OK, we're back!

So, really Easter happened in Highlands Ranch too, and spring is really coming. We have been watching it all, but not so many pictures, and not too much time to post! So, in no particular order, here is what happened to us in the last 2 months:

1. Kate is now walking! She reminds me most of Jacob because she really is running, and didn't go too much into the walking phase. I guess if you wait 16 months to start walking, you are probably old enough to run instead. Anyway, a big life change for all of us!

2. We got a new computer in February. I only put this because learning a new system is one reason why we don't have any pictures with this post, or stored recently. I guess I have to get an adapter for my memory card, details, details........

3. We had a great Easter. It was a long day including 2 dinners, an egg hunt inside, a cul-de-sac egg hunt, 2 Sunday School hours, 1 church hour, and of course baskets. I would love to show you our pictures, but refer to #2.

4. Bailey is now nearing 50 lbs., and almost growing into his paws. We have had a many shirt casualty due to puppy teeth, and Blake's ears will never be the same, but he is starting to calm a bit, and is so much fun to play with and pet. He is such a gentle soul and really loves to fetch things (I love it when dogs do that!). So after his "surgery" next month, I bet we will have a fun summer with him. Did I mention that he loves to hike too? BONUS!

5. Jake is nearing the end of kindergarten, and about to begin his life of full day school. Little does he know that this summer I have him in baseball (coach pitch this year!), swimming, tae kwon do, curiosity club, basketball camp, vacation bible school, and music camp. He might be a little busy :) So much for the lazy days of summer!

6. Blake is only 1 year away from being a kindergartener also. Where has the time gone??? He has fewer activities this summer, but is so excited to be starting T-ball with our neighbor Ryan. That, and playing with Bailey might just keep him busy enough for a while (and swimming, VBS, and soccer camp). He couldn't be more excited to meet his coach and get out there in uniform. What a big boy!

7. Erik is on his last ski weekend before Copper shuts down for the summer. I think he said that he skied 8 times this year, which for an involved Dad with 3 little kids, is a lot. Jake is now skiing with him and they are on green and blue runs, although Erik will enjoy it more when Jake isn't so fascinated with skiing the rough by the trees. Those are my fearless helmet-wearing boys!

8. Soccer is 3 weeks into the season, and Erik still has them all returning each week (just kidding!). He is doing a phenomenal job coaching those 9 kindergarten boys. They are a scoring machine, and can almost bend it like Beckham. I know this is hard to fathom, but there is another Jake on our team this season that is truly 6 inches taller than our Jake. Now if we could just get him to follow us to Colorado Basketball Academy camp, we would be in business.

9. I am busier than ever with VBS coming up not for one week, but 2 at our church. We have an evening and a morning session, and they fill up quickly each year. I love that I am making so many of the decisions this year for the kids, but will miss my music job. So after much pleading, I am going to teach the preschool music and movement rotation.

10. Our show aired on February 20th for the first time, and has aired many times since. If you have missed it, go to DIYnetwork.com under Sweat Equity: Bedroom Build Out, and they will give you the next 10 airings or so online. It has been so much fun watching this season, and seeing the projects that we heard so much about from the cast and crew for so long. Kate is loving her new room, and I am being hired to do a few friends' rooms this summer. You know, in all our free time.....


So, a quick (or not so quick) catch up of the last few months. Check back in June!!(Really, just kidding!)

Fat Tuesday Pancake Dinner

Our church every year has a pancake dinner to celebrate Mardi Gras and the coming of Lent. We went this year, and had such an awesome time. The catered pancakes were great, Blake discovered that he LOVES sausage, and the music and entertainment were fun, and super family friendly. The boys really had no reservation about starting up the dance floor for all, and the magician kept everyone guessing all night about his magic powers. We all left with full bellies (who doesn't love breakfast for dinner!), and fun beads and masks. I have to say, probably the first time I have ever celebrated mardi gras with a bunch of church friends in a converted sanctuary and had a blast! Already looking forward to next year :)



Kate is SO glad to be here!


Who is it? Oh yeah, the boys and their art masterpiece masks



Kate and her table decoration pre-made mask (Hey,whatever works)


The magician and his captive audience


Let's get this party started on the dance floor/sanctuary!

More Bailey

What a great first day home, full of all the things a puppy loves!

Happy New Year!

New year, new changes, new PUPPY!

I know, we need a puppy like a hole in the head, but we totally fell in love, and are hoping that this puppy will change our kids ideas about family dogs. If you know us, we have a dog named Maggie, who, nicely put, has never been a friendly family dog. Nine years later, we have decided that our kids need that experience, and adopted Bailey - a goldendoodle. He is a mix of a standard poodle and a golden retriever. He is sweet as can be, and we are so excited to have him! So here is Bailey at 8 weeks old!

Catch Up in December!

SO... this is where we have been for the last month, in no particular order....


These are the boys at an Avalanche Game


This is JJ at his holiday school party


This is Blake at his Christmas program at school





Erik and Blake skating at JJs 6th birthday party


Jake at his party


All of us having nice warm pizza after skating


Our family with Santa (and the obligatory crying 1 year old!)


Blake and Kate hanging by the tree


Merry Christmas to you all!

PJammin with Santa

Our local mall had an event to welcome Santa tonight. It was after mall hours and for a small donation to Habitat For Humanity, they gave us dinner (from California Pizza Kitchen - Yum!), dessert (cookies from Paradise Bakery and milk),a visit with Santa (in his jammies too) and Mrs. Claus, crafts, balloons, and lots of entertainment including a sing-along of favorite kids Christmas Carols. All in all, a fabulous time. We went with our good friends The Buerges, and came home with VERY sleepy children! Here are a few highlights...






Our Family


The Three


J and B with Ben and Ryan


Us with Mrs. Claus


Kate and Caroline


Our kids with Santa


SO looking forward to this again next year!

First Birthday!

Since Kate had her first birthday last weekend, it might be time to update with some pictures of her party!

So much new stuff...

We have been crazy busy for the last 2 weeks. Just an update:

1. I am back to work full time almost (first time in 7 years!). I am working at our church in Childrens Ministries, and have an office and everything. Soon I will be working from home part of the time, but it is keeping me plenty busy.

2. I have been doing about 15 hours a week at the Barn also, until they can afford to not have me in the holiday schedule, hopefully 1 more week.

3. Halloween was a blast. We went with good friends, and had a great time. The kids were adorable, and traded me their candy for a new Matchbox car (Blake) and some Pokemon cards (JJ). Seems good for all of us!

4. JJ spent Monday in the ER. Apparently he is allergic to Ibuprofin. Add that to his list....

5. Kate currently is suffering from croup (sp?). So fun night shifts, and just uncomfortable and fussy during the day.

6. We finally have hired another contractor to finish the Kate room project. Hopefully the tiling will be done next week, and we can then start to put things back to where they should go. The electrician is coming tomorrow to give her a lightswitch and power to the fan.


OK, so a little busy the last month or so, but hopefully slowing up and catching a breath soon. I guess with 3 kids that should happen in maybe 20 years or so!


So this is our only Halloween shot, and yes I know that Kate is sleeping. I forgot my camera in the kindergarten party earlier in the day, and did not realize until the kids were all dressed and ready to go. So, thank you Melissa for the one token shot of my family enjoying Halloween 2007!

A big day!

It was our first snowy morning of the season. We woke up to just a dusting, but then had about 4 inches by the end of church. It is so pretty - we are so lucky to live here. Just when you might think snow would be inconvenient, it will be 70-75 the rest of the week. Nowhere else can you wear shorts Saturday and Monday, and it snows on Sunday!

The seemingly bigger news today is that JJ lost his first tooth (naturally!). What a big boy he is. He is so excited to get to sign the Tooth Book at kindergarten tomorrow. Just a few pictures to show the proud Jack-O-Lantern smile...

One more thing.....

Really do not seem to be smug, but for the naysayers who read this



GO ROCKIES!!!!

When we finish celebrating, and staying up until midnight watching playoff games, we will be back to normal, and talk about the kids, and actually have pictures. Hopefully we only have 4 more games left!

One more thing to say....

Go Rockies!!

Goodbye Grandma!

We have had a work-filled week with Grandma here. We finished putting things up in the room for Kate. We painted and decorated the button room so now it is the vehicles room. Then there were a few moments left for fun, like our Candy Land Tournament - in which Blake was the big winner! Also, Grandma got to be at the Cougar Chase at Jakes school, where Jake finished with a fantastic 9 laps! It has been a great week. So, when are you coming back Grandma?

One thing to say...

GO ROCKIES!!!!


We, being a dual loyalty family (we still love the Diamondbacks too!), are a little torn on who to cheer for in the upcoming series. But what it breaks down to is that we cheered for the Diamondbacks in their amazing 2001 year series, and now the Rockies are having that same kind of magic to even be this far, so GO Rockies! I guess either way we are really a winner going into the World Series, and will have a great team to cheer for all the way. But since this is the Rockies first time this far, wouldnt it be great.....

So we made it!

Yesterday was our last day of taping for Sweat Equity. We know now that we will air sometime in February or early March. I think we are episode #210. The bedroom/bathroom/bedroom met the deadline of yesterday morning cosmetically, but we are really only 90% finished. We still have to tile the shower walls, finish tiling the countertop and fireplace (like grouting), and finish the baseboards and crown mouldings with paint and wood filler. Oh, and also hook up all the bathroom fixtures so we (Kate) can really use them. Probably no rush for that! So, all in all, 1 sleepless night, a pretty sleepless week, but an almost finished job, a learning process, and some fun thrown in too. Would we do it again? Asking that now we would say YES!




The whole finish crew in our backyard- Adam (marketing/photos), Tyler(Executive Producer), Amy (host), Donna (our realtor) holding Kate, me, Carl(sound guy), Tony (cameraman), Erik



The vanity countertop





The closet

After 7 short hours...

The new closet and wall all taped


The new bathroom floor



So today we (Erik) got the floor installed in the bathroom, and the walls taped as scheduled. We decided to wait to install the toilet and vanity until I can paint the rest of the walls so they will not be in the way.

Another fun fact - they taped a lot of DIY/HGTV promos in our house this afternoon with Amy Matthews because our house is so pretty! What a nice compliment from the great crew :)

With the light at the end of the tunnel clearly visible now, it is so exciting to see our design choices put into place, and working so well!

Another weekend with HGTV.......

This is what the bathroom looks like this morning! Today (on camera) we will be installing the floor in the bathroom, and the vanity/toilet. We also will be taping the drywall - thats right, taping the drywall that was supposed to be done on Tuesday by some flaky contractor. So, after that, we will be texturing tomorrow, and ready to paint on Monday. Finally, the fun stuff is arriving. It sure is hard to believe that this will be finished a week from Sunday. How, you say? Probably at the expense of sleep, I am guessing!

The Drywall and Door

The new door to the hallway


The view of the new wall from Kates room

The side of the new wall in our room

Here are the most recent pictures (today!) of the project. It is almost completely drywalled, and tomorrow the contractor will be taping and texturing - so then I can start painting! Also a shot of the new (and infamous) door to the hallway. Our next taping days will be the bathroom flooring, fixtures, and painting. They are hoping that I will hold out until Saturday to paint and such, but chances are, if I have time on Thursday, I will get going. This is a sickness of mine, I love to paint decoratively. Not paint the exterior of a house, or the like, but more like cute stuff in the kids rooms and the house interior. It is calming and rewarding, and I know that I will get going as soon as I have a chance. As of now, I am booking out until Thursday, maybe Friday!

Day 5 and 6

Last weekend we (well, really Erik and the guys) did some drywall and made the door to the hallway. It was quite a process. As they were sawing the door, the camera/studio lights went out. We all assumed that so much lighting in one little room, and then power tools also made us flip the breaker. So we went and turned it back on, and Erik started sawing from the bottom this time. Again, about half way up, the power went out in the room. So we turned the power back on again. Now the cameras were all over the part where Amy and Erik ripped down the drywall. It came down in 1 big piece, and there in the middle of the wall is an electrical cord that is almost drilled through! Through the saving grace of todays power tools, Erik did not electricute himself making the doorway.



This weekend we put in the bathtub/shower, and worked more on the drywall. Erik also did the insulation in the wall around the fireplace. So we have 2 more weeks until the shooting wraps up. That means that I have just under 10 days to get the place painted, tiled, and curtains made - YIKES!

And after all that hard work (and 2 hours mowing the lawn), he and the boys camped in the nicely cut backyard. What a treat for everyone (except Kate who really missed her fellas at bedtime!)

The last two weeks......

Blake had his first day of preschool on Thursday. He has such a nice set of teachers, and a lot of friends already. He has been really looking forward to going back since he left in May. This year for some reason, he really looks a lot bigger :)



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So, we finished days 3 and 4 of taping, with day 5 being today. The walls are framed and the fireplace is in on our side. Today they plan to drywall, cut and frame the door, and build the closet shelving. Seems like a lofty goal, but with help, I am learning to have faith!
You may have noticed the tools in the background. Just a sneak peek of tools and benches that Ridgid will debut in time for Christmas. We get to use the DIY loaners!