Happy Half-Birthday, a Hike, and a Village BBQ

When Chance was born on December 26th we got all kinds of advice from our friends and sometimes complete strangers about the complications of having a birthday so close to Christmas.  I listened to all of the complaints from others about not getting a day all to yourself to celebrate, getting shorted on gifts, and not having any of your friends around on your actual birthday because of the holiday.

I decided that I wanted Chance to always feel special on his birthday and to help make up for or prevent him from ever feeling slighted ...we would do a small half birthday celebration every year.  Last year we went all out.  We bought cupcakes, we grilled out, we invited a lot of people over, we made a whole day out of it!
This year......I forgot.......or at least until one of our friend's with a Christmas Birthday sent me a text message a day late wishing Chance a belated half-birthday and stating that she hoped that I did something special for him.

Hmmmm.......what to do?  I only completed one year of half-birthday celebrations until I forgot.  Not exactly mother of the year worthy.  I decided Chance would never know the difference if we were a day late or not and a little family celebration would be plenty.

So on June 27th (only one day late) we busted out the old party hats, ordered a pizza, and had a little birthday dinner for Chance.


Chance knew exactly what to do with the party hats this time around and was insistent that everyone wear a hat.  Including poor Savannah in her swing.  

We had a great time celebrating our little man.  I can not believe 2 and 1/2 years have passed.  It seems like Chance has been a part of us forever....or as Max said.....at least the past 6 years :)

On Friday night, all I wanted to do was relax because it had been my first full week of work and I was exhausted! We gave Max a night off so that he could go mountain biking and Chance, Savannah, and I made ourselves a living room picnic and spent the evening watching movies.
I think I've seen "Despicable Me" approximately 344 times now, but it was still nice to spend the night with my babies.  

Savannah is growing like a weed! She's still about the size of a one month old but with the strength of a 3-4 month old.  She looks a little odd in her bumbo chair, but she is happiest when she can sit up and observe what we are all up to.  

Saturday was spent at home.  I helped Max work on the garage and then Brandi and Reese came over for dinner.  Chance and Reese were immediate buds and played so well together all night.  It was great to catch up with Brandi.  A lot has changed since high school, but our friendship is not one of them.  

Sunday we decided to attempt our first hike as a family of four.  Which meant that both Max and I would have to hike with a kid and a pack of some kind.  I think both of us were a little scared to try this outing, but we were afraid that if we didn't try, we never would, and an entire summer would pass without us going on a single hike.
Hiking is one of our favorite things to do in the summer and one of the reasons we love living in Colorado so we decided to go for it.  We a.l.m.o.s.t....didn't make it out the door.  To sum up a long and dramatic morning....Chance woke up in a mood, which put Max in a mood, which put me in a mood, which put Savannah in a mood.....
BUT by GOD once we loaded ourselves in the car everyone had managed to straighten themselves out and we had a great hike.  

We went to Mt. Falcon and the hike was perfect for our first trip out.  

Chance and Savannah both did great in their packs, 

we got to see some beautiful scenery, 

we tried to get a family self-portrait, 

and we spent the morning together.  

I was a little worried at the start of our day, but everything worked out alright and we had a great time together.  

We spent the rest of Sunday afternoon at the Farmer's Market, putting the kids down for naps, and then preparing to host a village BBQ.

We had about  ten people over for dinner and we grilled hamburgers and brats.  It was great to see everyone because we have all been going in different directions for the past few months.
It was a great end to a great weekend.

 

A Week With Grandma Barb

I was so excited when my mom called and said that she wanted to come out to Denver for the last week of my maternity leave.  We had just returned home from Kansas City, and I was kind of bummed about the idea of having to return to work.
It was amazing to have an extra pair of hands around the house so that I could enjoy my last week with Chance and Savannah before throwing work back into the mix of things to juggle.
We did everything while my mom was in town from water parks to roller coasters to spending the entire day on the living room floor.
 Here are some highlights...

Pirate's Cove is a kid themed water park that caters to young children and their families. My mom and I took turns sitting with Savannah in the shade, while the other one entertained Chance in the sand and on the slides.  

Chance loved playing the on the "beach" and burying grandma's legs.  

 

Chance never wanted to get too far from Savannah.  He would continuously go over to her to pat her head and "check on baby".  

Chance's favorite part of the water park is the lazy river.  I had no idea he would get such a kick out of the waterfalls that would splash over our innertube as we would circle the river. 

I think we all had a great day playing and relaxing in the sun.

My mom also got to experience a full episode of bath time...which she said would be really overwhelming if she was by herself.
I couldn't agree more, and I was happy to have her help.
I do not have the hang of two babies yet at all :)

 

Until I figure it out, I'll just keep faking it and take lots of pictures that look like I know exactly what I'm doing.  HA!

One of  Chance's favorite day activities is going to the park to feed the ducks.  

Have I mentioned that I don't have the whole two kids thing figured out yet?  OMG...Chance had an epic melt down about having to share his wagon and the stroller with Savannah.
Our park trip was an absolute disaster.  It's crazy that out of all of the things that we did, walking to the park was the hardest.  Go figure.    

We decided to take advantage of Max having time off on the weekend and we headed to Heritage Square Amusement Park.  

I can not wait to take many more pictures of these cute boys on roller coasters together.  

Chance was fine on the kiddie roller coasters and even better on the carousel....

 

BUT the ferris wheel was an absolute bust.  He thought he wanted to ride it, but quickly changed his mind when they tried to lock him in.  

So we decided to play in the arcade, play some games, and win some bubbles.  

The rest of our week was just spent relaxing at home and enjoying the kids.  My mom even watched the kids on Saturday night so that Max and I could go out alone.

I am so glad that my mom was able to spend so much time with us.  I loved being able to enjoy my family time on my last week of maternity leave.  I know Max loved having help with the garage and a babysitter for date night.

Come back soon mom.  You're welcome anytime!

 

Father's Day Weekend in Kansas

We tackled our first long road trip a few weeks ago and decided to make the drive from Denver to Kansas for Father's Day weekend. 

The kids were absolute CHAMPS and they both did amazing in the car.  We did some planning ahead and tried to make the long car trip as painless on ourselves as possible.  Which means that I took the kids to the Children's Museum right before our car trip so that they could run and skip until their hearts were content. 

My thought was that if I made them skip their naps and get out all of their energy that they would sleep for the majority of the trip. 

My plan worked on Chance, but it turns out that Savannah likes to sleep no matter what. 

Chance has a ball at the Children's museum.  He can't get enough of that place.  I am definitely buying us a family membership soon. 

 

I still can't believe how great both of the kids did in the car.  I'm so glad that we decided to make the trip. 

 

We spent Friday at the Lehman's.  Mike got to meet Savannah for the first time and we all go to relax and catch up with each other. 

 

 My sister came over from Kansas City for the evening and I got to spend time with my nieces, Addison and Avery. 

 

 

We all played in the yard and spent hours talking. 

Chance is  a big fan of Mike and Carol's new puppy, Darcy.   Isn't she cute?

On Saturday morning, I headed to Olathe to attend Lindsey Springer's baby shower.  She is due on Labor Day and is having a boy.  I'm so excited to be able to swap stories about motherhood with my best friend. 
It was great to spend the day celebrating Lindsey and talking with my friends from college. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon on Saturday visiting with my sister and nieces before heading back to Lansing.  Addison was adorable with Savannah.  She even changed her outfit so that she could match Savannah in the pictures. 

We spent Saturday night in Lansing and Brad and Ashley came over with Adrian and Kennedy. 

We were lucky to be able to get to see all of our nieces and nephews for some great quality time. 

 

I love watching Max and Brad play with the boys.

 

Sometimes it's hard to tell who is having more fun. 

Max said he loved that he got to be with his dad, Chance, Adrian, and Brad on Father's Day. 

 

On Sunday night, I gave Max the perfect gift for Farher's Day...a night in with his children ;)

I met my sister at the power and light district for happy hour, sushi, and the Mary J Blige concert. It was so fun to spend the night out with my sis! 

 

All in all it was the perfect weekend! We didn't feel rushed and we got to spend quality time with all of our family and be a part of some amazing firsts for our close friends.

Cross your fingers that all of our road trips with the little ones are as successful as this one.