Mom of Twins

Science Fair and Sledding

2012-02-12T18:13:00.010-06:00

The boys got new sleds for Valentine's Day. We opted to give them their gift a couple of days before Valentine's because the weather was perfect today to go sledding.

Here goes Luke:

Ryan was really great on his sled - he was so fast I could barely get any pictures of him.

It was a long walk back up to the top - but there was no complaining and even some running so they could go again.

They had a blast and they were only willing to leave when I reminded them that hot chocolate would be available when we got home.

Other things the week:

Friday was Crazy Hair Day at school. Luke was not interested, but Ryan was so excited about it. I had to use a ton of gel and hairspray to get his hair to stay up. Ryan thought he was so cool.

We also had the Science Fair. Luke's experiment was the best way to wash hands (hand sanitizer was slightly better than soap and water). Ryan's experiment was the expansion of liquids when frozen (Diet Coke expanded the most, maple syrup was the least).

We are now looking forward to a hopefully uneventful and not too busy week - Greg will be home and we always love that.

Last Weekend's Getaway and Snow

2012-02-12T17:48:00.008-06:00

Last weekend, Greg and I headed to Estes Park and Nana and Grandad flew in to take care of the boys. I think we all had a great weekend.

Greg and I stayed at a beautiful inn near the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The above and below pictures are from the hot tub on our balcony. Our room also had a giant copper bathtub with a fireplace on one side and a floor to ceiling waterfall on the other - I spent a couple of hours there reading and drinking wine. We had a much-needed relaxing weekend and it was nice that wasn't too far from home.

We also went snow-shoeing. Neither of us had done that before, it was a lot of fun and I think we might take the boys sometime - I think they would like it.

We hiked around and on Bear Lake - not a great picture of us - but the scenery was great.

Meanwhile, back home - we got something like 16 inches of snow. Grandad and the boys got out and shoveled the driveway several times.

When we got back on Sunday, the boys and I headed out the backyard and attempted to build a snowman.

Two days later - we got another 4 inches of snow - I think I'm done with winter.

Rodeo and Legos

2012-01-28T22:51:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we took the boys to the Stockshow and Rodeo. They had a pretty good time watching the horses and cowboys - but they were most excited about having a corn dog and lemonade for lunch.

They even got their own clown nose. Unfortunately at this point, my camera battery died. After the rodeo we went to Fort Collins to have dinner with Tim, Stephanie and family.

On Sunday, Ryan was excited to put together the big Lego set that he had bought the previous weekend. Luke tried to help him out at first - but Ryan really wanted to do it himself and Luke lost interest in just watching.

Ryan proceeded to spend 4 straight hours putting together a 400 piece, 3 book instruction, Lego set almost completely by himself. He was so proud of himself and I loved seeing him so focused on something for so long.

Luke watched for awhile - but then he got to go to Costco with Greg - which means a hotdog for lunch and free samples.

When Ryan is really concentrating, he sticks his tongue - just like his Grandad.

The boys have had a good week - they've stayed busy with school and they are making such great strides in reading. We were reminded once again this week how fast they are growing up - Ryan has a loose tooth. He is so excited about it and Greg and I are in disbelief that we have a child old enough to lose a baby tooth.

Laid-back Weekend

2012-01-16T19:01:00.005-06:00

We've had a quiet and relaxing holiday weekend. I took off on Friday for their Kindergarten Rodeo - so I've had a great 4 day weekend. The boys enjoyed watching a Saturday morning cartoon - The Magic School Bus and then spent most of the day playing before they had a birthday party to go to that night. Sunday was spent playing around the house and then the boys and I watched a Harry Potter movie together. Today, we went to the Lego store to use their Lego giftcards from Papa and Grandma and then came home to build their new Lego sets.

The boys created a new game using a construction set - I'm not sure of the rules but they taught Greg how to play the game today.

Ryan and Luke put most of their Lego sets together by themselves. Luke spent almost all day putting together his 400 piece Police semi-truck set - with a little guidance from us (he does a great job by himself, but he does tend to skip a few steps every now and then). Ryan put together a 100 piece airplane set by himself and we'll put together his larger set next weekend.

Ryan and his plane.

Luke following his 3 book instruction Lego set.

Ryan also enjoyed playing with his new Hex-bug robot from Aunt Conny and family.

And Luke decided to create a football team complete with uniforms.

Overall, we had a great weekend and we're looking forward to a short 4 day school week.

Lastly - one last picture from their Rodeo day - Ryan is such a poser.

Kindergarten Rodeo

2012-01-13T16:12:00.010-06:00

Rather than continuing to delay posting a Christmas blog because I haven't had the time to sift through pictures - I am going to jump into 2012 with the boys' Kindergarten Rodeo.

First up - Ryan's class.

Ryan's Kindergarten class. They were all wiped out by the end.

Next up - Luke's class.

Luke's Kindergarten class.

The boys had a blast - I am so glad that they are loving school. They love their teachers, their friends and all the extra stuff that comes when you go to school.

Cookies and Snow

2011-12-24T14:12:00.002-06:00

We got about a foot of snow this week. The boys had a good time "helping" Greg shovel - which means that they shovel for about 30 seconds and then play.

Sweet little face.

Ryan especially loves the snow. He spent a lot of time outside yesterday creating a sledding path and then swinging and sliding on his playset.

We also made gingerbread cookies this week. I really wasn't up to making and decorating Christmas cookies this year - but these were pretty easy and the boys liked decorating their own cookies.

Santa Claus 2011

2011-12-19T11:43:00.002-06:00

Ryan and Luke are so excited about Christmas this year. Luke asked Santa for a stuffed animal snake (not sure why) and Ryan asked for a remote-controlled robot. Nana also made the boys advent calendars. They are designed to hold one Hershey's kiss per day. On the morning of Dec. 4, Ryan woke up early and ate his 20 remaining kisses for breakfast. The next day I discovered that he had eaten 7 of Luke's kisses, as well. Looking at this picture above really shows me how much they have grown up in the past year - I don't think they will fit on Santa's lap next year. Here are the Santa pictures from the last few years.

Waiting patiently for Santa. Actually, Greg waited patiently for Santa while the boys and I hung out at the Lego store.

We also went on our annual neighborhood hay ride a few weeks ago. It was really cold.

Poor Santa had already spent 3 hours on the hay ride before we got there - he looks really cold and tired at this point. It had snowed a lot the day before and I think it was only around 15 degrees that evening.

We stayed bundled up and warmed ourselves up afterwards with hot chocolate.

Lastly, a video of Ryan making his gingerbread house. He did a lot more eating than making. He has to be one of the most sweet-obsessed boys ever. I can understand that - I snuck a lot of candy and sugar when I was a kid, but I turned out ok.

November in Review

2011-12-09T10:05:00.002-06:00

Busy month with little to no time to post. So here is a brief review.

The boys had their first science project at school. They had to determine how big their alligators would grow in water or in water with another substance. Ryan's alligator was in sugar water and Luke's was in apple juice. After 7 days, the apple juice had a thick layer of mold on top - it was very disgusting. Part of the project was forming a hypothesis, graphing the size of their alligators each day, and writing about the outcome. Ultimately, the alligator in water grows bigger than the alligator in another substance.

Ryan was Star of the Week during Thanksgiving. He got make a poster and then bring his class bear home with the bear's journal. Scruffy had an eventful week. He got to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us, ride the train downtown, and see the Lion King.

Me and the boys, plus Nana, Grandad, Uncle Todd, Aunt Conny, Jacob and Olivia went to see The Lion King the day after Thanksgiving. We had great seats and the boys loved it. We even got to take a picture with young Simba and Nala afterwards.

My whole family came this year for Thanksgiving and it was really great to have everyone together. The plan on Sunday was to go snow tubing in the mountains, but Ryan woke up in the middle of the night sick, so he and I stayed home while everyone else headed up. From what all the kids said, they had a blast.

Lastly, Nana made Gingerbread houses with all of the kids. They loved it and Conny and I loved that we didn't have to do ourselves.

Overall, November was a good, but busy month. Greg was gone almost every week, so the boys and I were in our normal strict schedule required survival mode. Thanksgiving was great, but exhausting (mainly because we all get sick at the end of the week). We're looking forward to having Christmas break and hanging out around the house.

Halloween

2011-11-01T20:44:00.007-05:00

We had a great Halloween with the boys. On Friday, we met Jonny, Jenny and Tommy at Boo at the Zoo. The boys had a Halloween party at school on Monday, complete with a school-wide costume parade. And then we headed out Monday night to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. I remember that our first Halloween here we made it to 3 houses. Last year, we barely made it around the block before Luke gave out. But this year, we could have gone all night if we had let them. Greg encouraged the boys to pick Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock - but it was a pretty easy sale. They initially wanted to be Anakin and Luke Skywalker, but they were fine with changing their minds - Ryan was especially excited about wearing Spock ears. I keep thinking that this will be the last year of the combo costume idea - but they have been fine with it the last 2 years - we'll see what next year brings.

Ryan and Luke with their jack o'lanterns - they drew the faces and then helped Greg carve them.

Hanging out with Tommy at boo at the Zoo.

Previous Halloween costumes:

2006

2007 - they were actually Darth Vader and Yoda but they were too wiggly at this age to get a picture of them together in their costumes.

2008

2009 - my all time favorite costumes.

2010

2011

First Snow, Pumpkin Patch and Football

2011-10-28T14:56:00.006-05:00

We had our first snow of the year this week. It wasn't really that much snow, but it was heavy enough to knock our power out for almost 2 days. That wasn't really a lot of fun. I spent much of yesterday either throwing everything out of the refrigerator and freezer or under a couple of blankets reading a book. Fortunately, the boys had school and it is my Fall Break this week, so that was helpful to the situation. We spent the first night with Jonny and Jenny and I was prepared to rough it the 2nd night in hopes that the power would come on soon. I bundled the boys up in 2 layers of pj's, wool socks, and under 4 blankets in my bed for the night. But the power came back on at 8 pm - so that was a huge relief.

I also got the boys out this week to take their annual pumpkin patch picture. This one wasn't really in a pumpkin patch, it was in front of Whole Foods, but the display was nice and convenient.

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

I also finally got a picture of Greg and the boys in their Bronco gear. We've done this on opening day every year, but Greg was out of town for almost every game in September, so this was our first weekend to get around to it. Here are the past years' pictures. This weekend was also Greg's chance to watch his first football game downstairs in the basement. I must admit it is a really nice setup. I've watched a few movies down there this week, and the best part is that I couldn't hear the TV at all on Sunday while Greg was watching football.

Lastly, a super sweet picture of Luke with Teacher Bob.

Luke and Teacher Bob

2011-10-22T22:14:00.003-05:00

This weekend is Luke's turn to take Teacher Bob the bear home for his Star of the Week project. He has to complete a journal of what Teacher Bob did with him this weekend, make a poster about himself, and put 5 things important to him in a mystery bag. After looking at the class journal of what Teacher Bob has done since school started, it looks like he has been to several soccer games. So we decided to do something a little different. We took the boys (and Teacher Bob) to Heritage Square this afternoon to ride the Alpine Slide.

Greg and Luke rode the lift to the top. Greg said Luke was a little scared, and he really didn't like it when Greg held Teacher Bob over the side of the lift.

Ryan and I rode up together - he wasn't the least bit nervous. It was pretty windy, so it wasn't the most pleasant ride up.

Here is me, Luke, and Teacher Bob at the top.

And here we are at the bottom - Luke loved it. We'll have to find one more something to do with Teacher Bob tomorrow.

Ryan sat down on this rock, posed and asked for his picture to be taken.

Silly boys.

Picture of the boys and Nana from her visit at the end of September.

Ryan and Luke are doing great. We've all been really busy with school and work, so there hasn't been time for much else lately. The boys are still loving school. We had their parent/teacher conference a couple of weeks ago and both of their teachers had nothing but good things to say about them. They are making huge strides with reading, Ryan's teacher said he is a great artist, and Luke's teacher said that math comes naturally to him. We couldn't be more pleased with their Kindergarten experience - we are most happy with how much fun they are having every day.

Nana Goes to School

2011-09-29T21:37:00.004-05:00

Nana has been here this week helping me out some since Greg has been gone 4 out of the last 5 weeks. It has been nice having an extra set of hands around the house and getting the boys ready for school. She also spent one morning in each of the boys' classrooms.

The first day she went to Ryan's class. He was so excited to have her there. She got to help out with one of the learning centers. I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago - I think we both came to the same conclusion that Ryan and Luke are much better behaved than the majority of their classmates. They are both squirmy little boys, but they are good sweet boys (which we already know).

The next day she went to Luke's class. He loved it. There was a discussion in Ryan's class about what the class would call her - Nana, Ms. Nana or Mrs. Corbell. Ryan said he would call her Nana. Luke told her that he would call her Mrs. Corbell.

Nana stayed long enough to see the boys buy lunch. They take their lunch most of the time. But they always buy lunch on Thursdays because we have a late evening on Wednesdays due to karate and then eating out with friends (plus Thursday is pizza day, which is usually a safe bet).

On Sunday after we picked Nana up from the airport we went to the zoo. The boys loved the dippin' dots the best. I haven't taken them to the zoo since last summer. It was neat to see how much more interested they are now in learning and studying the animals. Ryan was especially interested in watching them for a long time.

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and Greg took the boys to pick out their own presents for me. I often end of with some random stuff (like the time that Ryan bought me colored sanding sugar and Luke bought a bag of jelly beans) but it is a really sweet way to get presents from them. Greg did say that he had to steer them away from the costume jewelry.

Ryan picked out these lovely dangle-y purple earrings. He is so incredibly proud of them. He kept commenting that they are so beautiful and that they look great on me. I won't tell him that they really aren't my style - so I've put them on a few times when I've taken him to school and then picked him up after; he loves to see me wear them. I love how much he loves them and how proud he is of himself to pick out a birthday present for me.

Luke picked out a sweet silver bracelet with the serenity prayer on it. He liked it because it had words on it.

The boys are doing great in school. They love going every day and they are so excited to tell us all about their day afterwards. I'm glad that Nana got to experience some of it with them.

Go Frogs!!

2011-09-12T17:38:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, we went the the TCU v. Air Force game. The boys had a great time and they loved having their Nana and Grandad there with us. They loved the fly-over by the F-16s, the parachute jumpers, the falcon hunt during halftime and the cadets marching into the stadium. But most of all, they loved seeing Superfrog.

It was almost too hot for the game because there was no shade, but it was much better than the alternative - below is the picture of me and Greg and the same game 2 years ago when it was 9 degrees.

Totally different weather this year - it was really a great day for football - made even better by the fact that TCU rebounded from their loss last week.

Luke had a great time playing with his pom-pom. Ryan had a great time eating his dipping dots, but I failed to get a picture of that.

I got this picture yesterday of the boys building their own spaceship in the backyard. I think they can turn anything into whatever is in their little imaginations.

End of Summer Fun

2011-09-08T21:18:00.002-05:00

We made it to the pool for the last time this weekend. The boys had fun going down the slide and jumping off the diving board (at least for Luke).

We also had Tommy over for a sleep over this past weekend. The boys had so much fun showing him all sorts of bad tricks and he had fun watching the big boys get into things.

The boys are still loving school - and they are even telling us what they are doing in school each day (unlike last year when I we got was "nothing").

Weekend Update

2011-08-28T21:38:00.002-05:00

The boys are loving school. Luke is in love with his teacher and Ryan is in love with being at a big school and doing new stuff. Luke did tell me on the second day that he didn't have anybody to play with and we talked about ways to make friends or to ask to play with others. The next day Luke told me he had a new best friend named Henry. But by Monday afternoon he said that nobody would play with him. I asked him if he asked some kids if he could play with them and he said he asked every single kid in his class and they all said no. (I had already checked in with his teacher when I saw her as I was picking them up from school and she told me Luke was playing with other kids - Luke does like to play by himself but he would tell us the same thing last year, but in reality he had friends and played with them daily). Ryan's reaction to Luke was so funny (and ironic based on how much they fight), he said, "What! They won't play with my brother! How rude! I am going to talk to your class." They then spent the next several minutes problem solving on ways to make friends - it was so sweet and funny. Overall, they are making friends and having fun. Ryan likes to tell us about lunch, PE, music and recess and Luke likes to tell us about his teacher, the books in her room, all of the learning centers, and art class.

We went to Loveland this weekend to see our friends Tim, Stephanie and Mackenna and to meet their new baby, Connor. They moved back to Colorado this summer and it will be great to see them more often. Ryan asked to hold "it" for the picture - he was really very sweet. Here is a picture of the boys with Mackenna when she was a baby. We also went to the corn festival while we were up there and the boys got the giant snow cones shown at the top.

The boys love for Greg to give them both a piggy back ride at the same time - I think these days are numbered - they are really too heavy, but they do love it.

Greg took Ryan with him this afternoon to meet a friend downtown for the end of the big bike race that has been going on in Colorado this past week. Ryan was excited to ride the train, eat out and watch the cyclists. Luke stayed home with me and we went to the pool. It was so much fun to take just one to the pool - we had a great time. Luke practiced tons of swimming, went down the slide for the first time and he was even brave enough to jump off the diving board. He was a little scared the first time, but there were two boys in his class there who helped to convince him that he could do it (now he has 3 friends at school and counting). He loved it. He did have to swim a good little ways from the diving board to the side of the pool, but he did great. He was so proud of himself.

We had a good weekend, but we are looking forward to a long one next weekend. We hope stay home and get some stuff done around the house.

On the Bus

2011-08-21T16:44:00.003-05:00

The boys rode the bus to school on Friday. Greg and I walked them their bus stop in the morning and they were so excited to get on the bus.

You can sort of see Ryan waving at us through the window.

After the bus left, I went by their school on my way to work to meet them getting off the bus. I won't do that again, but I wanted to see them get off on the first day. Plus a ton of kindergarten parents did the same thing on the first day of school, so I wasn't the only one.

I met them at their bus stop after school and Ryan jumped off and said, "that was incredible." I think they will like riding the bus.

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-17T22:31:00.007-05:00

My little boys went to Kindergarten today! They have both been excited and nervous about it for most of the summer (especially Ryan). On Tuesday, they met with their teachers for a 20 minute one on one meeting. That really helped Ryan feel a lot better about starting school today. That didn't stop the night before and morning of school jitters (I remember not being able to sleep the night before school - I still feel that way most years). Luke told me this morning that he thought he was going to throw up. Greg and I got there a little early to avoid the crazy traffic jam and to let them play on the playground before it got too crowded. But before long, there were 3 classes of Kindergarten kids on the playground plus lots of nervous parents with cameras. It led to a somewhat chaotic sending off into class.

After the bell rang for school to start, the kids lined up outside their classroom and the teachers took them in. Luke did OK with this - a little unsettled, but he was fine saying bye.

Ryan, who can get easily overstimulated, found the throng of parents to get through in order to get in line pretty unsettling. He started to cry and we had to reassure him it would be OK and that we would both be there to both be there to pick him up after school.

I was worried all day about Ryan. I knew that if he didn't have a good first day, it would take him a long time to get over and we would have a hard time getting him to school each morning. After school, Luke came out of his class first and was so excited to show us what was in his backpack. His teacher said he had a great day. Ryan then jumped out of his classroom and with a big smile on his face said, "I had a terrible day." Then he said, "Just kidding, it was so awesome!"

Previous photos of their first day of (pre)school:

2010

2009

2008

The Basement is Finished!

2011-08-14T19:34:00.005-05:00

It is finally finished. We still need to move furniture down there (and buy more furniture!), but we can now say it is done. We started moving things out of our living room/dining room area yesterday - so it is a relief to start having the house back together.

The bathroom - it is a little small, but it will be fine for a guest room and for 2 teenage boys in the future.

Looking from Ryan's room down the hallway to the living room area.

From the living room area down the hall to Ryan's room on the left and the stairs to the right. The furnace and hot water heater are in the middle of the basement, so everything had to be built around that.

Living room area.

The wet bar.

We are going to put cabinets in above the wet bar in the next few months, which will give us some more storage from the kitchen.

From Luke's room into the living room area and stairs.

Luke's bedroom - the boys have already rearranged the little bit of furniture we have moved and created a pirate ship.

Ryan's bedroom.

Looking upstairs into the kitchen.

From the kitchen down to the basement.

What We've Been Up To Lately

2011-08-11T21:01:00.005-05:00

I feel like this has been the busiest summer ever and I'm not really sure of what we've accomplished. But it has been fun and we've done a lot of stuff. This past weekend we went to Buena Vista to camp with some friends. One of our friends has an annual camping trip at her parent's house in the backyard every year. But their backyard consists of the view above and a huge camping area with a river that runs through it. We had a great time and the boys loved being able to play with other kids.

The boys loved walking over all of the bridges to get to our campsite.

There is also a new second-home development behind the property that has a great playground area that the kids loved. Luke has recently figured out how to pump on the swing - and he spent a ton of time swinging. Ryan enjoyed climbing on the playhouse part of the playground that was a converted train boxcar.

This is Jeff and Cristy's twin boys - they were fascinated with the rocks.

We also attempted a group picture with all of the kids - this was the best one I got. There was one 8 year old boy and then 11 other kids that were 5 and under.

I went back to work this week and the boys start school (Kindergarten!!!) next week. They have had a good time staying busy this summer and have gotten along with each other, for the most part. The picture below is of them playing Star Wars. Luke built a spaceship out of the 2 chairs and they had several hours of fun together.

The boys also turned a box into a roller coaster.

Lastly - a little summer surprise. Luke and Greg came home from the store a few times in the spring with vegetable seeds. Luke wanted to plant a garden and proceeded to go outside, cut open the seed packet and dump all of the seeds straight onto the mulch. I thought it was pretty funny that he wanted to do it all himself, but that he wasn't actually planting anything. Tuns out, we have 1 giant squash plant. We were both pretty excited to discover that the thing we thought was a weed, turned out to be squash.

Yellowstone

2011-07-27T13:47:00.005-05:00

We spent the past weekend taking a short family vacation to Yellowstone. We stayed in a hotel on the way there and back and spent 2 nights camping in the park. The boys had a great time and really loved the whole camping experience. On our way out of the park we drove through the Grand Tetons and stopped for a quick family picture in front of my favorite mountain range.

The boys asked us every few minutes the whole way from Casper to Yellowstone if we were there yet. There is a vast amount of nothingness in Wyoming until you get close to the park - they did pretty good in the car but they were so excited when I told them we made it to Yellowstone.

We got to our campsite by early evening, so we had enough time to set up our tent, cook dinner, eat smores and read a little Harry Potter before bed.

The boys love to roast marshmallows.

They did great camping for 2 nights. It got pretty cold at night (in the mid 30s) but they never complained. Yellowstone has to be one of the best places to camp. There are several full bathrooms throughout the campsite complete with a dish washing station and then hot showers at the main camping center a few minutes away.

The boys saw all sorts of neat things. We hiked to a couple of waterfalls, saw lots of geysers, several deer, elk and buffalo and we even saw a bear cross the road in front of us.

We drove to the northern part of Yellowstone, which Greg and I don't remember seeing before. It was so pretty in that area - we especially loved the fields of wildflowers in the mountain region.

Ryan was a big fan of the geysers - he was even telling Greg how they worked by the end.

Great visit to Old Faithful.

This buffalo was walking down the opposite lane of traffic as we drove right by him. He was causing a 2 mile traffic jam behind him.

All 3 boys really liked building a fire.

The boys helped us to break down the tent by jumping on it to get all of the air out so we could roll it up.

We hiked to the main waterfall - which required a trip down about 400 stairs to get close to the base - then we hiked 400 stairs back up - the boys did great.

Greg really enjoyed telling the boys all about the geologic stuff in Yellowstone - like all of the mud pits and how we were really camping on one of the largest volcanoes in the world.

Ryan really liked helping Greg fill the car up with gas whenever we had to stop.

We had a great trip but we were glad to back home and in our own beds by the end of it.