A Week of Firsts

These first few weeks in Colorado have been crazy but lots of fun and filled with many "firsts" for all of us--and for once, I actually captured most of them on camera!

After delaying it for as long as possible, I finally cut Marie's hair for the first time ever. She'd been asking since before we moved to have it cut like her friend Maddie's, and I told her once we moved to Colorado I would cut it. Naturally, when she asked to have it cut our first night here I said no. But promises are promises, so I gave in after about a week and tried not to cry in the process...

First haircut!
She looks so old now...

The next day was Monday, and Marie got to go to a special Tea Party at her Gran's house right around the corner, complete with Gran's special silver tea set. Her older cousins who live in the area were also there, and they had a blast.



Erik was a little bummed that he didn't get to go to a fun party with all the girls at Gran's house, so we decided to make it up to him by taking him to Coldstone, which happens to be about five minutes from our house. I'm not sure if it was more for Erik's sake or ours. Either way, I foresee a dangerous trend.

First Coldstone ice cream! I think he likes it...

Upon the girls' return from the Tea Party that night, they were all hyped up by the giant red cloud of smoke filling the sky behind our house. I went to look out our kitchen window and this sight met my eyes:

First wildfire...that little red dot is the sun.

It was from a wildfire in the foothills of the Rockies, which thankfully was far enough away that it didn't do us any harm, but it made the entire house smell like a campfire! It's now under control, but unfortunately not without claiming two lives and some houses up in the mountains, so please keep those individuals in your prayers.

That same night, Peter happened to have his first day (well, night actually) of class for his Master's! He wouldn't let me pack his dinner, but he did concede to me snapping his picture. So grown up...

First day of school!

We also took our first family trip this past week to Red Rocks, which is an amazing park filled with (you guessed it!) big red rocks. Part of the attraction is an enormous amphitheater where outdoor concerts and movies are held in the summer, and during the day it serves as a free gymnasium of sorts for all the granola-types around here who like to run the stadium stairs for 'fun,' or, in the case of one gentleman we saw, do reverse-incline spiderman pushups all the way to the top. While we didn't exactly do a leg-buster workout, we did have fun climbing around with the kids, and they even went all the way to the top and back with Peter...

First family trip to Red Rocks!

Peter eating downtown Denver...

Marie got to use her special Camelbak backpack!
(Thanks, Godmommy Chelsea)!

In other news of fun "firsts":
Marie has finally ditched the night-time pull-ups once and for all, making it almost a week sleeping through the night without any accidents, thus allowing me to proclaim from the rooftops that she is 100% potty-trained!

Ladies and gentlemen,
we have a crawler!

Just as exciting, this past week Ethan slept through the night for the first time! (And by through the night I mean 12 hours straight, causing me to bolt awake at 4am in a sheer panic and kick Peter until he was awake so we could make sure our little guy was okay...). And did I mention that he's decided he wants to start crawling even though he's only five months old? I keep telling him he has to slow down because he's still my little baby, but that defiant streak seems to be shining through...

And since it doesn't quite fit in to any other category, I just have to share these:

Erik at five months:

Ethan at five months:

Not like they're related or anything!