Happy Halloween!

So here are more pics from Halloween. My sweet Paytor Pie was a ladybug ballerina and old McRylan was a chicken. Cutest darn ladybug and chicken I ever did see. Then there were the cool parents dressed as a Prehistoric Caveman and 80s Diva (Debbie Gibson). We were hot, we know! The scary part is I got more compliments on my crimped fro than on the new haircut from three or four weeks ago. We did some hard core trick or treating from about 5:30 to 9:45 pm. You would think my kids would have been crabby and tired but really they were serious troopers. Not that we are an early to bed type family anyway, but I was surprised at how tolerant they were of getting in and out of their car seats. Uugghh! We got to visit some great friends and family in Fort Collins and Windsor. I had to include some drunkin pics of my family to embarass them a bit, and show off how classy we are when we are having a good time. Love it!

Chicken Dumpling

Amma lovin' on Rylan
Paytor Bug

My Sexy Hubby (love that costume or his legs, minus the farmer's tan)

Sexy Lexi struttin' her stuff (She sang like a rockstar! Way to go Janet!)

My niece Jadon (I mean nephew, he sure makes a little hottie of a girl)

The Brother-in-law that had a little too much to drink and decided he was Rod Stewart beltin it out with his background singers

And then there was this cute couple who have way too much fun together (Fred Flinstone meets Debbie Gibson)

The 80's Crew! We are soooo rockin with our leg warmers!

Had to include this pic. This is the last time Ryler's will get to wear my favorite gator jammies that my sweet and missed friend Michele got him. I don't think you are supposed to be able to see the characters on his diaper through the alligator material. He is such a chunker monker! Love every single ounce!

Halloween Fun

Make a Smilebox postcard

I wanted to share some great pictures from our Halloween fun at school. Couldn't resist posting some great 80s candids and my cute kids.

Pickin out Punkins in the Patch

We took our first trip to the pumpkin patch today to choose the lucky pumpkin to go home with us. Of course, we had many other exciting activities to experience on our visit to the farm. We started out with Brent choosing some HoneyCrisp apples to take home which are soooooo yummy. Then we put OUR punkins in a wagon to go punkin huntin. We found a lot of good ol' punkins, but landed on one to bring home for carving. Lucky little Kale came along with us and that was a lot of fun too. We paid for our pumpkins, took some pics, and then went on a hayride. Here are some of our candids:

Radio Flyer Passengers

Like Sister like brother!

". . . and this is how they make popcorn."

Cousin Kale enjoying the farm to the fullest

How do I get this thing to go???

The lucky little punkin' we brought home (in March)

My sweet Paytor Pie on the hay ride

Sisters enjoying the hay ride, beautiful weather, and well-behaved babies

The farmer and his wifey!

Sibling Rivalry!

Rylan is 6 months old

A happy little 6 month old!
Little Miss Payton helps feed her favorite brother
Rylan sits in the bath tub now like a big boy
What Rylan looks like when you don't give him his food on time (The look of death)

So Rylan is 6 months old now. He is 20.6 pounds and 27 inches long. Payton only has 6 pounds on him, and only 1.4 pounds before we are done hauling him around in the infant car seat. I hope that doesn't mean he isn't an infant anymore. He enjoys rolling around on the floor, but gravitates toward the coffee table for some reason. He sits up on his own considering he has plenty of square inches to be fairly stable:) He is eating cereal in his high chair, and we hope to start some fruit this week and another feeding of cereal in the morning. He is a chatter box with baby talk and likes to yell to make sure we know where he is at all times. He doesn't like to be left for a second by himself and cries immediately if he can't see somebody. He is working on holding his own bottle, but is a little lazy and wants his mommy or daddy to do it for him most of the time. He is such a sweet little boy and is learning so much. He continues to adore his sister despite the torture she puts him through with her terrible twos. We have had a few incidents to say the least, but he is a trooper and I think retaliation isn't too far off in the future. Watch out Paytor Pie!

Exciting Estes Elk Experiences!

This weekend we did what most people may consider to be boring, but of course, we had a great time. We ventured up to Estes Park for the afternoon with the kiddos and watched the elk, looked at the leaves, and went for a short hike or what you might call a little walk around the lake. I have been asking Brent to take me to listen to the elk bugle for what seems like an ion, and he finally got sick of me asking and followed through. We managed to pick the day for free visitors, which was good because we didn't have any coupons! Brent showed me where we take our students for their ECO day and we saw a couple of deer but nothing too exciting. Then we went to the Rocky Mountain National Park and just before we entered the park we saw a 5-6 point elk. It was massive and very close. Then we went to Sprague lake where we took a little walk around the lake. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our stroller which meant we walked with a 20 pounder and a two year old (that's right, Old McRylan is weighing in around 20 lbs). I didn't need to do my Firm workout that day. Just as we were leaving, we stopped on an elk viewing pull off and managed to score an amazing parking spot right in front of an elk that was some sort of pimp because he had already sectioned off 3 females and was ready to go for a few more. Well, I have started to ramble so I'll wrap it up by saying that I absolutely had a great time hanging out with the cute little family that Brent and I have created. I couldn't have asked for more. I guess it is the simple things in life that count, and getting into the park for FREE! Here are some sweet little pics from our weekend: Bull Elk at the Park Entrance
Jolly Old McRylan

Family Pic

I Love Colorado!!

My Cute Kiddos

(catch the scowl on Rylers, I swear he didn't learn that from me)

The Daddy posing with our posse

River that runs next to the highway up to Estes

Pimp Wanta be a Daddy Elk Callin' his Women

(You can tell they are really interested!)

Gooooooo Rockies!

I finally got to go to my first and only Rockies game for the year. They played the Diamondbacks and won! That's because I was there:) We had such a great time and laughed a whole lot! Shocking, I know! Here are some pics from the game: Our friends Amy, Denra, and Shelly (Check out the guy in the background smiling for the picture, like I was taking a picture of him, funny)

Hilim and Brent (he looks sort of nerdy, what else is new)

Brent and I

Dinger

I haven't fallen. . .

Off the face of the Earth yet! Although it has been almost a month since my last post, I have been taking pictures. Here are a few cute ones that I thought I should share. As most of you know, school started so I have been busy trying to be a mom and then a teacher. Not an easy gig, I must say, but I love doing them both. Okay, so next time I'll try to be a little more unique when I post instead of so general and brief:)

Mommy and Rylers at the Harvest Fest Parade on Labor Day (my favorite bib for obvious reasons)

Daddy and Paytor Pie at the parade with their sack full of candy

Love that smile!

My sister came to visit today and I got to play with my nephew Kale (soooo sweet)! I can't get enough of hanging out with my sister! We have the most fun together! I love that she comes to visit me!

I just had to post these adorable pictures of my kids in their prime! As most of you know, my daughter is a ham and loves shoes. Imagine that!

I guess she was cold??????? Loves her new tap shoes and both of her stocking caps :)

Rylan's first swimming experience! He seems to be enjoying it!

Aaaaaahhhhh! Now this is the life!

Payton being the risk taker that she is in the water. She attempted sitting down in the water. She was tall enough (not usually a problem for Payton) to sit with out getting her face in the water, but it was a little too close for comfort.

This video is absolutely hysterical. She likes to look at the camera after I take a picture of her. I see dance lessons in her near future. I'm sorry that this video is sideways and that you have to listen to her annoying parents voices, but it was so funny that I had to put it on here. It's worth the neck ache.

Welcome to the World!

Yesterday, was yet another day that belongs in the super memorable category in my file. I got to help welcome my sweet nephew, Taylor Kale Oleson, into the world. As nervous as I was for my sister, I had tears to show that this little boy means something very special to me. My sister, Shauna, is by far a woman I have always looked up to and I still hope to some day endure all of the strength and goodness that she shares with every person that crosses her path. My "Marie" had some very strong contractions for about 24 hours and wasn't dialating for actual labor, so she and her husband, Shawn, elected to go the C-section route. Now, I did let my sister know that all my life I have lived and learned through Shauna's choices and sometimes mistakes and just when I think I have blazed a path for the first time for her to learn from me, she decides to take the other path. SHOCKING!! I don't know that I have ever worried about her more than when she was in the OR. I know that the man upstairs was watching over Shawn, Kale, and her the whole time. Her delivery went very well and Kale's stats show that he was 6 pounds 6 ounces and 18 3/4 inches long. He's just a little guy with a big heart. I look forward to holding my nephew within the next 24 hours. Here is a couple of pictures that I managed to get when he came out to meet family and friends.

Taylor Kale Oleson

6 pounds 6 ounces

18 3/4 inches

The one time when Kale will want to weigh as heavy as possible!

A new Daddy observing his good work!

Kale's (otherwise known as Snack Pack) perfect prints!

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me....I wish I were 23! Just kidding. I had a great birthday and celebrated with some friends and kiddos at Guadalajara's Mexican Restaurant. I got the royal treatment which included a margarita, loads of salsa and chips, yummy enchiladas, topped off with some spanish singing, a sombrero and my favorite sopapillas with whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and whipped cream. How could anyone want more than that???? My day was complete with mowing and pulling weeds, playing with my kids, dining with friends and watching a super scary movie with my hubby. I got the best gift in the world which was some quality one on one time with my babies and to remind me that they grow up so very fast and it won't be long and we'll be celebrating their 23rd birthday too! ) I hope that my 29th year of life holds as much joy and accomplishment as the 28 previous years!

Here we are after we enjoyed some icecream cake!

Our walk to Amma's house in the rain! We got out the umbrellas despite the weather and enjoyed the cool temperatures.

She was sooo darn cute with her little umbrella. Cloud 9 (ha ha ha)

Belly Giggles!

Okay, so today our little man decided that his mommy was the funniest thing since sliced bread. I was rolling out our pizza dough and you would have thought I was on stage for Comedy Central. Finally, I couldn't wait any longer and pulled out the camera for some footage of the giggles that I live for. When my children laugh it reminds me of how much I absolutely love being a mom and having the two greatest kids in the whole wide world. I know that seems sort of cheesy, but until you have experienced it you wouldn't understand. So here is the footage I was telling you about only this time I was stomping my feet on the floor and that seemed to tickle his funny bone.

Chillin' on the pool side

So we decided that inspite of this incredible heatwave we would put water in the kids' pool and have some fun outside. Needless to say, we got all dressed for the occasion and it started raining. We waited it out and got about 5 minutes of sun to take some quick pics, before it started sprinkling again. Payton constantly talks about wanting to get in the "big drink" otherwise known as the pool, and all she wanted to do today is play in her sandbox. Whatever suits my 2 year old!

dazed and confused

bribed to smile for the camera

a little grin mixed with some spit bubbles in the "big drink"

all in a days work