Summer Time. The Livings Easy.

We are enjoying the summer now that it is in full action:  barbeques, swimming, biking, gardening, concerts and just tons of fun.  Both of the kids are in phases of rapid growth. Milo is so fun to carry on conversations with.  I noticed yesterday that we were out of the phase of just repeating each other.  He has so many funny thoughts and I love that he can express them now.  He is so imaginative.  We spend a lot of time pretending to be doggies, owls, monsters, horses, motorcycle guys, firemen and working guys.  He has fallen in love with the farm.  We now have to make sure that when we take him, we have at least an hour so he can play.  If not there is usually a fairly epic temper tantrum.  Liesel  is officially crawling.  You put her down and in a couple of seconds she is no where to be found.  She is much more wiggly, much faster and way more trouble than Milo was at this age.  We never went through a phase with Milo where we couldn't leave him on the changing table because he just laid there patiently.  Two seconds after laying Liesel down she is rolling over, trying to stand up and preparing to launch off of the table.  She prefers to be standing and is always in search of something to pull up onto. I do believe she will be walking in a couple of months.  The one thing she does have in common with her older brother is her love for food.  That little girl has one healthy appetite and will eat anything (including dog food, the dog bowl now must be removed from the floor if Liesel is around).  She is plumping up and Bosco is slimming down.  She is a smiley sweet baby and has the most kissable cheeks ever!  

Pool Fridays with Sloaney

Milo driving the tractor down at the farm.

Her shirt says it all!

Hanging at the Five Parks 1st Summer Concert

Hanging with Daddy

Lunch with the Cousins

Milo picked out his outfit.  Note the gloves in June.

Happy Girl

Milo and his buddy Truman at the park

Daddy took us to go see the go cart races.  Milo loved it!

Barbecue at the Escorcia's.

What a wonderful group of ladies.

Sloane and Milo showing off what they got.  Note the awesome shoes.

Last weekend we went up to the mountains.  Mom and Dad went to Michael Huff's wedding while Uncle Matt and Bo watched Milo and Liesel.  We are so lucky to have so much help.  Milo insisted on sleeping on the top bunk which has no guard rails which means Mom slept with him.  He loved sleeping "high".  I do believe we will be getting bunk beds once the kids start sharing a room.  One with guard rails.  

Hiking

Rock Climbing

Playing in the River

Some Mom and Dad Time on the Gondola up to the top of Keystone.

It was a great wedding!

Matt and Heather have moved back to Colorado and we are so excited to see them more often and Liesel looks forward to more snuggles. 

Grammy watch Milo and Liesel this week while.  She helped Milo make a zoo out of his legos.  That Grammy is too much fun!

Father's Day 2013

It is Father's Day weekend and I am sure that Scott will choose to spend as much time as possible at the farm.  We are getting 3 cows to graze our land and 70 chickens next week.  We have purchased a portion of one of the cows for next years beef supply and Scott is going to....shall we say..."tend" to the chickens in order to fill our chicken needs.  We now have about 15 egg-laying chickens and one rooster.  Our garden is looking good, so far we have everything in the ground that we could think of: tomatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, corn, pumpkins, squash, zucchini, melons...you get the picture...oh yes and a berry patch and small orchard with apples, pears and cherries.  Wow,  after writing it all out I realize how zealous...or over-zealous my husband is.  Though, there are times when I feel as though the farm is some what of a mistress,  I really do appreciate all the work he has put into our future homestead.  He works unbelievably hard during the week and then does some incredibly physically demanding chores down at the farm over the weekend and still finds time to be a very hands-on dad and a great husband, all with a smile (sometimes a grimace) on his face!  I made a very good choice when I decided he would be my partner in life.  At the end of this month we will have been married for 4 years... What a crazy four years!!!

Milo is starting to look less and less like a toddler everyday.  We have hit what many refer to as the "terrible twos".  I have been assured that this phase will not last forever.  He is very head strong and when he gets something in his mind he is ready to duke it out in order to get his way.  There have been some epic battles in our house lately over cookies for breakfast, ipad vs books, whether or not smothering Liesel is appropriate, juice or water and the extreme wrestling matches during diaper changes.  I would like to report that Mom always wins, but cookies have been served for breakfast.  The good news is that I have managed to keep Liesel generally safe from her brother.  It is very difficult to punish Milo when he is laying on top of his sister when she is grinning ear to ear while he dog piles her.  She LOVES her big brother!  I do have to brag about this little boy too.  Just last night we were at dinner and Milo had four pieces of candy lined up.  He was sitting in a rather pensive manner and looked at me and said,  "Mama, there are four"  and he held his little hand up and showed me four fingers.  He has also gotten very good at his strider bike.  We try to make it to the park on the weeknights.  Liesel rides in the stroller while Milo rides his bike.  Round trip it is about 1 mile.  The other night I asked Milo how far he road and he said, "One me".  I replied with "You mean, one Mile" and he came back with, "No, one Milo".  These kids...so funny. 

Liesel has patty cake down and is starting to giggle on a regular basis.  She so wants to crawl, but hasn't  quite figured out the motions.  She is sleeping through the night beautifully and I am happy to report that I get 7-8 hours of sleep more often than not.  We went to the pool for the first time on Friday and she could walk around the baby pool in her float.  She had no problems adventuring on her own and trying to make friends with the other kids.  She is so different from her big brother.  I am both thrilled and petrified to have an outgoing, adventurous little girl.  

Magazines are awesome.

Liesel and Reid

Milo helping Liesel Mary with her first slide ride.  

Swinging

Happy girl.

Liesel gets around great in her walker.  She really wants to be on the move.  

Grammy and Grandpa let us borrow their pop-up camper for the farm.  It has been wonderful to have it around.  Yep, we are those people!

Milo helping with the morning routine..."Here Liesel, eat this!"

Mo graduated from his Gymsters class at My Gym.  

Sleep at last...Thank God Almighty...There's sleep at last

We had an eventful week.  On Monday night Bosco was hit by a car.  Scott, Bosco and the kids were playing in the alley with the Sharkeys (Yes, we have play dates in the alley).  Bosco  saw a bunny running across the street.  He can usually resist the urge to chase bunnies, but a cat joined the bunny and the race was off.  Bosco lost.  Scott took him to the vet and at first they thought his wounds were superficial.  After some stitches and a bandage he was sent home.  The next day Scott took him to work and noticed some bloating, which got worse as the morning progress.  He took him back to the vet.  His stomach twisted as a result of the accident.  After surgery and some recovery time at the vet he is back with us and is on his way to recovery.  We are so happy he is back with us and Milo learned a valuable lesson....cars are dangerous!

Milo is a typical two year old.  Full of energy, lots of chatter, a wild imagination, persistent and sometimes very whinny.  Liesel is in a phase of rapid change.  Everyday she learns something new.  She loves to eat and still remains the most smiley baby I know.  Her new trick is to shake her head "no", which she does most of the day.  It just tickles her funny bone because it makes her laugh every time.  She is starting to understand the concept of patty cake and tries to clap along.  The most excited milestone, at least for Mama is that she is sleeping through the night 8pm to 5:30am.  Amen!

When Daddy is on the road Mommy lets Milo stay up late and watch a movie in bed with her.  So much fun for both Milo and Mommy.

Daddy put up our swings at the farm. 

Lunch with Grammy

Celebrating Joslyn Jane's 2nd birthday

On of Milo's favorite things to do right now, eat outside.  Here he is having a lunch date with Truman and Bosco.

Liesel and Connor. 

Milo had just shut his finger in the door...hence the sad face. 

Hanging at the farm.  I can't wait until they really can play with each other. 

Sibling Snuggles...

or Strangles

On the mend.

Spring Time...Kind of...

I think that it is officially spring, but it doesn't feel like it outside.  The last couple weeks we have been getting between 6 and 12 inches of snow each week.  Milo is loving it because it means he gets to shovel, one of his favorite activities these days.  He is very into "Fireman Sam"  and "Bob the Builder".  He gets to watch between a half hour and hour of his cartoons each day.  The time limit depends on how long Mom and Dad want to sleep in or how much we have to get done.  He is full of phrases that seem extra funny when a two year old says them:   "Daddy, you're so silly"  "Oh gosh" "that was awesome" or a less appropriate "dammit"(used in good context).  The other night we went to the baseball game and while crossing under a bridge Milo stopped, pulled on my hand and said:  "Mommy this is awesome" while looking up at the underside of the bridge.   This made his dad, the bridge engineer, very happy.

Liesel is now sitting up like a big girl and is eating all sorts of things: bananas, peas, carrots, pumpkin....  Though her giggle is not the belly laugh of her brothers she laughs and smiles often.  I have had multiple people ask me if she ever cries and the truth is not very often.  She is a total flirt and much more social than Mo was at this age.  We were at dinner the other night at our favorite mexican joint and there was a mariachi band.  They came to our table to play....Milo wasn't sure what to think he kept a close eye on them and only barely cracked a smile.  Liesel, on the other hand, shared her gummy grin with everyone and couldn't help but dance. 

So many kissable cheeks!!

Milo on top of a firetruck

All dressed up

Rock climbing

Liese found a very pretty baby in the mirror

One of our new routines consists of playing outside prior to dinner, weather permitted. 

Milo and Truman...or....Luke Skywalker and Darth Vadar

What a good looking family

Checking out the Kite Festival

Flying a kite with the Cousins

Watching Milo play hockey

Girl time with Sloaney

Train of Cute-ness.  It is a challenge to get one where all three are looking at the camera

At the Rockies game with Papa

Liesel's first game.

Around the the 7th inning Liesel needed a nap

After about 15 minutes she was ready to party again.  She was a happy girl in Uncle Matt's lap.