Burt's Blog of Blessings

Free Ice Cream for a Year!

2009-06-01T13:08:00.001-07:00

Check this out! I won a gallon of ice cream from this site last year. Let's hope for a year's worth this time!! Woot Woot!

Kissing Cousins

2009-02-01T17:09:00.003-07:00

January 1, 2009- Sacramento, CA

Somehow we managed to get all the kids to pose for a shot at the mall. It's always a feat to make sure everyone was happy and staying in one place. Ryan was the one who wanted to wander off and had to be thrown in the shot at the last minute. But the greatest challenge is narrowing down the choices... how many kids are looking at the camera and actually smiling, and which shot was the cutest. Just ask my brother-in-law who was the token male at the photo shoot and couldn't understand why it took so long to decide on a picture. He wanted us to decide already so we could go home and eat lunch! I think this one turned out very well. And they were kissing cousins indeed!

And We're Back!

2009-01-29T19:38:00.010-07:00

In California, we visited with Greg's uncle Bob and family- which included seeing Greg's cousin's wife whose name happens to be Stephanie Burt! (She's on the left wearing the white sweater.)
Clausen's with Greg's parents- Doug and Margie Burt.

Well, we are home from our Christmas vacation in California. An update is long past due. Here's a bunch of photos to give you a taste of our trip. I couldn't get them to load in order so we'll skip around a bit. A bit thanks to my little sister, Liz, for hosting all 15 of us Clausen's for over a week!! She did a most excellent job feeding and sleeping all of us under one roof. It was great to have all the little cousins together playing so nicely with each other. It is sad we don't live closer. Maybe one day they'll all move to Denver!! We'll keep praying and hoping. Enjoy! Golden Gate Bridge
The kids with their grandparents

Emily and Abby playing with cousin Ashton

Emily and cousin Tommy on Christmas morning... perhaps wishing a puppy was in one of the packages.

My oldest sister, Lisa, and I

Ryan loving on his cousin Tommy

My aunt Nancy, Uncle David, Cousins Pheobe and Sammy

Abby teaching cousin Kiki a thing or two on the piano.

Grandpa and Mummu and all their grandkids!

Daddy and kids at the Golden Gate Bridge

Momma and her boy!

The girls

Our family at the Bridge

That's my girl, Abby!! What a card she is!

The kids had funny hat worship time!

Ryan really loved to love on cousin Brennan!

Me and my niece, Kris

Lana and her nephew Brennan.

Liz, Kris, Emily, and I decided to go green.

The kids enjoyed a visit with their great-grandmother, Greg's grandmother, Bev. She lives in Folsom, about 45 minutes away from my sister.

Mummu with some of her adoring grandkids!

Mary had a little lamb- at Fairy Tale Town!

My seesters!! Lana, Liz, and Lisa. (Yes, I know, my name shoud have started with an "L" too!)

My oldest sister, Lisa, with kids Tommy and Kristen.

Abby and mom.

Our family on Christmas day.

Auntie Lana with her nephews.

Sister Liz, husband David, with boys Ashton and Brennan.

The kids patiently waiting to rip into the gifts on Christmas morning.

The cousins are waiting on the stairs for the go-ahead to come see what Santa brought...

The Clausen Clan!

Merry Christmas from the Burts!

2008-12-22T14:24:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas to all our friends and Family!

Sorry we didn't send out cards this year. But as you can read from previous posts, we are busy with our sweet Emily who's 8, Abby who is 6, and Ryan who is 16 months. Greg is still job searching and we know God will be faithful to provide like he's done in the past. Stephanie still homeschools while keeping Ryan out of trouble! We are so happy to visit Stephanie's family (15 in all!) in northern CA for Christmas. But we get a double blessing because Greg's parents will drive up to visit us as well. We will also see Greg's grandmother and uncle and family too. It'll be a busy but fun trip!

May you have a very blessed and merry Christmas as we celebrate the Savior's birth!

Walking and Crafting!

2008-12-10T13:09:00.005-07:00

Snowflakes! An easy craft made from arranging q-tips in a snowflake pattern.Next, drop huge globs of glue at the intersections- making sure the q-tips touch. And sprinkle glitter all over the glue. Watch out for the glitter. It makes a mess but the result is very cool, pretty, and worth it! This is a very easy craft that the girls really enjoyed!

The first real snow of the season! The girls enjoyed playing and Ryan can't wait for the day when he can run around and play in it too!

Well, here's my boy! He finally started walking. But God forbid he take his thumb out of his mouth so that he can balance better!! He's climbing on the fireplace (and oh, so proud!) and keeping me busy!

TAG! You're it!

2008-11-30T20:39:00.003-07:00

I've been tagged by Nancy Mandl... Now you are it: Jen Troyer, Judy Lyman, Wendy Callaway, Alicia Dennis, and Rebekah Zeerip. Now you open your picture file, open the 5th file, open and post the 5th picture. Tag 5 of your friends. Here's my picture. This is my mother-in-law holding Ryan days after his birth.

By the way, Ryan just started walking this past week. Today was like a milestone for him because he walked all the way from the living room into the kitchen! His farthest walk yet!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T10:55:00.007-07:00

These are the Pilgrim cookies we made this week. The bottom is a striped shortbread cookie. It's topped with a chocolate dipped marshmallow. We used icing to draw on the buckle. Very easy, very fun, and very tasty! See the chocolate mouth!

Ryan's either yelling "Touch Down" or "Ta Da"!

Kenzie and Katie were great with Ryan.

We enjoyed a fun and family-filled day at my cousin Julie's house in Loveland. The kids have such a great time together. I am so happy to have relatives nearby with whom to celebrate the day! We ate all the usual thanksgiving dishes and the girls especially loved tasting some of the 6 pies we had! Chocolate cream was a hit!

Can you see the chocolate around their mouths??

Cheese!!

I know this is dark but here's Ryan rocking out to Bill's Garage Band. He really enjoyed the music!

We've Elved ourselves! Merry Christmas... a bit early, but hey, why not?

2008-11-20T15:44:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ryan's First...

2008-11-16T14:06:00.004-07:00

Ryan really really needed a haircut. Yesterday, I took him to SportClips (because that's where the boys go!), sat him on my lap and he did really well getting his first haircut. Only at the end did he get a bit squirmy and I needed to pull out the sucker to distract him. I think it turned out pretty well.

Also this week, he's been taking a few first steps. They've been so random that I haven't been able to get the camera in time to record the momentous occasion. But I did get him on tape pushing his rocket car around and trying to keep up with it as he pushed it out ahead of him. It's pretty cute! Very soon, he'll be running around keeping up with his sisters!!

Catching up!!

2008-11-06T15:10:00.008-07:00

First things first.... So long Marilyn Musgrave! The end of this political season means the end of Marilyn's term as Congresswoman. After 3 tries, the liberal bullies have pushed her out of office. This also means the end of Greg's job working as a Constituent Advocate, helping people on behalf of Marilyn. Please be in prayer that God will guide Greg as he initiates contacts and interviews and discovers where he's meant to be in this next season of our life.

Halloween 2008

Emily is a jester. Abby was a hula hula gal.

We thought Ryan would be a cute cow but the costume didn't fit. At that last minute, we dressed him as a cowboy- minus the irritating hat! They all got LOTS of candy for their troubles.

Emily lost her 2 top front teeth within 3 days! I have had the most fun trying to get her to say various things and listening to her lisp. "Say Christmas!" To which she'll reply "blah! I'm not falling for it, mom!"

Em also had to get glasses a couple weeks ago.

She LOVES them and they help her see better at church.

Here's Ryan playing a duet with Gretta Hansen.

Maybe they'll grow up to make beautiful music together!
Greg and Ryan enjoyed one of Emily's last soccer games this fall.

My two little girls are growing up.

I can't take a picture of them without them wanting to "strike a pose"!

Ryan's new past time is climbing into the dishwasher! He loves to put things in and take things out... Oh, to be young again and enjoy the simple things in life!

One day, he'll actually help put dishes in. Can't wait!

Another fun thing is to take pots and pans out and put them in and see how much noise a little boy can make! Can't wait for him to put these to work in the kitchen and make us some vittles!
Last but not least, we had the exciting opportunity to see Sarah Palin up close at a rally in Loveland. We waited in a line for almost 3 hours and barely made it in. At the last minute we were able to get VIP access and get up to the very front to see her. It was an incredible event- very fun!

This and That

2008-09-26T14:44:00.002-07:00

I did something the other day with my girls that I used to do when I was a little girl. I would get together with my friend Sharon. She'd come to my house or I'd go to hers... we'd get into the cupboard and look for any ingredients we could reach. A little of This and That. Flour, sugar, butter, salt. We'd throw it all into a bowl, mix it up, stick in in a pan and bake. Most of the time it turned out hard as a rock. Usually tasted terrible, but it was so much fun!

So the other day the girls were wanting to bake something. I wasn't sure what if I had the ingredients to make something specific... so I thought it would be fun to just add various ingredients- without following a recipe. I encouraged or steered the girls away from adding things like ketchup and pepper... and we came up with quite a tasty cookie! Emily dutifully wrote down the measurements as we poured in our ingredients (just in case it was edible!). We came up with these little chocolate, peanut butter cookies rolled in coconut. They were yummy! Maybe next time I'll let them try out whatever ingredients they fancy and see what it would taste like... but I was in the mood for a cookie! :) It was fun to make a memory in the kitchen with my girls who are growning up too quickly!

Guests... sign in and be counted!

2008-09-14T17:45:00.002-07:00

Hey out there!
If you happen upon our blog, drop a note once in a while and let me know you're out there. I sometimes wonder if I'm blogging for my benefit only. So sign in and be counted! Thanks!!

Alas, A New Blog Entry! It'll be long... so sit down and relax!

2008-09-13T19:55:00.014-07:00

It's been a busy few weeks. So I'll try to catch you up!

The beginning of August we went to California to visit Greg's family. Greg and I were able to go away for a couple of days to Catalina Island and leave the kids with the grandparents. We had a wonderful time away.

The kids enjoyed getting to know their grandparents too. It was special for them to have that time with them. They haven't spent much too time with their cousins, Christian and Conner, so were very happy to play with them as well. The kids had a blast at the beach. I think they could get used to riding the boogie board and jumping the waves!

Then we all went camping on the beach by Malibu. We celebrated Ryan's birthday there. The biggest highlight was going to the big D! Disneyland!! The girls were in awe of the rides, all the people, and Mickey Mouse! It was great fun!

Now is the start of our busy birthday season! On the 22nd of August, we celebrated Ryan's first birthday. The 30th was mine and Greg's 11th anniversary.
September 1st was Emily's 8th birthday. It's hard to believe that she is so grown up. She was looking for makeup yesterday to put on! What's next? She is a sweet young lady and loves God and her sister and brother. Since her birthday was on Labor Day we were able to have a day full of fun. We started the morning by surprising her with decorations in her room! She awoke to streamers on the ceiling. Then she had a special breakfast of belgian waffles. Next was a girl day with mom and the girls going out to see the American Girl movie, Kit Kittredge. And she requested lasagne for dinner. So it was quite the fun day! This year she is playing soccer for the first time. She had her 2nd game today. She is enjoying running around and playing.

We started homeschool the week of Labor day. It was a slow start but I think we are getting in the swing of things. On September 8th, the girls started the 1-day a week program at Rocky Mountain Homeschool Academy. Here they are posing for their 1st day of school shots. Aren't my girls pretty!

Abby wanted to pose as though she was walking out the door! She is the "strike a pose" girl!

I can't leave out Ryan. He is crawling everywhere. He just learned how to climb the stairs. Oh my! I can't walk up the stairs carrying him. He insists on getting down and climbing up himself. And I caught him climbing up on the fire place hearth. Gotta watch him closely come winter! And he loves to crawl under the table and chairs, climbing over the rungs. The other evening, he sat down there for at least 10 minutes, just laughing and enjoying the view from under the table! He also enjoys playing with a new birthday toy, a Little Einstein's Rocket! It makes lots of noise!!

Finally, today we celebrated Abby's birthday with a small party. In light of our recent trip to Disneyland, she wanted a Minnie Mouse themed party. She wore her Minnie mouse ears and we had some ears for her 5 guests too. I attempted something I have never done before. I made a Minnie Mouse cake! It was quite a feat, I tell you! I was nervous it wouldn't turn out. But, aside from Minnie looking like she was crying, because the icing was dripping, I think it turned out well, if I do say so myself. Here it is...

There you have it. A longwinded, blundering update. This next week, we'll wind up the birthdays with Abby's and Greg's on the 17th, and mine on Friday, the 19th. September is an expensive month. And it's only 3 months till Christmas... gotta start saving.

Ryan is one today!

2008-08-22T10:34:00.004-07:00

Seems like only yesterday you were this little bundle of blue. So sweet and so very tiny, my tiniest baby of all. With all that black hair that would eventually fall out and make you bald and fuzzy.
Then you grew, as did all the other care group babies. Your new little friends: Rebecca, Gretta, and Owen. It'll be fun to watch you grow bigger with your buddies!
You are blessed to have such loving and adoring sisters. Emily and Abby love to play with you and report your every movement and sound. "Look mommy, he pulled himself up!" "Mom, he just said 'dat'!"
Look at your light brown hair, in need of a hair cut and hair product! You have grown into such a handsome and happy boy! You are crawling all over, pulling up on furniture, and soon you'll be tottling all over. We love having you, little boy, in our family!

We were happy to celebrate your 1st birthday last week at the beach in CA with your cousins, Christian and Conner. Aunt Carrie, Uncle Craig, Papa, and Grandma were there too. We had a fun time camping at the beach.

Happy Birthday, dear Ryan, Happy 1st birthday to you!!

With Love from your mom and dad

Lakeside Amusement Park Fun!

2008-08-08T22:31:00.005-07:00

The girls earned their free tickets to Lakeside from the library. They had a daddy/daughter date. SO much fun!!

Abby and Emily enjoying the farris wheel. Ahhh... sisters!

I took the girls to a local amusement park last week and had a blast.

I Can Only Imagine... Eating Margarine?

2008-08-04T12:49:00.003-07:00

These kind of paradies always bring a smile to my face... and the girls ask "What's so funny?" while watching this over my shoulder. They don't get it. Soon there'll be lots of days when I will just laugh to myself for no apparent reason and the girls will just think "that's just our crazy mom." Yes, I too, am aging. Hopefully gracefully!

A Wonderful Date!

2008-08-04T11:14:00.009-07:00

It's been too long since I've had a nice date with my main squeeze. It finally worked out for Greg and I to drive on down to Cherry Creek and look for a happenin' place to eat dinner. We stumbled upon "Cherry Creek’s fabulously trendy Restaurant of the Moment", North. The dining room was full and only outside seating was available. That was fine with us. It was a pleasant evening... just the perfect temperature. We sat on the sidewalk and watched all the dog walkers and Land Rover drivers pass us by while we enjoyed our fabulous meal. We were served a delicious mixed green salad with pine nuts, avocado, golden raisins, and feta. And we split the Chicken Parmesan entree. Add on a side of grilled Asparagus. Yum!! It was just enough so we had room for dessert.

For that part of our date, we visited a local Denver favorite, Bonnie Brae Ice Cream for that little somethin' somethin' to top off a great night. The line was out the door and down to the corner, and then some, if that gives you an idea of how loved this place is. The homemade ice cream was such a special treat! Greg licked the peppermint, while I had a dose of Cappucino Crunch. Yum yum!!

Thanks, honey, for a wonderful night. And a shout out to K-Rod for watching our kiddos (even though they talked her into a late bedtime so that they could watch all of Extreme Home Makeover). Yes, she is now a favorite sitter!!

P.S. I was a winner (one of five) in the drawing below for Blue Bunny Ice Cream! Yea! Looks like MORE ice cream is in my future!! :) I guess posting about it for that extra entry in the drawing paid off!

Ice Cream, I SCREAM! We all scream for Ice Cream!

2008-07-26T08:05:00.005-07:00

This wonderful blog is giving away ice cream to celebrate Ice Cream Month. Click on the link to go to From Dates to Diapers and enter to win free Blue Bunny ice cream and free Häagen-Dazs ice cream. There's no better way to enjoy the summer than with something FREE!

WOA! An Ice cream maker give-away!

2008-07-24T10:03:00.003-07:00

Check it out...This cool blog http://www.fromdatestodiapers.com/ is giving away this fun Hamilton Beach ice cream maker. Leave a comment at the site mentioned above to be entered into this drawing!

Boys and Bats!

2008-07-23T19:19:00.007-07:00

What is it about boys and bats? Notice Ryan carries his bat everywhere! He even crawls with a bat in each hand. Perhaps we have a future baseball player in our midst. Lookout Matt Holliday! And he's already 11 months old, people! Where has the time gone? My baby is a little baseball bat-loving boy!

Baby Friends Growing Up...

2008-07-23T19:15:00.003-07:00

Emily and Abby had the pleasure of spending some time with Joshua and Adin Marmon yesterday. They have been friends since they were babies. Now they live in Texas but distance made no difference. They picked up where they left off and had great fun together.

Fun Kid Moments

2008-07-23T19:04:00.002-07:00

The girls love to play dress up. I guess Ryan does too! He didn't mind being a cowboy!!
Abby Ingalls Wilder!
The Princess of Quite Alot

Check out this beautiful quilt Give-Away!

2008-07-21T22:15:00.003-07:00

I just stumbled upon this website http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/2008/07/win-this-quilt.html. They are giving away this beautiful quilt. Just click the link and follow the instructions. It's a fun blog you may enjoy. Check it out! Look at the picture link on the left-hand side of my blog. Isn't it pretty?

Eric's Birthday Tribune

2008-07-19T09:11:00.003-07:00

Eric's Hansen is our care group leader at church and we had a surprise party for him this week at our care group meeting, but at the last minute he couldn't attend. So we put this video together for him.

Our Little Firecrackers!

2008-07-06T15:22:00.003-07:00

4th of July and 10th Anniversary GCC celebration

Ryan LOVES his bat! The other day, the girls were handing him other toys, trying to see if he'll put down the bat. He held the bat in one hand, a toy in his other hand, and he wanted the other toy too. So he bent down to feel it with his mouth. But he would not put down that bat!

Family Date

2008-07-03T09:23:00.002-07:00

Last Saturday was so beautiful and not too hot. It was a perfect day for minature golf.

Oh, Abby!

2008-07-03T09:10:00.004-07:00

Meet Abby... my artistic, dramatic, fun-loving one. A couple weeks ago she was sucking on a silver ring. She quickly came upstairs, interrupted my phone call to tell me that she had accidentally swallowed it. She was so worried about what would happen to her, how would it come out, etc. She wasn't choking, and it wasn't stuck, so we just had to wait for nature to take it's course and lead the way out... so we waited. I assume it came out. We quickly tired of checking. :)

Now last Thursday, I offered what I thought would be a nice snack of popcorn. I went to take my shower while they ate and watched Andy Griffith. I was covered in soap and shampoo when I heard screaming and yelling! Emily came in the bathroom to tell me that Abby put popcorn kernels in her nostrils. She thought that would be funny! Well, she was able to get one out but the other was bumped far up in her nose and made her nose bleed. Blood was gushing and dripping out all over the floor as she too joined us in the bathroom. She kept moaning saying, "I just can't take this... I'm so scared. I just can't take this!" Meanwhile, Ryan is now awake, crying in his crib, disturbed by the commotion. Of course, Abby doesn't like to blow her nose, so I didn't even think to ask her to blow... I quickly rinsed off, got out of the shower, and called the doctor. The nurse said that the kernel would not dissolve and yes, we should come in. We rushed around, getting dressed, packing the diaper bag, and were off to the doctor in a half hours time. The doctor had a hard time seeing the kernel at first, it was so high up there. But after encouraging her to blow... blow... blow... Out it popped! Like giving birth to a baby, Abby birthed the lone kernel out of her nose. Maybe we've learned a lesson here somewhere...

Random Happenings

2008-07-03T09:02:00.002-07:00

So the other night, Greg had fallen asleep before I did, as is usual. I had an itch to be funny and give him a pedicure as he slept. I painted his pretty toes a nice shade of Raspberry. He awoke early before me. He didn't have his glasses on as he slipped on his shoes to run to the store and to Starbucks. He thought he saw a shadow on his foot... As he walked into King Soopers, wearing his sandals, he was shocked to see polish on his feet! He gingerly walked into the store, toes curled under, and proceeded to the aisle with the polish remover. Thank goodness it was early, and the store was uncrowded, and he was grateful for self-check-out!
Meet Tom and Rose, our pseudo-ducks. They visit the neighborhood every year and go house-to-house asking for bread and water. We watch for them every summer. This is the 5th year they have been our guest.

Father's Day

2008-07-03T08:52:00.004-07:00

We celebrated Father's day with the most wonderful father. Greg is such a blessing to me and the kids. He works hard all week but still loves to run around with the kids, play Connect Four, wrestle, read to, and love on the kids. We love daddy!

Doorbell Ditch

2008-06-12T09:55:00.003-07:00

I heard a knock on the door on Tuesday night at 9:30. Greg opened the door and there before us was a kids nascar lunch box. Suspicious of what may be in it, Greg picked it up and turned it over. There was a slight weight in it but didn't really feel anything moving in it. There was a note attached.

"If you want to keep the cat, please throw our lunchbox back on the street. If you don't want the cat, please set this back on the sidewalk. Thank you."

So we opened up the box and saw inside a tiny little black kitten! What in the world would we do with this? We tried to call out for whoever to come back for their cat, but no one answered. Greg walked around the corner to try and find the owner but didn't see anyone. So after a little bowl of milk, we put the kitten in the dog kennel. I thought a kitten wouldn't make more noise than a puppy, but the constant mewing ALL NIGHT LONG was enough to drive us nuts.

A short call to Animal Control, and a quick pickup on Wednesday morning and "Blackie" was gone.

We had a goodnight's sleep last night.

By Popular Demand... or at least a suggestion

2008-06-10T09:48:00.003-07:00

Enjoy a few new tunes for your listening pleasure. One was suggested by my sista' Lana who rocks out to "We will Rock You" regularly. And because she is a HUGE "Idol" fan, I've chosen the version by Michael Johns. Also, Jen Troyer, the football fan that she is, suggested the theme from Monday night football. Apparently, she needs some music to tide her over until fall. I couldn't resist including the Japanese version of the Hairbrush song by Veggie Tales. Last but not least, who doesn't like the Cheeseburger song by Mr. Lunt! My mouth waters just thinking of it... ummm.
Feel free to leave your suggestion for other music that you may want to listen to as you peruse our family's site. Enjoy!

2008-06-08T15:47:00.004-07:00

Ryan (9 1/2 mos) would rather be inside his little toy box. It's easier to get the toys!

Our sweet family!

Yesterday Greg took the kids to the local airport where they had an open house. They were able to see several planes up close and even sit inside. But it was VERY LOUD, according to the girls.
Aunt Lizette reading a bedtime story to the girls.

At the park with Darren and Lizette.

Darren and Lizette Came to Visit

2008-06-08T15:41:00.002-07:00

Sisters-in-law
Darren and Lizette in downtown Denver
Brothers
They enjoyed Ryan almost as much as we do!

Greg's brother Darren and his wife, Lizette, came for a quick visit last week to spy out the land. They were considering a move here from Southern California. Sadly, they decided to move to Atlanta. It's our loss that they and their two beautiful kids won't live close by us. We look forward to seeing them again soon.

A Walk to the Park

2008-05-28T15:04:00.008-07:00

Today was so beautiful that we walked down to the park. Ryan LOVES the swing and squeals with delight! (Excuse the mommy talk!)

Any Suggestions?

2008-05-27T18:30:00.001-07:00

Anyone want to suggest some fun music to listen to on our site? I get kinda tired of the same old stuff! Any fun ideas are welcome! Thanks!!

9 months old, Kindergarten Graduation, and Friends!

2008-05-27T14:57:00.002-07:00

Here's my big boy! Already 9 months old... The 3rd tooth just popped out yesterday. He's sitting up, learning how to pick up peas and not just smoosh them, and always a joy to us all!
Here's Emily with friends from Options School which she and Abby attend on Friday.
Abby is pictured here with little girls who all graduated from Kindergarten.

She had a great first year of school!
The Graduate!

Ciao, Bella!

2008-05-17T09:51:00.003-07:00

Arivederci, Bella!

We returned Bella to the humane society this week. She was just too much work.

A puppy needs someone to train her fool, I mean, full time. :) So after some tears we said goodbye and we'll trust God to lead us to the best dog for our family!

Bella At Play with the Girls

2008-04-29T15:19:00.004-07:00

Introducing our newest member of the family...

2008-04-29T15:11:00.003-07:00

Yes, we finally made Emily's dream come true and gave her a puppy! Bella joined us yesterday from the Longmont Humane Society. They guess that she is a 11 week old Boxer/Shepherd mix. Emily is thrilled and can't get enough of her puppy. Abby is still warming up to the idea of actually petting her, but has engaged in a game of chase with Bella. Then Abby will scream as she runs up the slide to get away from the excited Bella. Ryan is still a bit indifferent but is kind of excited when he sees the doggy. Mom is still getting used to the idea too but as you can see, Bella knows who her sugar daddy is and sits at his feet!

Future Gymnasts!

2008-04-11T17:01:00.005-07:00

The girls just finished up their dance/gymnastics class and LOVED it. So we signed them up for another session of gymnastics. Watch them dance to Hannah Montanna!

Easter Weekend Festivities 2008

2008-03-24T19:10:00.003-07:00

Emily and Abby with friends Nelly and Eva at the Westminster Rec Center Easter event.
The girls had their faces painted.
A visit with the Easter Bunny.
Easter morning 3-23-08
Daddy and Ryan

Still more of the boy!

2008-03-24T19:06:00.001-07:00

Seven months old now! March 20, 2008

Ryan is losing his hair!

2008-03-24T19:02:00.003-07:00

This was taken on March 7. He still had some dark hairs lingering on top of his head. Now look!
He's mostly bald now (3-20-08). He has a few dark hairs left in back by his neck. Hasn't his look totally changed without the hair?? (He's not so happy about this!)

Abby lost her 1st tooth!

2008-03-24T18:54:00.004-07:00

After waiting and waiting, and not allowing it to be pulled or otherwise encouraged to fall out, the 1st tooth of many has fallen out of Abby's mouth! The tooth was literally hanging by a thread and eventually just fell into her hand. She was very excited to have a visit from the tooth fairy!

She also attended her first roller skating birthday party with friend Bethany from church. She hadn't roller skated very much but caught on quickly. They had a blast!

Family Bowling Day

2008-03-24T18:49:00.004-07:00

We enjoyed President's Day bowling with the family. The girls did better than mom. (Of course they had the help of the bars and bumper!) We had a good day!

February 8, 2008

Snapshots of the kids...

2008-02-29T18:13:00.003-07:00

Abby and her cat "Cutie" are ballerinas for the day!
Ryan's first trip to the park... He's so tiny in that big ol' swing!
Ryan's first Valentine's Day!

And here's his big sissies with their heart-shaped sandwiches and pink leche!

Ryan eating... or trying to, that is!

2008-02-29T17:56:00.006-07:00

Ryan is still trying to figure out the tongue thing when eating. Here's a little video of him trying to get the hang of it. He's eating it up! He needs to gain some weight, maybe some cereal will help! Anyway, I thought this was funny! Enjoy my little bubby!

Another cute Ryan picture

2008-02-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Can't get enough of my boy.

Emily and Abby - Artists in Training

2008-02-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

I wanted to include a picture of our two budding artists... Actually, Abby claims that she wants to be an artist when she grows up and was very excited to buy this "paint-by-numbers" kit. She shared it with Emily, the future veterinarian, who liked the picture of a cat because she LOVES animals.

Drum Roll, Please!..... Ryan... Rolls!

2008-02-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

This is Ryan on January 31, rolling over for the first time. He is finally getting more of that tummy time on the floor to practice these impressive skills!

The Many Faces of Ryan

2008-02-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Ryan turned 5 months old on the 22nd of January.

He's still the best baby boy in the world and still ever the drooler, too!

Ryan Enjoying "Tummy Time."

Resting during "tummy time."

"Okay, enough already of the 'Tummy Time'!"

Daddy is the favorite at bedtime...

2008-01-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here's is a typical pose of daddy on the bed reading a bedtime story to the kids...

A Visit from our friends, the McClures- Missionaries to India!

2008-01-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to have Doug and Noelle McClure, who run an orphanage in India, visit us with their 5 children. The 3 youngest are the same ages as our 3 kids.

Megan and Emily

Marisa and Abby

Joey and Ryan

Our Kiddos!

2008-01-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

Ryan is the new sheriff in our Town!

Ryan is happy to have such devoted big sisters!

Auntie Lana!!

2008-01-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

The kids have loved having their Auntie visit for Christmas and New Year's. They especially love going out on dates for coffee at Peet's. She has made the girls little soldiers and taught them how to march and they have all laughed until they cried being silly! Ryan also has loved meeting his Auntie Lana and has snuggled with her and smiled at her. I know they can't wait for her to come back for another visit. Thanks for coming Auntie Lana!

Back to Real Life

2008-01-04T10:46:00.001-07:00

So, Christmas vacation is over. The girls have gone back to school today. On Fridays, they go to a homeschool enrichment program called Rocky Mountain Homeschool Academy. Abby is in kindergarten where she is learing to read and do crafts, play soccer or basketball, learn math and science, and play with her friends. Emily is in second grade and is learing Spanish, computer skills (she's been working on a Powerpoint project), art, writing/ Language Arts, and Science. The girls missed school over the break. Emily was especially looking forward to seeing her friends Trevor and Hannah.
On Monday, we will start official homeschooling work again. We have some catching up to do since we had a late start this fall due to Ryan's birth. But the girls work hard and generally enjoy school. Emily really loves to read.
Please pray that we fall in line again and get scheduled. Ryan has started napping better so it'll be easier to get a chunk of school done while he's asleep. We need to get refocused and prioritized and start this year off with a bang!

A Shout Out to the Relatives who visited Ryan and us!

2008-01-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

A great thanks to Greg's parents who drove out from Southern CA right after Ryan was born. Papa and Grandma were a tremendous help painting Ryan's room, taking the girls out on special outings, cooking, and refinishing my grandmother's furniture for us - an all-around great help!

Greg's sister Carrie came out from CA for a weekend in mid-September. She cooked several meals for us for the freezer. It was great to see her and have her meet her new nephew!

My mom flew out on October 1st to stay for 2 weeks and help with Ryan. She didn't know that Ryan would come early and already be a month and a half old! She held and rocked him and showed him love that only Mummu can! She even taught homeschool to the girls one day! My dad surprised me with a weekend visit too! Grandpa was so excited to meet his new grandson. Ever the exotic chef, grandpa introduced the family to Tonkatsu (Japanese breaded pork chops) and beef barbecue ribs (which the girls especially loved!). Thanks Grandpa and Mummu for visiting us!

Great Basketball Story!

2007-12-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

I teared up watching this video, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

Greg

Cletus Take the Reel

2007-12-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

This video made us laugh! It's a spoof of Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel." This guy is a Christian comedian and has several other funny videos including one called "A Homeschool Family." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6uqj0_jQc). Have a laugh on us!

Christmas 2007

2007-12-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Our Santa Baby!Ryan was born on August 22 and

is now 4 months old!

His sisters love doting over him.

We had a White Christmas!

2007-12-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

The night before Christmas the news said we might get a dusting of snow the next day. Well, as you can see it snowed a bit more than that: 6 inches in our front yard.
We were going to go to Stephanie's aunt and uncle's house in Fort Collins for the day, but we decided the 70 mile trip was too much in this weather.

Girls and Ryan Christmas morning

2007-12-25T18:52:00.001-07:00

2007-12-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

Musical Message to Dad

Emily's instructions on dogs

2007-11-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

Emily wants to be a vetranarian and she would like to give some instructions on how to care for dogs. She typed the following words herself.

Dogs can run fast. Some can help with fires. They are fun to play with. You have to give them a bath, and brush them well. When they are babies, you feed them three times a day. When they can walk, you feed them two times a day. When they are adults you feed them one time a day. You walk them two times day.