Isla's First Birthday Shot

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Fall in Rocky Mountain National Park

We took a little hike up to Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend to enjoy the fall weather and changing aspen trees. Here's a short film from our day. If you're seeing this in your email, click on through to see the video.

Day At The Park

We got a new camera this week that takes high definition video. What better way to test it out than to use our favorite subjects!

Here's "Day At The Park". If you're seeing this in your email, click here to see it online.

Quin's Playdate

Since some of Quin's friends did not come back to his school this year, we have been making an effort to have more playdates (although we really need to have more!) so he doesn't miss his friends! Recently, Quin got to play with his friend Nayah. They had a great time and even danced in the backyard!

Now that Quin is getting older, playdates are a lot of fun since the kids can play in the backyard and I don't worry about them getting into trouble!

Quin's in Pre-K!

This is sort of old news by now, but Quin is officially back in school! Lately everything has been old news by the time I get a blog post done, but at least I occasionally make updates!

Another year at Loveland Preschool has officially started and Quin loves his new class. He is still three days a week (MWF), but with all of our other activities we seem to always have something going on. He does miss some of his old friends that decided not to come back this year, but he is making new friends! His new teacher, Mrs. Olson is great and he loves his big boy classroom.

So far, he has been doing really great. His teacher has already commented on how much he grew up over the summer!

Still Playful...

Isla loves to play, either with us or sitting by herself. Her favorite things to do are play on the swings, play with Quin's farm, play with her animal toys, and play in the water. Words cannot express how much she loves the water; look how happy she is in these pictures:

Other than Quin and the rest of her family, Talisker and the cats make her very playful and excited. When she does finally crawl forward, it will either be Quin or the animals that motivates her enough.

(Talisker is so great with her! We could not have asked for a better dog!)

Quin Skating

Quin started his much anticipated ice skating lessons a few weeks ago. It is important to understand how much excitement has surrounded the notion of Quin ice skating (at least from Gwen; not so much from Tim). Not long after Carl and Gwen moved to Colorado, Gwen excitedly mentioned to us that Quin could start skating once he turned 4. Of course, I have kept that in mind for the last two and a half years, but wasn't 100% when/if he would skate. Well, for the past two years, Gwen has participated in Winter Wishes, an ice skating show put on by the city of Fort Collins every December; every year Quin has watched GG skate and thought it was wonderful.

Since Quin is now 4, we decided that Quin could try skating if he wanted to. Of course he did!! Our kid will try anything! Well, I have to say that not everything a 4 year old does is met with as much enthusiasm as parents expect. For Quin, skating didn't seem to be everything it was cracked up to be. His first lesson began off the ice, with the kids figuring out how to get up off their rear ends (because inevitably that is where you end up a good part of the time). Once Quin was on the ice, he entertained himself by digging his heel and toe pick into the ice. Perhaps he was trying to dig through the ice to see what we below it? Needless to say, the remainder of the initial lesson continued this way.

Lesson #2 was a bit better. He tried to stay standing, but was still less than thrilled to be on the ice. A few days after his disastrous second lesson, we had auditions for Winter Wishes. I am not really sure why I bothered to take him, knowing that he wasn't overly thrilled with it, but we went. Just as the case was with his previous two experiences on the ice, he wasn't overly thrilled. After spending a half an hour on the ice, we decided that he isn't ready for Winter Wishes this year. There is always next year (if he wants to).

Lesson #3 actually proved to be a lot more enjoyable for Quin. He got out on the ice, really tried to stay standing, had fun (which, after all, is all I care about), and was sad when the lesson had to end. This was progress!

Yesterday, Gwen took Quin skating for an hour so he could practice, and he loved it! He was so excited not only to be skating, but that he got to do it with GG! He really showed a lot of improvement in the short hour that they spent together. Now, he is getting comfortable moving around with baby steps on the ice and was very proud of himself.

All I want is for him to enjoy whatever it is that he chooses to do and to do his best. Yesterday, he gave it everything he could and really had fun. As far as lessons go, he has one more left for this session (tomorrow). We are signed up for the next session, but I think I will let him decide if he would like to continue or not.

New Pictures

We finally took some new pictures of the kids after a session this last weekend. It has been a while since we last took pictures of our own family, and these came out great! Quin needed a small bribe of an Oreo cookie, while Isla was more than happy to smile for the camera.

Here are a few of the pictures:

The rest of the pictures can be found on Zenfolio, along with a ton more!

Isla is Playful!

Isla is almost as silly as her big brother. She loves to laugh and play! If you haven't seen her lately, then you may not know that she laughs like a goat. It is pretty cute and makes us laugh non-stop (which in turn, makes her laugh even more). To Isla, there is nothing better than watching her big brother.

Recently, Isla has discovered that she can move around, and now doesn't want to nap; she stays up playing in bed! I love the fact that she is moving around, but it does have its downsides, like getting stuck sideways in her crib at 2:00 in the morning!

I am so happy that Isla is another happy, playful baby. There is nothing better than having your kids wake up extremely happy and ready to play!

Quin Loves His Family!

Quin loves his cousins. We had dinner with them a few nights ago and Quin asked if they wanted to be friends; they said yes! It is so nice that they are so close in age and can play now (and want to play together)! Over the summer, the boys got together to play a few times and had tons of fun. In no time at all, Isla is going to be running after them wanting them to play with her; hopefully Callen and Drake will love Isla as much as they do Quin! It is great that they get to grow up together!

Swimming

Quin took two weeks of swimming lessons this summer and did awesome! This was the first swim class that he has taken without me in the water, so it was a little different for me to see my little boy walk into a pool on his own! I have to say, I am so proud of my boy! He transformed from a little boy who didn't want to put his face under the water, to a big boy who could search underwater with his eyes open for dive sticks!

Besides the fact that Quin is actually learning how to swim, he is loving it! He has asked to take lessons in the Fall; as far as I am concerned, he can take swim lessons as long as he likes! I had no idea how much progress he could make it two weeks!

Bath Time!

For almost 4 years now, Quin has loved to take baths. This is most certainly a trait that he shares with his sister. Quin enjoys baths, Isla enjoys baths, and they have a blast taking a bath together! I like it because it gives them some quality time together to play, with the added bonus of them each getting clean! There is nothing better than hearing your kids laugh and play together.

Visit From Family

Nana came for a visit a few weeks ago and it was great to spend time with my mom. I have been a little behind on blog posts, so that's why I am just now getting to it! She couldn't believe how much both Isla and Quin had grown up in the three months that passed between visits. We spent most of her visit hanging out and playing with the kids, but it was nice. Next time, we will have to make it to either the zoo or the natural history museum.

Since my moms visit, we have tried skype a number of times and it is obvious that Isla now recognizes Nana (not to mention the fact that Quin loves seeing Nana and putting on shows for her).

Making Lemonade!

Our little helper was at it again, this time helping to make home-made lemonade with us. He is very handy in the kitchen and loves to help out whenever he can. Not only does he love to help make things, but he love to help consume them too! Last week, he helped me make a cheesecake and was happy to lick the bowl for me. Whenever he helps cook, his first question is always "Mommy, can I lick the scraper thing", and I almost always let him! He really is a great helper!

Quin Working

Quin loves to help Tim and I in whatever we are doing. A few weeks ago, Quin got to help Tim work on our new dining room table. There was a lot of sanding that needed to be done, so Tim was happy for the help! Sure, it might have added time to the overall project, but it was more than worth it for Quin to get to help his daddy!

More Mother's Day Pictures

I finally unloaded my little camera, so here are a few (okay, a lot) more pictures from Mother's Day:

Mother's Day

I know it is almost Father's Day, but I forgot to post about Mother's Day! To celebrate, we joined Carl and Gwen for breakfast. It was a nice breakfast and after, we took the opportunity to take a few pictures. Here are a few:

I will post more when I unload my camera!