Flying the friendly skies

Last Christmas I purchased a stellar gift for Casey - a helicoptor ride!  It was a livingsocial deal that I couldn't pass up.  We had a ride scheduled in April and August, but both were cancelled due to weather.  Finally we were able to get on the schedule for November and nothing got in the way!  Colorado Heli-Ops was awesome - their staff was so friendly and they made the whole experience really awesome!

 

Uncle Jon came over to hang out with Milo while we took Ian along for the ride.  I was nervous that ian might get scared and not want to ride in the helicopter, but he was all in!  And so patient...it took some time for them to get everything ready, so Daddy and Ian got to check out the flight simulator while we waited.  I am not sure who enjoyed it more - Ian or Daddy:)

Here is a quick video of our ride:

Photos from our day:

 

We love to take pictures of people taking pictures - ha ha!

 It was a gorgeous day to fly.  The Flatirons were beautiful!

This was my view the first time I looked straight down.  Wow.

 

Casey and I both got the aerial view of our employers.  Pretty cool to see.

Folsom Field and the University of Colorado - Boulder

Level 3 Communications

 

Off in the distance, if you look close, you can see downtown Denver

 Ian gave him stamp of approval once we landed.  I was surprised to find out it wasn't as loud as I thought it was going to be.  It was pretty cool to be able to hear everything going on - I didn't know we would be able to hear the tower and various pilots communicating.  I picked up a couple of buzz words to throw around the next time I am hangin' at the airport - ha!  It was so much fun and an experience we will never forget!  Thanks livingsocial and Colorado Heli-Ops!

After the ride, we had to rush home and continue cleaning house.  We had to get ready for Grammi and Grandpa Andrews to arrive.  They were set to arrive the next day and we were in no shape for house guests.  It didn't take long to get stuff cleaned up and then we had some time Saturday night to relax.  Ian has been talking about Thanksgiving at school and he even made this awesome headpiece.  I call him Chief Stealmyheart:)



Our company arrived and we had a house full of guests over the holiday.  We had a wonderful time and I will post about that soon.  I had to get this post out before I fell too far behind. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

I heart catalogs!

It's that time of year!  I rush to my mailbox to see what new catalogs I got today.  I rarely buy from a catalog, actually I can't recall the last time I did make a purchase from a catalog.  But I LOVE to browse them.  I mean, how cute are these personalized pillows from Red Envelope?  The cutest!  I will get my money's worth from my recycling bin over the next couple of months for sure.  I know I could go paperless and look at all of this stuff online, but there is just something about a magazine - the touch, the sound...so much better than the online experience. 

Gettin' rowdy up in here!  My boys are the best entertainment in the world and I love that they are starting to play with each other a lot more.  Here are a few (not so good) pictures I took of them playing in their room last night.  I am probably going to jinx myself, but I can't believe that Milo has not climbed out of his crib yet. He loves being on the big boy bed.  I am thinking it won't be long until bunk beds are in force.  Ian decided he wanted to play the "baby" so he put all his blankets and pillow in Milo's crib.  Too funny those little men are!  They make me so happy:)



Our own little bounce house

It was a fairly quiet weekend for us. It would have been better if we could end this cycle of sickness - I am SO over the runny noses, coughs, sneezes, and it is only the beginning of cold season. It was a beautiful weekend, but very windy. Probably worked out for the best because we have a lot of housecleaning/organizing to do before our guests arrive next week.

Ian and Milo are starting to play together more and more.  I can think of no better sound than their laughter echoing throughout the house.  Granted, that laughter is often followed by cries or tattling screams indicating some wrong doing by the younger sibling who can't speak for himself, but for the most part they have fun and are so caring, kind, and loving toward each other.  We are so blessed!

Ian's love of boxes seems to never end.  He lets his imagination run wild and I think it is awesome. 

Milo has learned that he can disrobe himself and his favorite time to do it is at the dinner table. 

Our boys are the best - they keep us moving, laughing, exhausted, excited, and most importantly...smiling!

Next week we will be adding 6 more live bodies to our household.  Grammy and Grandpa Wisconsin are arriving on Sunday and Aunt Megan, Taylor, Ethan and Christopher will arrive on Tuesday.  We are so excited!  We unearthed the air mattress and figured the best way to make sure it would be suitable for our guests is to give it the kid test first.  The Courtney girls came over Sunday for a play date (complete with delicious blue Rice Krispie treats!) and helped the boys give a thorough test!  Heck - even I love running across the room and jumping onto it so I can only imagine how much fun it is for all of them.  The big kids did a great job of watching out for the little ones too.  Such fun! 

 

We've got a walker!

It's official - Milo is mobile on two legs!  He had been preferring the speediness of all fours, but yesterday he started reaping the full benefits of being on two legs.  While exciting, this is such a challenging time for me because he only wants to be down and exploring.  I can't blame him, but my oh my - the tantrums when I have to redirect him.  That boy has some lungs! 

No major plans on our plate this weekend and that turned out to be a good thing because we had more sickness.  Ugh!  I wasn't feeling the best on Saturday, but Casey got hit the hardest yesterday.  We had planned on a play date with the Courtney's at our place in the afternoon, but illness struck so we made a last minute change to our plans. 

Kate had a fabulous idea - we packed up the kids and met at the WOW! Children's Musem.  Everyone had a lot of fun - it allowed Kate and I to catch up with each other and Casey to get some rest in a quiet house.  The last time we were at the museum was to celebrate Ella's 3rd birthday, so Ian was psyched to go back and I was (as always) amazed by how much he remembered about it. 

 Milo's fascination with doors continues.  He loves to open and close them - which always makes me nervous for the ever-pending finger pinch!

Ian doing his "Dorothy" impersonation - "Look, Mommy.  I am caught in the cyclone like Dorothy!"  Tee hee.

Milo is holding the mirror while Ella practices her "These boots are made for walkin'" dance.  Little heartbreaker!

Driving Miss Ava - Mr. Milo was eager to chauffeur her all around town in his car. 

My piano man!

Milo was busy dancing with himself.  He was enthralled by his dance partner and couldn't believe how they were able to keep up with his mad moves:)

Lastly, we had an attack over the weekend.  Everyone is okay, well...except for Mr. Pumpkin.  The squirrels loved him!

H is for Halloween

We attended the annual Halloween parade in downtown Longmont last Saturday.  Last year was the first time we had gone and it was so much fun.  I am always amazed by how many people turn out for it - seems like the whole town!  Poor Ava was sick, but everyone else got to join in on the parade fun. 

Gone are the days of the homemade costumes (at least for now).  I have so much on my plate, but it is also a lot easier to make a homemade costume for one and we all know you can't make a homemade costume for one and not the other or you just end up being the bad Mom who favors one over the other.  So, affordable, gently used costumes for both it is!

Ian was a dragon - he wore this costume several times before the parade, but for the life of me I could not get him to wear the dragon head during the parade.  Choose your battles, right?  He did have the dragon roar down pat though!

I thought for sure Milo would be the one fighting the hood because he won't wear anything on his head - ever.  He surprised me though!  Milo was a whoopie cushion!!  I will miss the days when I can no longer dress my kids the way I want to, so for now I shall revel in it.  A lot of people gave me crap for dressing him in pink, but my response to that was...a whoopie cushion is pink!  He had to wear pink or otherwise he would have looked like a wannabe whoopie cushion.  Right?  He is cute enough (and secure enough in his manhood - ha!) to pull it off and if this is the only embarrassing photo I get of him through the years then I would consider him a lucky kid. 

 Ian and his favorite cupcake, Ella:)

Our Motley Crew

We strolled Main Street with all the other trick or treaters - kids taking turns in and out of the wagon and adults taking turns pulling the wagons.  We saw several great costumes, but the best by far is the Lego family.  We saw them leaving parade last year, but I wasn't able to get a good photo and it looks like this year they added a new member to their Lego family! 

After the parade, it was time to hit up the downtown merchants for candy.  It was a bit crazy - lots of kids, lots of candy, and lots of skill to navigate those unruly wagons through the crowd!  We had to tell a couple of white lies to make it through the madness.  1.  You can only get candy if you are in the wagon and 2.  You can't open candy until the end because you have to choose your favorite and you can't know your favorite until you have all your candy.  I am sure it is no surprise to learn #2 did not go so well, but I can't really blame them:)

We had a great couple of hours, but needed to head home for naps and quiet time (secretly hoping nap time included Mommies and Daddies!).  Everyone had a blast and we were bummed that Ava had to miss out on all the fun. 

My niece, Peyton, is definitely the cutest witch I ever did see!  Ian kept asking me if she was a good witch or a bad witch.  I confirmed that she was a good witch, but that she could still cast a spell on us if she wanted to so we better behave:) 

 John and Ian were both tired after the parade and needed to hitch a ride!

Unfortunately, the nasty cold started to spread around the Andrews house on Sunday.  By Monday morning, it was in full force and Ian was the first victim.  Bummer!  I knew he truly wasn't feeling well when I told him if he stayed home with Daddy he would not be able to go trick or treating and he stayed in bed and agreed.  What?!  A sure sign of illness.  I didn't want him to miss out on all the Halloween fun (okay, truth is I am a royal procrastinator and just hadn't gotten around to carving the pumpkin yet) so last night we carved our pumpkin.  He helped carve some of it and picked out the shapes for the eyes and nose - in between his duty of passing out candy to the trick or treaters. 

Hoping everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!