Catch up from Halloween 'til now

I know...it's sad, but true...I am so far behind on blogging. We did just get a new camera though on Black Friday (actually using cyberspace on Thanksgiving), so I'm hopeful I'll be able to keep you all updated a bit more frequently. Here goes...


Let's start with Halloween and our little sometimes-princess. Elly was Cinderella...and the only picture of our children we got. We've only had Sam's phone for a bit and he's not quite as photo-happy as me. Mac was a bat, because I wouldn't let him be a scary vampire...and Nate was a Seahawks football player with hurt feelings. Kids at Bauder preferred his classmate as a Bronco and Nate got tired of the Bronco cheers in the Halloween parade. Sticks and stones....


Next was Mac and Grandma Debbie's birthday. Grandma and her two sisters, Aunt Mary and Aunt Laurie drove up from Denver to have breakfast with the kids on their birthday. They added a lot of cheer to our early morning!


Then...the birthday party! Mac wanted a carnival themed birthday. We transformed the basement into a carnival and had way too many kids at our house. I decided it was our last hurrah for birthday parties for the boys. Our plan is to take the boys somewhere fun with a few friends for birthdays from now on...for sanity sake.




Happy Birthday Buddy! More on Mac later. Sam is going to do a blog on Mac's first hunting trip. Spoiler alert...Mac did AMAZING. Can't wait for you to see that one!


Let's see...next we'll go to our annual Christmas tree hunting extravaganza


Notice the snow boots...no snow. It was crazy. We hiked quite a ways though since there wasn't snow holding us up.


We first passed this old homestead. Mac and Elly decided to stay here with a gracious friend of mine, while we hiked further to look for our tree.


Nate got the honors.


Sam got the tough part. We did A LOT of hiking! The kid did amazing!


Time to decorate the beauty...


Elly's branch...


Elly's turn to put on the star.


Look at that beauty!


And now...for our most recent decoration...


That's right folks...it's the Grinch! Papa Jim made this for us! Amazing work!


I'm waiting for our house to now be listed in the newspaper for decorations for all of Fort Collins to come see. Okay, not really...although I'm sure at some point the boys will get our lights synchronized to music and we'll make the list. We'll keep you posted o that one....

Flag football!

Wow...it's been a really long time. I'm hoping to have some short and sweet ones so I can catch up.

Nate just finished up his first flag football season. He wanted to play Fall baseball, but knowing some buddies were playing flag football, I talked Nate into giving it a try. I like baseball...but he was getting a bit fanatical about it. Well, now he's fanatical about football. :) Not only did he love playing with his friends, but he'd be running routes with Sam in the backyard any chance he'd get. Now he's not sure if he likes football or baseball better. That's a lot coming from a kid who's been swinging a bat since he was two (probably earlier!).


He's going with the Clay Matthews look...


Conspiring on the sidelines...

These last two are videos...I'm having camera issues at the moment, which would be only having a phone to take pictures...doesn't work too good for action shots. So this first one is Nate scoring a touchdown. He loved running and "juking" defenders!


His last is playing quarterback. When asked by his coach what his favorite part about the season was, it was playing quarterback. I loved that he had to yell to his team to start the play. Nate's pretty quiet, and the first time he did this the coach got on to him for not being loud enough. From then on out he was loud and clear...good to hear him pipe up in a populated situation. :)


He says he wants to play tackle next year...I don't think mom's up for that just yet.

Elly's first day of school!

It's official...I have all three of my kids in school. Granted, Elly's only in pre-K for 3 hours 3 days a week, but it is crazy that school has started for my youngest kid. I'm excited for Elly to have her own thing for once (she's been a tag-along to the boys way too long) and I know my time alone will get filled up fast, but I am also a little sad that this is the precursor to kindergarten and each school year after that. Once the school years start, time just seems to fly. Of course there's many exciting and fun things with the school years, it's just a new season of mommyhood.

Back to Elly...
Elly was a little bummed when we went school supply shopping and her list contained napkins, plates and cups instead of all the cool notebooks, pens and pencils the boys had on their lists, but she was excited for her pink backpack.

She had no hesitations, just said "bye mom" when it was time for me to go, and went on playing with her playdough.

Elly is going to the same pre-K program the boys went to. It's lots of fun and I'm excited for her to learn from Mrs. Kirk. I'm curious how she does. She's definitely got a little more spunk with the boys and sits still way less than they did at her age. However, she's got some skills hidden up her sleeve. Look at this worksheet!

She wanted to improvise and give the empty tree one apple, but in the end decided to just go ahead and follow the directions, "'cause Mrs. Kirk would like that.":)

Her teacher gives the kids a handful of worksheets each time. You're not supposed to force the kids to do it, but they do get prizes for doing them...so Mac, maybe did one sheet each time, Nate, did every single one right away, and I figured Elly would be more like Mac. However, she wanted to do homework like her brothers. She didn't bust through them, but she did a couple. I think with Elly, it's just going to be more if she thinks it's worth her while to sit down and do something...'cause playing babies and swinging on a tire swing can sometimes trump sitting still!

First week of school

It was a good first week. The boys are very tired by the end of the day, but we've been getting used to that with each school year. There's definitely a transition.

Nate would still like school to be half-day, but I guess that's to be expected from a kid who always rises at 6am. He's my early bird. The first day of school, he was dressed by 6am and had his lunch made by 6:30. I've always made their lunches. Anyway, here's their first-day-of-school pics.


First ones to the bus stop. Nate our big second grader and Mac, a third grader.


Here's all their buddies!


This cracked Sam and I up, as we read it after the kids went to bed. Nate was filling this out for his teacher, and notice what he put for needing help with? The boys do not go to a bilingual school and no, they don't take a foreign language as second graders. :)

This week is starting off a bit rough. Elly has had croup since Thursday and has slept horribly the past couple nights. Tonight her coughing is keeping everyone up. Nate finally fell asleep at 9 and Mac is still up (it's 9:45)...only 2 hours past their bedtimes. Arghhhh! Tomorrow is a new day. :)

A Summer to remember...

This is a little more like an album than a post, lots of Summer fun. Here we go...


Sam built a zipline from our house to the neighbors that started at the treehouse and ended when you dropped in the pool. The boys loved it!


Nate's turn


We didn't let Elly do the zipline, but she did get great at the monkey bars. Did them every chance she got!


Sam and I caught the Zac Brown Band at Cheyenne Frontier Days. We actually had a great time there at rodeos and such with the whole family including the Ballard cousins, but unfortunately I lost all my pictures from my camera. I think I'm finally done crying about it!

After spending time with the Eliason family in Cheyenne, we headed to North Carolina to spend time with the Glasers. We took our time getting there, spent a week in a beach house, then hustled back. Our first stop was St. Louis.


Here the kids are at the Gateway Arch.


Sweet shades!


Enjoying the view from the top of the arch...


Snug as a bug!


We stopped in Chattanooga, TN after spending the night in Nashville and visiting some caves.




After Chattanooga, we hit Gatlinburg for some crazy fun. We started off with ice cream...


then stayed up late playing mini-golf and lasertag. I think the kids appreciated a fun place after all the driving and touristy adult stuff they'd previously done.


Look at this beautiful place we got to stay at in Kure Beach NC! A perfect place to relax and spend time with family for a week.


Our view and walk to the beach...


Time on the beach. The boys loved boogie boarding, wearing themselves out every day in the water.


Nate and Katie Ann working on some sand castles.


Elly loved jumping the waves and riding them on the boogie board. Definitely a fish like her brothers!


My mom scheduled us for some family pictures, which I can't wait to see! These are some pictures taken while we were all dressed up. Nate and Morgyn waiting patiently for their turn...


Mac with Papa...


I'm not totally sure this was helping the photographer...


Taking some time to check out his shells before heading down to the beach for more pics.


cousins playing on the beach...




What a great place for pictures!


This kids first time playing monopoly. It's been a favorite past time the past couple weeks!


We hit some coasters one night at the Carolina Beach Boardwalk.


Elly even rode some!


All the cousins, Katie Ann, Gracelyn, Morgyn, Gus, Elly, Harrison, Mac, Carter and Nate

We had great week and loved the time we spent with the Glasers! I did a terrible time taking pictures of everyone together, but will have to pass along more when I get the professional pics!


We hustled back in 3 days, the scenery through Kentucky was beautiful!


The kids were only a little crazy by the time we got home!



...but the only thing that made them endure 3 days in the car, was them knowing they were coming home to see Aunt Lizzy and Uncle Ben visiting from Africa! We hadn't seen them for a year, so they were pretty excited. They stayed with us Thursday, we joined them in Denver for a wedding Lizzy was in on Saturday, then they were back to Zambia Sunday morning. This is the last trip here until they're done with the Peace Corp next October, so we cherished our time with them.


Elly and her Aunt Lizzy (the first Elizabeth Eliason :))


Since we've been back from NC, the boys and friends have been working on the treehouse, adding shelves and today...this emergency exit.


I'm pretty sure it's not to code...


One more cute pic of Elly reading to her babies.

Those are the highlights! We also had lots of baseball with both boys playing, each 2 nights a week, but I lost those pictures along with the ones from Cheyenne Frontier Days. Major bummer. Anyway, the kids met their teachers today and start school tomorrow, so their Summer is officially over. It's been a good one and now we're looking ahead to a great school year!