Thirty Things

I turned thirty today and thought it would be fun to brainstorm and list thirty things that I am truly thankful for. When I look back on the last 30 years, I'm proud of where I've been and what I've done. Even more so, I'm excited to see what the future holds!

Here is my list of Thirty Things (in no particular order) :

1. My husband - my partner, my BFF, my one true love. ♥
2. My daughter, Kaitlin - who has taught me the true meaning of patience. ;)
3. My daughter, Zoey - who is proving that no two children are alike.
4. My house - a place to call home.
5. My job - money is essential.
6. My husband's job - money is essential.
7. My husband's car - he could ride the bus, but owning a car makes it that much easier to get to work.
8. My car - sometimes I need to go places while he's at work.
9. My cell phone - my way of communicating with the outside world.
10. The internet - so useful in so many different ways.
11. The computer - the portal to the world wide web.
12. My dog, Charlie - our sweet little pal who guilts me into exercise - everyone needs a good walk once in a while.
13. My cat, Kasper - most of the time I love when he curls up in my lap. ;)
14. Our families - so supportive and loving; I really couldn't ask for a better group of people to love my children
15. TV - possibly the world's greatest invention ever.
16. My DVR - yet another brilliant invention. You get to watch the shows you want to watch when you want to watch them. Pause and rewind live TV? Mr. Tivo, you had me at hello.
17. My health - I am even more thankful for this now that we have two young children.
18. My husband's health - little girls need a daddy; thank goodness he's healthy.
19. The baby swing - mama's arms get tired.
20. My bed - geesh, could you imagine life without a bed?!
21. My friends - the greatest group of people ever.
22. The baby sling - allows me to chase daughter #1 while daughter #2 is curled up cozily right next to me.
23. Children's programming - lessens the mommy-guilt I feel when the TV is on.
24. The ability to breastfeed my baby - breastmilk is the best milk.
25. Food and water - required.
26. Freedom - I'm a proud American.
27. Music/Radio - who doesn't love singing along to a good tune?!
28. Myspace/email/text - communication at it's best.
29. Diet Coke - zero calories, yet soooo tasty.
30. My camera - documents moments of our lives.

This list is in no way inclusive of all that I am thankful for. In fact, as I type this, I'm thinking of even more things.

Maybe I'll do the list again when I'm 50... ;)

An Absolutely Beautiful Autumn Afternoon!

Sunday afternoon we took Charlie and the girls to Cherry Creek Resevoir to feed the ducks and enjoy the beautiful fall colors and weather!

I'm sure you've seen the new family portrait I posted in our blog header... can you believe that only took TWO shots to get it right!? We took it using the camera's self timer! Yay us!

An Absolutely Beautiful Autumn Morning!

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day! The skies were blue, the leaves were yellow, the sun was warm ~ the shade was cool. There was even a slight breeze.

A perfect autumn day!

We spent the morning at Anderson Farms. We went with a huge group of friends ~ (22 of us to be exact!)


We fed the goats......

Sat on the "punkins"...

Played on the hay bale maze...

Milked a cow...


And of course - picked a pumpkin...

We really had a great time at the Pumpkin Farm and can't wait to go back next year!

Target - All I Need

This is me, shopping at Target...



I'll admit... I absolutely L♥VE

I mean really... who doesn't?!

Lotsa Fun with Daideo and Mimi!

Daideo and Mimi flew in on Saturday for a quick weekend visit with our family!

We had such a good time! ♥

They spent a lot of time playing with Kaitlin and loving on Zoey. They even took the girls to their FIRST circus!

Check out some of the highlights from the weekend:

Slackin'

I know, I know.... everyone's checkin' daily for new pictures of Zoey....

I promise I have taken pictures, and I will post them... I just haven't had time.

Hopefully in the next couple days I'll find a few minutes to get them posted. In the meantime, please keep voting for your favorite Halloween costume. It looks like it's going to be a tight race!!!

Winner Announced!

Congratulations, Grandma Nincey! You are the winner of the ExpectNet.com online baby pool! Thanks to everyone who participated. If you click on the game, you can see your overall rank!

Ahhhhh..... Relief!

Any mother who has given birth without an epidural has officially earned my utmost respect and admiration. After enduring about three hours of intense pitocin-induced contractions, I finally gave in and asked for someone to either take my life or give me an epidural. heheh...

But, here I sit in the midst of a contraction updating the blog. Life is good. I love you, Mr. Epidural.

Peanut Lee is on her way... she will be here soon!

Please keep praying for us... progress is slow. We really need Peanut to come out the right way, not sugically!

At The Hospital....

Who would have thought my first entry into the blog would be on the day that Barb goes into Labor. Barb called me at work about 7:30 pm saying the usual thing "I think my water just broke!" So, of course it was followed with me saying "Are you sure?" Barb was at Target getting ready to do some shopping and oops I think I need to head back home. After getting home there was no denying it. I rushed home while Barb called her parents and they made there way back home to grab their bags to come over and stay with Kaitlin.

So here we are at the hospital doing the deal. Barb is doing well and so is the baby. Barb has started experiencing contractions and she couldn't be more excited. ;0) I'm doing what I can but already I feel useless. So wish us luck or put us in your prayers and I will try to keep everyone posted. Oh yeah, also pray that the wireless connection here at the hospital stays strong.

Fun, Fun!

Between prepping for the new baby and handling our usual daily duties, we've been able to squeeze in a little fun, too!

Last Sunday we took Kaitlin to get her two-year portraits taken. Here are a couple of my favorite poses (Brandon and I hopped in for a couple, too!):

On Friday, Brandon took Kaitlin outside to have even more fun with one of her blow-up pools!

Yesterday morning we played with some Play-Doh Kaitlin got for her birthday! (And, yes, she's the one who insisted on wearing three mis-matched hairbows in her hair. Sometimes you have to choose your battles.... hahaha...)

Sunday afternoon I took Kaitlin to the zoo! It was fun mommy-daughter time for sure. Kaitlin had a lot of fun looking at all animals! I think her favorite was the Tropical Discovery house. She spent a lot of time watching the bats in the bat cave, searching for a crocodile and pointing out the "Dory and Nemo" fish.