Denver

My friend Leah and I tried to take a trip to Denver before Christmas but we were snowed in!  We were so sad.  I left my suitcase packed for a week after that.  Well, our husbands let us try it again and we made it a couple weekends ago (she had a free night in a Marriott)! I had never left my family like that before.  I have to admit, it was so nice shopping without anyone hanging on my leg (Brenden) or having to accommodate hungry children and naps.

We met up with my oldest friend Carla who lives there and Leah's friend Sarah.  It was awesome. We started out on the 16th street mall and the new H&M.  From there we ate and walked leisurely through another shopping mall and the next day spent 4 hours in Ikea.  Did you know you can spend 4 hours in Ikea?  Well, you can without children.  

This is the carpet in the hotel.  I want it in my house. 

Downtown Denver.  I love it.  It was so fun walking around at 11:00PM with thousands of other people.  It was much different coming from Kearney where everyone is in bed by 9:00PM. 

We ate to our hearts content. 

The damage.  Its a good thing only there were only 2 of us in the car.  No one else would have fit.  I'd like you to know this is not all my stuff.  It's Leah's... haha!  Just kidding Leah.

Brenden- you are awesome!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Home Sweet Home

Quick disclaimer: We are incredibly fortunate to have found a place to rent in Kearney that has enough space for our family.  It is in a great neighborhood, has a backyard, swingset, double car garage, etc....

However, this house has some issues. 

We suspect it was designed by Mike Brady in the 70's with no concern for child safety. 

Problem1: Banister railings too far apart.

We finally put up some twine so Pete would stop squeezing his body through to jump to the lower level.  It was either the twine or feed him more so he wouldn't fit through.

Problem 2:  Kid sized oven.  

Does this really seem safe?  My 3 year old and 1 year old can open the oven.  Not to mention turning the oven on and setting the timer.  There have been many days where I thought the fire alarm was going off but really it was the oven timer.  Thanks to the kids we have also come home to the oven being on... but for how long is the real question.

Problem 3: Stairs.

 I know this isn't a safety violation per se,  but it definitely violates my decor sensibilities.  I am talking about the carpeted walls.  Maybe this would be considered an improvement in safety.

Problem 4:  Fire place.

Notice that you can't see the fireplace in this picture.  It is hidden well behind our card table.  Thanks to B for his quick thinking.  I was tired of cleaning up soot off of Pete's clothes, mouth and face. 

Problem 5: Pete

I just wanted to show everyone how good my son is at climbing the furniture.  Normally his is standing up trying to turn on the fan!

Travel / Photo blog

Did we mention that we started a 2nd blog.  Just for fun.  http://everywherewevebeen.blogspot.com/

Pete's 1st Haircut

The back of Pete's hair (which has a little curl to it, FYI) was getting pretty out of control, so we gave him a trim this morning.  Here are some before and after shots:

Before:

 After:

Pete has WAY more hair than Emmie did at 15 months.  Check out the comparisons.

 As most of you know, I buy pretty much everything at Last Chance.  I just happened to score 2 pairs of saucony jazz's for the kids a while back.  B and I already had a pair so now we all match. We like to match.  We're cool like that. 

 

B's shoes were well loved and seriously worn out so Santa brought him a brand new pair.  If you haven't tried them, you need to.  They are the most comfortable shoe you will ever wear.  We love them. 

Kids

I am so lucky to have kids who love each other.  They get along really well which make my life easy!

Who wouldn't love a drooly-faced boy like this?

Both of my kids love climbing in confined spaces.  They love the dryer, the dishwasher, any cupboard, boxes... I think they belong in the circus. 

And I couldn't resist this one.  Have you ever seen a spit strand this long!?

Christmas 2011

Christmas was really fun this year.  Emmie was SO excited to have Santa come.  It was really nice being able to go to church and then have a laid back day. 

Emmie got the zebra umbrella she ask Santa for.  

 Pete got a Rody bouncing donkey.  

Pete got a lot of gift that were "pete" related.  For example, Peter pan book, Peter Rabbit, and Pete's Dragon. We love it!

Thank goodness Emmie got another princess pj dress.  She wears her other one daily.  Now we can at least rotate. 

B got his ukelele.  He has already mastered the theme song to "Arrested Development". 

And Pete's favorite was the bubble wrap.  

We had a wonderful Christmas.  We hope you all did too!

Christmas Eve 2011

We decided to stay here in Nebraska for Christmas this year.  We are lucky enough to have made great friends who include us in their family gatherings.  We ate tons of food and then played minute to win it and had a white elephant gift exchange.  It was a hoot. 

For minute to win it, it was big kids against the little kids.  We had to drink soda out of a baby bottle, move cotton balls with Vaseline on your nose and eat a banana with nylons on your head.  I do have pictures of people participating in these activities but will not be so mean as to post them on the internet. As you can see, Pete was not impressed.  For some reason the stockings on people's head freaked him out.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!