"30 Days of Father's Day"

(By Greg)

Today was a good day!  Normally, I would enjoy hanging out with Jen and Noah, even if we did nothing exciting.  But today, we went up into the mountains by our house for a drive, we shot guns for a little bit, explored the area and then stopped off for some of the best BBQ in Colorado Springs for lunch!  We didn't do anything earth shattering, but just being with Jen and Noah made it extra special!  I thoroughly enjoy being a father to Noah and I am so thankful he is in our lives!

My amazing wife and son put together one of the most creative and thoughtful gift ideas ever for me this year - "30 Days of Father's Day."  Meaning, every day for the last 30 days leading up to Father's Day, a little bag was found waiting for me somewhere in the house with things in it that I liked.  Gifts, treats, etc.  It was kinda sad for it to be over.  ;)

It is such a joy to be this boy's Daddy.  =)

aMAYzing

It's been such a random and fun month.  "Crazy busy" doesn't even BEGIN to scratch the surface!

Here's been our month (plus) in a nutshell.  =)

Life is good when you come home to 3 large boxes of Pampered Chef stuff.  Jen's party was VERY successful.  =)

We spent our traditional Memorial Day weekend in Estes Park.

Greg is playing softball with his work friends up in Highlands Ranch this Summer - and LOVING it!

We went crawdad fishing one night up at Palmer Lake with Jen's fam.  Brian's the expert fisherman.  ;)

Noah always loves and wants to help us cook.

Painting with watercolors was a HUGE hit!

Noah and Mommy went on many a coffee/chocolate milk date.

He just keeps getting more and more adorable!

Mimi brought Noah back some Mickey ears and shirt from her Vegas trip - another HUGE hit!

LOVES playing outside with his new bug catching kit.

We had a picnic and watched the AFA graduation air show.  SO awesome!

Being a cheese and having fun with new toys in the bath.

Took Noah to his first Sky Sox game!  He loved it.  =)

Looking studly for the girls in Sunday School.  ;)

Some more about our month without photos:

* Jen's been prepping for VBS at church.  It's gonna be very different this year, but she's looking SO forward to it!
* We've been loving our Small Group at church and have been doing a LOT of stuff with them. 
* Jen's been playing Bunco with her new friends at church.  She's still keeping with the "winning a prize every game" theme.  =)
* Greg's been studying every spare moment for his CFA test.  He's burned out and ready to be done.  =(
* We've had fun out at Auntie and Bob's house.  Noah LOVES to explore and run around and collect sticks for the fire.  =)
* We're off to Arkansas soon!  Noah's thrilled to be riding in a "big airplane!"

Not sure if we missed anything or not.  We've done so much, so we MAY have.  ;)

Loving Mother's Day!

(By Jen)

I love being a Mom, and I love who my Mom is.  So pretty much, it's a good day all around for me.  =)

So remember this post when I was crafty (in a roundabout sort of way) with my Mother's Day gift to my Mom on her first Mother's Day as a Grandparent?   Well THIS year, two of her gifts from us included more of my craftiness - a homemade tea towel with Noah's picture on it, and a handprint flower in fingerpaints for her!

It was so easy and so fun that I had to make one of each of those for myself too.  ;)

We had such a great morning at church this morning, a lovely lunch out afterwards, and Noah spoiled me with such fun gifts.  Here is a pic of the flowers and card he made for me and a little drawing he made for me in Sunday School:

I love being a Mom to this little guy!  He truly is THE best boy in the whole wide world!  =)

WICKED!!!

Jen likes to brag that Greg usually does a great job when planning dates for us. But this time, she thinks he absolutely outdid himself! =)

Yesterday afternoon, we dropped Noah off at Jen's Mom's house where he had a playdate and a sleepover. We got plenty of text pictures throughout the day/night showing us how good of a time they were having and that he was getting spoiled to the max. ;) Later that afternoon, we headed up to Denver where we had reservations at the amazing Rodizio Grill. If you have the time and the money, we definitely recommend it! The food was quite amazing - and so was the experience!  After that, it was off to see Wicked!!! Jen had been wanting to see that play forever (and growing up, The Wizard of Oz was one of her favorite movies), so this was a real exciting treat! We thoroughly enjoyed the play and would definitely recommend that to anyone too! We couldn't have asked for a better date night! =)

Why is Noah SO Happy?

Because he's been in big boy underwear for OVER A MONTH NOW!!!! =)=)=)

To give him a shred of decency, we blurred out his mid-section.  Just know that all of his little underwear have cars and trucks on them - which of course he absolutely LOVES.  =)

And to his credit, he started using the potty BEFORE he was 18 months old (all his idea too - completely floored us and caught us off guard!), but he has finally mastered it enough to get to wear big boy underwear all the time! 

This boy is a marvel.  It's crazy how smart and advanced beyond his age he is.  He's just barely TWO and potty trained!?!?  He never ceases to amaze us.  =)

A New Way to Color

One of the things Noah loves to do most is color. So what were we to do? Buy him "window markers" and put them in his Easter basket, of course!
Pretty sure he told us (in the midst of all the smiling & giggling) that we were the best parents ever. ;)

We decided to try them out one morning on the sliding glass door.......

He makes such beautiful artwork! =)

SO fun to have stuff like this in our home! =)

Our Easter

Easter was started a day early for Noah this year when Auntie and Bob came over on Saturday morning to bring him some Easter goodies. Not only does he love it when he gets to see them, but they always seem to know just what little things he likes. =)

After that, eggs! Noah had SO much fun dying eggs for the first time. Of course, we had fun dying them with him. =)
Easter Sunday morning, we sent Noah on an Easter egg hunt to find his Easter basket when he woke up - starting right as soon as he opened his bedroom door. He was absolutely beside himself with excitement. It was SO fun to watch!
Then we had to take a couple of pictures before church in our Easter best.....
.....and then it was off to Jen's Mom's house for lunch, games, an Easter egg hunt for Noah, and more Easter surprises!
We couldn't have asked for a more perfect Easter this year. Church, (most definitely) the weather, friends, family - everything was absolutely perfect! =)