4th of July Donkeys?

Flag eater?

Flag Waver!

The Stars & Stripes

Our friend's kids- Stewart, Eva, & Gloria- ready for the parade!

Joe enjoyed racing Lily over the cattle guards before the parade started!

Our little parade of kiddos (okay, adults too)!

The donkeys all dressed up for the parade!

My friend Sarah and I got a sweet ride during the parade!

Steve & Ben visit one of the mules

A donkey ride for Eva!

Lily's turn on the donkey!

Our picnic at the park (and Lily's ranch dressing mustache)

John & Kelly's little girl, Libby, playing at the park before the storms rolled in

I bet not many people had a 4th of July celebration involving donkeys. Well, we did! Mules too! Our friends Sarah & Steve invited us to a 4th of July brunch/celebration/parade at the home (estate) of their friends. We had so much fun! We started off the morning with a yummy brunch involving lots of fresh fruit and doughnuts (my personal favorite). Then after a short visit with the familie's donkeys and mules our hosts lead us through a reading of The Declaration of Independence (we all read out loud in unison). This may sound a little cheesy, but we loved it. Too often we forget why we really celebrate holidays so it was really nice to spend time remembering the real reason we celebrate the 4th of July. We were also entertained by a trombone rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and some incredible recitations by Sarah's kids. All of this was followed by our own little Independence Day parade! The kids all decorated their bikes (we decorated Lily's stroller) and the parade was led by the donkeys and mules (who were, themselves, dressed up for the holiday)! After the parade we ended the morning with donkey rides for the kids! How many other kids get to ride a donkey on the 4th of July?!

While our morning/afternoon was wonderful the rest of the day turned out to be kinda crummy. Our plans were to enjoy the evening with a fun park picnic with our friends John and Kelly. After loading up all of our goodies and dragging tons of stuff down to the park (mostly by bike) Joe started to feel really sick. He ended up going back to our apartment to lay down before he even had dinner. Not long after the storm began to move in. The rest of us did manage to eat at the park, but then quickly had to pack up all of our stuff and hussle it home. So our lovely picnic was kind of a bust. Joe spent the rest of the night (and much of the next day) in bed and resting. Lily and I did get to go down to the park and enjoy some really wonderful fireworks. Lily LOVED them! You should have seen her eyes light up. And she just kept saying every couple of minutes, "That one was my favorite!" She later told Joe that she really liked the red and purple ones. All in all a pretty fun and unique 4th of July! Hope yours was too (even if you didn't have donkeys)!

Dress Shirts

Yesterday Joe had a presentation to do for work so he actually wore a dress shirt (meaning to Joe any shirt with a collar). When he came in Lily's room in the morning to say goodbye Lily looked at him and quickly asked if we were going to church. Apparently this is the only time that her daddy wears something nice!

He's Perfect!

It's a little scary, but here's the best they could do for a face shot!

One little foot

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and he's perfect. That's right, I said HE'S perfect! IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it? Neither can we! To be honest we were hoping for a boy (Joe was really, really hoping), but we both thought our newest little one would be a girl. Apparently we are very bad at guessing these things! Joe was beaming from ear to ear when the ultrasound technician told us. And as the doctor later said, "You can't be 100% sure until the baby is born, but this is clearly a boy." Apparently our little guy isn't very shy. Unless you want to see his face that is. For pretty much the whole ultrasound he was face down. They tried and tried and tried to get him to roll over (which involved a lot of poking at my stomach)- but he wasn't having any of it. Thankfully he turned to the side a few times and they were able to get all of the pictures of his heart that they needed (just not very many face shots). So we didn't get many good pictures, but I promise you that when this little boy is born I will quickly resolve that problem!:) And for now we are happy to report that as far as the doctors can tell our little man is very healthy and everything looks great. He's just a tad bit big (14 oz) so they think that my due date may actually be a week earlier (Nov. 14th)- but they will let my doctor back in Maine make the decision on that. I did gain 2 pounds this month- so that's great (no all ice cream diet for me quite yet)! And given the baby's weight he's actually doing quite well (even if I'm not gaining much). In fact, the doctor said he might be even a little bigger than Lily (who was 8lbs 2oz). I'm not going to lie, I was hoping that this baby might somehow be a little smaller. In the long run though all I want is a healthy, happy little guy. We feel really blessed.

Silhouette

I was playing with my camera the other day around our apartment and thought I would try to do some silhouette shots- this is my first real attempt at this- so not too bad! Although I wish the silhouette was a little darker I just love the first one of Lily! In the second one .I believe that she is pointing to the mountains that you can see outside our window

On a seperate note all together both Joe and I have been sick this week with a stomach bug that's going around (I was sick Thursday and Friday and Joe got sick last night- and is still sick). Please pray that Lily wouldn't get sick too. On a happier note- we have our ultrasound tomorrow afternoon!!!!

Spring Creek Trail

Our little monkey loves to hang from rings at every park she visits

Mastering the "big girl" swing!

Putting the "duck bread" to good use

The Poudre River

The Suspension Bridge that I loved

Last Saturday (our first real weekend in Fort Collins) we decided to stay in town and bike the Spring Creek Trail. It's about 6 miles long and follows the Spring Creek throughout parts of town and into the country. Lily did great riding in the bike trailer and we enjoyed a few fun stops along the way. Our first stop was at a local park/playground. We tried to feed the ducks there, but they weren't very interested (instead Lily ate the "duck bread"). We also got to enjoy the playground. Our second stop was at the CSU Environmental Learning Center where we enjoyed a picnic lunch along the Poudre River. It was all we could do to keep Lily eating lunch and out of the water, but afterwards she did get to do a little wading in the river and throwing in sticks. Personally I loved the little suspension bridge there (it moves so much that it even threw me off balance once- although I have to admit that I'm not too graceful these days)! We had hoped to walk the nature trail there, but there were many more biting bugs than we came prepared for so instead we packed it up, finished our bike ride, and enjoyed a little Dairy Queen in the park on the way home!

20 Weeks and Counting...

On Sunday (in 3 days) I'll be 20 weeks into my pregnancy! Wow... 20 weeks...5 months...halfway!! I'm still feeling exhausted- but now more so in the afternoons rather than all day. I'm still feeling sick from time to time, but not constantly. Things are on the upswing I think! I have a little baby belly- although at my 4 month check up I had only gained one pound- so I'm working on that! If I haven't gained much weight at the next check up I may have to move to the all ice cream diet!:) I understand that many people would like to have this problem, but man is it hard to make youself eat when you feel sick all the time! A few weeks ago I began feeling the baby move- which is definitely one of the most fascinating things about being pregnant! And most exciting of all is that we find out if we are having a boy or girl at our ultrasound on Monday!!! I am giddy with excitment! When I first found out I was pregnant I told myself that I would take more pictures this time around (maybe even every month). So, here I am almost 5 months in taking my first belly pictures. It seemed like such a good idea before I felt sick everyday! Oh well. They aren't the best (since they were taken using an automatic timer)- but at least you get an idea! We'll be sure to share the exciting news when we get it next week!

Fountains!

As I've mentioned before Fort Collins is a GREAT city for families and little ones. I am loving how much there is to do here with Lily- which is especially wonderful since I feel a little compulsive about getting out of our little apartment every day. The first week we were here my friend Sarah told me about this great weekly event downtown in one of the public squares- they have live music and best of all for us they have water fountains going (that spurt up randomly from the ground)! Lots of moms bring their little ones, spread out a blanket, eat some food, listen to music, and let the little ones run through the fountains! We have gone two weeks in a row now and as you might imagine Lily just loves it! I caught this series of pictures our first week there- they just make me smile every time I look at them! Enjoy!