Welcome to the Family, Grizz!

Our little family has grown recently. We got a puppy Miniature Schnauzer from a breeder in Wyoming.  After much debate, we decided to go with the name Griswold (Grizz for short).  So far he's a little furball that's full of energy most of the time.  Welcome to the family, Grizz!

More pictures of Grizz

October 2016

Kara finished up her first season of soccer.  She had a lot of fun and actually scored a couple of goals (we won't discuss the goals she scored in her own net).  She's looking forward to the next sport season!

Emily has been having some issues with sleeping recently.  She will often wake in the middle of the night and tell us she just doesn't feel like sleeping anymore, which is very bothersome when it's 2 am.  Hopefully we figure this out soon!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year.   We spent most of the month preparing for Halloween.  We made a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and spent the Saturday before Halloween carving pumpkins.  The girls both ran the Monster Dash this year.  Kara ran the half mile with Dad, and Emily ran the quarter mile with Grandma.  It was a fun time.

Each girl designed her own costume this year.  Kara decided to go as a Magical Cheetah and picked out leopard print shoes, pants, and dress.  She also got some fire wings to complete the ensemble.  Emily wanted to go as Sparkle Girl and put on some pink pajamas that were covered in stars, sparkly shoes,  and finished the costume with a glitter covered mask.  On the day of Halloween, though, Emily kind of changed her mind and didn't want to put on her mask for her school Halloween show.  For Trick-or-Treating that night, Emily completely gave up on Sparkle Girl and opted for a witch costume instead.

Link to pictures

Halloween 2015

The month of October was a blur this year.  Early in the month, we made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch (this year we went to Rock Creek).  We always have a good time wandering through the fields to find the perfect pumpkin.  The tricky part is to leave with just a couple of pumpkins and not 20.  Rock Creek also has a play area with bouncy pumpkins and kiddie hay mazes.  The girls had fun running around and checking out all the activities.

The weekend before Halloween, Mom and Dad ran a 5k race at the local Monster Dash.  After that race, Kara ran a 1/4 mile race with Grandpa.  Kara's first race went pretty well.  She and Dad had been practicing doing windsprints in the backyard, but Kara and Grandpa decided to just jog and enjoy the actual race.

Emily was very indecisive on her costume choice for this year.  She oscillated from Spiderman to Monkey Pirate.  In the end, she went as Princess Anna from Frozen and Kara went as Queen Elsa, which the girls picked out early in the month.  The girls, of course, were adorable.

Kara surprised Mom and Dad one Saturday morning by informing us, very matter-of-factly, that there was no Santa and that the presents she got were from Mom and Dad.  We were kind of hoping that the magic would last for a few more years. Without lying too much, we tried to convince her that Santa was real.  She hasn't mentioned it since that morning, so we think she's just humoring us for now.  Oh well.  Though Kara has quite an imagination, she has had a pretty firm grasp of reality from a young age.

Link to pictures

Fall Professional Pictures 2015

One warm fall afternoon, we met a photographer at a nearby open space.  The girls did a great job, and we got some awesome pictures of everyone.  Enjoy!

Link to pictures

Halloween 2014

We got Halloween off on the right foot this year when we headed to Rock Creek Farm to pick our pumpkins in the middle of October.  There were a ton of great pumpkins to pick from!  Kara had a great time running through the pumpkin patches trying to find the perfect pumpkin.  Emily, however, wasn't impressed with the pumpkins and just kind of wandered around in a grumpy mood.  On the way out, Rock Creek Farms had set up some fun for the kids.  They had bouncy pumpkins, slides, a hay maze, and animals to look at.  Both girls loved bouncing in the bouncy pumpkins.  Not bad for some free entertainment.

The following weekend we headed to the Butterfly Pavilion for their annual Bug-A-Boo festivities. The girls, as always, had a great time there. They got to check out all the different bugs and decorate pumpkins.  Since we have an annual pass, it was also free.

One of the neighbors sets up an elaborate graveyard every year for Halloween.  We went there to check it out several days before Halloween (during the day, so it wasn't quite as creepy), and got a good video of Emily pretending to be scared (see below).

Halloween night was a lot of fun.  Kara dressed as Maleficent (the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty), and Emily was a monkey.  We went back to check out the graveyard at night, which was a little spooky, but not too bad.  After that we met up with some neighbors to go Trick-or-Treating.  Daddy and Emily hit a couple of houses before heading home.  Mommy stayed with Kara to get some candy booty.  Kara cleaned up this year, almost filling her plastic pumpkin!  Until next year!

Link to pictures

Fall 2014

Happy fall, everyone! The girls had a very eventful fall.  We had so much going on, we had to split it into two blogs (see the other blog for Halloween).

The weather most of the month was quite mild with no snow at all.  That made for some good leaf fun!  There was also a fun visit to the Butterfly Pavilion with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Amy.

Kara started the month with her last couple of soccer practices for the fall.  She's still not 100% clear on the rules (she thinks it more fun just to chase after people than to actually kick the ball), but it's a great way for her to burn off some energy.

Daddy and Emily took advantage of the extra time Daddy had by going to the rec center on Fridays to swim.  Emily is very fearless.  She'll climb out of the pool and jump off the side, whether Daddy is ready or not!  Emily has also figured out running and jumping, mostly.  She can now run at a pretty good clip (she can't quite keep up with Kara yet, but she's working on it), and she has also figured out how to jump, kinda (check out the videos below).  She is also becoming much more opinionated.  We're in the phase now where she knows what she wants, but doesn't really know enough words to communicate what she wants.  Ah, good fun.

Link to pictures

September 2014

The month of September was crammed with activities!

We'll start with Kara's month first. Other than our trip up to Breckenridge, Kara started preschool (she'll be in the Stepping Stones program Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at the Rec Center); she had her first soccer practice (Monday and Wednesday afternoons); and Kara had her first camp-out with Daddy (surprisingly, Kara actually let Daddy sleep).

Emily is becoming much more vocal recently and is not afraid to make her opinion known.  She has been saying "No" for several months, but we were excited when she finally started saying "Yeah."  Emily tries so hard to keep up with Kara.  She is constantly trying to run and jump with her big sister.  She's getting pretty close!  Emily is also starting to show some interest in the potty.  She hasn't gone in the potty yet, but she has peed and pooped right next to it.  Mommy and Daddy aren't sure they're ready to undertake that process yet...  Emily's verbal skills continue to develop.  She's gotten pretty good at mimicking the words or sounds that we make.  It's just a matter of time until she's speaking in complete sentences!

On the less exciting front, Daddy's company lost out on a major contract, and he is out looking for another job.  We're hopeful he can find a job where we don't have to move, but we'll see.

Link to pictures

Breckenridge 2014

During the weekend of September 11th, we took our second family road trip up to visit Breckenridge with Grandma and Grandpa S.  Compared to our first road trip, this one was a wild success!  The big difference was that this time we headed up first thing in the morning instead of trying to head out in the afternoon.  Emily was able to take her nap up there and get a little acclimated before bedtime.  We also took it pretty easy that first day, mostly hanging around the hotel room and visiting the pool.

The second day, Friday, we took a gondola ride up to the Summer Fun Park at the top of Peak 8.  They have all kinds of fun activities like an alpine slide, putt putt golf, and a zip line.  Emily was a little too young to do most of the activities, but Kara was just old enough to try out the Bungee Trampoline.  Kara was a little tentative at first, but once she got the hang of it, she was shooting 20+ feet up into the air.  Next year, I think she'll try out the flips.  After the trampoline, Kara played a bit in an inflatable castle, but we didn't stay up there too long.

After quiet time for the girls, we headed down to town to check out their annual Oktoberfest.  The adults tried out the vast selection of beers, while the girls munched on sausages and pretzels.  Kara also got a hummingbird painted on her face.

We took things pretty easy on Saturday.  Kara, Daddy, and Grandpa went for a short hike in the morning, and we just hung out at the pool for the afternoon.  We headed home early in the morning Sunday.  Unfortunately, Emily picked up a little cold the last night and didn't sleep well.

We're already looking forward to Breckenridge again next year!

Link to pictures

Fall 2013 Professional Pictures

During November, we met up with Esther from BlueThistlePhotography to get some pictures of our family as the girls get older. It's getting trickier to get 4 people to all be looking in the same direction and smiling at the same time, particularly when you have a hyper 4-year old and a slightly grumpy 9-month old.  In the end, though, we got some pretty good pictures of the family.  Enjoy!

Link to pictures

Halloween 2013

Halloween was a blast this year. We got the festivities started by attending a pumpkin-carving party at a neighbor's house, which was a lot of fun. We tried to go to a pumpkin patch, but we didn't get there until late in the month. By that time, the pumpkin patch was very picked over, so we had to get our pumpkin at the grocery store. Trick-or-treating was a lot of fun this year. Kara dressed up as Spiderman, and Daddy took her out with some kids on our street. Emily was a little too young to enjoy the trick-or-treating, but maybe next year!

October, in general, was a busy month for us. We spent the first couple of weeks just getting ourselves settled after spending almost five months living in Florida. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it), Daddy spent the entire month of October working from home since his office flooded in September, so he was around to help out a bit. Unfortunately, Mommy, Kara, and Emily were sick most of the month.  Kara got sick with croup after only 4 classes of preschool. She was down for the count for an entire week and even lost her voice (which was very odd from Kara who usually almost never stops talking). She still has a pretty nasty cough, but she feels fine.  Emily and Mommy both got pretty rough colds (but not as bad as Kara's croup). Daddy, however, was able to avoid the plague, so there was at least one person functioning.

Emily is making progress on crawling. She now army crawls pretty much anywhere she wants to go and can pull herself up to a standing position, but she hasn't quite figured out how to propel herself with her torso off the ground. There's a lot of coordination that goes into crawling! Emily is also developing quite a taste for solid foods. She really enjoys green beans and peaches, but her favorite is pears and apple cinnamon oatmeal.

Link to pictures

We're Home!

After almost five months of fun in the Florida sun, we have headed back home to Colorado.  The travel day was quite an adventure, which included waking up at 4 am, checking in 6 bags, getting 2 strollers and 2 girls through security, and keeping everyone sane for the 3 hour flight.  We are definitely glad to be home!

Kara has adjusted very well to being back home.  She started preschool on our second day home and has been enjoying that.  She also has enjoyed all her "new" toys, which are toys that we couldn't take with us.

Emily is on the verge of crawling.  She will get herself from a sitting position down into a crawling position.  From there, she can kind of lunge and propel herself a foot or so in any direction.  We will have to start baby-proofing the house soon...

Kara quotes:

"I have made quite a mess here" - while helping Mommy clean up some toys

"This dress will really impress my friends tomorrow." - Discussing with Mommy about what to wear to her first day of preschool the next day.

Halloween 2012

October and November have just been a blur. October was filled with visits to pumpkin patches, snow, and Halloween activities. Hopefully we can write more in the November post with details about our trip to Disney!

Link to pictures

Fall Visit from Mimi

Mimi came to visit us at the end of September (yes, we know we're getting this out late... but we figured it was better than never!).  She came to visit for ten days, but the time just flew by.  We went apple picking Ya Ya Orchard, just west of Longmont.  It was a lot of fun, but the trees were pretty small and more or less picked over (the season was very early this year due to the hot, dry summer we had here in Colorado).  We did get to pick some apples and they had some animals to feed (a couple of horses and donkeys).  Mommy shared a caramel apple with Kara, and Daddy and Kara even took a hay ride around the whole orchard!  It wasn't as much fun as Sky Top Orchard in Flat Rock, NC, however, which we highly recommend to our friends down South!

Another highlight of Mimi's visit was a trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park to see the elk.  Mommy and Daddy were a little worried that we were going to head all the way up there and then not be able to find any elk.  Well, we should not have been worried.  We drove past a large herd hanging out at a high school just south of Estes Park, before we even got into the park!  From there, we were able to find quite a few elk.  It was an exciting adventure for all of us (we included some pictures in the slideshow, but here's a link to all of our Rocky Mountain National Park pictures).

In baby news, we had our 20-week ultrasound last week.  The baby looks great!  10 toes and 10 fingers!  the big news out of the ultrasound is that Mommy and Daddy have decided not to find out the baby's gender until he/she is born.  We figured, how many times in your adult life do you actually get surprises?

Link to pictures

Halloween 2011

Halloween was A LOT more fun this year than last year.  We went to a Halloween party with a bunch of kids about the same age as Kara.  Kara wore her monster costume for about two minutes before she pulled it off.  But we all had a good time at the party.

For the last couple of days, Mommy and Kara have been practicing going trick-or-treating.  Kara would pretend to knock on the door and then say "Trick or treat!"  Tonight, however, Mommy had low expectations for going out.  Mommy got Kara all dressed up and planned to try and hit about 4-5 houses before Kara got tired.  After hitting about 6 houses, Mommy brought Kara back, but she kept saying "Trick-or-treat more!", so Mommy took Kara back out for another half hour.  Overall, it was a great night.  Kara's getting to be a lot of fun!

Kara also helped Mommy and Daddy "carve big pumpkin" into a happy pumpkin.  Here's a cute video of her helping out with that:

Link to pictures

Straight to Winter

This past Monday, the weather was a bit on the warm side, being sunny and almost 80 deg F. By Tuesday night, it had started to snow, and we ended up getting almost a foot by Wednesday afternoon. Kara and Daddy had fun testing out our sled in the backyard and made a snowman (Daddy called him Bob). Kara and Daddy also had fun shaking the snow out of the trees (luckily we didn't lose any branches).

Kara just finished up her second swim class. Kara's getting pretty good at blowing bubbles and her back float. We probably have one more class with Mommy and Daddy before she moves up to the next level!

Kara's newest favorite toys are her alphabet blocks. Kara's getting pretty good with the numbers and letter (P is her favorite, we don't know why). She can also stack six high pretty easily. Whenever she knocks over her stacks, she says "Knock over", and then knocks on the blocks like she's knocking on a door.

Link to pictures



Video of Kara helping Daddy shake the snow off a tree (click to watch video).

Pumpkin Patch 2011

This past Saturday, our neighbor from the townhouse, Lu, invited us to go to a pumpkin patch with her. We were all really excited about it. They had caramel popcorn, hayrides, pumpkins, gourds, and even a corn maze. Unfortunately for everyone, the weather didn't cooperate.  It was drizzling most of our time there, and it was pretty chilly (about 40°F).  By the time we left, it was pouring. It's a good thing we got there early!  While we were there, Kara had a great time playing in the mud and picking out pumpkins.  She especially liked the little pumpkins (which she called "tiny pumpkin" in a high voice).  We picked out about 5 good pumpkins.  Mommy got a little carried away with the gourds, and we now have enough to decorate everyone's house in the neighborhood.

Recent conversations with Kara:
Daddy: "I love you, Kara."
Kara: "I love Fifi!" Fifi is her nighttime stuffed dog.

Kara: "What's that?" - Her new favorite phrase

Kara walking to Mommy with her hand cupped (and empty): "Eat this!"
Mommy:  "What am I eating?"
Kara: pause...."Apples! mmm"

Link to pictures

Hiking Fun

Fall has started here in Colorado. The weather is distinctly cooler than it was in August and the leaves on some of the trees are starting to turn yellow. The temperatures at nights are falling down into the mid-40's, so it's quite cool in the mornings. Perfect weather for hiking! The last couple of weekends, Mommy and Daddy have packed Kara up in the hiking backpack and checked out the great outdoors. So far we haven't hiked too far (usually less than 2 miles), but hopefully we can start working up to some more exciting hikes!

Kara is starting to get into the imaginative play.  Mimi bought Kara a horse stable and toy horses when she was here in August.  That has quickly become one of Kara's favorite toys, and she enjoys galloping around the table with the horses and then putting them back in the stable.  At bedtime, Kara and Mommy put the horses to sleep, and Kara says, "Night, night horsies."

Mommy and Daddy have decided to back off a bit on the potty training.  Kara is just not quite ready, but we're still encouraging the use of the potty.  Maybe in a couple of months!  Mommy sure hopes so!

Link to pictures