Quin Gets A New House!

In just over two weeks Quin gets a new house. We bought this place in Loveland, less than ten minutes directly south of Matt and Becky's house. It's got all the space we need and have needed for many years now. We're graduating from our previous 1200 square feet to 2800 square feet!

We get some great new features too, such as a three car garage (woodshop baby!) and a 1000 square foot basement. We get a dedicated dining room, a living room and family room, and a loft for the office. In the basement we'll set up a permanent photography studio. Quin gets a nice big back yard to play in.

We got a steal on the house. It's a foreclosure, but we lucked out and it's in great shape. Just needs fresh paint and carpet. After we close, I'll spend a couple weeks moving, painting, and installing wood floors throughout the main level. Then carpet will be installed on the top floor and we're ready to start living there!

One of the really cool features of the house is that it was built five years ago, by a builder that specializes in green homes. This place is built top to bottom to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. In fact, our house was rated as one of the most energy efficient mass produced homes in Colorado. We'll save an average of 75-100 dollars per month on utility bills. Now that's cool.

We're super excited to finally get our lives back to normal. No more living out of boxes. No more storage units. No more going without just because something is buried in that storage unit. After over a year of living in limbo, we can finally get our lives back on track!

Thomas The Train

Evidently Thomas The Train travels all around the country for special events. A few weeks ago, Tim discovered that he was going to be in Denver, so naturally we had to take Quin. Ever since his birthday, Quin has loved anything Thomas; this was no exception. We had a great family day. The day was a surprise for Quin and Carl and Gwen came with us.


Not only did we get to ride on a full size train pulled by Thomas, but we got to explore the train museum. Quin got to climb on all sorts of trains and pretend that he was driving them. He also got two temporary tattoos, one of Thomas and one of Percy. His favorite part was seeing Thomas come around the track toward him; he waved and screamed hello, finally chasing after him after. What a wonderful day!

Long Overdue

I seem to be falling behind on blog posts again. Our lives have been a little chaotic, so it isn't that nothing has been happening, but on the contrary there has been a ton happening!

Quin has turned into even more of a motor mouth. He knows 1,000+ words that he uses regularly and constantly has everyone in stitches. Last week we were meetine our real estate agent (yep, we are in the process of trying to find a house), Rick, at his office and Quin exclaimed that he hurt. We asked him where he hurt, and he informed us that his penis hurt. Well, we have learned never to doubt our boy so I am sure it must have hurt. Poor little guy. The funniest part about that whole thing was that Rick's associate was on the phone with a client when Quin made his exclamation.

Quin has also become very mischievous lately, knowingly doing things that he shouldn't and becoming very excited if he thinks he getting away with something. He is constantly pushing his boundaries, but he remains as adorable as ever while doing so. His favorite way to test me is by climbing on the table.

He loves stickers. Most morning he asks for at least two (he never wants just one of something); often he is particular not just in number, but in variety as well. I actually think he is happier with the idea of stickers than the actual sticker. Most stickers eventually end up on the floor, but they are fun while they last.

Quin has become slightly picky with food, but can be bribed to eat just about anything with a cookie. He is still obsessed with birthday cake, often asking for it several times a day. His favorite foods are apple sauce, peas, soy beans, pears, grapes, bananas, cheese, pepperoni, hot dogs (yuck!), broccoli, soup, mac & cheese, cookies, and otter pops.

He has been a lot nicer to the cats lately, realizing (sometimes) that if he approaches them slowly he might get to pet them. The cats, however, have remained smart and continue to run from him. He loves Patches and Chloe and will definitely miss them when we move out. He loves to play fetch with them, although his version involves a great deal of the dog chasing him because he forgets to release the ball.
Quin is obsessed with playdough. He loves to make shapes and a variety of animals; dinosaurs and snakes are his favorites, but he also enjoys making turtles. He also likes to pretend to cook soup for me. He has a great imagination and is very generous, always sharing with bear and myself. He also has developed an obsession with movies. He loves to watch Winnie The Pooh, Finding Nemo, and the Aristocats. For a while, he really enjoyed The Jungle Book, but he now tells me that he is scared of it.

Lately, he seems to be very attached to me, not even wanting to be left at the gym daycare for an hour (he used to love going to the gym). He will scream and cry as soon as he knows that I am going to leave him, but then he is fine by the time I pick him up. Perhaps he is having more separation anxiety. I am sure that it will improve with time.