a very fun part of the house

I realize I haven't shown you just a whole lot of our new {first!} house.

Getting settled into a *house* with a *toddler* just seems like a bigger undertaking than it seems it should.

Oh well, it will all come in time, the decorating, photo taking, blogging . . .

But for now, I would love to share this fun part of our house.

It is my little storage area or "prop room" as I like to call it.

The house originally had a one car garage and then at some point they built on a two car garage and simply closed in the old one car.

It is a perfect spot for storing and *getting to* all my "treasures"!

What is one of your favorite parts of your house/apartment?

Kelly

oh and just for fun, I found this pic of what it looked like before we moved in

p.s. we have the most amazing realtor who found this house for us

If you are looking for a realtor in the Houston or Colorado Springs areas, e-mail me and I can get you more info

sundrenchedmoments@gmail.com

granny chic?

my table for lunch on Monday with a guest

granny chic much?

Kelly

happy fall!

My favorite season is here at last!

I look forward to seeing what it is like in Colorado.

What is your favorite season?

Kelly

photo taken November 2007 by Adrian in Pittsburgh

my little kitchen helper

Our little guy is beginning to want to help in the kitchen.

So fun!

Kelly

science center

One of the things we did while we were in Pittsburgh was go to the Science Center.

It was really, really neat. I would highly recommend it if you're ever in Pittsburgh.

David and all of the boys including dads and granddad enjoyed the huge model train set-up.

The water table area was cool and the fruit flambe shoe in the kitchen theater was fun complete with samples!

We had a great time!

Kelly

cookout and pinterest challenge to myself

Before we left for Pittsburgh we had a cook-out with our family who lives in town.

It was a nice, low-key night out at the park.

Three generations

playgrounds

green chile burgers

yummy brownie cookie dough things

and good time spent with family.

And

I finally implemented an idea I pinned on pinterest!

I had pinned this photo below and my centerpiece was inspired by it.

Yippee!

source

ten on Ten - September 2011

I am finally posting my ten on ten.

We spent the tenth of September in Pittsburgh, PA.

We had a great visit with family and even managed to get some of them in some of these shots.

Good Morning!

driving

smiling passenger

one of many bridges

the train at Wholey's

{always a fun stop even though I don't like to smell all the fish}

the end of a good lunch at the Pittsburgh Public Market

lunching together

a cupcake for later

hand holding

catching a nap

a mother/son scone bake-off and tea to share

ready for a date night thanks to aunt, uncle and grandparent baby-sitting

Pittsburgh's Little Italy

What did you do on Saturday?

Kelly

reminder

Tomorrow is Ten on Ten if you'd like to participate.

Kelly

it just keeps getting better and better

I've heard my mom say it many times that each stage her kids were at was her favorite until they got to the next stage and then that was her favorite.

When David started crawling that seemed to be the end all be all in our little lives. He could get to things, places and people that he wanted on his own, it was stinkin' cute, etc.

I didn't want to rush him to walk.

Well, can I just say how much I am *loving* having a little walker?

What are some of your favorite stages kids go through?

Kelly

photo by Adrian, taken while we were in Chicago

a date at home

Rebekah who does the ten on ten project is also doing a neat thing called Dinner at Eight.

It's all about dating at home as especially during these years of raising young children it is not as easy to get out of the house to go on a date as it once was.

I set the table in the sunroom with things I already had and a few flowers from the yard.

We worked together in the kitchen making a quick and easy mozzarella fondue recipe.

(Thank you, Mindy and Jes for our fondue pot!)

It was a really nice evening.

Kelly

we got . . .

a couch!

It's starting to feel like a real living room.

Kelly

a first!

Adrian loves to bike and was excited for David to be able to join in on the fun.

One Saturday morning a few weeks ago he set out to try to get a bike trailer he'd seen on craigslist. It had already sold but the first garage sale he ran across after that had this wonderful kids' bike seat for only $10! Yippee!

He also got the adorable fish helmet for him that I just love.

As you can see, David loves being on the bike with his Daddy.

A couple weeks later we were very excited and thankful to find a steal of a deal on a tandem bicycle off of craigslist so we now get to ride as a whole family on our bicycle built for three!

Kelly

Colorado Springs Streets - A-Z {Academy} part three

I really will finish Academy at some point and move onto a "B" street. I guess it is going to take me a LONG time to get through the alphabet at this rate.

So here is part three of Academy and I am hoping to finish up the street in one more jaunt/post. We'll see.

This section of Academy is in the Vickers/Dublin vicinity.

(I still remember learning the word vicinity from reading a Nancy Drew book. Do you have any memories like that?)

First up, Erindale Square:

It says "Church of Christ" on the sign but I haven't really been able to figure out one that meets there. hmm . . .

Also, it's fun to me to see the headquarters of so many different ministries as I drive around town. I used to hear "Walk the Talk" on the radio in Dallas for years and lo and behold, here they are.

We haven't yet tried out this Mexican place. There is definitely and understandably I guess, a lack of "Tex Mex" here. So far I haven't really been to a Mexican restaurant that I would call my favorite. Anyone been to this place? Do you like it?

Pikes Perk Coffee

get it?

Pikes Perk, like Pikes Peak but perk for coffee?

I've been to this location once with some ladies from one of the churches we've been visiting. They have an exersaucer and some other toys and things which is kind of nice if you don't mind your child using toys a billion other kids have used. I did it although I did use the ubiquitous baby wipe on it first.

Adrian and I have been to the location downtown. We really liked it. Good coffee drinks.

I don't eat at Chili's super often but it is great for a just knowing what you're going to get kind of experience. I like their sliders, nachos, chips and salsa with ranch and cajun chicken pasta.

What is your favorite thing at Chili's?

We've been to this Chili's a couple different times after church both with my parents and my brother & sister-in-law and nephews. I have to say, they've been very good to us, especially since one of those times we ended up with a sick baby after we'd ordered but before our food came and they boxed everything up for us to take. Thank you, Chili's.

I haven't yet been to this coffee shop. Any of you? Opinions?

My Gym, I don't know much about it but I wonder if one day in the not too distant future we'll be attending birthday parties here like The Little Gym in Texas. It says "Children's Fitness Center". I do dearly hope that it is for fun fitness not pressuring young children into being the world's greatest athletes type of place. Okay, stepping off my soapbox.

Okay, I'm always up for browsing Tuesday Morning and the Consignment of Collectibles could be fun, but Vacuums and Dragons???? What in the world does that even mean?

I have no idea.

Okay, now for a few updates on places north of here on Academy that I've covered before.

I did go to the Old Navy and Carter's on Academy and the Old Navy is definitely different than some I've been to before. Maybe they are revamping all of them and this is the new layout?

The dressing rooms were in the middle which I liked because for some reason I often have a hard time finding the dressing rooms there. They also had cool carts that a certain young man enjoyed riding in better than most. The clothes were pretty tightly packed together which made it a little tricky to steer around but there was lots of stuff to see and lots of clearance which is always nice. I bought a fun pair of pants, cardigan and striped tank that will all be great for fall.

Next I went over to Carter's and found some super cute jammies on clearance. I also found out that Wednesday is grandparent discount day so you can bet I'll be trying to talk my mom into going shopping with me on a Wednesday next time I want to go to Carter's. Not that I think it will take much convincing.

I also made it to Gatherings. It was a little more "primitive style" overall than I was expecting but they had some neat cards and lots of stamped silverware that was fun. I got a butter knife that says, "spread love".

The Good Times on Academy closed but I went to another location and treated myself to a sundae one day when my great brother-in-law took David on a hike so I could run errands by myself. It was pretty good but I don't know if I'll be tempted back or not.

So, there you have it, a little more of Academy and hopefully we can move on to streets starting with other letters soon.

Kelly

toys to take on the plane

One of the friends I've met through blogging is taking an airplane trip soon and asked for any and all advice for traveling with a one year old.

I had already been contemplating doing this post and that cinched the deal. I'll bet a lot of us have wished for advice on traveling with kids before so here's my take on what toys might be good for the plane.

Toys are going to vary by age range for sure and you know your child and his/her interests best but here's what I took for my nearly 16 month old son.

Roughly from left to right starting in the back:

First up the girly pink bag . . . I thought it would be simplest to have all of the toys in one place little pouch that I could pull out of the diaper bag and not have to be pulling the whole diaper bag out from under the seat and shoving it back in while holding David and keeping my seatbelt securely fastened. It worked really great actually and I just used something I already had and luckily David is not old enough yet to care what color it was.

I think I packed three board books, Goodnight Gorilla, one of our favorites being one of them.

This pinwheel was actually part of the decor at my baby shower and I have used them in various ways since then. David loves them and I knew it would be a small, lightweight, interactive toy to bring. It turned out to be my "go to" toy for the entire five days. It was great on the plane, in restaurants or while he was in the stroller and we were walking around.

I brought a straw because I thought again it was extremely small and lightweight and I could blow through it onto his skin or hair and he could bend it, etc. but I don't think we ever even pulled it out.

These pliers are from his toolset that he got for his birthday. We still don't know who gave it to us but it sure is getting a lot of mileage! These pliers are always a fun toy for him to play with and he enjoyed them on the trip as well.

The tinker toy is from his sweet Aunt Kim who let it be taken from the set at her house. It has been a favorite for awhile. He played with it a little on the plane but it is really better for rolling so I probably could have left it at home.

The "I" and the "D" "train cars" are from a set that spells his name that his Grandma gave him for Christmas. They connect with magnets and I just brought two for him to pull apart and put back together. We also use these as church bag toys too.

The plastic fish is a bath toy that squirts water or when empty, blows air. We used that more than once as I sang songs about fishies and made it swim, blew air on David by squeezing it, etc.

I brought the baby spoon because he enjoys chewing on the rubber tips. Since we didn't ever feed him baby food he doesn't really associate them with eating real food but lately he has really enjoyed pretending to feed me with them and I knew that would be a quiet, easy game we could get a lot of mileage out of on the plane. Turns out we didn't ever pull it out but if we had run out of other things I think it would have been good.

He hasn't really taken a pacifier since six months, preferring his thumb, but since the move he has found some and enjoyed popping them in his mouth or playing with them/chewing on them for short periods of time. I thought this might also help his ears on take off and landing.

The adorable lion toy is a gift from his great-grandma last Christmas. You push the bottom and the whole thing collapses. David thinks it is very funny and we used this one a whole lot on the plane.

The red white and blue cloth is a napkin. I stuck it in thinking it would be handy for peek-a-boo or hiding objects under for him to find but we didn't end up using it either.

I got the stickers because my mom had told me my sister-in-law had used them as a great plane toy for my nephew. We did use some on the way back and they were good for killing some time.

The little hedgehog is a finger puppet that his Sweetie gave him. He loved how soft and fuzzy it was and enjoyed me making it kiss him, etc. I also brought a little chick inside an egg finger puppet that is not pictured. He loves for me to pop that little chick out of the egg and say boo. Then he'll push it back in. He learned to say "chicken" on this trip while playing with it!

The bracelet is because I tried to wear fun jewelry that he could play with on the flight but that wouldn't set off the metal detector!

The bath glove with the animals on the fingers is a gift from his Grandma. I think it may have come from France even! I used the animals to "talk" to David on the flight and that was fun.

The toy ring was has turned out to be something we have used from his littlest days until now. It can be put on and taken off things and his Daddy even likes to make him giggle by hanging it on his ear.

This little Fisher Price truck and another we have like it were birthday gifts from his Aunt Gail. He has used them a ton and this is his smallest vehicle. He pushes cars and trucks around all day but I needed something really small for the trip. This fit the bill.

The travel Q-tip box is something I found as I was packing and cleaning out my toiletries bag. I thought it would be a big hit with my little guy who loves to figure things out and put things inside things but it wasn't that big a hit.

As I've written this I've realized how many of these things were gifts and am once again overwhelmed with how blessed we are with people who love us and our sweet boy.

I hope this has helped any of you who are anticipating traveling with little ones and as we're not done traveling, I would *love* to hear any suggestions, ideas and tips *you* have for traveling with little kids.

Thanks!

Kelly

the Royal Gorge

While a bunch of our family was here in July for a family reunion, one of the things we did was tour the Royal Gorge. My cousin Jonathan captured this picture of Sweetie, David and I on the bridge over the gorge.

This is really special to me because I can remember as a little girl, my Sweetie and Poppy taking a vacation and visiting the Royal Gorge and her telling me all about it and showing me pictures and here I got to go with her to see this thing that I remember capturing my imagination as a child.

Blessings abound.

Have you ever been to the Royal Gorge?

Kelly

our tomatoes are ripe!!!

These made for a great lunch today!

Our garden adventure is working.

Do you garden?

Kelly

helping around the house

Doing laundry is so much more fun for me now. A certain little mister enjoys helping me. Truth be told, mostly he likes pushing the button on the drier at the end to turn it on but I'll take it!

Do you have a favorite laundry tip?

Kelly

last day in Chicago

We spent five days in Chicago. We went because Adrian's Granny & cousin who live in England as well as his dad were going to be in town and we wanted to meet up with all of them for a visit. It was wonderful to get to spend time together. They left on Sunday and we stayed two extra days even though it meant Adrian had to work during the day, telecommuting from cafes and coffee shops with free wifi.

We had an amazing breakfast on our last day in Chicago. We went to a place called Orange that I've been wanting to try out for about six years now, since my very first visit to Chicago with my mom, aunt and our friend, Sheryl.

It was really yummy! I had the pancake flight. I think the pancakes change weekly and all four stacks are centered around a theme. This one was August fruits. Yum!

Adrian had steak and eggs benedict on brioche toast. It was really yummy as well.

Sweet David had sweet potato fries & cheerios. It turned out to be harder than I expected to feed him with his dairy allergy while eating out the whole trip. I was SUPER impressed with E,leaven though! I stopped in to buy my first ever French macaroons and asked if she would mind filling up David's cup with soy milk for me. Everywhere else I had made this request I had paid a pretty hefty price for a cup of soy milk but what are you going to do without a refrigerator? I reached for my wallet and she told me that it was okay, I didn't owe her anything. Wow! Thank you, E,leaven!

After breakfast, Adrian got to work and David and I walked to Navy Pier to go to the Children's Museum! We had such a good time.

Enjoy the pics.

horse made of "stuff"

love this photo of my walking explorer

cool sound tubes

different perspective

It's the simple things. He loved the stairs.

They had an awesome play space that gave me lots of ideas for early childhood type stuff. I feel like I "know" elementary age having taught that age for so long but this early childhood stuff is new to me. There was a really nice girl who worked there and had a great chat.

lots of sounds, textures, moving things

In another area of the museum there was a "garden". The ground was made of brown corduroy covered bolster type things so that there were "rows" that the kids really could "plant" the crops down in.

neat ball ramp!

down they come

kid sized entrance into the museum of miniatures

waiting for our train to take the El back to the airport

The balloon was well worth the $1.99 price tag at a grocery store off Michigan Avenue the day before. David got to enjoy one of his favorite things in all the world while Mama got to enjoy a little shopping time pushing the stroller with the balloon attached.

Have you been to any children's museums?

Which ones should we add to our list to visit in the future?

Kelly

first and last photos by Adrian, all other photos by Mama