We bought a New House

Well, new to us, it's actually previously loved:)  Here are pictures of the before and as we fix things I will add posts.   It's a 60's ranch which has only had one owner from what we can tell from the paperwork.  The older gentleman who lived there wasn't able to take care of the yard or much of the house so there is some work to be done.

 The front door opens to the living room.  Yes, the carpeting did smell worse than it looked, thanks for asking!

 The kitchen.

 The bathroom, it's uglier in person if you can imagine that.

 And the main floor bedrooms.

 And then there is more downstairs.

 Another bedroom.

The family room, half of which we want to turn into another bedroom.

Yes, the owners did leave all this crap, even after assuring me they would get it all out.  Grrr

But wait there is still more...
A large room with almost no purpose:

 And a utility room.

 

And then back up the stairs:)

I'll keep writing about the changes we make, we think this is going to make a great home for us. 

Alive for a whole decade!

Taylor and Olivia turned 10 and for the big day they got their ears pierced!

 

Both were thrilled and were so brave.  At the end they received certificates to commemorate the experience. 

Rainbows and Sunshine

I went to the store, when I went in it was raining.  When I came out there were 2 full rainbows spanning the sky.  All of which made me wax poetic...

Thought I'd Find Gold Here

But the Rainbow Kept Moving

Stupid Leprechauns

Bunnies, Beavers and Frogs with Chainsaws... Oh My!

 Ahhhhhhh went the shrieking girl, ribbit, plop went the frog and that was pretty much the theme of our trip to the Hudson Gardens, located Southwest of Denver off of Santa Fe.

We all know my love for the Botanic Gardens... lets face it, it has the most mentions of any other venue we visit regularly here in Denver. Plus, I get to share a lot of pictures of flowers I love. Chris and I had visited the Hudson Gardens a couple of different times before we had kids. The kids had all been to the free trick or treating event on Halloween, but we hadn't toured the gardens as a family ever. We thought it might be a good way to kill an afternoon and it really, really was. Given my love for the Botanic gardens, I'm going to say something shocking. Hudson Gardens was more fun for the kids and might edge out the Botanic gardens a wee bit in my favorites category. Hudson Gardens just seems more accessible to kids. They can walk down by the different ponds, they got to see some wildlife and there was a lot of room to run. At the Botanic gardens I'm always super jumpy my kids are going to fall into the concrete ponds and I'm not going to be able to get them out without damaging some sort of plant life.  Here, I had far less concerns as it just seemed like there was more room to roam. 

 Although there were plenty of great flowers to see, On this overcast day, I really came to see the irises, since they were in full bloom at the time. They were gorgeous, the colors, the size and just the incredible variety they had at the gardens. It's not pictured, but all the different varieties had name plates so you could find the one you like in a catalog. Even the kids had a good time looking at the big flowers and all the colors.

Miniature trains, it was hard to tear Lucas away from this awesome sight.  Hudson Gardens has a wonderful train garden with track that runs through a variety of plants and even a "replica" of old town Littleton. The trains, the tunnels, the little town, he was in heaven. If he could have actually played with the trains and cars and little people he would have never left the area. The train garden was a favorite for all the kids, although Lucas still talks about it a lot.

Down at the end of the garden, near the bike path there is "Monet's Place", with a lovely bridge, of course.

  Next to the bridge is the coolest place ever... a frog pond.

 Frogs, so cool yet so very scary when they jump. The frogs were really awesome, the numbers of tadpoles were astounding and the size of some of the frogs was just unbelievable. I can only imagine the cacaphony of ribbits that must occur in the evening with all those frogs trying to find someone to love. The funniest part was the reaction the kids had to the sudden jumps of the green amphimbians. We had multiple events of shrieking that made it sound like the frogs were mass murderers out on some sort of chainsaw rampage.

But for me, of course, the water lilies were the best part, so pretty and they didn't cause any type of high pitched screaming!

OK, I'll admit it, I'm not a big fan of evergreens. I don't like the texture (mostly sharp and painful), I don't like that other plants won't grow under big evergreens. And I don't like that they overwhelm the small scale plantings of the normal single family home. I really, really hate to see some cute house living in the shadow of some hulking spruce that will eventually fall during a windstorm crushing the house, a neighbor's house or a random car parked on the street. Fifty year old junipers are also another one I hate. Sure they were super cute when you planted them next to the sidewalk, but now they are trying to grab my kids and eat them while you try and cut them back as far as you can, turning them brown in the process. Not brown enough to be dead, on the contrary, the side facing your house is super green and looks great!

However, Hudson Gardens has a section of evergreens that is very well done and always makes me question my evergreen distaste. The garden does a wonderful job of playing with the colors and textures of the evergreens. Of course, the gardens also have enough room for these blocky plants to spread out and play well together. They aren't trying to eat some poor, tiny, cottage in the middle of a neighborhood built on single lots and competing with other plants better suited to the environment.

 One of the most surprising thing to discover at Hudson Gardens was a real, honest to goodness, live beaver, just hanging out in one of the ponds as if we weren't just off of Santa Fe in Littleton. I was quite surpised to see so many different animals on this trip. At one point Dee Dee almost stepped on a garter snake as we were looking at a sculpture. The bunnies were by far the favorite, although I'm guessing the gardeners would love for us to never see a bunny there again. While we were there, the bunnies were busy snacking on new growth in the oval perennial garden.

The kids had a great time and we actually had to drag them out of there, they wanted to stay longer... that hasn't ever happened at the Botanic Gardens.  I'm usually the one getting dragged out of the gates!

Dear Volkswagen,

You suck. Here's a sampling of why you suck...

Child 1- (POW).... "blue one!"

Child 2- "Ow! You aren't supposed to hit, just say the color! OH (POW) RED ONE!"

Child 1- "Mom he hit me!"

My kids don't need a new incentive to beat the snot out of each other, especially in the car. They can come up with plenty of reasons without your advertisements encouraging them to slug each other and random strangers just because a Volkswagen of any type is within eyesight. Its even more annoying because the game is supposed to be about assaulting someone because you saw a Bug, not a minivan or any other random type of car you people might manufacture. Slug Bug at least limited the number of cars you could get beat over, Punch Dub is just stupid. Sure, I get a little vicarious joy out of your commercials and the random beatings that occur, but the reenactments by my kids are sucking the fun out of it for me. Perhaps Hug Dub would be better, it can still be considered assault, my kids like to hug until someone trips and falls down, but at least it would be harder for my kids to do in the car. Better yet, Don't Touch Anyone Dub... now there is a slogan I could totally get behind.

Your Invisible Friend Did What??

Invisible friends... a right of passage for many younger kids, sometimes the bane of a parent's existence.

When Olivia was about 3 she had an invisible friend named Hotolita. Hotolita didn't talk much, do much, but she did have a book that Olivia needed to keep around at all times. The book was an old leather bound day planner that was given to me by my old job. At the beginning of each year we were given new ones and I kept the old ones to compare sales and promotions from one year to the next. Olivia found one of the older planners and liked to draw in it, so I let her keep it. One day she started to talk about her "Hotolita book" and was devastated she couldn't find it.  I asked a bunch of questions... hot book? hot to where book? what?... luckily Taylor was there to translate for me and from that point on that is what we called that particular book, The Hotolita Book. Taylor never had an invisible friend, she just translated for Olivia's invisible friend.

Actually neither Chris nor I had invisible friends, although Chris told me he used to wish he had one.  His complaint is that he was never cool enough to have an invisible friend.  I didn't have invisible friends, but then I had a healthy social life with my very real stuffed animals.  Each one had it's own personality and all of them had to sleep with me at night.  The animals used to fight over who got to sleep next to me, so I would rotate them so no one would get jealous.  Don't tell, but I did have a couple of favorites shhh... 

Fast forward and now Dee Dee has an invisible friend named Nicholas. She has had this friend for a couple of years and Nicholas is much more developed as a personality compared to Hotolita.  Nicholas, Dee Dee's friend is a little girl, just a bit older than Dee Dee and Nicholas gets to do and have everything Dee Dee doesn't. If Dee Dee wants a toy and we say no, Nicholas will be sure to have the coveted toy at her house. If Dee Dee complains we need a new car and we laugh, Nicholas' family gets a new car... you get the picture.  Taylor and Olivia love to talk to Dee Dee about her invisible friend, even going so far as to help make things up about what Nicholas does, lives and even how she looks.

Lucas realized he needed to make up invisible friends to combat Nicholas, Nicholas was just one too many girls in the house for him.  He first decided he wanted to be friends with the firemen down the street... he didn't have a really good grasp on "invisible" at that point. When I wouldn't drop him off for a sleep over at the fire station, Lucas threw a big fit and then he made up Boy.  Boy isn't really well developed in personality, he mostly just wants to go to all the parties that Nicholas has. Occasionally Boy gets a cool toy, but for the most part Boy is only around when Nicholas is mentioned. 

Nicholas lives in a big house and moves around a lot.  Dee Dee lives in a small home, shares a room with her brother and doesn't get to travel past the state line all that often. Not only does Nicholas often live in nice neighborhoods we drive by (usually in a McMansion), but she also sometimes lives in Africa, India and occasionally China.  Lately, Nicholas has been moving farther and farther away... I'm hoping she moves to the moon and stops talking to Dee Dee soon. As it turns out, Nicholas is a little bit evil, sometimes she draws on the walls and signs Dee Dee's name.  Or she encourages Dee Dee to brain her brother with a doll.   Nicholas  is a trouble maker, an instigator and has caused some big arguments in the family. 

For example, a couple of months ago, I'm driving down the road, listening to the radio and I hear some screeching coming from the back seat. Being the awesome mom I am, I turned up the volume to drown out the screeching. Then the screeching turns into arguing and I hear the names, "Boy" and "Nicholas" an awful lot. Realizing that I wouldn't be able to solve the problem by drowning Dee Dee and Lucas out, I turn down the volume of the radio, stare at them in the rear view mirror, swerve into on coming traffic, swerve back, stop staring at them and ask, "what the HELL is going on back there?" At this point I'm regaled with the tearful story from Lucas about how Boy can't go to the Halloween party Nicholas is having that night.  OK, first, this happened in January which makes me wonder what Nicholas' mom is thinking having a Halloween party in January.  Second, my thoughts were... "Seriously, how the hell am I supposed to mediate an argument between invisible, unreasonable people?"  Since the screeching was about to start again I picked a plan that involved me playing along with the whole Nicholas debacle.  I tell Dee Dee she can't be friends with Nicholas anymore if Nicholas isn't going to invite Boy to the party.  I then wonder if that is the most insane thing I have ever said, or if "Don't put your finger in your sister's butt!" edges it out as being a wee bit more crazy. 

That wasn't the first argument Nicholas has caused and it wasn't to be the last or even the best! Just the other day Nicholas turned out to be a huge problem when she turned Boy into a girl... Oh yeah, the one invisible friend gave the other invisible friend a sex change, out of the blue and while we were in the car. That time I deliberately swerved into oncoming traffic.

Sometimes Nicholas likes to cause trouble with the older girls too. After school the girls like to tell me about their day on the way home. In second grade Taylor had a teacher named Mrs. Bohm. At about this point in time Nicholas started going to school and her teacher was named Mrs Bones.  It was amazing, every day Nicholas did all the same things in school that Taylor did during her day. Boy also went to school, but Boy just did all the stuff in school that Lucas did at home. Unless Taylor or Olivia had a really funny story to tell and then both Boy and Nicholas had the same funny story to tell. This would sometimes cause the girls to argue with Dee Dee and Lucas about what Boy and Nicholas did during the day and Dee Dee and Lucas would then have to defend their friends... oh look oncoming traffic.

So at this point I'm thinking of developing some sort of 12 step program for invisible friends... some sort of IFA (invisible friends anon).  The meetings? A planning session for how to ummm... eliminate those pesky personalities.   The twelve steps? For the invisible friend... off a short pier.  Perhaps there could be some sort of "Strangers on a Train" scenario.  One person backs over another child's invisible friend with their mini van,  someone else flushes the other kid's friend down the toilet to sleep with the fishes... all accidental like.  I'm not sure if killing off the invisible is a legal issue or not, but I'm keeping the alleged scenarios general, just in case.   There might be moral issues about killing off nonexistent friends, but its gotta' beat the immorality of driving into oncoming traffic.  Or the health issues involved with keeping your sanity by drinking copious amounts of vodka.   Speaking of which, I seem to be out of vodka... I wonder if Nicholas' mom has been visiting...