The Remaining CO Pictures

I know I'm a major blog slacker here lately! Here they are at last, the final pictures from our trip to Colorado. Yes, I do realize we've been home for several weeks now!

A Quick Visit to Turquoise Lake

This is what Adam does when you ask him to show you "strong"

Andrew says "I wanna go MY tub" instead of hot tub.

Some more zoo pics. These are from my camera and aren't nearly as pretty as Rachel's that I already posted.

Loving on Baby Abigail

Pictures from our last night in CO. We walked around in Vail Village.

Adam has such a Zest for life!

Andrew was scared of the bear!

That's all folks!

Adventures with Mama

Finally a new post, right?? My computer is out of the shop and hopefully it will last for a while without any more issues! These pictures are from an afternoon adventure in Colorado with just the boys and myself. Everyone in our house was feeling terrible with aches and fever except Adam & Andrew. So even though I felt like I had been run over I knew I had to get the boys out of the house for some fun, moms don't get sick days unfortunately.

So I loaded the boys and the BOB up and we drove to Vail and enjoyed the day together. We rode the Gondola up to the top of the mountain where we had pony rides, bungee tramp, and we also did some exploring. Then we rode the Gondola back down and visited a children's event where they had a bouncie obstacle course thingie, then we went to Pirate Ship Park, got ice cream, and played in the splash pool. I was so proud of myself for tackling all that alone especially when I felt so bad. But it was worth it, we had a blast!!

The boys continue to ask to "Go Gondola Ride" but they don't understand that Texas doesn't have them ;-)

This pictures makes Kenny ill because he's terrified of heights and he can't believe his sons weren't bothered by it!

"I wanna rye hosie"

Adam was thrilled to jump jump again

I was so proud of Adam for completing this challenging obstacle course alone, he was the smallest one in there

The awesome Pirate Ship Park

Enjoying the splash pool

We were a mile from our car and the boys got soaked and had to be stripped down to their diapers. So I rigged up my jacket to keep them warm on the trek back.

Adam & Andrew, I will never forget what a fun day we had together, I LOVE you both so very much!!

We're Home

We made it back to Texas in one piece. I have lots of pictures from our last days in Colorado but my computer is currently on hiatus so until then here are some gorgeous pictures taken by my friend Rachel. The two of us met with four children in tow at the Denver Zoo. I've known Rachel for the last three years when we met online through a babycenter forum on IVF. We were going through the process at the same time and in fact my boys shared the same due date as Ellie Kate! So even though they weren't born anytime close to each other, they are virtually the same exact age. Pretty cool! This was the first time I've gotten to meet Rachel in the "real" world and she was every bit as wonderful as I expected her to be. She actually lives in Alabama but her family happened to be in CO at the same time and so we were able to work out a day to meet up. We had so much fun and the kids really hit it off. I hope we will get a chance to meet up again someday!

All of us except baby Abigail who was chillin' in the stroller

Rachel's precious baby girl Abigail

Rachel needs to be a professional photographer!

It's good to be home sleeping in our own beds but Oh my goodness it it HOT HOT HOT here!

If the shoe fits, wear it!

This post is specifically to help other moms out there like me who may be searching for an affordable kids shoe that will work with orthotics, smo's, afo's, braces etc. Or really any mom that is looking for some cute affordable shoes for their kids.

Right now at Walmart they are selling little canvas lace up tennis shoes by Faded Glory. They are only $9 and come in several colors. My favorite is the camo which I got for both my boys, I also bought Navy and I had to resist buying the brown or red. You can even order them online here.

They are light weight compared to most of the clunky expensive specialty shoes and open up real wide so they are easy to get off and on. I was even able to get close to his actual size without the shoe being so big that he trips over the toe. They also seem to be of good quality as my kids have been playing in them pretty hard and they are holding up well. Also, if you need to add a lift to a shoe like Andrew requires, the sole is nice a smooth and would easily accommodate a lift.

Best of all, Andrew loves them and is happy that he and his twin are wearing the same shoes. Often he'll get sad when he is wearing his smo's and he'll ask for "cool shoes" when he sees me put Adam's shoes on him.

I hope someone out there finds this helpful!

Shopping, Swinging, & Splashing

Thank you all so much for your kind words about my last post, it really made me feel loads better to know that I'm not alone in the daily struggle!

Who says you can't take cute pictures while shopping at the outlet mall?

Adam has really turned in to a monkey!

Cute Little Family

New Jammies

Prince Charming it says

Loving on Cousin Ben

They LOVE him !

Best Buds

"I wanna go play playground"

Adam has gotten this climbing thing down

I LOVE that beautiful sky

WOW

The boys had a blast at the splash pad

Adam kept saying "It too Cooooold!"

We said goodbye to Aunt Dana, Uncle Shawn, and Cousin Ben today as they headed back to Texas. We'll miss them but know they are ready to be home again.

Colorado Medley

Instead of posting multiple videos from the last week I decided just to compile them into one medley of the kids jumping, singing, & playing.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Beautiful Days, Challenging Moments

If you had asked me two weeks ago how I felt about having two boys in the "terrible two's", I would have told you that I actually really like the age of 2. In fact the last 7 months have been some of my best times with the kids as far as "having it together". I don't know what occurred on that plane ride up to CO but both of my children have become extremely difficult to manage and I've been on my knees praying for guidance and feeling at a complete loss.

I know the pictures show joyous and beautiful moments, and there have been many wonderful moment up here. What they don't show is a mother who is feeling completely overwhelmed at the moment by her kids behavior "behind the scenes" of these photos. I'm used to manging the boys all by myself during long days of navigating our busy and complicated schedule but suddenly, even with the help of my family, I feel completely outnumbered. I wish Kenny were here and I miss him a lot, walking this new phase without him has been especially challenging. In fact, I'm not sure my family is going to invite us back anytime soon. Anyone have any advice on dealing with whining? I'm talking about extreme fall out on the floor, repeat the same request 500 times, nails on chalk board whining at the top of your lungs in Walmart, yes I was THAT Mom today.

To end on a positive note, when the boys and I were saying our bedtime prayers (in which I prayed in front of my kids for patience, consistency, and wisdom), Andrew started to spontaneously thank God for things. The boys like to pray and usually will repeat things they've heard me say before ("Thank you for Granny, Pa, Gammaw, Peepaw, etc"). But tonight Andrew starting thanking God for things totally on his own and it was precious. "Thank you Colorado, Thank you Ranch, Thank you Texas, Thank you Razor Rides, Thank you Gator Rides, Thank you Lunch, Thank you Eating, Thank you Tigers". Pretty sweet to see the things that Andrew recognizes as blessings at the precocious age of 2.5. Maybe, just Maybe, some things about God are beginning to stick in that wild head of his.

Every day begins with a walk. We've been doing about 3-5 miles throughout a day and it feels wonderful!

We try and encourage the boys to walk a little first before getting in the stroller

"Sticky Bear"

The public playgrounds up here are awesome!

Dinner during a downpour

Silly Monkey

On Sunday morning we attended church service at the beautiful and cozy Beaver Creek Chapel.

Adam snares me with those blue eyes

Inside the Chapel

Precious Ben in his Blue Jeans

Adam was ecstatic to try out the bungee trampoline. He kept telling them "Higher Higher" until he would suddenly get scared and they'd lower him back down but not for long before he was yelling "Higher Higher" again. Too funny.

My Baby was flying like an acrobat

Andrew of course, wanted nothing to do with this activity!

Grandparents and Grandbabies

Parenting Twins includes a lot of juggling!

I LOVE these photos of my mom, sister, me & all our baby boys

Playing in the Rain. It's been so long since it rained back home, I was surprised that the boys knew what it was!

Adam kept saying "I be careful"

And just like the rain,
I know that this Difficult Phase Too Shall Pass

"But you are a shield around me, O LORD;

you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
To the LORD I cry aloud,

and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah
I lie down and sleep; I wake again,

because the LORD sustains me."

Psalm 3:3-5

Independence Day Celebrations

The 4th of July celebrations up here begin on the 3rd with a Festival which this year featured Foghat and a major fireworks show, one touted as the biggest in the Rocky Mountains. We took the boys to the kids section of the festival which was a lot of fun. They got fireworks painted on their faces, they got balloon swords, they won candy and trinkets playing some carnival games, and Adam had a blast in a bounce house. I couldn't get Andrew to put down his lolly pop down to join Adam.

We then left the festival and walked over to a pizza place to grab a bite to eat and Andrew astonished us all by devouring an entire slice of pepperoni pizza cute into bites. Andrew has such major food sensory issues that he's never even eaten one bite of pizza before. I was SO proud of him! After the pizza we walked back over to watch the fireworks and caught the tail end of the Foghat concert.

The fireworks were incredible, covering the sky above the lake and choreographed to music. I thought the boys, particularly Andrew, would be horrified by the loud booms but they loved it all. Andrew said "That's COOL Mama!" about 20 times. The fireworks didn't even start until almost 10pm Mountain time, which is 11pm at home but the boys were troopers.

The next day, on the actual 4th, we went over to watch the parade, which the boys loved. They kept talking about the horses and drums and the train. After the parade we ate more pizza (so much for the strict diet I'd been on ;-) and then my dad and the boys and I walked about 2 miles to outdoor Ford amphitheater where the Dallas Philharmonic was playing a free patriotic concert. There was this insanely anal lady demanding everyone to stay off the boulders (for liability purposes) that cover the lawn and make for perfect seats, especially when there are way to many people there.

So after we got tired of standing and the boys were bored we headed over to the Betty Ford Gardens and visited the children's garden before visiting their awesome playground which ironically includes boulders shaped like birds for the kids to play on, go figure. After a very full two days, we were glad to go home and do nothing the rest of the day to rest.

I would have to say Colorado is THE place to be for the 4th of July. They offer so many fun and free family things to do during this time and you just can't beat the weather and scenery.

Checking out a deer we spotted across the road

Adam was very serious about the carnival games and candy eating, he's such a natural born competitor

I've never seen him bounce quite as big before

Sword Fight

Firecracker Faces

Three Cheers for Pa! For someone who doesn't like crowds or public places, he was such a trooper going to all the events with me and helping with the kids.

Waiting for a table at the pizza joint

This is an action shot of Adam knocking Andrew down, moments after that sweet photo above

But fortunately Andrew is quick to forgive

Granny gets in on the sword fight

This is Andrew after his amazing pizza marathon

It was pretty chilly during the fireworks show

Posing with Cousin Ben on July 4th

Andrew watching the Parade on Pa's shoulders

Adam watches from Uncle Shawn's shoulders

The flowers up here are AMAZING

It's so hard to get a good shot of both of them

So sweet

"My Twin, My Friend"

Playing in a puddle

Sometimes I think we're in Switzerland

Adam doing some forbidden boulder sitting

It was a packed place!

Checking out the cool tractor pin wheel in the Children's Garden

Testing out the Frigid Water

The Playground at Last!

So tiny tots playing on this boulder is perfectly okay, but adults sitting on the other one is highly dangerous. Can you tell I was annoyed?

Moms are allowed to enjoy the playground too!

Back home and everyone is exhausted!

July 4th, 2009 What a day !!!

God Bless America!

I've taken tons of pictures over the last few days but here is a sample of a few of my favorites until I get a chance to post more. This has been the best July 4th I've ever had (if only Kenny would have been able to be here too!) I'm so thankful for so many things and being able to celebrate with my kids and watch them take in the excitement has been priceless.

Cousins

SO Sweet!

One Blessed Mama

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day!

An Adam Funny

Tonight as we were walking to the best fireworks display I've ever seen in my life, we were cutting across a parking lot and my Dad, the kids in the stroller, and I went one direction and my mom went around some cars a different direction.

Immediately Adam starting to wail like he was watching his dog get run over and shouted "Granny's getting away!" Granny is getting AWAAAAAAAY!"

I about fell to the ground I was laughing so hard, I've never heard him use that phrase before in any context and he was so earnest and sad. But then Granny jumped out from behind some cars with a peek a boo and all was right in the world again.

The rest of the night, anytime my mom got more than a few feet ahead, Dad & I would say "Oh No, Granny's getting away!!!!

Escaping the Heat

Adam , Andrew & I are so happy to be in Colorado but we are missing Daddy wo had to stay behind to work. It was a long day of traveling, thank goodness we were with Granny & Pa so we had extra hands to help. The toughest parts were getting our circus through security, sitting on the runway for an hour in the heat waiting for our plane to get cleared for take off, messing with the rental car company who didn't understand why us and all our stuff wouldn't fit in a midsize, getting stuck in construction stand still on the wrong highway going away from our destination, keeping two littles twin two year old boys happy during a full day of traveling. The airport we normally fly into is only 30 minutes from the house and it's small and convenient but since we had to fly to Denver, rent a car and drive three hours that really complicated things.

But we finally made it in ONE piece and when we stopped to pick up some milk and a cool wall of air hit me in the face I knew it was all worth it!

But before we left Texas we had some fun activities.

First up was a play date with our triplet friends. We had a blast visiting them and and their new baby brother.

I was smitten with baby London!

Twins, Triplets, & a Baby Brother

Adam & Andrew were so excited to hold Baby London

Then we got to attend the much anticipated 3rd Birthday Party for cousin Luke. Adam & Andrew are finally understanding parties and they carried the invitation around for days asking to go to Luke's Birthday Party so once the day finally arrived they were so excited and especially loved the birthday cake, I think they had three pieces!

Baby Kate & Pa

The two newest cousins, Kate & Ben, so sweet!

Pinata Time!

My sister & I and our three precious boys

Colorado Bound!!

All packed and ready to go

How do you cope with an hour long delay on the runway? M&M's of course!

From the looks of this photo, you'd think the flight was a piece of cake but the photo doesn't show two boys acting like typical two year olds, kicking the seats in front of them, pestering each other, repeatedly throwing the headphones on the ground. Fortunately everyone around us was very kind and accepted our apologies for the seat kicking, aghhhhhh!

Andrew slept in a "Big Boy Bed" for the first time ever. Yes I'm pretty spoiled that my 2.5 year olds still happily sleep in their cribs at home! But since there is a toddler bed here I thought we'd take a trial run. He did great until about 5:30am when he woke up and couldn't figure out where he was and had a panic attack and woke up his brother. The rest of the morning was spent in bed with me, fighting over who got to lay their head where.

Nothing sweeter than a sleeping child!

This morning we tested out the BOB in the steep terrain. We took a trip to the park and it worked great!

Later today we stopped by SuperWalmart to stock up on groceries and the boys were so excited when I picked them up some cowboy hats to wear to the local rodeo. Adam was so proud of it and kept saying, "Wanna go ride horsey!"

These boys crack me up!

Tonight Adam decided that he needed to try out the "Big Boy Bed" but he had a little trouble staying put at first so finally he fell asleep after Granny sat down by him until he was out.

SO SWEET!

I hope he makes it past 5:30am!

That's all for now, we are having a blast and looking forward to watching fireworks soon. Hope you have a wonderful week celebrating Independence Day!!