August comes to an end

WOW, where did this month go!  Time is just flying by so fast!  I know that it's only going to get worse as the boys get older but WOW!! 

Well, let's see, where did I leave off last. . . Last week and this week have been kinda lazy weeks (comparatively).  We haven't been up to much, a few trips to the pool (still in heat wave mode here - it's been high 90's almost all month), one to Rocky Mountain National Park, and some other fun stuff thrown in. 

Cam had a Maintenance Day at work last week, so that means a long day for him . . . and us!  He went in at his usual 5 am but didn't get home until after the boys were in bed (8:30ish)!!  YUCK!!  It's a good thing he loves his job and his bosses, because that will burn you out real quick!  So, I took the boys to the pool in Fort Collins.  It was super hot outside and I knew it would wear them both out, and that's what I needed - a way to entertain them for as long as possible but also wear them out to sleep for as long as possible so they don't drive me insane come 8 at night!  It worked brilliantly!  The City Park Pool in Fort Collins has a wonderful play structure and water slide for Riley that he just LOVES!  And it's Zero Entry so I can just set Jayce in as shallow as I want and he can crawl around.  It's great!  It wore them both out, and me!  Being by myself I didn't get any pictures, but we are going again tomorrow with some friends so hopefully I can get some then. 

We also took a trip to RMNP for a hike and to see my "cousin" Justine.  She got an internship up there working at the visitor centers and hiking to talk with the visitors so she got to join us on our hike!  We hiked to Dream lake, about 2.2 miles round trip and Riley did great!  I was so proud of him!  He even completed the Junior Ranger Program (with a LOT of help from Justine) and got a Junior Ranger Badge. 

Saturday I had a VIP Pampering Party I got to go to.  It was wonderful!  They had it at a CupCakery so we got SPECIAL cupcakes (I had a Black Forest one - YUMMM), a $20 gift certificate, a free gift package, and pedicures!  Woo-Hoo!!  It was some much needed ME time!  If you are at all curious just check out www.pinkpapayaparties.com - I am quickly falling in love with their spa products! 

Sunday we had a fundraiser at MOPS in the form of a church picnic.  It was a lot of work, and we made some money, so that's a plus, but not as much as we had hoped.  I helped serve pulled pork, and filled 100 water balloons for the water balloon toss.  Cameron helped with the water balloons, and thank goodness he did!  I wish you could have seen us the night before standing outside at our faucet in the dark filling water balloons!  The neighbors probably thought we were nuts! 

This week has been pretty lazy too.  Just the usual grocery store trips, dishes, laundry, etc. . . The monotonous tasks of being a stay at home mom!  I did get to give my friend the things I crocheted for her new baby!!  They are so cute!  I made headbands, a hat and some booties.  I think they turned out really good! 

I'm still working on a blanket for Jayce, and then I have a whole list of items I want to make for other people.  So I'm going to be crocheting in my spare time for a while!!!  I may even crochet Jayce's Halloween Costume!  Well, at least part of it! 

That's about it for now.  There's a lot of fun things going on this weekend in Windsor, and I think we are still planning to go wheeling sometime soon, so look for more pics to come!  Have a great Labor Day Weekend everyone!

Severance Days

This weekend was Severance Days here in our Tiny Town!  And you know what that means - Parade Candy!!   Yummy!  Mommy and Daddy took us to the parade Saturday, and the Felkers came too!  We had so much fun watching our miniature version of a parade.  Then we went to the festival at the park.  This year they had a Garden Tractor Pull, and one of the guys Daddy works with was in it.  He has some really cool tractors, and he pulled them really far!  It was fun to watch, but kinda noisy. 

Waiting for the parade

Daddy's friend and his tractors in the parade

Watching the tractor pull

Daddy's friend, and his fancy tractor!

Then Mommy and Daddy went out on a Date, while I got a new friend to play with.  Her name is Samantha, and she's really nice!  We did a lot while she was playing over here.  We played outside, we watched Scooby-Doo, we ate popcorn and read stories!  She was so much fun, I can't wait for her to come back.  Oh yeah, Mommy & Daddy's date . . . they went out to dinner - to Red Lobster (Mommy loves her Crab Legs!!)  and then went to see the last Harry Potter Movie.  I'm really sad that Mommy won't let me watch it.  She says the last couple ones are too scary for me and I have to wait until I'm older to see them.  Boo!!  But she liked it!  She read the books and said that now we just have to wait for them to put together a box set so we can get all the movies!  Speaking of favorite movies - she got to see the trailer for the new Twilight movie too!  She is super excited for that one!  But she'll have to wait until November to see it. 

Well, not much else going on right now.  Things are starting to slow down a little bit.  It's still really hot though, so maybe Mommy will take me to the pool again this week!  Have a good week everyone!

Growing Boy . . . and First Zoo Trip

Wow, after a few days away and a few more days sick, It is proving to be awful playing catch-up!!  Remind me never to do that again!!  lol  So this last week has been spent trying to catch-up on everything: laundry, dishes, house cleaning, groceries, and quite a few other things!  I've been crocheting in every spare moment I have lately (Thank you Cameron for putting up with it!!) because I promised myself I would make some things for a very good friend of mine's new baby.  My goal is to have them done before the little girl arrives . . . and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS she isn't 3 weeks early like her previous two were!  I'm just so excited to be able to crochet some girlie things like headbands and use some pink yarn I think I'm going a bit overboard!  oh well!!  I'll have to put up some pictures when I'm all finished and have given them to the new Mommy. 

This past weekend we went to the zoo in Denver.  It's not our favorite zoo (Indy is!!!) but we haven't been to one all summer, or last summer, or even the summer before that I think . . . so it was time to go.  it was Jayce's first time (obviously), and he really seemed to enjoy it!  At least it went over better than the pigs at the fair! Of course we took lots of Monkey pictures, with the Monkey theme we have with him. 

But I think the best part was giving Riley a camera of his own and letting him take pictures of the animals.  We had a disposable camera leftover from when Jayce was born (you know . . . when Daddy forgot the camera and our doula had to run home to get it arriving only seconds before Jayce was born!) so we decided to let Riley take it to the zoo and take some pictures.  We made the rule that he could only take 1 picture of each animal, but with a roll of only 24 pics, it still didn't last more that 20 minutes or so!  Needless to say he was disappointed and continued to try to take pictures until we had to physically take it from him and hide it in the diaper bag!  I think we have a budding photographer on our hands!  So now we just have to get them developed (do stores even do that anymore? haha) so we can see how they turn out - this should be funny!

I also wanted to update you all on Jayce lately.  This boy is growing so fast that I can hardly keep up with him!  I'm not sure what I have told you all already, so I may repeat myself in an attempt to not miss anything.  He is crawling now, and getting pretty fast too!  He is also pulling him self up on things, the couch, tables, chairs, your legs, even Riley's sit n spin!  Not only that but he's also starting to cruise around things, and just recently he's getting braver at letting go and trying to balance.  This one is DEFINITELY going to be walking way before his 1st birthday!  He hasn't figured out the stairs yet (which I'm happy about - since Riley was crawling up the stairs 2 days after crawling on the floor).  But he is starting to gabber away at some words.  I'm pretty sure his first unofficial word was Hi, since he says that all the time.  but now Da-Da is in the mix as well as some other consonants.  Did I say it was hard to keep up!!  He's about ready to cut a tooth, I can feel it getting closer, and he's loving to chew on ANYTHING!!  I even caught him with a paci the other day - chewing on it though...not sucking it (boo)!  He's now 8 months old, and I can't believe how big he's getting!  he doesn't seem to weigh much more (those numbers on the scale sure aren't moving!) but he's definitely getting longer.  I've got a really cute idea for some 9 month pictures for him . . . so I'm really excited about that!  Otherwise he is just growing up too fast!  He already loves playing with his big brother, he is almost always watching and smiling at Riley.  They scream at each other constantly (thanks for teaching that to him Riley!!) and even wrestle already!  Yay fun - boys!  But Jayce is definitely my sensitive one!  He loves to cuddle when he's tired or cranky (which is often), and gets upset easily when he can't do something or something doesn't go his way.  Riley was always very independent, even at this age, whereas Jayce is going to be a follower, and one who needs others around for support.  It's so great to see how different my two babies are, and I feel so blessed to be able to spend so much time with them so that I can get to know them each individually. 

Well, hopefully you are all caught up now on us.  Nothing major coming up . . . we're trying to plan a wheelin' trip for Labor Day Weekend (another First for Jayce) but that's the next big thing I think.  Have a good rest of the week everyone - and good luck to those of you with school starting!!  Wow, that will be us next year . . . Ugh!!  ;)

MOPS Convention and MORE

Wow . . . has it really been 2 weeks since I update this!  Ugh . . . it's so easy to get behind!!  So, Last week was SUPER busy, getting ready for and leaving for Convention.  And this week was the exact opposite!  (Apparently some fabulously nice person on the airplane decided to share their sickness with me so I've been down and out since I got back on Sunday.)

Anyways, last Tuesday we went to another free day for kids at Centerra.  Riley had a blast as usual.  This time he got a spider painted on his face.

Riding the "mini" train

I want a spider and webs

Wednesday I left for Convention, so the boys went to my friend Cathy's house to spend the night.  Riley had a great time playing with Jackson and Tanner, and thankfully Jayce was a little angel for her!  It was my first time leaving him over night, and I'm proud to say we both did very well!

Ryder and Jayce (only 2 mo. apart)

The "gang" that showed up at the park on Thursday

Tanner, Riley and Jackson - Visiting the Clydesdales

Tanner giving Jayce a bottle

Seth, Jackson and Riley reading bedtime stories

Then on Friday Daddy picked them up and hung out over the rest of the weekend.  On Saturday they went to the Larimer County Fair.  And rumor has it that Jayce wasn't to fond of the animals!!  I was so glad to see them on Sunday when I got home!

This little piggie went wee, wee, wee, all the way home!

My trip to Convention this year was as fantastic as it was last year.  I am so blessed to have such a supportive group of people around me (Cathy and Cameron!!) to allow me to take advantage of this opportunity!  I'm definitely going to take advantage for as long as I can!  I learn so much about being a woman of God . . . but also how to be a better wife, mother, friend, leader, encourager, and more!  I just can't get enough of the things they offer!  And, of course, God knows exactly what guidance I need at that time and that is the workshops that call out to me!  Thank you Lord, for knowing what I need to hear more than I do!  But just as important as all that is going with the group of girls I get to go with.  4 of us went again this year, and none of them were ones I went with last year.  Which was great!!  Spending 4 straight days bonding and getting to know these wonderful women is something I wouldn't trade for anything in the world!  I feel so much closer to these girls now, even though one of them I have known for 3 years now and thought I was already close to!

Jan, Me, Bonnie, Tilan

Some of the highlights from my trip included (but are not limited to): The Beautiful Gaylord Hotel, MANDISA CONCERT, Kathi Lipp (hillarious speaker), Max Lucado, Stephen Curtis Chapman & his wife Mary Beth, Dancing at the Wildhorse Saloon, Cooter's the Dukes of Hazzard Museum, and Dinner with one of my long lost best friends from middle/high school!  Who'd of thunk!  My very good friend Camie is in the process of moving to Nashville and just happened to be signing on her house that very weekend!!  So we were able to have dinner and catch up!  YAY FUN!!

Me, Camie!

But now it's back to the real world!  After a long weekend away, and being cooped up on the couch since returning home, the chores have really been piling up!  Time to tackle them!