Snow & Halloween

Our first snow of the season. (Oct. 10th) We weren't really prepared for it and had to run out and buy Kayla a coat and a snow shovel. This snow melted and was gone in two days and then the temperature was back up in the 60's again.

Ozzy enjoying the snow. At first he didn't like it too much, but he's getting used to it.

This is how Ozzy spends most of his days. Asleep on his back on our bed. What a lazy cat!

Our 2nd snow. (Oct. 28th) We got just over a foot. It snowed for more than 24 hours straight without stopping at all. Kayla had her first snow day at school on Thursday. Notice we went out and bought the girls snow bibs since jeans obviously don't work well in the snow. Joe and I also had to buy ourselves boots just to get to the car and back without soaking our feet.

Aly spent almost all of her time outside just eating the snow.

Snow angels!

HALLOWEEN

Snow White ( I know the white shirt underneath doesn't look to great, but I had no choice since it was kind of chilly outside.

Ballerina (I made the tutu myself. Of course I had to go ahead and make Aly one too. They love them and they were so easy to make! If you want to know how, I'll e-mail you directions.) Again, the white turtle neck doesn't go to well, but I didn't really have a choice.

We went to the ward trunk-or-treat (which lasted a whole 20 minutes, which was perfect!) and then we took them around our neighborhood a little bit. We knew they had enough candy when they couldn't carry their own buckets anymore! :-)

So... today we are going back to the doctor's office to try and do an ultrasound again. The last one didn't work because I was having contractions that were squishing the baby up in a little ball and we couldn't get any measurements or anything. All I could see was that the baby's head is shaped just like Joe's. :-) Hopefully I will have another post today when (or if) we find out if it's a boy or a girl.

Say hello...

to my little friend!
I had an ultrasound done at my very first appointment. I was about 11 weeks at that point. We have another ultrasound scheduled for the 26th of this month and we get to find out if it will be a boy or a girl. I am almost 18 weeks right now. I'm finally starting to get over the morning sickness and get some energy back. At this point I'm only supposed to be feeling little flutters, but this baby is really active and I can feel it flipping all over the place already. It's either a really strong little boy or a really hyper little girl. (Just like it's sisters!) This isn't the best picture, but it's still fun to see!

Picture Day

Last week Kayla had picture day so after she was ready for school I had her practice smiling. She's in the habit of making silly smiles when asked to smile so that's why she had to practice.

Kayla really wanted her hair curly for pictures. So after she had it curled, Aly asked me to blow dry hers straight. I couldn't get it completely straight, but it made her happy. Aly is getting her pictures taken tomorrow, but I'm going to leave her hair curly because I love it that way.

My silly girl

Kayla's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Kayla's first day of Kindergarten was August 19th. She is loving it! We already had parent teacher conferences and she is doing great. She is in the top of her class in reading. She is making a lot of friends. I just wish that she could go full day because she is really ready for it. (Unfortunately here in Colorado full day kindergarten costs a lot of money.) Last week Kayla was chosen as Star of the week and got to take in pictures of our family and have a special poster of herself up in the classroom and do a special show-and-share. We're very proud of her. Her only problem in class is she never stops talking, but that's not a surprise, is it? :-)

Kayla's Dance Class

In the end of July and beginning of August Kayla took a dance class through the city of Longmont. It was called Little Divas, which fits Kayla's personality perfectly. She loved every minute of it! She is actually really good at remembering the moves and following the music. She can't wait to do it again and next year Aly will get to do it with her so that will be even more fun.

Doing a silly dance.

They were showing us their princess walks. She walked like she was a runway model. She was almost too good at it!

Getting her certificate from her teachers.

Desk Job

Back in July Joe finally decided to fix his car that has had a bad oil leak since 2004. It was getting to the point where he was having to check and fill the oil every couple of days and we thought that it was the end of the Nissan. We took it to someone to look at when we lived in Socorro, but they wanted over $600 to fix a $15 part. Being poor students at the time there was no way we could afford that so we just lived with it and hoped that our car would keep running. So, in July, Joe got online and did some research and learned how to fix it himself. We had to buy a $45 tool, the $15 gasket, and then some new belts. It took him almost a whole day, but now the Nissan is running great.

This is why Joe is a Software Engineer and sits at a desk everyday. So he doesn't have to come home looking like this everyday!

Our Dog

Yes, I am finally updating!

I bet some of you didn't know we have a dog! That's right! Ozzy really is a dog inside of a cat's body. He comes when you whistle for him. He wags his tail when he's happy. He jumps up on visitors legs. He begs for scraps at the table. He fetches. He even pants. The girls keep asking for a puppy, but we already have one. We love our Ozzy.

Finally....an update!

I'm finally updating my blog!

See, I started a new post. That's progress right?

Seriously, I have a lot to post and I will do it soon. I just never use our desktop computer anymore and that's where the pictures are.

Keep checking back!

4th of July

We had lots of fun in Farmington for the 4th of July. We kept pretty busy between the two sides of family. We had BBQ's, swimming, 2 family pictures, and 2 baby blessings. Joe and I also had a chance to go to Si Seniors (MMmmm....) and I also got to go to breakfast with some of my friends from high school. The trip went by so fast it seemed like we had just gotten there when we had to leave. The girls did great on the drive, both ways so that was a relief. Thank goodness for DVD players! Here are some pictures from our trip.

The Stradling Clan

The Churchill family took pictures too, but I don't have a copy yet.

Steve's Family

Jeff and cute little Shaylee.

Emryck teaching the younger kids how to play Four-Square.

Kayla loved getting to see all 4 of her new baby cousins.

Jaylee and Kayla. I love this picture! I want to edit out the red eyes and frame it for both girls.

The girlies swimming at Grandma C.'s house.

I didn't put Alyssa in swimming lessons this year because I didn't think she was ready. Turns out, she is better than Kayla. (Mostly because Kayla's a little afraid to be in the water without a floatie.) They offer lessons all year round here in Longmont so I will probably enroll her in a few different classes while Kayla is in school this year.

The girls had a blast staying with Jaylee. Thanks again for letting us stay with you Kari Ann!

Alyssa's Party Camp Out

For the past few months Alyssa has been asking for a Party Camp Out for her birthday. I'm not really sure where she got the idea, but she insisted on smores and ghost stories and a camp out.

Friday morning Joe had to go to a training in Fort Collins so I took the girls on ahead to grab a spot. We went to the Olive Ridge campground which is about 45 minutes from home. It's about 20 minutes south of Estes Park, CO (if you know where that is). We got there about 10:45 and found a spot. I was thinking that it wasn't as bad as everyone around here says. They say if you don't get there early you have no chance of getting a spot. They were right. About 15 minutes later cars started pouring in. It was hilarious because they were racing each other to grab spots. The whole place filled up within minutes.

While we were waiting for Joe to show up I set everything up and we went for a walk over to the playground. Joe suprised the girls with fishing poles for both of them when he got there. They sat and played with them for so long. They had little rubber things on the end so you can practice casting.

We took a drive up to Lilly Lake and walked around a little bit. We pretty much just hung out all of Friday and relaxed. It was nice not to have anything to do.

Kayla at Lilly Lake. (Aly was asleep in the car)

Alyssa spent most of the time digging in the dirt.

This is a cool old church that was down the road from where we were. On Saturday there was a wedding there.

The animals are so used to people that they pose for pictures.

Saturday we woke up and went fishing in Estes Park. Everyone around us was catching tons of fish, but we didn't get a thing. Kayla loved fishing though. Alyssa wasn't too excited when she learned that you just sit there.

The birthday girl eating breakfast. (Nasty Cookie Crisp. I let her pick a special cereal for camping. I don't usually let her eat that junk.)

Sitting and waiting for nothing to bite.

We went back to camp and had lunch and let Alyssa open some of her presents. She has been asking for a dinosaur that bites her finger for months now. Grandma Churchill got her one and she was so excited! She named it Sara and had to introduce it to her puppy that she carries around everywhere. When you pet it's back it growls and purrs. She has already worn out the batteries!

Camping didn't end like we thought it would. Around 3 o'clock it started to thunder and rain and then eventually pour. We thought that we would just hang out in the tent until it passed, but around 4 I noticed that our tent was leaking pretty badly and that Kayla's sleeping bag was soaked. So, we put the kids in Joe's car and rushed and threw everything in the van. (Literally threw everything in there soaking wet!) By 5:30, we were home, unloaded and taking showers while waiting for a pizza to show up. I'm so glad we were only 45 minutes away so that we were able to do that. We would have been miserable Saturday night if we would have stayed.

The storm coming in. The clouds got darker and it rained all night.

Alyssa got to open the rest of her presents after dinner and then we all were in bed and asleep by 8:30. What a day! Alyssa had fun though and that's what matters.

I made Alyssa's cake on Sunday. I've had bad luck with trying to get cakes out of pans lately so I just left it in. Alyssa's on a dinosaur kick and wanted them on her cake so I just threw some plastic toys on. Boring cake I know, but that's what she got and she loved it. You'd never guess I used to decorate cakes by this one!

Grandma Stradling got her a Snow White dress. She loves it!