Alyssa's Christmas program

Alyssa's school had a super cute Christmas program.  They were learning about Christmas and other December holidays around the world and they sang songs and talked about each country in the program.  Alyssa had a short line that she said perfectly and of course, she was very animated on stage.

Santa Train

A few days before Christmas we went on a santa train ride on the cog railway up Pike's Peak. The train took us a few miles up and dropped us off at the "North Pole" so the kids could talk to Santa. It was fun and the kids enjoyed it.

Santa talked to the kids for a while, he was really nice.  Carly just kept looking at him and touching his beard:)

We had hot cocoa and cookies and then headed back down, singing carols all the way!

Miracle for microfiber

When we bought our couch 6 years ago, before we had kids, the salesman raved about how great microfiber was for kids.  He claimed it was stain resistant and so easy to clean.  Our couch looked great for about 6 months.  Then we had a baby who projectile vomited for her first 9 months.  I would clean up the mess but it would always leave water spots that were bigger and worse than the intial spot.  Then we had sippy cup spills, potty accidents, etc.  The couch was disgusting.  It really was "clean", I cleaned all the spills but the soap and water left marks that made it look nasty.  Before we moved here I tried to clean it with the baby wipe method. It worked ok, but was very time intensive.  I scrubbed the stains with a baby wipe and then dried it with a blow dryer. This method is really only for a few small spots, not the whole couch.  So it looked ok for a while and then we had more spills and I eventually just put cover on it, not to protect it, but to hide the embarassing stains.  I washed the covers last week and had to look at my nasty couch and decided I had to try to do something with it, or I needed to chuck it and get a new couch.  Getting a new couch probably isn't the best idea considering we have 2 kids under three.  So, I found this link on pinterest and figured I had nothing to lose.  It says to saturate your couch with rubbing alcohol, scrub it with a sponge, let it dry and fluff with a brush.  So I bought a ton of rubbing alcohol and set to work.  It took a lot of scrubbing, and I had to redo it a couple times, but it actually worked!  The alcohol smell was pretty intense, but once it dries you can't smell it at all.

 

I'm a little embarassed to post the before pictures.  It was so gross!  But, it worked so well I have to share, especially if it saves someone a $300 cleaning fee or a new couch!

 

I really can't believe it worked so well.  This couch hasn't looked this good in years. It looks so fresh and clean, and no water spots! And, it should be good and sanitized too, with the amount of rubbing alcohol I used:)

Alyssa's Birthday Party

Alyssa had her birthday party at Stars gymnastics. She has been taking classes there this fall and this seemed like the perfect party for her. She had a great time! She invited all the girls in her class and a couple neighbors. They played for an hour and then had cake and presents.

 

                                                              They loved the pit!

                                                                
                                                                      Rope swing

                                                               
                                                                  Mason had fun too!

                                                     
                                                           Playing duck, duck, goose.

 

                                            
                                               Great party and no clean up for me, love it!

Carly {8 months}

 Carly is 8 months old! She has been a little mover this month.  She still does the army crawl, but she is getting faster and can get pretty much where ever she want to go.

 

She has been a great eater until this week.  She got a stomach bug and she must still feel sick because she is hardly eating or drinking anything. Hopefully she will feel better soon.  She still doesn't sleep throught the night. Sickness and teething doesn't help.

 

 She pulls up on everything! She is starting to get into trouble...she loves Rugby's food and water, pulling down the speakers, climbing up on the fireplace, getting into pots and pans.  It's fun to watch her explore.  It is so hard to baby proof with two other kids toys everywhere! She is very interested in what her brother and sister are doing and she is starting to get into their stuff and bother them a bit.  They are going to have another sibling to start sharing with :)  Carly is so happy and laid back most of the time.  She is just along for the ride where ever we go and she makes it pretty easy on Mommy.

                                                 My sweet beauty, I love you so much!

Weekend

 

Friday went to the Space Foundation with Alyssa's school.  We learned a little about space, saw a cool presentation on a 6" sphere, met an astronaut, and did some activities and crafts.  It was a fun girls night out. 

 

 

                                                                    She's a satellite

 

 On Saturday Alyssa was in the Festival of Lights parade with her Girl Scout troop.  I couldn't go because Mason was sick, so I didn't get any pictures of her on the float.  But she had fun dressed up as a cute litle elf:)

 Little Miss Carly is pulling up all over the place these days. These pictures are from almost a month ago, so she is a pro now.

The rest of the weekend

 

 

The rest of our Thanksgiving weekend was fun. We definitely enjoyed having Nate home for 4 days. We had some friends over for breakfast on Saturday morning. Carly and Kash are just about a month apart.  It's cute to see them together. I'm bummed I didn't get any pictues of the adults :(

 

Then we started putting up all the Christmas decorations.  The kids had fun and were somewhat helpful this year.  Nate was able to get one string of lights on outside so our house wouldn't be completely dark next to the neighbors.

 

Then we headed down to the Broadmoor for the Christmas tree lighting.  I went once as a kid, but haven't really been down there at Christmas much.  It was crowded, but it was warm and fun to see the lights.  Our kids are a little spoiled from living next to two decked out houses and they weren't as impressed as I thought they'd be.  The big show is in our front yard every night!

 

Happy Birthday, Alyssa!

                                                  
                  Thanksgiving was also a very special day for a certain little girl who turned 6!

                                                     HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALYSSA!!

 

Alyssa had two little family parties on Thanksgiving day.  It's pretty special that her birthday falls on Thanksgiving some years, and it's her own day most years. 

She got and American Girl doll that was mine when I was little.  She was very excited when she opened it up.  We told her she had to be careful with her doll and take good care of her.  She has definitely taken it to heart and has her on her dresser in a "safe" place.  But I don't think she has actually played with her.  This kid just doesn't play with traditional toys. Oh well, at least  I don't have to worry about her ruining my old doll at this point.

She requested a pumpkin pie for her birthday cake at Grammy and PopPop's.  No pictures of that.

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl!  Can't believe you are 6!  I think I say that every year, but every year flies by faster than the last!

Thanksgiving Day

 We started Thanksgiving day at my parents house.  It was such a gorgeous day!  We went to the park and played football.  Alyssa was really into it.  Mason prefered the playground. 

                           This is the best group shot, except for Carly.  She is very unhappy.

 

 

In the afternoon we headed over to Nate's parents for dinner.  We had a real kids table this year!  They were so cute and they all sat so well for the whole meal.

 

 

 

We had a great day with all our family.  We are grateful for the opportunity to be with our family for all the holidays the last 2 1/2 years.  We don't know where we will be next year and if we will be with any family for the holidays, but we are thankful to be here now!

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Tea Party

 A couple days before Thanksgiving we had a tea party.  We all love going to tea, but its hard with two little ones, so I thought we would do one at home.  I made the best vanilla bean scones.  We had chicken salad sandwiches, cuncumber sandwiches, coconut macaroons, lemon bars and the cute little oreo turkeys Alyssa and I made.

 It was really fun, but it's quite a bit of work to prepare.  We will have to make this a yearly tradition!

                                                    Love that all my kids are smiling!