Pittsburgh trip

We are officially back from our trip and not just physically, but I think mentally now! We had a wonderful time visiting my sister and family in Pittsburgh. It's such a joy to see them in their own environment and getting to know where they live, go to church, see them homeschool and interact as a family. What a blessing! Thankfully they were all very patient with having an additional two children who were very off their routine and a frazzled mother at times. Kurt had a very busy weekend working at a fencing competition, so it was nice to be able to spend a few days with both families together.


Here are a few pictures I was able to get when I actually thought about my camera!


We ventured out to the local mall one day and here are the kids enjoying the fountains.


We spent one day at the Science center in Pittsburgh. Silas and Nathan are enjoying playing in the water....probably too much!
Here was the highlight of the museum. It is the ball area.
At their house, it was such a joy to see the kids play together and interact although there is such an age difference. Here is Evan building a geo track for the younger kids.
Aunt Paula holding Nathan who really wanted to tear apart the track!

Ann-Marie had a fun time drawing pictures with the boys' hands. Silas was very intrigued.

Alec, Silas and Nathan playing together.

Christmas Tree

We put our Christmas tree and lights up on the day of Thanksgiving and then we finished on the day after. It was so much fun to see the boys really getting into it and help daddy put up the tree. We decided to wait to decorate it when they were napping, since at this stage it is just much easier that way. I was a bit concerned as to how Nathan would be with touching the tree and ornaments, however, as of yet, this hasn't been a problem. He's come close a few times and we tell him not to touch it and he backs right up, so I'm hoping it will continue to be that easy!

Here are a few pictures of our decorating and final project.

Here's Nathan helping to bring the different branches to Daddy. He did such a good job listening!






Silas helping too and he was in the Christmas spirit wearing the antlers.

Nathan just woke up from his nap and Daddy was showing him the finished product. All he could do was point.

Update Time

Wow, I'm not sure how a month has almost passed since my last update, but time sure has been passing us by! Since our last post, we've had some sickness pass through our house. Nothing severe, just roseola and a bout of croup (Silas both times) and now Nathan has a cough, so really can't complain, but does keep you on your toes! Kurt has been traveling quite a bit, I think since I wrote last he has been in Turkey and London, so busy, busy!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Kurt had Thursday-Monday off, which was such a blessing! The weather was absolutely beautiful here, so we got all of our Christmas decorations up including outside lights and we were hanging them in short sleeved shirts.......weird! We were able to spend Thanksgiving dinner at some close friends of ours along with many others from our church family. It was such a blessing to spend a holiday with so many believers, the conversations we had, the games that were played and watching the kids of all ages play together.....what a joy! We definitely feel blessed in so many ways.

Now, we are very excited to be able to travel as a family tomorrow to Pittsburgh. Kurt has some work there and so while he works, the kids and I will be at my sisters playing...he, he! Kurt does have a few days off that he'll spend with us, but just thankful that we all get to tag along! Kurt did get tickets to the professional hockey game and he's taking my nephew and brother in law, so they are excited about that. I'm just thrilled to be able to see where my sister lives and spend some time with them while the kids get to know one another better. Silas is so excited because he had so much fun with Alec when we were all home over Christmas last year. It'll be neat to see them all together again.

I do have pictures of us putting up the tree and our lights, but I think I'm going to call it a night after I pack a few more things, so they'll just have to wait.....hopefully not for another month!! I hope to get an update about the trip as soon as we get back!

Is it November?

This week has been absolutely beautiful. Most of the week it has been 60's and then Thurs and Friday were record highs in the 70's. Today we were able to spend some time at the park with our friend Elijah. After the kids ran around for an hour or so we sat down for lunch and the boys were so warm they took off their shirts. Ahhhh.....enjoy it while we can!

Halloween

After having a snowstorm on Wednesday and Thursday and Silas getting pretty sick, I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to do anything for Halloween. However the saying in Colorado is, "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change." How true that is. By Saturday it was nearly 60 degrees and absolutely beautiful out. Silas started to feel better on Friday and so we had a nice Halloween. We went over to some friends of ours and had a chili supper and then dressed the kids up and out we went.

I didn't get the greatest pictures of Silas because my camera is starting to act up, but here are a few photos.
Nathan was an adorable Lion. (Garage sale special!)


Here is our friend Elijah as a pumpkin and Silas as Thomas the Tank Engine.

Daddy did most of the work. He had Nathan on his back and he strolled Silas most of the time. Silas still didn't understand the concept and after we went to only a few houses, he started crying and wanted to eat his candy (all 5 pieces in his sack!). So we allowed him to eat and trick or treat. So he ate a lot of candy that night, but we hid his candy that night and he hasn't asked for it since! Yeah, I love this age.

Just a typical day!

There are days I have to remind myself that I do enjoy staying home with my children. I must admit, it was much easier working! Kurt constantly asks me how I do it and admits I have the harder job! I am so thankful for a husband that understands how challenging it is and supports me in it fully. He encourages me, praises me and gives me breaks when he can!

Anyways, as I was reflecting how thankful I am that Kurt can provide for me to stay at home and raise our children, I couldn't resist to take a few pictures of what our days can look like.

Yup, that's Nathan. I caught him climbing onto our end table just as innocent as could be. So before disciplining him......always grab the camera.

This is typical Nathan. One shoe on and one shoe off. I'm actually surprised he still has his sock on!

Then there's Silas.....need I say more. We just finished breakfast and he wanted to go outside already! That's typical for him. I told him we weren't dressed yet, so he said he was going to go get dressed. Well, here is his version of getting dressed. Cute little sesame street underwear and his shoes on the wrong feet. At least he knew that I wouldn't let him outside without his shoes on!



Ahhhh..... and then we do have some brotherly love moments! Yes, here is a rare moment where we are actually sharing a toy (the tricycle) and enjoying it! This was not prompted, I actually caught them doing this and had to run and get the camera before it got ugly! Needless to say it didn't and I got some great pictures and a reminder that we can share! Yeah!

Daddy's Helper

Kurt decided to build an entertainment system since we got a flat screen TV and wanted to mount it on the wall to conserve some space, but we still needed a place to store the DVD player, etc. So he got an idea to build a storage unit. He included Silas in the whole process and it was so neat to see Silas so excited to help Daddy. Hopefully Silas will learn these skills from Daddy so he can be just as handy!
Cutting the wood. Mommy couldn't watch much because I was a little scared!

Yes, he even got his own tape measure for the project.


Drilling the wood together.




The finishing touches on the project. It turned out great and now Silas calls it the tower and he tells everyone about it!

What we've been up to

We have had a pretty busy month already, so I'll try and update and post some pictures. Kurt traveled to Turkey for a week and a half, so we were very thankful to get him back. Upon his return, our family went to Breckenridge, CO for a few days to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. We had such a nice time as a family exploring the city. Kurt and I were there before kids, so this was a new adventure. It is not ski season yet, so the town was pretty quiet but that made it even better. We got to eat at some nice restaurants without any type of wait and do a little shopping. We even spent some time at a children's museum and the boys really enjoyed that.

Nathan exploring at the children's museum.

Daddy and Silas playing at the museum.




The weather here has been beautiful (although we know we are in for change soon!), so we have spent all of our spare time enjoying the different fall festivals and activities around the area. This past weekend we went to "Boo at the zoo" where the kids dress up and go trick or treating at the zoo in the evening and get to see some of the animals. We had a wonderful time and it just prepared us for Halloween around the corner. On Saturday, we went to a farm that has various animals and activities along with pumpkins. We enjoyed petting the animals and just being outdoors. Again, a great reminder why we love fall so much.

This is a festival I went to w/ a friend and her children when Kurt was gone. Here is Silas helping make apple cider.

Me, Silas, Nathan and our friend Elijah on the hay ride.

Daddy, Silas and Nathan at "Boo at the Zoo". Silas is Thomas the Tank engine this year, which he absolutely loves and Nathan is a lion.
Silas and Daddy feeding the giraffes at the zoo.



This is the farm we went to on Saturday. They had pony rides and Silas really enjoyed that.


Who can resist the barrel train rides?


Playing on the big tire wheels. (Cheap entertainment!)



Yes, they even played king of the mountain on the bales.

Poor Nathan couldn't keep up!


This is Silas being brave and going right up to the pig. That's my kind of farm boy.

Feeding the animals was a hit.


Silas found the pumpkin he wanted clear across the field and he rolled it all the way to us. Even though it has flaws.......we brought it home. It was so cute watching him roll it.


Here is Silas's way of making sure nobody gets our pumpkins!

More Fall Activities

In addition to our Happy Apple Farm experience, we did a wonderful hike in the mountains. A couple Saturdays ago, we went up to the mountains to explore a museum we have always wanted to see but never had the time. Unfortunately, but fortunately......it didn't take us too long to get through, so we got to go hiking earlier than anticipated which meant we could take a longer route than normal. The leaves were not at peak turning point yet, so the colors were not as incredible as I would have hoped or have seen before, but it was still beautiful. Silas did such an incredible job hiking and although he got tired, he was such a trooper and kept on going. We did take a break to eat our lunch and he was thrilled about that. Nathan was in the backpack and must have had a very comfortable ride, because he took a little snooze! We did come across a snake and so Daddy and Silas had fun playing with that while Mommy kept her distance. I guess that is part of having boys....right? So, here are some pictures from our mountain hike.

Silas and Daddy playing with the snake.
Yes, Silas is touching the snake. Thanks, Daddy for teaching him that!


Here you can see snow on top of the higher mountains because we did get hit with some snow. The aspens in the valley are starting to change. Unfortunately a picture doesn't portray how beautiful and majestic it is.


Daddy educating Silas on how to pee on a tree. Now that he's potty trained, you do what you have to do!


Silas "reading" the map and telling us where to go as we hiked.


Nathan on the way home from the hike! You'd think he did all of the work.

Autumn

This is our family's favorite time of the year, so we try to get out and enjoy it as much as possible. This year we went to a place called Happy Apple Farm. We heard that you can pick your own raspberries, blackberries, apples, pumpkins, etc. The best part about it is that you can eat the fruit right off the vines or trees because they don't spray them, so we took advantage of that! We had to limit Silas and have him remember to put them in our basket so we could take some home too!
Riding the tractor in order to get out to the fields.

Here we are picking the berries off of the vine.

Here's some of our full basket of berries.
Daddy picking apples while Silas was our bag holder.
The bag of apples got heavy quickly!
They had some beautiful sunflowers that we enjoyed.

Nathan was very interested in the pumpkins.

The boys in the pumpkin patch.



So I bet you are dying to know what we did with all of our berries and apples. Kurt made us some very yummy raspberry pancakes that were enjoyed by all. Sheila made some homemade apple sauce which was very flavorful. And the best thing was this raspberry and blackberry cobbler that Sheila made. We were sad to see it gone!!!!!!!!! Something to look forward to for next year!