2013 Halloween

Eloise and the chicken had a good year.

October is the best month of the year

Pumpkins, farms, hay rides, apples, friends, and more. October is the best month of the year, especially if you happen to be furloughed for almost three weeks. Spent some good times with the girls. Olive loves school this year and is trying hard to spell. Frances is still just crawling and only has two teeth. She is savoring her babyness and so are we.

the girls

1st Birthday for Frances

Happy Birthday to Frances! We celebrated this birthday with family at our house. Frances was a great sport. She LOVED her cake and put on an epic show - diving into the cake before the candle went out. Later she proceeded to devour the cake and smear it all over her hair. She had to be bathed in the kitchen sink, she was such a mess. Later, she opened gifts with some help from her sister and cousin Everett.

I can't believe how fast this last year went. Frances has been a wonderful addition to our family. She is a gentile and sweet little girl, with a great laugh, gorgeous eyes, and an insatiable appetite.

The big four

Hard to believe that it has been 4 years since Ms. Olive came into this world. I often think about how I was stung by a manta ray when Olive was in my tummy and that she was born during a crazy electrical storm as possibly defining Olive's personality. We feel blessed to have such a determined, energetic, social, quirky, silly kid.

Happy 4th Birthday!

 

Steamboat Springs Cabin

Great weekend at Columbine Cabins outside Steamboat Springs. We stayed in the Bear cabin, which was about as rustic as we like it these days. Olive turned four and we had a small party with the Shippits  family followed by a campfire with toasted marsh mellows. Kate hiked to the Hahns Peak and kayaked with Olive at Steamboat Lake. Bob had a beach day with Olive and got some fishing in. LOVE SUMMER.

Gran's 70th at Snow Mountain Ranch

We all packed into to a "cabin" at snow mountain ranch for Gran's 70th birthday! It was fabulous! Pa fell in love with roller skating, we went horseback riding, and fishing. Good times. I am blessed to have such a great family.

Visit with the Randalls

We spent a few wonderful days in Grand Lake with the Randall Clan. Everyone gathered to scatter the ashes of Grandpa Joe. Tim and Marilou hosted everyone, and I mean everyone. We had a few bonfires, live music, and lots of good times.  It was great to see everyone!

4th of July 2013

Sitting up and taking a ride

6 months/3.75 years.

first foods, garden adventures, and cleaing out the burning man box

 First solid food @ 6 months. She is 10.5 months now and still just wants purees.

 Frances helped us with a fairly major garden project his spring. Olive was a little more hands on in the dirt pile.

Cleaning out the old burning man box with Olive was AWESOME.

Stock show

Okay seriously, the girls killed at the stock show this year. Uncle Zeke and Aunt Judy gifted us some 100% authentic (mid)western wear from Missouri. The girls looked like they could be on the brochure for the event. Too stinkin' cute! Olive's outfit was so good that she told me that she was a "seriously real cowgirl" as if she had tapped into her true self via the most amazing rhinestone belt buckle ever.

As usual, we loved the stock show. Olive got to ride a pony, pet some farm animals, and eat fried food. Frankie got a diaper change on the floor of the coliseum. Clearly a good time was had by all! Thanks Zeke and Judy!

Fairbank Family

Andrew, Stephanie, Kel, Anthony, Ked, Annie, Kiel, Molly, Robin, Everett, Gran, and Pa all came over last night. It was a real treat to see the Euro cousins. It had been 10 years since I last saw Kel. All of the cousins were doing intersting things and living full lives. The older generation looked great and were wild as usual;) So good to see everyone! Unfortunately, I'm missing photos of a few key attendees.

A rocky 2013

Frances was in the gray area for her hearing based on behavior indicators at her two month exam. They did a hearing screen at four months and she failed. We returned two weeks later and she failed again. Over the past month, I spent a fair bit of time thinking about what life would be like if she was deaf and I came to peace with it, knowing that she would be loved and incredibly well cared for. Thankfully, she did pass the screening we brought her to last Friday at the ENT clinic.  Deep breath.

My return to work last month wasn't as smooth as I had hoped. We are adjusting to the logistical challenges of bringing two kids to different day care/schools. What happened to the easy days of going to the gym after work and grabbing a late dinner out? Ha.