Vacation Pics

Zoo Day

So at the last minute this morning the kids and I decided to head to the zoo for a few hours. It was supposed to rain today, so we were not sure if we would be able to make it or not. It was a little cool out, but that ended up being great for going to the zoo. It was't crowded and all of the animals were out because of the weather...ended up being one of the more enjoyable visits to the zoo that I have ever had. Here are a few pics of the day...

Toothless

Well, it finally happened....Mia lost her first tooth today.  I honestly don't know how it held on for so long.  The big girl tooth is already partially in.  She was fooling around after lunch bouncing off the ottoman when she hit her bottom lip slightly on the edge and she popped up and said "my tooth fell out".  Here is a pic of her sporting her new gap:

Happy Valentine's

Nothing too exciting to report here in Colorado. We have been bouncing between cold and warm weather for the last few weeks.  Not too much snow down here in town yet this year.  The kids are really disappointed because they are itching to go sled riding.  We got enough snow a couple of weeks ago for them to play in the back yard and there is a pic below of them having fun.  You can see the grass poking through the snow so it wasn't much to speak of.

The kids have been doing a gymnastics class since a little before Christmas at a local rec center.  They both really like it and I think we are going to have to investigate a real gymnastics place for them to go to.  I put a few pics of their last class below.  They got a little certificate at the end and are very proud of all the cool things they learned.

It is a pretty cold weekend here so the kids and I made cookies for Valentine's Day.  They love to eat the sprinkles and made a pretty big mess decorating their cookies. I think it took me longer to clean up than anything else, but at the end we made some pretty cute cookies.

There has been lots of tooth stuff happening here.  Mia has gotten in both of her top 6 year molars and is in the process of losing her first bottom front tooth.  I honestly don't know how the darn thing is still in there.  I mean, I've never seen a tooth bend at those kind of angles - yuck!  Wes is also just now starting to get a wiggly bottom front tooth.  I can't believe how fast they are growing!

This final pic is from New Year's Eve.  We had a few people over and Wes and his buddy Blake have the same police uniforms and did a good job of keeping all of the adults in check!  Nice work boys!

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 :)