Happy Valentine's Day!

First things first: Thank you so much to our Grandparents, who sent such nice Valentine cards, gifts and $$...the boys loved ALL of it!  XOXO from Carter & Davis.  :-)

We had a fun Valentine's Day, starting with Carter's school party!  I was a parent-helper which meant Davis got to go, too!  He was thrilled about that.  We supervised the fruit kabob table and the kids all had a blast.  I remember Valentine's parties when I was little as some of my favorite school memories.  Carter came home today with tons of cards and treats, what a lucky guy!

 Ms Glo (in the pink hair), explaining the fruit kabobs right before the party started.

 Davis exploring the centers.  He had a whole conversation with himself on this phone.

 Fruit Kabobs!

 Carter making his Valentine Man--he cut out the heart himself!

 Davis in the "vet" center

 Checking out all of his loot!

 My boys!

 Carter showing off some of his Valentines

 Beautiful flowers from MY Valentine--thanks, honey!  

Davis says "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Friday Funnies

This week has been fun with first Sean, then me, then Carter getting sick.  I really wish God had a rule that prevented moms from ever getting sick.  It is so tough to be the mommy and feel bad enough that you don't feel like you are able to be a good mom when your kids need you.  It really stinks.  Anyway, that's not our Friday Funny.  Due to my decreased energy level, we have been watching a lot of TV lately!  Carter's new favorite show is "Mighty Machines".  He loves to sing & dance to the theme song and would watch it all day long if you let him! (I couldn't get the second video to load, which is the one that shows more singing.)  Even Davis got in on this one:

We have also been doing a lot of arts and crafts, which leads me to our next "Friday Funny".  Davis colored (his version of) whiskers on his face and said "I a kitty, mom!  Meow, Meow."  For whatever reason, this kid loves to color on his face.  Thank goodness for washable markers!  

Hope you are all having a good Friday!  We hope to be all feeling 100% by Monday, as we have a BIG Valentine's Party at school on Tuesday that is not to be missed!

Snow Day Sanity Saver

School was canceled on Friday because of a big snow storm, so we were stuck inside trying to stay entertained.  We did puzzles, watched movies, played with lots of toys and had fun learning with abcmouse.com!  We canceled our cable TV about a month ago and I saw this website advertised on PBS--how could you go wrong with PBS?  Carter loves it!  There are tons of educational activities for ages 2+ and incentives to keep the kids motivated.  This is really the first website for kids that I like & will let Carter play.  (I'm sure there are other good ones out there, but I like that this one has no ads and no pop-ups.)  Perfect for our snow day!

The snowfall at around 11:00am!

Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles!

If These Walls Could Talk...

Just wanted to share some of the silly and endearing things that the boys have been saying lately.  I always think I am going to write these things down, then time gets away from me and the moment passes with no record of it.

----Carter----
Today, we had a salesman from a local dairy stop by to ask us about switching our delivery service.  The man was very kind (not the pushy salesperson type) and genuine, so I let him come in to give us some "samples".  He let Carter try the ice cold chocolate milk.  Carter took the cup and thanked him, then took it into another room to drink it.  He came back a few minutes later and said "Sir, this chocolate milk is delicious!".  I was so proud!  And our new salesman friend was so touched.  He used good manners, completely unprompted.  Way to go, buddy!

Last night at bedtime, Carter said to me "Mommy, I love you so much.  And I really like it when you give me hugs and kisses.  That makes me so happy."  What a sweet boy we have!

Yesterday at a play date Carter offered Blankie, his most prized possession, to our little friend Reece, who Davis had just hit (that's a whole other story).  I was surprised and very happy to hear that he was trying to comfort our friend with something so dear to his own heart.  Now if he could just teach some compassion to his brother...

--Davis--

We have been experiencing a lot of the "Terrible Twos" lately, aka: "Davis's Dark Side".  When he is in a bad mood, Carter and I tease him that he has the "Grumpy Grouchies".  It is usually followed with him going down for nap or eating a snack, or both!  Anyway, now he plays a game out of it saying "NO!  I not dumpy, YOU dumpy!"  It always makes us laugh, and usually improves his mood, even if it is temporary.

Sometimes Carter will just blurt out a line from a movie, chuckle, and move on.  The other night, he blurted out a line from the movie Toy Story, and Davis ran with it.  Davis kept repeating over and over again "Mrs. Uh-tato (Potato) Head, Mrs. Uh-tato Head, Mrs. Uh-tato Head..."  Then he would stop to laugh and continue to repeat it.  Like 50 more times.  I was having a hard time not cracking up, myself!

Davis loves to say "NO!" throughout the day.  Every day.  Just to exert his independence.  I'll ask him if he wants milk to drink.  NO!  Do you want juice? NO!  Do you want to have water?  NO!  Do you want to play Play-Doh?  NO! (Then, in a quiet voice.) Ummmm, dess (yes).  I love how he answers without really even stopping to hear the question.  What a stinker!!

We have our crazy, hectic, frustrated, "I Can't Take It Anymore!" parenting moments, just like everyone else.  But when Davis surprises me by saying "I dove you, Mom." or Carter wakes me up in the morning with a sweet little boy kiss, it makes me feel like I am the luckiest person in the world.  I love you too, boys.

Book Pocket

At a recent trip to Home Goods (I could seriously spend all day in that store if you let me.), I found the perfect solution to our out-of-control book situation.  For $25, we have gone from this:

To this:  

I'm not sure how long the board books on the table will last, but I am loving this new system and I'm sure the life expectancy of our books will be greatly extended now that they aren't scattered all over the boys' bedroom floor.  

It's Finally Open!

We've been watching the construction take place for a couple of months & now, our new neighborhood park is finally open!  Mostly open, anyway.  For the record, we did not cross any plastic orange fences today--the "big kid" area is still roped off, but the "little kid" area was open, so we were thrilled to be able to go over and explore, sans mud.  The wood chips are in and they were putting up the park benches and tables today as we played.  SO exciting to have this literally blocks away from us!  I can't even tell you how thankful we are to now live in a safe neighborhood with great neighbors and so many wonderful amenities for our boys.  It is something we will never take for granted, since our old neighborhood was a little sketchy in places.  I am also grateful for the five years we had in Park Hill that gave us the perspective to appreciate what we have now.  

The view of the park, walking from our house.

 Riding a grasshopper!

 Brothers

 These boys love to swing!

 Climbing the giant spider web....it was a little scary at the top.

One of the rooftops in the distance is our house...with about 200 more coming.  Wowza!  We found out at the last HOA meeting that our neighborhood is only about 25% completed.  It will be fun to see how things come together over the next few years.  I'm not sure what we'll do without the constant construction noise!

Who Knew Boys Could Be Excited About Bedding?

Since we've been in this house for eight months now (is that possible?!), I decided it was about time to tackle the boys' bedrooms.  I loved our nursery in the old house, and the plain white walls upstairs have been begging for some paint since we moved in.  Unfortunately, time and money only allows for one thing at a time.  So, now that the holidays are over I am going to focus on decorating!!  It is my attempt to find something positive about this time of year, because I usually get a bad case of the After-Christmas-"Blahs".  Who's with me?

The boys have no idea what changes this mommy has planned, but they sure look excited about something!

Now, time to get rid of the decade old Eddie Bauer duvet cover and move on to something a little more boy-friendly...

Here's a sneak peek:  

Ride 'Em, Cowboy!

When my mom was here for Christmas, she brought my old cowboy boots...which were actually HER old cowboy boots from the mid 1950's.  She claims they were "hardly worn" when I inherited them.  As you can see, they have been well-loved and I do remember wearing them a lot when I was little.  

Mom actually brought these for me to use as I decorate the boys' rooms (a project I have yet to tackle), but Davis saw them and immediately said "Woody's boots!  Woody's boots!"  and insisted we help him get them on.  Then he wanted to wear Woody's cowboy hat (leftover from Halloween) to complete the look.  He is hilarious and so determined/stubborn.  We just couldn't say no!  It warms my heart to see him wearing these little boots that are over half a century old, with so much family history.  So now, he plays cowboy and the decorating will just have to wait...

 Gotta get my hat on...

 ...and fix my boots.

 Hey, which foot does this go on?

 ...and, he's off!

The cutest little cowpoke in the West!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Pat!

Sean's parents came to visit last week and we got to celebrate Grandma Pat's birthday while they were here!  We went to dinner at Village Tavern on Thursday night...yum!  I worked over the weekend, but we were able to see a Broncos WIN on Sunday night before I left.  Sean and his folks took the boys to a birthday party at the Children's Museum on Saturday and they had a blast!  Carter keeps talking about all the fun things they got to do and make.  

A big thanks to Grandpa Dan for helping Sean install a Radon mitigation system in our basement over the weekend--our Radon level went from almost 50, down to 1.7!!!  (I think anything less than 4.0 is considered "acceptable".)  That's impressive!  Also, thanks to Grandma Pat for taking care of the boys while the guys did their thing.  We couldn't have done it without you two!  Thanks for a great visit!

 The Birthday Girl!

 That's a lot of Beilmans in one booth!

 The boys waited ALL DAY for Grandma to open her gifts and were very disappointed to find out there were no toys in there...

 Cute couple!

 Davis loved the cake.  He was literally eating it with his hands behind his back, face first.  

Yep, that's my boy!

 My favorite Mother/Son photo.  Love it!

Grandpa Dan & Carter watching "Wipeout".  A favorite around here!

Happy New Year!

For our six-year anniversary, we were lucky enough to leave the boys at home with the grandparents and spend the night at Table Mountain Inn in Golden.  It was wonderful!!!  We got the employee rate AND were surprise upgraded to a suite!  I loved all the Southwestern details of our room, the cute balcony and stucco fireplace.  Can you say: romantic?  Loved it.  We ended up getting a discounted bar tab in the "Cantina" and  free breakfast the next morning, too!  Thank you, Taylor!!!  You sure know how to hook a cousin up!  Thanks also to Mimi & Grampy for enduring a rough bedtime with the boys so that we could have a night away.  We appreciate it so much!

On New Year's Day, we took the boys to see The Muppets movie!  I loved reliving my childhood (I had a Muppets lunch box, complete with Kermit thermos.) and the boys (Davis) did really well up until about 20 minutes before the movie ended.  I think we made a mistake getting there early and having them sit through a half hour of previews before the movie started...the popcorn helped, but it can only get you so far. 

We also got to see the Chipmunks characters in the lobby which the boys LOVED!  I think they've seen part of one Chipmunks movie, but it must have made quite an impression, because they really like these guys.   Anyway, this photo-op was too cute to pass up!