This morning there was snow on the ground.  It wasn’t much.  It didn’t even quite cover the ground, but we were excited anyway.   You know, for a 3 year old who has never really seen much snow at all, any snow is something different from the way the ground looks sans snow.  Right?  It’s all in the perspective.

We got all dressed (even though there wasn’t a lot of snow, it was still pretty darn cold.) and headed outside.   Davey spent some time just checking things out.

He was pretty excited.

So much so that he could not wait to make a snow angel.  I realize this may seem just a little pitiful to those who are accustomed to lots of snow, but again we are snow newbies.

He wanted to walk to the playground, and once we got there, he wanted to climb all over and then go down the slide.  I was a little nervous because it was a kind of slippery, and he had his bulky boots on.  I followed him closely.

The slide was fast!

Joyful kid.  It was time for another snow angel.

We managed to scrape together some snowballs by robbing snow from cars.  Davey is getting ready to bean me here.

He found this pretty hilarious.

Family picture:

Oh and I almost forgot the ice scraper.  Davey was very excited to scrape snow off the car.

He scraped not only the windows, but he then moved to scraping the car.

Serious fun.

Kinda Snow = pretty darn fun.

Well we did have some snow yesterday.  The front blew through and we had a huge rain/sleet downpour.  It then changed to snow, and it snowed (I just had an incredible urge to write snew) all afternoon.  Nothing stuck though as it was not quite freezing, and the ground is still really warm.  I think we have more coming tonight and tomorrow.  It was fun to watch it fall.  We Snow Newbies were excited.

This snow/cold newbie was  on her way to class this morning and allowed no time for defrosting.  We had nary an ice scraper either.  I frantically ran back inside to get help from David.  He suggested using our recently removed Arkansas license tag.  You’ve gotta make sure and not slice a finger off because tags are sharp on the edges, but it worked like a charm.  David and Davey made it their mission to buy ice scrapers today.

Davey is also pretty much set now as well.  We took him to REI  yesterday and equipped him with boots, bib, and mittens.   So here’s the thing about mittens.  I do not understand how you are supposed to put mittens on a toddler.  First of all, it’s hard to wiggle his hand into there.  During this process, we rarely get any cooperation from the wiggle worm.  I’d say that we even get resistance as we try to get the thumb in its proper place.

I think this should be something that we should have been taught before we left the hospital with Davey.  When he was born, David and I were clueless.   The nurse showed us how to give him a bottle.  She showed us how to burp him.  She carefully explained to us how to change a diaper.  So I think that at that time we should have been taught mitten donning as well.

So we were in REI struggling with the mittens.  And then – I found them.  Mittens with a velcro opening.  It is a vertical velcro opening extending from wrist more than halfway up to the fingers.  David and I may be the last people on the planet to know about these, but I would have paid a jillion dollars for them.  Mitten success!  They slipped right on and then we velcroed them closed.  Of course, let’s hope the velcro holds and all that.   I am hoping for the best.

So today while I was at school, David and Davey went and got us ice scrapers.  When I got home they were very intent on Davey’s new birthday track from his Aunt Holly and Uncle Michael.

I like Timber peeking in the background as well.  He’s always been a Curious George.

Davey has multiple uses for all of his toys.  After David left for his class, Davey removed a long section of track.  He climbed up onto our bed and used this long section of track to hoist his friend Lucy up onto the bed.  (Lucy is his imaginary dog.)

That’s our Tuesday!

Tuesday morning and we are waiting for snow.   By the end of the winter, we may have grown thoroughly tired of snow and cold, but at this time, early in the season, we can not wait!

Davey has been sitting outside, curled up in a blanket, just waiting and waiting.

Ok that’s not true.  I took this a couple of days ago.  What I would like to point out though is the balcony railing behind Davey.  See where it is all brown without a trace of paint?  That’s the handiwork of Koko the chow.  We used to put her and Timber out there to get a little air occasionally.  This infuriated Koko.  She’d put her head between the railings and walk back and forth.  Her collar and tag scraped the paint off.  She also chewed absolutely flat about a 12 inch section of gutter which hangs beside the balcony.

Koko won that battle, and we don’t try to get them to spend any time outside anymore.  She won the battle, and we’ve likely lost our deposit.  She also chewed up and ruined the screen door.  You’d think we left her out there on days on end wouldn’t you.  Nope, she works quickly.  There is no more stubborn dog on the planet than Koko.  Age has not mellowed her at all.  When she was a puppy, she chewed our sapling trees in half just for spite.  (Likely again because she was outside.)  Now that she is approaching 15, she’s maintained her queen of the world attitude.

Anyway,  we are waiting for snow.  Weather channel.com says just showers today and maybe some snow showers late tonight.  National Weather Service online says that we might get a 1/2 inch today and 1 inch tonight.  We are going with the National Weather Service’s prediction today.

In preparation we are off to get snow pants and boots for Davey today so that he can play in all that snow that we are probably not going to get today!

Happy Tuesday!

p.s.  We still love and treasure Koko.  I secretly admire her stubborn spirit and queen of the world attitude.

Yesterday, we all went on a little excursion.  We took Oma and Opa over to  Golden and to Red Rocks.  If you come visit us, this may become the standard tour.  We can work out alternate excursions as well or multiple day tours.  The standard tour began with lunch in Golden.  Really good place called Woody’s.  I don’t really have a great picture to demonstrate.

Part of the meal though always involves trying to keep Davey occupied until the food arrives.  Often David draws with him.

Then we walked through town to Clear Creek.  It was beautiful yesterday.  Just perfect for a walk.  The trail is so nice.

Such a pretty stream.

I kind of look like I was in pain here or something.  It was just the struggle of trying to hold that little wiggle worm!

Papa got comfortable and took a little rest.

Opa and Davey being silly!

We stopped for ice cream.  There’s a great place in downtown Golden.  Davey was very happy with his vanilla especially after he was offered sprinkles on top!

We went to Red Rocks.  I love to go there.  It’s just beautiful.  But here’s the only photo I took there.  I guess the dirt is red.  Davey certainly had fun playing in it.

So that’s the tour!  A great day with Oma and Opa.

I was looking at my blog stats last night and noticed that today’s post is number 300.  I don’t really know if that means anything at all.  Maybe when I get to 500 or even 1,000 a few years from now, but it’s a nice round number I guess.

In my family, we always liked watching the car odometer roll to a round number with lots of zeroes.  We’d peek our heads from the backseat to look over my dad’s shoulder and watch it go from 29,999 to 30,000, etc.  (ahhh, the days before seatbelts when we could move willy nilly around the car.) I still think watching the odometer (even though it’s now digital on my car) is great fun, and I do it to this day.  You know, there is no longer mile in the world then when you are waiting for that rollover to the big round number with lots of zeroes.

David thinks I am nuts.  The only time he has ever done that voluntarily was when the Mustang rolled over to 100,000.  If I remember right we were on our way to a concert back when we  were at OU.  I remember our friend Greg being with us.  We drove around a parking lot to watch it turn over.  Ok this happened many years ago; it’s possible that I don’t have all the details just right, but that’s how I remember it.  Otherwise though, he doesn’t spend much time looking at the odometer.

Whew, I majorly digressed there.  So 300 posts.  I started this blog a month or so before Davey was born in order to document his life.    Here’s how it all started:  Getting Ready.  I could go nowhere but up from that first short post.    My second post at least included a couple of pictures.  (Although I confess, I just had to upload them again.  I transferred from typepad to wordpress a while back and I had to bring the pictures over manually.  It’s a task that I have not quite finished.).  So here’s post number 2:   Tuesday

I have not always been real diligent about posting on my blog.  Here’s hoping I continue to love writing my blog as much as I love writing it now!

So on we go to 500!

Yesterday we celebrated Davey’s birthday.  What a big day.  His Oma and Opa are here, and so they played all day long.  Luckily it was beautiful outside, so they were at the park for a long time.  They played in the sand.  They played on the playground.  Then we had our little party.  Then more playing!  I think Davey fell asleep in about 5 minutes last night and didn’t wake up until 7:30 this morning.  It was a great day in which I didn’t take the greatest of pictures, but birthdays need to be shared in photos, so here I go.

Daddy got Davey those blower favors.  What in the heck are they called.  Ok I googled it.  Blowers they are.

3 candles on a colorful cake.

Davey enjoyed us singing happy birthday to him – well – as much as any person can enjoy everyone looking at you and singing.  He sang with us for awhile as well.

And I know there were only 3 candles, but you should have seen him blow them out.  What a powerful set of lungs!  Ok really, he did blow them out instantly.  He was quite proud.

He enjoyed opening presents.  As the paper would come off, he’d be taking this big gasps of air, “WHAT?? WHAT?? WHAT?? WHAT IS THIS!  OH OH!  I ALWAYS WANTED THIS!  Or some variation of this, but he got so excited and sometimes squeals were involved.

The eating of the cake was all about the icing.  As far as Davey was concerned, I could have just bought a pretty blob of icing and stuck a candle in the middle.

So this morning Oma and Davey have been creating monsters with tinker toys and wiki stix.

Today it’s more playing and I think an excursion to Golden.

Davey is waiting for Oma and Opa to arrive.  He was waiting before we went to story hour and the grocery store this morning, and he began waiting after we returned.

It’s so nice out today that we’ve been out on the balcony.

“Mommy, will you sit out here on the balcony all afternoon and knit while we wait for Oma and Opa?”

“hmmm.. OK!”

So we were outside for awhile.  We had a juice and dried cranberry picnic too.  He loves our little apartment balcony.  He can play and play out there.

I am making the cutest little baby socks.  They are so fun and knit up so nice.  I am using a Tahki  Torino (I think) merino.  Very soft.

I was looking at my 3 hats this morning.  The latest one is supposed to be for David, but I love it too.  I like our little family of hats though.

We are looking forward to Davey’s birthday tomorrow.  3.  Wow!

This morning while I was at school, Davey and David went fishing.  There’s a little lake less than a mile from here.  David was sure that if they used hot dogs  as bait that surely something would bite.  His reasoning was, “What fish could resist a hot dog?”

David packed a picnic lunch.  Here’s a picture.  Guess whose sandwich is whose?  Looks pretty good!  Sandwiches, chips, various cheeses (ok two kinds), crackers, nilla wafers – quite a spread for the fishermen.

Here you see that Davey is ready!  He told me later that this was his “fishin’ cap”.

It was a little cool and windy at the lake, but they gave the fishing a try.  Remember, what fish could resist the prospect of hot dogs?

Apparently, these fish could resist the prospect of hot dogs.  David and Davey got nary a nibble.  Davey determined that the ducks had eaten ALL of the fish.

So Daddy and Davey decided that it was time to eat lunch.

No fish, but I think they had a pretty good time.  Davey was still telling me about it this evening.

Davey was excited about David’s birthday.  I am pretty sure he was much more excited about Daddy’s birthday than Daddy was.  43!

He enjoyed opening presents with David.

We got David a small cake at a local Denver bakery.  Wow was it a good cake.  They had actual ingredients in the bakery.  Bins of flour and all that.  The cake had a bit of a rough time on the drive home.  Luckily it just slid a little off its base and there was a small bump to the top.

I tried to crop out the bumped corner of the cake:

Davey wanted to decorate the cake with strawberries.

Little King of the Icing proclaimed the cake to be delicious:

We had a fun morning celebration.

Yesterday afternoon we went on a brief trick or treating excursion.  Davey opted for his Spiderman costume this time.  He enjoyed it except he found the mask to be a real pain.

He finally figured out to just shove that mask to his forehead and now he was ready for a little trick or treating.

And then – a lollipop.

Spiderman in action!

By the end of this day of birthday and Halloween celebrating, Davey was worn out.  He’d gone to bed too late the night before, and he was pooped.  He was out before 8 though and had a great night’s sleep.  He’s ready to go one more time.  I think we are going to go to a local nice shopping area to do a last bit of trick or treating. It’s been 4 days of celebration.  And now – Wednesday is his birthday!

Happy Halloween!

Last night we went to the Denver Zoo for “Boo at the Zoo”.   We had to buy our tickets weeks ago, and I am so glad we did.  It was a great time.  Davey loved it.  It was fun seeing the zoo at night.  The trees were decorated with lights.  It has warmed up here again, so it was just in the low 60s.

We saw sleeping lions.  There were sleeping seals sleeping 5 to a rock.  The African wild dogs were roaming in their packs.  (So cool to see every time.)  We saw the giraffes eating their dinner.  (There are two babies right now too!)

There were lots of trick or treating stations set up.

We made slime at one station.  Hmm…I haven’t seen that slime since last night.  It may be coming for us at this point.

David was having way too much fun with the lights and the camera.

There was a station where the kids could be “zookeepers”.  Davey loved this.  He put on his zookeeper cap, and he was ready to feed the “animals”.

He fed the snake.  I was not too thrilled feeding even a stuffed snake.  We fed him a mouse.

We fed grass to the hippo, and meat to the lion and the wolf.

Next we saw Stormtroopers, Princess Leia and is that Luke or the Harrison Ford guy – I mean Han Solo?

Davey could not quit looking at the Stormtrooper guy!

We watched a Fire Eater.  She could not possibly have any working taste buds.

Who knew that next would come one of the highlights of the evening:  The King Sooper station (grocery store here – same as Kroger).  They had…bread.  Davey hadn’t asked for any of his candy, cookies,  or other snacks all evening.  But when he saw that fresh loaf of bread, he immediately wanted Bread!  He ate two slices.

We were getting towards the end, but Davey was ready to stop for a moment at this coloring station.

And finally, I am not sure what he is doing here, but I just thought it was cute.  It was getting chilly at this point, and we’d abandoned the cape for a jacket.

Boo at the Zoo!

Today is David’s birthday celebration day.  There’s already been presents and cake.  Now trying to get Davey to relax a little.  It’s been busy.  So he’s watching a little Saturday morning Dino Dan.