Halloween and stuff

There is a lot to do in Walden for Halloween! On Thursday we worked at the day care and we took all the kids over to the "big school" for the elementary school parade. We all dressed in costumes and bundled up to make the one block trek in the 17 degree cold. We got to walk with the preschool and pose for pictures in front of all the parents. On Friday we got to go trick-or-treating downtown to the courthouse, The Moose restaurant, the post office, the library and the bank. Our first stop was pretty chaotic as it took me about 10 minutes to talk the girls into putting their first piece of candy back into their baskets so we could go get more. We also got 2 half dollars at the bank. It was also freezing this morning, about 22 degrees, so we headed back home as soon as possible. Saturday morning we carved pumpkins, then watched the Gators stomp Georgia, and then went trick-or-treating that evening. We had planned on only going to 3 or 4 houses but the girls loved it and Linnaea kept asking to go to the next house. They were really good at saying "trick or treat!" and "thank you!"


Linnaea with her pink fingernails. She talked about having her nails painted for several weeks.





Doing acrobats on the closet bar.





I think it was Elise's idea to go upside down.





But Linnaea never shies away from a challenge!





This is where Daddy lays when he talks to Grandma and Grandpa, so Linnaea is doing a perfect imitation.





Linnaea demonstrates a scary face so I can carve it on the pumpkin.





Making pumpkin number one some ears.





Linnaea touches pumpkin number one.





Linnaea cleans out pumpkin number two. Elise would not dare to stick her hand inside.





The finished product.





Elise enjoys a "popsicle" from Grandma and Grandpa.





Linnaea eats her own.





Elise practices trick-or-treating with her "Elmo pumpkin."





This is the worst picture EVER but I had to include it as it was the only one of Elise in her costume.





Ditto about this picture. Really bad but our only choice.

The Funnest of Times

I am really loving being a mom of twins as Elise and Linnaea talk more and more. And the most fun is to hear them talk to each other. I can stand in the next room and listen to them have conversations and just smile to myself. One day they were eating some chips and Elise stated that Mommy likes chips. Linnaea, ever the bossy toddler, immediately corrected her by saying "No Elise. Mommy doesn't like chips. Only Daddy likes chips." Just now I'm overhearing Linnaea ask Elise for recipe ingredients. This is what I'm hearing: "Do you have any garlic?" "No." "Do you have any paper?" "No." And this past week we were all at the dinner table and Elise was trying to tell us something that sounded like octopus at the end of the sentence. Kevin and I both had to say "What?" two or three times, when finally Linnaea chimed in with "She's saying octopus!" Even though we still didn't understand (they both told us NO, they were NOT saying octopus), at least they understand each other!



At the wildlife refuge again. They have now mastered walking around the entire mile-long trail without having to be carried. This past visit Linnaea got to hold Taffy's leash for the first 1/2 mile and Elise got it next. You might imagine that Taffy wasn't too happy about this arrangement, but she was a good sport.





Can you see the moose? This cow and calf were giving us the stare down. Cows (females) are typically the most aggressive of moose, especially if there is a calf nearby. Just after this we saw a bull (male) and he only gave us a 5 second glance and continued on his merry way.





Elise hurt her nose and insisted on putting this bandaid on herself. We go through about 6 or 8 bandaids a day.





Elise sports the hood from Daddy's big down coat. She put on this attire to head out to the library.





When Daddy cooks, he likes to have a towel over his shoulder. Our two little sponges noticed this and wanted one of their own so they could "help."

SNOW!

Here in Walden we prefer to skip the fall and go straight into winter. When they forecasted snow for today I was actually excited, but I didn't think we'd really get any. I thought we'd have to drive about 25 minutes up to Cameron Pass to let the girls play. But when we woke up this morning we had about 3 inches on the ground! When I told Elise and Linnaea that we had snow last night, they ran out of their room like it was Christmas morning. They were SO excited. We scarfed our breakfast and ran out to play (well, after we located all of our gloves, hats, and snow boots that we played with all summer so they were all over the house).








Elise tries to catch a snowflake on her tongue.





Linnaea gets a ride in the sled. They actually pulled this sled out of the garage last week and were using it as a "boat."





Mommy gets talked into giving a double ride.





Elise was smiling the whole time outside.





What's a snowy day without hot chocolate? Linnaea says "I blow it."





Elise enjoys her hot chocolate.





On a separate note, we switched the girls to toddler beds last week, which just means we took the front part off of their cribs. The nights have been going very well, but naps have been horrible. They are constantly out of their beds playing with clothes, swinging on the bar in their closet, and stuffing things into the diaper pail. At first Elise kept ending up sleeping on the floor, but she has stopped doing that now.

Linnaea models her new striped sweater and corduroys from Grandma Kitty. She insisted on wearing this outfit every day that week.





Unfortunately the order was messed up and they did not have a striped sweater in Elise's size. She was pretty upset about that but made due with this shirt.





No, Elise (on the right) will not let me cut her hair so we are growing her bangs out. Most days she is agreeable enough to let me put a ponytail on top of her head to keep the hair out of her eyes.





Going to the child center with our backpacks and lunchboxes.





Linnaea walking to the park/child center.





Elise walking to the park/child center.





Elise paints at the child center.





Linnaea paints at the child center. She insisted on wearing that costume for painting.





We took a trip to Fort Collins this past weekend and got to visit some of our favorite parks. Elise rides the old car.





This park had a great rock feature to climb on. Linnaea got to the top and says "Ta da!"





This is a little teacup that Elise likes to ride in. It spins around pretty fast.





We also got to ride on the trolley. The whole thing was a fiasco but we finally got on and really enjoyed our ride.





Our new flip flops courtesy of Old Navy clearance. This was also a fiasco, since they only had one pair of polka dot flip flops in the whole store, so after Linnaea claimed them as hers, Elise was very unhappy and would not leave the store until I finally found these pair of flowered ones and talked her into wearing them. Then they wouldn't take them off for the whole weekend, which was pretty annoying since they can't walk fast in them and they fall off every time we get in or out of the car. Talk about getting on Mom's nerves!





Since my nerves were pretty much shot from the flip flops and shopping all over Fort Collins with two 2 year olds, I talked Kevin into letting me go for a hike today. I hiked up to Lake Katherine and thoroughly enjoyed it.





This is coming back down from the lake.

End of Summer

The summer has really flown by for us! It seems like just yesterday we were yearning for the warm weather and now we are already getting a taste of fall. We got to go camping last weekend, and again went up to the Vedauwoo Recreation Area in southern Wyoming. It was even easier than the first time we went, with no temper tantrums from Linnaea. We decided to go up in the morning and skip the girls' nap so they'd be tired by bedtime. Unfortunately it started to rain, so we hopped in the car to take a ride and the girls both fell asleep in about 3 minutes. So we let them nap for an hour while we listened to the radio and waited for the rain to clear up, which it did and became beautiful. We hiked a little bit, but Elise and Linnaea just liked running around our campsite the most. However, because of the late nap, we ended up staying awake much later than Mom and Dad would have liked. The next morning the rain came in pretty early so we packed up and left. We hope to go one more time before it gets super cold up here.

I also got a new part time job. I am working at the North Park Family and Child Center, which is the day care Elise and Linnaea go to. Now they get to come with me almost for free and I have been enjoying the time I spend there. It was rough at first, with Linnaea throwing a few good tantrums the first few days. But Thursday and Friday were much better and I am looking forward to working there this winter.






We took a bike ride yesterday. This is us heading west back into town.





Our new (well, used) bike trailer. Behind us are the mountains to the east of us.





Drinking milk while camping.





Taffy loves our camping trips, too.





A picture of our very short hike.





It was pretty cold that weekend, about 54 degrees while it was raining.





Elise conked out in the car.

More Summertime

Well, I feel like the summer is flying by, and I guess it is since we only have about 2 months of it. Only one more month left! We have been so busy that I didn't even realize how many photos I was collecting on my camera. So here are a BUNCH.

We tried to go on our first hike a few weeks ago, but it was quite a challenge. The trail was pretty steep so it took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to walk about 3/4 of a mile. We also tried a short hike in Steamboat Springs which was much easier but still difficult to get the girls to walk the whole way. The trail was probably only a half mile or so.

Last week we all had the stomach flu but thankfully it was WAY less severe than the first time we all got it, when we passed it along to Kevin's whole family the week of his sister's wedding. The girls and I were feeling well enough to drive down to Hot Sulphur Springs and meet Auntie Joanie, Wendy, and Cindy and cousin Riss. The girls had a BLAST. They did NOT want to leave. At the resort they had 22 hot pools, 4 of which were open to kids. The girls loved them because they were only about chest deep for them so they could easily walk around. That same day our best friends Jonathan and Lisa came up from the Denver area. They have been living in Vietnam for the past year and are going back for another year or so. Lisa and I went for an awesome hike up to Rainbow Lake (we forgot our camera for that one) and squeezed in a couple of early morning runs. Kevin and Jonathan got to go mountain biking over on Buffalo Pass and they said they got their butts kicked by the mountain. We also went out to the Wildlife Refuge and saw 3 moose very closely, a lot closer than was comfortable so we had to head back to the car. Other than that we did a LOT of eating and cooking.

As far as development goes, Linnaea has learned how to say "I want ...", which is quite helpful for now as she can tell me when she wants something. Elise has come as far as saying "I ..." as in "I grapes" to tell me she wants grapes, so "I want" is just around the corner.

We also got a bike trailer to attach to my bike for the girls to ride around in. They love it! I'll have to get a picture soon.



Kevin and Elise on our hike to Zimmerman Lake (although we never made it to the top since it took so long).





There were still quite a few snow drifts towards the lake and the girls were so excited.





One of the views from the trail.





Linnaea playing in more snow.





A few weeks ago Elise had an obsession with lotions and she needed the bottles with her at all times.





Playing in the sprinkler. Keep in mind that the water out of the tap is darn cold, even in the summer. It's a great thing when you want a cold glass of water but not so great when you want to play in the sprinkler.





Linnaea warms up with Daddy.





Elise finally gets dried off.





I told you it was cold!





Our first popsicles.





With cousin Riss and Auntie Joanie at the hot springs.





The water was soooooo warm.





Eatin' lunch. Those Blasingames know how to picnic!





Playing with the lady bug and our new friend, Olivia.





The inflatable animals Jonathan and Lisa brought from Vietnam.





Mmmmm....pumpkin ravioli.





Chillin' out with Lisa in the backyard.





Elise wearing Jonathan's bug glasses.





Our hike to Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs (thanks for the suggestion Jen and Colby!).





Where did that chipmunk go?

ABCs

This was recorded about a month ago. They've gotten a little better and don't leave out many letters now, and now Linnaea can sing the part at the end (Now I've said my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me).