The Sandbox

Or beach as we call it around here! We had a lovely pond in our backyard when we bought the house. Two big reasons to get rid of the pond.. 1.) Caroline was always trying to jump in it and 2.) the dogs were getting sick from drinking out of it.

So, my mom, who always has the brilliant ideas, thought to put a sandbox over the pond.

We found some amazing landscapers who did just that! They wheeled mountains and mountains of sand in with a wheelbarrow down the steep steps into the backyard, bless their hearts!

It is literally 8 feet by 12 feet! Giant! And worth every penny...

My kids literally play in it for at least 2 hours a day. On 4th of July we had about 12 kiddos in there comfortably with room to spare and having a ball!

There is sand all over my house, but completely and totally worth it!

A couple pictures of our beach and one of our amazing view from the backyard!

Don't have a heart attack..

but I am actually posting again.. I won't make promises like my last post (2 years ago..) that said I was going to do this more regularly.. but I will try!!

My kids look a little different than in our last post.. (just a tad!)

Oh, and yes, we moved to Denver!

I truly, honestly, love it here. It's beautiful, it's cool, our neighborhood is amazing.. there is so much to do. It's really wonderful! I am always a Texas girl at heart, but I love the idea of raising my children here.

Our summer has been awesome and we never take for granted that we can sit out on our back deck at 6:00 and always feel a cool breeze... still a shock to us!

Our summer has consisted of swim and gym...the kids have swim team lessons every morning at the neighborhood pool (just a good ol' fashioned one) and then we head to Lifetime fitness where mommy works out and those wonderful people watch the kiddos!

Here are a few pictures of our summer so far!

So ready for spring!

Let's see.. February was the month of sickness at our house. Can't say that I was sorry to see it come to an end. Just for a little rundown for whoever is keeping tally, our house endured pink eye galore, stomach bug galore, pneumonia (with an ER visit!!), bronchitis, ear infections, coughs, runny noses, and probably some strep thrown in for good measure (not diagnosed but who cares? we were on mega antibiotics anyways!).

Craziness!!

Soooooo incredibly happy to have some warm weather and on our way to healthiness!

Sean and I did manage to sneak away for one night to San Antonio thanks to Mimi and Grampy and have a great dinner and just some down time. I even slept in and ordered room service! Very nice! And we apologize for then inflicting our illness on those sweet people!

Kiddo updates:

Caroline is talking up a storm!! Can't ever get her to be quiet (that's how I knew she was sick.. not talking). She pretty much just narrates her whole day for whoever is listening!

She loves the park and still loves her brothers.. turning into a little mom.. makes sure they have their sippy cups and other necessities. She's their little slave girl and very happy to do so!

The boys are in store for some big changes soon I think... About to turn 3 and soon to move to big boy beds.. Yep, that's right.. still in cribs! they have never tried to get out and this tired mom and dad felt no need to rock the boat. But, it's probably time. I figure CPS might come out if they are still in cribs at 5?? We are going to have to strip down the room to ensure that two curious little boys don't get into anything!

And.. I think we might be on the verge of potty training.. Collin is not wanting to wear wet or poopy diapers and they are starting to get interested. Oh Lord help me!! I will be ecstatic to have someone out of diapers, but honestly dreading the process!

Jack has informed us that we are having a fire truck birthday party so mom needs to do some checking on that and I think a swingset for the backyard is in their future.

Here's to more sunshine around here!! Thank you God!!

And P.S. I know I don't have many pictures of Collin on here, but man, that kid is hard to get a picture of! Never stops moving!!

Doing better at blogging..

It hasn't been 3 months this time! We have had some good times at the Scanlan household.. My mom and Barry were here for a visit, we had some beautiful snow, and Sean and I got to get away for a night to San Antonio (thank you Mimi and Grampy!). We also had a little setback with some sickness, but I think we are on the mend now! And I pretty much think we got everything at once, so hopefully we are done (think pink eye, bronchitis, ear infections, coughs, snotty noses, stomach bug, you name it!)

Here are some pics from our trip to the Dallas Children's Museum.. loved the place and kids had the best time!

yes, it's been 3 months

So, apparently when I said I would catch up with my blogging, I lied. Let's see, what have we done since Nov. 22??

Awesome Christmas (white and everything) with the Owen clan.. the boys are now officially Claire and Katie's biggest fans. Did not make it to midnight on New Year's Eve again for the at least 4th year in a row! Boys were very happy to go back to school, as was their mama. Sean and I got a new mattess which appears to have alleviated any backaches for me.. thank goodness!

Miss Caroline is still torturing her brothers endlessly.. she was also dedicated at church and is talking up a storm. The other morning she told me "I need shoes" 16 months and using sentences still floors me! Girls...

Here's a few pictures just so we can remember what they still look like!

not my girly girl

pushing the lawnmower (not sure how she wrestled it away from Collin)


In her Longhorn gear!!



I do my best to make her girly.. I love that hat!

So, my mother is loving that my sweet little girl is definitely not a prissy little girly girl. My mom was not a girly girl and I was the most girly girl as a child, and my daughter proves to be the opposite. Of course, all she has to model and worship are two boys, so I guess that is to be expected. She can definitely hold her own against the boys and loves to tackle them... she's not afraid to take something away from them and then run like the wind! She says "mine" and "lawnmower" and makes good truck noises. She prefers to play with lawnmowers, weedeaters, trains, trucks.. baby dolls are for the birds!! I'm still putting her in dresses though and attempting bows in her hair.. .

zoo fun!

So, I'm still catching up.. we'll get there eventually... In September , (yes, I realize it's November).. Granny and Pop-pop came to visit for almost 2 weeks.. we had a blast! The boys learned how to throw balls from pop-pop, we went to the zoo and the arboretum, we ate lots of mexican food and just hung out! The boys were so sad when they left. These are pictures from the Ft. Worth zoo, which was so awesome! We will be back alot in the spring and summer.. the highlights were definitely the train ride, stagecoach, and the otters.. I think the boys watched the otters swimming for at least 20 minutes!