The Blizzard, Day Two.....

The snow continued through the night, we ended up with between 24 and 28 inches depending on which source you believe. Due to the wind, we have snow drifts that are 4 or 5 feet high. Especially in front of all the doors for some reason. We are hoping to be plowed out sometime on Saturday. It will definitely be a white Christmas around here! When we moved here this summer there were record breaking high temperatures not seen since the early 1900's, and now this winter we have a record breaking blizzard to rival the one in 1913. We are truly honored that the Coloradans are welcoming us to their great state by sharing such "amazing" weather with us Michiganders!

Blizzard!!!

Well, we are halfway through our first Denver blizzard today. As of dinnertime, 17 inches had fallen and we are expecting 8- 10 more before we see the sun again! Paul spent an hour in a futile effort to clear the driveway despite the 35 mile per hour winds and 6 foot snowdrifts. This is the view from our front door, a snow drift up to Paul's chest!

What to do with stickers.

The kids were having fun creating masterpieces today. Unfortunately the art project continued onto their faces.

Nick's Christmas Concert

Nicholas' preschool had a Christmas concert for the parents. Halfway through singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", Santa himself walked in! Nick's eyes were as big as saucers! All the kids had a chance to sit on Santa's lap. Our little chatterbox kept talking, and talking, and talking to Santa until his teacher came to get him off of Santa's lap. Then Nick came to find us in the audience and reassure me that Santa can in fact find all of the toys he asked for this year. So he's not worried anymore.

Mommy Plays Photographer...

I discovered a new feature on our camera and Ellie was a willing (for once) subject for my photos. Merry Christmas!

One Big Chicken

We had lunch at Wisdom's on our last day in Arizona. The kids had a blast riding the "big chicken" out front!

A Pooh and a Puppy

Nonie and Grande had costumes for the kids to play with. They looked so cute watching a movie on the couch!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ellie looked like a little angel for Thanksgiving in her Polly Flinders dress. Despite 6 adults in the house we weren't able to convince Nick to dress up in anything more than shorts and a T-shirt!

Playing at Nonie and Grande's

The kids loved the sunny, 80 degree weather of Arizona! They spent much of their time outside on the patio playing and swimming. We're having a hard time now that we're back in Colorado convincing them to wear winter clothing....

Wagon Train

We were delighted to visit Nonie and Grande for Thanksgiving for the first time this year. The kids were real troupers on the 14 hour car ride. We let them out in the deserts of New Mexico to run around a couple of times, and they did great. The last hour that Nick was awake we did hear a lot of "Are we there yet?", "How about now?", "Now?", "Now?", "Mom, I'm not talking to you; Dad are we there yet?"..... Then he mercifully fell asleep.

Children's Museum

Nick and Ellie had a great time at the Children's Museum in Lafayette with their Playgroup. The enormous pirate ship was a big hit with both of them. Ellie liked it so much she didn't want to leave, and Nick and I had to climb up to the deck and haul her out...

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a great time trick or treating despite the cold weather. Ellie either didn't grasp the concept entirely, or she was in an altruistic mood this evening as she was placing all of her candy in Nick's basket! I'm sure that won't happen again next year! Nick was a very cute Buzz Lightyear and due to the weather Ellie was a lion instead of a sleeveless fairy. And they had just as much fun handing out the candy at our house as they did receiving it for themselves.

Carving Pumpkins

The kids had fun cleaning out the pumpkins, and planning the kinds of faces to carve on them.

Nick wasn't too sure about the pumpkin guts, but he toughed it out.

Here Sis, Eat this....

Boo at the Zoo

We took the kids to the Denver Zoo today to see the animals and to trick or treat. They both loved it! Ellie was perfectly happy with the first lot of candy she received and didn't seem to grasp the concept of accumulating more, but Nick sure did!

Nick's New Toy?

Fun in the Leaves

Rocky Mountain National Park

Paul and Nick looked for trout and longed for a fishing pole. While Ellie wanted to swim in the glacial waters and "feed the crocodiles". I spent most of the time "fishing" children out of the water, drying off shoes, and trying to explain to Ellie why she wouldn't be seeing any crocodiles in Colorado.

Fall Colors Colorado Style

We decided to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park to check out the fall colors this weekend. The weather was unseasonably warm- 85 and sunny. The aspens are pretty, miles of golden trees. Just not quite the reds and oranges we are used to in the midwest....