Lego-MANIAC!

 This post is specifically for Caiden.  He has been begging and begging and begging me to make a scrapbook FULL of pictures of his Lego creations only....but it hasn't exactly happened.  So just in case it never does (which is likely) here is proof of his mad skills.....

Now, I can not recall the exact function and purpose of every little creation and every little lego guy, but trust me when I say that EVERYTHING included on each creation has a reason for being there.  A very long and detailed purpose which I heard ALL about as I was taking the pictures and later while I was cleaning, and making dinner, and changing a diaper, and on and on and on and on for the rest of our lives.  But.....I gotta say, I love it!

Good job Caiden!  You are so enthusiastic and talented and creative and detailed and focused - now let's try to apply all of this towards your homework :)

Oh so cute!

About a month ago, I took Preston in to get his pictures taken and they turned out SO flippin' cute!  Just look at this face......

Isn't it delicious?!  I love it.  I love him.  I just want to take a bite out of those adorable little cheeks.  (In a very loving way, of course).  We've decided he is a perfect half-and-half mix of Caiden and Paige as a baby.  And since Caiden is pretty darn cute and Paige is pretty darn cute, I think that makes him doubly cute.  Yes.  Yes, it does.

Then he was doing so well, that I took my chances and threw in Caiden and Paige....and Voila!  It turned out great too.  How did I get so lucky to have such adorable kids?

In other news...Papa Gubler is a celebrity!  See for yourself..... He was featured in the local Basin Business Journal. Just what do local CEO's do in their spare time??  SURF!  A big fat article was written about him and his mad skills.  Caiden and Paige are quite impressed.  Way to go Papa!

Operation DE-GRANDMA-FY has BEGUN!

Okay, so we've been in this house nearly one year (holy moly is that right????)  I'm suddenly embarassed now that I haven't started on this process sooner.....

Anyway, a sweet little old lady and her hubby were the only occupants this home had ever seen.  So while incredibly clean and well-maintained, the color scheme is a bit.....how should I put it?....DREADFUL!  Her two favorite colors were teal and peach, which I like to call Ugly and Uglier, and they are EVERYWHERE throughout the house.  Especially the teal.  The lighting fixtures are literally sponge-painted TEAL for crying out loud, not to mention the walls are a horrifying peachy pink color.  Then the carpet ranges in colors blue, pink, and green.  Oh yeah, and there's carpet in the bathrooms.  Bathrooms!!  I mean, who does this???  Only old people!

SO....now that school is back in session and I have a bit more time on my hands I am planning to do some serious Extreme Home Makeover this winter.  It's going to be fabulous!!  HGTV just might want to hire me when I'm done.  First things first, the FRONT DOOR.  Yep.  It's teal too.  

The Hideous "BEFORE"....  

And now the Stunning "AFTER".  I love it!!  Don't you love it?????

Next up, we are painting the outside of the house.  Nothing wrong with the color there (well except the trim.  It's teal too. Ugh.)  But the siding in some spots needs touch ups, so that's next on the list before winter comes.  By the way, if there's anyone out there just dying to work a paintbrush, come on over!  You are very welcome here!

Then, when that's done, and the weather starts to get cold and I go into hibernate mode, the inside of the house will be getting some serious attention.  I can not WAIT!  

(Is anyone still reading this post?)

Why you want to leeeeeave me????

Anyone know what movie that's from?  Well, it pretty much sums up how I felt this first day of school.  Two children in elementary school, one in kindergarten, one in second grade.  Both so excited.....to leave me.  Tear :(

Okay, maybe they were excited for school itself.  First....Caiden. 

What a little stud.  This year he was a bit less excited and bit more nervous than usual as he is at a new school this year and knows very few kids.  Two to be exact.  But Caiden is a happy-go-lucky kid.  He makes friends in less than a second.  When I picked him up and asked how it was he said "Best.First.Day.Ever." (haha!) Then he told me about a kid he played with at recess.  What's his name?  "Uh....I don't know.  But he had on a Transformer shirt."  Well, that explains it.  "And guess what? There's a kid who's SMALLER than me in my class!"  Sweet!

And then Paige.....

Honestly, I think she was most excited to wear her new school clothes and shoes and use her new backpack and get her hair done "reeeeeeally curly!"  The day before there were a couple of times I truly thought she was going to spontaneously combust from PURE excitement.  She kept asking me if it was time to go to bed yet.  Then the morning of, she was so excited to get dressed and have me braid and curl her hair.  Then on the way to school, I looked back at both of them as we made the last turn and said "are you getting excited?" and Paige exclaimed "I love my HAIR!".  I about crashed and died laughing.

Once in the classroom, the nerves set in a bit.  But not too much.  She was off playing and scoping things out and paid no attention to me leaving.  My little girl is in kindergarten. 

Later when I picked her up, she was all smiles from ear to ear.  Then she opened her backpack....."but....I didn't even get any homework?"  Oh, the disappointment. 

So it's just me and Preston now.  Everyone left us.  Real cool.



Trip to Grandma's

After stopping in Utah to spend time with my sister and her new baby, we then headed over to spend time at my parents home in Pagosa Springs.  Casey flew in too.  We had a grand ole time.  Babysitters a-plenty (grandma + 3 nieces) we actually got to get away for a bit and hit some golf balls.  Now, my last (and only) golfing experience was when Casey and I were dating and we spent the weekend in Salt Lake with my sister and her husband.  Let's just say somehow I managed to get SMACKED in the head by a golf ball.  Did I mention this was just minature golfing?  I'm seriously talented.

I can happily report that I did not get hit in the head this time, but as you can see the talent continues.  Look closely at the second picture.  I've clearly swung....and yet the ball remains on the ground.  Talent.  That confirms what I've always known....I'm just not good at sports that involve balls.  (And you may take that however you'd like :)

Moving on....we mostly just chilled and took it easy all week.  I read an entire book while I was there, The Help.  (So GREAT!!)  I can't say I've been reading much lately.  Too much housework.  Dang housework. 

 One day we did take the kids down to the river for a bit...

Preston wasn't so sure about the ice cold water :)  Oh, I should mention that he decided to cut the top FOUR teeth during the week we were here.  I mean really, what baby gets 4 teeth at one time???  Poor thing.  That makes him just 6 1/2  months old with 6 teeth.  Fun times.

Welcome Miss Scarlett!

My newest little niece, Scarlett Jovi Shaw, arrived on July 15, 2011 (promptly on her due date) and we were SO HAPPY and excited to meet her!  Everything went perfect with her labor and delivery (so perfect that I still feel a bit jealous over it :) So a couple of weeks later I drove down with the kids to soak her up a bit.....

 (I'm not sure what's going on with Paige's hair here....)

Weighing only 6lbs (something-tiny ounces ?) she is definitely the smallest baby I think I've ever held. I'm used to my giant 8 1/2 pound Gubler babies.  Preston seemed like a TANK next to her (of course, he is 6 months old at this point, but still).  But oh, how precious she is!   Look for yourself....

And STYLISH too!  I mean, have you ever seen a baby ride in such STYLE????  She is one lucky little girl!  

 I can't wait for her and Preston to be running around getting into all sorts of mischief, haha! Speaking of which, I was able to spend the week there with just Preston as my mom graciously took Caiden and Paige back to her house.  I tried to spend some time teaching him to sit up....but he wasn't cooperating so much...

....but we did manage to learn one very important skill....holding his own bottle!  I literally gain an extra 2 hours of time by him reaching this simple milestone.  Love.It.

Love these babies!

Silverwood Theme Park

The summer seemed to start so late for me as the kids didn't get out of school until the17th of June and the temperatures never seemed to get out of the low 80's.  As I mentioned before, we spent ALOT of time out in the yard.  Those "after" pictures I promised...um...it might have to wait a bit. 

But we did manage to have lots of fun over the summer.  Because that's what we do.  We have fun.  Fun is good for the soul. 

Of course we spent time at the pool, as usual.  But not as much because of the cool weather.  It's no fun to be at the pool when you're cold.  It's not natural and it's not right.  Do I have pictures? No. Why? I could never remember to bring the camera.  Ah well.

BUT we did decide to spend one very fun day at Silverwood Theme Park with our good friends, the Wiseman family.  Most of the kids got free passes from their teachers during the school year for meeting their reading goals, so a cheap trip it was :) 

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE roller coasters?  AND water slides?  Seriously, I may have been the most excited one there. 

We spent the morning in the amusement park riding rides.  Caiden rode Tremors along with the rest of the Wiseman boys (not exactly knowing what they were in store for).  I sat out with Paige.  She nearly had a heart attack on a mild boat ride prior to this, so I figured she might not like Tremors so much.  But the rest of the boys made it through with no tears....possibly because they were too stunned to cry, ha.  I was quite impressed.  Could we get them to ride any other roller coasters?  Not so much.  But they had fun on the rest of the kid rides.....dumbo, helicopters, bumperboats....

I wish I had a picture of the most insane ride I've EVER been on.  The After Shock.  CA-RAZY!!!!  First of all it's one of those rides where your feet dangle and you're hooked to the track from above.  It starts by pulling you backwards up into the air 170 feet so your staring at the concrete and praying the simple harness that holds you in doesn't decide to malfunction.  Then....it suddenly drops you and you are going 500 mph (or something like 65 mph, but it FEELS like 500) all over the place, upside down, spinning and twirling, screaming and praying and then you are shot up into the air and it STOPS....170 feet high and this time your staring straight into the sky wondering what in the HELLS BELLS you're doing on this insane ride and THEN....it drops you again and you do it all over again....backwards, ending up in the original starting position 170 feet in the air staring at the concrete below. Yup.  By the time I was done, I was crying (I didn't even remember starting but apparently I did because I had tears rolling down my face) and all my muscles were instantly sore from being so tense and wrapping my arms around the harness so tight, holding on for DEAR LIFE.  Loved it.  So much fun.  Totally doing it again.

 Then we headed over to the the water park, Boulder Beach.  But unfortunately it was not the warmest day, and then add wind to that.  Kinda disappointing.  We stood in line for one water slide, Avalanche Mountain, (Caiden was so scared for some reason, and Paige was not at all - Just when I think I can predict their behavior they change it all up on me :)  As we stood there with teeth chattering and bodies shivering hoping that the water down the water slide was heated - maybe? - we decided maybe it was a bit too cold for the water park.  Poo.  I do so love the water slides.  But the kids had SO much fun in the wave pool and such - despite the cold. 

Here's Paige and Adam.  I really hope they get married some day.

Fun, fun day.  I think maybe we'll do it again...:)

A little eavesdropping.....

 A couple days ago in the playroom....(Caiden playing legos, Paige playing Barbies)

Paige: "Caiden, which dress should she wear? The blue or pink one?"
Caiden: (annoyed) "Paige!! I'm not a girl!!"..........(mumbles) "the blue one."
Paige: "Oh. Yeah. I like the blue too.  And which SHOES should she wear?  Um...there's dark blue or light blue.  Which one?"
Caiden: "PAIGE!!!  I'm not A GIRL!!......the light blue".

 Then last night.....

Paige:  "Mom, what time is it?"
Me: "8:30"
Paige: "Is it time for bed?"
Me: "Yes".
Paige: (runs down the hall) "CAIDEN! We have to go to bed now!"
Caiden:  (through gritted teeth)  "Paige!  I told you not to ask mom if it's time for bed! She always says "Yes!"
Paige: "But why? I'm tired.  I love going to bed."

Then, later they are in bed:

Paige: "Dad! Open the door a little!  I can't see my BLANKETS!"
Casey: (opens the door)
Paige: "Thanks!......MORON!!!!!" (dies laughing)
Casey:  "What?!  What did you say?"
Caiden:  "She called you a MORON!" (dies laughing)

Sweet baby boy....

My little baby boy is six months old now.  At his last checkup he weighed in at 15lbs 10oz and 26 inches long.  So while he appears to be the chunky monkey that he is, he's actually slowed down quite a bit in his growth.  The doctor even said I was welcome to add a little more to his diet, but I hardly think this kid is starving.  I mean have you seen his thunder thighs? Or better yet his cute squishy cheeks?  He's just following the trend of the Gubler babies - born huge, get fatter by the second for the first couple of months, then slowly taper down until they pretty much quit growing all together.  (Poor Caiden is still the smallest kid in his whole class - but by far the smartest and the cutest.  How 'bout those stats, thank you.)

Anyway, here's a few pics of little Preston.  This is from a while back, but one of my favorites.  I walked into the office to find him holding a knife while sporting a sideways hat.  Hmmm....wonder who decorated him this time.  Either way, it's the cutest little hoodlum I've ever seen.

As I mentioned he's started on solid foods, and oh my.  He's never refused one single bite.  He's yet to meet a vegetable that he doesn't like.  Love it.  Just like his big brother, who will eat any and everything. 

We're also working on sitting up.  And it's coming along.  As long as he has someone to observe and entertain him, he'll stay in a sitting position.  But as soon as he's alone (or bored) backwards he goes, right over the boppy.

Please excuse the excess drool there.  He's proving to be a bit like his big sister and got his first 2 teeth at just 4 1/2 months old.  And right now (at 6 months) he happens to be cutting 2 more plus his 2 front teeth are sitting just below the surface.  So I'm thinking the drool is gonna be with us for a while. 

Have I mentioned how much I love to squeeze this kid?  Well I do.  And so does his daddy, and his brother, and his sister.  He's quite the irresistible guy.

Lately......

What have we been up to this (incredibly mild and cool) summer?  Two words: Yard Work.  (Of which, we are forever grateful for the mild temperatures :)

We moved into this house about 7 months ago and we love, love, love it.  Especially the yard.  Or right now, the idea of the yard, ha.  The previous owners were an elderly couple and only maintained half the yard, which didn't seem like that big of a deal.  They did a pretty good job.  I was even pleasantly suprised to see beautiful roses blooming all around the house....

 

and then.....there's the other half of the yard....that has completely consumed our lives this summer, and I fear possibly next summer as well.  First, there is this random strip in the middle of the yard that although small, was a huge pain in our you-know-what getting it cleared out. It was originally bordered by tall huge arbivitous trees (so mad I don't have a proper before picture).  And then it was filled with random rock pathways and annoyances that made it long and tiresome to clear.  Finally we have gotten it cleared enough to plant grass.  Oh what a happy day that was :)

But there's lots of other annoyances to take care of like this random patch of....I'm not really sure. 

Then there's this section that might look like grass, but it's not.  It's a terrible infestion of the most evil weed known to man.  It's a tiny little weed but the roots are literally 3 feet long and thus, a tangled mess that is impossible to pull.  I hate it and it causes me stress.  See the tree in the bottom left corner. When we moved in I leaned on it and it fell over. That can't be good.

Then there's the way back part, which has never been maintained, and is full of an even more evil weed.  We call them the pokey weeds (I don't know the scientific term) but it does just that.  They are sharp pokey little tiny things that stick to your shoes (we found out real quick not to walk around barefoot in this yard - ouch!) and that is the reason for the giant cardboard box you see.  We must scrape all the pokey's off before walking back to the house so as not to track them into the good grass and kill the poor children's feet (or pop the tires on the new lawn mower.  Casey is definitely more worried about this than Caiden and Paige's feet.)

So that is what we do all day, every day of our lives.  I am hoping to have some fabulous "after" pictures with a big play area for the kids and big huge garden area for me and a big fire pit complete with seating for entertaining guests, but...well, we'll see.  If only I could take a picture of what this yard looks like in my head.  It's beautiful.  Till then.....