What we've been doing lately.

I know that you've all been DYING to hear what we've been doing for the last few weeks and since all my company is now safely back home, here are some random shots from our fun time together.

As usual, Nan Foster sent the kids some money to buy clothes with. Here is Nathan posing in one of his new outfits. I love how he behaves when the camera comes out. It's very funny!

Here is my sister Rachel and her son Max playing in the fountain at America the Beautiful park. It's a great place to play and cool off in the hot weather.

Here are Rach, Ben and the kiddos at the summit of Pikes Peak. 14, 110 FT. I drove all the way up and back myself and I must say it was a lot of fun and not as scary as I thought. The views were spectacular, much better than you get on the train in my opinion. Despite feeling exhausted afterwards, I am so happy we did it.

This was taken at Cave of the Winds. That was a great morning out.

Inside the caves, you can see that Max was having a fantastic time.

As you can see Leia has the boys in a firm headlock. A preferred posing position!

Ben arrived after Rachel had been here for three weeks. She was so excited for his arrival that she ordered the most yummy cake from Baskin Robbins. We all enjoyed her excitement!

As expected, Leia was always willing to help entertain Max when Rach had something to do.

And she was happy to lend him Annabelle to keep him company in the cart when we were shopping!

My favorite sis and Max

Me and Max having a swim.

Grandma Shirley hiking with the boys. Grandma could only stay for a couple of weeks so we made the most of her while she was here!

Isn't he the cutest boy? We miss him already!

All of us at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We were so excited to discover this wonderful place. The location is great. It rained but we had fun anyway.

Feeding the giraffes was the best. As you can see, one of the giraffes took a fancy to Rach.

In the Garden of the Gods Park.

Max hiking with Uncle Gary at Gleneyrie - another great discovery although they are seriously strict with hikers. It's a lot of hassle to get in but I will say it's worth it.

Some of the road near the top of Pikes Peak. Not too bad right?

How scary is this picture? Rachel was trying on some clothes in Motherhood and Leia went with her.

And my own exciting news is that a week or so into the visit I found out that Crazy Town is getting a new resident next year. I'm not twelve weeks yet so I suppose I shouldn't tell anyone but it has had a bit of an impact on us all. Leia has started playing with a baby doll she has previously shown little interest in. I have been extremely tired and eating has been a chore. I can't seem to stomach much meat and all I really want is cheese, eggs, fresh and cold vegetables and fruit. And I need ice in all my drinks, something I don't usually care for. I'm also trying to adjust to life without my nasal allergy medication. It was okay for a few weeks but it's starting to catch up with me.

This visit has been bliss. There's no two people I'd rather hang with than my mother and sister (apart from Gary of course) and really getting to know Max has been something to treasure. I feel blessed to have the family I do. And now I am going to slow it down and try to stay sane until 12 weeks rolls around and hopefully I'll find a bit more energy.

Sisters

Sisters are great. They are your best friend and confidant. They make you laugh and help you through the bad times. Your kids and her kids play together and plan to get married when they get older. And they give you gifts. One such gift that Rachel gave me a few visits ago was this. She kept telling my kids she had a secret to whisper in their ear. And then she would lick the inside of their ear. That's a gift that has kept on giving in my house that's for sure!
And something else that's special about sisters is spending girl time together. Before Rachel arrived I just couldn't wait for our lunches out and taking the kids to the park together. The anticipation was big. So far we have shopped, and gone to Starbucks for blended cremes, watched an entire season of LOST, bought fake toenails, and much more. And of course there was yesterday afternoon.
Rachel suggested we go to the Chinese Buffet for lunch. Now we have been going to buffets when we get together for years now but we still haven't mastered buffet restraint. The kids each had a couple of plates and all they eat are crab rangoon and chow mein noodles with a few green beans thrown in. As for Rach and myself, we won't go there. Suffice it to say we DON'T limit ourselves to crab rangoon and noodles.
After lunch we decided to take the kids to the park. We went to this great park in downtown Colorado Springs called "America the Beautiful" park. It has a lot of unique play equipment including these things the kids can sit on and then an adult can spin them. They can go very fast. Auntie Rachel was spinning Leia on one of them. Rachel spun her so fast and Leia was laughing so hard that she peed herself. It wasn't just a few drops either - she literally left a puddle on the seat for the next occupant. NICE. Of course Leia kept saying "Faster, faster". What's a girl to do?
And then on the way home, Leia was getting progressively greener as we drove down the road. Fortunately we had a plastic bag available. About 5 minutes into a 20 minute journey, she chundered (as we like to say across the pond) into the bag. Now you can imagine how nice the fragrance was especially to those of us who are pregnant, in a confined minivan on the highway. Not to mention that fact that our bellies were full of rich foods such as stuffed mushrooms and sesame chicken to name but a few.
Let the good times roll!

Cousins photo shoot

We had a crazy idea this morning. To see if we could get an appointment at the photo studio for a shoot today. We got the kids all ready for 10am and then we had to wait until 12pm = somewhat bored and grumpy kids. It was a bit of a crazy shoot and there were times we wondered if we were going to get the shots we wanted. But it happened. And I love them.