Welcome to our World

On August 15th our town celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the fire department. It was a blast looking at a century of fire equipment & watching the fire & bomb robot demonstrations. Pictured above is Kaelah in her favorite fire truck. It's from 1923: big, red, shiny, & you can ring the bell from the passenger seat. What's not to love? I was thinking, my dad's parents were already 15-years-old when the this truck was built. Woah. If they were still alive, they would be a year older than the fire department! Later that night Dan & Kaelah mowed the lawn. So cute! That little mower was totally worth the 50 cents I paid for it at a garage sale. This is what Danny thought of it all. And this is what Kaelah looks like after eating some of Daddy's chocolate chip cookies. Yummmm.

We've been spoiled & busy so far this month! I feel so lucky some old (as in dear -- lol) friends of mine were kind enough to throw Danny a baby shower. The treats & presents were great! Being around women I've known for years is just so special. Crazy to think about all that has changed since we met years ago. For one thing, between the 6 of us there were only 3 children. Now look at what we've got: At the shower I noticed yet another difference between Kaelah & Danny (there are so many). Whereas Kaelah seemed to enjoy brunettes best, Danny seems to prefer women with light hair. The timing of the shower was perfect too, because Danny has begun smiling and cooing. He's such a joy to be around! It's amazing to see how much he smiles at his family and what a kick we get out of it. My favorite is when he and Kaelah start smiling at each other & then Kaelah starts laughing sooo hard. They seem to be a perfect sibling pair. (Except when they ...

The last week of July we were blessed by many things. I was so lucky to have my 1st college roommate, Jocelyn, and her brother come visit us on their way to Washington, D.C. We hadn't seen each other since 2001 -- 8 years ago! Of course the time was too short, but wonderful. Thank you, Jocelyn! She even brought us a double rainbow to look at. (; And I have to tell you what happened Monday morning before Jocelyn & Brent arrived: Kaelah had been hitting her friends over things like a fear of them taking a toy away, so I decided it was time to check out some nice books that encouraged alternatives to hitting. Meigo insisted on coming with us, so I made sure to park in the parking garage so she would be where it was nice & cool. Since our childrens' section of the library isn't very organized, I asked my parents to meet me there in case it took way too long to sort through the books. After accomplishing our tasks, I was ready to part ways, but my dad insisted on...

Funny how things just work out sometimes. Upon our first invitation to leave Kaelah & go on vacation, I began talking to a lot of moms. Generally, the rule was that parents ditch their children in this manner: # of days gone = age (in yrs.) of youngest child. Well, upon discovering this equation, Dan & I had planned on spending 2 days in CO Springs for our anniversary this year. A little while before heading to CA for our family vacation I got the feeling to cancel those plans. I assumed it was a money issue (the happiest place on earth is pricey!), & Dan agreed. Well, turns out we would have a 6-week-old baby on our 6th anniversary. Hooray! So, for my present, we went & saw my favorite Shakespeare play in an outdoor theater with a picnic on the green beforehand. LOVED IT! (Thanks to Mom & Dad for babysitting -- they said they both had to take a nap the next day.) I pasted the following review link, if you're interested: Comedy on stage: Colorado Sha...

Sunday Kaelah turned 2 years & Danny turned 6 weeks old. Look at this great smile she's giving Grandpa after a special dinner. And in case you're wondering, the cake is a giant, yummy peach, courtesy of Grandma. (: It was fun to see Kaelah enjoying unwrapping gifts. She got lots of things for her play kitchen & liked them so much she immediately put them away where they belonged. Kaelah, you are awesome. A shot of Gma & Gpa. I am so glad they moved here!!! Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without them. Daddy's big gift to Kaelah: a rocking horse that also neighs & clip-clops. She loves it -- as long as Mom or Dad are standing right there & the riding session doesn't last too long. That's our girl! Kaelah is such a blessing in our lives. She makes me laugh every day and her smiles & giggles are worth a million dollars to me. Of course, having just turned 2, I keep telling her she's going to drive me to drinking as we...

We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends around here! Last Friday we had a quadruple birthday party at the park with 3 girls turning 2 & one turning 3. Their birthdays are all within one month of each other. And yes, they each had a separate birthday cake to boot. There was no shortage of sugar at the park this day! (I like how all the mothers are looking in this picture but none of the birthday girls seem interested.) Entertainment provided by: the park! Kaelah must have been on that swing for half an hour with many different friends deciding to quit before she did. Considering how cautious she is, I'm surprised at how fast she'll let me push. Yeah for doing something brave. Jumping beans. (: Happy Birthday, wonderful girls! Thank yous go to Karyl, Donna, Valerie, Fabiola, April, Nick, Ted, Dan, & Travis for making it a wonderful morning!

We had so much fun at Grandma & Grandpa's pool the day Danny turned 1 mo. old. Well, he slept through most of it, but the rest of us had a good time. He also had his 1 mo. check-up that day. He's doing great, his collar bone seems to have healed, & he weighs 11 lbs. 5 oz. already -- 90th percentile! Oink! Here's a couple shots of Kaelah giggling as she runs away from Gma & Gpa's splashes. You can't help but laugh with her! Gma trying to dunk Gpa before getting their really bad sun burns. I should take a picture of the blisters. Ouch. Grandpa & Grandma are always more than willing to hold baby Danny, but Gpa usually wins. (: Thanks for a great time at the pool, Mom & Dad!