Cookies on the Deck

When Sue and Larry came out for their ski trip in March, Sue brought homemade sugar cookies. The kids LOVE them. They live in our freezer, and only come out for very special occasions. On Monday evening after the zoo, Chris took Emily sock and shoe shopping, in hopes of finding socks and shoes she would be willing to wear. I knew they were going to get some sort os special treat, so I brought Addie and Elizabeth out to the back deck and gave them each a CeeCee cookie. They were so excited!

Did you know there's a certain order in which a sugar cookie should be eaten? First you take off all the toppings!

A neighbor gave Elizabeth this big kid bike last summer. It lives on our back deck, and sometimes she climbs up on it and pretends to ride. She's so excited to be a big kid!

This was our cookie-eating view. Not bad! :)

Fall Nature

Our neighbor's front tree is always one of the first ones on the block to change colors. It dumps tons of leaves, which I gladly rake into our yard into huge piles for the kids to jump in. (The neighbors love that I "steal" their leaves, Chris does not.) The combination of a perfectly blue sky behind bright fall leaves is a sight so beautiful that it always makes me catch my breath and take a minute to soak in the view.

I love the way birds line up along a wire. I noticed these cuties while we were having a family day at the pumpkin patch.

The maple in our backyard turns the most brilliant red, and early in the season, just the tips of the leaves turn, while the center remains bright green. The kids collected these multi-colored leaves.

One of my favorite views from our house is out the side window, where I can sit and watch the birds at the bird feeder. We always get lots of birds in the fall, so we try to keep the feeder full.

We had some stale bagels, and instead of throwing them out, we decided to cover them with peanut butter and birdseed for the birds. This little fella found them instead, though. But we had lots of fun watching him hang from the branches, doing acrobatics for treats. He reminded us a lot of the squirrels in one of the girls' favorite books, Those Darn Squirrels, so we pretended to be Old Man Fookwire and we shook our fists at him.

By the beginning of November, the maple was on fire, a deep beautiful red.

Oh Emily!

Another lovely September evening...we were watering our newest tree (Scoomadon Chim Chom according to Addie, Little Tree according to Emily) and Em saw that running hose and just couldn't resist.

PS, if you'd like to hear the tree names, see below:

Springtime Backyard Pool Play

Hmmm, well, I put all these pictures on this post back on April 11th, and then never published the post. This was our first sprinkler play of the year. 

A Gorgeous Colorado Sunset

The other night, the girls were playing out on the deck while we finished up the dinner dishes inside. Emily came bounding in, telling us to come look at the sky. She is my sky watcher, always noticing the colors of the sunsets, the shape and color of the clouds in the sky, whether a moon is present - during the day or evening, and what shape it is. She predicts rain often when she sees dark clouds, and usually her predictions are correct. She loves puffy white clouds, and likes looking for shapes in the clouds. I love this about her, because I feel like sometimes we all get so busy, it's hard to remember to look up and appreciate the beauty that is constantly looking down on us. I love that she is always reminding me to look up.

Beautiful girl with her beautiful sunset

Elizabeth kept pointing at the sky, saying "touch touch" She wants to touch everything new and beautiful.

Elsa gloves, they're nearly always on

Have you looked up today?

Backyard Play with the Rices

Back in June we had the Rices over for some sprinkler and Popsicle fun in the sun. The girls love their Dale and Rose and I love my Wendy. It's always so nice to have a chance to sit down and watch our kids wear each other out!

Elizabeth was pretty new to standing, and showed off her new skill lots while watching the big kids play.

When Addison was done playing in the water, she went inside and put together this great outfit, finished off with upside down sunglasses (her time-tested signature style) and Rose's blue sparkle shoes.

Dudette's tired

Standing!!

June Fun

Addie's flying high with Dad

Trying to get Elizabeth to walk, Chris would always find a toy she was really attached to and then hold it just out of her reach. One evening in June, the toy was this magic wand.

Go get it!

A step! Hooray!

A little Frozen humor, since Frozen has been a favorite in our house for quite some time now, especially since Addie bought the movie with her birthday money back in April.

We went to a friend's house and did tie dye, and the outcomes were magnificent...

Elizabeth and I were always up to something fun while the big girls were at their Wednesday fun mornings at Little Lights. One morning, Elizabeth found this bucket on the deck, so I filled it with water and let her splash around.

The bucket splashing gave me the idea to bring our kiddie pool up to the deck, where we have some shade from the awning. That afternoon, all three girls splashed around.

Grandpa John came over for an afternoon visit and read stories to the girls. It was a big hit for the girls, and Grandpa became a regular character in their imaginative play.

DeeDee also came over for one of her frequent visits, and we walked along the cottonwood trail, where, of course, I had to have everyone pose for a a few pictures. I especially wanted to get pictures of Elizabeth by the tree as she was wearing a hand-me-down outfit that had once been worn by Addie in front of our tree. Click here for a blast from the past.

Oh June, the beginning of summer. Warm winds, not scorching hot yet, everything green, summer excitement in the air.