Coach Coop

An arctic blast is heading our way tomorrow. Ooooohhhh! It sounds so chilly doesn't it? Today was definitely the calm before the storm. I decided we better head out and enjoy some outdoor time while we can. So we took a jog around the neighborhood with a little pit stop (read: excuse to stop and catch my breath) at Mark's office.

In order to make it enticing for Cooper to "run" with me, I ask if he'll please be my coach. Then he's all over it and happy to climb aboard.

His idea of coaching .......

'RUN MOMMY! RUUUNNNN! FASTER! Now roar like a siren and pretend you're a fire truck!' All while I'm trying to run, push, not break a hip or cough up a lung. But hey, it's nice to have some encouragement. I'm enjoying our stroller rides right now as I'm thinking our stroller days may be numbered for awhile (thanks to Jack Frost).

Check out that sky!

Scones

I have moved on (in defeat) from my pumpkin pushing efforts. It became clear that I had to as my pumpkin treats sat (untouched) taunting me with their little voices saying 'eat me.... you know you want to'. Yes pumpkin goodies, I do want to.....but BACK OFF! I just can't go at this alone even with the help of Little C.

Now I'm pushing cranberries. Pumpkin is soooooooooo four days ago ;)

Cranberry Orange Scones

I won't be turning this into a cooking blog because I can hardly classify myself as a "cook". I am a self proclaimed FollowDirectionsAndReadRecipes'er. I follow several cooking blogs and have downloaded quite a few recipe apps. I'm working my way towards becoming a cook.......one recipe at a time. Call it boredom but I'm actually enjoying it! I think C&C are as well.

ThankFULL

We have been enjoying our 4 day Thanksgiving Weekend doing the typical Thanksgiving'y type things one would expect. It has been mellow and full of nothing overly exciting or spectacular. Mainly we've been enjoying family time and spending time together. After so many months apart this past year, I am definitely most thankful for our time TOGETHER.


We spent Thanksgiving Day with Mark's boss and his family. It was so nice of them to include us and it was great to spend time with them and their kids. Coop and Cruz had a blast.

The rest of the weekend (so far) has been spent cooking, baking and watching football. We decided to cook a Thanksgiving feast on Friday. Mainly so we could enjoy the leftovers and continue to gorge ourselves throughout the rest of the weekend. We've been doing an excellent job in the gorging department.

We hope all of our friends and family had a wonderful Thansgiving!

Gobble

Coop learned a new trick during storytime at the library this week. He can make a turkey with his hands and he thinks it's pretty cool.

Try it....it is pretty cool!

Chef

I've been on a quest this weekend to bake pumpkin treats and convince the rest of my family that they should love everything pumpkin as much as I do. So far, Cruz seems to be the only other member besides myself on Team Pumpkin. Thanks, Cruz! I'm so glad you can feel the pumpkin love. Just for that, you get another treat........

Truth be told....Cruz would eat an old shoe smothered in pumpkin as he eats just about anything you put in front of him. It is still possible that for the rest of my life, I will be baking pumpkin-y treats for me, myself and I only. Can I get a little pity here?

Cruz loves to help out in the kitchen. While I was prepping the turkey, he decided he would whip up a little something himself. From the looks of the picture below, I think he was hoping for a Thanksgiving Duck.

Hmmmm...it needs a little more salt.

Decorate

We've had some little helpers with the Christmas decorating this year.

Parade

Last night we decided to check out The Estes Park Christmas Light Parade. Luckily for us, it started at 5:30pm and since we had an early day after Thanksgiving feast, we decided there was no excuse not to give it a try. We bundled the boys in their snow gear, filled some thermoses full of warm drinks and ventured out into the snowy darkness. It started snowing pretty hard as we left the house so we thought for sure we'd be coming back home very soon.


The town was packed! Duh! I guess we didn't think that everyone else in town would think it was a great idea too. We meandered through the traffic, parked the car what seemed like miles away and started our roll (with the wagon) to Main Street.

The boys were ready and rarin' to go and we could hear the firetrucks announcing the start of the parade. And then the famous ESTES PARK WIND that everyone keeps warning us about kicked in. It was blowing snow sideways and pelting us in our faces. By that point we were pretty far from where we parked so we decided we needed to make our move. Stay vs. Go. We decided to abort the mission and head back to the car -----insert Debbie Downer whonk-whonk-waaaaaaaahh noise here----. Cooper was not happy about this decision at all. We made the mistake of talking up the parade before hand and might have mentioned something about a man in a red suit being the grand finale.

As we were heading back to the car (and Cooper was crying) we decided to hunker down under an awning and take cover to see if perhaps the wind would let up. We had our blankets and cover and the boys didn't seem to mind a bit. We figured we'd give it a few minutes and then Mark would run and get the car (if need be) while The Woman and Children stayed warm and dry.

Well, the man in the red suit must have played his cards right because low and behold the wind disappeared and the blowing ice/snow went away just like that. It was an early Christmas Miracle. Cooper got to see the big fat guy (Whooooo Hoooo!!! Or in this case, HoHoHoooooo!) and Cruz was all about the horsies.

In the end, it all worked out beautifully and fun was had by all. The (phone) pictures we took are horrible. It was dark, there were lots of floats followed by lots of oooohhhs and ahhhhs. I'm sure you get the idea........

He is having fun. I promise.

Sadly, we don't have any pictures of the man in the red suit. But I'm sure you have a visual. There was far too much excitement for a photo op at that point.

Shiner

Poor Cruz got his first shiner on Sunday. He fell and hit the side of the coffee table. Luckily, it just missed his eye and after a struggle to keep him still in order to ice it, he bounced back pretty quickly.

I'm afraid this is the first shiner of many in this kid's future. Just as I thought, we have Cautious Coop and Crazy Cruz. Unlike his big bro, this kid has no fear and is quite the little bruiser. I reeaaaalllly, REALLY hope these two balance each other out. Cruz can be the one to push one another and take chances and Coop can be the one to sit back and make sure they're making the best decision. A mother can only dream as I guess it's a tad early to make such predictions..............

Change of Pace

She's baaaaaack!

I went from this............

to this........

But it was worth the trade off to come back to this.......

and this..........

(Mark too but he didn't take any cute pictures of himself while I was gone).

I had a great time. I enjoyed the change of pace and aside from spending time working at the hospitality desk, I managed to enjoy the company of great friends, ate fabulous food, sampled some tasty cerveza and tequila, got my shop on and relaxed by the pool. Just what the doctor ordered!

Mark and the boys survived just fine without me. There was never a doubt about that. Truly, I think the little Mommy hiatus was good for all. In the six nights I was gone, Cruz turned into a full time walkin' (FINALLY!)/sleep through the night (KNOCK ON WOOD)/fully weened (SNIFF, SNIFF) baby. Just. like. that. I pumped while I was gone as much as I could with the anticipation that I would have to catch up when I got home. But Cruz seems to be fine without Mama's Milk now. As much as I thought I was prepared to say good-bye to my nursing days, I was a little sad (okay, A LOT sad) that those days ended so abruptly. Oh well, that's what I get for sneaking away. Cruz now says "Hasta la vista boobies!!!!" And now I must accept it and be thankful that we didn't have a hard time transitioning.

Mama's home with proof that life goes on without her........I'm okay with that............Really, I am. Now I must do some smothering and hovering :)

Hasta La Vista Babies

Mama is off to Mexico (pronounced Me---Heeeeeeee--Koh, with an extra squee of excitement while doing a la cucaracha dance)!!!! I'm heading to Playa Del Carmen tomorrow to help with a group and wear my travel agent hat once again. Can you tell I'm a little bit excited? I look forward to a little break as I take care of people in a different way (kissing butts instead of wiping butts). Plus I can't wait to work with two of my favorite people!!!

I'll be gone for 6 nights (5 nights in MeHeeeeKoh and 1 night at a Denver airport hotel since I have to be at the airport to meet the group at 4am!!)

The boys are going to have a blast having Dad all to themselves without any Mommy interference. I just hope they don't get too comfortable without me. Because I will be coming back anxious to smooch their sweet faces (Mark included in that comment obviously)! In the meantime, you can find me here. Most of my time will be spent at a hospitality desk but it will be fantabulous nonetheless.

Trick or Treat

We celebrated Halloween evening downtown. Estes Park closes off main street and all the local shops invite one and all for trick or treating fun. I guess they figure it's hard to go door-to-door for trick or treating in the mountains. It was fun and a great way to experience trick or treating for the first time. Not to mention, we had a great view of awesome costumes as people strutted their stuff for all to see.

Cruz, The Chicken

(poor little guy gets the repeat costume)

Cooper, The Dragon

(His request)

Chicken & Dragon Burrito

(It was getting kind of chilly)