Camping Trip - Estes Park

We've been enjoying summer vacation the past few weeks!   School ended with Aliana having head lice, so that was some excitement the first few days of summer!! We have since moved on and have been enjoying going to the pool, having playdates and spending a couple nights in our new tent at Estes Park!  We had AMAZING weather.  Usually when we camp it POURS rain (I am not kidding), so the fact that it was sunny about 98% of the three days we were there, was nothing short of a miracle!  We went on two hikes, explored in the woods, rode our bikes and sat by the campfire!

Carson reading on the first morning

Elk on day 1

Pancake breakfast.... yum!!

Dream Lake

Nymph Lake

Playing on the river bank, which then turned in to Carson playing IN the river.

Kiddos!

Glacier Basin Campground where we stayed

Annie performance for Mother's Day, Easter and Spring Break

We headed to downtown Denver this afternoon to watch the Annie Broadway-musical performance with Brian's family and Melissa's mom who was in town for Mother's Day.  It was AMAZING!  We all really enjoyed it.  Aliana has been sick since Tuesday (home from school with a fever but not much else) so we were very thankful she was feeling better and able to go, praise God!

Going back a few weeks... we enjoyed an Easter visit from Nana & Grandpa John!  The kids always enjoy making treats with Nana and getting lots of laughs from Grandpa John.  We don't do the Easter Bunny, but still had a fun egg hunt with a surprise at the end!  Carson got a new bike from Walmart and Aliana got a hand-me-down Jeep from one of Brian's co-workers.  The kids were pumped!!

And going back a few weeks before that... we were home for Spring Break this year, which gave us some time to head to the mountains.  The kids each had a day to ski with daddy -- then Brian and I spent a couple nights in Glenwood Springs to celebrate our anniversary a couple of weeks early (thanks to Brian's parents who kept the kids!!!)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms, grandmas and moms-to-be out there!!!  Much love to all of you!!

Ack! It's been a while!

Well, I have not been updating the blog these past few months... time to catch up with some highlights!

Thanksgiving in Los Angeles - we flew to CA for Thanksgiving this year to visit my brother & his family and also spend time with my mom & stepdad.  As our Christmas gift from the grandparents we spent a day at Disneyland!!  The kids had a blast together!

Aliana (5), Kiki (4), Carson (7), Kepler (2)

Christmas in Colorado - we enjoyed staying home for the Christmas break and getting to hang out with cousins Bryce & Sydney, Brian's brother/wife and Brian's parents. Brian's cousin, his wife and their 4 kids came out from MN to ski.  Brian's mom found a great place in the mountains for us all to stay - there were 18 of us all staying in one house and it was a great time!!

The crew skiing!

One of the big excitements over Christmas break was that Aliana got her ears pierced!

Since Christmas, we've been enjoying skiing a few times with the kids and have been busy at school. My caseload continues to grow... and it's supposed to be even bigger next year!  Brian leads the robotics club at his school and he is taking a group of students to NASA in Houston in about a couple months to test a project his students designed to send to the International Space Station.  I started volunteering twice a month at our church as a Sign Language Buddy for a little guy in the 4 year old class.  Carson played Rec League basketball in January and Aliana enjoys her gymnastic classes 1x/week.  Both kids start soccer next month!  Can't believe it's almost March!!  Happy soon-to-be-spring!!! (I hope!)

Veteran's Day Service Project

We had the day off from school today, so our "Fellowship of Christian Warriors" high school group planned a service project to serve the homeless on the streets of Boulder.

We started at our house this morning at 10:00am and put together 50 sack lunches.  The students also brought over 100 items of warm-weather gear (coats, shoes, scarves, hats, etc).  God is so good, because today happened to be our first day of cold weather, so we knew the clothing items would be of good use!  The temps were in the teens and it was cold!!

After making the lunches, we drove to Boulder and hit the streets!  We were in small groups and handed out the lunches and clothing items and also offered to pray and talk with people on the street. We ended the afternoon at the Bridge House, part of the Boulder Homeless Shelter where homeless men and women can get a hot meal in the winter months (they serve breakfast and dinner) and warm up in a small room, we are so thankful for those who volunteer and contribute to the homeless! We pray that God used the students today to be a light in a dark place and were thankful to have our eyes opened to people that God loves in need of help.

Making lunches

The girls bought fleece and made scarves

Getting organized with the lunches and clothing

 Carson & Aliana trying to stay warm! They were troopers!! :)

We talked a LOT this afternoon with Carson and Aliana about how thankful we are for our home to keep us warm and for the food we have to keep our bellies full!

Praying you all had a safe and blessed Veteran's Day.  We are so thankful for the men, women and families who serve our country!

FOUR Fall Birthdays!

This afternoon we wrapped up the last of our birthday celebrations for the fall!  Here's the run down...

Aliana - September 12.  Aliana started off the birthday celebrations.  She had a little party at the house with 3 of her girlfriends.  She is now 5 years old!!  Aliana is enjoying kindergarten and is starting to read and write!  She loves to write notes to us and for her babies and is very proud when she can figure out how to spell different words.  Today it was "Buty & the Beest".  Got it?!  She is quite the girly girl.  She loves dresses, jewelry, Disney Princesses, and gymnastics.  There is still a little attitude in this girl... one afternoon when she was stomping around the house with her hands on her hips, I asked, "Do you act naughty like this at school??"  She just looked at me like, Are you kidding mom, I would NEVER act like this at school! :)

(sweet girl!)

Mommy - September 17.  Next we celebrated Mommy's birthday.  Since Mommy, Aliana and Aunt Melissa all have birthdays in the the same week, we had a Packers Birthday Bash.  Here's the wild crew!

Daddy - September 30.  No, this next picture is not a picture from Daddy's birthday party... but it is a picture from his birthday!!  Every Tuesday Brian & I help lead "Fellowship of Christian Warriors" at Brian's high school.  We meet from 6:30 (AM!) until 7:15, just before school starts.  Brian's mom graciously comes over to get the kids up/ dressed and ready for school so I can grab them after FCW and head to school.  We have between 15-25 kids each week.

("FCW")

Since there is about a 3 week gap between Brian and Carson, we enjoyed Saturdays at the soccer field  (Brian coached Carson's team again this year and they did awesome!).  We also met up with some friends at the Pumpkin Patch just down the hill from our house - it was a beautiful day!!

Carson - October 21.  Carson's birthday is "last" in our family for fall celebrations.  We started things out with some family celebrations since Opa and Carson have birthdays in the same week.  My mom and stepdad came last weekend and helped Brian tile the guest room we are converting to a laundry room and also our downstairs bathroom.  The kids had fun reading stories, making cookies and loving on Nana and Grandpa John.  

(the kids love spending time with their cousins)

(thank you Nana and Grandpa John for coming to visit!)

Then today, Carson had 6 boys over for his "friend" party.  Carson planned the whole thing and it was awesome!!  We went and got red t-shirts and iron on numbers from Walmart.  We made "jerseys" for all the boys - we walked to the neighborhood park and had a soccer match!  Carson has really LOVED playing soccer this fall with the rec league and also with his friends every day during their lunch recess.  He has a very sweet group of boys (but also very active!!) that he hangs with at school.  His teacher this year is extremely patient and loving and is a perfect fit for them!  Carson continues to be "all boy" in his activities and really enjoys school.  He says that gym is his favorite class (Aliana says that too!) and continues to love to read, write stories and figure out challenging math problems!

(playing in the leaves before the boys came)

(soccer team!)

(goofy kids!)

("Jerseys")

(Birthday boy!)

Happy Birthday kiddos!!  We love you and thank God for each and every day that we get to spend with you on this earth!!  You are a joy to us and to others!!