Halloween party

The day after Halloween we had a little Halloween party get together. The kids came in their costumes. It was a good time.

Britt and Owen the cowboy.

Jordon the elephant.

Dana and Elizabeth the angel.

3 week old Nolan, as a skeleton.

Chris's giant fro.

Halloween

I have been really bad about keeping the blog updated so I thought I would try and play catch up again.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year with the girls. I made their costumes for the first time so that was interesting. That both seemed to like them however they hated having to be measured for them. I am a big fan of the show "Project Runway" and I think I am going to suggest the challange of making an outfit for a 2 year old. Measuring a moving target with pins is quite interesting.

The girls' school had a little Halloween party so I took the girls to that. I don't get to go to their school very often so it was nice to meet their teachers and see some of what the girls do during the day. The director of the school also informed me that they are planning to move Ava up to preschool as soon as she turns 2.5, which is in December.

After we spent the morning at the school, we went and visited Dad at work to show them off. Everyone enjoyed seeing the girls in their costumes and the girls enjoyed eating all the candy out of the candy bowl.

That night we took the girls out for trick or treating and the weather could not have been better. I had a jacket on and was warm. Ava was extra grabby with the candy. As soon as someone would lower the bowl for her to choose a piece, she would start taking handfulls and putting them in her bucket. Most everyone would just start laughing but one lady said "Hey that is enough" We tried to get her to stop but she would do the same thing at the next house. We were constantly telling her "only one piece Ava". The girls are still eating their candy for desserts.

A Parade!

I laughed really hard at something that Maya said today and thought I just needed to share it with everyone. We went to the store to get some groceries and when we came out there was a guy sitting in his car with the music up really loud so you could mainly just hear the bass really loud. I know you all have heard what I am talking about. Anyways we came out of the store and were waiting to cross the street and Maya got really excited and said, "Mom, do you know what that is?" I said no, what? Maya said "It's a Parade!" I just starting laughing and said "Nope, I'm sorry but it is not." I than explained what it was, chuckling the whole time. The lady in front of us got quite a kick out of it also.

Maya begged me for a pair of footie pajamas. I found some that fit her and she literally did not want to take them off. She was sick with a cold and stayed in them all day and when she came home from school she would run up and put on her footies.

Maya cheesing it up for the camera.

Ava is very insistent about doing things herself lately. She very much wants to dress herself, but both legs usually end up in the same hole. Goucho pants however, are very wearable as a skirt or pants. I was telling Matt about the parade comment and he said well you better get a picture of Ava's pants for the blog also. I just started laughing.

Golfing.

When we were in North Platte, we went out to Trina and Kevin's to watch the Nebraska game. Afterwards the guys went golfing. When they got back the kids wanted to golf, so they did and nobody managed to get hurt, amazing.

Rylee posing in her golf stance.

Aaron, Maya, Rylee, Mason, and Ava eating Doritos in the front yard.

Ava showing Mason her cheesy tongue.

Everyone swinging away.

Maya working on her swing. We hope she takes after her Dad.

Mason and Aaron taking their turn.

more vacation!

After we got back from Chicago, we stayed a few days in Omaha and spent some time with Matt's family and some friends.


We then went to North Platte to spend some time with my family. We always enjoy spending time with family and friends.

Maya, Ava and Gram blowing bubbles

Maya and Ava playing with their friend Sophia, my friend Casie's daughter.


Ava and Sophia

PaPa "A" and the girls getting the fishing poles ready for fishing.

Matt and the girls digging in the garden for fishing bait. WORMS.....

PaPa and the girls shucking corn for dinner.

Ava with a fish that she caught. Her first one ever. All she wanted to do was touch it.

Maya and her fish. She definitely did not want to touch it.

Touchdown dance.

Well, it is official we have reached another year of football season. We are all excited, even though it means that summer is over.

We were watching football yesterday and Maya made up a new dance. I was singing "Do the Shuffle" and Maya started singing "Do the Touchdown" and did a little dance to go with her new song. I was laughing at her silliness, and decided to get it on tape. She definitely gets her dance moves from her dad. We will have to work on that.

Alpine slide part 2

Well, we had some tickets for the Alpine slide left over and decided to go back yesterday and use them up before they closed for the season. The girls loved it the first time and new they would love it again. So we put the pedal to the metal and flew down the slide. We even caught air on some parts. We had a lot of fun and will do it again next year.

Matt and Ava on the chair lift going to the top. Good practice for ski season!

Matt and Ava coming down.

Ava on the chair lift. Soooo excited!

Maya on the chair lift looking for all of the shoes that had fallen off of people's feet.

Ava and I speeding to the finish line.

Matt and Maya coming to a screeching halt.

All of us at the top of the slide.

Chicago!

Well, Thursday Aug. 28th at 5:30 p.m. Matt and I left the girls with Grandma and Grandpa B and flew off to Chicago. We went to have some time to ourselves and to visit Matt's sister Sarah and her husband, Justin.

We packed a lot of fun stuff in 5 days. We went shopping on the magnificent mile. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art (this is where Sarah works). We went to Millennium Park, and walked around downtown. We also visited the Museum of Science and Industry. We took in a "Blue Man Group" show. We went to the beach of Lake Michigan. And, we ate a ton of all of Chicago's great food.

We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the city of Chicago and look forward to going back someday.

Matt and I at Lake Michigan with the Hancock Building in the background.

This is one of the Blue Men and I. I just happened to see him and had Matt take this picture.

Sarah, Justin and I at Lake Michigan. I was amazed at how much it was like the ocean.

Matt and I taking our picture in this giant metallic bean in Millennium Park. It was surprising how intrigued people were looking at their reflection.

A fun fountain in Millennium Park that put people's faces up on these huge screens and then they would spit water out of their mouths. It was crazy how many people were playing in it.

Start of our vacation.

Well, Aug. 27th was the official start of our vacation. We drove all night from Denver to Omaha. We arrived in Omaha at about 3:00 in the morning. We slept for a few hours and got ready for our lunch with the Baller cousins. It has been a while since we have seen them so we were excited to meet all of the new members.

Aunt Carrie jamming out on the keyboard with Maya, Ava, and Vincent.

All of the 2nd cousins together: Vincent (Carrie's), Ava and Maya (Tina's), Mattilynn (Christy's) and Amber (Mandi's).

Carrie again (she is the most musical) with Vincent and Amber.

Amber with her Grandma Marilyn.

Mattilynn just hanging out. She was by far the easiest going of them all, much like her mom.

Vincent, the only boy, rocking with Maya.

Baby Alaina

On August 26th, we finally got to meet Shawn and Leanna's new baby "Alaina". The girls have been so excited to meet her since she was born in June. She was born early and so she was in the hospital for a while, and she still was not able to truly be around kids. The girls were unable to hold her, but were still very excited to look at her and watch her every move. It was funny to watch them around a new baby.

Busy Busy Busy

Well, it has been a while since my last post. I have had good intentions but for some reason can't find the time. I was getting ready for our vacation at the end of August and we also have had some company. I am now going to play catch up again.

The weekend of August 16th Grandma and Grandpa "A" came to visit and we had a lot of fun with them. The weather was not very nice but we still managed to find things to do.

The girls with there Grandma and Grandpa "A"

Ava with her new earring that PaPa made for her. (It is really a pony tail holder.)

My little musicians

Maya and Ava love to play the piano. Ava is usually the one who crawls up there first and starts singing really loud, mostly just yelling. Maya is more like the back up pianist.
It is a concert everyday.

Kids Spree

In July, some friends invited us to go to a free event that is in Denver every year called the Kids Spree. They have a lot of stuff set up for kids, everything from concerts, to games, to crafts, to jumping castles. It was really hot but the girls still had a lot of fun.

Ava and Jordan taking a ride in the train.

Maya jumping from circle to circle, playing a life size chutes and ladders game.

Ava just went down the slides.

This is a video of Ava and her friends Avery, Jordan and Lauren. The kids were invited on the stage to help sing and dance. Maya was the only one who did not want to go on stage. Ava was dancing away. She is the one on the left of the stage above the "K" in the yellow skirt. After the song was over all the kids got off of the stage and Ava threw a fit because she wanted to stay up there and dance.