Back to School

I've been back to school for 2 weeks now.  No kids, just meetings.  Fun, right?  My mom left here on Wednesday, so that was Bridget's first day at her new daycare.  Drop off on the first day was hard, but after that it has been a cinch (knock on wood).  Bridget really enjoys being at school, playing, reading, singing.  Miss Abi has been putting Bridget's hair in cute little pigtails.  She's never let me do it, so I was thrilled.  Here are some pictures of her after her first day of school.

   

Here are some pictures from lsat weekend.  My mom, Bridget and I went shopping at the Park Meadows Mall while Matt painted the house.  Bridget was exhausted after a long day of shopping.

Bridget's new doll is an Angelina Ballerina.  She loves it and calls it Beena.

22 months (belated)

Bridget is now 22 months old and just this week I have noticed her stringing multiple words and thoughts together.  She woke up from her nap yesterday and said "dad?"  I said, "Dad is outside painting the house."  Bridget said, "Dad, paint, outside."  I said, "Yes, it's very hot outside."  She said, "Dad, paint, outside, hot."

AMAZING.

The House- pre-post

Their daughter's room:

Bridget's room now:

Notice Great Grandma Helwig made the curtains, and Grandpa Helwig put in the ceiling fan.  There was no overhead light before.

Bridget's other window- also Great Grandma Helwig's curtains.

Their Dining Room:

Our Dining Room: the wine bottle lamp  is from Great Grandma Helwig.  My dad helped me make the cork shade.  The buffet, hutch, table, and chairs belonged to Matt's great grandparents.  The chairs were reupholstered by my dad.

Their Guest Bedroom:

Our Guest Bedroom:

The old deck- a huge hazard.  Needs to be stripped and stained, no proper step or guard rail, and other issues too.

Our handyman just put up the new rail and fixed other issues.  Matt's planning on stripping and staining it soon.

OK!  That's that for now.  Will post more another day.

Gondola, Caillou, and Alfredo

Here are some videos of the last few days.  We were in Breckenridge yesterday (beautiful and lots to do).  I will post pictures later, but here is some video of us taking the gondola up the mountain.

Bridget didn't really watch TV for the first 18 months of her life.  She is now loving PBS, and calling for Caillou by name.

Here is some video of Bridget eating at the "Blue River Bistro" in Breckenridge.

Buffalo Hunt and Denver Zoo

Grandma & Grandpa Helwig are visiting, so here are some pictures from the last 48 hours.  First, we went 3 miles south of our house to find some buffalo and elk.  We didn't see any, but we took some pictures with the mountains in the background.

This morning we went to the Denver Zoo, which was really quite nice.  We saw a snow leopard leaping from branch to branch trying to get its meal.  That was pretty cool, considering most caged animals just lie around looking pathetic.

Some Videos

Here are some videos of Bridget in our new home.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Here are some pictures from our first hike here.  Beautiful, but I don't want to do this every weekend.

Friends in Colorado

I finally got my new laptop and I LOVE it!  So, I can add lots of pictures to my blog- quickly and easily.  Here are some pictures I've been collecting:

We've been enjoying spending time with Deirdre's aunt, uncle and cousins.  Lian has helped out babysitting Bridget.  Here are some pictures of Bridget and Lian playing at the Doerr's house.

A little over a week ago my student, Ellie, and her family came to visit us as the final stop on their Colorado vacation.  Bridget and I took them to the pool at one of our rec centers.  We finished with pizza at our house.

Here is Ellie, Bridget, and Mandy (our first meal at our dining room table).

Playing with Mandy, Ellie, and Bobby.

Pool Pictures:

Ellie

Mandy

Bobby

For only being in this state a little over a month, we have had lots to keep us busy.  It's been fun!