like an enjoyable time to me), so Stu took pictures to chronicle the event...

Parade

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 21:23:00 +0000

The town close to Grandma and Grandpa had a parade one of the mornings we were visiting.

Amelia and her younger cousin (by about 3-1/2 mos):

Amelia fully exploited being the older cousin by taking L's toys, pacifier, etc. on numerous occasions. I think she was quite happy that it wasn't her toys being taken for once!

The candy accumulation commences:

"We're just gonna get some more candy quick!"

"Ok, bye!"

Do you think she's enjoying it?

A little bit less enthusiasm on this end...

Sophie the Giraffe in her mouth is Exhibit "A" on the ill-gotten toy acquisition... Note the first picture of A and L in this blog. Sophie is clearly not on her stroller.

I should note that the littlest A had a cold and fever the first couple days of our trip (could be something to do with the 9 different places she has slept over the past 2 months). I like to title this picture, "Seriously, Mom?"

(Her older sister managed to get the flu on our return trip).

Trip to see Grandma and Grandpa

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:53:00 +0000

I counted it up. Including our home, the girls have slept in 9 different beds in the past 2 months. Ten if you count an airplane on the overnight flight to Germany. We were preparing for our trip to drive to see Stu's family. We mapped it out and Google Maps told us it would take 15 hours to get to their home. We decided it was doable in two days and planned it would more than likely take us an extra hour each day. We packed the car the night before and had everything ready to go so we could get a somewhat early start to our drive. Stu had not been feeling well for a few days prior to our departure, and the morning we woke up he felt pretty rotten. It was 7:00 and we were beginning to think that the long drive with him unwell wouldn't be manageable. On a whim I decided to check United to see if there were any flights we could take using frequent flier miles. Turns out, there were... 10 minutes later we were on our way to the airport for a 9:45 flight. Of the many downsides to having a husband that travels very frequently for his work, this was a definite upside. Of course we had packed for our week trip with a drive in mind, not a flight, so I spent our 45 minute drive to the airport shuffling items around in our bags. And instead of getting to Grandma and Grandpa's house after a day and a half of traveling, we were there in 3/4's of a day!

Amelia with her oldest cousin...

Amelia with her youngest cousin...

"Fishing"...

"Dunk!"

Crawling full-force to the water:

In she goes...

She perfected waving this past week:

Sorry for cutting your head off, Stu...

Rope swing:

Our return flight to CO was at 6:15am. Words can not describe how nice it was to be home (door-to-door) in 4 hours instead of 16.

A Tuesday Morning...

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:41:00 +0000

Thank goodness for IKEA furniture.

Hiking

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 02:33:00 +0000

We did a family hike our last morning at the cabin. Our days of day-long hiking are temporarily set aside, but that's ok. The short ones are fun, too!

Abbey's zip-off Columbia pants are pretty adorable:

She insisted on carrying a backpack and there had to be multiple items in it. She ended up with the sunscreen and a flashlight.

My brother and his family:

Amelia loved the hike:

So much that...

We didn't make it to the top... probably a bit over halfway. I guess with an (almost) 8 year old, a 5 year old, a 3 year old, a 22 month old and a 10 month old we did pretty well, though! It was fun, no matter the result. Turns out we headed back at the right time, as it started pouring rain shortly after we made it to the car!

Yay for hiking!

Family Time Fun at the Cabin

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 21:09:00 +0000

After our fun weekend at the lake celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday, we went up to the mountains to celebrate the 4th of July. We made it home on Monday with enough time for me to do laundry and re-pack the bags. Uncle Ty didn't make the trip this time (hmmmm... do you think there was a reason?), but we were able to spend 3 fun days with my mom, dad (part of the trip), brother, sis-in-law and their kids. It was so great seeing the kids play together... I think they had a great time!

I see similar features in these two...

It was fun watching the two youngest interact. Little S is exactly 1 year and 2 days older than Amelia.

Bubbles... little S was squealing with delight.

Getting ready for bed. Abbey's first sleepover (sharing the air mattress with cousin A).

I like that these two have a similar look on their faces:

Abs makes me smile in this one:

Stu did a great job capturing this one:

I cropped and edited this one, but of course blogger rotated it sideways. So use your imagination (or your computer) to crop and adjust the color. Or ask me to email it to you. :)

She loves the water...

Grammy keeping Amelia from crawling into the water:

Unfortunately with all of the wildfires around here, there are severe fire bans throughout the state. Consequently there were no fireworks pretty much everywhere outside of Denver proper. There were a lot of activities for the kids, however. Who needs fireworks when you have funnel cake and slushies?

Amelia wanted to get out and bowl (or crawl)

For some reason, after waiting 5-10 minutes to roll the ball down the alley, Abs freaked out. Fortunately Stu talked her off the ledge (by telling her she wouldn't get the prize - a lollipop - if she didn't try), and she did it. And even had fun.

Happy Independence Day!

90th Birthday Party at the Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 03:35:00 +0000

My grandmother turned 90 at the beginning of June, and we had a reunion to celebrate last weekend. Family from across the US showed up... New York, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado. It was quite a celebration! Unfortunately the weekend fell over quarter-close for Stu, so he was unable to make the trip with us. Thus began my first "solo" trip with the girls. I say that very much tongue-in-cheek, because it was by no means solo. My wonderful brother (whom I am forever indebted to, and who will never go on a trip with me again) accompanied us on the car ride to Missouri. What is meant to be a 9 hour drive of course turned into an 11 hour drive with potty breaks and a baby that eats her body weight at every meal. Wonderful Uncle Ty was so patient throughout it all, and was SUCH a help with the girls, especially Abbey. The last 45 minutes of the trip involved Amelia crying heartily and Abbey whining and crying heartily. Their uncle did an audio recording... love it. Not only was Ty a help... all of my family was (both brothers, sis-in-law, mom and dad, aunts, uncles, cousins... wow!). Really the only part I had to do by myself was the part in the hotel room. Which was by no means easy in a non-babyproofed hotel room with a very adventurous baby that seems so show no comprehension of the word "no." On to the weekend...

The guest of honor with my mom.

A small portion of the cousins...

Uncle Ty with Abbey on her first trip in the tube (which was also her favorite thing that we have done over the past week)...

The island... this thing was so much fun!

I loved this... we just got off the boat and Abbey saw Uncle Kyle in the kayak at the dock. She walked over to him and basically said, "I'm getting in" as she climbed in, ready for a ride.

Tube trip #2...

Yes, Amelia was there, too!

Tube trip #3... with Grammy!

She LOVES her big cousin...

The main event... there was a big celebration at Grammy's church after the service.

Greeting guests...

Amelia loved my cousin... he was so good with her, too!

Grammy with her girls!

It was a great weekend. We broke the trip into 2 segments on the way home. Our last morning of the trip started with me waking Abbey up and asking her if she wanted to get dressed and go get breakfast... she said "yes" and the next hour went drastically downhill, but by the time we got to the car she was good again. Unfortunately she did not get her special treat of Fruit Loops. You probably can't expect too much with long days in the sun, lots of playing and about 5 hours less sleep a day than you are used to. It was a long and tiring weekend, but it was worth it (hopefully Uncle Ty would say the same). I even arrived home to Chick-fil-A and a spotless home (thank you, wonderful Stu). Which we promptly disheveled with lots of toys and lake clothes.

Oh, and thanks again to Uncle Ty for the pictures. I guess he not only managed to take care of Abbey... he took pictures. More than I did!

Father's Day Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 03:18:00 +0000

I have to first say "Happy Father's Day" to my own dad... I love you, Dad! I am blessed beyond words by all of your love and support...

Walking me down the aisle seven years ago...

It was fairly warm out today by Colorado standards, so we put on the summer clothes and turned on the water snake!

Our sweet little strawberry...

Waving very excitedly to Daddy...

And she's off!

I think this was, "No, Daddy. I can show her."

"Here you go, honey..."

"There... do you like the water? It's nice, isn't it?"

Yep!

This is fun!

In for a drink!

Yum!

Happy Father's Day!

Love these girls!

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 02:59:00 +0000

Had to post some cute pics of these girls that we love so much!

I wish you could hear and see the cute dance that went along with this one:

Dance Recital

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 04:02:00 +0000

Abbey's dance recital was last night, and it was just about one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Waiting for the curtain to open...

I think this is the point when Abbey was looking around saying, "Mommy? Mommy? I can't see my mommy!"

Love that Carly (on the far right) looks like a "real" ballerina doing a pirouette:

Last one to leave the stage...

This will be the photo I submit to Lifetime to be on "Dance Moms." ;) Hopefully I don't have to clarify that I am only kidding.

Unfortunately the video is pretty choppy... not sure what happened there. It might give you a headache, but it's worth the watch if you want to see it!

Video 1:

Video 2:

Somebody has to be the last one to leave the stage, right?!

Chocolate (and other sweets)

noreply@blogger.com (Jamie) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 03:15:00 +0000

We tend to be a bit looser on the food rules when we travel... Abbey ate a lot of sweets while we were gone. A lot.