Monday, April 30, 2007

Catching up

Last week started out cold and rainy. The kids were a bit antsy at first but then settled in to our rainy-day activities. On Tuesday all three kids took a bath together after breakfast (not our usual routine), Jacob and Hannah painted and we made homemade bread together. The kids helped knead the dough and enjoyed checking the bread and watching it rise. We made two loaves of honey wheat bread. Hannah wouldn't sit still for a picture...she's always on the move!
It warmed up on Friday for our trip to Lee Martinez Farm with Jacob's preschool. Hannah and Jacob fed the sheep and goats. Hannah threw the food at the animals. She was too scared to let them eat out of her hands. Luke enjoyed watching the animals. We saw a calf, two baby goats and lambs. It was fun for Jacob to have his friends at the farm. He had a great time visiting the animals with Tyler. But I was a bit overwhelmed with such a big group. It will be nice to go back to the farm sometime with just our family. Here is a picture of a bunch of Jacob's classmates climbing on the tractor at the farm. Jacob stood at the base of the tractor and watched.Jacob and TylerJacob had his orientation for kindergarten Friday afternoon and loved it. As I was hanging laundry Saturday morning, he said to me "I can't wait to go to kindergarten!!" It turns out that one of his preschool classmates will be in his class as well as Gung (our next door neighbor). He was nervous as we headed into the school when I dropped him off -- he gripped my hand tightly and stayed very close to my side. But as soon as he saw Kaspar -- he loosened up and forgot about being scared. When I picked him up from his orientation, Jacob and Hannah played at the school playground for a while. A scrapbooking friend recommended this and I think I may take him up to the school playground to play a few times this summer before school starts.

Friday evening we had a church picnic at City Park. The kids love to play at City Park! Christy - the student outreach director - sent us pictures she took from the picnic. Thanks Christy! (Will add these as soon as I get access to Pat's computer)

Saturday was cleaning day, laundry day, and we started working on our garden. Pat did an awesome and very thorough job of rototilling our garden plot. I took the kids down later in the morning to lay out a path to walk through the garden. I used scrap pieces of wood - left over from Pat's various building projects - to make the path. The kids had fun digging in the dirt. Pat finished the bunk beds - just a ladder and safety rail need to be completed. And I also went back to the garden after the kids were all tucked in bed and planted carrots! It was a very productive day!
Sunday we rested and enjoyed one another. It was a warm day so we decided to do some water activities with the kids. We filled up water balloons for the kids to play with - that lasted about 5 minutes -- are these worth it or not? It took Pat and I A LOT longer to get them ready then it did for the kids to pop them all. Jacob and Pat tried tossing them to one another. But it was much more fun to throw them at each other and get really wet!Luke had a ball watching them!
Later in the day I filled up the pool for the first time this year. It was in the low 80s and the kids were anxious to have more fun in the water. The water balloons weren't enough! Just as I was filling up the pool, a "micro burst" (Pat explained that this is what atmospheric scientists call a storm that comes out of no where and is quite powerful in terms of wind) hit. The kids were actually already in the pool and the water was almost filled up. They were so eager to swim they waited out the storm and then splashed around a little bit before deciding they were unbearably cold.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

I love to....

Pull up on EVERYTHING! (and cuddle)

SWING!
Ride the motorcycle at the park, wear pink dresses and put my own rain boots on!
JUMP!
Be difficult (He would not smile for this picture)

Birding with Luke

Luke and I took a walk together on the Spring Creek Trail earlier this week. This is what we saw...
Gadwall Pair
Great Blue HeronLuke enjoyed watching the birds.

I have seen a pelican several times in the last few weeks but not on this trip. I'll try and bring my camera another time in hopes of getting a picture.

Family Hiking

Today we ventured up to one of Ft. Collin's Natural Areas called Bobcat Ridge. We took the Burley and the backpack so we could do a substantial hike with all three kids. It was a beautiful day to be up there -- not too windy and clouds to block the sun. This area is wide open and can be pretty hot in full sun. Hannah and Jacob both hiked about 1 mile uphill. We were amazed Hannah made it that far at 2-1/2! She didn't want to get in the Burley after we stopped to have lunch. But not too soon after strapping them in and heading back, they both were asleep. Luke slept on the way up and then enjoyed his first ride in the back pack on the way back to the car. A ranger took a family picture for us which was nice (too bad Hannah's not looking). We also learned that they are going to be opening up a lot more trails in this area soon. It would be a fun place to bike. But we'll have to get in better shape before this happens.
We saw a herd of elk on the side of a hill and we think we saw a golden eagle flying overhead. Jacob brought his binoculars and had fun looking for things with them. The highlight of the hike was seeing all the horses! There were many people out for trail rides today. Four horseback riders stopped in front of us as we were having lunch. One horse needed to go potty - he put on quite a show for the kids.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

What did you do on Tax Day?

Working on our taxes -- NO! Yeah! We're celebrating that they're done and enjoying another beautiful Colorado spring day!
We decided to take a family bike ride this morning. It doesn't just mean hopping on our bikes and getting on the trail. Not quite.... getting everything set up takes a lot of effort/time -- unlocking the bikes, connecting both trailers, pumping up all the tires and then getting the necessary items to take along - water, sunscreen, snacks, diapers and my camera! But it was well worth it! We got exercise and enjoyed playing at the park together!
Here are our bikes parked at the park. I was hoping to get a family picture of us all on our bikes -- maybe someday.
It was my first time pulling the tag-a-long. At first I felt totally out of control. Any slight movement that Jacob made caused the bike to sway out of control. We both adjusted along the way and Jacob learned to sit still and keep his balance. We rode West on the Spring Creek Trail (easily accessed from our apartment) to a park on the west edge of town. We managed to get a shot of all three kids together on the equipment at the park.
Luke had his first slide with Daddy!
Luke also had fun trying to crawl in the tunnels.Just before we left for our bike ride, Pat called Dan (a friend he plays volleyball with) and invited him to meet us there. He brought Jordan (she's 2) and the kids had fun sliding and swinging together. Jordan likes to slide down on her tummy . Hannah saw her doing this and tried to copy her -- except she went head first instead of feet first. I didn't get a picture -- as I was more focused on catching her at the bottom. It turns out the slide is pretty gentle and slows you down at the bottom.Jacob and Hannah had fun sliding together...although Jacob's look is not one of pleasure in this shot. He got roughed up a bit this time down I think.Not only does she like to slide down head first on her tummy, she is also becoming an avid climber! It was another fun-filled day in the sunshine!
We're lucky to have such easy access to the trail which takes us directly to some great parks! It made me think of all the great family rides my family took on the Big Creek Parkway bike path! I'm glad we're carrying on this tradition with our family.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Sunny Saturday

A beautiful day to....
Learn to ride a bike with training wheels
Learn to ride a scooter
Make a bunk bed
Enjoy our flowers
Play on the quad
Happy Spring!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Luke's Latest

Luke hit the nine month mark on Tuesday! It's hard to believe. Luke was thrilled when he pulled himself up to standing on Tuesday evening in his crib. He's been pulling himself up on furniture out in the living room. But this was the first time he did it in his crib. Jacob and Hannah were excited at Luke's newest accomplishment.
He took an hour to fall asleep that night -- as he kept practicing his new skill. After he stood up, he would sit down and clap for himself (his other latest accomplishment). It was pretty cute! After a long, hard day (many time outs and lots of disciplining) it was nice to have a fun moment together as a family. Jacob and Hannah asked to have their picture taken too...
Luke has slowed down a bit in terms of growth. I took him to his 9-month well check yesterday. He was 21 lb 10 oz (75%) and 30" (95%). He gained less than two pounds in three months. The doctor said he's going to be a "friendly giant". It's a good summation of Luke. He has an easy going personality. He loves to snuggle.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Happy Easter!

A recap of our day (I can't believe we fit all of these things into one day): I hid Easter eggs/presents while Pat read the Easter story to Jacob and Hannah. Jacob, Hannah and Luke hunted for Easter eggs! Hannah kept up with Jacob.The kids opened their packages from their Grandparents -- they had exhibited great patience waiting to open the packages. Both packages arrived well before Easter. Thanks Nana H, and Nana and Papa K!
We dyed Easter eggs together. We made an egg for each person in our family and for our dinner guests who would be arriving shortly -- or so we thought :-) Luke was sleeping peacefully and he was so quiet that we forgot to make an egg for him! But I ended up using some of my scrapbook letter stickers to put his name on a plain egg. We used the eggs as place markers on the table.
I cooked and prepared the table for our noon meal. Pat entertained the kids.
We had three guests for dinner - John, Mark and Teri. We shared a yummy meal! We played/visited after lunch for a while. Mark read books to Hannah and Jacob had his first Earth Sciences lesson from Teri (geology major). He loved it!
We got ready for church in our Easter best.
We rejoiced in the risen Lord together at church!

Christ is Risen! Happy Easter!