Let There Be Snowmen!

About a week ago we got our first measurable snowfall here in Denver. I know, you say "what! Denver hasn't had any snow yet?? Don't you get tons of snow out there!?" The answer is, no, we do not get a ton of snow in Denver. The mountains on the other hand usually get hammered with storms and we rarely get any in town. We had one little snow during the first week of November, and until last week, we seriously have had exactly zero snowfall here in town. Anyways, the kids were sooo excited because they desperately wanted to make a snowman after seeing "Frosty the Snowman" for the first time. Unfortunately, the kids were only able to help do a little shoveling before heading back indoors. The temps were in the single didgets and the wind was really blowing hard, so it was just too darn cold for them to be outside for that long. A few days after the snow storm the temps finally got up in the 30's, so Chris bundled up the kiddos and headed out to the front yard to craft our first snowman. Wes and Mia decided that a 3 ball snowman was lame and that only cool snowmen were constructed of 4 snowballs. I had just enough time to snap a few photos of the snowman before Wes and Mia went all Hannibal Lecter on him.....I think Mia started by eating his nose, then Wes started punching him and in about 30 seconds our cool snowman had been mowed down to a measly blob. Poor snowman! I guess we will have another chance to make more snowmen as we are getting another storm here today. It has been snowing all morning and is very cold. Anyways, enjoy the photos!

Yo Ho Ho I need a bottle of Rum

Well, we are halfway through our first Christmas where the kids actually realize everything about Santa, presents, good food and high alcohol content beverages. We slept in an extra hour this morning until 5:30, got out of bed and took showers to prepare us for the rest of the day. Or did we take showers because Diane had a bad case of stink toe, not really sure. We headed downstairs to see what Santa brought. The stockings were no longer hung by the chimney with care, they were now sitting on the coffee table because there was too much stuff and they were too heavy. Underneath the tree was overflowing with presents. The reason for this will have to fall on the Curnes family. There were more presents from them than everyone else combined. I'm thinkin Sharon went on one of her no taste beer binges (she likes to drink Michelob Ultra, ick), and forgot that she already sent two boxes of stuff to turn around and send two more.

The kids were running around like terrors, not listening, throwing stuff, wrestling each other, stealing each others presents, pushing each others buttons, so same as any other day. They settled down to actually eat some breakfast and lunch though. Wes climbed up onto the countertop so he could get a piece of chocolate off the bar. Went down for nap around noon and sat up there chit chatting for half hour before I sent the boss up to take care of bizness...and here we are...bloggin' it.

Wanted to thank my mom for the box of dirt. It seems that whenever diane says she wants something, my mom tends to get it as a present for both of us. Still refusing to let diane have the pink pair of slippers I got for my last birthday...(just kidding, they were red with flowers on em.) lol. She actually got us a fancy tomato planter kit, included dirt....never have had any luck growing decent tomatoes out here, will be nice if this thingamajimmydoohickeytomatogrowy device works. Sad when you have to have good tomatoes imported in from MO. Ok, my mom didnt really get me slippers for my bday....it was a pair of earrings.

Also thanks to everyone for all the presents, cards, gift cards and sanity checks. We are all doing great and having a nice holiday season.

For those of you that dont know, I was able to find a job and will be starting Jan 10. Oh yeah, you might not have heard, URS more or less told me to go home and not come back unless I had billable work to charge to about three weeks ago. It was a nice thank you for almost 13 years of hard work, especially around Christmas....dont let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Such friendly folks they are....well actually, some of them actually are.

Ok, Ok, Ok, my mom didnt get earrings for my bday this year. It was something I could use...Such a sweet mother. My very favorite mother.

Getting ready for bbq season coming up....dehydrating some habenero and jalapeno peppers as we speak...working on 2.5 lbs of the green ones and half pound of the orange ones. Once they are dry I will grind them up into a powder and now be able to spice things up around here.

We got a new video camera for Christmas. We should be able to post some vids once I get it all figured out. Gotta go better than Diane and her webcam this morning. Spent half an hour trying to figure out why she couldnt connect with her friend Deni. Turns out she started the wrong program or something...but finally got it up and running...then Charlie says I just see some fat guy there.....I turned around thinking Santa was behind me. He must have just left....

Gosh, what else is new around here...had a new pigeon house built on the roof of the house. It is actually solar panels, but the pigeons have decided to make it their new home. Gonna put a scope on my pellet gun so I quit missing them damn things. Driveway is covered in their crap. Used to not miss from the back deck, cant hit them for anything yesterday.

And to Grandma Gondira, your grandchildren are wondering why you arent talking to them. Life is too short to hold grudges, and besides, what did they do to you. Small minds, small minds and I'm not talking about the kids either. If you sit and think about what you are doing, I can guarantee that you will regret it later in life. You only have one real family, it is a shame you are throwing it all away.




Wes and his twin American Girl boy doll. No, the clothes didnt stay on long. Gotta see what is under there. He says thank you Grandma T.

















Mom combed Mia's hair before she headed downstairs for the morning...is that a Christmas to be had or what? Looks like a little Christmas Troll. Be glad she still has her pants on cuz they werent for long after this pic was taken.








Mia in her dressup clothes she got from us. The ceptor is no more though, took one wack on the table from Wes to destroy it.


















Picture with Santa. Wes wouldnt sit on his lap and we were lucky to get him to stand next to him. They both wanted clothes from him. Kept on asking, where are the reindeer....mmm taste like chicken.

Cupcakes

The Twins Turn '3'

Well, it's hard to believe another year has gone by and Wes and Mia are now offiacially 3 years old. A couple of weeks ago it dawned on me that it might be fun to throw their first real birthday party as they have gotten really excited to go to other people's birthday parties. I wasn't sure if we would have enough people in town as their birthday falls so close to Thanksgiving, but we had a great turn out and it was a really good time. Chris set up a bounce house for the kids in our garage......yes Blocher's, it's your bounce house we used, we are still interested in purchasing it in case you might have changed your mind - hint hint! I set up some crafts at the dining room table, we had lots of balloons, and oh yes, some fabulous cupcakes. I decided to try my hand at some really awsome animal cupcakes from this cool cupcake book I got while Chris' parents were out visiting. Anyways, I think they turned out pretty good, see pics below. Wes and Mia then took a nap after their party and we met our friends the Neutzel's for pizza and a trip to the zoo lights. The lights were great, and I think the twins had a good time....they were pretty tired from the party. All in all a spectacular birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa Tepen Come for a Visit

At the beginning of November, Grandma and Grandpa Tepen came for a visit. They came bearing a couple of new books, which Wes insisted on reading immediately. Grandpa indulged Wes and Mia in the books first reading.......they were very happy, see pic below. One of the books had a button on the front that used to play the wheels on the bus go round and round song. While the book was still in excellant shape, the button no longer played the song. Chris told Wes and Mia that Uncle David broke the book. Fast forward 3 weeks and Uncle David called Chris to see how things were going. As soon as Wes and Mia realized it was Uncle David, they said "thanks for breaking our book Uncle David!" Poor Uncle David get s blamed for many thing around our house....sorry Uncle David :)

Grandma Tepen also brought out a special present for Mia. She gave her a locket that she used to wear as a young lady. Grandma helped Mia try on her new bling and Mia was as proud as a peacock. We will save the locket for special occasions until Mia gets a little bigger. She likes to have me show it to her regularly as she is always thinking of reasons that it might be ok for her to wear it. Thanks for the lovely gift Grandma Tepen :)

Also while Grandma and Grandpa were out for their visit, I had arranged for my friend Reynee to snap some family pictures for us. We got a lot of really great ones, here is one of all of us that turned out pretty good....

Happy Halloween

So our Halloween festivities kicked off on Friday with the kids having a celebration at school. They had a party and dressed up with all their schoolmates. We sent them in some play costumes (a cat and an elefant) as we were needed their real costumes to stay nice for a party on Saturday evening. They had fun dressing up at school - see pic below.

Satuday, we carved pumpkins and hit a super cool Halloween party at our friend's the Nuetzel's. Wes and Mia played with lots of other kids and got to paint a pumpkin. The pumpkin actually looked scary when they were finished because they had mixed so many colors together that the pumpkin was black/green......very Halloween looking. Chris and I went as Fred and Wilma Flintstone, and Wes and Mia were frankenstein and a witch. A good time was had by all.

Today, we are hoping to pass out some candy to the neighbor kids. Wes is feeling a little under the weather today, so we will have to wait and see about the trick or treating for him tonight. Hope everyone is having a fun weekend too - Happy Halloween.