Gangnam Baby

Here's a little silliness for your Friday afternoon!  It's Junie rocking it Gangnam style!

Praise and Thanksgiving

While my children nap peacefully, I have a few minutes for a short blog about our Thanksgiving.  I think I might have to say that it was one of the most fun ones I have had so far.  The reason:  simply getting to spend it at home AND with family.  What a blessing.  Our intention had been to go to Grand Junction for Thanksgiving.  We were there for Christmas last year and we have always traded off the holidays since we got married.  We were looking forward to going over so that everyone over there could finally meet our little Junie.  However, the more we planned and the closer it got, it just didn't seem like the trip was going to work out for us this year.  One major reason being that Tim had to leave for Las Vegas the day after we would have been coming back.  So we decided to stay here and spend our Thanksgiving in our own home.

{To those of you in Grand Junction:  We are very sorry that we didn't come over.  :(  We would have loved to have spent it with you.  We are hoping to make a weekend trip over in the next couple of months, once the holiday craziness is over!}

My parents (Nana and Papa) decided that they would drive down and spend Thanksgiving with us, since we were going to be home.  It is always a blast when they come to visit.  We talked Pat & Tina (Grandpa and Gigi) in to coming up for Thanksgiving dinner as well.  I wasn't worried about cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner . . . since I knew I wouldn't be doing it alone!  In fact, it is nearly a tradition in our family to do the turkey on the barbecue.  Yum!  It tastes fabulous, doesn't take up all the oven space, and then the men have to take care of the turkey while we do the rest (for the most part)!

We had a lovely afternoon/evening.  Ava thoroughly enjoyed being able to spend time with Nana and Papa AND Grandpa and Gigi all at the same time!  I thought her head just might explode, but it didn't.  :)  We are so incredibly blessed to have such amazing families.  We really truly LOVE spending time with our parents, and I know many people cannot say the same.  Every holiday season I am again reminded how gracious God has been to me by placing me in my family and in my family by marriage.  And thank goodness they all get along with each other, too!  What a wonderful way to spend a holiday that is meant to be all about giving thanks.

Tim and I praise and thank the Lord every night for the two beautiful girls he has given us, as well.  They are a delight and so much fun!

Here are a few pictures from the day and from Nana and Papa's stay:

Fall Fun

Phew!  Life is BUSY!  Not that everyone doesn't already know that.  I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last post until I signed on and saw the last date.  Over a month!  Whoops.  I can hardly believe that November has come and gone.  Good night, wasn't it just September?!  Really.  That is how I feel.

BUT . . . with the end of November comes . . . CHRISTMAS TIME!!!  And  boy, oh, boy do I love Christmas time!  Enough of that, though.  Before we can talk Christmas we must get caught up on fall.  I don't have much to say but I have a few pictures to share.  We went to a pumpkin patch/corn maze/petting zoo/you-name-it in October and had lots of fun.  Then we carved our pumpkins.  It was Ava's first time doing that and . . . she lost interest after about 5 minutes.  :)  Ah, two year olds.  She regained some interest once we started planning a "Mickey Pumpkin" for her.  She was excited about that, but a little confused, too.  She didn't seem to understand why she couldn't watch Mickey on her pumpkin.  Oh man.  What an entertainment-infused world our children are growing up in!

Ava was Minnie Mouse for Halloween and she sure was cute!  She had a blast trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with Daddy.  She didn't understand what to do at first (she tried to go in our neighbor's house), but once she got it figured out she was a pro and had a lot of fun.  She wanted to do it again the next day!  I don't think she understands when I tell her she has to wait until next year (Now that her "treats" are finally gone she keeps saying, "We gotta get more.  At Target.").  June was a ladybug, and she got to stay home with me and pass out candy.  It was such a beautiful, warm day!  Unusual for Halloween.

Here are some pictures to commemorate these events.  I shall save Thanksgiving for another post . . . hopefully one that will come soon.

On a morning walk on a crisp, fall day.

Ready to see some animals, walk through some corn and get some pumpkins!

Getting friendly with the goats and sheep.

Junie could only handle so much fun.

A pumpkin for everyone!

Mama's on the left, Daddy's in the middle and Ava's (Mickey's) on the right.  June's was too small for carving.

Minnie Mouse watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Waiting for Daddy to come home from work!

Grouchy Ladybug.

The spoils.

The Denver Zoo

Last weekend we took advantage of a beautiful weekend in October (well, Sunday was beautiful and Saturday was rainy and fall-ish) and headed down to Commerce City to visit Grandpa and Gigi.  We left home after nap on Saturday afternoon and got there a little after 5.  The plan was for us to leave the girls with Grandpa and Gigi so that we could go out for a little bit of a date, courtesy of a gift card that Tim gave me for my birthday.  Unfortunately once we got there Junie started having a tough time.  She was so upset!  I haven't seen her like that in a long time (since the last time she was at their house, Grandpa said).  I fed her and she still wouldn't calm down.  It was looking like we were going to have to skip our dinner; however, I managed to rock her to sleep and put her in her bouncy seat (it goes everywhere with us).  With the encouragement of our babysitters we ran out the door and went to dinner.  I spent most of the time worrying about June (I know I shouldn't, but what mama doesn't?!), until Tim got a text from Grandpa.  We had been gone an hour and a half or so, and June was still sleeping!  She NEVER naps like that in the evenings!  We ran with that good news and had dessert.  :)  She was still asleep when we got back, but Ava was still up bouncing off the walls.
We spent the night there (much better than driving home late like we've done before) and had a fabulous Sunday morning breakfast a la Gigi.  Then we headed off to the Denver Zoo!  Grandpa and Gigi had been wanting to go with Ava and we hadn't been there with her yet.  The weather was amazingly warm and sunny, without being two warm.  There are lots of mature trees around the zoo, so the fall colors were beautiful.  We saw LOTS of animals.  In some ways it was better than the San Diego zoo.  You can get closer to the animals and the size is not quite so overwhelming.  We spent around four hours there.  It was a lovely day.  Then we headed back home and got ready for the week.

Ava and Gigi checking out the giraffes.

Ava liked watching the seals swimming around.

So stylish in Gigi's sunglasses!

Of course, Ava had to climb on everything.  To get a better view, right?

Elephants!

June and Daddy

The train that Ava rode with Grandpa.  She was so excited!

"I hope I'll get to ride the train someday, too!"

You can't see the lemurs in this picture (they look just like King Julian!) but you can see some pretty fall colors.

And . . . out.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get any pictures of the monkeys in the new elephant part of the zoo.  There are hanging ropes set up for them to swing along and they go right over the pathway in one spot!  We stood for a long time watching a funny white one with a tiny head and a black one with extremely long arms.  Ava kept saying, "Silly monkey!"

Montana September 2012

A couple weeks ago we took our little ones and headed to Montana for some R & R with my family.  My sister, Jessica, and her family were there as well.  The big event of the trip was a party for my grandpa, who turned 80 in July.  We would have had the party in July except somebody ended up being pregnant and due mid-July.  Hmmm.  So the family decided to hold off until September, when the Kellehers would be ready to travel.  My aunt and uncle, Jacque and Duane, traveled up from Phoenix.  I hadn't seen them in years!  Also, my cousin, Brian; I don't remember the last time I saw him.

We also made a little side trip up to Fairmont Hot Springs and spent two nights.  Unfortunately their outdoor pool and waterslide were closed due to remodeling, but the indoor pool was just fine for the kids, and is as warm as bathwater.  We had a lot of fun!  Ava had never actually been in a pool before.  We bought her a little life jacket and thought she would be ready to jump right in.  Quite the opposite!  She was really timid at first and didn't even want to go in.  Finally after watching her cousins (who are like little fish!) in the water for a little bit, she decided she would go in with Daddy.  She liked it after that, even floating on her back with us just holding her hand!  She did remain a little hesitant, though, and made sure that one of us always had a tight grip on her.

It is always fun (and a little crazy) to have everyone together.  It usually only happens once a year!  Here are some pictures from our trip.  I failed to get any pictures at the pool, but otherwise there is a pretty good sampling.  

Aunt Jess teaching Ava how to play a game on Cameron's Leapfrog Explorer.  She thought that was pretty neat.

Everett had to stake his claim on his mommy.

Ava and Cameron playing under Nana's coffee table.  They are like two peas in a pod - crazy!

Two surly toddlers eating breakfast in the morning.

We tried and tried to get a good picture of them sitting together, but there was always one who wouldn't cooperate!

Eating lunch in our Suite at Fairmont after a morning at the pool.

Playing at the park at Fairmont.

Ava loves the slide!

Whee!  Down goes big E!

Ava was all about helping Nana water her flowers.

June says, "Hey, I'm here, too!"

Nana has a new-to-her, beautiful grand piano.  The kids were only allowed to play if an adult was supervising.  This time I was playing chaperone.

Play, play, play.

Jammie play!

Aunt Jess playing ball with the boys during the party.  Is that a great shot, or what?!

Papa Ernie, the Grill Master!

Party time!

June was partying, too, rocking it in her bouncy seat.

Birthday cake!

Hurray!  Sugar right before bedtime!

Birthday boy!  Not a very clear picture, unfortunately.

The morning after the party.  Can you say Mickey Mouse Clubhouse coma?

Junie likes to wiggle it!