Florida Bound

Throw back Monday! Oh, how we have blossomed. My senior year in college I was waiting tables and a high school friend's parents sat in my section. It was great catching up and talking about the old times. The mom noted that I "blossomed" several times. At first I thought it was very sweet but by the 4th time I was beginning to wonder how 'fugly' I was in high school. I am well aware those were not my glory years as I seemed to hit the awkward stage late but jeezo lady, I did not know it was that bad! Fast forward 5 years and I bring you to the picture below. Can I just say that I believe as a couple, Eric and I are blossoming as we age. Not all people "blossom" in this direction as I see old high school hotties fat and bald on facebook. Hopefully this trend continues but I will admit, I feel better now then I did 10 years ago and Eric can say the same. 

We took our annual Florida trip to see my mom's side of the family. The kids always have a blast and it is always a MILLION degrees outside when we go. We stayed in a new resort where the pool water was the same temp as outside (I could spend the whole day in the water vs my 20 min stints in CO), and the seaweed was horrific. Seriously, I did not get in the ocean even once nor did I attempt to lay on the beach because of this nasty stuff. It was scratchy and stinky and filled with bugs. That is not my style. Sooooo, we spent all our time in this little pool for 6 hours a day for 5 days and you know what happened ... my kids can swim. What was I doing spending all that money on swim lessons. Just turn them into fish with no other choices and they figure it out! Hot Dang!

Day 1 above. Please note we still have floaties. Those were soon discarded and never used again. Speaking of never again ... this was the last time they were thrown in the air because apparently it disturbs other swimmers. Bla Bla Bla!

Blossoming!

Papa helped the boys catch sand crabs. I always remember them being small. Well not these suckers that Deegan has in his hand! YUCK! #littleboys

When you look at this picture you may see T getting ready to eat a big bowl of spaghetti and mom trying to protect his new shirt. Well, you have been fooled. This is a dress and Taber loved it. He made us put him in a dress at every restaurant and I had to pack some clean napkins for the road so that he could have some at the room. This little nugget LOVES dresses and he will tell anyone! I can't blame the kid ... they are way cooler then some black ninja outfit. We are going into this open minded and let him pretend to be a girl. No use in fighting it and plus he is only 4 and it makes him so happy. 

My hunk of meat! Love him!

Here fishy fishy fishy!

Eric was brave enough to touch the seaweed and help the kids boogie board a few times. Of course they loved it!

Deegan asking why there is so much seaweed!

 We flew back to Colorado on 7/11 which meant we had to stop and get our free slurpee's. Maybe not the best idea before boarding a plane as I was up with Taber 5x! 

Back to life ... Back to Reality (Gotta sing along)

Oh buddy! It has been a LONG time since I have had a MOMENT to blog. The end of the the school year became a blur and I am not sure we have regained our vision or balance. Honestly, I am not sure how we would do everything we do if I still worked. Eric is killing it at work (seriously, I am so incredibly proud of my 'diamond in the rough'), the kids are crazy busy with sports, tutoring, speech and school, oh, and did I mention we had a roommate for 8 weeks? 

Our talented and beautiful niece had an opportunity to dance with the Colorado Ballet for 6 weeks this summer. Eric and I tousled the idea because it was a huge commitment on our part with the driving her 6 days a week and balancing our daily lives. At the end we could not be 'dream-crushers' and decided to name ourselves the 'dream-makers'. Sounds super cheesy but Karli is that gifted at dance. Not going to lie, it was more labor intensive then we anticipated and traffic flat out sucked! The boys and I could be in the car for 3+ hours a day. Luckily, Eric picked up way more slack which allowed the kids to play and I could put a hot meal on the table. It was nice having another girl in the house as I have never experienced that in my life. We had a summer bucket list and it was fun crossing it all off and the boys loved spending time with their cousin. It will be a summer to remember. 

 Deegan celebrated his 6th birthday at Dart Warz (duh)! The best part was that we had more adults then kids playing! To say Deegan had a fun birthday is an understatement!

 The big kids sitting out. I do not think I will ever forget the image of my dad hitting the floor as soon as the first darts were fired. He got serious! 

Taber and I seem to gravitate together with common interests and same with Eric and Deegan. With that said, I love when this little boy decides he actually wants to build something (vs destroy and throw). It is my favorite when they bond with Eric. 

Growing up, we always had a rope swing at the cabin. It provided hours and hours of entertainment (seriously, hours). The dang Beatle kill forced my dad to chop all the lodge pole pines off the property and we said good bye to the rope swing. Well, 10 years later, we are making a new one. It is not as high but nonetheless, it is glorious and gives the boys something to do. 

Deegan getting serious on the rope swing. 

Every morning I throw the boys clothes down and usually they are good at picking their clothes and getting dressed. This day however, not so much. They switched clothes on accident until I pointed it out and they thought it was hilarious! So cute!

I remember field day being the BEST! I loved playing all the games, getting wet and winning (yup, I had issues at an early age). I was so excited for Deegan to experience his first Field day at the end of Kindergarten. Just like me, he loved ... and for the same reasons :)

That goof and his awkward smile. Oh boy!

So for Deegan's birthday, he asked for his own role of tape. Yup ... Tape. He loves to construct and build (opposite of his brother). Deeg can find anything to tape and he goes all out with his creations. Some day he is going to be just like his dad.

Sums it up. 

Little T-Tot, Love-bucket-of-joy, sweets of my life, T-Dizzle my nizzle, etc turned 4! I have a 4 and 6 year old ... WHAT!!!! Folks, those are not babies, those are kids! I told Eric I may need a 3rd and then I came back to life ... back to reality and realized I don't. These 2 are perfect and I have to embrace every moment because it goes fast.

My phone was jacked and this is what I found! Hilarious!

What If ...

What if .... That is the most common phrase coming out of Deegan's mouth these days. "Mom, what if cars were houses and houses were cars? We would not go anywhere!" "Dad, what if day was night and night was day?"

The things that go thru that little brain are endless. So much so that the kid hardly hears us when we speak to him. We usually have to repeat ourselves a few times because he is having an internal dialogue in his head. He has the most incredible imagination. He is just like Eric in that he comes up with a dozen inventions every day. His spacial awareness is impeccable and he is always searching for the "why". Eric will give him the straight up, scientific, big words answers which usually leads to more questions and busting out the Webster Dictionary. Being the less patient and apparently less smart parent, I give him the "that is just how god made it" answer. Taber seems to accept this answer more then Deegan ... he is totally my mini-me. 

The boys are decorating the tree

Taber out with his girl cousins. This is a result of being in Hobby Lobby too long. Clearly he loved it though!

I love when I hear giggles and then the call to find them. I have to search the whole first floor until they bust this wall down and blow their cover. 

Annual birthday tradition is to ski my my dad and brother. It is probably my favorite tradition. Evan and I could not get over how the filter made my dad's hair look super white. Don't get me wrong, it is grey but this is a new shade. 

Found this little gem. I am pretty sure my dad and I are wearing the same shorts (size and all)! 

I do not feel like it snowed all that much this year. That probably means we are going to have a miserable summer with fires and restrictions. With that said, being locked inside when it did snow made for some long days. I usually have a 42 degree rule before I will play outside but desperate times call for desperate measures. 

We fill our nights in the winter with swim lessons. The new MAC facility has this awesome interactive floor video game. The boys run and scream like crazy. We looked it up to see if we could buy one ... it is only $10K. No problem!!!! JK!

Deegan went to the school book fair and solely picked this book for the glasses. We got in the car and his first request was to take a picture of him. Love it!

Denver March Pow Wow. We never have any pictures of us. I am trying to change that. Love this guy!

Taber loved the Pow Wow. He wanted to dance so bad. Eric took him down for the intertribe dance and he refused to get down without the proper costume. Looks like Eric and Taber are going to have to learn to be grass dancers and compete :)

We celebrated my grandmother's 91st B-Day a few weeks ago. All the grandkids got together and took her to a nice dinner. She had a great time and we decided we need to do it more often while she is still around. She never ceases to amaze me with her physical, mental and spiritual capabilities @91. I sure hope I get those genes. 

Spring Break 2015 ... OMG ... NOT the same as Spring Break 2002. That was a LONG 2 weeks. I joked with Eric one night when the kids went psycho one night that I was drinking tequila and posting my resume on Monster. It was hard to create a routine. I am praying the summer is not so long with the pool and a "summer routine." We did make it to the children's museum. It was fun for the 45 min we were there. It was not as large as I anticipated so I was thankful there was a large park just outside that they played on for over an hour. Little Deegan just loved being a fireman. 

Taber and his babies ... or nuts, in his nest with his girl Holland. They were adorable. 

Monkey's

Sometimes I think I have monkey"s living in my house. We have an insane amount of banana's at all times, my house is trashed and I hear wild noises constantly. I did not realize I could add zoo keeper to my resume. Maybe that will make me more marketable. 

My sweet littler Taber Tot so desperately wants to wear dresses. If we go to a friends house who has girls, you can bet this child will find a dress and put it on. He even asked for a dress and a skirt for his birthday. This worries Eric on occasion but I think it is hilarious. I cannot wait to use these pictures against him later on in life! JK!

I went with Deegan's class on a field trip to the stock show. Keeping 5 kids contained and alive for 5 hours was not easy. I have to admit, the stock show is not necessarily my thing. Animals, smells, and poop everywhere. Good news was I made it out without stepping in anything horrific!

Scotch tape must be purchased at Costco. Deegan Oliver has an obsession with it. He puts it EVERYWHERE and believes it fixes everything. He taped my whole kitchen table one day ... it took him hours. He hangs "sign's" all over and constantly has creations to show me. He is just like his dad!

Over MLK weekend we went to the cabin with old college friends. It is fun to see the kids grow up together. We decided to take the cheap sledding route and found a free hill in Winter Park. It was perfect because the kids could still walk up by themselves. Thank god!

The crew getting ready to race

This is where we decided to spend our money. It was only fitting given Chris and Eric's love for motors and racing. They were kid sized snowmobiles. Technically you were supposed to be 4 years old so we went with Taber's conception birthday. You would never guess he was 3 with his awesome driving skills. The power wheel has proven its worth!

Getting ready

He was all about the race

Lunch break!

Please note the kids are dressed for summer but there is snow in the background, "You know you live in Colorado when ...."

Coffee with our little buddy Breckin. Taber just loves him and wants to hold him all the time. He would probably be a good big brother but I think he can channel that ability to little B. 

Best delivery of the year.

Give the kids cardboard boxes and it is amazing what ideas they come up with. This was the box from above and once it broke they decided to bust out the tools, capes and glasses to make a creation. 

"Lets work out"