Giving Thanks for New Beginnings!

We had both of our families in Colorado for Thanksgiving.  We rented a big house in Breckenridge.  It was a lot of fun just being lazy and hanging out for a few days!

Six, yes, SIX girls:

We also have another new beginning. Back when I quit my job to take care of Lily, the only way for us to make ends meet was to continue to grow our rental property business. Well, we were ready to make a new investment this last summer to help make things more comfortable with a baby on the way. We looked at buying a rental house in the Denver area but we were outbid by $40k+ on every house we looked at. We decided we had to buy in a different market. We ended up buying in Winter Park!  But the issue is that it’s an investment property and not a vacation home.  We don't use it unless it’s last minute and we know it’s not rented - which hasn’t happened yet. But it will eventually be a vacation home!  Check us out:  www.vrbo.com/774520. And let us know if you’re looking to take a Colorado vacation!

Family Pics

We had family pictures taken when Gracie was just a couple weeks old. Pictures are hard enough with a grumpy 6-year-old let alone a baby! Leighellen did a great job! I highly recommend Photos by Leighellen!

Quick… It’s Halloween

When we got home from the hospital… Halloween was staring us in the face!  We were able to pull it together for some trick or treating! But the two mermaids were more excited about their little sister!

It’s A(nother) Girl!!

I thought for sure I would go early!  I was on my feet so much with this pregnancy, but nope… Grace decided to grace us with her presence on her due date - October 28th!  It was just as breath taking and ferociously emotional as the first baby!  I don’t know how that is, but the second she was on my chest I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  She was so beautiful and I was so in love!  I finally feel complete.  When we sit at the dinner table, it feels full!  So does the car.

Grace Marie Clapper
7lbs 12oz and 19 3/4in long
Born at 9:28am

A little about Gracie:
She’s a great baby!  The first 6 weeks were hard because she was fighting sleep from about 10pm to 2am.  But then she started sleeping 8 hours at night and then about 9 or 10 and now she’s back to waking to eat.  She’s a cat napper during the day, but I’ll trade that for good nights!

Her sisters are infatuated with her!  Lily can’t get enough of her and is constantly saying things like “awww… she’s such a cutie pie”!  Annie told me the other day “mommy, I love Gracie so much it kind of hurts a little.”

Gracie loves to smile and giggle! She LOVES mommy but doesn’t like the car - at all!  Three is a lot to juggle and infants just aren’t as mobile as the older girls.  But we’re getting a grove down.  It seems to move fast! I had a moment with Gracie the other day where I was in tears because she’s just growing up too fast!  This is it… no more baby after this!  Ug!

For more pictures CLICK HERE.

Punkins for my Pumpkins

I’m catching my breath and catching up on the blog.  You many wonder (actually, I doubt anyone puts that much thought into my blog) but sometimes I wonder why I continue with this.  There are two reasons:  1.  Grandparents live out of town and LOVE seeing pictures of their grandchildren as do some other friends/family.  And, 2.  This is how I journal.  At the end of each year, I turn our blog into a printed photo album.  Keeping a blog throughout the year makes a photo album pretty easy to put together.  If I don’t make a photo book I feel like the pictures get lost in the abyss on my computer.  But regardless, I love going back and seeing pictures of my family!  I often take time to look back on where we’ve been.  It usually brings tears.  The years just go too fast!

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch:  Aunt Danielle came with us this year which was fantastic because I was too big to walk around.  And it was too hot!  I was able to stand in one place and get some pictures!

WOWZA!!