Peyton

Our baby is growing up! She is now 18 months old and has already gone on the potty chair and is very good at keeping up with big brother. Here are a few of my attempts at taking good photos of her since Nate usually handles this:)

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas in Portland this year. Nate flew in from Denver on Christmas Eve (the kids and I have been out here since the 9th). It is great to be home!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM CHRISTMAS

1. The Food:Prime Rib on Christmas Eve, Apple Dumplings and Eggs Benedict on Christmas morning, Ham for Christmas dinner. . . .Do we ever eat well when we're with my mom!!!

2. Parker asking politely after opening up a book, " Mommy, may I please NOT have any more books?" ;)

3. Peyton trying on all of her new socks, mittens, slippers-anything that we didn't think she'd be interested in.

4. The many helmets/bags/things the kids put on their heads (Broncos helmet, Iron Man mask, Christmas bags and boxes)

5. "I am NOT going to have those boots!!" (Parker, upon opening new winter snow boots). I don't blame him after getting so many cooler gifts;)

6. Peyton wanting us to sing "Happy Birthday" over and over when we were eating dinner by candlelight. We sang it to Jesus no less than 5 times.

7. Parker asking where Santa would put his presents since there was no more room under the tree. He came to wake us up Christmas morning panicking because he didn't see his stocking. I almost had him when I said that he must have ended up on Santa's naughty list!

8. On Christmas night, Parker asked if it would still be Christmas when he woke up. I explained that it wouldn't and he had the idea to put all his presents back in his stocking, make snowflakes to hang outside, and to pretend it was Christmas again on Sunday morning:) He was baffled that it could be Christmas since there was no snow!

9. Everyone else opening all of Peyton's presents for her since she wasn't all that interested in what was inside them. She did like peering into her stocking to see what was inside, but even then she didn't really care about getting things out.

10. New bikes! We got both kids new bikes for Christmas, which was a huge hit. Parker is really good and enjoyed going to the nearby college "race track" to ride in circles.

November

November in a nutshell:

1. I (Jess) turned 30 and Nate surprised me with an overnight trip to a Spa in Boulder (it was AMAZING and much needed!)

2. We had our family photos taken (preview photos above)

3. We have a new niece-Mia Bell McCubbin -born 11/23/10

4. We are currently lining up potential tenants for our home in Portland (thankfully we've had a lot of interest in the few days since we've advertised it for rent)

5. Getting super excited for our trip back to Oregon on December 9th!! The kids and I will be spending December and atleast part of January there to pack things up and be home for the holidays.

Fall Updates

The entire Bell family is finally in Denver! The kids and I flew out on October 6th, a few days after Nate and my brother John drove our car out (they made the trip in 18 hours and Nate drove the entire way of course)! We are staying with Nate's Aunt and Uncle here in Centennial, which is a suburb south of Denver. They were kind enough to let us stay here for awhile as we work on getting our home in Portland sold or rented and explore where we want to live here. We can't get enough of the beautiful weather and mountain views!! We decided to leave our home in Portland with everything in it and keep it on the market through the fall rather than move our stuff into storage without anywhere to put it all. Unfortunately its been pretty dead in terms of showings and we're seeing the same homes in our neighborhood still sitting that have been listed for as long, or longer than our home. We plan on renting it out in December or January if we don't get any offers. Prayers for the logistics of this all are much appreciated!! The good news is that we'll be coming back to Oregon for a month or two to get things taken care of there, so at the very least it is making our transition easier knowing that we'll be back there soon!

Before leaving Portland we had an early birthday/costume party for Parker (aka Spider Man) with some of his friends, and he turned four here in Denver on October 15th. We had a family celebration and Parker got some very cool gifts including a Lego Collector book, Spider Man sheets, Batman and Superman pajamas with capes that Gigi made, a Star Wars lego set from Nana and Bubba, a really cool nerf gun and Lego bionicle from Aunt Rae Rae and Uncle Mikey, a sled from Mike and Tig, and a play-mobile pirate play set from the Joyces!! We had Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast, got to go to this cool historic farm/museum with Aunt Bets, went to Chuck-E-Cheese for dinner, got to Skype with both sets of grandparents, had blizzards for dessert, put together his new lego set and had a movie night! It was 85 degrees, which was certainly not something we were used to in mid-October in Oregon! Perfect day for the birthday boy.

We've been able to do quite a bit of Colorado exploring, including a trip to Evergreen, the Red Rocks, a pumpkin patch excursion, a tour of the Broncos stadium, (thanks to Uncle Mikey), and a Broncos game (unfortunately it was a loss to the Raiders).

Halloween was fun. Parker was Batman for a Broncos kids trick-or-treating event and some fall festivals and Spider Man for actual trick-or-treating, while Peyton was the cutest baby superhero ever!! The kids went trick-or-treating with Cousin Peter and his friend Mark. Peyton knew what to do and say within two houses and would shove her way to the front door in front of the big boys to get her treats!! It was adorable to watch and hear her say "trick-or-treat". It was in the 60s on Halloween so thankfully we didn't even have to bundle the kids up to go out.

Hopefully there won't be just a gap between this and our next post. We miss everyone in Oregon but are truly loving Colorado so far!

The Kids

Brief Update & Random Photos

Brief Update:

I've been working as an insurance broker for Signature Select in Denver, CO since July 12th. I love my job. I love Denver. I love living with Rae & Mikey. I hate being away from Jess and the kids in Portland.

Jess has taken upon herself the role of Wonder Woman in my absence; working, caring for the kids, and trying to sell our home. She's amazing, and we'd be screwed without her. I love that woman.

The kids are growing up way too fast, and growing crazier by the minute. Parker is a 55 pound man-child who is currently obsessed with his muscles; regularly found shirtless and flexing around the house while going about his daily business. Peyton (now walking) is a teenager in an adorable toddler's body; emotionally unstable and incredibly demanding, she emits a shrill shriek whenever she feels wronged or ignored. Bottom line - our children are an absolute blessing and the cutest kids in the history of the world. That's not an opinion, it's a fact.

Finally, as you may know, we recently accepted an offer on our home. More recently, however, the deal fell apart after a month of negotiating hell. Prayers are welcome as we put it back on the market and hope for the best. Fortunately, we'll finally be together as a family in a just matter of weeks. Jess and the kids are coming to meet me in Denver, and we'll officially embark on our new adventure together as a family. That day can't come soon enough!


Random Photos: