Reflections

Recently in a neighborhood very close to mine, a ten-year-old girl was abducted and murdered. This event occurred just a few weeks ago. The little girl, Jessica Ridgeway - a name I don't think I'll ever forget, was taken on her way to a local park where she usually joined friends on her walk to school.
Yesterday, an arrest was made. The police arrested a 17 year old boy. The news states that his mother actually gave the police the tip which led them to the arrest. I can't help but have sympathy for both of these parents, one whose daughter was taken in such a devastating way and the other has to deal with the fact that their son carried out such a horrific act and they will ultimately lose him as well.
I hope that some good can come from this tragic event, and it seems that her community has rallied around her family to support them during this time. While I know this will fade, this event is a huge reminder of how quickly events like this can happen. I hope to never take my children's safety and heath for granted. I hope to squeeze every ounce of love and joy from all of the moments I am blessed to have with my family.
I hope that this tragic event will help all parents to enjoy the time they have with their children and hug them a little tighter and love them a little more fiercely. I know I will.

Funny Things

I just wanted to note these someplace, here is a list of some of the cute things Reece says. (The numbers only indicate how they came to mind.)

1. Osicle or Osicle-pop or Popopsicle - of course these all mean popsicle. He's getting better at saying this, and I'm proud of him but still so sad! Also, his absolute favorite dessert (currently).

2. Bunga or Bugga - these mean brother which is what we typically call Blake around Reece and so far, they have a great relationship.

3. Mlake - Blake, he typically only uses his brother's name after someone else says it.

4. Lu you - another obvious one, Love you, which of course melts my heart and is typically accompanied by the "I love you" sign.

5. Lightning Car - refers to either of the Cars movies and Lighting McQueen, his current favorite movies. We typically watch each of these (1 & 2) at least twice a week.

6. Hoos - is shoes. Last week one of the kids at daycare came in with slippers on due to an injured toe (no socks as they irritated said toe). For the last week, Reece has come home from daycare with no socks and shoes on the wrong feet. (Which reminds me, I must try to get a picture of this if it happens again!)

7. Gay wade - Gatorade. He had orange Gatorade (my favorite) so much that he had an perma-orange lip!

8. Mahee - Somehow, this is Thomas (the Tank Engine). I have no idea how or why, I'm also glad that while he still likes Thomas, we don't have to watch it every single morning.

9. Lanky - Blankie, usually he's talking about his blanket but he calls all small blankets "lankies". Also, if he has one in one hand, 95% of the time he has his first finger of the other hand in his mouth.

10. Mo - No. We hear that often, after all he is two. Also, can be combined with "oh" for "oh mo" which cracks me up!

11. Mumpy - Monkey, this makes me thinks of diseased monkeys which really creeps me out.

12. Ride car - means go for a ride in the car. We can't mention this too soon or we get an impatient two-year-old whining this phrase at the door.

13. Gaggy - Daddy, how cute is that?!

14. Airpeen - Airplane, of course. He points them out when he's in the car and yells to them when he sees them outside.

When he sees matching things and one is big and one is smaller (think toy dump truck v. hot wheels size dump truck) he points at the big one and says "mom" and then at the little one and says "baby". He also does this with actual moms and babies, this always makes me smile.

When he sees things that match he has to touch each of them with his index finger.

Those are the current things that are often said and done around our house. We'll see what comes up next!

Arts and Crafts... and Pinterest!

With the help of Pinterest, I decided to try my hand at a sewing project. It was a pretty simple project, but I think it really came out pretty well, if I do say so myself, and I really enjoyed completing it. I have to give credit to the Living with Punks blog for the tutorial, I followed that, added a few things of my own, and viola! A cute floor cushion/seat for the boys. 

I added the zipper, so the camo material is just a cover that I can remove and wash. 

Here Comes Thomas!

Thomas the Tank Engine comes to visit the Colorado Railroad Museum every year and this year, we took part in the festivities! Tyler and I were prepared for the worst (crowded, long lines, bratty kids and lots of waiting), but it was actually very organized and the museum grounds are large enough to avoid the bratty kids. The shuttles were very clean, air-conditioned Greyhound style buses and everything was timed well so there was very little waiting. The kids had a blast and Reece was thrilled to see Thomas and ride the train.

Checking out the model trains, they even had a Thomas running!

Taking it all in

Me and the boys waiting for our turn on Thomas

All Aboard!

September Happenings

September seemed to go really quickly for us. We all seemed to get sick this month. The older kids started school in August, gave their new germs to their little brothers and sister who brought it in to daycare, and lucky us, our kids brought them home! Luckily, Reece didn't require any doctor visits, Tyler and I just trudged on through but Blake required two rounds of antibiotics for a very persistent ear infection. But, we all made it through with no lasting effects.

Reece has begun to show some interest in potty training, he's asked to go to the bathroom several times and typically he does pee. Unfortunately, he's only pooped once, so I definitely don't think we are there yet.
Blake is all over the place! He gets into everything, he's started to climb up the stairs. He loves following his brother around and his favorite thing to do is play under the "table fort" with Reece.

Me and my boys!

Cheese!

This is Blake's personality

So proud to walk in Daddy's boots!

We call this "Happy Tongue"

Playing under the table

August Events

Since it's been a while since I've posted, I'll do my best to do a re-cap of the past few months. One major event was that Blake started crawling around 6-1/2 months and he is now quite the mover! We started solid foods and some of his favorites include cheese, yogurt and sweet potatoes. In general, however, the kid loves to eat! Reece's vocabulary is continuing to expand and he is really becoming a very wonderful little person and great big brother.
My mom had a chance to come out for a little over two weeks which gave Tyler and I the opportunity to have a little weekend get-away which was wonderfully refreshing!
This summer we decided to purchase memberships to both the Denver Zoo and the Colorado Railroad Museum and we have been trying to take advantage of those.
Here are a few August memories!

Cousin Tanner made it over to play with us!

Just cute!

Enjoying the trampoline with Maw Maw

At the Railroad Museum

Maw Maw and the grandbabies!

What a great big brother!

Big monkey, little monkey

VT Visit

At the end of July we took a little trip to visit Tyler's family in Vermont.  The flight there was pretty uneventful and the kids were wonderful. We played at the park, the lake and we went to two children's museums! We met up with a few friends and visited with family. Our flight back was a little more painful with weather delaying us about 4 hours. Luckily our kids were great travelers and with a few toys, several laps around the airport with Blake and numerous trips up and down the escalator with Reece, we made it with no major meltdowns. Overall we had a great time and even found an amazing children's museum worth a two and a half hour drive.

Racing up the hill... and the big boys are dropping like flies!

Grammy, Dad and the boys

Great-Grandma Moriarty and the boys

Fun at the Childrens Museum

Reece and Izzy

Hugs goodbye

But no kiss!