HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I will be cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner ever today. Wish me luck with the turkey! It seems very foolproof and simple, it has a pop up button and cooks in a bag. I do plan on using the thermometer just in case though.

Zoo

I took Noelle and A (the little girl I nanny for) to the Denver Zoo on Tuesday. I couldn't pass up the great weather! A has only been walking for a few weeks so we haven't done outings yet except walking to the park. Now that she is walking we can do all kinds of things easily. I had no expectations for the zoo except to have fun and enjoy the warmth. (I am not of the attitude that we have to see certain things or get all the way around the circle.) As I expected the girls really just wanted to walk around, not look at the animals so much. They both did enjoy the duck pond by Tropical Discovery though. We probably spent close to a 1/2 hour there. One thing we did get to see was the big daddy lion. He had his nose right up to the glass and was just staring at us and licking his lips (I think he had just finished getting all the meat off a bone). Noelle was amazed by his huge tongue!! We also saw the giraffes and zebras, both of which Noelle requested. I am so glad we took advantage of the 78 degree day, since it was in the 30's 2 days later!

(A is so sweet and adorable, but I have decided not to list her name or put any pics up of her since I have not asked her mommy or daddy if I can.)

She is signing "duck".

She found these sticks and carried them around for a while as her treasure.

The Many EYES Of Noelle

Our little way of making patching fun. (Justin can be credited with the drawings, when I do it it just looks silly.)

we HAD snow....

for a few hours anyway. We woke up Friday morning to snow on the ground and more coming down. Adam was SOOO excited!! The weatherman said we were going to get snow a couple other times and it never happened, much to Adam's disappointment. Justin nor I had any clue we were going to get snow this time so it was a complete surprise to all of us in the morning. I took the kids out at about 10am to play before we had to go to an appointment. I'm glad I didn't put it off because when we came home about 11:30am the only snow left was a very small mound where someone had piled it up before we made it outside. Adam had a blast throwing snowballs at Noelle and I. Noelle took at least 10 minutes to be okay with the snow and cold, and even after that she was only tolerating it.

Dentist Visit

The kids went to the dentist Saturday morning for cleanings and exams. Adam has been to the dentist several times since he turned 1 and has always enjoyed it and done a great job. This was Noelle's first visit so we had very low expectations. We had Adam go first so she could watch him and hopefully like it because Adam does (usually that's all it takes for her to like something). She really surprised us by being very excited for her turn. We all had to leave the exam area when Adam had his x-rays and she was telling us "clean my teeth" the whole time. She let them do a cleaning and exam!! We were very proud of her!

One Bed!!

Okay, I guess really it is 2, but they go together. Noelle has been sleeping in the bottom bed for a week and a half now!! We are so proud of her and excited to no longer have the playpen set up. She gets out of bed to get books but has fallen asleep in bed every time. YAY!!

We actually had to trick Adam into sleeping up top the first night, but then he loved it!!

We have a stool, but Noelle seems to prefer to use the toy box to get into bed.

Patching

Noelle's left eye is starting to turn in again. We are trying patching her every day for an hour or so in case it is being lazy, which we hope is the case. If the muscle is getting tight again then the patching will not help. The first day did NOT go well. She was very mad at me for putting it on her, even though she sat very nicely and even closed her eye for me while I actually put it on. As I was trying to get a picture she kept putting her face in the floor and then ran into a corner so I couldn't see her face. She is normally very clumsy (of which I believe is partly due to her eyes), but with the patch on it is way worse. She runs into the corners of things and even ended up with a little gash on her forehead. Poor kid, I'm sure she will get used to it soon enough.

Precious

We very rarely see these two so sweet together. This was from the photo booth at the Zoo.

Halloween

We had a really fun day on Friday. First Stef, Steve, and I took the kids over to the Children's Museum of Denver for the Trick or Treat Street they had. The kids got to do some trick or treating, craft, and games. They rode on a kid train that drives around on the plaza and then we all took a short ride on the trolley that runs along the South Platt. We had a good time, although I had expected there to be a little bit more to do than there was. Afterwards we all went to dinner at Jay's along with a few more adults and kids. Then it was off to the Cordova house for real Trick or Treating. In past years we have taken Adam to a max of 10 houses, but it was so nice out we stayed out for an hour and a half. There were about 12 of us, but only 5 were kids. We had such a great time getting to visit and walk around. Adam was actually in short sleeves with NO coat.

I don't actually have any pictures from Friday because I forgot my camera, and of course Stef didn't have hers either. I guess it's a good thing we took pics at the zoo! I really hope Adam remembers this Halloween since he will probably never have such a warm one again.