First Day of School and First Swim

No, I have not enrolled her in Kindergarten. I am not one of those crazy people who will put their kids in 50 activities and send them to school early. However, I feel like Holden gets bored with just me all the time so we decided that a bit of structured fun time away from mom and dad would be a great thing for her. Our Rec center offers a program called, Magical Mornings on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30-11. Holden gets to, paint, color, eat snacks, listen to stories, play in the gym, sing, and dance with about 10 other 2-3 year olds. She is loving it! I figured she would. She is usually pretty outgoing and up for anything, but I don't really leave her very often. However, she is all grown up and apparently doesn't need me anymore. I have to chase her through the room just to say goodbye.
Everett and I have been having fun on our own during that time too. I can't believe how easy peasy it is to run errands with only one child. What was I complaining about with just Holden? Last week, we had fun shopping at Sunflower Market and letting Ev touch the colorful fruit and then had a little picnic snack with our finds. Today, we spent an hour exploring the cool educational toys at the teacher store. I get to swim with Holden twice a week, but never really get time with just Everett and this is working out perfectly!
I think Everett is in the 90th percentile for his weight. He is getting bigger by the minute. He has about three chins now. He sprouted those teeth and now he is ready for steak!



On Sunday we felt brave and let Everett take a dip in the backyard baby pool with Holden. He has only been in a real pool once, but he loves the bath tub so we figured he would like it. We were a little worried that Holden would be too overwhelming for him, but she was really good.

Purple Baby is definitely not allowed in the pool so Dora had to join Holden.



You can see Everett is on to Holden's antics. He is not too excited about her hand on his back. Luckily, she controlled herself and just made him laugh all afternoon!


Here is the l;ink to some more pictures of our latest adventures. There are some old ones in the beginning, but new ones toward the end.

http://picasaweb.google.com/KimHanou/2009Aug24#

Rock Climbing

It is so sad that it's August and this was THE FIRST time Ian has rock climbed. He really loves it, but it is impossible to go with just us, Holden would be off in no time and Everett would be miserable to just sit alone and watch. So, we got Nichole, Ty, and Emily on board and we had a big day out. We met down in Castle Rock at Castlewood Canyon State Park.




The climbing area was great, very shaded and lots of little trails and big rocks for exploring.



While the guys roped up and climbed, Nichole and I took the kids for a hike. The girls had a great time looking for bears. "Mr. Bear, Mr. Bear, where are you?"



Holden had fun finding pine cones and giving them to everyone declaring, "Here, you will LOVE IT!"


Of course 5 minutes before we left Emily decided to take a "bath" and "get clean" with the dirt and dust.


And then we needed to finish the trip with a beautiful rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider!

MONTANA

A few weeks ago we had the amazing opportunity to leave our beloved children behind and travel up to Bozeman for Mikey and Jana's wedding(that's them in the cowboy hats). Sounds easy enough, but let me tell you, it was a huge task, but well worth the effort.

First, we thought we were going up there for the wedding weekend with both munchkins. Then someonehad the brilliant idea to have my mom come out here and stay with Holden and we would bring Everett with us. I am still nursing and plan to make it to a year with him and we didn't really see another option.

Then as the wedding got closer and the dreams of free time away....to go to the bathroom alone, take a shower alone, to eat a meal in relative peace (well, there was that night Pete was serenading the hot dog with Neil Diamond songs, but that was pretty funny),to fly while reading a book and enjoying a cocktail, to go out without the worry of being awoken at 5 am, to spend time with friends who I feel like I haven't seen in three years since kids began arriving on my doorstep all started to sound irresistible.

So I investigated renting a breast pump, buying the parts, and buying a hand held (because I wasn't going to plug in that big bad boy in public while we traveled:) and the price was right. Well, really any price would have been right because the four days alone on vacation with my husband and friends was well worth every penny. Everett got tough on the Enfamil while we were gone...I WAS DEFINITELY NOT going to pump enough for the whole vacation. That whole activity is rotten and I don't know how people do it all the time.

Wait, I am getting ahead of myself, I was way too excited before even asking my mom if she felt up to this challenge. I was terrified to call her because I could already taste the freedom and I truly was not sure if she would want to take care of both kids, by herself for four days. Well, we lucked out and she jumped at the chance and wasn't scared a bit, except she says, for the sleep loss!

So Mimi hit Denver around 11 and Ian and I left her around 3. It felt good, really really really good. Being so far away from most of our families we do not have much away from our children. No sleepovers with grandparents, nights off to go out, even just a few hours to see a movie. Well, unless we pay the babysitter, which really starts to add up on top of the money we pay to do things. Anyway, bottom line is we felt so relaxed because we knew the kids were in good hands. I was even excited standing in line at security, because I didn't have Everett strapped to my chest banging his feet into my stomach and screaming happy yelps, while Holden was yelling for juice boxes and demanding lollipops (oh yeah, she still plays the lollipop game...and she still doesn't like them!). Worrying about getting all of our shoes off, and all the liquids, formula and baby food on display, keeping track of purple baby, and folding up the stroller, which is always fun while holding two kids and five bags.

We arrived in Montana to beautiful weather. Mikey and Jana hosted a barbecue at their house overlooking all of the mountains.



The next day Mikey took us all out for target practice. We were in the middle of nowhere and shooting all different kinds of guns and drinking beer. Ha Ha I don't think I ever even saw a gun in person before that day, but of course I had to try too!

The rehearsal dinner was quite an experience. We have all sat through the ho hum speeches and if we get lucky one or two actually turn out funny and heartfelt. This is a whole other league! Mikey's family is a big bunch of entertainers. Casey and his sister did a hysterical rendition of Casey at the Bat. Mikey's aunt and the other in-laws gave Jana a test and admitted her into their group called the "out-laws," Jana's Texas friends wrote and performed a Mikey and Jana song to the tune of "Deep in the Heart of Texas," and it just went on from there. For about an hour we sat back and laughed at the great stories and speeches.
Notice all the guys and their handlebar mustaches? They get all worked up around weddings and have to look as ridiculous as possible.


The morning of the wedding we all (except for Ian and Pete who were in the wedding) went on a short but quiet and peaceful float rip down the Yellowstone River. We tied the tubes together and Relaxed with a capital R. Onto the wedding in an amazing log cabin feeling place. Great live band with lots of country music, lots of cowboy hats, and lots of great dancing,


Now I don't want you to think it was all fun zone and no thought to my poor mother and children. I thought of them fondly while I sat alone in my bedroom pumping and watching HGTV 5 times a day. It was most fun at 1 or 2 am when I was kinda drunk-haha. I also called to check in about 6 times a day. I just wanted to be sure my mom wasn't loosing her marbles...I know my kids, I know what they do to me when I am alone and Ian is out of town for a few days. But they were fine. Still waking up at 5 am, but they seem to be early birds these days for me too. Luckily, Courtney came by to help with dinner and bedtime one night and Amy stopped by to take Holden to the playground on Saturday. AND Mimi survived.

We were super excited to come home and see their smiling faces. Mimi did an awesome job and we may have to hire her again. We had a wonderful get away, I got to remember who I was again. Ian laughed at me all weekend as he caught glimpses of the "old" me. I am just very glad to know she is still in there and can come out for a visit once in a while.

This and That

So we have really settled in here. We took our first trip to the Denver zoo (thanks Courtney and Mike for our welcome to Denver gift of a season pass to the zoo!!). It was awesome. I pretty much had to keep my hand on Holden the entire time so she didn't fall into the turtle cage and run up to a hippo. She is such a nut.

Check out the link at the botom for more pics and videos. Everett was super vocal after hanging out with the bears!

Everett has been so much fun lately. He has two big teeth-check him out trying to show me.


He is also sitting up on his own! We felt like he was light years away from this happening and all of a sudden one day he started hanging out. ..for like 5 minutes on his own. LOVE IT! Now he just needs to work on the crawling thing.






Wow-how cute are these munchkins? Check out the rest of our pics

http://picasaweb.google.com/KimHanou/2009Aug7#

Oddball

As a parent you quickly get used to the oddball things your kids do on a daily basis. As Holden was eating Cheerios dipped in hummus for lunch, it occurred to me that it was kinda weird. So, I started thinking about the foods my children eat and realized to the average eye it may appear that I am nuts to give my children the things I do. But all of you parents out there know, as long as they eat, no matter how odd, we are happy.

Here is a little list of some of Holden's hit food items and meals:

1. hummus and cheerios

2. Goat cheese...on or with ANYTHING. Actually the more eccentric and stinky the cheese the better.

3. DIP- always the dip, everything tastes better with dip- sugar free ketchup and organic ranch dressing are ALWAYS in our fridge. I think Holden would die without these condiments. Sometimes when she has ranch she asks for dip to go with it. MMM ketchup and ranch... delicious!

4. Granola Bars-not odd in itself, however sometimes 6 granola bars will be Holden's entire daily food intake.

5. Parmesan cheese on Puffins peanut butter cereal-I can't even begin to understand. But, she eats it...happily.

6. Hot Salsa- well it's really just dip when you get down to it, so she will take the burning mouth.

7. Grapes dipped (of course) in peanut butter


Everett is also an adventurous eater. His purees consist of:

1. Broccoli with Plums

2. Green Beans with cantaloupe

3. zucchini, cauliflower, and raspberries

This weekend I am attempting to make him some pureed chicken dinners. For some reason mine never taste as good as the jarred stuff. I can't wait to see how he likes the chicken, brown rice, apricot, squash dinner! Honestly, he eats so much and so well, I can't imagine a combo he wouldn't eat.

Mr. and Mrs. Kershen

Well, it has taken me a while to get back on here. Mike and Courtney's wedding was over one month ago! When Frank, Marsha, Great Grandpa, Aunt Mickey, Severin, and Colleen all arrived in Denver the fun officially began. There was a lovely brides lunch which I got to attend sans kids! Later that afternoon, Ian and Holden headed to the rehearsal, he was a reader and Holden get to use the flower girl skills she learned last summer at Casey and Rob's wedding. The rehearsal dinner was a bit wet, so Courtney and Mike packed a hundred friends and family into their house and I heard it was lots of fun. I say, I heard because Everett was pretty cranky and we were there for about 39 minutes before I threw in the towel and came home. I didn't even get to enjoy the delicious BBQ dinner. Luckily, Courtney brought over some leftovers after the wedding!

The wedding day was beautiful! It was sunny and the perfect temperature. Courtney and Mike just glowed with happiness. Holden made it down the aisle cute as ever and Ian and I took turns walking around with Everett. He doesn't really like to sit still much anymore.



The reception was at Hotel VQ overlooking downtown, the mountains, and Mile High stadium. It was a magnificent backdrop to the fun party!


We had the kiddies at the reception for just an hour when Eric Underwood (Ian's fraternity brother) and his fiance, Kristen arrived to escort our children home. BEST BABYSITTERS EVER! They took the kids and our car home, fed the little dears dinner, and dropped them off to bed. Ian and I had such a nice time enjoying the reception as grown ups without a care in the world...well other than knowing we would be awoken by one or possibly both of the kids at 5 am.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend with so many friends and family in town. I think Courtney and Mike ate up all the attention and enjoyed every single minute!