Story time crafts...

Don't we moms always know the entire city's guide of free activities on any given day of the week?!  On Saturdays at 11 a.m. is a fun story time with crafts at Barnes and Noble in Westminster.  The boys enjoy it, and so do I.  On this particular day they were making hats after they listened to the story. Well done, Boys!

Trying to break our tree?

No matter how we try to get around it, both boys LOVE climbing the tree in our back yard.  The fence is in the perfect spot to help them up to this lowest branch, and that's the gateway to the rest of the dangerous fun.  They scamper up and down this thing like spider monkeys.  Hard to know how to avoid this one, really, without just avoiding the whole back yard. 

Zoo time with friends...

Ah, how we love the zoo!  Here are Gavin and Caleb Schmidt riding the bulls.

And here are Mommy and Gage riding the train instead.

This huge bear is in the gift shop at the zoo.  Can you imagine seeing a bear in the wild like that?!

Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory...

Around the time of Gage's birthday--and just for something fun and different to do--we took the boys to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Denver.  Of course, the point of going was to eat in the train car.

We had fun but paid more than we expected to.  I think that the food was actually better than we expected it to be, though, so that was a relief.  It wasn't quite like taking the fam to Casa Bonita, which we haven't done yet as parents, and banking only on the quality of the sopapillas and nothing else on the menu.

Brent took this one of the three of us in the dining car, and it almost looks like we were moving, doesn't it?  "See ya later, Daddy, and thanks for lunch!  I'll catch you lates!"

Gage's 3rd birthday party!

We hosted a really cute, little birthday party for Gage at our house this year, and the theme was construction, as you can see.  The kids built different things at a few different play stations (Legos, Magnatiles, Hard Hat Decorating, etc.) and had to get their building permits stamped after completing each station. 

Then they exchanged their stamped passes for pizza plates, and we all had pizza for dinner.

This was the Lego building station.  It was so fun to watch the kids doing what they love to do.

The kids helped me make our own cake pops this year, and that was an adventure.  What I thought about later was that, crazy enough, I could have bought 12 cake pops from Starbucks (and we all know how sickeningly good and addictive those are!) for about the same price as we paid to make ours...and saved all of the mess and madness.  But, what about the adventure?  Maybe it was worth it for the fun with the boys, though Mommy had to dedicate some solo time to the project to make that one happen. 

I love this group picture of the birthday gang in their hard hats.  I have to say that, thankfully, this party was one of those rare and wonderful moments as a mommy when I felt proud of something that I had done.  Thank you for that gift, Lord, and most of all for the gift of our precious three-year-old son, Gage Nicholas. 

Spider Monkey Koel (aka, Gavin)...

My friend, Andrea, is always telling me how cool our local rec center is.  In fact, she and her family came up to swim and play there just last weekend, and it meant a 45 minute drive for them--coming from Littleton--so I should really appreciate that it's a mere two minute drive for us.  One of the cool features of Paul Derda is this awesome rock wall.

Brent hadn't taken Gavin in awhile, and I had no doubt that he'd "summit" the wall this time, which he did with ease.  And he had a great time doing it, which is probably the most fun part for me to see.

Man, he looks HUGE here!  Gavin climbed this orange route several times before calling it quits for that day, and Gage can't wait to get on that wall next!  We really do have two spider monkeys for children. 

Grandpa Bruce Visit

My (Brent's) dad, otherwise known as Grandpa Bruce, stopped by for a visit on the way to Kansas.  The boys always love seeing Grandpa.  I think it's probably because he loves wrestling with them, he always seem to just understand their wildness, and he potentially even has better LEGO and construction building skills than Brent...though that last part might be very much in dispute.

The real reason for the trip through Colorado to Kansas was to be recognized as a member of the Norton High School state championship wrestling team on their 40th anniversary.  They had a big wrestling meet in town and at the break between before the finals they called out each member of the team and recognized them.  It was pretty great to witness and I am sure my dad had a lot of fun connecting with many people from his past.

These were all the members that attended from his team above, including his coach.  From spending so much time as a kid as I grew up in Norton for vacations, I actually recognized far more people than I remembered.  In the yellow shirt is actually my Uncle Evan, and to the right of him is the son of Jack Wards (who owned a shop in town that my Grandpa used to take me to every time I came out).  I also remember the coach, who is standing just to the right of my dad...though I am having trouble recalling his name at the moment.

Another good reason to go out for a quick trip was to see my Grandma.  She has had some health problems recently, but seems to be hanging in there in good spirits.  We were able to help her go through some stuff in her house and just spend some quality time with her.

Her is another picture, similar to mine, with my dad and grandma.  The trip also was a good opportunity to have a long hang out time with my dad.  We exchanged hilarious stories about high school and college, worked our way through eclectic music collections, and discussed everything from politics to religion it seemed like.  It really was a great trip.

Snow hike at Shanahan Ridge...

This is a picture of something that seems like it's  becoming a tradition for me (Brent) and the boys whenever Tara is out of town or busy.  I figure I better go tire them out with a nice big hike or bike ride.  A snow hike sounded even more fun...or crazy.  We decided to go anyway and we were all suited up for the cold.  This actually turned into about a 90 minute hike.  The sun provided some nice warmth, but it was still fairly chilly.  The kids had a great time jumping off rocks into the snow and petting every dog that past them.  Gavin had a hard time keeping his gloves on, and despite his hands becoming quite cold, he refused to put them back on.  All in all, they had a great time, and we came back home to warm up after the hike.