More sledding

We've been having a good time sledding this winter, Elizabeth especially.  She can't seem to get enough of it.    Andrew went down for the first time this week.  He whined about it all the way up to go!  Then he loved it.  We got him to go one more time but that was enough for him.  He is becoming more confident in the snow though.  Earlier this winter, I think that he thought he'd fall through or get lost.  Although he still does not like to fall down as he can't get up.  And he is like me.  He does not like to get snow on his hands.  Too cold!  Even though we always go sledding on 40 degree plus days (the hill near our house is north facing and has snow on it usually all winter long).

Baby Adelyn

My brother, Casey, and his wife, Jennifer, recently had a beautiful little baby girl, Adelyn, back in October.  We decided to go home to Michigan for Christmas this year which provided our first chance to get out and see her - and Casey and Jennifer too of course.  We couldn't resist the opportunity to take some baby photos while we were there.  Adelyn and Jennifer were good sports and I think we got a few keepers!

Who doesn't love a baby in a basket?

 

Early Christmas with Grandmom Maron and Pop Pop Steve

My mom and dad came out last week for an early Christmas with the family.  We had such a wonderful time and were very busy as you will see!

The big and little "kids" loved sledding.  The last time mom and dad went sledding was probably when I was a sophomore at the Academy and we went to Winter Park for the weekend.  Needless to say, they had as much fun as Elizabeth.  Andrew was not too sure about everything going on, especially when someone fell off the sled but he had a good time watching.  It's really funny as he did not want to participate but if you now ask him about sledding, he says how much he likes it and that it is really fun (and that Grandma and Pop pop are ok (he is so sensitive and thought that they were hurt when they fell off the sled).

We also went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science which we all loved!  Andrew is still talking about how the dinosaurs roared at him and Elizabeth just loved the little baby triceratops that were hatching out of their eggs in the T-Rex exhibit.

On Saturday morning, we had swim lessons.  The kids are do much fun to take to the pool.  Elizabeth is swimming really well and does not give us the "death grip" anymore in the water.  She swims around like a little fish and floats on her back with confidence.  It's almost as it something just clicked overnight with her.  We had Andrew in the mommy/daddy and me classes.  We very rarely get time alone with Andrew and just cherish those times.  He acts differently and more calm when he is one on one.

When I was a little girl, mom and I made Gingerbread houses each year.  The highlight was getting to go to the store to pick out all of the candy for the house.  Mom decided to pick up the tradition again this year, now that Elizabeth is old enough to fully participate.  While mom made the structure for the house, Elizabeth and I made gingerbread cookies.  She just loved decorating them and sat there for over an hour with the sprinkles and candies for her gingerbread men.  They ended up tasting really good too as mom has the best gingerbread recipe.  

As you can see, our gingerbread house had some structural integrity issues.  For next year, we have to figure out what needs to be done differently with gingerbread and the icing glue that mom makes at altitude.  With that said, the house was ok the next morning.  Elizabeth calls it the Marzipan Palace!

The highlight of the weekend for Elizabeth (and for me too) was the Nutcracker ballet.  It is such a gift to be able to watch the Nutcracker through Elizabeth's eyes.  Mom and I spent most of the ballet watching Elizabeth, rather than the show.  A few times, she brought us both to tears with her precious comments and excitement about the performance.  She is so familiar with the ballet from reading the books that she likes to provide us with a commentary throughout the performance.  Good thing we sat in the balcony :)  And even better, when us girls came home from the Nutcracker, dinner was ready.  Jan made a standing rib roast, lobster and all the fixins.  What a great ending to a wonderful day!

And the favorite gift of Christmas for Andrew and Elizabeth?  The Nutcracker of course!  Elizabeth carries the Nutcracker around with her everywhere and talks to him just like one of her dolls.  Well, Grandmom and Pop Pop saw the look on Andrew's face when Elizabeth got the Nutcracker and he got a little Mickey Mouse snow globe (which he actually likes now) that Pop Pop had to make an emergency run to Target so that Andrew could pick out his own Nutcracker.  Now he carries his everywhere with him as well.  2 kids, 2 Nutcrackers and one tube of Crazy Glue for all of the patching up.     

Andrew's 2nd Birthday

My little boy is 2!  Totally unbelievable to me!  He had such a fun birthday, the highlight being the candles on his school bus cake (and all of the Lightning McQueen gear . . . Elizabeth calls him Lightning for short, she says).  Elizabeth blew out the first round of candles as Andrew was not too sure.  But then he wanted to try the candles and the birthday song again.  And again and again.  We sang happy birthday and blew out candles 4 times.  But the funniest part was the he wanted to sing and do candles multiple times a night until the cake was gone!  Too precious.  

Andrew brings us so much joy to our lives.  He is such a good and happy little boy.  He and Elizabeth play so nicely together, for the most part.  There are times when Andrew gets a bit rough or Elizabeth takes something that Andrew was playing with but I just love it when I peek into the play room or one of their bedrooms and they are playing dress up, dancing, or their favorite, hide and seek.  Sometimes they even sit behind the rocking chair and read books together (Elizabeth likes to "read" the Karen Katz Potty for Me and I Can Share books to Andrew).  Andrew's vocabulary is totally amazing.  He understands just about everything you say to him and talks back in complete sentences.  He's got that down pat.  His favorites at 2.  Well, his favorite foods are mac and cheese and Chex.  His favorite movie is Strawberry Shortcake, his favorite songs are Twinkle twinkle little star and the Little Mermaid Part of that World (momma's doing) and anything by the Black Crows and Lucky Dube (Jan's doing) and his favorite game is whatever Elizabeth wants to play (doll house, catch, cars, leggos) or anything musical (guitar and drums being the favorites . . . sound familiar?!)

Happy Birthday my boy!

Texas wedding

We headed down to Austin last week to visit mom and dad and attend our dear family friend's, Jenn and Mike's wedding.  What a great time we had!  We also got to visit with our friends Karen and Erick and their two children.  They drove all the way up from San Antonio for the day to hang out with us.  It was so wonderful to get to catch up with our dear friends!

 The kids loved dad's golf cart.  We went all over the place with them in it.  Andrew is still talking about the golf cart!

 Mom and dad spoiled us rotten.  They know how much I love mom's Thanksgiving dinner so they went all out with turkey, stuffing and all the fixins.  It was amazing!  And even better, we had leftovers all weekend!

 Sorry, mom, if your flowers are all dead on the back porch.  Here is the little culprit.

Is that a gnome in that picture?  The wedding reception was a good old fashioned Texas Ho' Down!  We dressed in style!  

Fall Photos

We recently did some fall photos for some friends and took a few of our own fam while we were at it.  Gotta love having Red Rocks in your back yard!

 We also got a few fun ones in the back yard playing in the leaves!  What fun! - Enjoy!