Merry Christmas!!

All the Shaw cousins at Mike's house on Christmas day...it was like herding cats!











Stacey, Mike and me. I can't remember another picture of the three of us in our adult lives.













Jennifer and Abby












Kaitlyn with Grandpa opening presents on Christmas Eve.












Chase with Grammy on Christmas Eve.

We're tracking Santa!

The big guy moves fast! We're watching every move (and I mean EVERY move...we've been at this for hours!).

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

I love this!

This is just about the coolest thing I can think of right now! Unfortunately the "mix" feature that Mike used was on a dated version of some software that came with the new Flip camera. The next time he went to the software it prompted him to upgrade without warning that this feature was no longer available! What a bummer! Oh well, at least he got to make this one.

Kaitlyn's Dance Recital

Umm...did someone order snow?

Oh wait...I guess that was us! Don't worry, our snowman got his wish. I'll take pictures tomorrow to prove it. Chase refers to the snowman and penguin (hiding behind the snowman in this picture) as his "people" and generally likes them. He gets a little nervous though when they start to turn and he tries to keep an eye on them at all time. We're a little concerned that the poor baby may have nightmares! The worst thing though is that when we sensed he was a little afraid I turned them off which immediately sent them deflating to the ground and that REALLY freaked him out. I can't win for losing...

Overall the kids are ecstatic with the white stuff. We've had lots of fun playing in the snow and shoveling. If someone sees Santa though, could you ask the big guy for another kids shovel? Chase isn't fond of sharing with Kaitlyn. Just let him know he can pick one up at Fairfax Hardware. :)


...In the meantime we'll just keep eating turkey and wrestling by the tree. There's nothing better than redecorating the Christmas tree day after day after Chase (and Kaitlyn) make their adjustments! Don't be fooled by my complaints...I wouldn't trade this for anything.

My Little Helper...

Winter Wonderland!

So, it's not really winter yet and it wasn't quite a wonderland (just a few inches) but we had tons of fun playing in the first snow of the season!






Mike took the kids to the service shop this morning at Honda and surprise! A balloon lady was there to entertain them all. Here is a demonstration of just one of the many creations they came home with. They got so many balloons the service guy had to help them get them all to the car. Needless to say, Mike was tired and a little cranky when he got home.

Freaky Friday...I mean Halloween

Our little spooks...an elephant and a snow princess. We haven't quite hit the stage of scary costumes.

It took a long time to grow her hair out this long! Actually just a quick trip to Target...she was pretty impressed with her "pretend" hair.

This house was really cool!!

What a day to end an exciting/weird week! Chase had croup earlier this week so we haven't had a lot of sleep! The kids and I spent time on Wednesday at the Doctor's Office getting a steroid shot which seemed to help. Kaitlyn also had a Halloween party at school that day which I was hosting so Mike ended up home all afternoon to look after our little patient. Mike was also home on Thursday afternoon to join us for an appt with a Neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital. About a year ago we had a CT Scan done of Chase's head since it grew very rapidly in his first nine months or so. It was fairly routine just to make sure he didn't have fluid on his brain. Thankfully there was no fluid however they did find a slight abnormality. At the time and after a long discussion with his pediatrician, we decided it wasn't necessary to subject him to further testing and we forgot about it. We recently switched pediatricians and the new one recommended we look into it just for piece of mind (hence the appt with the neurosurgeon). He assured us that it is more than likely nothing at all however he is recommending we get an MRI. It is yet to be scheduled but I'll update the blog as things progress. I think the test is more of a formality than anything. Yesterday was fairly uneventful so we were looking forward to a fun and quiet Halloween with Stacey's family until.......

Kaitlyn woke up with what we thought was pink eye. It was a little gooey and very red. We called and cancelled our plans with the Smiths and went about our day. We grocery shopped, hit the Dollar Tree store for glow sticks and did things around the house. Kaitlyn's eye stopped running and got a little less red so we are assuming it's not pink eye. Chase really wasn't himself though and really didn't want to eat or drink much. After trick or treating we realized his temperature was 103.2. I had just given him Tylenol two hours earlier so we're watching him closely. I'm hoping to not be making a trip to the ER tonight. Now, for all you seasoned moms reading this (Stacey, Susan, Diane), I know you're thinking I'm over-reacting. My kids don't really get high fevers though. Honestly I think maybe 102 is as high as we've gone. I spoke to a nurse at Children's and was told up to 105 is okay. YIKES. He's already moaning and crying in his sleep. I have a feeling we won't be sleeping too well again tonight. Poor little guy. I can't stand to see him suffer. Kaitlyn's doing great though. She had a blast trick or treating and then handing out candy to other kids. The scariest part of Halloween for Kaitlyn was whether or not the houses we visited had dogs. Every time we rang a doorbell she asked if they had a dog. We listened for barking and reacted appropriately (picked her up if necessary). She gave a few scares of her own when she would start screaming when dogs surprised her at the door (I don't think the people who lived in those houses were expecting a screaming child). Once we got home she gave away all of the candy we bought as well as some of what she collected (her choice, we didn't make her). We told her that if she put her candy out tonight a Halloween Fairy would come and take it and leave her a present. She was so generous giving it away to other kids that the fairy is going to leave what little is left and also leave her the Tinkerbell movie. She's going to be very excited when she sees it!

He may look innocent...

But he's definitely not!!

Yup. Those are macaroni noodles. Yup, they're on the floor. And on the table. And on the couch. If it looks like there are thousands of them it's only because there are. I made this sensory box for Kaitlyn right after I quit work because she had one at daycare she really enjoyed. Chase didn't know we had it until a few weeks ago (imagine his excitement!). He's really good about not eating them. He's not so good about keeping them in the box. This literally took all of about two minutes. I was just behind him in the kitchen with my back turned and I had no idea what was going on. His partner in crime thought it was great. I will admit, I could do nothing but laugh because they were so elated and proud of their accomplishment. Good thing Daddy was upstairs. I'm not so sure he would have found the same humor I did.

Kaitlyn's doing GREAT with her new glasses! I think she looks very smart...

Everything looks bigger Mom!

Check out the new glasses! Kaitlyn keeps telling me that everything looks bigger. I have to admit, I looked through the glasses and I can't see much. I guess she really needed them!



Brrrrrr!!!!!! It sure was cold when we went to pick out our pumpkins! We had lots of fun though!

A Beautiful Day

Thought I'd share some pictures we took today on a drive to see the leaves. What a gorgeous day! Even Chase appreciated the colors. The biggest hit was stopping at a stream and hopping from rock to rock and throwing stones into the water. It was really nice to spend some time together and appreciate something other than just football (although I will admit that a good chunk of the day was devoted to football). It was a really great day.








On a lighter note...I'm absolutely sick that I let Brett Favre sit on the bench while I played Tony Romo on my fantasy team! Favre ended up with about46 points which would have easily led me to victory over Damon Rohr. Now it's looking like I'm probably going to lose by just a few points and relinquish my lead in the league! Oh well. As shown by these pictures football really isn't too important! :) ************UPDATE*************No worries on benching Favre...I beat Damon by two points to maintain my lead in Fantasy Football! Phew, the world can keep turning. :)

Happy Birthday Katie!!

Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the big party! Tuesday is the real deal so we're going to spend some time with the animals at the zoo and then with Nini and Papa. It was a really nice day and we were so happy to have some of our friends and family there to share it with us!

Party prep sure is tiring!

Chase taking some time before the party to exercise.

Cutest pirate in attendance!

Our Favorite Time of the Year!

Yea!!! Fall is here and we're very excited! Cooler weather, changing leaves, apple cider, FOOTBALL!!!, pre-kindergarten, ballet, Mike's birthday, Kaitlyn's birthday, Halloween, trips to the zoo, the fun never stops! We're also looking forward to a weekend with Clay, Ellie and Drew in October (which happens to fall on Ellie's birthday). Oh the fun we're going to have! Watch out Elle...I'm already scheming... :)

Kaitlyn's first day of school!

Look Who's Walking!

I think my life just got a little more interesting!




This was from this morning. I took a video of him last night that was perfect and I was very excited to post it here but unfortunately I'm not a rocket scientist and I held the camera sideways. Mike was able to flip the video in the file but for whatever reason, when I import it here it's still sideways. I'm going to post it below even though it's sideways because I think it's a lot cuter. Chase is a man on the move now! He took his first steps about a week ago and now is taking them without assistance or prompting. Now we have lots of bruises and bumps to look forward to! Kaitlyn is so excited to see him moving except when he's coming at her to take a toy!

The kids spent Saturday night at Stacey and Bill's house and had a fabulous time. Kaitlyn couldn't tell us what she did while she was there except, "girl stuff". Poor Drew. He's so patient with her. Apparently she bossed him around a bit (maybe that was the girl stuff she was referring to???) and made him wake up at 5:30 which in his mind was the middle of the night! I'm glad they had fun! More importantly I'm glad they slept...Chase just cut his second top molar. ** He hasn't slept for us in about a week. I was terrified to leave him but I knew they'd be okay and it turned out better than I anticipated!







**For the record, I didn't notice the molar until last night. I wouldn't have knowingly subjected The Smith's to Chase's teething fun. :)

Vacation!

It's been a long time since I've blogged but we've been busy, busy, busy! Mike's been on vacation this week so we (in an effort to be cool and follow the trend) decided to do a stay-cation. It's just like us to be so with it (actually, we're cheap. Okay, I said it so the there's no need to feel awkward). We've been doing all the usual fun and entertaining things you'd expect anyone on vacation to do...Georgetown Loop train ride, Downtown Aquarium, Denver Parade of Homes and a trip to Costco (I wouldn't recommend the latter two). It's always dangerous to take Mike to Costco...you never know what you could end up bringing home! Once I got him past the LCD TVs I figured we were safe.

Yesterday's trip to The Parade of Homes could have been a nice day but ended up a total nightmare. First of all, there were eight enormous homes which, despite going on a Thursday morning, were very crowded. It was a little difficult to see the homes while carrying two kids (I'll spare the details on why they were being carried but they both weigh about 30 lbs. so it was a little tiring). I'm not sure why the trend in million dollar homes includes having separate upstairs areas that can only be accessed by different staircases. I can't say I'm a fan but I can say my thighs probably look better today than they did two days ago. We made it through four houses before I threw in the towel and headed to the car with two crying kids, an extremely annoyed husband and a $6 slushee. We should have seen the writing on the wall when we first got there and were nearly backed over by a slightly clueless woman in a mini-van. Again, I'll spare you the details.

Our trips to Georgetown and the aquarium were completely pleasant and memorable! The weather was beautiful in Georgetown (we were really blessed!). Chase is still saying "Bye bye Choo-choo". The only tears on the day were when I had to take away his lollipop because his shirt was soaking wet while we rode the train. Kaitlyn brought home a train whistle which she's really good at blowing and Chase got a cool new train book. We ended the experience with a visit to Beaujos for some mountain pie. YUM!

Wednesday's aquarium visit was great too. Chase got out of the stroller and walked a lot with help. He LOVED it. We had lunch at the restaurant in the aquarium next to the huge tank which is nice. After we left the aquarium we walked down to the downtown REI store and Confluence Park. It's really beautiful down there. I hope we'll go back on a weekend sometime soon and ride the trolley and take a picnic. I think the kids will really enjoy it. It's been great having Mike home this week. It's so much fun to do things like this with him.

Go Giants!!

These last two pictures are from Keller Regan's first birthday party. It was 100 degrees but the kids found ways to stay really cool!