Happy New Year!

We set the clocks forward and let the kids count down to midnight (9pm). We played games and then had ice cream at "midnight". The kids were so excited to stay up and they gladly went to bed saying, "I can't believe we stayed up until midnight! I am so tired!"

The house is breezy, but the sunset is AMAZING!

Andy finally had a camera around for one of the spectacular sunsets we've seen from our place. The pictures definitely don't do the view justice. Beautiful.

What Fall is All About

It was so cold today, but there were so many leaves in Grandma and Grandpa Young's yard that Andy and the kids couldn't stay inside! Andy raked up a huge pile of leaves and they had a blast burying each other under the pile, jumping in the pile, they even got out an umbrella and dad would burying the kids in their tent of leaves. I can't believe the kids staying out playing so long. I was freezing!

Gideon was so cute. He would want to be covered in leaves and then we'd say, "Where's Gideon?"

"I'm right here." would come his cute little voice from under the leaves.

Andy is so good to do all the work of raking up the leaves over and over as the kids scatter them again. After a good day of playing we still got quite a few bags of leaves filled up. Even though it was cold, at least it was dry!

Trip to Colorado

Here are some pictures from our first train experience... Our first conductor was awesome. He got the kids coloring books and conductor hats.

Dad and Allana coloring and enjoying the breakfast we packed since we left at 3:00a.m.
The kids sat more on the foot rests then they did on the seats.
We got to play in the Hot Springs for about 3 hours! The kids loved it.

This tandem bike is on my wish list now. It was so fun having Allana in the front so she could see everything, but Andy got to steer.

We paid for the girls to take their first dance lesson from Maurine at Glenwood Center for the arts. We bought tights and they wore their swimsuits as leotards and borrowed dance shoes.
Hanging out in Denver... Most of the time we just waited around while Andy did all his business contacts, but there were a few cool sculptures we got to see.
It looks like Gideon wants to walk?

Cement Trucks Galore

The kids and I hiked up to the trail to watch the cement truck pumping in the basement walls. It was pretty crazy to see the line of cement trucks on our street waiting for their turn. It is so exciting!!!

Big Machines

The excavation is complete and they hauled off 2 dump truck loads of dirt. The kids have loved watching the big machines work. We like to hike onto the trail and watch.

Piles of Dirt!!!

The girls were so excited to run up and climb on the huge mountain of dirt! It is going to be quite a challenge to keep Allana clean for kindergarten if we are visiting our building lot.

Gideon has a hard time walking on all the loose dirt and rocks, but he loves sitting down and throwing all the rocks within his reach.

Maybe we can keep it like this for a sandbox :)

Breaking Ground

Wow! After finding this lot for sale for such a great price, selling our home, moving, planning, getting financing, getting the permit we are finally breaking ground!!!

I hope those wild sunflowers grow back! We asked them to leave as many trees as possible and tried to design the house to fit within a small space to keep the beauty of this natural landscape. The kids have loved coming and collecting rocks. We've been trying to save all the rocks possible so that we can use the rock from our land on our house.

Children's Parade

The parade moves along more like a mob than a parade, but Andy helped the girls navigate their bikes to the open spaces.

"Look mom, one hand!"

It has been a fun family tradition to come ride in the children's parade. The girls like to have their faces painted. We ride down (about 5 miles each way) and on the way back we stopped for pizza.

This is the First Time in My Whole Life!

Allana likes to point out "firsts" to me. "Mom! This is Gideon's first time to the library!" or "Mom this is our my first time coming to this park when I am 5..."

Here is another first... Allana riding a 2-wheeler bike with no help or training wheels. This video clip is after practicing on the bike less than 5 minutes. She already has the balance down from riding her Strider Bike.

Ahoy Matey! Captain Allana be turnin' five

Andy turned the whole living room into a pirate ship with cardboard from Sears Outlet and some masking tape. It was so much fun! Corinne is already planning her pirate party when she turns five.