if  there is one thing i like to talk about, it’s the crazy weather in colorado!  we actually had a pretty nice summer, and even a real fall!  normally we go straight from summer to snow.  i’ve never seen such a beautiful fall as we have this year.  john’s parents were here for a week, and we went up to estes park, which is home to the rocky mountain national park.  we haven’t been up there since my birthday two years ago, so it was fun to head back up!  we also did the corn maze here at the botanic gardens the day before.

you can tell ethan was excited about the photo op, lol.

there was a pretty neat bounce house type thing.  i forget what it was called?  air pillow maybe?  either way, it was fun. 

the fall is a great time to go to estes.  some of the roads were already closed, so it looks like we made it just in time.  that black cluster to the left of kayleigh is the elk.

this was taken by the famed photographer, ethan.

then of course, the only in colorado part.  SNOW!  we always seem to get one snowfall before halloween.  and colorado did not disappoint.  yesterday we woke up to this!

it was a fun day, and much of it is already gone!  we’ve got a busy few days planned, and then it will already be november!  where has the year gone?!

first of all, thanks everyone for all the sweet comments in the last post.  i am still pretty torn about the creepers.  but i am going to try to believe they are just harmless weirdos at this point.

apparently my blog is on auto-renew.  i woke up to a “thank you for your order” email yesterday.  i guess rather than waste a hundred bucks, i should try to catch up here.  first of all – we are moving to washington state!  john will leave early spring for training and we will pack up once the kids finish school at the end of may.  i never thought we would move to the west coast.  i am still a little shocked.  we always thought we would be going back to virginia, but sometimes life (the navy!) has it’s own plans.  i have already been looking into it and i am pretty excited about a new adventure.  we plan to do a lot of traveling over the summer since the kids will have an extra month off of school.

the big kids are doing great in school.  we had their parent teacher conferences last week and they are both above grade level in most areas.  kayleigh needs to work on math a bit more, and ethan on reading comprehension.  but it was very reassuring to hear!  the little girls start gymnastics on monday.  norah will move up to the big girl class, and charlotte will get to stick with me in the mommy and me class.

speaking of charlotte, she is almost TWO!  less than a month from now, she’ll no longer be a baby.  she is completely potty trained (all on her own, i might add!), and has been out of diapers for a month or so now.  she also just moved to her own bed out of ours, and was weaned last week.  she is taking it all in stride and being very go with the flow about it – which is VERY unlike her.  other than that, same old, same old!  we are actually off to urgent care in an hour for ethan.  he’s been up all night with an ear ache.  poor kid!

hope to get back into the swing of things here! i do miss blogging and keeping up with everyone! 

the almost birthday girl two nights ago.

it’s been a while, huh?

i have had some weird interweb happenings going on.  i’ve been thinking a lot about re-starting this blog.   there was a blog that someone started that copied my name and children’s names, but added their own “personal” touch.  and it creeped me out.  then there was a blog started from someone overseas that devoted her love to norah.  honestly it REALLY creeped me out.  google norah suchniak if you’d like to ckeck it out.

i’ve gotten a few emails asking what was going on.  if i’d gone private, or quit blogging.  to be honest, john and i talked about it, and it just felt like it was going somewhere weird.  it’s one thing to have a little blog for your family who lives far to check in on us at.  it’s another to have weirdos copying/stealing things and making it their own.  it just stopped feeling …. safe?

i love blogging.  i love meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends.  i love talking “shop” (photography) ….. but i have to feel like i am keeping my family safe at the same time.   i think about this almost every day in the shower.  i blog in my head, and have so many “oh i should post THIS!” moments.

my url is up for renew.   i feel like i shouldn’t let it go.  but at the same time, why pay for something i am not going to use?  and again, why let a couple bad apples spoil the bunch?

does anyone still peek in?  is it worth it to renew?  am i over reacting about the crazy blog stalkers?  anyone know the answers??  such a silly thing to worry about, in the grand scheme…. but still.  i wonder!