Dino's and Donuts

So this morning we had a fun little family outing!  =)  As soon as we got up, showered and could get ourselves out the door, we headed up to the Donut Mill in Woodland Park for breakfast!  We love that little place and have been going there for as long as we can remember.  They, hands down, have the best donuts ever!

After that, we thought we'd surprise Noah and take him to the Dinosaur Resource Center they have up there as well.  However, it didn't turn out to be as much of a "surprise" as we were hoping for, because as we were driving through Old Colorado City, he saw a sign advertising the place and ding-donged the whole drive up about how he wanted to go, and that he's always wanted to go, and can we go after breakfast, and on and on and on....  It WAS fun though to be able to finally say "yes" after breakfast and see his little face light up in anticipation.  =)

He talked practically non-stop throughout our whole time there.  "What's this?" "What's that?" "Can I touch this?"  "Can we walk over here?"  "Come here, guys, look at this!"  We don't think he slowed down or stopped talking (quite animatedly and pretty fast-paced) for one minute the entire time we were there.  It was fun letting him be in charge of where we went in the center, what we saw in what order and watching his sheer excitement and inquisitiveness about everything.  He also had a great time picking out a souvenir in the gift shop at the end.  He played with his toy all the way home, and yep, you guessed it, talked pretty much non-stop about his morning adventure the whole way.  ;)  He was probably on sensory overload because he slept great during his nap this afternoon.  =)

As of today, we have only one month left until Emma's due date!  Can you believe it?!?!

Baby Shower #2 for Emma!

This morning, our sweet friends from church threw Jen another incredible baby shower - "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice."  SO many people came and celebrated.  The love and support was almost overwhelming (in a good way!).  There was pink and sugar and spice everywhere you looked, as well as a couple of fun games, prizes and baby gifts galore!  We all had a great time of fellowship and one of the best parts of the whole shower was that all of the ladies who came made Emma a "prayer blanket."  In case you are unfamiliar with a prayer blanket.... all of the ladies sat around 2 pieces of fabric stacked on top of each other that had cuts all around it.  As they prayed out loud over Jen and Emma (and Greg and Noah!), they tied the stings into knots which eventually made a blanket all put together!  It was such a neat concept and is a gift we'll always treasure and hold very dear to our hearts.

Here's a few snippets from the big event.  The hostesses did everything possible (and succeeded!) in making this the most pink and most perfect shower.

We cannot possibly describe the joy in our hearts and how much our cup runs over.  We consider ourselves beyond blessed, completely spoiled and totally ready for Emma's grand entrance!

Red and Pink

RED

Valentine's Day. 2014.  First year in quite awhile that we didn't intentionally plan things throughout the day OR for the evening.  Greg ended up working a little late, so he picked up supper on his way home for us. After that, Noah got his Valentine's basket from us, we watched the Olympics, had ice cream and went to bed late.

We DID manage to sneak in a little V-Day photo shoot of the cutest boy in the world, though.  Yes, he IS supposed to be looking like a little punk.  We tried ones with him smiling and they just didn't look quite right. The ones with smiles turned out cute, but these turned out better - especially the second one. Isn't he just GORGEOUS?!?!?  ;)

PINK!!!

So Jen had her first shower for baby Emma on Saturday!  Jen's 2 hostesses did beyond an amazing job planning an immensely detailed, simply gorgeous and super fun "tickled pink" shower!  There was a baby headband making station, pink gifts for the guests to take home, a diaper raffle, plenty of yummy drinks and snacks and so many wonderful gifts that have this baby spoiled already!  We are overwhelmed with all the love and gifts this baby has been showered with so far.  What a great start we are off to!  Her room looks like a tornado went through it right now and we can't wait to start washing things up and getting them all organized and ready and put in their place for her arrival.  =)

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came and celebrated and showered us with all those wonderful gifts for Emma. Thank you to everyone who sent gifts in your absence. Thank you to everyone who stops by or surprise us with gifts in the mail!  Thank you to everyone who keep gifting us with all kinds of clothes that you are done with! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!  We are so blessed by your kindness and thoughtfulness towards us.

59 days to go!  (and ready NOW!)  ;)

RED, AGAIN

Yesterday afternoon and evening, Jen's Mom came over and hung out with Noah while we headed up to Denver to celebrate Valentine's Day.  THIS was our planned date/celebration.  ;)  We did some more shopping for our baby girl at both of the malls and then topped the night off with an amazing dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was such a wonderful day and we cherish all these little moments alone together.  =)

Walt Disney World!!!!

We always said we'd never go until the kids were older - at least older than 5.  We always thought it was beyond ridiculous to take/haul around/pay for a child who would never remember such an important, exciting and expensive trip (although both of us went when we were "older" and we had a hard time remembering a lot of things at the parks, so that made us feel much better about taking Noah so young!). We always said we'd probably try Disneyland in California first just to see how the kids would like it and how the trip would potentially go at Disney World. We always wanted to go, just the two of us, first.  We always flat-out said "no" and "it's definitely gonna be awhile."  Then.... sparing you the long story, things changed awhile back and we made plans to go and take Noah the third week in April 2014.

Well.  Guess we ALL know why we had to change our plans to January, huh?  ;)

So..... we just got back from the happiest place on earth - Walt Disney World!!!!  We hit up Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney.  We had the most incredible time and made so many fun memories.  Noah is just so stinkin' easy and the trip really couldn't have run any more smoothly than it did.  We absolutely didn't have an agenda or a schedule, went with the flow of things and couldn't have asked for a more perfect vacation.  Really.

There's no way we'd have enough time to sit here and blog in detail about all the fun we crammed into our 7 days there and there's definitely no way we can successfully post the almost 500 pictures we took, so..... we'll just highlight the best parts - which, get ready, may be a lot!  ;)

This sign will always make us remember Noah, practically screaming, "LOOK!!!  MICKEY!!! MINNIE!!!"

Toy Story Mania ride!

Our little Padawan getting ready to fight Darth Vader up on stage!

Fighting - and winning!  ;) He has talked non-stop about this little experience.

Sitting in cars, having lunch at the drive-in theater.  Some of THE best milkshakes we've ever had.  Ever.

So cute in Darth Vader ears.  =)

Hollywood Studios!

Oh, this picture.  He sure has our hearts in a big way!

Riding Dumbo! Not sure if this was the first or the 10th time.....  ;)

Driving a race car on the speedway!

Magic Kingdom!

Half the reason we came to Disney World was right here.  Pineapple ice cream.  The only other place you can get this little cup of goodness is actually IN Hawaii at the Dole Plantation (well, and Disneyland).  We may have eaten till we got sick.  ;)

Some of us chose Mickey ice cream instead.  ;)

Parade!

Epcot!  Definitely our least favorite park out of all of them, but even getting drenched in the rain that day, we still managed to have fun and make some pretty neat memories.  

Driving yet another car.  =)

Starbucks.  Disney style.  These just may be the best Starbucks cups we've ever had a drink out of.  ;) Aren't they CUTE?!?!

Downtown Disney. This place was quite a bit of fun.  =)

Once he saw there was a Lego store, he wouldn't let us go anywhere else.  Him and his Daddy had a blast building their own little men to take home, playing with a table full of Lego's and then buying half the store.  ;)

Hands down, THE most fun and entertaining restaurant.  We'll definitely go back.

Our Magic Bands - aren't these adorable??  =)

Breakfast with the characters.  Oh my.  This was TOO much fun!!

Animal Kingdom!

Digging for dinosaur bones.  ;)

This one is for Uncle Brian.

Another super fun lunch - Rainforest Cafe!

Finding/meeting characters.  Noah would squeal with delight when he'd spot someone.  So cute.  

Breakfast at our hotel.  And what could be finer than a chocolate chip Mickey waffle (almost every morning)?  

That about sums it up!  Noah's already asking to go back because "he loved it there and had SUCH a good time!"  =)  We told him we'll tentatively plan another trip when his baby sister is around 4 and that we'll go try Disneyland and see how he (and she) likes those parks!  That seemed to make him happy, but 4 years is a long time to wait.  We'll see how long we actually can.  ;)