Colorado - May 9-18

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Colorado. Hopefully they will give you a little glimpse into our time away...

We left for Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon and spent the night with Danny's parents (aka "Gigi and G-Pa"). On Saturday morning all nine of us drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park and spent three nights in a cabin at the Y-Camp near Estes Park. Danny's parents introduced us to the Y-Camp a few years ago and it has become one of our favorite places to visit.

Wyatt, of course, loved all of the trees! Our cabin was in a spectacular location and when we pulled up (Wyatt, Sabrina, Gigi and G-Pa had already been there for about 20 minutes) Wyatt greeted us with "I think we need to stay here forever!"

This was just one of those sweet moments - Colter helped Danny build the fire and then sat back with him to enjoy their hard work!

I just love this picture of Sabrina! She loved exploring around the cabin with her brothers.

The next day (Mother's Day) we went to Bear Lake and hiked the nature trail around the lake. There was still lots of snow, so the kids had fun with that adventure!

Here are the nine of us after our hike. After this we went to a nearby picnic area, had a quick lunch and walked around a little more.

I took this picture of Sabrina talking on the phone to her cousin Abbie who is only a few days older her! They haven't met yet because Abbie lives in Tennessee, but they enjoyed talking on the phone. My favorite part of their conversation was their discussion about their favorite colors - very important stuff for four year old girls!

More hiking on Monday (another picture I just love!) and then on Tuesday we went backpacking. You can see those pictures on Danny's blog. Wednesday night we headed back to Colorado Springs.

Thursday we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. Everyone enjoyed feeding the giraffes, even Zane!

Here are our five little monkeys at the zoo! Notice that by this point Zane had lost both his sock and his fleece bootie on one foot. We had been working hard the whole time trying to keep track of them (Danny even backtracked a couple of times to find one or both of them!) and then right at the end we noticed they were gone again. Oh well, he'd almost outgrown them anyway!

The boys loved introducing the girls to the bunk beds at Gigi and G-pa's house. All five kids slept in the same room - Wyatt on the top bunk, Colter on the bottom bunk, the girls on a mattress on the floor and Zane in the pack-and-play. It was a great big slumber party for four nights!

Danny had a continuing education conference in Denver on Friday morning, so we spent some time at the park across the street. Zane loves to swing!

Monique is a little monkey! She would climb everything the bigger kids did without any hesitation.

We spent Saturday by a creek (more about that in the next post) and went to Florissant National Monument to see the petrified trees (seeing "trees that have turned into rocks" was exciting to both Wyatt and Colter!). Wyatt isn't really hugging the tree, he's just trying to see how big around it is!

We drove home on Sunday and took a little detour to see Bent's Old Fort National Monument. The kids enjoyed touring the fort and it was a great way to break up the trip. It was a terrific way to end such a relaxing and enjoyable vacation!

Baseball Fever - May 6

Baseball fever has hit our house! While all of the kids enjoy playing baseball with Daddy, Colter is the one who is really intense about it. It's still a couple of years before he can play T-ball, but that isn't going to stop him from practicing now!

Zane's Photo Shoot - May 6

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from a quick photo shoot I did with Zane. If you look closely you can still see a bruise under his eye. He had a slight run-in with the little toy piano in the playroom. I know this is just the first of many injuries for this little guy as he starts exploring his world!

Two Little Ladies - May 4

Sabrina found a ladybug in the garden this afternoon. I just love this picture!

Birdfeeders - May 3

The kids have loved watching and listening to all of the birds these past couple of weeks, so we made some bird feeders to hang on our trees.

Crazy Kids - May 2

Wyatt was at school and Zane was napping, so the other three decided they wanted to go on their own adventure! They love dressing up and playing pretend together.

Here's the latest... - May 1

Here's the latest on each of our kids...

Wyatt is loving this great spring weather! He spends most of the afternoon outside and keeps me updated on how all of our various plants and trees are doing.

Danny has been tossing our boys in the air since they were babies. Sabrina thought this was fun to watch, but was not the least bit excited about experiencing it for herself - until now!

Colter made the transition from his tricycle to a bike with training wheels. The problem is that the only bike with training wheels is Sabrina's princess bike! He look good in pink, right? Much to Colter's relief, Danny has plans to order him a new bike this week.

Monique loves "Baby Emma" and takes care of her all day long. Whenever I sit down to feed Zane or put him down for a nap I can guarantee that Baby Emma will be doing the same thing in just a few minutes!

Speaking of Zane, he has given up his army crawl in favor of hands and knees. After a couple of days practicing the movement he finally got it down. The kids have learned that nothing on the floor is safe from their baby brother!

Hat Day - April 30

It was Hat Day at school today. Here are my oldest three in their favorite hats!

Spring Music Program - April 29

Wyatt and Sabrina had their Spring Music Program at school tonight. Since we only live a few blocks from church/school, we decided to take the kids in the wagon. I would have never imagined we would fit five kids in that wagon!

Here is Wyatt waving at us before the program started.

Sabrina saying the pledge, and trying to catch a glimpse of Mom and Dad for reassurance!

Our Garden - April 26

We worked on planting our vegetable garden today. It's not very big - just some pepper and tomato plants and a couple of broccoli plants that Wyatt wanted to try growing. I think I'm going to get some squash and strawberries to add to the mix and we'll call it done for this year. We'll keep you posted on how it's looking...

Puddle Jumping - April 26

The kids found this random puddle (leftover from Danny watering the flowers earlier in the morning) on the driveway. It didn't take long for the shoes to come off and the jumping to begin!

Nine Months Old - April 25

Here is a little glimpse into Zane's life at nine months old...

He loves to eat! Here he is with some of his favorites, crackers and grapes. He also loves bananas, avocados, mango, pears, carrots, peas and sweet potatoes. He still refuses to eat any food from a spoon, so I'm not quite sure what is going to happen when I introduce him to yogurt. It may be a little bit messy!

He has perfected the "army crawl", but I can tell he really wants to crawl on his hands and knees. He gets a little better at that everyday. He is also becoming pretty confident about pulling up to standing. I took this picture after he had crawled over to the fireplace to look at his reflection in the glass.

A Little Entertainment - April 23

Danny likes to "jog mow" the yard. He says it is a great workout and he gets the yard mowed in half the time.

The kids just think it is really funny to watch Daddy run around the yard with a lawn mower!

Camping or Noni's House? - April 18-20

Danny wanted to take Sabrina and Wyatt on a "big kid" backpacking trip this weekend (more about that on his blog), so I decided to take the other three down to Lubbock to visit Noni, Papa and all of the aunts and uncles.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Red vs. Black scrimmage at Tech. Monique didn't know what to make of the actual football game, but she really enjoyed the drums in the band!

After that we went to the Lubbock Art Show. In an attempt to keep them corralled I had them ride in the stroller, which they thought was a real treat!

Colter's favorite part of the art show was the model train room where there were several different trains set up for viewing. He would have stayed for hours!

Our last stop of the day was the park by Aunt Cathryn and Uncle Jerod's house so that Colter and Monique could feed the ducks. It was a fun day!

Little Miss Fireman - April 16

So, if you were wondering if our little girl is feeling better after her surgery, here is your answer! She was back playing with her regular energy today.

Dr. Colter - April 15

Monique spent today recovering from her day surgery yesterday (you can read more about it on my blog - www.jengriffis.blogspot.com). She was resting on the couch this afternoon when I witnessed this scene. Colter looked up at me and said, "Mo-ni-tee doing o-tay, Mama".

Pizza! - April 12

We eat pizza in some shape or form at least once a week. Whether it is English muffin pizzas for lunch, pepperoni pizza twist for dinner or "make-your-own" pizzas with Daddy, pizza is sure to bring a smile to our kids faces!

A Week of Fun - April 11

5 active kids + 7 days in a week = LOTS of fun

Here's a glimpse into some of our activities this week that kept these five little monkeys busy and happy!

We finger painted (Wyatt loved getting really messy!)

We used gumdrops and toothpicks to build (Colter made an airplane!) and then we ate the gumdrops.

We played dominoes (Monique won almost every game!).

We blew bubbles (Zane loved the bubble machine!).

We rode bikes (Sabrina likes to play "bumper bikes"!).

Curious Zane - April 10

Zane's curiosity it leading to all sorts of new accomplishments this week. He can now open the kitchen drawers (although sometimes he opens them on himself and then gets stuck!) and he pulled up for the first time on a tub of clothes I was sorting through. It's been an exciting week for this little boy!

Rainy Morning - April 9

It rained this morning (YEAH!) so it was the perfect opportunity for the kids to wear their rain jackets to school. Monique didn't want to be left out, so she put hers on and then stood at the door to wave good-bye.

My Little Helper - April 6

All of my kids like to help in the kitchen, Sabrina is the one who wants to help with the entire meal, start to finish. She grates cheese, washes fruit and vegetables, helps with the dishes and sweeps the floor. While she is working she will say "Mommy, I'm your helper!"

Our Backyard Cat - April 5

The kids looked out the window this morning and found a cat sitting in the backyard. Wyatt and Colter, being boys, decided to run outside and chase it away. Apparently this kitty just wanted to play, because as the boys ran closer he just sat there and watched them. It surprised the boys that the cat didn't run away (like the rabbits that they usually chase!) and they came to a screeching halt right in front of the cat. They all just looked at each other for a couple of minutes and then Colter walked up to the cat and started petting it. He has always been our animal lover (both stuffed and real!) and tends to be cautious, but not frightened of animals. The rest of the day the kids kept watching to see if the cat (who belongs to one of our neighbors) would come visit again.

Playdate Swap - April 2

Some of our good friends in town have a son in Wyatt's preschool class and a daughter in Sabrina's preschool class. They all get along really well together, and their friendships are such a blessing to my kids. We set up a "playdate swap" for a couple of hours after preschool one day. I brought all of the boys to our house to play and Sabrina went to their house so the girls could play together. All of the kids had fun on our "swap" and keep asking me when we are going to do it again!

Wyatt and Brooks enjoying their pizza.

An all boy playdate just isn't complete without some dirt!

Eight (and a half!) Months Old - April 1

Zane turned eight months old on March 20. If came so fast I almost forgot to take his eight month picture! Here are eight random facts about my sweet baby boy...

1. He LOVES Cheerios!
2. He still doesn't have any teeth (although he has been "teething" for months!).
3. His favorite activity is sitting on the floor with his basket of toys, picking up each toy, putting it in his mouth and then throwing it on the floor.
4. He's not crawling on his hands and knees yet, but he's pretty good at sliding across the floor on his belly.
5. He love to read (and chew!) on books!
6. I found him sitting up in his crib the other day - time to lower the mattress again!
7. He is really ticklish and has a great belly laugh.
8. He is a true "Mama's Boy" and will rarely let anyone else hold him if I am in the same room.