Fresh Start

I have mentioned many times how January is my least favorite time of year. I've been trying to keep busy by focusing on small projects around the house in an effort to stay away from the Winter blahs.  Here's a recap of what's been going on at the Beilman household:

As frightening as this is, you're about to see our laundry room "before":

 I know.  I really should have edited that to make me look less like a hoarder. Just keepin' it real, people.

Thanks to a little motivation (& some clearance storage containers from Target) here's "after":

It actually makes me kind of want to do laundry. (Update: That feeling went away about three days ago.)

Next up, a much-neglected linen closet, complete with a full box of unused Pull-Ups and swim diapers on the floor which we (Thankfully!!!) haven't needed for months.

  I threw away a bunch of old meds, found a whole bag of stuff to donate and moved the unused diapers over to my neighbor's house.  Win-Win!  

Carter wanted to model the "after":

Finally, we have a sneak peek of our upcoming project & by far my favorite of the three!  Let me back up a little...we are soon going to be a family of FIVE!  No, I'm not pregnant.  Aunt Christy is going to be moving to Colorado in a couple of months & living with us while she gets settled.  We are SO excited to have her out here and hope that she loves this state as much as we do!  With that news, it means the guest room has been bumped to Priority One and will be getting a face lift just in time for her arrival.  Stay tuned for updates as we get this space pulled together.  Here it is now:

Davis helped me pull out some of the new bedding so we can start thinking about paint colors.

He also found a random set of baby rings that he decided would be perfect for Aunt Christy's cat, "Gweniss" (Gwenyth).  Such a thoughtful boy--love him!

Keeping Life Interesting

Let me tell you, raising two boys means there's never a dull moment...

Jedi-fighting before breakfast

*Meet Don Hicklin: Last week in the car, I said something to Davis and he replied: "Davis isn't here anymore.  I'm Don Hicklin."  I dug a little deeper to see what he was talking about.  He told me that Don Hicklin looks just like Davis, they're twins.  I asked him what I should know about Don (I was getting a little worried at this point.) and he told me "Don Hicklin speaks Spanish & he loves trampolines."  I mean, the kid did not skip a beat.  He just launched into these characteristics and as if it really were Don in the car.  Crazy. Then, I stopped to get the mail & when I got back in the car Don was gone and Davis was back.  I asked where Don had left and Davis told me "He ran away because he had to blast off in his spaceship."  When I asked him about Don with Carter in the car later that afternoon, he repeated everything about Don just like he had earlier...I thought maybe he would have forgotten about Don. (Carter was not impressed with Don or his bilingual abilities.)

On Monday, while we were out to lunch, I decided to ask Davis if he had seen Don lately or (horror) if he were at the table with us! Davis immediately replied "No, he's not here.  He hates ice cream and whiffed cream, so he would never come here."  (The boys were having ice cream sundaes after lunch as a treat for good behavior.)  I have to admit, Don kind of creeps me out.  I hope he stays in outer space where he belongs!

*Rocks?
Yesterday after Preschool, Davis was playing with his buddies outside.  I spotted him holding a small green plastic bag and went over to investigate.  He said "Look Mom, I found some cool rocks!" Actually, it was a bag of rock-like doggie poo that fell out of the trash can nearby.  Now, try to wipe that image out of your brain...I'm still working on it.  That was our cue to high-tail it back to the car and bathe with some antibacterial wipes.  We now know to stay away from little green bags.  GROSS!!!!!

Too Cool for Ski School

It was actually beyond "cool", as in freezing with snow falling, but the boys had fun anyway!  Grampy and Sean took Carter & Davis to Loveland on New Year's Day.  The little boys did ski school while the big boys went a little farther up the mountain.  Davis came in a little early because he was cold, but Carter made it all day! *Special thank you to Mimi & Grampy for this wonderful Christmas gift to the boys.  What a fun day!

 Carter in the middle with blue coat and black pants. 

 Carter skiing!

 Carter again.

 Carter in the red coat with a new girl "friend" he met there.

 Davis getting ready to go down (third from left).

 ...and, he's off!

 

Davis learning to "pizza". Just looking at this makes me cold!

 Davis finishing up his run.

 The ski school area. 

Good Times in Georgetown

I'm getting a little behind here...let's go back to December for a moment, shall we?  We had so much fun on the Georgetown Loop Railroad last year that we decided to go again and take Grampy this time! This is probably one of my favorite things to do at Christmas because it really makes you feel like you're in Colorado.  I mean, I know we live here but sometimes we forget how beautiful and amazing our state really is.  

 Getting ready to board!

 Christmas carols, anyone?

 Chugging through the mountains--so festive!

 Grampy and one of Santa's helpers. 

 Checking out the lights with Grampy.

 Carter acting as photographer, then practicing his Selfie skills. 

 This crew is ready for PIZZA!

 I had to post this one because of Sean's infamous ability to fall asleep anywhere. He is taking a little cat nap while the rest of us finish eating dinner.  Gotta love it.

 Now Mimi & I with a Selfie shot.  (Sorry about that.)

The whole gang leaving the Alpine at the end of a great day.

Happy New Year 2014!

How do you celebrate New Year's when you're old & married and have two small children?  Stay home and have a Mexican fiesta, of course!  We invited our friends, the Buyrns, over to help us ring in the New Year! The kids had so much fun with the horns and party hat attire and the adults had fun experimenting with margarita making (some of us were more successful than others).  Mimi & Grampy were here to help us keep the kids in line celebrate!

Our eight-year anniversary!

Partying with Mimi.

Carter with two of his favorite girls! (Davis had a party horn injury and went to bed early...poor guy!)

One nice thing about having kids who can't tell time is that we did a countdown to the London NYE celebration that we found online...it was about 8:45 our time & the kids had no idea.  Love it!  I stayed up the latest of everyone in this house & went to bed around 10:15.  Don't judge.

 On New Year's day Sean & Grampy took the boys to Loveland to ski so mom & I could have a little "girl time" with Debbie.  We went to lunch, shopping and almost saw a movie! (Long story...apparently NY day is a popular time at the movie theaters. You should buy your tickets in advance.)  

Showing our festive side by modeling New Year's hats!  :-)