Merry Christmas!

The Colorado Tepen's had a wonderful Christmas morning. The kids actually stayed in bed until we went in and got them....bet that doesn't happen again - ever.  We opened presents and then hung out in our jammies all morning.  Unfortunately, we had a little tummy bug come through our house a few days ago.  It started with Mia Friday at midnight.  She was pretty sick all night and into Saturday.  The rest of us thought for sure we escaped it, but alas, Chris and I got it last night.  Chris was much worse off than me, but neither of us had a very good Chrismas eve.  Looking forwrad to afternoon naps today!  Here are a few pics from this morning and from earlier in the month.  For those of you who didn't know, Chris had his shoulder operated on earlier this month.  He is recovering very well.  Anyways, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas morning!

Happy Birthday Wes and Mia

The twins turned 5 on November 27th and it is so hard to believe that they are such big kids now.  Their Birthday fell on a Tuesday this year.  They celebrated at school with their friends over cupcakes.  Then once home from school we opened a few presents and headed out to Red Robin for dinner followed by Dairy Queen strawberry sunday's. They were so tired by the time they hit their beds that they were crying.  We had a party at home for them yesterday with a few friends.  We hired the Fun Bus to come and entertain the kids for a little while and then had a pizza party followed by cake and ice cream.  Then, to top it off, Mia invited the Neutzel girls to stay the night and Wes invited Blake from across the street.  The smaller group watched movies and had popcorn in their jammies and blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  They are upsrairs having a big ole nap right now as it was a fun but busy weekend.  Here are a few pics from their actual Birthday and of the party:

Brotherly Love

So about 3 weeks ago we had a light snow over the weekend and it was pretty cold out so the kids didn't go out and play in it.  On that Monday after school, the weather had turned really nice so the kids begged to head out into the back yard to slop around in the left over snow.  So we gear up cause it's nice out but really wet and muddy from the uptick in temperature.  They are out there having a blast and I'm getting dinner going.  I get the food situation to a point where it just needs to sit and simmer, so I think, I'll go change my clothes and maybe get a quick workout in while the kids are playing.  I pop out the back door, everyone is fine.  My foot hits the first step to get to the upstairs and was immediatly haulted by the worst scream I have ever heard.  I race to the back yard to find what looks like a murder scene.  Blood everywhere on the white snow and both kids screaming and crying.  The blood turned out to be from Mia's nose which was literally squirting out everytime she screamed.  As it turns out, Wes was shoveling with his play shovel and couldn't get the snow off the scooper part of it and so he was swinging it around trying to get the snow to fly off when it met Mia's nose.  Had that shovel been just a quarter inch further in I seriously think Mia would have lost an eye.  Here is a pic from a few days after the incident:

Speaking of brothers, Uncle Brian made his way out to Colorado over Thanksgiving.  He and Chris bonded over beer and pool for a few days.  Brian also helped us decorate for Christmas and spent time playing with and reading to Wes and Mia.  The twins really want Uncle Brian to live at our house now, and Chris says he'll let Brian move in when he can beat him at pool and foosball :)

Not Much New Here

The Colorado Tepen's are still alive and well out here, even though you would have no way of knowing that based solely on the blog.  I swear I just posted on here like a week ago....but then I look and it's been 2 months!!  Since the last update I had a chance to head down to San Antonio to visit my dear friend Deni.  We had a great time hanging out and shopping.  I bought a fabulous new purse thanks to my wonderful husband while I was there.  Then Grandma and Grandpa Tepen came out for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  The kids were super excited to have someone else to bug.  Halloween out here this year was absolutely great.  The weather was so nice that the kids didn't even have to wear coats!  This year the twins went as pirates and learned how to say a proper "argh" for the role.  Nothing much going on here this weekend.  We are doing some big cooking so we have some meals to freeze for later.  Chris made a big pot of ground vegetable soup this morning.  Thinking of making a peach blackberry pie tonight - yum!  Ayways, here are a bunch of pics from the last couple of months - enjoy :)

My Long Lost T-roy

So this has been the craziest month!  It's like reunion central out here it seems.  At the beginning of the month my dear friend Sharon and her family came out to visit, followed by my old buddy Tracy and her girls.  Then I get a phone call from my old college buddy Troy who tells me he's going to be in Denver doing some work.  Fortunately we were able to coordinate our schedules for one evening and he was able to come out to the house and meet the kids and Chris.  We had a nice evening of strolling down memory lane.  I'm grateful that we are both more mature now than when we were in college - I don't think either of us could survive any kind of reenactment!  T-roy, it was so great to see you.  I sure hope it isn't so long until the next time we see each other.  And I really do need to catch up with your wife more often.  I mean let's face it, anyone who can domesticate you is a miracle worker!!  Kisses :)

 

Catching Up With Friends

This past week I had the opportunity to spend an evening with some old friends.  It reminded me how important it is to take the extra time to touch base with people, even if it's just a couple of lines in an email.  Thanks Suzanne and Tracy for having me over and cooking for me....it was just what I needed!  Tracy, I hope your flight back to Ohio is smooth sailing.  Your daughters are just adorable.  Here are a couple of pics from the evening:

Curnes in Colorado

The past few days the entire state of Colorado has been in shock as the Curnes Family finally made it's way out here.  It was a short visit, but we tried to pack in a few fun things and scenery along the way. We visited an old school amusement park in the foothills (Heritage Square).  Paul and kids did the big Alpine Slide which is a 1/2 mile slide down the side of a mountain that you have to take a ski lift to get to the top of.  We went to a Rockies game. We toured The Cave of the Winds and Garden of the Gods. Visited the Olympic training facility. On Sat we had a small BBQ as another of our Ohio friends (Tracy Raypholtz & her 2 girls) was in Colorado for a visit.  We all ate way too much and are now on diets.  Thanks for the fun and great memories.  I miss you guys already!  Here are a few pics of the past few days:

  

Happy Birthday to Daddy

Today is Chris' Birthday!  Happy Birthday Dad.  Chris went to see his favorite baseball team tonight with a friend for his birthday.  Only downside is there are lots of thunderstorms around Denver tonight.  I hope you guys stay dry!  Because we knew dad would be going to the game tonight, we celebrated his birthday at home yesterday evening.  The kids helped me bake cupcakes and we sang happy birthday.  Here are a couple of pics from the festivities...

Bumper Crop

About a year and a half ago we got a cool patio tomato planter from Chris' parents for Christmas.  Many of you may remember Chris giving his parents a pretty hard time about it.....In fact, I believe he said "all I got for Christmas was a bag of dirt."  Well let me say that we were finally able to put that planter to good use this summer.  We planted two little tiny tomato plants in there at the beginning of the summer, and now they are two huge tomato plants and we are picking fresh tomatoes off of there nearly every day.  I have not had such good luck with tomato plants here in Colorado, but this planter has changed my opinion about growing my own plants.  Even Chris is impressed and wants to get 2 more of the planters so we can grow other things next year.  Wes and Mia are totally into it too.  They love to help take care of the growing plants.  Here are a couple of photos of our most recent harvest:

  

Catch Up Post

It's hard to believe that summer is here already.  We have been getting hit with record high temps and it looks like the heat wave will continue for the upcomming week.  We really have not done too much over the past couple of months.  Chris' job has been really time consuming so we rarely have time on the weekends to do much as a family.  We are hoping that will all change now that he is starting work with a different company tomorrow.  And as Chris says, anything will be an improvement over what we have had to deal with over the last year and a half.  Looking forward to getting my family back!!

Let's see, the kids and I have spent lots of time at the park and the zoo.  We also just pulled out the big ole water slide this weekend and had some friends over to play.  Chris' buddy Skip and his wife Beth came out to visit us recently.  The guys went golfing and the women folk tried to shop, but then Wes got really sick and actually came down with strep so that pretty much ended the shopping for us.  Oh, the kids also recently had preschool graduation, which is where I believe Wes got the strep.....anyways, I had no idea what a big deal it was going to be.  It was like 300 poeple by the time you got all the kids, parents, gradparents etc - crazy!

We are heading to St Louis for the 4th of July.  Looking forward to a few days off.  The kids are excited to see their grandma and grandpa and all the cousins.  My friend Sharon and her family are again teasing us with the possibility of them visiting in August.....love you guys, but I'm not gonna hold my breath just in case :)

I will try to post pictures more frequently over the summer......until then, here are a few shots from the past couple of months....

 

Puppet Show

So Wes & Mia have taken to putting on little puppet shows before bed. They crawl over to one side of the bed and we sit on the other and they take turns singing songs with their favorite animals......really funny to watch. Here is a picture of them in action:

Also, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Uncle Brian and his 3 boys this past few days. His boys were on spring break and so they drove out for a couple of days. They got to take in a few sights around Denver and we also made a trip up to Copper Mt to take the kids tubing. What a fun day! Wes & Mia already miss their cousins (Liam, Tristan & Owen). We sure hope you all are able to come out and see us again soon.

Tubing at Copper Mt with the Kansas City Tepen's