our weekend

stairs

I have not lived in a 2-story house but 1 time in my college years and the truth is -I loathe them! First, remember we moved to higher altitude. Now imagine all the times we need to run up and down the stairs with my potty training toddler who is barely going to make it on the seat, doing laundry, putting kids to bed, breaking up constant kids fighting, you get it! Oh, wait there's more....did I also mention that my 4 year old fell head over heels, head over heels all the way down the stairs backwards! So yes, there are many reasons that stairs should remain my enemy. But, before all you 2-story housed fans get mad at me for hating please read on.
I am trying to see the positive in all situations so I wanted to mention that while my son did have a bad spill on the stairs, he did survive with out injury. Secondly, stairs are very helpful in getting me to and fro in a big house. And lastly, our staircase doubled as an art hall this weekend. So in conclusion, I will say stairs are alright after all, as they can be fun, too. :)


new work car

This weekend we got a new addition to our garage. Here is a sexy male model with his new work car. With all the weather he has to drive through, it had to be a Subaru!


let's go fly a kite!

The perfect to end to our weekend was trying out our new kites from Costco. My son picked out an airplane and my daughter wanted the elephant. The weather was perfect. It was in the high 70's and plenty of wind. Here's some park pics. This park has a handicap swing that my kids just love to ride in. They think it's like a rollar coaster.
She's even cute with wind-blown hair! (Another Allergy update: it does not look like cheese back in her diet is going to work after all. The rashes are coming back, but at least we can manage her skin now.)

cheese please

Allergy update for my precious little girl:
We went to a top allergist group here in Colorado, National Jewish Health. I honestly thought deep down it was going to be more of the same mystery for them as it has been for me with all her skin problems. Low and behold, we have improvement for the first time in ages!!!! Her skin has never looked better and it was just a few changes that we implemented with her, especially in bathing and a new lotion.
A little bad news is that she is now officially allergic to egg, which we did not know she could not have any part of the egg. So that's also helped to know.
The good news is great skin equals re-introducing some foods back in her diet. We decided to start with dairy because there are just too many good things about dairy. Last night we made her grilled cheese on her gluten-free bread. She enjoyed it soooo much it brought tears to my eyes. I know it's silly to shed a tear over your child eating some cheese, but it made me happy to at least be trying normal eating again! We'll see how it goes, but for now i love hearing my daughter say, "cheese please" because i can finally say, "yes!"

butterfly pavilion

We had such a nice relxing weekend for the first time since we've moved here. My wonderful husband heard about a fun place to take the fam - the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminister, CO. It was actually really cool and perfect for our aged kids. First we went into a room full of the nastiest, creepiest bugs ever. I had one thought - I'm gonna have some bad dreams tonight! Then we went outside to this rainforest room. It was gorgeous with plants all over, a stream and fake misty rain falling from the ceiling. The best part was all the butterflies. There were a bunch of various butterflies flying all around us. They would wisp past your head and you'd sometimes almost bump into them. I can't explain it other than I felt like a kid again all wrapped up in excitement and wonder over the simple things in life. There were a couple more things to see and do after that, but the butterfly room was unlike anything I've ever done before. As always, I only wished I had taken more pictures of our time there!
The butterflies really liked my mom and they landed on her several times. Don't know how well you can see this, but I thought it was cool that she was taking a picture of one and one landed on her camera.
They had a small sea life area and of course baby girl was excited to see her fave NEMO.
These bugs were just so oddly facinating to me.
Oh yes, you could hold this creepy tarantula, named Rosie. (I love how they named a scary spider something soft and sweet.) Little man was so brave he got in line twice to hold 'sweet' Rosie!

tip for easy clean-up!

After this you may really question my ability for motherhood, but well, I guess I do too now and then. As a mom I get SOOOO tired of cleaning up spilled water, spilled snacks or whatever bodily fluid might have found it's way onto the floor. So I confess at times when it's a simple popcorn snack (or the like) as pictured that has spilled - I just let them clean it up. When we are in public places and something hits the ground I say "it's for the birds" and we leave it behind or pitch it, but when we are at home I let them become the birds. And that my friend is my controversial tip for easy clean-up for today. :)

can't get enough

It was a such warm week in Denver. It was in the 70's all week and with the intense sun that made it feel much warmer. My little buddy has been waiting for more snow, but since we first came - no dice. We were able to get to the mountains this past week and honestly my kids can't get enough snow!!! I know we are in the honeymoon stages of snow, but we are really having fun. I truly thank God for an opportunity to live in such a gorgeous state!

Little mama giggles at just being near it. We built a little snowman - it looked too pathetic for pictures. I will have to work on my skills with that one!


Little man is enjoying trying out his new snowboard sled-thing. He really wants to be a snowboarder and ya know he is pretty good on his little one.


Some other news, in case you were wondering...
We still have not found our next place, but I know God will provide the right place as we keep looking! I also took my little girl to one of the top allergist groups and we are hopeful as we take a new direction, God will heal her little body. There is much to be grateful for and we are excited with this new chapter God has opened up for us!