Pinkalicious

I never thought I'd have a little girl who likes pink so much..... Then again I guess I had a purple phase at one point in my life :-) She notices pink everywhere -- as we're reading she will call out - "there's pink", and she loves when people wear pink clothing. At Bible study last week, she was apprehensive about me leaving her in her classroom. But as soon as Ms. Chris brought the pink play dough to the table she completely forgot about Mommy leaving and settled right in to making things out of pink play dough.

Another funny quote summing up her love for pink -
Last week we had some friends over for dinner. They read books to the kids before they went to bed. We asked Hannah the next morning who read her books. And she said, "Teri! She's pink!" Hannah loved that Teri wore pink.

Hannah's other love lately is playing in the dirt! She loves to dig in the dirt, stomp in the dirt, get dirty, and is content to do this for long periods of time - while wearing pink, of course. ;-)

On the Move

During Spring Break Luke started commando crawling to get around. Now he's scooting/crawling! And he's pulling up on everything. Today was the first time he pulled up to standing while I was working in the kitchen. I looked across the room and was met with a toothy grin. He was so proud of himself! Life is changing for all us as Luke is becoming more mobile. He can get into the kids toys and this has become one of his favorite things to do. It's amazing how baby toys get pushed aside for much more exciting things like wooden trains and matchbox cars. His grin is priceless! Just this week several people commented on Luke's big smile. This is such a fun stage!

A happy little boy - especially since he's figured out the whole crawling thing....

He plays hard.....and sleeps well!

Memories from our Ski Trip

"Short but sweet" - that's how I would sum up our trip to the mountains last weekend. We spent two nights at Snow Mountain Ranch - a YMCA camp in Frasier, CO. We stayed in a cabin - where we can cook our own meals and the kids have a nice area to play while we take turns skiing. We had fun being together in the cabin and the weather was gorgeous for outdoor fun too! We skied two days and had a chance to take the kids sledding. The camp has groomed trails to ski on in varying difficulties. It's a great place to learn to ski and to also be challenged by one's husband as he takes you on black trails (most difficult). A face plant was part of my first day of skiing. :-) Even though I dug it pretty bad, I secretly enjoyed being up where you can hear yourself breathe and your heart beat - it was so quiet and serene. I was reminded why people use the phrase - "this is God's country".

The kids (big and little) enjoyed building lego towers. Nana brought lincoln logs and a safari set for the kids to play with too.
We had fun coloring, reading (a book called Pinkalicious became a favorite on this trip), watching Luke become more and more mobile (he was commando crawling most of the weekend), and challenging their bird knowledge with the notorious bird quizzes. Jacob has an amazing memory -- and can recall many obscure bird names as he sits with Nana for an hour at a time looking and listening to birds. Nana has to put a limit to the number of quizzes per day or Jacob would do quiz after quiz. Often the first question of the day from Jacob is "can we do a bird quiz, Nana?" He is going to be a stellar birder!

Hannah and Jacob both love sledding! Hannah is a big girl -- pulling her own sled up the hill.

Here are the girls!
Here are the boys!

Nana had a test of patience -- and she passed with flying colors! Originally the plan was to take Jacob to Winter Park for his first chance on downhill skis. But we decided to try out cross country with him instead. It was a good decision. He has his Mom's fear of falling and fear of being out of control/going fast - which makes skiing a challenge. Jacob made progress -- and actually allowed himself to move a little faster at the very end.

One last pic -- had to get Luke on the blog entry....

Happy St. Patrick's Day

What a beautiful day today! Pat commented at dinner tonight that today seemed surreal -- it was sunny, warm and we could open our windows - fresh air in the apartment! The kids had fun riding their bikes and playing with friends. It's neat to wake up to the warm sun streaming in our windows and see little bursts of color coming out of the ground. We're enjoying the beauty of the bulbs beginning to bloom. This past fall was my first attempt at planting bulbs. I actually bought the "Bulbs for Dummies" from WalMart -- it was $10 for 50 bulbs (I think). So far so good.....

We had fun together this morning making shamrock cut-out cookies. I found a great cookie dough mix at Whole Foods this morning without soybean! Jacob and Hannah took turns rolling and we all helped cut out the shamrocks and decorated them with green sugar. Luke had a feast of Cheerios and enjoyed watching us bake. He's such a good baby. For dinner we ate the traditional St. Patrick's day grub -- corned beef and cabbage as we listened to some of my favorite Irish music. The evening wasn't complete until I did a little Irish dancing ;-) for the kids as they waited for dessert (I'm sure you were hoping for a picture of this -- Pat wasn't quick enough).


The kids enjoyed sharing their cookies with their friends on the patio. They would have given the whole plate of cookies to all their friends, if I had given them permission. I'm grateful they have a spirit of generosity.

Bubbles!

Luke has been teething -- he cut his first tooth about a week ago. And he's been sick. I was bound and determined to make him laugh and giggle -- since he's been pretty irritable lately. Last Sunday when Pat took Jacob and Hannah to run an errand, I pulled out a jar of bubbles. We both had a great time!

Signs of Spring

We are enjoying the warmer weather! The kids have been playing outside the apartment with their trucks, buckets and shovels in the dirt. It's messy but they love it!

This afternoon we took a walk on the Spring Creek Trail (which is very close to our house).

We saw several ducks - Common Mergansers, Barrows Goldeneye, American Wigeons along with the usual Mallards and Canada Geese. It's exciting to see the birds migrating through!



After we got back from our walk, the kids spent more time playing outside on the quad. Today marks the first day that Luke played on a blanket outside. He loved feeling the grass and watching the kids play.










I am thankful for warmer weather and a chance to enjoy it with my family! Tomorrow we're heading up to the mountains to ski and to spend time with family. We're meeting Lois and Mike at Snow Mountain Ranch for a long weekend. I'll touch base here when I get back.

Here is another picture I wanted to add to the blog -- this was from today. Pat managed to read a book to all three kids at once -- not a task easily done.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy birthday to the best dad I know,
A father I love and respect,
A dad who fulfills all his duties
To teach, to guide, to protect.

If everyone had such a father,
A really good dad like mine,
The world would be so much better,
It would look like God’s own design.


Happy Birthday Dad and Papa!
We love you!

funny conversations

I overheard Hannah talking on Luke's play phone today shortly after she had a little accident.

Hannah: Hi! How are you today? (pause...)
Hannah: I peed on my shirt today because...

I asked her later who she was talking to and she told me she was talking to a wolf.

A little later....(again on the play phone)

Hannah: Hi Daddy! How are you today, Daddy? (pause....)
Hannah: I'm four.

It's cute to hear her pause as if someone is responding to her on the other end...

Earlier this week Pat and I got a chuckle when Jacob and Hannah had this exchange at dinner:

Hannah: Where is my silverware?
Jacob: It's not silverware. It's plasticware.