Christmas morning in Colorado

Our sweet girls opening stockings before Mass. 

Elsie bug

Our littlest cute-nic is growing fast! She is starting to lean out but continues to grow in lenght; wearing 9-12mo clothes (though still 0-3mo shoes...my girls have such small feet). Her second tooth poked through last week. I can't believe she will be 6 months old soon!

Rejoice! Our Savior is born!

Merry Christmas to all! Love, the Faulkner's

"Christmas" at the Grand's

The girls and I had a lovely visit with Grandma and Grandpa Faulkner last Monday. Eryn arraigned it all and brought cookies for the girls to decorate for a nice Christmas activity. It was great to see them before our trip to Colorado.

We flew out on Wed afternoon and touched down just a little late in a snow storm. My poor mom had to make a scary drive to Denver to pick us up in the Kirkland's Pacifica (third row seat for all three carseats). My dad, who worked a late day, also had to drive to the airport because 3 adults, 3 kids and all our luggage would not fit. It was a long drive to their home in Longmont but the snow had let up. We got here a little after 11pm mountain time. The kiddos did great and we thanked the Lord for getting us all here safe and sound.

I loaded some pictures on my blog before I left so I could do a few posts remotely.  But it may seem a little strange because the pictures will not dictate current events.  Love to all!  ~ Brenda

School preformance

Katya is officially on Christmas break. She had a fun last week with a performance for the parents on Monday, a party (with a visit from Santa) on Wednesday, and a special breakfast in the cafeteria on Friday.

The video below is pretty silly. Everything you would expect from a pre-school preformance. Katya was so great at singing and I could really hear her voice a few times. Listen closely for the shout out to Reagan...it's near the end, shortly after Reagan talks.

Katya, silly Katya

Miss Katya playing in Elsie's room.

Being silly; I captured some lovely natural light haze.

BLUE!

Elsie loves, loves, loves her sister.

We discuss many topics here at the Faulkner houshold. Last night Katya told me that she will not be drinking wine all year (I was drinking a glass) and she does not want to go to college. Ha! Tonight she asked if I went to collage and when I said yes she asked, "And you wanted to be a mommy?" She was a little confused because I was telling her how you can study certain vocations in college, and of course my 'job' is being a mommy. No, no, no. I DID NOT go to school for my MRS!

Our tree at night...

Apparently the blue LED lights dominate. Our tree does not glow blue, except on long exposure photos. I like the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' feel....and it's not too obvious in the dark that our tree ornaments are very top heavy:-)

We have several more years of bare bottom Christmas trees ahead of us. There are a few non-breakables on the lower branches but they often end up on the floor, or scattered around the house. The girls and I made some ornaments today out of card stock, crayons, glue and glitter. They had so much fun hanging them up and our tree looks slightly more balanced. I will be vacuuming up glitter til next Christmas but it's so worth it:-)

Thanksgiving weekend end

Our Thanksgiving extravaganza was not quite over yet....Coming home Sat night allowed us to trek out to our favorite tree farm on Sunday. It was raining so we made a quick pick and came home with another perfect Noble fir from Harrison Farm. 

The girls enjoyed hot coco...

while daddy secured the tree to the car (oh faithful Saturn, how we love you!).

Reagan made quick work of her treat. But Katya paused for me, always game for a picture (she is use to it now:-)).

A fresh tree fills my heart with joy, and my lungs with clean air, as I reflect on the season.  I will not be sending out a Christmas card this year.  I decided to save myself the time, money, and stress over finding the 'perfect' picture.  But I hope friends and family enjoy some holiday inspired photos here.  Love to all, B

More from Olympia

These wicked mushrooms were scattered in the old 'Christmas tree farm' area of the property. So cool, and yes, they screamed 'danger!'

I can't quite recall but I want to say this apple tree was planted by my great-grandma Ames. Late apples this year. We took home two huge bags and Craig made lots of applesauce, yum.

Is Craig the shit or what?  There's just no other way to say it.  I love my husband and his unique way of 'carrying' Katya and Reagan's coats. 

Not sure why but occasionally I like to blindly point and shoot my camera, 'Austin Powers style.'  More frequently than I would expect, I like what I get!  I love this shot of Craig and his "Mini-me." 

Next stop, Grandma Bev's

This is such a special place to visit. My grandmother's childhood...my mom's childhood...my own childhood...and now my children's.

I love this shot of Reagan with the playhouse, Grandma B in the doorway, in the background.

The girls had a blast, as always.  We wish we could have stayed longer but everyone was so exhausted, home was were we needed to be.  We are looking forward to making it up again in the spring. 

First food

I agonized over what to do about Elsie's constipation issue. Changing formula brands actually worked but would have doubled the cost of feeding our youngest (from 70$/month to 140$. Insane!). So I introduced some solids instead. She actually did really well for such a young eater.  Here she is getting prunes for her 'first' feeding (we had tried earlier in the day but she was too cranky).

I decided to continue to roll with the solids once we got home. In addition to prunes she is getting sweet potatoes and applesauce (from Grandma B's apple tree!). Is it weird that I actually like making baby food?! Elsie is a great eater. I can see what Sharon said about her boys being 'vigirous' nursers.  Miss Elsie takes after her daddy!

Grandparents

We had a lovely visit at Doug and Sharon's. Here is Katya and her grandma working on a craft project that Sharon had all ready for the girls. Fun!

Doug taking a break from cooking to play with his grandkids.

Sharon feeding Miss Els a bottle.

And here are Doug and Sharon with their FIVE granddaughters! 

Visit with the Ross's

Our first stop on the Thanksgiving trip was at the Ross's home in Shoreline.  We had a great visit and it was so nice to caught up with them.  The boys are 10 months old and so adorable!  Katya and Reagan had a great time playing with them and getitng them to laugh.  This is Grayson.  Such a content, happy little guy and super cute. 

This is Ben.  He seems like the trouble maker!  I can already see the charisma shinning out of this little boy.  I swear, 5 minutes with him and he will have you wrapped around his finger!  His personalty served him well during his difficult gestation; he is a fighter. 

Miss Payton is sweet as ever. I always have such a fun time with her! Poor girl was having a hard time understanding why Katya was running crazy around the house when we got there. She thought Katya didn't want to play with her, but Katya was just super wound up and excited.

Every time we leave them I am sad that we don't see them more often.

Elsie Ryan 5 months old

Our littlest girl is getting big fast!  She is 5 months old today and just last night I discovered she has her first tooth!  The tip has just broken through, her bottom right, center incisor.  She is quite a strong little one and very wiggly.  She is getting better and better with her hands and really enjoying her teething toys such as Sophie the griaffe.  She is eating very well for such a young one, more on that later.  Her torso is SO long and I measured her the other day to find her just shy of 28 inches, wow! We have been very busy around here preparing for the holidays and our trip to the Rockies. I will try to get some more posts done and scheduled out before I leave. Love to all.

 



Levi

I recently finished reading "Marley and Me," and if that book doesn't make you appreciate your family pet, nothing will! Levi, despite his issues, is such a great dog. He is perfect for us and we love him! It is hard to think of him growing old...which he is of course. He was 1.5 when we adopted him from the Galletin Valley Humane Society and so we have always called January 1st his 'birthday.' That means he will be turning 9 soon. In some ways we can see it...the grey around his eyes....his being a bit less rambunctious.  And we know that health issues will come at some point.  But for now he is healthy and happy and  sweet as ever. 

He is a great subject to practice my photography and editing skills on.  I can't decied which I like better...

A few more favorites...

I love how natural Allen and Eryn's smiles are in this shot. I just wish you could see more of Paige. Every shoot I do is such great practice. Is Eryn gorgeous or what?!

This photo is great of all of them!