Summer & Fall Update, Part 2

Continued... September 9th - The big girls had a sleepover at their dance studio. It's the first time they have been away from home overnight, besides my mom's house. Isla stayed there for a couple hours while Kasey and I were able to go on a date (a rare commodity these days). They had a blast, and I was told that they were very well behaved. Always a nice thing to hear :)

September 16 - On our way to Kasey's brother Nate's wedding, we got a ROCKIN' camera - a Canon Rebel T2i! We had been talking about investing in one for a while and I had been looking online, comparing features and reviews for one that would fit our family perfectly. I must say I think we did, this was money well spent! I'm so excited to learn how to use it beyond the full-auto mode!! Here's a few pictures that we took with it right out of the box.

Only edit was putting it in a collage with a frame.

Not too shabby for amateur 'photographers', right? Anyways, we took a ton of pictures as we messed with the settings and took a quick crash course on aperature, shutter speed, etc... from Kasey's other brother Kyle.

More messing around with our new toy... :)

Nate and Charlotte got married September 17, 2011. It meant a lot to Kasey that Nate asked him to be his best man! Their wedding was a lot of fun, and we got to visit with many people we don't see often enough. Plus I love any excuse to get dressed up (and Kasey in his tux, wow-oh-wow!! Haha!). Still have no idea how I got so lucky.

Our girls, us, and Kasey's dad and Linda at the wedding.

After the ceremony, we headed to the reception. Kasey gave a toast that had everyone laughing, Nate looked a little nervous about what might come out of his mouth but in the end was happy that nothing too embarrassing was said, haha! :) We all danced the night away, and Adiee even asked one of the "blue princesses" aka bridesmaid wearing a blue dress to dance! It was so sweet!

The girls dancing with their dad. Priceless!!

We stopped by Kasey's other brother Corey's house to say goodbye to everyone and they had a ton of kittens that needed homes. Between that, big-sad-eyed kids, and my own weakness of wanting to "help" anything and everyone - we ended up taking one home even though we have way too many pets to begin with and I knew Kleo (our only cat at the time) would disapprove.

The really pretty one in the middle is the one we took.

She was so little and sweet, she didn't have a name for a while either. It was hard for everyone to come to an agreement. The girls had SO many ideas like Pearl (which I actually did like), Pizza, Ice Cream, Sundae, Bubbles, etc... But we eventually named her Lucy. When we first got home she didn't drink very much, but would eat her soft kitten food, so I bottle fed her for a couple weeks. She has now quadrupled in size since we first got her.

Isla turned 3 on September 30th!! What a doll!

We had a big trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop in Denver planned, but we had to postpone because conflicting schedules at work.

On October 3, the big girls had field trips. Sometimes I think I may be a bit over-protective, I was extremely uncomfortable and a bit hesitant to let Mikenna go on hers because it was a bus trip to the planetarium... IN CASPER, 2 hours away. To be fair, Kasey was just as apprehensive as I was... Yikes! In the end, we let her go but I didn't like it at all. So, Isla and I went to the Fire Station with Adiee and her class to get my mind off of it (didn't really work that way though. Ha!) I was sure glad to pick her up from school that day and see her safe and sound back at home with me.

Checking out the firetruck...

On facebook, I posted that Kasey was playing catch that evening with Mikenna in a pink fairy dress and black high heels with a pink baseball glove and ball...

Here's the proof! Haha!! What a girl!

A few days later, we left for Denver to celebrate Isla's birthday. On the way there, we stopped and had dinner with Polly and Eliana (our old neighbors from when we bought our first house, Eliana is only 3 months older than Mikenna). We had pizza and visited for a little while, they always have a ton of fun when they get together, although it isn't very often anymore with both of us in new towns. When we finally got to the hotel, it was too late to go swimming which was a bummer. Isla was the only one that had any energy at all. We needed the sleep anyway, we had a very full couple days planned! :)

They love hotels! Here they are eating their continental breakfast :)

First up, we went to the Flatiron Crossing mall. While we waited for Brandon, Whitney, and little Harper to get here, we took Isla to get her "ear holes". Haha! She is so stinkin' cute! She has been wanting to get her ears pierced but we have waited until their 3rd birthday for all of them (I couldn't bring myself to do it when they were babies). The big girls got to pick a new pack of earrings, and they kept bringing me things that I didn't approve of so we compromised that they get ones that were age appropriate, then I would let them get 1 pack of the feathers that they originally wanted - for PLAY only.

Isn't that last picture heartbreaking?! She is trying to smile even though it hurt! :( It didn't last long though, she was so happy when it was all said and done.

Next up, Build-a-Bear Workshop!! YAY! :) Let me tell you, that store was complete chaos... and BUSY! The girls were all over the place, 1 is picking out their animal, 1 is already getting clothes and accessories, and 1 is filling their bear. It was so much fun to see them so crazy happy, it was exactly what I was hoping for. I had to eventually put a stop to the madness so I told them to put everything that was in their hands on the counter so I could pay for it while Kasey registered them and got their birth certificates printed.

Finding "The One"! Chaos, I'm telling you!! :)

The girls with their finished product!

It only took 5 hours to get out of there. Maybe I'm being a little sarcastic. Ha!

More shopping, photo strips, and lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen. It was delicious!

Brandon, Whitney, Harper, and our family went to HomeGoods after leaving the mall, then met Kasey's sister Kristy and her family at her house and followed them to Chili's. We stayed the night with them in their beautiful home! It was so good to see everyone again so soon!

She didn't have anymore energy tonight! Haha!

It's Sunday now, but before we go home, we had another exciting day planned. We took the girls to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We bought IMAX tickets to see a 3D film on dinosaurs and Isla tried her hardest to get me kicked out. She was terrified before the movie even started, the opening had 2 dinosaurs playing/fighting then turned to fossils and she just lost it. I gave her to Kasey and he was able to console her. Thank goodness!

 Their main display were the animatronic dinosaurs, but they didn't allow photographing or video taping. Isla did NOT like it. Not one little bit. She was very relieved when we headed over to the "Expedition Health" section. They did all kinds of different activities to learn about their bodies. We also stood in line for a good 20 minutes to do the "What will you look like at age 70" activity and then it compares what you will look like if you take care of yourself to what you will look like if you smoke, have too much UV exposure, etc... All I can say is I should start taking care of my skin the way I do theirs... I am always applying and reapplying sunscreen on them. Yikes! :)

 We ate lunch at the cafe inside the museum and then headed over to the space expo. They really enjoyed it playing in the sand and water and Mikenna got to ask a question to the "astronaut" on the "moon" while she was doing very important work! :)

Last stop before the gift shop, was the mineral and gemstone exhibit. They loved looking at all the different sparkling stones! Mikenna bought a crystal and a geode to display in her bedroom, Adiee picked out a necklace and a pack of play dinosaur fossils, and Isla bought the same necklace (so they can fight over whos is whos, it's really fun. Ha!) and a pack of dinosaurs. After that, I got my long-awaited first IKEA store experience. I think our trip was a SUCCESS!!

October 14 - The girls were in the town's "Outlaw" parade for their dance studio. I made their bows myself!! :)

And afterwards we went to dinner at a friend's house and then the girls went for their second dance sleepover.

Crazy Girls!!

On October 29, we had some friends over, ordered pizza while the kiddos made their own mini pizzas. After dinner, we all carved pumpkins with the little ones. It's so nice to have met another couple with 2 little girls here in town! Every time I see them, I also get my baby fix ;-) since mine are growing up!



Jack-o-Lanterns!!

Adiee was a monarch butterfly, Isla was a 'bat'erina, and Mikenna was a vampire if you couldn't tell. Kasey is responsible for that monstrosity! Here I am painting a beautiful butterfly, an adorable bat, and I look over at what Kasey is doing to our oldest. She seriously will give me nightmares for the rest of the year. Is it bad that I almost didn't post this picture because it's so scary? I didn't realize we were going for 'frightening' this year, I'm going to miss the cute-sy days if this is what I get to look forward to for the rest of our costume days.

And lastly, our friends came over to test out our Wii to see if it would be a good gift for their almost 4 year old. I got the kids together for a small Thanksgiving craft. Adorable!

We wrote a few 'thankful thoughts' on the turkey's wings. Some were obvious - "My Family", "My Sisters", "My Home", "My Toys", etc... And some were not so obvious, like - "Turtles" (?? Haha!), "Prince Charming", "The Color Pink", etc... Those kids are hilarious. Never a dull moment in my house!

Phew!! So that is what our family has been up to over the last 5 months or so. Now that I'm caught up, I will be back to blogging more frequently as I used to since there is less going on in these long winter days.

Thanks for reading!