December Fun

As the weather gets colder, it has allowed us to try to find some fun indoor activities. We had a blast trying out a new indoor park with Zane and Reese. Lollipop Park was definately just what the kids needed to burn off some energy! The funniest part for me was watching Dillon beg to do everything the big boys were doing. Luckily the rides were pretty tame and I it allowed him to try out most rides.

Checking out the tea cups...


Riding on the ferris wheel.

This ride was Payson's favorite - called the Whip. Looks gentle enough, and then WHIPS the boys around the corners. Not something I would think is fun, but Payson and Zane loved it!

The swings were Dillon's favorite - he rode this ride over and over again!



A fun tradition that is in its 2nd year, is a cookie decorating party with Payson and his buddies.
First pizza, and the boys were already crazy. Before they started eating their icing straight out of the bowl!

Reese was ready to watch the chaos while jumping away in the Jump-a-roo.

Let the cookie decorating begin...






Next year Dillon and Reese will join in the icing eating, I mean cookie decorating party!


Friday evening was the lighting of the Christmas Tree here in Highlands Ranch. Along with our great friends and neighbors, Julia and Jude we were able to ride the barrel train, eat some yummy treats, and see Santa arrive on a horse drawn carriage.






Payson has officially stopped napping, but every once in awhile the activities during the day will tire him out. Payson built the fort of pillows and passed out on the couch - when he woke up he was in denial that he actually slept!


Stay tuned for more December/Holiday Fun!

Dillon's 1st Haircut

A few months ago I was ready for Dillon to get his first haircut. Then as his hair grew, the cuter I thought it was and the more I resisted taking him to get it cut. I knew it was time when people started commenting that his bangs were very long, and then the final straw was when he was able to take his mac n cheese covered fingers and mold his hair to stick out a few inches from his head. (I wish I had taken a picture of that!)

So, last week after tumbling class we headed over to a great children's hair cutting shop and I watched as the scissors began to fly! Dillon thought the jeep was pretty cool to sit in.










Starting to look not too sure about the entire process.




I am in love with the curls in the back, so I requested that the girl did not cut it too short. Really, he just needed to get his bangs out of his eyes. It was hard to get a great "After" photo because once he received his reward of a lollipop, I could not get Dillon's full attention. His attention was dedicated to his treat. Looking good Dillon - you sure are a cute kid!

Christmas Jammies - 2011

A family tradition that we all have to kick off the holiday season is holiday jammies. The easy part is picking out the jammies, the hard part is getting kids to sit still for a cute picture.





Best picture of the night included just Payson and Porter!



Once the photo shoot was completed, everyone snuggled up on blanckets to watch holiday cartoons.

A Time for Thanks - 2011

Thanksgiving weekend began with loading up the car with the kids and greenbean casserole and heading up to Fort Collins. Nonnie and Pops recently completed the renovations of their house and it was fun to all be together to kick off the holiday season. Payson and Dillon were thrilled to enjoy their turkey with both Nonnie and Pops and Grandad and Nana, and of course their cousins!
Porter, Susie and Payson coloring while watching all of the action in the kitchen.

The Kitchen was a busy place for a few hours leading up to our meal!

Even Dillon was ready for some turkey.


The turkey turned out great - Pops, Daddy and Uncle Ryan all had to examine it when it came out of the oven.

The Kids table at a little before the adults, this allowed us to send them off to play while we ate. I though there prayer time was too cute not to capture!


Payson and Susie loved their Rudolph noses, and then had a blast playing with all of the Dress Up Clothes!



After dinner the lightening was perfect for some family pictures on the lake. Even better that Daddy, Payson and Dillon had on matching shirts.





Call me crazy, but Aunt Emily and I met at Kohl's on Black Friday at 5:30am. Honestly, it was a great time to shop. We got a ton of good deals. That afternoon we treated the kids to a trip to the movies - The Muppet movie was a hit for both kids and adults!

November Happenings and Autumn Paysonisms

The start of November was sort of an opportunity to take a deep breath from a great month of October and start to gear up for wonderful holiday season! We have been able to visit the Museum to see the Dinosaur exhibit and it has only propelled Payson's love for dinos!



The colder weather allows us to make some trips to Pump it Up. I think the boys would go every day if possible!


A favorite thing we were able to do this month was Payson and I were able to see the Broadway show of The Lion King. Payson has wanted to put on a show every day since and his favorite characters are the Hi-Ninas!

Dillon is still not walking, but getting pretty close. He is pulling himself up on everything and cruising along. He has started talking a little bit - favorite understandable words are - Mama, Dada, Ah Oh, Nana and will quack like a duck on command. My favorite is that he will blow you a kiss when you say good bye. Check out this video with his walking skills.



Payson has us cracking up almost every day. Here are a few of our favorite comments we have heard this week:

Getting dressed they other day, he checked his Transformer undies to ensure the tag was in the back. He then looked at me and said "Mommy you bought my undies and the fruit vegetable store, I like that store" I knew right away he was referring to his Fruit of the Loom tag, but I would love to visit the fruit vegetable store!

I placed some steamed green beans on Payson's dinner plate and he immediately told me that he did not like them. I pretty much ignored him, but told him to try them. He proceeded to eat everything else on his plate and then he exclaimed "Hey....I like these" I look over and he is chowing down on the veggies and asking for me. WIN - Payson is eating a green veggie!

Understanding that we go to the library weekly and check out both books and movies. Sometimes the movies are scratched and I tell Payson this is a perfect example as to why we need to treat our movies nicely and people that scratch movies are being naughty....today we went to Hobby Lobby and were checking out the Christmas ornaments. Payson saw a dinosaur ornament that he liked but when we flipped it around we saw it was broken. I told Payson that it was too bad that the ornament was broken. Payson informed me that the person that broke it must be of been at the library and they were very naughty to break a video and then come to the store and break an ornament. Not really sure how Payson's mind works, but funny to see how he connects the pieces of his life together!

What too much candy can do

I bet a lot of families experienced this sort of conversation last night. It was too funny to me that i had to grab the video camera!

Happy Halloween

Colorado is amazing - we had the best weather ever for Halloween this year. I do not remember a day as weather perfect as this. 70 degrees and sunny all day.
Zane and Reese invited Payson and Dillon to join them at the Castle Rock Trick or Treat Street for the afternoon. I did not even know that this great event took place. I was so impressed with everything, the stores were thrilled to provide a TON of candy to the kids. The firemen were eager to let the kids climb on the firetruck. Even the local mortuary had a bounce house. We all got a laugh about that one as Payson and Zane bounced away - who would of guessed!



Castle Rock put on an amazing Trick or Treat Street - we are already looking forward to attending next year!

We raced home to meet up with great friends and neighbors for some pizza, an attempt at a group photo shoot, and then out and about to gather MORE candy!





And we were off....




Batman and Robin make a pretty good pair!



This treat bag is getting so heavy!

Having fun with all of our buddies!

What a great day - Happy Halloween!