The family has just returned from a trip to Sydney, Australia. We were there to celebrate my Great-Uncle's 100th Birthday. My Great-Uncle, whom we call Bo-Gong, raised my father and in our minds is like our Grandpa. So, on this momentous occasion, relatives from several countries gathered for a reunion and Paul, Abby, Kayleigh, my parents, my brother, and I all took a trip Down Under.

We were there for just a week, which is just enough time for our bodies to get used to the time difference and now we are back, trying to recalibrate.

Paul and I are fighting with not being able to fall asleep until 2 or 3 am. And during the day, a crash starts around 1:30, when the body just says, "Too tired to function...shutting down." We returned to Denver late Friday night. Today, being Monday, is our first day back to work and school. We are doing ok, but still not quite back to normal. Kayleigh has had the hardest time readjusting, waking up 5 or more times after we put her down - light's too bright, music's too loud, room's too hot, poopy, thirsty, etc. - before she will settle down for the night.

Soon enough I'll sift through our photos and blog the amazingly fun trip we had, best part being the reminder that I have some of the bestest cousins in the world! For now, just trying to recover...













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We celebrated Kayleigh's birthday on Sunday, with just a few close friends and family. Grandma and Grandpa Newell, unfortunately, were not able to make it because Grandpa came down with a really bad case of cellulitis in his hand and spent the weekend at the ER! We saw them just the weekend before and they were both in great health, so this was a shocking development. However, we should be able to see them again this coming weekend.

Abby and Kayleigh loved the house and as soon as they saw it set up in our living room on Sunday morning they started playing and playing and playing....

So, by the time the first guest arrived, Kayleigh was 100% tuckered out!


Here she is with her Gong-Gong.  Notice her complete lack of facial expressions in these photos!  I have never seen her so exhausted.


Po-Po held her while the adults got a chance to play with the playhouse!


Allen and Diane competed in the ring toss.  There were no clear winners.  Despite being less than 10 feet away, the activity was a real challenge!



Randi showed some excellent accuracy tossing the tennis ball at the ball toss target.




Here's Gwen in her pretty dress.  She recently turned 5 and it's so neat that she and Abby have been friends since they were only 18 months old!  When we see her 2 year old sister, Cameron, she reminds us so much of Gwen when we first met her.


Below is the result of a cake baking disaster from the night before.  It's a good thing crumbled cake turns nicely and easily into cake balls.  Who knew baking in altitude would cause so many problems?!!  More on the adventure of baking Kayleigh's birthday cake in a future post.


Kayleigh was so tired, but was still able to give us a smile when lunch was served.


Lunch was simply Parry's Pizza, with garlic and mild hot wings.  My mom made some delicious cream puffs and we had some simple snacks to wrap up the food for the party.





So, for her cake, I decided to make her one featuring Gromit, the dog!  The cake was totally inspired by the movie: "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit."  Again, details of the cake to come in a separate post.



Since she was so exhausted, barely a slight lift of her head was all we got from Kayleigh when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  She wasn't even willing to blow out her candle and Dad had to help.  Bob had to feed her every bite of her cake, too!


Randi was claimed by Belle, but we think the chicken bones on her plate might have had something to do with her feline buddy.


For those who didn't know who Wallace and Gromit were, we decided to put on the Were-Rabbit movie.  It was the first time Abby and Kayleigh have seen the movie.  We think a lot of the humor went above the kids' heads, but the adults enjoyed it!  I'm hoping that someday Abby and Kayleigh can look back and understand why Gromit was featured on Kayleigh's birthday cake.


At least having some cake gave Kayleigh enough energy to open her presents.




She got some great, great gifts from everyone, but I think the biggest hit was the giant stuffed dog!  The dog takes up most of her crib, actually, but she insists on sleeping with it.... During the day, she adores the numerous books she received and she has curled up in the pink, folding chair to read.  She also got some much-needed, adorable clothes, a sheep skin rug, and a few toys.  Abby thought long and hard and decided to get Kayleigh a Leap Frog learning cell phone, which Kayleigh likes a lot.


Thanks to everyone who was able to join us in celebrating Kayleigh's 2nd birthday!  The birthday girl had a blast.

I'm not sure what this song is, but Abby's learning it at school (the last verse should be about the "Tyrannosaurus," not a repeat of "Brontosaurus") and Kayleigh's trying to keep up the words and motions.

This must be a pretty old song because - did you know? - the Brontosaurus is no longer a recognized dinosaur!

Happy Easter!

This year, for a change of pace, we held an egg hunt for the girls at home. I actually enjoyed it immensely and I think the kids did as well.

About 100 eggs were filled and tucked into every corner of the main floor of our house, spilling into our backyard.

We invited neighbors over who had 2 girls who were Abby and Kayleigh's ages. It was a really laid-back, fun event. The older generously let the toddlers have their share and we spent the rest of the day trying to calm down the girls from their sugar-highs!

Abby was caught up in the fanatical craze here in Denver this past football season, known as Tebow-Mania.

Every few weeks since the playoffs ended, Abby has been asking when she would be able to see Tim Tebow play again.

With the recent acquisition of Peyton Manning to the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow went to the New York Jets.  When we told Abby this, she didn't seem to mind terribly. 

However, today, she showed us this drawing...


That's Tim, in his #15 jersey, helmet on (notice the grid across the face?), ready to play for the Broncos again.  This is what Abby said about her drawing: "That's Tim Tebow playing football.  I forgot to draw the ball, though.  You also don't see his arms because he has put them behind his back.  If he doesn't listen to his team, he won't be able to play for them anymore. They told him he needed to keep his hands behind his back and since he doesn't want to go to another team, that is what he is doing.  That's why you don't see his arms."

I wonder if she actually picked up on the fact that the Broncos no longer wanted Tebow to play QB for them anymore, hence the reference to keeping his arms behind his back.  That would certainly be a tremendously astute observation!

We just may have a NY Jets supporter in the household next season....

A couple of weeks ago, we were faced with a tough decision as to which school Abby will attend for Kindergarten starting this August.

Paul and I made the decision the night I posted the above link.  See, there are so many benefits to blogging - one of them being that it helps us organize our thoughts and is conducive to better decision-making.

Even though what made the decision tough was that we had really good choices, it actually turned out to be an easy pick.

Starting mid-August, Abby will be staying in the Douglas County School District and attending DCS Montessori - the charter school just up the street from us.

So, what swayed our decision?  Well, the reason we gave the Private Montessori School in Denver when we declined the admission was the financial savings of sending her to a public charter school, which is partially true.  In reality, the reason was actually very superficial.......DCS Montessori is newer.  The facility is bright, shiny, and air-conditioned.  For the same reason Paul and I have always bought new homes, we just feel more comfortable in buildings that haven't been around longer than we have.  Lastly, for senior high school, we do believe that Douglas County has the best options, so it made sense to stay in this school district.

We have already registered Kayleigh for the Castle Rock Primrose School.  Amazingly enough, the teacher who will be teaching Kayleigh came from the Littleton school where the girls are currently attending, and was teaching Kayleigh's infant class when she transferred.  Not only does she remember Kayleigh and me, but she is excited to be teaching her once again.  We didn't meet the owners of the Castle Rock school, but we like what we heard and the staff seemed wonderful.  Kayleigh's transition will be pretty seamless to her.  She has a couple of good friends in her current class, but she doesn't seem to get as attached to people as her sister always was.  At the beginning of next year, we will put Kayleigh's name in the DCS Montessori lottery and she should be able to join Abby there for the 2013-2014 school year, thanks to sibling priority.