Ants!

When Trent was a kid, he used to go with his dad to collect ants in a glass jar.  Then for the next few days, they would watch as the ants made tunnels all through the dirt.  Over Labor day weekend, we had all gotten together for dinner at my mom's, and Trent and his dad got to talking about when they would make their own ant farms.  Well, of course the boys were intrigued by this and wanted to do it.  So my mom found a couple of glass jars, and Trent, grandpa, uncle Dustin, Trenton, Colson and Preston all piled in the car to go in search of ants.

 Jilly was quite fascinated by them.

 We all took our fair share of time studying and watching the ants.  It was quite amazing to see how quickly they went to work building their tunnels.

We All Scream For Ice Cream! Well, Jilly Does Anyway

At the end of August, my mom took the four older kids for one of their Dairy Queen runs.  This time they decided to bring a Blizzard home for Jilly.  She was in heaven!

 We started off by feeding her bites, but she wasn't having any of that.  She wanted to do it all by herself!  I knew if she was in charge of the spoon, things were going to get messy, so we peeled off her clothes and let her have at it.  She was so happy!

 She was eating it so fast, I think she kept giving herself a brain freeze.  (Or a freeze brain, as Preston calls it.  Ha!)

Needless to say, she went straight to the bath when she was done.  :)

Curly Locks

Vivi LOVES to have her hair curly.  Not with a curling iron though.  (She says she doesn't like standing for that long.)

She prefers rag rollers.  Which is funny to me since it takes almost twice as long to roll them in her hair as it does to use the curling iron.  My silly girl!  :)

Jilly Bean

I sure love my Jilly girl.  She sure makes us laugh!

Here are just a few pics I got of her at the end of the summer.  She had a habit of stealing my friend Michelle's sunglasses every time she saw Michelle.

Stylin'!

  

Garden of the Gods

Growing up, my parents used to take our family to Garden of the Gods on a regular basis.  This past summer, I realized that it has been years since I had been there, and some of my kids had never been there at all.  Well, that just wouldn't do.  So we went down on a Saturday, grandparents and uncle Dustin included.

 A shot of the kissing camels.

 Baby girl, enjoying her time in nature.

 More of the scenery.  I forgot just how beautiful it all is!

 The kids loved climbing on the rocks.  There's much less climbing allowed than when I used to go as a girl.

Uncle Dus.

 I love this boy's crooked smile. ;)

 Grampy and the boys.

 This girl loves her grandpa.

 Daddy and his girl.  After a while, we stuck Jilly in the back pack.  She wasn't too excited at first, but she learned to love it after a bit.

 Vivi spent much of the time hunting for these little acorns.

 "Look ma! No hands!"

 Viv and grandma Guercio.  Such buds!

 Jilly loves her uncle Dus!

All that hiking made us hungry, and we just couldn't be down in the Springs without making a pit stop at Rudy's.  It's the best BBQ there is!

 The night before we went to Garden of the Gods, Colson had a campout with his scout troop.  I guess they stayed up all night.  Colson was exhausted by the time we started our drive home, to say the least.  :)

 Poor boy.  He slept the whole way home.

Dinosaur Ridge

Way back in February, I had purchased a few Groupons for go-carting at a place up by Golden.  There were enough tickets for Trent, Trenton, Colson, Steve, Sean, and Dustin, and since Dinosaur Ridge is only about a mile away, we decided to make a day of it.  The grandmas and I took the little kids to Dinosaur Ridge while the guys all go-carted to their hearts content.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the go-carting action, but from the sound of things, the guys all had a great time!

 They had painted Stegosaurus models all over the entrance of Dinosaur Ridge.

 Jilly's favorite part was digging through the rocks.  She loves to dig in rocks, dirt, bark chips, just about anything she can get her hands on.  I see a sand box in her near future.  ;)  She was quite upset when our tour time came and we had to go get on the bus.

  


Happy kids!

We totally got busted for having Buds sit on the stegosaurus.  I swear I didn't see the sign that said "No Climbing on the Dinosaurs".

On the bus, heading to see all the sights.  Our tour guide was very informative.  I wish I could tell you all that we learned, but 2 months have gone by since then, and my short term memory isn't what it used to be.  Fascinating stuff though!

Buds and Vivi by some dinosaur footprints.

My sweet boy.

This girl sure loves her grandma.

On one of the stops, Jilly found some more dirt to play in, and she couldn't have been happier.

After go-carting and Dinosaur Ridge, we all met back together and went and grabbed a bite of lunch.  Such a fun day spent with our family!

First Day of School

August means back-to-school time.

On August 13th, Vivi started the first day of school for her 2nd grade year.

 Vivi was so lucky to get Mr. Kennedy for her teacher this year.  Trenton and Colson have both had him as a teacher in previous years, and he is one of our favorites.

 Preston started his first day of Kindergarten on August 15th.  He was so excited to finally go to the "big kid" school.  Preston's teacher this year is Mrs. Winkler, who was also Vivi's teacher when Viv was in Kindergarten.  She's another one of our favorites.

 Waiting in line to go in to school.

 The big boys started school a week later, on the 20th.  Trenton started his 8th grade year.  One more year until high school.  Yikes!

Colson is now a 6th grader.  Two in middle school this year.  Where does the time go?