j e l l o

What is childhood without jigglers? Cullen enjoys helping in the kitchen and was thrilled to make his own shapes in the jello. I have a feeling we'll do this a lot throughout the years.

I thought I'd share a funny story from today. The boys and I were driving in the car when Cullen said "Daddy's are at work. Mommy's are at home." This peaked my interest, so I asked "What do mommy's do?" His response was "I dunno, they pick up and put stuff away." I thought that was funny... if only that was all my "job" entailed.

Royal Gorge

Finn loved the carousel! He was squealing & moving his arms.

"Momma, why does the cat have a fish in it's mouth?"

View of the bridge from the aerial tram.

You can see the bridge in the background.

View of the Arkansas River from the bridge
(this doesn't do it justice to how high we were)

Sean by his birth state

me by my birth state

Cullen by his birth state

Finn by his birth state

We went to Canon City Sunday to see the Royal Gorge. It's the world's highest suspension bridge. It was breathtaking. I had been there before years ago, but it was fun to visit as an adult. We had a nice day for it, kind of cool, but REALLY windy! So windy, I was surprised the aerial tram was running... The aerial tram was cool (now, knowing we survived it), but about 100 feet into the ride, I realized that I didn't really like it. You know, about the time that I read that it was built in 1969 and it's the original tram. Then the conductor told us we are on the world's longest single-span aerial tram in the world (whatever that means) and we were hanging from cables 1,178 feet above the Arkansas River. Like I said, it's cool now... and I had the piece of mind knowing if we were going to crash 1,178 feet to our deaths; hey, we are all together as a family....

We ran into a lot of really nice people. The first couple in line ahead of us gave us a left over coupon, then as we entered the park we had to give our zip codes and wouldn't you know, theirs was 66617 (the zip code I grew up with)! Crazy, we talked with them for awhile. Then while waiting with the boys for Sean, a woman made small talk with Cullen. She asked me if she could give Cullen some of the funnel cake she was ordering. When I got back to Sean after changing Finn, they were sitting there eating 1/2 a funnel cake! That nice woman gave Cullen half. :) Sean was pleased that the employees in the gift shop didn't make him pay for the knick-knack he broke... I won't go into the kindness Cullen showed to others today... I'll just say we had a long talk about calling others "big and fat"....

t-ball

grounding the fielders

playing catch with Daddy

going, going...

gone

We have officially entered the world of sports... Cullen's got his game schedule for the summer. Cullen had his first t-ball practice Saturday. His practice went really well, he loves it. His team is the Giants and he's got the little hat and all. He's got it all figured out pretty well, just from playing at home with us- but we do need to work with him on running the bases.

Manitou Springs

trying out the spring water

Our neighbors, John and Kathleen, took us to Manitou Springs to show us some of the hidden treasures only the locals know about. Kathleen grew up in Manitou, so she was able to give us a lot of useful information! After brunch, Cullen (and Sean) played a lot of games at the penny arcade. Kathleen then told us about the natural spring water fountains around town. We all got a taste... it was very interesting- it was bubbly and had a mineral taste to it... almost like what pop would taste like without any flavor. We love visiting Manitou, it's such a quaint town!

One thing that Kathleen shared with me, was an old wives' tale her grandmother passed along to her mother. When you see clouds over the top of Pikes Peak, bring a hat, it's going to be windy. Kathleen said she believes it to hold true. It'll be fun to watch for that one. :)

zoo

Sean and I took the boys to the zoo for the first time this year. This was Finn's first zoo visit, he did great taking it all in. Cullen actually fed the giraffes this time; we were impressed, normally he gets freaked out and changes his mind. Cullen was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the hippos this time. A storm blew in over the mountains and it got too cold, quick.

Finn Finn is 9 months old

Look Maw, one hand...

signing more

Finn is now 9 months old! He's still doing the low-crawl everywhere and he is FAST. He's still getting up on his knees and rocking, but then drops to his belly and moves out. He's starting to pull up onto low things, and can stand up when holding onto something. He's on a pretty good schedule now sleeping until 4:30 am then back to sleep until 7:30. I'm enjoying it, it will change once more teeth come in. He's not giving up nursing, but will take formula in sippy cups with meals. He's loving the finger foods, he gets mad when we give him baby food...

One big note for him this month, is he started signing back to me. Although his "more" sign isn't perfect, it's clear it is what he is saying. He joins his hands and moves them up and down. He's been signing for about a week and a half now. I'm proud of him, Cullen didn't sign until he was 14 months old (and I started working with both of them at 6-7 months).

I should also mention that I've been hearing "ma ma ma ma ma" the last few days. I'm beginning to think he's saying it to me on purpose. I normally hear it when he's tired or hungry...

Cullen is 3 and a half

Somehow a band-aid still makes it all better.

I was just realizing that Cullen is (just about) 3 1/2! One thing I have to say is- I think that the threes are MUCH more terrible than the twos!! He has such a strong opinion on EVERYTHING! Ohh well, I guess that it shows that he is a natural leader and not a natural follower...

We just got Cullen a big boy bike over the weekend. He picked out a Spiderman bike and matching helmet. He is beyond thrilled and wants to ride it all the time, too bad the weather hasn't been cooperating. He's nuts about the helmet too, wanting to wear it around the house for no reason what-so-ever.

One thing we've been working on with him, is spelling his name. He can now spell Cullen and tell you his last name. Sometimes he'll throw Bourke (his middle name) out there too even though he has no concept of what a middle name is. I think he has grasped that mommy, daddy, and Finn all share the same last name as him. He has also been "reading" books to us at bedtime. He loves making up the story based on the pictures. Interestingly enough, every page begins with "Last night...."