Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Wheelers!!! Hope you enjoy this little Christmas tribute from the kids and this other one from the adults.

Now Open for Business

I have just recently decided become a consultant with The Body Shop and start my own home-based business with The Body Shop At Home division. You have probably heard of them or seen their stores in the mall. You usually are walking at the mall or in an airport and suddenly can smell their products from several yards away.

I recently hosted a party and decided that this would be a great opportunity for me to capitalize on my privilege of staying home with the kids and yet still have something on the side that I can work on and do for myself. They have great products and the "hook" for me was the company's Core Values-of which my favorite was their commitment to Community Trade. Community trade is a program that acquires natural ingredients from foreign small producers at a fair price to help them cover their costs and invest in their future. Some of the Community Trade ingredients come from countries like Ghana, Namibia, India and Tahiti just to name a few.

The Body Shop At Home carries all the products that you can find in a store and more. They have make-up, skin care, bath and body products, hair, fragrance and home fragrances, men's and well being products. Call me your personal shopper whenever you need any type of these
products and I would be happy to get them for you or better yet - host a party so you and your friends can be pampered to a night of relaxation. I would appreciate your support as I venture into this new business so don't forget to check out my site if you are looking for gifts for family and friends or if you need a little pampering yourself.

National Finals Rodeo in Vegas!

This last weekend we had the awesome opportunity to the first two nights of the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Lance and Meghan joined us and we had an amazing time. We were invited by Andrew's client Steve with Coors Brewing Company, they are big sponsors of the rodeo. We did a little gambling, slept in, had good sushi, and did a little shopping but mostly we relaxed and enjoyed the rodeo. We checked out the Cowboy Christmas fair and picked up some cowboy hats for the event. Before the rodeo we hung out in the Coors Racing Team airstream rv and after we spent time in the Coors hospitality tent complete with music, a bar and last but not least the MECHANICAL BULL! All four of us rode it and got bucked off and at the time it was fun, however our old bodies are still recovering. I had bruises up and down my inner thigh and my back and shoulders can hardly move. I am glad that I did it though! Check out the photos of our trip by clicking on the title link above! Thank you Steve and Donna for an amazing time!

Santa is coming to town...

Avery and Fiona braved the cold in downtown Erie so that they could get a photo taken with Santa and have a little hot chocolate. Avery talked about what she would tell Santa all day but when it came down to sitting on his lap...she would have none of it. So, Santa held Blake and she stood about 5 feet away. The picture didn't come out at all so instead we snapped a shot of the girls. Fiona lives down the street from us and Avery is a big fan of hers.

Have your cake...and eat it too!

This is a picture of some lemon cake that Avery decided to have for breakfast one morning while I was on the phone with my mom. She pushed her chair to the counter and opened it up, got a fork and started to eat it. All of a sudden I heard her say oh no and that was because she knocked over the container and it fell on the floor. It was all over the floor but I had to take a photo of it so I put it on a plate. She had dropped 1/2 of the cake on the floor....

November photos

Avery at Baby Disco

Zach's concert-he is in the middle of the picture with the glasses on.

Just Avery in a picture where I think she looks a lot like my mom when she was little!

Hanging the lights on the fence in the back yard

Avery in her oversized snow suit...you can't tell from this picture so much but her legs look very short in this outfit

Here is the abbreviated picture version of our month if you don't want to read the post below.

Happy November Thanksgiving recap!

I don't know where the month has gone. I can hardly believe that December is only a few days away. We didn't do a ton of stuff this month but yet it has flown by. CU's football regular season is over and basketball has already started. We had a few higlights this month...Disco dancing with Avery was a blast...Blake is officially pulling up onto anything and everything, he turned 9 months in November...and Zach has his yearly choir concert for school-he was practicing so much that even Avery learned parts of the songs. Oh, I almost forgot...we are almost potty trained! I think that by the end of the year we should be potty trained no problems! Yeah! It seems like it has taken a while but if I look back, Zach was trained after he was 3. This year we spent our Thanksgiving much different than we had in the past. We were alone...and it was kind of nice. I made a turkey-a small one, but wasn't stressed out about preparing the perfect meal with the perfect dessert. Of course we missed family but I didn't miss the chaos that comes with having family there for dinner. Avery was sick that day and spent most of the day laying on the floor or walking around with a bucket in case she wanted to throw up. Luckily she didn't have any food all day so I know my food didn't make her sick. Whatever she had she passed around the house because both Blake and Zach have had issues! Lastly Christmas is coming...we had our first snow and we got our Christmas lights on the outside of the house. I hope that the holidays don't pass me by as quickly as November did so I can at least update more regularly...someone better hold me to that with an email to say...Hey you-update your site!!!

Trick or Treat

Halloween was so much fun this year. Avery was Tinkerbell and was very excited that she was getting all this candy. She wanted to open them right away and when she would get to the door and say trick or treat, after she got candy she would stand there and say one more...and sometimes even grab the candy herself! Blake lasted a little while but got very tired. He was the cutest little Hot Dog you have ever seen though! Zach was a ninja and dad bought him some cool ninja swords so that is what really made the costume.

Pumkin Patch fun

Here are a bunch of pictures of our family day at the pumkin patch. We had fun and so did the kids.

Costume tryouts again!

On Friday night Alissa and Bethany hosted a Halloween party for the kids. Don't they look awesome and they did an amazing job. The kids loved it! Thanks guys!
Blake and Bethany were having some fun and playing peek-a-boo with her hat. She was giving him the giggles.

Outside when the kids were hitting the pinata Avery opted to be held by Joe instead. Daddy was helping with the pinata and Avery likes Joe a lot!

Longmont Discovery Days

Last week we tried out the discovery days part of the Longmont museum. We went with a few friends and in this picture Avery and her friend Sofie are playing in a tabletop sandbox that was filled with orange rice. I think all the kids had a good time and we will have to try it again. She is getting to the age of crafts and discovery and of course doing it by herself.

Costume tryouts

Avery had to be sure about her tinkerbell costume so we tried it out at the YMCA festival last week. I think she was the cutest tinkerbell by far don't you?

The Starbursts Celebrate!

Zach's soccer season has come to a close and he did such a great job this year. He is really grasping how to pass and where to be to receive the pass. Their team lost only one game and in the last game he had a really awesome goal that just soared over the goalie's head. It almost hit the top of the goal but snuck under the bar. He is a good player and every season he plays he gets even better.
Congrats Zach!

Weekly Superbus class

Avery is really enjoying her Superbus class that she has each week. She is hanging upside down with Lauren after class....I love dressing her up and doing her hair too...

Sibling love

Avery loves for Blake ot get in her crib with her. Here they were playing together....

Crawling on all fours

After weeks and weeks of doing his little army crawl, Blake decided to get up on all fours to more around. He is getting faster and faster everytime I turn around. It is definitely something that makes him smile that he can sit and crawl.

Denver Zoo

After living here for nearly 2 years we finally made it out to the Denver zoo this month. We met up with neighborhood friends Stephanie and her daughter Lauren and also with Blake's godmother Alissa and the little boy she nanny's Nicholas.

The kids loved the train and here Stephanie and Lauren are waiting in line. Alissa and Nick are loaded up on the train and ready to go!

What a fun day at the zoo!

Happy 8 Months!

After a shower the other morning, I just pushed Blake's hair back with the palm of my hand and voila! Pretty handsome little guy huh!

Go Bruins!

We got to the Rose Bowl and tailgated with some of Andrew's friends from college. Here he is with his friend Mike. I am sure this tailgate was a little different then the ones they attended back in the day...but that is just a guess.







Even though Tim and Kelly are huge Notre Dame fans...no one gave them a hard time.

Andrew even had me decked out in UCLA gear! We were all ready to go, little did we know that the outcome of the game did not end in our favor...maybe next year!

Keeping up with the Elliotts

We were able to take our first vacation without the kids this last weekend. We headed out to Palm Springs to enjoy some R & R. On our way to the UCLA vs. Notre Dame game we stopped along the way to have lunch with some old friends, Kent and Aimee and their beautiful little ones, 3 1/2 year old twins Ava and Chloe and 1 1/2 year old Johnny. Andrew and Kent have been friends for many years dating all the way back to elementary school. It was so nice to catch up. The last time I had seen Aimee was at our wedding and she was pregnant with the twins.

Too windy for a round of golf??? Never!

Andrew and our friends Tim and Kelly Utrup joined us in Palm Springs, so naturally, the boys went golfing and Kelly and I did the pool and the spa!
The boys were really looking forward to some serious golf action...
but there was just a bit of wind. It was probably 40 mph winds on that day at the golf course, however, they were troopers because they played all 18 holes! Imagine that!

Avery first class

Avery started her first gymnastics class last week on the famous Superbus here in Erie. She loved it. We went out and bought a new outfit for class and she was so excited. A couple friends are taking the same class too. Lauren who lives one block over and Nicholas, the little boy that Alissa cares for. Don't they look like a happy bunch!

Zach's Jog-a-thon

At the end of September, Zach participated in the yearly jog-a-thon at school. This year he ran 13 laps during the time alotted.

It was fun listening to Avery cheer him on and yell, " Yeah Zach...Good Job Zach" everytime he passed by.

Happy Birthday Zach!

No pictures of Zach's birthday this year. I couldn't find my camera when it was time. (I hate it how you remember where it is after the fact...in my bike pack from our ride 2 days before the party) We had a great party at the house with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood. They played games and did the whole cake and ice cream thing. I even made a cake/cupcake tower. Overall it was a good turnout and most importantly I think that Zach had fun! He even won when we played musical chairs. I can't believe he is 8! Wow!

Mommy & Me

I love these two pictures because that beautiful smile of Avery's that you see is so her! Real and genuine like we said we were going to get her and she is laughing because she is about to be tickled! Then, anytime I get to have a picture with my kids is reason enough to put it on the blog!

We love dress up!

It seems that all the girls Avery's age have a thing about dressing up. We went to a birthday party today and the older girls were dressing hte younger ones up in all sorts of princess outfits and other costumes. this one was my favorite by far!

CU vs. CSU 2007

Friends and CSU alums Kelly and Heidi joined us at the 1st game of the season. A big Colorado rivalry CU vs. CSU

Even though they were wearing green and cheering for the other team we still like them.
It was a fun time...and CU won!