The cool weather has arrived and I have been digging out coats, long sleeves, and jeans. Summer is over and I realized that I have not posted anything in several months. Ooops!

The Summer has been fast and busy. John graduated from Preschool in May and started Kindergarten in August. Chris is now a big boy at THREE years old. We had the chance to go visit Uncle T and ride horses and watch a powerful thunderstorm with lots of hail. And speaking of thunderstorms, we had our share of much needed rain. The basement unfortunately leaked twice and Daddy has had to part with several of his beloved books and magazines. I am still cleaning up and can’t seem to get rid of the “basement” smell. We have added even more shelves, cleaned gutters, and rearranged in case it happens again. Oh the joy of old houses! The boys got a lot of swim time in with Daddy. John can now swim across the shallow pool all by himself. Chris was armed with floaties and was able to easily catch up with his brother. By next summer I am sure they will both be able to swim unassisted. John started Kindergarten without a hitch. He has been very excited and loves being at “big boy school”. He has been bringing home his first “graded” assignments to be proudly displayed on the fridge. I have posted a new photo album with some of the pictures from the last few months. We are looking forward to the holidays and it will be a New Year before we know it!

We had a very long and exciting day yesterday in Denver. We visited the Butterfly Pavilion and the Denver Aquarium.

The boys loved watching the butterflies flutter around them and even got a few to sit on their hands. The real excitement was Rosie the Tarantula. The boys switched roles here and John ran away scared and Chris went right up to her. Mom, who is VERY creeped out by spiders, tried to coax him into doing it by holding her myself. Many people who know me might think I altered the picture, but believe me, there were witnesses! It felt like Q-tips walking across your hand. Chris and Mommy got a cool sticker to wear proudly!

After lunch it was on the the Aquarium. They got a show by the otters who were doing flips and the Tiger came right up to the glass, nose to nose with them. I was not ready with the camera though, darn. They got to see divers cleaning the (fake) coral and then feed the tank. At the end of the trip, we got to feed the Manta Rays. They sucked the fish right out of your fingers.

It was a very quiet trip home, the boys were tuckered. Check out the picture album.

The blizzard I have been wishing for finally arrived.

The forecasters kept saying it was going to be a big storm. They had also said that about every other storm that came through and left us no moisture. When I got the call on Thursday morning that John’s school had been cancelled for the day, I didn’t believe it. The sun was coming up, the sky was cloudy, but NOTHING was on the ground. I thought the school district was crazy. As the day went on the snow fell harder and harder. By the time I was let go from work it took me almost an hour to get home on a normally 15 minute drive. The wind picked up which made it even worse. We got about 12-14 inches. By Friday the storm was gone and by Monday I bet we won’t even be able to tell that it snowed.

I let the boys out for a few minutes the afternoon of the blizzard and today we went out in the sun to build a snowman. He is our first try at one, but the boys think he is pretty cool. Check out our Blizzard ‘09 photo album.

It is March, and we still have not seen a real winter this season. We have already had to bring out the hoses and get a jump start on watering the lawn.  I am going to hate to see our water bill come July and August! YIKES! It has been so warm, a couple days this week the boys didn’t even need their coats playing outside! Crazy…….

Jan 31st

Our boy scout group planned a trip to the Natural History Museum to see the Dinosaur film on IMAX. The boys had a blast looking at all the animal displays and dinosaur bones. Both of them sat perfectly still and watched the IMAX film almost without blinking. They got some pretty cool puzzles at the gift shop and got to hang out with their friends.

Jan 25th

John had his 5th Birthday!! Our family went to “Train up High”, otherwise known as Western Sizzlin' to the rest of society, for a yummy Sunday Brunch. We gorged ourselves on eggs, bacon, French toast, and all other kinds of scrumptious food. I made an attempt at an Autobot cake, and the staff came out to sing Happy Birthday to him. Just seems like a few days ago he was a little burrito in my arms….

Check out the Birthday and museum Trip Album.

That basically says it all in a nutshell. Life has been pretty nonstop around here. I will start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year. The Cochran household has been pretty enthused to say good-bye to 2008. The year did not treat us well. Here is a condensed update. 

Little John continues to do very well in Preschool. He can write and spell his first and Last name and his brother's. With a little help, he can do his whole alphabet. The world's greatest thing to him are Transformers and Star Wars. Ask him anything about them, and he will tell you. I have noticed that the case is the same for almost all the other boys in his class.

Chris's motto is "Monkey see, monkey do". Anything Brother does, so can he. It is both a blessing and a curse. The one thing we wish would follow this pattern is POTTY TRAINING. No luck. Chris is speaking more than John did at this age and is adding more and more words each week. He has also learned the letters of his name thanks to Brother practicing all the time. He is also gaining on his brother in the weight department. He is growing out of clothes as fast as when he was a baby. To him, the world revolves around Thomas the Tank Engine. He has several that go almost everywhere with him.

Remodeling and yard work have been put on hold with the winter weather, not that we have any actual SNOW. Recently, I have been cleaning out closets and sorting through boxes. Our local charity will be getting a big donation by the time I am done.

Pretty boring here otherwise. Check out the pictures in the Holiday Album.

John started "big boy" school this week. He is in a small preschool class right at the elementary school where he will start Kindergarten next year. We get to walk there every morning and afternoon. He has been very excited to be able to carry a backpack. It has been glued to him this whole week! He spent his first day decked out in CARS gear - a new outfit from Grandma and a backpack from Grammy.

Hard to believe that Fall is just around the corner. We have had some beautiful Thunderstorms and lots of much needed rain. The garden is going crazy and the grass seems to grow as you watch it.

Christopher turned 2 this month (HOW is that possible?), we added a new member to the family, Anakin (he has the Dark Side in him), and John starts preschool next week. He gets to go to a "big boy" school and we went shopping yesterday for his first school supplies. Chris is becoming quite the young man and is starting to add several new words to his vocabulary.

I added some new pictures into the Summer 2008 Album, so click on it and enjoy.

This morning we visited the Greeley Airport and the history nut of this family got to see a B-25 Bomber up close. It was pretty cool...and loud. The boys were excited to watch all the action of the small planes coming and going also. I added an album with some of the best pictures. Below is a link to the videos. Beware-they are very unprofessional:P

Video #1      Video #2

This last week has seen two major losses. One, while exciting, is still an end of a phase of our life. The other will leave a hole in our hearts for a long time.

When we got back from our camping trip Christopher decided that since he had slept in a "big-boy" bed in the cabin, he wanted to be in one at home. So we tried it. He then ignored his crib. He drags his "Bankie" upstairs now and drifts off in his own bed upstairs right beside his brother's. I agree it would be much more fun to have the bunk beds actually bunked, but that is what you get with low pitched ceilings. After being vacant for almost a month, we took down the crib. It had been there for 5 years. We are still in the process of rearranging furniture, redecorating, and figuring out what we are doing with the new space. The next step...getting rid of the changing table and diapers.

We lost a special member of our family last week. Alexander vanished into thin air. It's the kind of thing that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. We have had three male cats in the last three years just vanish around the time they turn a year old. I would feel so much better if we were able pick them up from the gutter...at least we would know and have closure. Never a trace of any of them. I have done several walk-thrus at the Humane Society, which is heartbreaking by itself, and have put an ad in the Tribune. Nothing yet, and probably won't be, but hopefully we can find out something. The boys aren't really torn up at all. J just says "maybe he went to a new home". Maybe, but I would rather he stay at ours.

John (the elder, not the younger) stole my camera and took pictures of a few of his babies.

In the spirit of saving $$ on watering (we will just have to spend it on gas anyway) we decided to dig out the horrible flowerbed around the front porch. Since the inside got a recent update, the outside needed one, too. As we had all the materials already here it cost us only achy backs and sore arms.

Before:

After:

Where to begin....

We have been a busy family in the last couple months. Remodeling, birds, bugs, and moths flying amuck in the house and the occasional squirrel (aka "Hunting Season for the felines"), tornadoes, gardening, and camping pretty much sum it up.

We started with planting the garden, which is now gorgeous. We ate our first fresh-picked salad last weekend. YUM! It has been a steady stream of planting, weeding, and cleaning up ever since then. I guess that is what you get with a big yard.

Some of Uncle Sam's stimulus money could have gone to a new TV or a laptop. We decided instead to do something practical with it, but still involve shopping. Until we started the project, our front porch had been just a crappy storage room. The floor was in such horrible shape that it could have caved in under any heavy use. It was carpeted of course with lovely 60's orange carpet pretending it was tile. Yuck! For only a minimum of money and a couple weekends of work, we now have a beautiful front porch/sunroom that is actually usable space. Home Depot is our friend.

The girls (Abby and Sadie) and Alexander proved themselves to be great hunters...each in their own way, of course. Sadie goes for small game, especially flies and moths. Everything else might ruin her figure. She might  help with birds that one of the others has already caught. Abby and Alex have become quite a good team and have bagged SEVERAL birds and one squirrel. Alex likes to bring them in after the kill and leave them for us as presents. How thoughtful. Abby, on the other hand, likes to do her chasing indoors and brings them in without a scratch. I bet you didn't know how fun it is to chase birds through the house with a broom. Safety tip: Birds NEVER go the direction of open doors....no matter what.

This past weekend we decided to try and get some R&R...and just get away for a while. We booked a weekend at our favorite campsite. The first day was gorgeous. We played, made a fire, took a walk, made smores......then it snowed.  We cut our trip short because of (literal) cabin fever. We were huddled around the small heater in a 10X20 cabin watching a movie on the portable DVD player. BRRR. Some camping trip. We'll try again later in the summer.

Check out the new photo album to the right and look at some of the pictures.

Twice a year La Salle does a Cleanup Weekend and allows everyone to have a burn permit for two days. The massive pile of cardboard boxes and weeds that was once in the backyard is now just a dusty pile of ashes. It also gave us the excuse to do some much needed cleanup of the flower beds and garden. The sight of the bonfire gave me an idea.... At dusk, John built a nice "Boy Scout" campfire and we each made some smores. Yum!

I guess that March has truly "come in like a Lamb". We had the boys out playing today in the sunshine without jackets!! It was refreshing to have all the windows open in the house to air out all these nasty winter germs. It was almost 70 today and tomorrow they are predicting snow. Welcome to Colorado!

When we had our furnace replaced last spring they had to cut new air return upstairs for the air conditioning. That left a nice metal duct running alongside a wall in the kitchen.it took us several months before we framed and drywalled it, and then time stood still. Fast forward to this weekend and here we are trying to finish it. When I went from a measly ten hours a week to 40 I became a very unhappy and busy human being (hence, the widely spaced posts on this site). But, a mommy has to do what a mommy has to do. I decided I needed a mental health break so I gave myself a three day weekend and vowed we would get that wall FINISHED!! It has turned out very nice so far and John hasn't lost any fingers to the circular saw god....yet. However, it is back to work tomorrow. *sigh*

Christopher's hair has been getting longer and longer in the back. I have been giving him the occasional trim with Daddy's beard trimmer, but it was time he got a REAL haircut. Besides, the boys had school pictures coming up. He sat so still for the stylist and never cried or tried to escape. Check out the pictures in the album.

The Cochran House has been mighty busy the last month. Work, kids, and bills. That explains all of it. And is the excuse for not posting in a while.

We went sledding a while ago and had a blast. Both of the boys are daredevils and I am awaiting many a broken bone in the future. We had fun playing in the snow, but are happy to see it starting to melt.

John turned four on Friday. Four. It seems so long ago and yet so much like it was just yesterday. Now that sounds like a parent speaking. LOL. We had a small party for him today complete with a Transformer battle right on top of his cake. He loved it! Check out the photo album for pictures.

Chris continues to eat and grow, and eat, and eat..... We are planning on him being able to squash John in about 6 months. They are a wonderful pair of boys and are already great friends. It has been fun to watch them as they play together get each other into trouble.