Happy 3rd Birthday Allen!

Today Allen turned 3! We had a full day of donuts for breakfast, playtime at the park, a walk with Grandma, lunch and a quick nap followed by a birthday party at the train park! For dinner he chose cheeseburgers at In-N-Out and then we came home to open presents and play with lots of new toys! A successful day and a wonderful celebration of our fun, busy 3-year old!

Allen's School Birthday

On Thursday, Allen had his special birthday day at school. He started the day as the class librarian - his job was to collect the books his friends were reading at the beginning of class. Then he got a birthday crown and all his classroom friends sang Happy Birthday! At the end of the day he gave out his goodie bags that he had helped put together - he was so proud!

Oh dear...

Tonight at dinner, Allen burped. No big deal - just reminded him to say "excuse me". Well, he got the giggles about it and burped again, louder. His daddy told him it wasn't funny. So he burped again, even louder. At this point his daddy informed him one more would land him in time out. Allen's response? "Fine - I will go in the playroom to burp and you stay in here and you can't hear me." Sassy little guy, isn't he?!
After dinner, he took his dishes to the sink and went off to play in the hall (we have miles of Lego train track set up in the dining room and hall right now...it's lovely!). He suddenly stood up and said "Oh - I forgot to go to the playroom and burp!" And took off! Oh dear do we ever have our hands full with that one!

Open House

Last night was Open House at the boys' preschool. Allen was so proud that it was his night too and not just for Drew! They each showed us around their classrooms, which were so cute! Allen's themes for the beginning of the year were apples, creation and family. Drew has been in full pirate mode in his class and the room definitely showed it! They had ice cream in the courtyard as well as information booths set up about the school year. There was a "cake walk" for the kids but the line was long and we didn't participate. Drew was very upset with us but once we explained that he probably would NOT get a cake, he seemed ok. (Of course I found out this morning that his friend Kenley DID win a cake...I'm going to be in trouble I'm sure!) We were there for a while since each age group had their rooms open at different times...the boys got a little antsy after their ice cream while we were waiting for Drew's turn so they ran races in the front yard of the church. It had rained that afternoon so they both ended up covered in mud all the way up their backs...yuck!

Bowling!

Last week, Drew went to his good buddy Tobi's birthday party...at a bowling ally...in Dave & Busters! He thought he was such big stuff! He had never bowled before (other than on Wii which I'm not sure is teaching him any of the basics of how to actually bowl!) and I was a little concerned about how it would go but with the invention of the automatic gutter bumpers and the rack that shoots the ball right down the lane...well, he had a good time!


Getting pointers from an "older woman"...Tobi's big sister!


"Can I go now?"


It was very serious business...


Hugs...or attempting to lift each other up...these two are hilarious!

Rocky Top!

Singing "Rocky Top"...his own version!

More Pictures from Colorado

Splash Park in Golden


Walking along Clear Creek



Colorado Railroad Museum



Mt. Evans

Drew & Allen's First Fourteener!


Camping & Hiking

Colorado 2010

In July we spent a week in Colorado. Grandma and Grandpa have moved into a new house in Golden and we wanted to spend some time with them. We had a great time enjoying some of Golden's unique places and went into Denver to visit the Zoo. Of course the highlight of the week was a trip on the Georgetown Loop Railroad...yet another Colorado train ride to make our boys happy! Patrick's best friend from high school and the best man in our wedding got married in Vail so we had a quick grownup getaway to enjoy the wedding festivities while the boys spent some quality time with the granparents! All in all a successful vacation.





















John & Molly's Wedding

Patrick & John's Mom

The happy couple leaving on their tandem bike...so cute and so them!

And Allen's First Day!

After a year and a half of dropping Drew at school and asking if he could go, today was Allen's first day of preschool! He only went for an hour today with half his class to hopefully make for an easier transition. It didn't work out so well for us! Allen was being stubborn and didn't want to wear his name tag and it went quickly downhill from there. There were a lot of tears, his teacher had to physically remove him from our arms where he had latched on with all his might. It was rough! He has the same teachers Drew had his first two years here and he has always loved them and the classroom so they were very surprised by his tears today. But he was all smiles at pickup and hopefully Thursday will be much better!


Informing Daddy he would NOT wear his name tag...this was the start of our bumpy transition!


Crying on Mommy's shoulder...he did not want to go in at all!


Much happier at the end of the day!


I'm pretty sure this sign was posted for our benefit!


Two brothers at school together!!