The girls have always made the gingerbread houses with their grandma Ann, from scratch. As it turned out they did not make one last year because we had just moved away. I have just discovered the gingerbread house kits and wow are they so much easier. Grandma was not here this time, but the tradition must go on!
They had to take turns putting the candy on. I love the arm of spiderwebs!
The final product!
Santa was at the Carbon Valley Library today. We have had some really grumpy Santa helpers in the past. This one has to be the best Santa helper yet, we think he might have been the actual Santa. There was a bell craft for the kids to work on while we waited for our number to be drawn. The wait was not long either, only about ten minutes. Perfect!! Thanks Ashely for telling us that Santa was in town!!
We have been spoiled with ALL of the visits from family in the year that we have lived here...And I love it!! This time we were able to spend Friday and Saturday with my parents. They made the treacherous 10 hour drive Thursday with only a flat tire to slow them down. It was a short but sweet trip and the kids were spoiled rotten.
We went to the Children's Museum Friday. We left with painting projects and helicopters made out of garbage!! 
Look at our adorable little heros!
Here we have Abby sporting the fabulous bunny coat. If you'll remember, last time she was a possum. 
Saturday we went to Boondocks and enjoyed a little miniature golf.
Grandpa's helping with technique. We had as much fun watching the bumper cars as they did driving. Sydney actually had the speedster, while Rylie and Abby putted along.
Saturday's fun was followed by a short mom and me(no kids) shopping trip. Like I said the trip was short and sweet. We appreciate ALL family that has been able to visit this year!! Thanks and we love you!!
This was hard for me, I feel like I am stretching it a bit!
1. Every toy that has hair is braided at my house. Barbie’s and My Little Ponies are at the top of the list. I HATE it when the hair gets ratty; especially when it is brushed it is still matted and gross.
2. Syrup is not allowed to touch my eggs or bacon. I will have separate servings, with eggs first, in order to keep this from happening, unlike my husband who piles all of it together on purpose, ewww.
3. I am the procrastinator of all procrastinators. I think that I thrive on the stress of running around like a mad lady trying to make it work the last minute. This then becomes a factor with #4.
4. I am never early. If I am lucky, I am right on time, but never early. If I start early, I relax because I think "I've got lots of time"
5. I am always eager to get projects started, but inevitably the projects sit waiting for the finishing touches to be completed.
6. Aaron is one of the most finicky sleepers I know. So since we have been married I have slept with the bathroom fan for background noise. As it turns out, I can’t sleep without it anymore. How is that, Aarons quirk transferred!!
7. I couldn’t think of another one for me, so I am going to share one of Aaron’s many. One of his choice cereals is Raisin Bran. He pours the cereal and the milk and then lets it sit for at least 5 minutes before he will eat it.
My baby turned three on Friday, three says she is not baby anymore!! As much as I love babies and am sad, I'm not. No more diapers, the worries of a baby catching a cold have past, she feeds herself, and I get full nights of sleep!! Though she really is THE BABY of the family, getting away with way more than her sisters did at this age. I can't help it, I still just want to squish her to pieces, she will always be my baby. I love my Syd, and am glad that she is one of my girls.
We asked Sydney what she wanted to do for her birthday, Chucky Cheese or McDonalds (We miss Arctic Circle) After dinner and playing at McDonlads we headed home for presents and cake. Of course I am taking pictures, documenting the whole night. Sydney was loving the attention and all was running smoothly. After all the fun was over I plugged my camera in to upload and blog. Aaron directs my attention to Sydney who is playing with the money that she had just gotten, carefully taking one dollar at at time from one pile to the other. I grabbed my camera to capture this, oh boy are we in trouble if $$ is her favorite gift at the age of 3. As Paul Harvey would say "And now for the rest of the story...I thought that I had downloaded the pictures that I had already taken, so before I take the money sorting pictures I clear the memory card that had pictures back from Halloween. I did not realize until Saturday morning, when I sat down to blog, that the only pictures I had...have are the four that I took of her sorting her money!! I am sick to my stomach!! I have had my digital camera for over five years, and I have never lost pictures!! Of course the time that I do, it is for a birthday. 
Here is THE birthday picture:( 
I took this picture of her in the birthday clothes from Grandma Pam and her holding the infamous money Saturday morning.
This is what was left of her cake when I realized that the pics were gone:(
Poor it out, pick it up, poor it out, pick it up....One of the little fetishes that Sydney has always had. So the other night she is bored and decides to put all the toys into one bucket, then empty them all into the second bucket and then start the process all over. She proceeded to do this for at least 1/2 hour. What a goof!! 
Last years trick or treating left us blindly following a neighbor around our neighborhood...we had only lived here two weeks. A year later I am glad to report that life feels a lot better than it did then. I can't say that the year flew by, but I have met a lot of great people and made good friends. The kids had a great Halloween, with more candy than they could carry home, literally..Aaron came and picked us up in the end. 
Sydney was invited to a little people Halloween party. A mummy making competition. We didn't win, but she is quite the mummy cat!!
These are a few of her adorable little buddies.
The last week flew by, just as I thought it would. It was sooo much fun having Des here, I really hate that we are so far apart! As for the fun stuff we did-Pizza at the park, shopping at the outlets (both with the kids and without, thanks to my wonderful husband) and then Saturday we went into Denver, See's Candy being the ultimate destination. On the way we stopped at the Denver Library for a Halloween skit and I took advantage of the park across from the library for pictures of the girls. We had lunch at the Macaroni Grill (the only and last time I ate there I was on a gluten free diet, needless to say I enjoyed it much more this time!) We then hurried home for trunk'er treat at the church. All the rest of the time was filled in with gabb'n and more gabb'n. Elleree is not only the cutest baby ever, but the best baby, which made her even more irresistible!! I was and still am sad to see them go, but I am so grateful for the time we did get. Love you sis!!
The girls just enjoyed a fun filled visit from grandma and grandpa Petersen. They arrived Friday afternoon. We played at the park, went shopping for Christmas dresses, went to the zoo, made cinnamon rolls and grandma's famous fudge. We managed to do all of these things with out my camera!&*#%?? These pictures are from grandmas camera so that they can have a hug everyday, while they are apart.
I am so excited...the wait is killing me!! My sister and her baby are going to be here Tuesday and will be here for a WHOLE WEEK!! What are we going to do you ask, I have no idea, suggestions are welcome. I DO know that my sis is com'n to town!!
What a great day!! Sydney and I took a trip to Anderson Farms with a group of friends. Ry and Abs were in school so it was just the two of us. We fed the goats, and a buffalo, what a tongue!! Rode the barrel train a couple times and had a wagon ride with Farmer Harvey out to the pumpkin patch. There was plenty for the eyes to see and do. I didn't drag our friends to all the photo op places I saw, I figure I will wait and do that when I have all three girls!! 
All of Sydney's little pun'kn buddies!
The girls ( minus Rylie who was in school) and I were invited to take advantage of the Free Day and the Denver Zoo. I love this picture! There were 8 kids and two adults, and I must say that with that even with that many kids and the extra crowds, that trip with off without a hitch!
A big THANKS to Melissa for donating her time so willingly! She did soccer again this fall for both Rylie and Abby's age groups, in addition to coaching her sons middle school team. Crazy I say, but she just smiles. The kids loved it, and I might add that I enjoyed the mommy mingling that went along with it. I don't know what I am going to do with my Wednesdays now.
I love excuses to get out of the house!! My friend Rachel found out about Discovery Days at the Museum in Longmont. It was great...and Sydney enjoyed herself too:) Tons of projects, you just rotate from one table to the next, and of course it left for picture opportunities.
We scored free passes to the Butterfly Pavilion from the library earlier this summer. You can't turn down free! It was crazy packed..you get what you pay for I guess!! The butterflies were our favorite. The tarantula's seriously gave me the ebee-geebees!! At the very end of our tour a butterfly landed on a little girl, and the kids just passed it around. Sooo, we got great pictures, which made the trip worth it for me!!
We spent the day in Colorado Springs. We went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and The Garden of Gods. I love the red rock and all the textures combined with the green of the trees. I went a little over board with the pictures:) The kids were hesitant to begin with, by the end they were coming up the poses themselves. It was a great day!
I had been told that there were little frogs in our neighborhood. Aaron was mowing the yard, and he came across our first. I was surprised that the kids would hold it. So cute and small!!!
I was really excited to make the trip to Idaho, but nervous as well. We were gone three weeks and two of the three weeks I was a single parent. It turns out that my nerves were for nothing. The trip went off without a hitch, and we loved every minute, rain and all!! The first week was spent with Aaron's family. We were in Inkom with his parents for a few days and then ventured to Island Parks for his family reunion. Arron then flew back to Colorado, leaving the girls and me at my sisters house in Idaho Falls for a week. We were able to get together will all of our friends that we have missed dearly. From Deiree's we traveled north to my mom and dads house. We were there for a few days and then went on our annual family camping trip to Redfish Lake. A little rain, a little sickness (not my kids thank heavens) a ton of fun and relaxing. Sorry the picture slide is so long, turns out I can take a lot of pictures in three weeks, and this the narrowed down version! I have a cd of pictures in the mail that I left at my parents house, so the week at my sisters house is missing.
We have participating in the S.O.S club, and this is the only activity that I remembered to bring my camera. We pulled weeds at a park the first week, made birthday bags for the food pantry and this week let our firefighters know that we appreciate all they do for our community. I love this club and what it teaches my little ones!
Yes, the drawing is of my girls. I can see resembling characteristics that he choose to focus on, they are just not their best or flattering I guess. I know that caricatures are suppose to be goofy, but I was a little disappointed. Either way they had fun and it goes down in the memory book! The day was crazy and hot! The kids had a good time between the parade and festivities, afternoon neighborhood BBQ, and then to friends BBQ accompanied with fireworks and show, they were beat by the time we got home. This was our first time away from family, but we survived, turns out everyone celebrates our countries independence!!
