Fantastic 4th

Ashlyn and her Uncle Steven

     Much like in years past, we had a really good 4th of July.  We usually host a really big party at our house with lots of guests.  Our house is the perfect because the fireworks go off right across the street from our backyard.  However, due to the fire, the city cancelled all firework shows.  What a major bummer!   Joey and I were extra bummed because this will probably be the last 4th in this house.  We decided that since there weren't going to be any fireworks, we would scale our party WAY back.  It is simply too much work and money to do if there weren't even fireworks.  We decided instead to invite family over and had a little get together.  Ashlyn insisted that we still decorate the house since we have a lot of 4th of July decorations.  We still had a great time and ate some really good food.  It didn't quite feel like the 4th of July thought without a house full of guests and an awesome firework display.  The positive side was that we got to bed much earlier than usual on the 4th since we didn't have to stay up for the show.  Hopefully, next year we will be able to see fireworks. 

Ashlyn and Ella were adorable in the matching dresses that we found for them at Gap in Denver last week. 

The cupcakes Ashlyn made

My mom makes these strawberries every year and they are so good!

Kisses for my favorite nephew

I love it when the dress alike!

Dawson loving the swing

Playing with a ball

Climbing up the slide

My mom really wanted a picture of all 4 grandchildren together.  This is the best shot I got with them looking at the camera.  I love it!

Cupcake time!

Ashlyn giving a thumbs-up for her cupcakes

Dawson obliviously loved his!

Ashlyn and Uncle Steven playing tag

Dawson giving Ella a kiss

Playing

Wresting with Daddy

Auntie and Jameson

Family picture

All the fun really wore a baby out!!!

Denver Day Two

Dawson on the move

        We decided to start our second day bright and early by going to breakfast.  We drove by a breakfast place called Snooze and thought it looked interesting.  I did some research on the internet and found that they were supposed to have amazing food, but it got very, very busy.  Joey wanted to go too, but he has to be at work pretty early.  So, we decided to head there at 6:30 a.m. since everyone would be up anyways.  It was a great start to the day.  I ordered the pancakes which were amazing.  They had pineapple upside down pancakes that were wonderful.  Joey had the corned beef and hash and said it was the best he had every had.  After breakfast, we went back to the hotel to check out.  

     We decided to go to the Children's Museum.  Joey and I took Ashlyn there when she was about Dawson's age.  We hadn't been back since, so we decided to go again.  We got there right when it first opened.  They have a really neat area for younger kids.  There is a ton for them to play with and explore.  The kids loved it.  It wasn't crowded at all.  We played there for a bit and then decided to check out the rest.  I was quickly reminded why I haven't been back in 3 years.  The place is very small.  There is a lot to do, but it just isn't very big.  It was so crowded it wasn't even funny.  There was hardly any room to move or explore.  Kids were having melt downs left and right.  Other kids were pushing and grabbing toys.  I wish I could say it was a more pleasant experience.  We did manage to go to all the different areas.  By about 11:00, us adults had had enough!  We decided it was time to go.  I think it is a very neat place, I would just love to go back when it is less busy so the kids could get a better chance to really experience everything. 

          The kids quickly fell asleep in the car.  We grabbed sandwiches to eat in the car, and then decided to head back home.  We had a great time in a little amount of time.  The kids really had fun.  It is so nice to have such a big city so close to visit from time to time.  We all agreed that we really neat to do more Denver trips in the near future.  It was great little break from all that was going on in our city. 

They had a ton of hands-on activities. 

Of course, Dawson found stairs to climb.

Ashyln playing store

The girls playing in the store

Ella and Dawson playing house

They had animal costumes to try on.  Ashlyn found the chicken and then ran around clucking like a chicken.  It was pretty funny!!!

One of the neatest areas, is a real firetruck.  They added little fireman hats and jackets since last time we went.  They loved playing on the firetruck.

Dawson's favorite part was touching the buttons.

Ashlyn driving

They also have an area where you can paint.  Ashlyn loved it last time and enjoyed it this time too.

Dawson painting a picture.  He got paint everywhere!!!

Having fun with magnets

They have added a really neat bubble area.  I think it would have been wonderful if it weren't packed with kids.

Kids can pull on this rope and make a huge bubble box to stand in.

They even had a huge train area

I think this is the neatest part.  They have a pretend grocery store.  It is complete with a little cash register, shopping carts, and Whole Foods provided them with actual packages of fake food that looks real.  It is really neat.

Dawson loved getting to ring up the food.

This was Dawson's favorite part.  It was a tunnel in the ground that they could climb down.  This is looking down into the tunnel.  It was pretty steep.  Of course, Dawson was the youngest kid going down the tunnel.  He did it over and over. 

Dawson climbing the tree up to the tunnel

Denver Day One

Ella and Dawson waiting to go in the museum

 

  

    My mom and I have be planning a trip to Denver for several months.  We thought that once my sister had Jameson, we would take Dawson, Ashlyn, and Ella up to Denver for a few days.  We figured it would allow my sister to just focus on the baby.  Well, the fire started and it kind of messed up our plans.  We were going to go up Wednesday afternoon, but literally every hotel room from here to Fort Collins was booked.  We were able to get rooms for Thursday night so we headed up bright and early Thursday morning.  At the last second, my sister decided to come with Jameson.  The smoke from the fires was bad and I think at that point we all just wanted to kind of get away from the whole thing.  

       We started our day by heading to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  I absolutely love this museum.  I went many times as a child, and we went last fall.  It is such a great museum for any age.  They have so much to look at it and see.  I like that they have lots of animal displays for the kids to look at.  They also have a really neat hands on area for kids.  The kids had a great time playing and exploring.  If I lived closer to Denver I would definitely invest in a pass for the museum.  For a family its only $80 for one year!  The museum wasn't crowded and there are 3 floors to explore.

     We spent the morning at this museum and then we went and met Joey for lunch at The Hawt for lunch.  Joey works very close to the museum so he had lots of great suggestions for places to eat.  We really enjoyed The Hawt.  They have excellent hot dogs that they wrap in bread.  They are almost like a big pig in a blanket.  Yum!

     After lunch, we headed back to the museum for some more fun.  They just opened a new lizard and snake exhibit that we had to check out. Ella and Dawson didn't seem too impressed, but Ashlyn loved it. She loved looking at all the live animals.  We wanted to see the dinosaur exhibit, but the babies were getting tired and needed a nap.  We dropped Ashlyn of at Joey's work so she could check it out.  We went and checked into the hotel room. 

      We finished our day by going to Mici for dinner.  It was a very casual Italian restaurant that was perfect for us and small children.  The pizza was good too!  Of course we had to top off a perfect day with a trip to Yogurtland, which is our very favorite yogurt place ever!  We were all very tired by the end of the night.  What a perfect day we had!

One of the neat play areas for kids

Checking out the mountain lion

Ashlyn with antlers

Ella and Dawson loved playing the piano

These were really cool magnetic toys.  Dawson love them.  I wish I knew where I could buy some.

Building

Oops! It came down.

Ashlyn in front of a lizard

Ashlyn got a lizard to wear on her wrist.

Dawson riding a Patagonia.

Ella

He really liked the crocodile

We chose a hotel near Joey's work so he could stay the night with us and not have to drive far in the morning.  I think he enjoyed the short commute!  Here are Joey and Dawson relaxing after a long day.

17 Months

    Our little dude turned 17 months old yesterday!  He is such an amazing little boy.  He is constantly on the go.  He loves taking everything in.  He likes exploring and observing everything.  He continues to be our little monkey.  I call him that for his ability to climb.  He loves to climb and climb.  He can climb up pretty much anything.  He is a very strong little boy.  His new favorite is climbing on the table chairs. He doesn't like it much when I take him down. 
    Another favorites of Dawson's continues to be the remote.  You can't trick him with a fake remote though.  It has to be a real one because he likes pushing buttons and watching the effect it has on the t.v screen.  Like the channel changing or something popping up.  I have to hide the remotes from him or he will keep changing the channel.  His favorite t.v show is Little Einsteins which was also his sister's favorite.  He will hand me the remote and say, "Steins".  He gets the biggest smile on his face when he gets to watch it. 
     Dawson has become quite the little helper.  He loves to help me around the house.  Any time I pull out the broom, he runs over to help me sweep.  His other favorite thing to help with is to unload the dishwasher.  The second I start unloading it, he runs over and starts grabbing dishes to hand to me to put away.  
     Dawson used to eat anything we put in front of him.  However, he is now becoming more picky which I know is normal for this age.  He loves fruit.  His favorites are probably grapes and watermelon.  I always serve him fruit with every meal and he always gobbles that up first.  He also really likes to eat yogurt at breakfast.
    We are watching him become more independent.  He has to feed himself.  He won't let me feed him.  He is really good at eating with a fork and actually eats more if you give him one.  He is learning how to do more and more and doesn't want us doing everything for him.
    As he gets bigger, Ashlyn and Dawson are playing with one another more.  The other day they were playing chase around the house and the laughter I heard was just heart warming.  They loves each other so much.  I am also starting to notice some fighting between the two of them, but I know that's what siblings do. 
    Dawson still loves books.  I read him 4 books every night before bed.  He loves pointing to different things in the books.  His favorite book is a book about trucks.  He is all boy!  I keep his books in a little basket in between his crib and the rocking chair where we read every night.  The other night before bed, he was taking books and pushing them through the bars on his crib so he could look at them later.  I will watch him on the monitor just sitting there flipping the pages and looking at the books.  He now has to sleep with one or two books in his bed. 
     We love our little guy so much.  We certainly were blessed with an amazing little boy! He gets so excited when Joey gets home.  When he hears the garage door open, his face lights up and he runs to the garage door. 

Building a Bed

    Ashlyn was explaining to Joey how she wanted a doll bed for her twins.  Joey joked around that he could build her a bed.  When we got home, Ashlyn immediately told her Dad she was ready to build the bed.  We thought it was funny she didn't waste any time.  She got started right away drawing some blue prints.  They gathered wood from our neighbor.  They got to work right away building the bed.  Dawson even had a great time watching and "helping".  It was a great project because it occupied them for several hours.  They weren't able to get the ladder done yet, but I think the bed turned out pretty cute.  Ashlyn now has big plans for future projects.  She keeps insisting that Joey needs to build her a dresser.  Lol. I keep telling her that may be a little too ambitious. 





Getting ready to get started

Painting the wood

She worked so hard

The finished bed.  They still need to add a ladder to the end.  I think it turned out pretty cute for being homemade.