Our family

Fun weekend!

2012-02-06T10:39:00.014-07:00

The snow started falling on Thursday evening and by 10pm the school district had already announced that Friday would be a snow day! We were all so excited for a three day weekend! It ended up snowing for two days straight and we ended up getting over two feet of snow! It was so much fun!!!!

On Friday I decided to make the neighbors some Valentines Day goodies! I poured chocolate, m&m's and sprinkles onto popped popcorn! It was delicious!

I packaged them up and sent my kiddo's out to give to our neighbors.

Our dog, Red, loves the snow! She spent most of Friday outside playing with all of the other dogs in our neighborhood. I just had to take this picture of her, she was full of snow balls!

On Sunday, after church we decided to enjoy the glorious sunshine and go sledding! Again, Red had a blast! It was so much fun sledding!!!

We ended the weekend by watching the Super Bowl!!!! We ordered in sushi and just snuggled and watched the game and of course the commercials!!!

It was a very fun weekend!!!

Spur of the moment trip to Minot!

2012-01-20T12:15:00.033-07:00

Last Thursday morning my hubby found some really cheap flights to Minot ND, so we decided to go!!! We left on Saturday and come back on Tuesday. It was so much fun for us to visit my in-laws! The kiddo's had such a great time! They loved ice skating in their back yard! It was such a great trip! Here are some photo's!

My birthday gift for my dad...

2012-01-06T08:08:00.001-07:00

My dad is the kind of guy who has everything and if he doesn't have it, he will go out and buy it. So, for my dad's 70th birthday I wanted to give him something that he couldn't buy. I found this idea on the addictive website p*ntrest. So, I e-mailed this letter to all of my dad's friends:

Hello everyone!

If you're receiving this email, you may or may not know that our dad, Tom G*****g, is turning 70 next month (much as he would hate me to be reminding everyone, I'm sure). To celebrate his birthday, I would like to put together a little surprise to let him know that his nearest and dearest are thinking of him. I am going to try and create "70 Years of Memories" by filling 70 envelopes with a memory his friends and family have of him.

And this is where you come in!

If you have a spare moment in the next few days, I would be so grateful if you'd jot down a favorite memory you have of our dad and either e-mail it to me or snail mail it to me. It doesn't have to be anything fancy -- you can mention anything you like -- although the more nostalgic the better! Please absolutely feel free to send more than one memory (in fact, I welcome it -- I've got 70 envelopes to fill!), also, I'm trying to do this without him knowing, and I am sure that I have missed a few people, so please feel free to pass this e-mail on to anyone else you may think has a memory of our dad (I would greatly appreciate it!). I'm trying to wrap this all up by November 20th.

Thank you so, so, so much for participating -- I know everyone is busy with their own lives, and I do appreciate you taking a few minutes to do this; it will be so worth it when he reads all the memories people have of him! (Please don't forget to keep it a surprise until then, though!)

Thank you so much again.

Lisa

My e-mail is :

The response was great!!! I got a ton of great memories. Some even mailed old photo's of when my dad was little. I was able to fill 70 envelopes full of memories for my dad. I learned a lot about him while doing this. There was definitely a theme about my dad--he has lots of toys, he is very knowledgeable about everything, he is very generous and a very good host.

We also got a letter opener engraved for him. It says Happy Birthday 2011 Love, Rudy, Lisa, Rudy & Ellie

I was really blown away from his response. He was so touched! He started crying immediately. He could only open a few of them in front of us because he was so choked up. It was fun listening to his stories and believe it or not, to see him be a little vulnerable and emotional.

I think he had a great 70th birthday. He later told me that later that evening, he spend over two hours reading everyones memories. He told me that he loved my gift! I was so happy!

Christmas 2011! Warning...VERY LONG POST!

2012-01-05T08:44:00.092-07:00

I will apologize in advance for this very long post, but I turn my blog into a book and didn't want to skip anything about our amazing Christmas 2011!

Our Christmas started on Christmas eve when my parents came over and brought gifts for the kiddo's. Ellie loved getting Kanani and Rudy loved his helicopter!

We had a white Christmas! It snowed a few days earlier, so we had the beautiful white snow and clear roads! It was BEAUTIFUL!
This was our Christmas card this year.
Here is my door of Christmas cards!
A huge surprise was waiting in our tree for our kiddo's on Christmas morning! They had to do a scavenger hunt to find out what they were getting!!! More on that to come! : )

They big present that they got after doing their scavenger hunt was a trip to California! They had no idea! We left Christmas afternoon! They were so excited!!

We got into San Diego around 9pm!

We started our first day off by having breakfast outside and then a trip to Sea World!!!

The next day we drove to Hollywood and went to Universal Studio's! It was so much fun! my sweet hubby bought us all VIP passes, so we didn't have to wait in line! It was so worth it, because there were lots of long lines!

The next day we went to Disneyland! It was super super super busy, but we all still had a great time!

The last day we decided to stay at our resort and explore! It was a lot of fun!

We left on a 6pm flight! It was such a great Christmas! : )

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-05T09:10:00.004-07:00

This was a very mellow and fun Thanksgiving! My sister, Maribeth and her hubby hosted everyone. Even though we all live within 20 minutes of each other, we all are busy, so it was nice to get everyone together.

Me and my sis!
Here is a picture of my parents with all of their grandchildren.

I love this picture! So sweet!!! : )
It was a very nice day! : )

Meet Red!!!

2011-12-05T09:02:00.004-07:00

We recently welcomed a new member to our family! The kids have been wanting a dog for a very long time and I finally felt like it was time! When we saw Red, we knew she was the dog for us! She is a corgi/chow mix (we think). She is only 6 months old. She is extremely smart and is totally potty trained. We are so excited that she is part of our family!!!! : )

So proud!

2011-11-17T13:13:00.002-07:00

This weekend after we were done with church, Rudy and I picked up the kiddo's from their Sunday school classes. When I went to go get Rudy, he said, "Mom, I cried today at church, I have given my heart to Jesus, can I be baptized today?". Wow, that was one huge sentence for me to digest. When he was a baby he was "dedicated" to God, so I knew this day would come, and I was so happy! I ran right up to our pastor and asked him if it was okay and he said "Absolutely yes!". So we ran home and Rudy changed into his bathing suit. It was so awesome to see him getting baptized. I also think it was very nice that HE CAME TO ME, I didn't persuade him to do it in anyway! He is such a great kid! : )

7 years ago today...

2011-11-07T13:40:00.002-07:00

Wow! I can't believe that we are celebrating 7 years with our sweet Ellie! It's been an amazing ride! We love you so much sweet Ellie! Thank you for being you and completing our family!

Here is a short video of us getting to hold you for the very first time. I can remember how excited I was, it felt like we had to wait FOREVER for this day and now it has been 7 years! Love you soooooooooooooooooo much!!

Family Date night!!

2011-11-05T08:08:00.001-06:00

Last week we had tickets to the Avalanche game! We decided to make it a family date night! We went out to dinner, to our favorite Mexican restaurant and then off to the game! We had GREAT seats! They were right on the ice!Rudy got SUPER lucky! Not only did he get the puck that they played with during the 1st and 2nd period, he also caught a free Arby's sandwhich!

Rudy got a hold of my camera and took these shots, pretty cool!!!

It was a fun family night out!

The candy fairy!

2011-11-04T08:08:00.001-06:00

Ellie decided that she wanted to give her candy to the "Candy Fairy" this year. She picked out 10 pieces of candy to keep for herself and put the rest outside for the "Candy Fairy"!

She put it outside when it got dark, and all evening long she checked to see if she had come or not...finally....she came! Ellie was so excited!!!

The "Candy Fairy" really knows my Ellie well, she brought her some Hello Kitty nail polish, lip gloss, fingernails, etc.! Ellie was THRILLED!!

I think this will be a tradition for her! Fun times! : )

Halloween festivities!

2011-11-03T08:43:00.026-06:00

Well, this has been a very busy Halloween season for us! As much as I absolutely love Halloween, I can actually say that I am happy that it is over. We had so much fun though!! Here are some more of the fun things that we did!!

The day before Halloween, we went with our next door neighbors to see a puppet show. The kiddo's got all dressed up! Rudy was the Grim Ripper---scary! He had a mask with light up eye's but we didn't take it with us to the puppet show, so I painted his face.

Ellie was a beautiful VAMPIRE!!! She loves the Twilight series, and was so excited to be a Vampire!

My sweet kiddo's! : )

We went to the new Lone Tree Performing Arts Theater.

The show wasn't all that great, but it was fun to get dressed up and see the new Lone Tree Performing Arts theater.

When we got home, we put the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on TV and started to carve our pumpkins that we grew in our back yard! : )

They did a great job! : )

The next day, which was Halloween, the kiddo's got to dress up for school! This was the first time ever that they let the kiddo's wear their costumes to school. It was so much fun! I went to Ellie's party in the morning. It was a lot of fun. I read halloween stories to the kiddo's.

In the afternoon I went to Rudy's classroom. This is what his costume looked like with the mask on! The eye's would fade on and off--very cool! : )

Later that evening, all of the neighbors got together, had pizza, and then went trick or treating together. I stayed home and gave out the treats. The kiddo's had a blast and got a ton of yummy candy!

It was a very fun and busy Halloween this year!

Another Halloween party!!!

2011-10-30T13:10:00.009-06:00

We went to another fun Halloween party last night! This time we decided to jump on the "Tebo" bandwagon and go as "Team Tebow". It was a ton of fun! Again, I didn't snap too many photo's, but it was a blast!!!

I loved this costume! It looked so real in person...CREEPY!!! : )

Of course we had to get a couple pictures of us "Tebowing"! LOL!!!

We still have a few more Halloween fun times ahead! We have a fun function to go to this afternoon and then costumes at school/school parties and finally a neighborhood get together and then trick or treating! Oh my! This has been a busy but very fun Halloween season!! : )

Our Annual Halloween party!!!

2011-10-27T11:50:00.008-06:00

Last weekend was our Annual Halloween party! It was by far the best and biggest party that I have hosted. We had 80+ people here. I told ghost stories, knock knock jokes, we played games, we had a pinyata and the kids had a total blast! I was so busy hosting the party that I completely forgot to take very many pictures! The weather was amazing, it was almost 80 degree's! By the end of the party the kiddo's were squirting each other with water guns! It was so much fun! The party started at 2pm and the last people to leave left around 7pm! It was so much fun! So here are a few of the only pictures that I took!

Costume party!

2011-10-26T08:08:00.001-06:00

This year Rudy and I have been invited to two Halloween costume parties! Our first one was last Saturday night. My kiddo's were spending the night at my sister's house, so we didn't have anyone to take our pictures together. So here I am in my 60's go go outfit.

I zoomed in on this same photo to see my big fake pony tail. Everyone at the party actually thought it was my actual hair--I only wish!!!

Rudy went 10 years earlier into the 50's era. He pulled out his old college letterman's jacket and it still fit him. He was a 50's guy!

We really weren't very original, but at least we tried and actually dressed up. We have the next party this Saturday, maybe we'll add a few accessories to jazz it up a little bit! LOL! Seriously though, we did have a very fun time! I love Halloween and it was fun to actually celebrate it a little bit without children!

Ellie is 8!!

2011-10-17T08:45:00.018-06:00

Ellie turned 8 years old on October 16th! I can't believe how fast she is growing up! She started her special day by getting flowers from her daddy! She was so excited!

She wrote a letter to Santa and asked him if her Elf on the Shelf, Jingles, could come spend the weekend with her. She was thrilled when he showed up. : )

We had a nice lunch and then went to a local pumpkin patch.

We took a long hay ride on a tractor. It was a great way to spend the day because Ellie's party didn't start until 4pm.

Finally, it was time for her party!!! This year, she wanted to have a horse party! Ellie loves horses and it was such a perfect day for a party!

The kiddo's started out by brushing and grooming the horses.
There were two horses. A regular horse and a miniature horse. They actually got to PAINT the horses!

After they painted the horses, they got to ride them! They played some fun games too! Rudy even joined in! He was a great horse rider!!!

After the games, they went on a trail ride!

Ellie and her sweet cousin Kylie!

After the trail ride, it was time to wash them up.

Then they got to feed the horses! I brought carrots for all of the kiddo's.

Ellie's birthday cake. I love how they made the mountains with the frosting.

Then it was time for pizza, cake and opening gifts.

It was a magical day for a magical girl! Happy 8th birthday sweet Ellie! We love you so much!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween around here...

2011-10-13T08:08:00.000-06:00

I just absolutely love this time of the year! It is so much fun! Halloween by far is my favorite holiday! Well, every year I have a big kids Halloween party, and this year our party will be on the 23rd! I always love preparing for the party! Here are just a few of my supplies that I purchased for our party!

I made these adorable, pint sized, candy corn cookies. I had so much fun making them.

I love these Hershey mummy bars! I just know the kiddo's will love them!

I also made these cute candy kabobs for all of the guests.
One of the many games we will play is the "guess how many game". I have jars full of tootsie rolls and candy corns and the closest person to guess how many are in the jars, gets to keep the candy!
I'm also working on the "touch feely boxes" for our party. When I was young I can remember going to a Halloween party where they had boxes you could stick your hand in and touch things inside that you could not see. Each box had a label on the oustide that said things like; Eyeballs, Brains,Fingers, etc. When you touched them it really felt like you were touching those things and being young it was fun and gross. I think the kiddo's will get a kick out of the boxes for sure! We will also do a pinata, and many more games! I can't wait!

Hello...

2011-10-12T14:45:00.026-06:00

Wow! I've been away for almost a month! Oops! We have been super busy, so I'll try to catch up in one post...so sorry if it is a little long.

We had my wonderful in-laws visit for about 11 days. We had a lot of fun with them. Ellie and our neighbor got really creative one afternoon and set up their very own nail polish station.

My sweet father-in-law was their first customer! : )

We celebrated my mother-in-laws 80th birthday while she was here (you would NEVER guess that she is 80--more like 60!). I had my parents over and we had a nice dinner and then had smores. My kiddo's thought it was really neat to have both sets of grandparents together!

We did quite a bit of golfing while they were here.

We also played a lot of card games too!

While they were here, they made us some corn holes! This is a very popular game in the mid-west, where a lot of my hubby's relatives live. The kiddo's had fun painting it!

The finished product!

We all had fun playing!

Our tree's were full of apples, so we picked some and made some apple pies and apple crisps.

Finally, after my in-laws left, my friend and very good photographer, took our family photo's. Here is a sneak peak, I'm not going to show them all because I plan to use them for my Christmas card.

So, as you can see, we have been busy! Wow, it feels so good to be all caught up! I promise not to be such a slacker anymore! Happy October everyone! Have I mentioned that I love October? I DO!! LOL! : )

Halloween wreath

2011-09-15T08:08:00.000-06:00

So, I've been wanting to make a Halloween wreath for some time now. So, I started with a glue gun, some black tulle circles and a 12 inch styrofoam circle.

and it turned out like this! I'm so excited! However, I'm not done. I'm thinking I may put some spiders on it or add some orange and purple to it. So, I'll let you know how it turns out!
Just love this time of year!!!

Great job Rudy!

2011-09-14T08:08:00.000-06:00

I am so proud of my son! He tested for his brown senior belt and he passed with flying colors! He really did a great job! Woo Hoo Rudy! : )

The first hot chocolate of the fall season...

2011-09-13T08:08:00.000-06:00

This past weekend the kiddo's and their friends were roller blading outside on our driveway. The nights are definitely getting a lot more crisp. They came in and asked for HOT CHOCOLATE! I thought it was quite comical to see them drinking the hot chocolate and wearing shorts, but hey, they enjoyed it! : )

So strong!!

2011-09-12T08:08:00.002-06:00

Once a week my hubby and son like to go play 9 holes of golf. Rudy's game has gotten so much better! He came home from their latest outing and showed me his golf club. He hit the ball so hard that he actually cracked his driver! Wow!

September 11th

2011-09-11T08:08:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe 10 years have gone by since September 11th, 2001! When I look back to where I was 10 years ago, I was a brand new mom. I had Rudy on June 22nd, 2001 and he was 11 weeks and 4 days old when the tragedy occurred.

I got up that morning around 5 am to feed Rudy, I turned on the TV and it was a normal day. I watched the TV as I fed Rudy and then I turned it off and we went back to sleep as Rudy had fallen asleep in my arms.

The phone rang around 6:30 and it was my sister, she was living right outside of NYC at the time in NJ, she said "Lisa, have you heard?" and I said "About what?" she said "We are at war, the terriost have attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, turn on you TV!". My heart sank as I watched the towers fall. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was almost surreal.

In the meantime my hubby was scheduled to play in a golf tournament at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. I begged him not to go, but Rudy being Rudy, he had made a commitment and was going no matter how hard I begged him. So he left, and I just stared at the TV holding my baby in disbelief. Thankfully, once Rudy got to the Air Force Academy, they made everyone get off the base and cancelled the tournament and he immediately came home.

The rest of the day was very somber and sad. I realized that day that the world had changed and my son was going to grow up to live in a very different world. It was a day that no one will forget. I talk to my kiddo's about it whenever they ask, I let them watch shows about it, because I don't ever want anyone to forget.

God Bless all of those people.

Ellie and Hayley

2011-09-10T08:08:00.000-06:00

Ellie and Hayley truly are BFF's! They play together all the time and rarely ever get into fights. We were out shopping the other day and Ellie spotted a "best friend" necklace and had to have it! : ) Too sweet!

Beyblades have invaded our lives!!!

2011-09-09T08:08:00.005-06:00

Have you ever heard of a Bayblade? Well, if you live in my house, you have! They are all the rage for the 5th graders at Soaring Hawk Elementary! All the boys take them to school and they trade them and compete with each other. I thought it was cute the other day when I walked in and saw my sweet hubby having a bayblade war with Rudy, I just had to get my camera out and snap some photo's!!

They are basically like tops! Anyway, I think it is a cute and harmless fun game!

I'm back!

2011-09-08T11:05:00.007-06:00

Wow! I was almost gone for a month! Oops! Sorry! Well, I had a wonderful birthday, the kiddo's started school, we had a fun Labor Day weekend with barbecue's and we ended it off with a hike up the Castle Rock. It was a gorgeous day so we decided to have fun! Here a few pictures of our hike! : )

Double rainbow...

2011-08-11T08:44:00.002-06:00

Look at what we saw the other day after a rain storm! A double rainbow! Just had to snap a photo of it! So cool! : )

First day of school!!!

2011-08-03T15:06:00.021-06:00

Today was the first day of my kiddo's school. They are growing up so fast!! Here are a few pictures of them throughout the years:

Ellie, kindergarten 2009-2010

1st grade, 2010-2011
2nd grade, 2011-2012
Rudy, kindergarten, 2006-2007
1st grade, 2007-2008
2nd grade, 2008-2009
3rd grade, 2009-2010
4th grade, 2010-2011
5th grade, 2011-2012
My big 2nd and 5th graders!!!!

We got to the school early this year so that I could snap a few pictures before everyone got there. My kiddo's were such good sports about it, they just know their mommy loves to take pictures! : )

As soon as we got there, Rudy ran into one of his best buddies, Seth! He has been in Rudy's class every year, including kindergarten, except for last year. They were so happy to find out that they were in the same class this year!
Rudy didn't know I was snapping some pictures of him. He has so many friends!
Ellie ran into her bff Hayley! They were so excited!
The big 5th graders getting ready to go into their classroom.

Ellie with another friend, Grace.
They had a great first day! Yippee!!! : )

Christmas in July!!!

2011-08-01T16:46:00.046-06:00

Last Christmas my hubby got our family tickets to the Zac Brown Band and a hotel room in Cheyenne Wyoming! We've been waiting for this weekend for months, and it finally arrived! Thankfully, Cheyenne is less that two hours away, so it was a quick trip!

Ellie was so excited! : )

The first thing we did when we got to Cheyenne was to go see my best friend from junior high and high school! Her kids had a performance at CFD and we couldn't wait to see them! They were so good! We really enjoyed them a lot!
Here we all are after their performance!
My and my bullafa, Lisa Austin Marquez, we've been friends since 7th grade!

After visiting with my friend we went to have some lunch.

We did a little shopping...I had to have my kiddo's try on some cowboy hats!

Cool giant boot!
We had some ice cream, it was H-O-T!

We checked into our hotel, The Plains Hotel, it is 100 years old!

We all relaxed and cooled off before dinner and the concert.
This was our view from the hotel room.

Of course we had to bring our "ghost spray", to scare off any ghosts! lol!
Ellie spraying our room.
We had a nice dinner before the concert. I sent back my fish because I thought it was too fishy and my family thought that was the funniest thing!

On the ay to the concert we spotted a rainbow!!

Finally, we made it to our seats!

My kiddo's were such great sports! The concert didn't even actually start until 10pm! They were so tired, but hung in there for most of the concert. We left a little early so we could get them to bed.

The next morning we watched the parade from our window in the hotel room. Rudy took the kiddo's out on the street for a little bit to watch the parade while I packed us up.
After breakfast we headed to the fair grounds. Rudy and daddy rode rides and Ellie and I shopped.

Later we met up with boys and we played some games. Each kiddo got to stuffed animals.

One last ride before we leave.

What a great weekend! That you sweet Rudy for the great Christmas present! We loved it! : )

Sugar cookie truffles

2011-07-28T07:52:00.002-06:00

So, have I told you lately how much I love pintrest.com? Well, I do! LOL! I found this great recipe on it and wanted to share it with you...sugar cookie truffles!!!! I made them for a friend of mine who is celebrating her birthday on Sunday. She is the type of girl who pretty much has everything, so instead of raking my brain to find her a gift, I decided to make these. I know she loves her sweets, so I thought this would be perfect.

So you need to start off by making sugar cookies. The cookies need to be really crispy, so I baked mine a little longer than the instructions said to. I also put them in the fridge for a little while to really cool off.

Next, I put all of the cookies into my blender and slowly blended them into crumbs.

I poured the cookie crumbs into a bowl and blended 3 ounces of cream cheese with the crumbs.
Next you roll the mixture into little bite size balls and put them into the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Make sure the balls are very cold because the next step is dipping them into melted white chocolate and adding sprinkles. Thankfully, I had a really cute assistant to help me with the sprinkles as I was dipping the balls into the chocolate. You have to work quickly at this point so that the chocolate doesn't harden before the sprinkles.
And voila, the finished product!!!

They were fun to make and taste delicious! I'll do this again for sure! I hope the birthday girl likes them!!! : )

Homemade lipgloss!!

2011-07-26T08:08:00.000-06:00

Another great idea I got from pintrest.com...home made lip gloss! This is all that you need:

* vaseline

* kool aide

* jars

Put vaseline in microwaveable bowl and microwave it until it is all melted.
I poured my melted vaseline into this container to make it easier for pouring.
Then get two great helpers to add the kool aide.

Stir it up and then pour into your jars.
They look so pretty!
Let them sit for a few hours and you are done!!!
We'll do it again for sure! Fun project!! : )

Bad mommy moment...

2011-07-25T10:38:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I get the bad mommy award for this one. The other night I was telling my kiddo's all about our upcoming trip to Cheyenne Frontier Days. I was telling them about the hotel we are going to stay in and how old it was and then it slipped...I was so excited about our trip and it just spilled out...I told them that the hotel was haunted! YIKES! What a stupid thing to do to your children. I felt so bad! Rudy didn't really care, but Ellie was freaked out! She slept in our room the first night that I told her and then the next night we tried to put her to bed, but she was so scared I let her sleep in my room again.

I tried to explain to her that ghost don't exist and that if she got scared she could say "Precious blood of Jesus", and that would scare them away...but she was still SCARED! So, I realized I was talking to a little girl who still believes in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy and I just decided to tell her that I would buy some "ghost spray" that she could spray in her room and hotel whenever she was scared and that really seemed to calm her down. We started to talk about the ghost spray and I told her that the spray smelled like skunk, farts, bad breath, fish, garbage, and dog breath to any ghosts and that they would never come near us. To us, I told her, the spray will smell good!

So, that got her to sleep and me to work! I found a bottle of Febreeze that I had and went on pintrest to find a label. I found this Monster Spray label and added ghost onto it. In the morning she woke up and I showed the bottle to her. She was thrilled and I'm hoping this makes for a nice stay in our hotel room on Friday morning!!! Oh well, live and learn I guess!!

Fun family night!

2011-07-25T10:18:00.009-06:00

On Saturday night it was a ghost town around here! Every neighbor was out of town, it was very quiet!!! So we decided to have a fun family night!! We started off with some basketball.

I love this picture of Ellie, she took it of herself, so pretty! : )
Rudy was hot from basketball!!!!
So we all decided to sit out on the deck and watch the sunset! It was a lot of fun and may possibly be a new family tradition for us! Rudy brought out his i-pod and played music for us. We had a very special night!! The sunset was AMAZING!

A fun family night!! : )

My little business entrepreneurs...

2011-07-21T13:52:00.011-06:00

Recently, I discovered a very addictive website called www.pinterest.com. It has so many fun ideas on it. That is where I found the birthday wreath (a few posts down) and also where I got this idea.

The kiddo's each had a friend over and we decided to do a craft. We were going to make jolly rancher lollipops. It is very simple to do. All you need is some parchment paper (not wax, wax makes it stick to the paper), some sticks and you are done.

Here are the girls setting up their jolly ranchers.

And this is our final project! The kiddo's all decided that they would wrap each lollipop up and go try to sell them.
They are so pretty! This is what they looked like without the wrapping on them.

So off the kiddo's went. They were selling them from .25 to .75, depending on how many jolly ranchers were on the lollipop. They were so excited!

And I couldn't believe it! They made $27 and some change! They each walked away with a great memory and $6.50! Priceless!! (Too make it easy, I got the left over $, about 75 cents, lol!).

A great childhood memory for sure!!! : )

Vegas trip

2011-07-21T13:28:00.008-06:00

Last weekend my sister and I were able to get away and celebrate her 40th birthday in STYLE! We went to Las Vegas! It was so much fun!! We stayed at the beautiful Wynn Hotel, it was amazing! We gambled, giggled and really enjoyed ourselves!

Here is the birthday girl at the entrance of the Wynn.

My poor sister had a bad case of pink eye the whole weekend. See her right eye? Its pretty swollen and red but she didn't let that stop her one bit! My brother and his wife sent her this bottle of bubbly wine. That was very thoughtful of them.

We ate at some really great places! Here we are sampling a flight of white wines before we had our dinner.

We went to a show one of the nights. We say La Reve, it was a circ de sole water show. It was good.
We also did a lot of shopping! We walked down to Ceasar's Palace and shopped there. My sister snapped this photo of me in front of our hotel. It was a great get away!!! We are thinking of maybe making this an annual thing!
Fun times!!!! : )

Off to Vegas, baby! ; )

2011-07-16T08:08:00.001-06:00

Today my sister and I are flying to Vegas! We are celebrating her 40th birthday! I am so excited! I made this wreath for her. My mom is going to hang it on her front door when we get back. I think it turned out cute! I used a ton of balloons, probably 300! It was fun to make and I think I may have to make one for my family. Anyway, looking forward to a fun trip!

Trip to Minneapolis!

2011-07-10T15:27:00.060-06:00

Over the 4th of July holiday we packed the kiddo's up and went on a 14 hour road trip to the twin cities! My in-laws were celebrating their 50th anniversary and everyone came to celebrate.

On the way, we stopped at a truck stop and ate lunch.

We finally made it! We checked into our hotel first, to get organized and freshened up. You can just see how excited my kiddo's are in this picture!!
As soon as we got there, everyone came out to greet us. We were the last ones to arrive.
We did a lot of corn holing.

A lot of visiting...
pillow fighting...

(our view from our room)
Rudy spent every night at his cousins house, but Ellie came back to the hotel with us. It was fun to have some alone time with her.
On Saturday, we had the big celebration/family reunion.

The next day we hit the Mall of America.
Ellie and I spotted the American Girl store and had to check it out.

The AG store had a restaurant in it and we just had to get something there.

After our AG experience we decided to explore the mall. We had a great time!

On 4th of July we experienced 1 of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. We had a great time!

The next day we drove the entire 14 hours home! It was a GREAT trip!!

Cousin fun!

2011-06-26T08:08:00.000-06:00

Last week we had the Howse family (minus our nephew Ryan) come for a visit. They are on their way to Minot for a few day's and then off to Minneapolis for Rudy's parent's 50th wedding celebration. We will be going there as well. Usually, they only stay for a day or two, but this time they were here for four days! We had such a great time! Unfortunately, I did not take a lot of pictures! But here are a few that I did:

The boys had fun playing X-box.

We took Aunt Susan to the American Girl store! She loved it and actually bought herself a doll too! I was so happy for her!!

Aunt Susan and I decided it would be cute to make each grandchild a t-shirt for the 50 anniversary party! We found an old wedding picture and made this for the front of the t-shirts.

On the back we put the number order of each grandchild. This is Rudy's t-shirt, he is their 8th grandchild and Ellie is their 10th! Fun!!!

Father's Day 2011...

2011-06-25T08:08:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Father's day this year. We actually celebrated the day on Saturday at Elitch Gardens. Rudy's sister and her family were in town so we all went to the amusement park and had so much fun (I forgot to take my camera, oops!). My sweet hubby spent the entire day with us, which is rare this time of the year. So on Father's day, Rudy had to work until 4pm, but when he got home we had a little celebration! We each gave him a card and I went and bought some beef kabobs and a cake. It was great to spend it with the Howse family too! It was a great day! : )

Horse camp!!

2011-06-24T08:08:00.000-06:00

Last week Ellie had horse camp. She went everyday from 9am to 4pm. This is her 2nd year of doing this camp and she was so excited! Every morning they worked on the farm, they fed the chickens, got their eggs, cleaned stalls, etc.! In the afternoon they rode the horses! Ellie's horse was "Cowboy". She got to ride him everyday. She had so much fun!!! Everyday when I picked her up, she would fall asleep on the ride home. The horse camp wore her out! She can't wait to go back next year!!! Here are a few pictures that we took on her last day.

Happy 10 year birthday Rudy!!!

2011-06-23T12:22:00.013-06:00

Wow! The past few days have been a whirl wind! Your birthday was yesterday, but we celebrated it on Tuesday. You picked 3 of your best buddies to take to Elitch Garden's ! We rented a VIP cabana and you guys had a blast! You all played in the water for hours! In the afternoon you rode all of the rides. I got you all fast passes, so you didn't have to wait in line. We were there for 7 hours! We came home, had cupcakes and ice cream and opened presents. Your friends didn't leave until 7pm! We had such a fun time! Happy Birthday my sweet Rudy! I love you so much! These have been the best 10 years of my life!!!!!

Busy painting!

2011-06-05T11:01:00.007-06:00

Before:After:

Before:After:

Before Painting:

After Painting:

Leadership program and brown belt!

2011-06-05T10:58:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Rudy tested for his brown belt and did a GREAT job! He passed with flying colors! He also was invited into the Leadership program. He had no idea that he was going to be invited, but we did! We are so proud of you sweet Rudy! Awesome job! : )

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-11T09:34:00.000-06:00

I had such a nice Mother's Day this year! It actually was kicked off on Saturday afternoon when my sweet hubby brought me flowers and picked up steaks, corn on the cob and salad from my favorite meat store! What a nice surprise! I had just finished watching the Kentucky Derby and was not expecting any of this!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner!

The next morning the kiddo's made me breakfast in bread and gave me their home made gifts. I loved them! Ellie's adjective of me "driving" cracked me up! I am always driving them everywhere! : )
I guess Rudy's teacher thought it would be funny to put my child's face on a butterfly body...? Even thought I think it is a little odd, I still love it! : )
Later that day we went to Sanctuary and golfed! It was a gorgeous day! : )
Me and my sweet kiddo's!
I didn't have my camera, but after golf we went to our favorite Japanese restaurant and sat at the Hibachi table. It was a GREAT day! : )

VERY SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-05-03T15:22:00.004-06:00

Yesterday around 1:30 I received a call from Rudy's school. My heart always jumps when I see that the school is calling. This time, I had a reason to jump. It was very scary. The lady at the front desk called and said: "Hi Lisa, we have Rudy here in the office (MY HEART SANK), apparently he choked on a kiwi at lunch, his eyes look kind of red..." I cut her off and said, "I'm coming to the school RIGHT NOW!" When I got to the school I couldn't believe how horrible Rudy looked. His left eye was swelling shut and he had hives all over his chin. I immediately knew it was an allergic reaction. I WAS FREAKING OUT INSIDE!! So, I grabbed Rudy, (I didn't even sign him out) and ran to the car. I called his doctors office and they said bring him in IMMEDIATELY. I drove as fast as I could and they quickly got Rudy into a room. They monitored his oxygen levels and took his stats. The doctor came in and gave him some benyedryl and then we waited for about 30 minutes to be sure that the benyedrly was working. I took the above picture 15 minutes after he took the beneydryl with my phone. Anyway, she prescribed benedryl every 6 hours for 2 days and steroids twice a day for 3 days. They also prescribed 2 EpiPens for Rudy, one for school and one for home.

Who knew he was allergic to Kiwi of all things! I guess a kid at school had a couple kiwi's and shared one with Rudy. Within 3 minutes his face started swelling up and his classmates all started noticing. One of his buddies literally pushed Rudy to his teacher and his teacher immediately knew something was wrong and rushed him to the nurses office.

After we left the doctor's office and headed to get his prescriptions filled his body was definitely trying to get the kiwi out. He vomited twice in the car (thankfully they gave us a bucket at the doctor's office) and when he came home he spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Poor guy! He slept with us last night because we wanted to monitor him and also we had to wake him up to give him his meds.

Today he is back to normal, THANK GOD! The school nurse has called several times to put a plan of action together for Rudy. The cafeteria lady said she would stop ordering kiwi for the rest of the school year, which I thought was very nice. I have an appointment with his allergist to confirm his allergy to kiwi in two weeks. Who knew!? Wow! I'm just glad we know that he is okay!

Tinsels!!

2011-04-28T10:27:00.005-06:00

Ellie, being the girly girl that she is, noticed some of her friends with colorful tinsels in their hair. She really wanted to get them...so we did! These tinsels will stay in her hair for up to two months and are really fun. Everyday Ellie comes home from school or gymnastics telling me that she got compliments on them. I just love having a girly girl! : )

Easter Sunday

2011-04-27T09:07:00.012-06:00

We had a wonderful Easter this year. The kiddo's woke us up at 6 am, they were so excited to go hunt for their Easter Baskets!

Rudy found his in our pantry. (Sorry for the blurry pictures, I had my camera set on the wrong setting).

Ellie found hers in our dining room! Another blurry photo, sorry!

Instead of an Easter egg hunt outside, we had to do it inside this year because of how cold it was this year.

After all of the fun, the kiddo's got dressed into their Easter outfits.

Later we met my parents, sister and her family and brother and his family out for brunch. It was a lot of fun! : )

Poomse

2011-04-02T16:31:00.006-06:00

Today Rudy competed in his annual Poomse. He really did a great job! Rudy and his buddy Finlay have been doing TKD together since the very beginning and are very evenly matched. Finlay beat out Rudy by 1 point to get first place in the form competition but Rudy beat Finlay in the sparring contest. They both are really good in TKD and I think it is great that they continue to challenge each other.

Rudy getting his trophy!
Here he is after winning his first sparring round.
It was a very fun day! Great job Rudy!!!

We're back from Hawaii!!

2011-03-31T06:51:00.012-06:00

We are home from a wonderful vacation in Hawaii! We had an amazing time! Sad to say, I really didn't take a ton of pictures! We were too busy golfing, laying by the pool and hiking, I guess! Here a few of the pictures that I did take.

This is the hole that Bill Gates got married on, I almost made a hole in one on this hole too!

This is a Monk Seal, very rare to see! He was so cute!!

This is where I spent a lot of time too! : ) On the last day Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) stayed at the same hotel. I didn't see him, but it was the buzz at the hotel.

Map of the island that we stayed on.

This is the private jet that we flew on. We had to stop in Maui to refuel.

There was a jet sitting next to ours, it was Steven Tyler's jet! We got to see him, that was fun!

Home sweet home!!!!

A quick video of the plane! What a way to go! : )

So sweet...

2011-03-09T18:17:00.002-07:00

Rudy's 4th grade class is learning how to write checks. Today he came home with this:

How sweet is my son? : )

Bad blogger!

2011-03-08T08:24:00.005-07:00

Wow! I sure have been slacking on my blog lately! I am so sorry! I guess life has just been getting in the way! We have been busy with school, and all of their after school activities! Anyway, I will try to be a better blogger in the future!

Yesterday the kiddo's had the day off of school for a teachers in-service day. It was cold and foggy outside so we had a cozy day at home. We did go out to lunch with our next door neighbors, but other than that we stayed in.

For Valentines Day, Rudy begged me to pre-order him a new Pokemon DSi game, so I did. Well, he got it on Sunday and has been working hard to beat the game. Usually I'm not a big fan of these games, but I really like this one. This one comes with a cheat book and Rudy has to read it and study it to figure out his game. Little does he know that he is learning great studying skills as he plays it!

This is pretty much what Rudy has been doing the last couple of days.

Here is the cheat book!
Here is his game.
Thankfully, he usually beats the game within a few days and then doesn't touch his DSi for a long time. Have a great day! : )

Ellie's patriotic program

2011-02-28T14:26:00.003-07:00

Ellie and I worked on her Patriotic project this weekend. Her project was about the American Flag. We actually had a lot of fun learning about the American Flag. I was very proud of her final result! Great job sweetie pie! : )

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

2011-02-14T09:02:00.006-07:00

We have been busy getting ready for Valentine's Day! Here is Rudy yesterday getting his Valentine's day cards ready for today.

This was Ellie's Valentine's Day card! I thought it turned out great!

Here are my Valentine's minus my sweet hubby! I took this as they were leaving for school this morning. I was proud of Rudy for choosing a pink shirt to school today!
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!! Enjoy!!

We're off....

2011-02-10T11:56:00.002-07:00

We're off to spend the weekend in Scottsdale! After all of this cold weather and snow, we are super excited to see some green grass and cactuses!!! We are planning to golf two days while we are in Arizona. This is a picture of the house that we are staying in, it's beautiful from the inside and outside! Have a great weekend! : )

Super Bowl appetizer...

2011-02-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

So I know the Super Bowl was a few days ago, but I still wanted to blog about the new appetizer I made! I found this recipe in a magazine a few weeks ago and saved it because I thought it was so yummy! So below is what I was trying to make:

And here was my version. It was actually very tasty and I will definitely make it again!

My Artist...

2011-02-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Rudy has become quite the little artist and we couldn't be any prouder! Here he is creating his own "Wizard Cards". It's a game that his friends play at school that is totally made up. I love the details and the colors that he has chosen for the Wizard Cards. Great job Rudy!

More Snow

2011-02-08T10:27:00.004-07:00

This morning we awoke to THIS!!!!! Which meant a 2 hour school delay! YUCK! Thankfully, in just 48 hours, Rudy and I will be in Scottsdale Arizona! YAY!! I'm looking forward to seeing green grass and palm tree's! I'm so excited! Happy Tuesday! : )

Daddy daughter ball, 2011

2011-02-06T07:49:00.007-07:00

Last night was the big Daddy daughter dance! Ellie was so excited! We took her to the salon to get her hair done. She just loved that!They did a great job on her hair!!! They even put glitter in it!
My beautiful girl all ready for the dance!
Her bff and also next door neighbor, Hayley, came over to take pictures and to go to the dance together. I just love how they are holding hands!
Daddy and his princess!

All four off to the dance!
They had an amazing time and danced a lot! What a great memory for the two of them to share!!

Daddy's home!

2011-02-02T08:08:00.001-07:00

Last week my sweet hubby went to the PGA show in Orlando. He was only gone a few day's but we really missed him! I snapped this picture of the kiddo's hugging on their daddy as he walked in the door! I love Ellie's outfit! That was taken the same day we went to the AG store. She came home and immediately tried to come up with an outfit that looked like Kanani the AG doll who is from Hawaii--notice the flower in her ear! Too funny!We don't have Steak & Shake fast food here in Colorado, but every time Rudy goes to Florida they make sure to stop there. This year, as a joke, he brought the kiddo's back hats from Steak & Shake. The kiddo's thought it was so funny!

Then Ellie thought it was time for her daddy to wear the hat!

Silly Ellie!!! Needless to say, we missed daddy a lot and are very happy that he is home!!

Another trip to the American girl store

2011-02-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took Ellie's AG doll "Emma" to the American Girl Store. Emma was a hand me down doll and must be at least 17 years old. Her limbs are so loose, so we decided to send her to the AG Hospital to get fixed up.They put Emma into a hospital gown and asked Ellie what kind of TV shows Emma liked and what was Emma favorite food. Ellie was quite upset to say good-bye to Emma, she actually even cried.
So we decided to leave the store to go have some lunch. We went to the restaurant across the street from the AG store and they gave Ellie's other AG doll "Ella" the special treatment. That really brightened Ellie's spirits.
So we decided to go back to the AG store after lunch. The new doll of the year is Kanani and she is from Hawaii. Ellie wanted her picture taken with her in the tiki hut.
We happened to be there at the right time because they had a craft for the girls to do!!
Ellie made a beautiful visor!

It was a fun day!

Spelling Bee

2011-01-31T13:44:00.004-07:00

Rudy had his Spelling Bee last week. He got out on the second round on the word "greedy", he spelled it "gready". We were so proud of him to even be in the spelling bee because he had to be the TOP speller in his class. Way to go Rudy!!!! He had over 200 kids watching him! A 6th grader won it! Keep up the great job Rudy, we are so proud of you!!!

Go Ellie!!

2011-01-25T09:12:00.004-07:00

I'm one proud momma! Last night Ellie came home from gymnastics with a ribbon! She has been taking gymnastics for about 4 months now and she loves it! Last night she climbed the rope to the very top and touched the flag and she got this ribbon. Great job Ellie! Keep up the good work! : )

My husband the chef!

2011-01-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Lately, my husband has been on a healthy eating kick! I'm loving it because he is cooking for us every night. One of the things that he has been doing is steaming vegetables for dinner every night! The kiddo's love them and I'm so thrilled. This is my sweet hubby last night! He made steak, shrimp, rice, and veggies it was delicious!

I took this picture of Rudy--he is growing his hair out and it is driving me crazy! I know I have to let him be himself and he really wants to have longer hair, but right now it is in such a goofy stage. Oh well, I guess I'll just pray it grows fast! Ha ha! : )

Ellie got a guitar!

2011-01-24T11:53:00.003-07:00

Ellie has been begging me for a guitar for weeks. Well, she had a sleep over at my parents house this weekend, and my mom found the perfect guitar for her. She absolutely loves it! She has been playing it all weekend. If she continues to show a lot of interest in it, we will get her lessons! She wants to be like Taylor Swift! Too cute!! Happy Monday!

An old treasure...

2011-01-20T09:37:00.005-07:00

I recently stumbled upon an "old friend" of mine...my childhood diary! It chalk full of childhood memories! I started writing in it when I was in 5th grade and continued on with it all the way up until just a few years ago.

My son Rudy saw it sitting on my dresser the other day and asked me if I would read it to him. So, every night before he goes to sleep, I read him a few pages of it. He absolutely loves hearing all of my stories and I've been having so much fun revisiting my past.

If you look closely at the top left hand page you will see that I left a message from my 10 year old self to my adult self! It say's "Hi to myself someday when I'm reading this!". I also have a few more messages from my 10 year old self saying "Hi to my son or daughter if I ever get married!". Too funny!
This diary is simply priceless! I especially like reading it as I updated periodically at ages 18, 20, 22, 24, etc.! I kind of look at my diary as my blog before there ever were blogs! I just love it! : )

So silly!

2011-01-19T14:58:00.002-07:00

Last weekend, my mom, sister and I went up to Blackhawk to gamble and have a girls weekend. While we were playing one of the slot machines, my mom stopped at this card and said to me "Lisa, who do you think the queen looks like?", I took one look at it and burst out laughing because it totally looked like me--when I was about 10-12 years old! We all got huge chuckle out of this one! So, I took out my cell phone and snapped a picture! I tried to find an old picture of myself at that age to compare how much it really does look like me, but couldn't find one. Maybe I'll have to check out my parents old photo albums to find one to post. Anyway, it still makes me laugh when I look at! Too funny!

BESTIES!!

2011-01-18T16:11:00.003-07:00

Little did I know, when our new next door neighbors moved here in late September, how much our lives would be changed by them! Ellie has a constant companion to play with. They are like two peas in a pod. It makes me so happy to see Ellie so happy! The entire family is wonderful. They have an older son who babysits for us. They also have a 10 year old son who Rudy loves to play with. Both her mom and I have agreed that this is like how we grew up, just running back and forth and having fun--no "play dates" have to be scheduled! I just snapped the above photo of the girls dressed up like princesses! They are just way too cute together!! : )

Finally...my Christmas photo's!

2011-01-17T11:10:00.018-07:00

I'm back...I think! I finally got my camera back from leaving it at my parents house on Christmas day! So with that...here is how we spent Christmas eve and day!

On Christmas eve, after we got back from church, Ellie went outside to put the reindeer dust on our front lawn, to make sure Santa could find our house. She was so excited!

Daddy was busy getting our Christmas eve dinner ready. Here he is getting the crab out of the giant king crab legs. His hands were freezing!
We also had delicious steaks!
For our potato, we decided to have french fries! Ellie is our "french fry girl", so we made this for her. We think this may be a Christmas eve tradition! : )
Daddy brought home this beautiful poinsettia!
Here is our door, it was overflowing with Christmas cards!!!
Right before bed, Ellie had to get one last look at where Santa was on Norad Santa.
We got the cookies, carrots and milk all ready for Santa and his reindeer and then the kiddo's went off to bed.

On Christmas morning, Rudy came into our room at exactly 6:00 am on the dot! We went downstairs and opened all of our presents. Bummer that I forgot to take pictures! I guess I was too busy just enjoying the morning with my family!

Anyway, we got a special treat from Jingles, our elf on the shelf, somehow he was able to snap a few photo's of Santa before while he was at our house! Ellie was so excited!
He even left a note for the kiddo's!

Rudy was so excited that he got an X-Box 360 with kinect. He had so much fun trying it out for the first time. No controllers needed! It is really fun!

In the afternoon we drove over to my parents house and all of the cousins played. My mom made a delicious turkey with all the fixings! It was delicious! Notice Ellie is wearing the same dress as her new doll? She just loved getting the same dress as her new doll! Too cute!
The kiddo's had fun watching a movie on my parents 3-D TV.

Later we had a lot of fun playing charades! It was a good time!
It was a lovely Christmas! Everyone had a great time! : )

Playing catch up...

2011-01-10T11:33:00.011-07:00

Wow! It's already 10 days into the New Year and I haven't written one post! Yikes! I'm so sorry! I still haven't gotten my camera with all of my Christmas pictures on it, but I do have some updated photo's from my old camera! So, I'll have to update Christmas a little later.

During the kiddo's Christmas break, we had a mini reunion with a few of Rudy's friends and their mom's. These boys went to kindergarten through 3rd grade together. I have gotten to know each boy and mom so well! We've missed them this year because they are all split up. So we decided to meet at the Speedway and let the boys have some fun!

Here is Rudy ready to go!

The boys! Seth, Ryan, Brennen and Rudy! Great kids!
Even us mom's gave it a try! I finished in last place! I guess I don't have the need for speed! : )
Afterwards we all went out for pizza.
It's really neat because a couple of the boys have siblings the same age as Ellie! Conner and Ryne were in Ellie's kindergarten class. So, it was fun for them to catch up too.

Flash forward a few weeks to January 8th, we took the kiddo's to watch their teacher's play basketball against the Harlem Wizards (similar to the Globetrotters), they had so much fun!

These pictures were taken about 20 minutes ago! Today we have a snow day! Haylee, our next door neighbor, is over and the kiddo's are chillaxing watching one of our all time favorite movies "Despicable Me". We are having a fun, unexpected day off.

I feel so much better that I finally have a post on my blog, woo hoo!! I promise to be a better blogger! Happy Monday! : )

Oops!

2011-01-03T08:31:00.001-07:00

I'll be back, I promise! I left my camera at my parents house on Christmas day and need to retrieve it! I have a lot to catch up on! I'll be back soon! Happy 2011!!

It's Christmas Eve!!!

2010-12-24T13:35:00.017-07:00

The magic of Christmas is in full bloom at the Zupetz house! Last night we took the kiddo's out for Sushi and then headed to the Wildlife Museum!

Here are the kiddo's waiting for their yummy dinner!

After dinner we went to the Wildlife Museum. Here we are getting ready to watch "The Grinch That Stole Christmas" on their big IMAX screen. That movie never gets old!
Then it was time for us to go outside and look at the beautiful lights! The kiddo's got 3-D glasses that really worked! It was fun for them to look at the lights!
We lucked out because the weather was nice!
Here is one of Santa's reindeer!
While we were walking out, the kiddo's spotted our family brick! Pretty cool!!
Today, my parents stopped over! Here is my dad with his bag of presents!
My kiddo's were so excited to see their grandparents!
They let each kiddo pick out one present to open.
Ellie couldn't believe her eyes when she saw that she had gotten her #1 present and it wasn't even Christmas yet!!!
Grandma and Grandpa Gosling got her "Lanie" from the American Girl store!!!!
Rudy got a really cool memory game! We all had fun playing it!

Now we will get ready to go to church, have dinner, look at lights and then a Christmas movie to get everyone ready for bed! Santa will be here before we know it! Merry Christmas! Enjoy!

Jingles our Elf...

2010-12-23T08:08:00.001-07:00

We have had so much fun with Jingle's, our elf from the North Pole, this year! He has been a very active little guy! He moves all over the place, all day long! The kiddo's have had a blast! It's so cute hearing them and their friends screaming "HE MOVED!!".

Tomorrow he will be going back to the North Pole with Santa, when he comes to deliver our presents. It's bittersweet, the kiddo's are excited for Santa to come, but are a little sad to see Jingles go. I told the kids that Jingles had so much fun with our family and loves Colorado so much that he wants to take his vacation this summer at our house! He will be arriving on Christmas in July and will spend a week with us then. That makes him leaving a little easier on the kids and will guarantee me a great week of behavior when her arrives in July! : ) A win win for everyone! Merry Christmas! : )

Fun with friends!

2010-12-22T08:08:00.001-07:00

This year the kiddo's school had winter break earlier than usual, they had their last day on December 16th! We've had a lot of fun days playing with friends in the neighborhood! This has been such a blessing for me. The kiddo's have been so busy with the neighborhood kids, that I don't have to really entertain.

Here is our neighbor Ashley reading a book to Ellie.

I had Kylie over for a day, while her parents were working, we had fun with her!

The kiddo's had fun watching Frosty the Snowman. Check our Rudy's hair, we are growing it out. This is tough for me, but he really wants a "Beiber do", so I figured this would be the best time to grow it out. I think it's going to look great when it grows out, I just have to hang in there and let it grow! : )
We've been having some unseasonably warm weather this December, so I took the kiddo's to the park! They had a great time!

Only a few more days....! The kiddo's are so excited and the Magic of Christmas is BLAZING in the Zupetz household! Love it! : )

Ellie got a letter from Santa!!

2010-12-21T08:08:00.001-07:00

Ellie was so excited when I told her she had a letter from Santa! Her 1st grade class all wrote him a letter, but she wasn't expecting a response back! The letter said that she was on the nice list and that he would do his best to get her what she had on her list, but that being with the people with you love is what Christmas is all about, the gifts are just a bonus.
I loved the letter and so did she! She cuddled it while she watched her TV shows! Too cute!
I just love this time of the year and the magic of Christmas! : )

Fun weekend!

2010-12-20T09:45:00.010-07:00

I cannot get over this AMAZING warm weather that we have been experiencing here in Colorado! Yesterday we decided to take the kiddo's out for lunch, ice skate and see Santa. It was so nice that we decided to eat outside!
After lunch it was time to ice skate! It was actually HOT! We kept saying that we couldn't believe it was DECEMBER!

My sister and her daughter Kylie came to see us! The girls had fun waiting in line to see Santa!

I got my Santa picture! I was so happy when Rudy said he wouldn't mind being in the picture! My "tween" is growing up and sometimes is "too cool" for these things, lol!!!! : )
It was a very fun family day! : _

Meteor shower!

2010-12-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

The other night Rudy and I were watching the news and they said that there was a meteor shower starting to happen and that you could really see it clearly in Castle Rock. Well, Rudy and I ran outside to check it out for ourselves! We each grabbed a blanket (in our pj's) and ran outside to see it! Sure enough we did! It was amazing! I tried to snap a few pic's of it, but my camera couldn't pick any of it up! But it was a fun night that we had together! Next time, if there is one, we will wake the kids up for it, it was that cool! : )