Aquarium Visit

On Monday, we all went to the aquarium downtown, along with Will's dad and sister, and her family. It was fun! I wasn't sure about it because I'm not a huge fan of zoos and the like (I find them a bit tedious I guess) but I had fun with the kids. We got there a few minutes before everyone else, so we took a little walk and looked for a good place to take a picture of the Denver skyline. It didn't go so well finding a great spot, but it was a fun walk anyway. Someday I'll find just the right place...

So here is a bit of a photo dump from our adventure. Sorry a lot of the pictures from the aquarium are a bit grainy - a place full of water, glass, and sensitive fish is not the best place for flash pictures, so I had to make do with what little light there was (not to mention wiggly kids - tough combo there). Also, getting any pictures of the kid's faces was difficult, they were kind of mesmerized by the fish. Which I didn't mind at all.

After the aquarium, we went out to eat at a little Mexican place close by, and after that we headed home to work on our landscaping. This is the "before" picture.

We've only done a little bit (like taken out a bush or two) but we have big plans. They're going to take a while, so don't get too anxious to see it. ;)

My current decorating dilemma.

What color to paint the door? Black, light teal (not the turquoise that is slapped on there, much much lighter), something else? I refuse to do white, I want to do something fun. My living room colors are, or will be, teal and yellow. Eventually the blue couches will be swapped with lighter, smaller furniture, but that won't happen for a while. The door is probably going to have some sort of sheer curtain on it, too...

PS Isn't my drum shade chandelier awesome? It's a hundred times better than the old glass thing we had.

Ben's Birthday

I am so excited my little guy is 2! He...

- Is learning new words every single day, and he's starting to put a couple of words together.
- Sleeps well at night and *usually* takes a 2-3 hour nap. It's lovely to have a child that still naps at 2. Hopefully we can keep it going for a while yet.
- Started potty training a little bit and he's doing great, but not quite ready to give up diapers, which is totally fine with me. I'm really happy with the progress he's already made.
- Makes a ridiculously loud squealing noise when he's mad and it makes everyone cringe.
- Loves to give people hugs and kisses.
- Is very good at jumping, climbing, and balancing. When he runs it's more like he's skipping, and his tongue is almost always hanging out when he does it. It's hilarious!
- Loves to play with balls, trucks, cars, and trains, and anything with water, dirt, or sand (or all three).
- Is pretty much always dirty. Whether it's food, dirt, or some other substance ;), he is always dirty.
- Can count to three, and say a lot of the alphabet, but not in order!
- Has really started with the tantrums, but luckily for me they're usually very short-lived. He's really good when I reason with him and often seems to understand when I tell him it's not okay to scream at Mommy. (Or Daddy, or Lowes, or the cat, or the toy, etc.) But his favorite word is still "NO!!!"
- Knows the colors blue, yellow, and green, and gets REALLY excited about anything yellow.

This kid cracks us all up and it's so awesome to have him in our family!

His backhoe toy plays a song when you push a button, and every time he hears it he jumps up and down in circles.

I made him a train cake!! It was a pain, but it turned out okay. I never feel like I'm very good at making cakes, but that's alright ;) If you've ever tried it's REALLY hard to frost cut sides of a cake...unless you do it right, which apparently I did not...but I managed I guess. It was just a lot harder than I think it could have been.

                                                                                                            Cake zombie!