Happy 28th Birthday, Justin!

For Justin’s birthday he got a recliner. I led him into the family room with his eyes shut (in front of the set-up recliner) then I told him to open his eyes. I handed him a birthday card and Coen yelled “Happy Birthday!” He first checked for a new Xbox 360*, but then found that it was his same, old one. Then I told him he should sit down (and, according to his story, forcibly shoved him backwards…) and he realized he had a new recliner! Thanks to Justin’s mom and my mom for chipping in as well!

 

*Justin and I will be getting a new Xbox360 for Christmas. Maggi and I stood in line at Best Buy on Thanksgiving/Black Friday morning for the midnight opening and got an AMAZING deal. Go us! It was a great, somewhat chilly, time!

Here was the line once people filtered out after receiving their big ticket item tickets:

Work Conference & Vilski Visit!

Gabriel and I attended the 2011 Denver ACTFL conference this year. Last year we met in Boston, MA for the conference. This year it was close to home! Our boss was so kind (*cheap*…ahem) to put us in a trashy Ramada hotel known for its high school parties and drug-doing. Hurrah.

We met another coworker, Robyn, so that makes 2 people that I have physically seen from my company! The conference went well, and Denver is a lovely city to explore. Small, but lovely.

 

Gabriel came to visit for a few days after the conference. Maggi (Justin’s mom) watched Coen while Justin had school on Thursday and Friday so they got in some great bonding time! She said that overall Coen was good, and he didn’t seem to miss me too much when I got home. He was more excited about meeting Gabriel (or, as Coen said, Gabyrel) and playing with him. We got to enjoy the school kids’ Thanksgiving meal and we played Ticket to Ride.

We took a little trip up to the mountains to find that most roads are closed for the winter. It was verrry windy, but pretty! Coen got a wolf hat from Grandma and Grandpa Vilski. He threw a huge fit in the store, but took a nap shortly thereafter. : ) So we can blame it on sleepiness, right?

Happy Halloween!

For the Longmont Halloween parade, we all dressed as the monkeys from the rhyme “No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” I wish I had a better photo of us all, but my friend Natasha has one and I need to get it from her.

Justin was the doctor and carried a speech bubble that said “NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!” I was the momma monkey, and Coen (obviously) was the one the jumped on the bed.

Coen was the cutest little monkey ever.

For “real” trick-or-treating, we went around in our neighborhood with our good friends and their son, Titus. Titus was Batboy and Coen decided to skip the monkey costume and be Bob the Builder. The candy was a smashing hit for the boys and it was fun to meet more neighbors and get to know our friends better.

Coen’s first house! He yelled “Happy Halloween!” instead of “trick or treat” at first, but he got the hang of it once the candy started rolling in.

Day-to-day October

Coen helped out with the Goomba Grape Crush at a church member’s party. He thought it was fun for all of 3 minutes and then he just wanted to eat the food and follow the big kids around.

Gangie (Grandma Ide) got Coen his big boy bed from Ikea! He was very excited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first snow came in October, while leaves were still on the trees. This created much excitement for Coen, many broken branches for Longmont, and a day off of school due to lowing electricity for us! We “swam” (sat in the hot tub) and showered at the Rec Center, had lunch at Perkins, and then got Buster to hang out at the Noltes' house for Coen’s nap and the rest of the day. Our power came back on around 4:00 PM and we went home for dinner.

The picnic table the night the snow started and in the morning.

 

Buster loves to run and play in the snow! He especially likes to run super fast and skid while taking bites of the snow. Must be an Oklahoma thing. (His previous state.)

Mud Run!

Some (slightly crazy) friends of ours enjoy mud runs. So, Justin and I decided to embrace the Colorado craziness and we did the Devil Dash in Lyons! It was very fun, and it was freezing that day. And it was raining. Yuck.

Justin was the winner from our group, and he was also an angel. He decided that he couldn’t dress like a devil, so he donned an old, thrift store white dress of mine and off he flew. Go Colorado extreme sports!

FINALLY WORKING!

I have had some blog posts written for quite some time now, but it wasn’t working to upload them. I opened a wordpress.com account, so that probably scared blogspot.com into submission. Mwa ha ha.

Here come some posts! (Provided that the publishing keeps functioning correctly.)

September: 80’s, sunshine, and fun!

Coen enjoys making monster roaring noises lately.However, monsters have also been scaring him in the middle of the night. It’s hard to explain imaginary and real things to a two-year-old…

Coen and Buster get along pretty well. Buster puts up with Coen and Coen thinks that Buster should listen to his every command. Doesn’t Coen look so old? I think that within the past couple weeks his face has changed. And wearing jeans and sweatshirts makes kids look older I think. I should measure him; he’s been eating lots and sleeping well. (Minus the monster scares.)

 

Another thing of which I don’t have a lot of photos (or any) is swimming lessons. Coen has taken two of the same class (from 6 months old to 3 years old) for swimming lessons through the city. He really enjoys it and has become much braver in the water. We have a gym membership now, so we go swimming a lot (at least 3 times a week) and he will now jump off the edge of the pool into the 3 ft. water and he doesn’t need too much help coming back up. He also got some kiddie goggles and thinks it’s fun to put his face in occasionally.

These two made the exact same smile.

Football Sunday!

Coen and I went to a you-pick farm for fresh veggies, fruit, and lots more! (Well, just veggies and fruit.) Coen really enjoyed the rooster and they had fun “cock-a-doodle-dooing” at each other.

Coen reading before bed. Llama Llama, Red Pajama is a fave!

These are his blankets. He has to sleep with all of them: stripeys, animals, Mommy love, and Pooh.