2009 In Review

Aaron has had a good year. He started the year still contracting. In March he transitioned to a full time position with benefits. He really enjoyed the job. However, in the fall he was able to transfer to a new position within the same company that is an even better fit for him. He loves the job. He has interviewed for a management position for the office and will find out next week if he gets the position. He traveled to San Diego once per month the entire past year for Navy Reserve training. He is currently training for his first marathon.



Darla has had an interesting year. The year started with me not working. I did a two month contract position in April and May. I was able to spend the summer at home with kids. We had a great time just hanging out. I started a new job at the end of August. I was scheduling natural gas flow for a gas transportation company. In the middle of December I was offered a new job. I will now be the Manager* of Donor Services for Girl* Scouts. I start the new job in January. I also ran my first 5k this year. Campbell and I ran it together.



Campbell probably had the "biggest" year of all of us. She started her last year of elementary school. She did her first season of track at her school. She ran her second season of cross country. She ran her first 5k. She went through HGH testing, had her first MRI, and started Human Growth Hormone treatments. As a result, she has actually grown this year. We have had to purchase her new clothes and shoes because she needed them. This is new to us. Lastly, our sweet girl has started her last year of elementary school.



Caleb has grown up a lot this year. He started the year going to pre-school part time. He then went to school full time for two months while I did a contract. He then spent the summer at home full time with me. He started school full time again in the fall when I went back to work. He transitioned through all of these changed smoothly. He has learned all of his ABC's and counting. He can spell his name. He can now draw things that are actually recognizable. He is growing up so fast.



We did not get in as many trips as we had hoped, but we did do a couple of fun trips. We started 2009 with great friends in SC. There could be no better way to start the year! In June, we had a great camping trip at Great Sand Dunes National Park with the Lawrence family. In September, we had a fun camping trip with just the four of us in Buena Vista. We hike in Cottonwood Pass and to Maroon Bells while there. In October, we did a weekend trip to Albequerque, NM for the Balloon Festival. That was a great trip and I reccommend it to everyone!



We tried snowshoeing this year. It was fun, but a lot of work. We attended a "beach party" in the snow. We tried some new local hikes. We found and spent some time at a local pick-your-own farm. We went to museums her in the Springs and in Denver.



We also had some visitors over the last year. Poppy visited a couple of times. Nanna visited for a couple of weeks during the summer. Grandma Roxie, Aunt Amanda, and cousin Landon also visited for a few days in August.



We all had a good 2009 and are wishing you all a Wonderful 2010!

Halloween 2009

I made both of their costumes this year. We had a gypsy and a wizard. The neigbors declared Caleb's cosutme the best.

An Odd First

The other day we experienced an odd first in parenting our daughter. This is something that most parents would consider definitely not odd. In fact, most parents probably would consider this to be a huge pain. What was this first? We actually went to the store purposely to purchase pants for Campbell. We bought these pants because she needed them, not because we were tired of seeing her in the same pants and decided to get something new.





She went to the doctor last week for her first 3 month follow-up appointment. She weighed in at 55 pounds and measured 49 3/4". This is a growth of 1 1/2" and 2 pounds.

Happy Birthday, Kiddos!

It's been awhile, so I'm just going to post a Happy Birthday pic of the kiddos. This picture was taken during our trip to Albequerque on October 10th. Happy 4th, Caleb! Happy 11th, Campbell.!

A Camping Trip

The kids are in school. I have started work again. Aaron seems to always be either at work or at "the Navy" as the kids call it when he is on reserve duty. I had a 3 day weekend for Labor Day. Aaron and Campbell each had 4 days off. We decided to take advantage of the breaks and go camping for the weekend.


We went to Buena Vista which is about a 2 hour drive from home. I didn't get out of work until 4:30 on Friday, but I had packed everything the night before. When Aaron and kids got home they put it all in the truck so that when I got home we just hopped in the truck and drove.


We set the tent up in the dark that night, but that's always part of the fun. The kids seem to think it's more fun to set up the tent in the dark rather than in the light. Saturday morning we woke early and headed into town for breakfast. After breakfast we headed over to Cottonwood Pass. We found some great campsites by Cottonwood Lake that we are going to remember for next summer. We did a great hike by Cottonwood Lake. We had a ton of fun.


On our way back from the pass, a bolt fell out of Aaron's truck. Of course the thing is going to fall apart, it's paid off. Anyway, he was having issues with the truck shiftin. We couldn't get it to stay in park. So when we got back in town we had to go to the parts store to get some tools to try to fix this problem. After about 2 hours in the parking lot, we got it fixed and the truck is working great now.


We spent the evening at the campsite cooking great food, roasting marshmallows, and just hanging out with family time. Sunday morning we woke up and had pancakes that were cooked on the campfire. Yummy!! That morning we spent hiking to Marroon Bells. It was another beautiful hike! After a couple of days of hiking we were tired and had some sore muscles. We decided to go to the Mt. Princeton hot springs to swim for the afternoon. It was the perfect way to spend the last afternoon of our camping trip. Monday morning we packed up and headed home. It was a fantastic family weekend!!

Our Advanced Child

We just got Campbell's state test results in. She scored Advanced in both Writing and Mathematics. That is in the advanced range for kids her age. We are beyond thrilled about these scores. Especially in Mathematics. She is not a fan of the math and if she struggles in any subject, math is it.

In Reading she scored Proficient. Not sure why she didn't score advanced in that but oh well. We think that she was just completely tired of all the testing. It was the last of the tests that week. We are very, very happy with our smarty smart girl.

A "Free" Experiment

Last week was Campbell's last week of summer break. I wanted to make a great week of it for her, but didn't want to break the bank in doing so. I felt it would be a good time to see what I could find around town that we could do for free. The experiment worked great.

On monday, we toured a candy factory. We got to go in the back and see how they made the different candies. During the tour, we also got samples of the candies that were being made. The tour lasted about an hour and the kids loved it.

On Tuesday, we went to the Pioneer Museum downtown. I was thrilled to find a museum that had free entry. It had some really interesting items and displays. The kids really liked seeing the doctor and dentis equipment from the 1800's. Caleb also loved all the guns. Outside, there were some statues and a huge gazebo. We spent about an hour out on the lawn just playing in the gazebo and around the statues.

On Wednesday, we toured the Olympic Training Center. I wish we had done this sooner. We probably would have hit it more than once over the summer. It started with a short movie which was just some highlights from the most recent olympic games. After the movie we headed out for the tour. We got to go into the gym where gymnasts and boxers train. We also got to tour the shooting range, the weight room, and the wrestling gym. We did not get to go in the pool area but we got to see it through the window. After the formal tour we got to take our time looking at the statues. The kids had a blast running around the statues.

Campbell had a sleepover here Wednesday night, so Thursday was spent here at the house playing with her friend. We also spent some time at the pool. Technically we pay our monthly fee for this, but we can swim whenever we feel like it.

Friday it was raining. My initial plan had been to go downtown and play in the water park. Since it was raining, that was out of the question. Instead we went to the mall and played in the play area for a bit. We also spent the afternoon cleaning the house.

All in all, we had a fantastic week and it was all free! I had to really search for these things to do which is disappointing. I'm sure there are more fun things out there that we aren't doing because we don't know about them. I will have to do more research and find them.

5th Grade

Campbell started 5th grade today. She enjoyed her first day. She and her classmates all had the same oppinion that the teacher is a bit strict. The teacher she has right now is a substitute. Her regular teacher is on maternity leave until the end of September. I think it's great that they have a stricter teacher this year. I also believe that they do that on purpose. They are preparing this group for middle school.

Speaking of which, I am in complete denial that middle school starts next year. Campbell seems too young for middle school. My least liked years of school were in middle school, so I'm sure that doesn't help with my anxiety about my sweet girl heading there. I am just going to live in this denial for the next few months.

15 Years and Counting

On August 5, Aaron and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. We chose to celebrate on Saturday night. That was when we were able to get a great babysitter. So we made a reservations and headed out to dinner. Aaron has lost a good bit of weight since moving here so had to wear his dress blue uniform to dinner.

We decided to go to a place called Cliff Palace in Manitou Springs. It was a great location. We arrived a little early so we decided to have drinks on the front porch. It was fantastic, but the best was yet to come.

We headed inside for our dinner. We got seated and ordered our drinks. Once our drinks arrived we ordered our meal and were then informed that the gentleman at the table behind us had paid for our drinks. Later we were informed that our entire meal had been paid for by the gentleman at the table next to ours. How fantastic is that! We had an entire meal at a 4 diamond restaurant paid for by someone else.

By the way, the food was fantastic! Since moving to Colorado we have pretty much stopped ordering seafood because it's always frozen. I made an exception here though. There seafood is flown in and is never older than 24 hours and never frozen. I had lobster and scallops. The food was fantastic!! Aaron had lamb and said it was extremely good as well.

After dinner we headed to downtown to a pub our babysitter had reccomended. As soon as we walked in, we knew it was a great place. There was a man playing the piano. He did not dow the singing, however. Each of the patrons had a song book and the patrons did the singing. It was a ton of fun!! Again, our drinks here were paid for as well. It pays to go out with someone in uniform. All in all, it was a fabulous evening!

Weekend with Poppy

Poppy came to town to visit over the weekend. The kids and I picked him up in Denver on Friday morning. That evening we had great grilled food for dinner. We then took a quick walk up the street to treat ourselves to some gelato. That's always a yummy treat.

Saturday morning we took a nice walk to get coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we went up to Woodland Park to the Dinosaur museum. We had a great time there. The kids had a great time. Caleb always loves dinosaurs. The museum also had an exhibit on Darwin. Campbell loved the exhibit.

After the museum we decided to do a small hike. We took Poppy to Helen Hunt Falls. It was a great day for a little hike. We ended the morning with lunch. It was a great time! Unfortunately, the day had to end early. Poppy had a high school reunion to get to and Aaron and I had an anniversary dinner.

15 Years

Today Aaron and I celebrate 15 years of marriage. Very hard to believe that we have been together that long. We are getting old!! We will go out Saturday evening for a lovely dinner just the two of us. (And it's raining today, just like it was 15 years ago today.)

Going Well

The shots are going well. Campbell seems to be doing extremely well with them. After just 4 shots, she no longer tenses up when it's time for the shot. She just lets us know where she wants it and sits patiently for us. It is getting easier for Aaron and I, though we do still tense up. We worry about hurting her with the shots. It is the oddest feeling to give your child an injection. I think back to the shots she had has an infant (and the newborn IV). At that time, I remember wanting to cry for her. Now here we are 10 (almost 11) years later and we are giving her shots daily. It seems very surreal.

We are all getting use to this though, and are hopeful that she will begin growing soon. She is really paying attention to her body right now and feels that every thing she feels means that she is growing. We shall see. We plan to measure her on the first of each month to monitor her growth.

And the Journey Begins...

The shots have begun.

All is good!

We got Campbell's test results last night. Her Cortisol levels came back perfectly normal. Her MRI was clear. The doctor said her pituitary gland was slightly small, but nothing to worry about. The best news is that there are no tumors anywhere in her smart little brain. That was the biggest concern.

Tomorrow we head to Denver to learn how to torture..er..I mean give her shots. She is ready to just get this started.

Crackin' Me Nuts

Caleb has come up with a new saying. He is combining "driving me nuts" and "cracking me up". He says "Crackin Me Nuts". It's hillarious!

July 29, 2009

The medicine and pen are in. The alcohol swabs are ready. The sharps disposal container has been purchased. The training session has been set. On July 29 we have our training session to teach us how to give Campbell her shots. That will be the day we start her human growth hormone shots. Now we just need to get a growth chart made and some stickers. The stickers are to help us track on the calendar wether she has had her shot or not that day. We plan to take a picture of her every month on the 29th next to her growth chart so we have a visual keepsake of her growth.

Testing Complete

Friday was the last of Campbell's testing. She had to have her Cortisol levels tested. This involved a dose of medicine and then 4 blood draws (one every 30 minutes). The other test was an MRI. They wanted to look at her Petuitary gland to make sure that all was normal with that.

She did fantastic during the MRI. The test lasted for 15 minutes and she had to stay perfectly still the entire time. Her head was put in a cage-like helmet. She was then moved inside the MRI tube. She did not freak out at all. The techs working with her said that she did better than most of their adult patients do. She followed all the instructions perfectly and laid completely still.

For their pediatric patients, the techs take pictures specifically for the kids to take home with them. Campbell now has the MRI pictures of her brain.

We are now just waiting for the results. Her injections will most likely begin this Friday. Our new journey is about to begin.

Surprise Parade

Aaron is currently on his 2 week Reserve duty. Luckily this year though, he's up in Denver. He was able to come home today for a bit of family time. We headed to the giant baby store to get a baby gift. I then suggested we head downtown to play in the water park and walk through the shops.

When we got downtown, we noticed some tents up. We were pleasantly surprised that we had apparently run into a festival we didn't know about. We found our way around to some parking and started walking towards the park.

On our way we noticed a nun twirling in the street with a brightly colored umbrella. Aaron and I both thought this strange but hey, we were on our way to a festival. To our surprise, we found there was also a parade. The kids were thrilled! They love parades. Then Campbell commented that there were a lot of rainbows in this parade. Yes, yes there were.

Being the liberal parents we are, we didn't panic. We just let our kids enjoy the "rainbow" parade. It was a fun surprise for our family day out. Oh! and we did get some water time in. It rained on us at the parade.

Some Pictures from Nana's Visit

Two Weeks

Nana was here for the past two weeks. The kids really enjoyed spending some time with her. While she was here we went to Cripple Creek for Donkey Derby Days. We also went to Indpendence Pass on the 4th and had lunch in Aspen. Finally we took her into Denver to the Nature and History Museum. Those were our big outings.

We also spent a lot of time playing board games with Nana. Campbell loves to play board games with her Nana. The kids also took Nana to a movie. We went to the farmer's market and did some shopping.

The kids and I took her to see the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. She has wanted to see the Cliff Dwellings since she was a little girl about Campbell's age. We finally got her there, so she was very happy.

She is now at home. Aaron is in Denver doing his 2 weeks of AT. The kids and I are just hanging out at home. Summer is now officially her in Colorado. It was nearly 100 degrees today.

How's that for a quick update?

Happy 4th of July 2009

Yesterday was the 4th of July. We started the day by taking Nana (she's visiting) to the top of Independence Pass. We had a wonderful walk and saw some beautiful sites. After our little walk we went into Aspen for a quick brunch. We lucked and were able to see the parade while we were there. We didn't go see fireworks last nights because of rain. We just watched them for our bedroom window. Hope you all had as nice of a day as we did.

Father's Day

Father's Day this year was spend on a short, easy hike up Helen Hunt Falls. It was a beautiful day and the falls were great. After our hike we had lunch in Old Colorado City. We ended our day with a walk through Rockledge Ranch. This ranch is an old period ranch with everyone in period costumes. Campbell loves these types of historical places. It was definitely a great family day.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year we went to the Denver Botanical Gardens and had a great time!!

Something Fun

Two weekends ago we took the kids camping. We went down to The Great Sand Dunes National Park. We went with some friends of ours. We had a great time!

These Kids!

This is another health related post. This is for Caleb though.

First, Campbell is the child who needs to be reminded each day (more than once) to brush her teeth. She's 10. You would think she wouldn't need reminding anymore, but she does. She really hates to brush her teeth. She rolls her eyes when I also remind her to floss, even though I was nice and got her these really cool kid flossers. Even with all of this she has never had a cavity. She does not have any space in her mouth for her teeth, but she has never had a cavity.

Caleb, on the other hand, loves brushing his teeth. He walks around with a toothbrush constantly brushing his teeth. He as no fewer than 3 toothbrushes around the house for convenient brushing. He gets very excited when he gets to choose a new tooth brush. He was over the moon with the new flossers I found for the kids. He takes his teeth hygiene very seriously.

Neither kid ever went to bed with a bottle. They have both had their teeth brushed since there first teeth appeared. They don't get a lot of sweets. They both drink more water than juice or milk. When they do drink juice, it's watered down. They both get daily vitamins. Caleb had a pacifier but it was never dipped in anything to make it sweet. These are all the things the pediatric dentist say to do. Also, both kids have the same parents and have been raised in the same house.

Wednesday we went to the dentist. Campbell's teeth were perfect, albeit crowded. She had no cavities. She is nearly 11 and has no cavities. The dentist was ready to throw a party. Until he looked at Caleb's teeth. Somehow, he has six! cavities starting to form. They are on his molars. He has had these molars in his mouth for less than 2 years. Two of them have been in there less than a year. How on earth does he get all these cavities? The dentist said it happens. It's most likely something that happened in utero (no guilt there). We will have his teeth painted to try to prevent the cavities from actually getting worse. They are not at the point where the need to be filled. We will have to keep a very close eye on his teeth. The dentist said that his permanent teeth will most likely be fine, but we will watch closely as they come in.

Apparently this is the summer to test us as parents.

Parenting is Hard

Ok it's been a long time since I updated, so I will start with the most recent update.

On June 5 we took Campbell in for Growth Hormone testing. She had to have an IV. When it was first insterted they gave her one hormone test. Every 30 minutes for 2 hours they withdrew blood for testing. At the 2 hour mark they gave her another medicine. Again, every 30 minutes for 2 hours they withdrew more blood. The entire test took 4 hours. They were testing the blood for growth hormone levels.

We got the results on Monday. They were hoping to see her levels spike over a 10.0 just once. (Kids normally run at a rate of 20-30.) Her highest level was a 9.1. Out of 8 blood draws her highlest growth hormone level was 9.1. The conclusion is that she is growth hormone deficient. She does not produce enough growth hormone for her to achieve a full adult height. Without any intervention with the levels they way they are, she might reach 4'9". That is a tiny person.

Last night we met with the endocrinologist to discuss options. We wanted to know pros and cons of treating as well as pros and cons of not treating. The biggest and probably most important thing for us that we learned concerned her health as an adult. If we do not treat her now there is a 30% chance that as an adult (in her 40's to 50's) she could suffer heart problems, immunity problems, bone density problems, as well as others.

As parents, we feel it is our responsibility to help her become the healthiest adult she can be. Because we know that some of these health issues exist on both sides of our families, we want to do all we can to help her avoid some of these. For this reason we have decided to move forward with growth hormone treatment.

This is not something we go into lightly. This is a huge commitment. We will be injecting our child with growth hormones (a banned substance in sports) six days per week for the next 8 years of her life. Campbell, being the child she is, worked out the formula to figure out how many shots that is for her. It's over 2000 shots of growth hormone. We have to get special wavers for her to participate in sports in high school. (If they ever did a drug test on her, she will come up positive for performance enhancing drugs.) If she is ever to go into the military we have to prove tha this is a medical necessity. (It is. She's not even considered in the grey zone. She is most definitely deficient and meets every criteria for medical necessity.)

Monday evening Campbell shed a lot of tears. Aaron and I held back our fears so that we could comfort her and not let her know how frightened we were of this diagnosis. After our discussion with the doctor last night, we all feel much better and are ready to move forward.

She has 2 more tests to take, probably next week and then we begin treatment. The first test is another hormone test to make sure she is producing cortizol (sp?). The second one is the one that scares me. Not the test itself, but what they are looking for. She has to have an MRI to make sure that she does not have any tumors on her petuitary gland. Any speak of tumors anywhere in her brain freaks me out. The doctor said that she is not showing any symptoms (besides the deficiency) for either of these issues. They just have to perform these tests as part of protocol.

These treatments will begin in July or early August. The doctor expects her to grow 3 inches over the next year. Usually she grows only 1/2" in a year, so 3" is pretty significant for her. We will keep you updates as we move forward with this.

More Campbell

Campbell has started the spring track and field series at her school. They practice once per week and have 3 track meets. Last night was the first track meet. Campbell chose to run the 800m because it was so cold yesterday. At run time it was 40 degrees. Those kids were so cold. As were the parents. Hopefully the next two meets are much warmer.

Even with the codl weather Campbell did a good job. Her official time was 4:49. That's twice around the track in less than 5 minutes. That's not too bad. I do need to make sure that next week she moves herself to the front of the start line rather than standing in the back. She has to maneuver around all the slow kids which slows her start. She can easily take of 10 seconds by starting in the front. She did a great job passing all those kids that are taller than her though.

In other Campbell news...We saw the endocrenologist again. She had grown 1/2 inch in 6 months. I was thrilled with that. There have been times when she only grew 1/2 inch in a year. So this seemed really good to me. The doc wasn't so happy with it, though. He was wanting to see an inch in 6 months. I had to inform him that she has never grown an inch in a year since she was a baby. This did not make him happy.

It turns out he wants to have some more extensive testing done on her growth hormones. The test is called a Growth Hormone Stimulation Test. She will have to have an IV in for 4 hours. They will push 2 medicines through the IV. If her HGH reacts then she is fine and nothing further will need to be done. If her HGH doesn't react then we have some decisions to make.

If it doesn't react then it means there is something wrong with her HGH and we may have to consider growth hormone therapy. Aaron and I are not to keen on doing this. The only reason that we would is that the doc said the hormone deficiency could negatively affect her heart and bone health. The test will be done in June.

A Basin Party

On Saturday, we headed up to A Basin (Arapahoe Basin) for a party. One of Aaron's friends has a party up there every year. It's for a couple of guys' birthdays. They have apparently been doing this for 5 years. They rent a parking area at the base of the ski slopes and just hang out and drink and eat all day.

This was our first year going. As such we didn't know exactly what to expect. The party was no Bradoween but we had a good time. If we go next year, we will definitely take skis so that we can also ski during the day. The party is called a "Beach Party" so we did at least take buckets and sand toys for the kids to use in the snow. They had a great time and so did the kids at the party next to ours. They thought our toys were the greatest.

Next year, we will also remember the sun screen. We all came home with burns on our faces this year.

The Brown's Petri Dish

I suggest everyone stay away from our house for a few days. We are full of all sorts of nastyness. Last week Caleb started with a cough on Tuesday. On Thursday, he was running a fever. Friday morning he was diagnosed with pneumonia. This is a kid who never gets sick. In fact, this is only the 3rd time in his life that he has been on antibiotics. Yet, he gets pneumonia. We have kept him quarantined in the house all weekend.

Fast forward to Saturday. I have been coughing for a couple of days. On Saturday night I started running a fever. I have been off and on all day with a fever today. I also started taking some Echinecea/Goldenseal drops. I was told that they are a natural antibiotic. Since there does not seem to be an urgent care open today I though I'd give them a try. I started them yesterday, and less than 24 hours after the first dose, my ear and jaws no longer ache. This all natural treatment may be a good way to go.

Aaron has a scratchy throat. Campbell seems to be fine. I am getting ready to spray Lysol all over this place. Also, the snow has stopped and the weather is beautiful. Time to open the windows.

Happy Easter

yes...It's snowing!

Changes

In January and February, I interviewed for a job. After three interviews they decided to hire someone else. At the beginning of March they called and asked if would do a contract position for them. I met with them again. I was told last week that they would indeed hire me to do the contract. I just received the contract so can now make the announcement that I am going back to work.

The job will only last 8 weeks, but it is something. In these economic times you take what you can get. Also, it is a job I know I can do and can do well. It will definitely be different getting up and going to work in the mornings. I have not had to do that in two years. I mean I worked, but I worked remotely from my home. I did not need to get dress, brush my hair, or even brush my teeth if I didn't feel like it. Now I must get up and look presentable before I walk out the door in the mornings. It is also a one hour commute each direction, so I will have to get use to that as well. I better make sure my coffee pot is set to brew at 6am.

Caleb will be going to "school" full time during this period. He has been going to preschool since October so he is comfortable with this center and his teachers. He will just have to get use to taking a nap after lunch instead of coming home. Luckily, most days Aaron will be able to pick him up shortly after nap time so that shouldn't be too bad.

Campbell is the trickiest. All the afterschool care programs are filled and she would only need to be in them for 30 minutes at most anyway, so we have had to be creative with our schedules to make it work for her. We think we have this figured out. Will report later on how it's working.

Aaron's work schedule won't change too much. He will still go in at 6am and leave at 2:30. He will be responsible for all the afternoon childcare pickups. He hasn't had this responsibility consistently since I was in college when Campbell was just little. He will also be responsible for dinners since I won't be home until after six.

These next 2 months will require a lot of juggling on all of our parts, but we will make it work.

April Fool's

Today is April 5. It is snowing again. It has snowed every single day of this month so far. I am so over the snow. I want it to warm up already.

In other news...On April 1, Campbell started track practice. I can't wait for her meets. The first two races she has to run the mile. The last meet she can choose between the 400m and the 800m. Can't wait to see how she does.

Hopefully it won't be snowing on those days.

Snow Shoeing

BLizzard 2009

Just a couple of months before we moved to Colorado, this section of the country was hit with a blizzard. The remnants of that blizzard were still on the ground when we arrived two months after the fact. This led Campbell to believe that she would get to see a blizzard.

She had read about these blizzards in her story books. She thought it would be great and exciting to live through one of these tremendous storms. Aaron and I were not so much looking forward to these types of storms. Lucky for us, the past two winters have been fairly mild. We have seen our fair share of snow and cold but not a true blizzard. That is until this last Thursday.

The weathermen started predicting the storm on Sunday. They said it would hit Thursday afternoon and last for about 24 hours. Now we all know that weather forecasts aren't always completely accurate. I made sure we had fun things to do during the storm, but didn't really panic about it.

Thursday morning the snow started at about 11 am. I decided to make a quick trip to the craft store. By the time we arrived back at home at 1 pm the wind was also blowing and it was what they call white out conditions. That means that there is no visibility. At this point we were in a blizzard. Campbell went to stay the night with her best friend who lives about 3 blocks from us. The weather was so bad that I would not let her walk over there. I drove her.

Normally Aaron makes the drive home from work in 30 minutes or less. Thursday it took him nearly 2 hours. Along his trip home he was a good samaritan and helped push two vehicles up a hill. He was not dressed for this. He didn't even have gloves with him. He also got to experience 60mph winds blowing his truck on icy roads. He is now researching 4x4's.

That night we listened to the wind blow. We also watched the snow blow into drifts. Thankfully we did not lose power unlike those South of us. The blizzard conditions lasted until about noon on Friday. Then, the sun came out and by 5:00 that evening the roughly 12" of snow we received was about half way melted already.

I grew up in Montana so this does not rank as one of the top worst storms I've been through. However, it was the worst the rest of my family has been through. It was also enough to close down a lot of businesses around the city. Even the military bases here were closed for the day. I would say that since April is right around the corner we won't see much more snow, but this is Colorado.

Prelude to Springs

Yesterday was such a glorious day. It was so sunny and warm. Campbell wore a tank style dress and got a bit of a sunburn! It's not really a burn more just some lovely pink shoulders. We do neet to get the sunscreen out though.

We spent a couple of hours at the zoo. After that Campbell spent the afternoon outside playing with "friends". That's what Caleb calls them. He doesn't care if they have actual names. They are all just called "friend". I had the kitchen window open and it was glorious to hear the sound of the kids playing in the backyard.

I know that it is only March and we are surely in for some more cold weather. But, it is so nice to have this weather. It is suppose to be in the 60's to 70's all this week. We have many walks and trips to the parks planned. This bit of nice weather gives us a glimpse at the spring and summer go come.

Spring is Springing

Yesterday while doing dishes I looked out the kitchen window. Not only did I see a beautiful view of Pike's Peak as usual, but I also a robin in the tree in our back yard. Robins are a sure sign that spring is around the corner. Later in the afternoon I looked in the flower bed in the front yard. To my pure delight I saw the little green leaves of tulips! May favorite flowers are tulips, specifically white tulips. To me they represent a clean, fresh new beginning. They also represent spring. With these two sightings I declared that it was time to get ready for spring.

Back in the fall as I was getting the last of our house unpacked I noticed that one wall in particular was very bare. I went to the store and found some nice sconces but I was missing a picture for that spot. That's when I had a moment of genious. I do get these every now and then. I decided that each season I would have the kids paint a new picture for the spot. I give them each a 8" x 10" canvas and let them go to town. They can use any medium they choose (paint, crayon, oil pastels) and create a picture for the spot.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to do the spring pictures. They both decided they would use paint. They both also wanted the same colors: red, green, and purple. Campbell painted an impressionistic English garden. Caleb painted an impressionistic (is that a real word?) flower. Now the walls are ready for spring.