Brendan is {9}!!!

Happy Birthday, Bren!! You are 9 now and you just had your first sleep over! You, Peyton and 2 {wild} friends from your class. I felt really sorry for teacher A LOT today. LOL
Brendan, you are really turning into such a strong, independent young man. You are so funny- you love to make people laugh.

Here is a little snapshot of you at this age--
You are in third grade, Mrs. Kircher's class, with your great {wild} friend, Carson.
You love listening to music on your ipod shuffle- your favorite right now is Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO. You love to dance to this song. Well, every song with a good beat, really. :)
You are very competitive; you love sports. Football is your favorite. You played for the first time this past Fall and LOVED it!
You are trying so hard to learn to skateboard and you are getting better and better each time! You love your ripstick scooter, too!
You are a pretty good gamer- you love playing your DSi and the Wii. You just got Zelda for both systems and are very excited about that game!
You really enjoy reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (and watching the movies). Those keep you reading.
You are doing okay in school- could be better. You have a few distractions in your class this year, but I really hope that this improves for the second half of the year.
You are a fun, energetic, very smart and loving kiddo, Brendan. I love you so much!
(I also really enjoyed giving you NINE spankings and a *pinch to grow an inch*)

^i love A's expression in this pic! he really wanted a nano bug! ;)

our new pet {hamsters}

Meet Ellie and Stella.
The boys are way psyched! :)

These little girls are SO adorable! This is going to test P and B-- these little ladies are their responsibility.

We got them each a little ball to put them in so they can run around. So cute.

Football Saturdays

I realized today as I was taking pictures at Brendan's last flag football game, that I haven't added any pictures on our blog. He has really enjoyed playing this Fall and is eager to start tackle football. I'm not sure that I am, but I have time to get used to the idea. He is really pretty good at it. He made some new friends and he really learned a lot.

These are from his last game today, 10/15.

 The whole team sprayed their hair blue! What spirit!

 Brendan playing quarterback.

 Brendan's handoff- touchdown!!!

The team victory line- the team loves this part!

School has started (again)....

First week down and the boys have had a great start. They both really like their teachers and each have a few classmates from last year in their class again.
Peyton is starting block scheduling this year- he is happy about that. Funny fact: Peyton's teacher lives 3 houses down from us! Ha! This should be interesting...
Brendan has a male teacher this year, which he is totally excited about. He wanted a "boy" teacher. LOL

The boys are excited about Back to School Skate Night this coming Monday night! And, of course, the return of Kids Nite Out in 2 weeks (which Mom is even MORE excited about!).

Here's to a GREAT 2011-2012 school year!

Brendan's Field trip to the Zoo!

The last field trip of the school year...the Denver Zoo.
I try and volunteer a few times a year in each of the boys' classes. This year I didn't have the opportunity to help out with anything in Peyton's class- except for providing supplies for parties and such. Brendan's class had 2 field trips this year and the date of the zoo worked with my schedule, so here we are.
There were 5 parent volunteers for each of the 2nd grade classes (4 classes total). Getting 2 school buses loaded was a chore- and we hadn't even left school property yet. One parent said, "it is Friday the 13th, what did we sign up for??" LOL. The trip went very smoothly, though, and it was a lot of fun. 2nd graders are hilarious.
We got to the zoo at 9:30 and basically did whatever we wanted until 11:35, when the kids attended a "World Biomes" class. So, my group of 3- Brendan, Vanessa and Jessica- headed to the animal nursery. We had a list of all the recent births in the zoo and the girls of the group couldn't wait to see the recently hatched baby turtles {me included!}. On the way to the nursery, we saw the Bighorn Sheep lamb. The whole family was together.

After their class- we headed over to Tropical Discovery to see the fish, turtles and snakes. This is one of my favorite spots at the zoo. The frogs, fish and turtles are so fun to see...

<-- looking at the kimono dragon.

We saw a lot of animals- including multiple sightings of the wild peacocks roaming the zoo and 3 seals playing in the water. The kids got to touch a real Tiger hide and see the Penguin feeding.
On the way to the buses I asked what their favorite part of the trip was and Jessica shouted "the giraffes", Vanessa shouted "the baby turtles" and Brendan shouted "all of it".
Then on the bus Vanessa said to me, "Mrs. Sharp, you are very nice". Ahhh, what a sweet child.

North Table Mountain hike

Sunny and in the upper 40’s?!? Let’s go for a hike!

Our friends from Golden invited us out for a hike today, so we packed up the kiddos and headed West. The hike was a blast-- I burned more calories by carrying a 24 lb. toddler on my back. ;) We arrived at 10am and we got back to the van at 12:15. Not a bad morning hike. We got to see a really good view of Denver from the mountain and also a pretty nice view of the Coors plant. The boys had a snack while we rested from the trek up. Austin apparently worked up an appetite, too, by riding on my back all the way up.

After some walking around at the top, we started our descent. Peyton was lagging behind a little, then he started catching up as Brendan started slowing down. Geez boys. Lindsey had the boys race down the trail and the winner got to ride in Ken’s {JEEP} to The Spot for lunch. Peyton couldn’t have ran faster! Brendan started off slow and needed an energy boost from Ken. In the end, Peyton and Brendan formed an alliance and got to the jeep at the same time. :) I guess they both wanted to ride in the cool car instead of the minivan… This is what Austin was doing…

We had burgers and beer (two beers for me, none for Kyle) at The Spot in Golden. Good food and great conversation. Peyton and Brendan had fun eating in their own booth right behind us (ordering root beer in a bottle…TWICE.. and daring each other to eat the pickles that came with their burgers).

After lunch, we went to see Ken and Lindsey’s newly purchased home. Very nice house, great backyard. The boys spent some time playing football and throwing snowballs in the yard.

Since the hike kicked our butt, we have been on the couch this evening watching football. Fun times.

just call him {MJ}

Austin & Kyle had fun playing basketball last night. Every time Austin made a basket, he would clap (this also goes for putting a toy away, eating his last bite of food, or anything else we say "good job" about). Kyle blocked a few shots on the shorty, and Austin just laughed. He loves his basketball hoop. During the day, he'll just walk by- grab the ball- and make a shot. That's it; then he's done. ;) He's so funny.


His brothers like to play basketball with him, too. The hoop adjusts, so the boys always make it taller and it makes Austin very upset. He looks at them like, "hello?!? i'm short here! throw me a bone." It is quite entertaining to watch.
I love that the boys get along so well. Peyton and Brendan don't mind hanging out with Austin; playing in his room with him. His room is pretty cool, though. I mean, he's got a lego table and a train set. What more could a boy want? Austin loves it.

I can't believe he is going to be 17 months soon-- on the 19th, to be exact. He is turning in to quite the little man. He got his first molars on top a few weeks ago and the bottom ones are coming in on both sides this week. He's been pretty good with those. A slight fever, but no extra crabbiness going on lately.
We are going on a hike with some friends tomorrow-- it is supposed to be sunny and in the 50's. {Perfection!}
I'm also going to try and get a few projects done that I am working on. Hopefully that will happen. I love crafting, but I NEVER have the time for it. One of my 2011 goals is to MAKE time-- so here's hoping!

I am looking forward to this 3-day weekend. Work 3 days, then get 3 off?? That's my kind of week!

welcome {2011}

So, we say farewell to 2010 and hELLo 2011! It's starting off great-- I have a four day weekend! ;) Peyton & Brendan go back to school on Wednesday, so we have a lot of time to continue our {trouble playing} addiction. That game is crazy insane family fun! We played 4 times last night alone, then moved on to Wii bowling. The Sharps spent New Years Eve on the edge (this is what happens when you have 3 kids!).

2010 was great. Here is a little recap of our year:















Terah came to visit in January and we went skiing for the first time,




















we had to say goodbye to callie- I miss her so much,





























Austin had A LOT of FIRSTS! His first little tooth came in at 6 months, he started crawling at 7 months and walking at 12 months!















We visited family & friends in Texas in July and spent one of the days at Sea World,































I went to visit Terah in September,





















I discovered the {hipstamatic} app (yes, this made the list!),





















Brendan started 2nd grade and Peyton started 4th!















We had a lot of opportunities for family time and fun trips this year.


And now we are all caught up with the Sharps in 2010. It was great; I'm looking forward to what 2011 has in store for us.


I'm not one for resolutions- I do have a few things that I would like to try to start doing in 2011, though...

1. be more organized at home
2. keep up with documenting the boys' milestones
3. make more time for my hobbies (crafting and reading)
4. try not to sweat the little things
5. try to be more frugal-- be mindful that money doesn't grow on
trees <--this is from Kyle! :D

Here's to a great 2011!