goings-on

Here are some pictures from my camera on my phone. The boys are playing at our mall's playland. When I told the boys it was time to go, Finn took off!! I thought, surely he's not going to leave the play area. I was wrong. I grabbed the stroller, everyone's shoes and my purse and ran after him! Then I yelled to Cullen over my shoulder to hurry up. Cullen then started wailing, thinking I was leaving without him (I was around the corner by then). Finn was still trucking it as fast as his little legs would carry him, never looking back. Cullen caught up to him at the doors then OPENED it for him! What the heck, Cullen. Finally Finn was trapped between the doors leaving the mall. And the little booger refused to get into his stroller. My favorite part was a cute middle-aged couple walking towards the exit laughing at me as Cullen was wailing and I was yelling I'm not leaving you, I've got to catch your brother! Funny, one thinks I'm leaving him and the other is trying to leave me!! These boys, I swear!!

One other note near and dear to me... my oldest has officially learned to tie his shoes. We have been working in it for a few weeks and tonight he did it all by himself 3 times in a row! He is growing up so fast. He's also started sounding words out. He can read some simple words. No doubt he'll be ready for kindergarten (in fall 2011)!!

making dinner

Finn really wanted to play Wii too, so Cullen helped. :)

Finn watching Cullen play Wii.
No, Cullen does not have pants on. :)

Cullen playing a serious game of Spiderman!

Caught with a hand in the cookie jar!
(And wearing only one shoe and a random hat...)

Cullen's latest masterpiece. It's amazing watching him progress...
now his people have hands, fingers, feet, and toes.
Maybe I'll see the trunk next?

Here are some pictures from tonight while I was making dinner... The picture Cullen drew is of him falling off The Giving Tree. You can see the green tree with a few apples falling off. This is his first artwork without a sun, in this one it's raining. I also like watching his penmanship change, he's gaining better control resulting in his name becoming smaller.

Well, Sean made it to Africa okay. He sounds super busy and I'm not sure how often I will hear from him. I've already had one FRG incident involving a wife, good to have the first one behind me. Finn keeps asking for Daddy, then Cullen tells him... He's in Africa, Finn. Ohh, our unique life. Finn is adding more words everyday. He now says: poop, car (said like an east coaster) shoe, no!, baby, juice, dirty, mama, dada, hi, bye, dog... I think that's all. I've noticed that's he working hard to say Cullen, that one will be soon.

Finn is turning out to be quite the little booger. The other day he had a Dr.'s appt and he did great the whole thing; the Dr. was commenting on how good he was being, how cute he is, etc. Then while the Dr. was talking to me, Finn realized he could open the lever door knob, so he kept trying to escape. Once he realized he was getting no where, he got mad. After picking himself up off the ground, he went over to the Dr. as she was writing, and hit her in the leg. It was very deliberate and very embarrassing! He got in trouble and as the Dr. left the made a mad dash and took off down the hallway. I grabbed his coat and my purse and ran after him... but not before he opened some other patient's door and went in. I heard a woman say "Well, hi buddy." We had a very similar experience at church this morning! He hit the poor woman kneeling next to us. Luckily she has two young boys herself, so she just laughed. What a stinker! I guess that is how he thinks life goes, only really having Cullen to model from.... (yikes!)

Cowboy Cullen

Here's our cute Cowboy Cullen (he likes when I call him that). :) Cullen had Cowboy Day at preschool this morning. He and his classmates had fun eating pancakes by a campfire, singing "Skip to my Lou" and learning to square dance.

surprise

Sean threw me a surprise 30th birthday party this Saturday. He booked a private room at our favorite restaurant, Nosh. I thought he was up to something around my actual birthday, but then nothing happened, so when suspicious things started up again, I wondered if it was just my imagination.

It was awesome walking in to see all my (CO) best friends. Allison and Sonya did a lot of the behind the scenes work, they contacted my mom and sister and dug up a lot of old pictures. My sister was sweet enough to send my old Glamour Shots picture from 6th grade! We had a ton of glorious food and the pastry chef made a wonderful cake.

After dinner we went out downtown and closed down the bars. Jonas ended up doing a karate chop on the table, broke it in half, which lead to 3 full drinks being spilled on Sean's jeans. He was escorted out. Luckily that was the only drama that night... you never know with our men...

It was an amazing night!! I am so lucky to have Sean as my husband, and such great family and friends in my life. Thank you, I love you. :)

what are the odds??

Yesterday after Finn and I dropped Cullen off at preschool, I ran over to the tailor to pick up my jeans. Finn was enjoying himself walking and holding my hand, feeling like a big boy. Once we got to the car, I loaded him in the carseat and he threw a massive fit.. I assumed he didn't want to get back into the car. When I put the car into reverse he threw something and it hit the back of my seat, I turned around and his shoe was off.

Once we got home I looked a little for his shoe, but figured it would show up. After picking Cullen up from preschool, I really scoured the car looking for Finn's lost shoe. How could a shoe get lost in a car?? Emma, Taryn's mom, was parked next to me and we were chatting a little. They too, were getting over the flu at their house. Finally, I expressed my frustration on not being able to find Finn's shoe. Emma said, "You're going to think I'm crazy, but you didn't happen to be over at Powers and Constitution this morning were you?" My jaw dropped, yes! I had been at a tailor over there. So was Emma, the tailor is making a flower girl dress for Taryn. Emma found Finn's shoe about 10 miles away from preschool. We went straight over there and there is was, just where Emma said she saw it.

Poor Finn was trying to tell me his shoe fell off earlier. I assumed the toy that hit the back of my seat was his shoe!

What are the odds of that happening??

Cullen-ism for the day: "Mommy, you are a genius!" When I sat a pair of jammies out last night that Cullen likes. :)

Success!!!

Sure, I'm smiling now... Here I am getting ready to start
the incline. It was a steep trail to even get to this point!

We're maybe almost halfway up at this point.
You can see the parking lot over my shoulder.
So exhausted at this point, the elevation change was evident.

A view up from that (almost halfway) point.
That is NOT the top, it's a false summit.
At some points the steps were so high, you had to climb it.

I did it!! 30 feels good. :)
The sweet success.

Another view from the top.
It's a looong way down, take my word for it!

This is about Sean's 10th time doing the Manitou Incline.
Another view from the top. See the parking lot below??

Getting ready to jog the 4 miles down Barr Trail. If we continued
up the trail another eleven miles, we would be at the top of Pikes Peak!
You can see the snow-capped mountains in the background.
When we started the hike, it was about 68* up here it was easily 55* with
really strong winds. We were freezing.

At the bottom of Barr Trail. I actually rolled my right ankle
twice on the rugged trail down. The last quarter mile was painful.
The gorgeous trail down made that intense hike up "the cog" worth it!
The trail was steep, had tons of switch backs and some parts were wet
from the melting snow. It was strange running by snow.

My 2010 Goal is now a success, I completed it with Sean Monday!! I am so proud of myself!! It feels so good to reach your challenging goals. :) Here is what we did...

• 1 mile up.
• 2744 railroad ties.
• 2000 feet of vertical.
• 4 mile jog back down on Barr Trail.
• 1700 calories burned!
• 53 minutes up.
• 50 minutes down.

Sean was the only person that told me I could do it. Several guys on his team didn't have faith that I could finish it and none of my girlfriends had finished it either. Sean normally completes the Incline in about 33 minutes, and he predicted I could do it in under an hour. He was right, in fact I finished it faster on my first time than one of the guys on his old team! I think the hardest part was the steep elevation change, it was so hard to breathe. Sean disagrees, he thinks the worst part is how it smokes your legs. A friend of ours wore a calorie burned counter and that's where the 1700 calories burned comes from. I believe it, I've never had such a total body workout in my life. After we finished, Sean and I went to The Loop in downtown Manitou for a much deserved snack of chips, guac, and chili con queso. Ohh, and I had a hearty piece of my Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake last night too. :)


Next goal of 2010 is running Waldo Canyon. Which will be difficult not only for the distance (6.8 miles) but because of the elevation changes (7100 ft to 8100 ft) too. This time I'm going to buy a pair of trail shoes to prevent another twisted ankle!

more Easter activities...

Cullen dying Easter eggs.

Cullen and Finn? Or the newest members of
The Lollipop Guild?

Cullen going through his Easter basket bright and early!

Cullen decorating the cookies.

The boys helping make Easter cookies.

My green nosed bunnies...

Finn-Finn getting his (green) bunny nose painted too.
He sat so still.

Here are the rest of our Easter pictures. The boys will probably be sugared up for the whole week... thank goodness for preschool on Monday! :)

Easter Activites

Cullen at the egg hunt.

Finn was a pro, he did the egg hunt all by himself.

One happy kid.

Doing the egg race.

For some reason, Cullen asked for a green bunny nose.

Petting a real bunny.
(Reminds me of Sweetie. RIP.)

Classic.

Getting ready for the egg hunt.

Waiting patiently.

Giving out some high-fives.

We had a busy weekend! Here are some pictures of the boys from the Easter egg hunt our gym put on. They had a great time and we enjoyed watching Finn do his first egg hunt. We told him what to do and he did it all by himself. :) More pictures to follow...