Life with the Walker's

30 Weeks

2012-01-26T13:21:00.000-08:00

I'm 28 weeks here, so I'm bigger now:)

I'll be 30 weeks tomorrow, only 10 more to go! 10 more to go seems close and far away at the same time. 10 weeks seems like a long time to be pregnant but not a lot of time to prepare for a third child. I'm starting to have some anxiety about adding another little one to our family. Right now I feel like it's challenging enough with the precious two that we have. I'm sure it's the pregnancy, the hormones, the difficult stage Mason is in, but I felt so much more confident about 3 back when I found out I was pregnant. The closer it gets the more reality is setting in I guess. I know God won't give us more than we can handle but I know having a new baby is challenging. I also feel like the transition from one to two was so easy for us that it can't be like that again. So thats where I'm at emotionally:)

Physically, I feel like I'm in the 3rd trimester. Starting to get more uncomfortable, heartburn is kicking in, sleep is getting more difficult( but i'm not waking up to eat much anymore!), ya know all that fun stuff. The nausea still comes and goes. Had a few bad days this week. Luckily I still have a decent amount of energy, hopefully it will stay that way for a while.

Alyssa lost a tooth!

2012-01-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

Alyssa lost her first tooth on January 7th. I thought she was a little young to lose a tooth, but the permanent tooth is already growing in. The day before she told me her tooth was loose and it was certainly pretty loose. She couldn't stop wiggling it so I knew it wouldn't be long until it fell out. The next night she asked for a banana before bed and it fell out without her knowing and she swallowed it! She was very upset at first because she really wanted to see "that cute little baby tooth" and she was afraid the tooth fairy (which she knows is mommy) wouldn't come. After we reassured her that the tooth fairy would still come and she has many more teeth to lose, she was ok. My mom made her a cute little pillow for her tooth. Being the funny girl she is, she was excited to find $1.25 in her pillow the next morning, but she gave it back to me a little while later and said I could have it back. She just told me yesterday that the other one is loose! My little girl isn't going to look like a little girl much longer :(

After Christmas Fun

2012-01-26T12:55:00.001-08:00

Ice Skating

We took the kids ice skating, which I wasn't too sure about, especially Mason. But they both loved it. It was so funny watching Mason out there, he was so tiny. He gave Nate and Bethany a work out since he didn't put a whole lot of weight on his feet. He tried walking in the skates and he didn't do too bad. This was Alyssa's second time ice skating. I think she did a little better this time and she had fun.

Bronco game

We went to the Bronco game on New Year's Day versus the Chiefs. We had a good time, but unfortunately the game was really boring and we lost. The Broncos didn't even score a touchdown, so there wasn't a lot to cheer about. The weather was beautiful though. Too bad we weren't at the huge playoff win the next week!

Emily's visit

Emily came for a quick visit with her boys. It was great to see her and the kiddos were happy to see each other too. We took a trip to IKEA, got a night out for dessert and had funn talking and catching up. These are the best pics I got...

Christmas Day

2012-01-26T12:33:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas day. We had a quiet morning opening stockings, ate a yummy breakfast with my family, opened presents, watched Despicable Me, opened presents with Nate's family, and had a great dinner. It was busy, but fun. Mason got about 30 cars, which is all he wanted. Everytime anyone started to open a gift he would say, "cars, cars!" and he wasn't really happy with a present unless it was a car. He was really funny. He also thought that eating paper and trying to open boxes with his teeth was a good idea :) Alyssa enjoyed herself, but I can't say that she's played with many of her toys she got. She just doesn't play much with toys, I don't know why I feel the need to buy them for her anyway. She's as happy with a McDonald's toy as she is with her nice toys. Funny girl :)

This is a typical scene in our house. Mason loves to line up his cars here and will play for a long time.

Sock exchange

This one cracks me up. His two loves, cars and shoes. So fun that he has a sister with pretty shoes:)

Christmas Eve

2012-01-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

I'm so behind, but I have to get these Christmas pictures up. I never got a chance to look at these so it was fun looking back at our Christmas.

Delivering bread to the neighbors. Alyssa really wanted to go caroling but I guess she kind of chickened out. She had fun caroling at Nana and Pop pop's door though.

Mason was so handsome in his suit! So glad I picked that up for $5 after Christmas last year.

Bethany made us some awesome stockings! She even made one for baby girl.

Then our camera died....Luckily it wasn't Christmas morning.

25 weeks

2011-12-23T14:17:00.000-08:00

I'm 25 weeks today. Nothing much to report. I'm feeling much bigger these days and according to all my weights and measures from the last two pregnancies, I'm definitely bigger. I'm trying not to worry about it too much, but when I compare myself to where I was at this point with Alyssa and Mason I freak out a little. The weight gain is probably due to the fact that I still have to eat ALL the time so I don't get queasy. Exercise is probably a good idea, hopefully I can get around to that more after the new year. We are looking forward to seeing the little girl again at our 3D ultrsound in January. I've never had one before, so it should be fun. Happy to report that I've made it through the night with out needing a snack for about a week now. Hopefully that will continue!

Sledding

2011-12-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

We've been sledding twice this week. It's been really fun! Alyssa is still too scared to go by herself, but loves doing all kinds of crazy stuff with Daddy. Mason thinks it's ok, he would rather try to scoot down on his bottom or tummy.

Mimi flew in just in time to go sledding with us.

Sled train...

and there they go

Mason is such a big boy!

There goes the crazy girl!

December Recap

2011-12-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

Kid's Christmas Party

Nate's work has done a great Christmas party for the kids the last two years. The highlight is Santa jumping out of a plane and parachuting down to the waiting families. Luckily, the weather was great!

Alyssa's Preschool Christmas Program

Alyssa had a little performance at her school last week. It was pretty cute. I was surprised Alyssa knew most of the words to the songs sinced I'd never heard her sing any of them. She was very into it and we couldn't get her to look at us because she was too busy following her teacher. Good girl, Alyssa!

Gingerbread Houses

We had a little Christmas outing with the Moffat's on Saturday. We drove around to see Christmas lights and then came back here to make gingerbread houses, eat cookies and drink cider. We found some pretty cool light displays. The ones with music were definitely the kid's favs. The kids did great on the gingerbread houses, Mason was the only one who ate more candy than he put on. Nate and Michael were very creative and came up with some good designs.

SNOW!!!

We are loving the snow aroung here! It's so festive and perfect for Christmas week. Mason loves the snow. He loves getting his 'boops' on and running around. I'm glad the kids are getting a chance to have fun in the snow since we got none last year.

He loves eating it!

Santa Breakfast

2011-12-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

The Academy had another nice free Christmas breakfast this year. They had lots of little crafts and activities and of course the long line to sit on Santa's lap.

Alyssa informed Santa that Mason likes cars and trucks. She asked for a surprise. That makes it easy!

About 6 months ago, Alyssa asked out of the blue if Santa was real. I had to tell her that he wasn't real and the look on her face was so sad. I did my best to explain to her the story of St. Nicholas and how he was a kind man who loved God and liked to give children gifts at Christmas (or something like that, we have a book that talks about it), and thats how the story of Santa Claus started. I told her that all the stories we tell her about God are true and the true reason for Christmas is to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I had been debating on how to handle the Santa thing for a while, and I remember enjoying it as a kid and it never confused me or devastated me when I found out he wasn't real(I actually don't even remember). I'm glad that she knows. We are still "pretending" Santa because it's fun. But now I think Alyssa's focus can be less on the mystery of Santa and more on the wonder of Jesus' birth.

Christmas decorating

2011-12-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

This was Mason's first year participating in the decorating. He thought it was pretty cool.

Love his little tie sweater:)

They had a ball with the beads. I did not have fun untangling them :)

Alyssa's Birthday

2011-12-05T16:03:00.001-08:00

Alyssa had two dates on her birthday. Daddy took her to get donuts that morning, and then Nana and I took her to Build-a-Bear. She picked a Hello Kitty, she's kinda in to that right now, and got to pick a dress and shoes for her kitty. She had a good time. She wasn't hungry for lunch or ice cream, I guess it was those donuts :)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year, the weather was beautiful, the kids played nice and the food was great. Both the kids napped in the afternoon so it meant a couple hours of peace and quiet. Ah, wonderful.

Alyssa and Cassie

The boys

Silly kiddos

Decent family shot

Love this one

Alyssa is 5!

2011-12-05T15:05:00.001-08:00

My big girl is 5!! Time is flying by! Alyssa had a fun birthday party with her whole family. Everyone was here for Thanksgiving so it worked out great. She picked a Hello Kitty theme and a princess cake for her party. There are tons of pictures. I actually took pictures of our families, which I feel like I don't get enough of, so I posted a lot:)

Alyssa's two requests for her birthday were a yoyo and a diary. Pretty funny requests for a 5 year old girl:) Beezy got her a diary and she was just estatic!

21 weeks and it's a .....

2011-12-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

This is a little late, but on November 14th we found out we are having a baby GIRL!! Alyssa came with us to the ultrasound and she is very excited to have a sister. We are excited for another little girl too, now we just have to pick a name :)

I'm about 22 weeks now and doing ok. I still feel nauseous sometimes and its combined with heartburn now, so my tummy feels uneasy a lot. I'm hoping at sometime I will have more relief, but I can live with this, so I'm thankful that it's better than it was. No other symptoms really, just getting bigger:)

This pic is from Thanksgiving Day, 21 weeks.

Pumpkin patch and Halloween

2011-11-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

We had Strawberry Shortcake and a puppy for Halloween this year. Nana made Alyssa's costume and it turned out really cute. The red wig was the best. Mason barely fit in his costume, but it was a great consignment store find and he really liked wearing it. He loved trick or treating and understood pretty quick what he was supposed to do.

We went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago and had fun doing all the activities. The slide and the ponies were the favorites. Both kids were a little scared of the bouncy thing. It looked fun to me :)

Fall photo shoot

2011-10-31T12:50:00.001-07:00

My friend Laura did a photo shoot as a fundraiser for a friend who is adopting a baby from China. We were excited to be part of the fundraiser and excited to get some amazing pictures of our kids. She did such a great job. These are just a couple of the great ones, the rest I'm saving for the Christmas card....

16 weeks

2011-10-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

This is the first belly pic of the pregnancy. I've always been so bad at taking them, but I always wish I would have so I can look back and compare. So I really have nothing to compare it to, but I'm sure I'm bigger this time. I'm feeling a lot better now. I improve a little bit everyday. I've slept all night with out getting up to eat the last two nights. That's the first time in weeks. It's nice not to feel like a newborn that has to eat every 3 hours at night, the newborn will be here in a few months. We will find out if this little one is a boy or girl on Nov. 14, that's just over two weeks away! We are all excited to find out.

And, I also got a hair cut. I thought it was a little short at
first, but I really like it now. Nate likes my hair short so I thought I'd go for it. It should grow fast during the pregnancy.

September

2011-10-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

September was a busy month. Alyssa started preschool, we welcomed in the football season, took a trip to Steamboat Springs and enjoyed the last days of summer.

My big girl all ready for school. She really likes school. She is also doing AWANA and a class at my Bible study. I think AWANA is her favorite. She comes home so excited and has done really well memorizing her verses.

Our little Bronco fan all tuckered out after another loss :(

We took a trip to Steamboat Springs with my parents. It was a nice relaxing weekend. We went on a couple short hikes, went swimming, Nate and I got a night out. The trees weren't as colorful as we hoped they'd be in Steamboat, but we saw some good spots on the way.

Hike to the waterfall

Pretty good one of us. We are all looking and smiling!

Mason could have thrown rocks all day

My handsome guys

Mason loved the luggage cart and liked to ride on it too, until he fell off...

Ouch

Some of the pretty leaves

Our first snow

I just bought the kids boots the day before it snowed, so that was great, but realized a lot of the other gear was lost or too small. So Mason got to wear a pink glove.

Got this little flight jacket at a consignment store. LOVE it!

Their fort. Tons of fun.

Can't believe this little guy will be a big brother in less than 6 months. I'm continuing to feel better and I hope "normal" is just around the corner. It 's nice that more food is starting to sound and taste good. My latest craving, french dip. Yumm, so good:)

Summer Recap and Announcement

2011-10-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Mason's first popsicle

Mason likes to play in Rugby's cage, silly boy. It's hard to get him out of there sometimes.

Nate played softball again this year and really enjoyed it. It's nice that he can be involved in organized things like this since he is always home!

Great Grandma got them this huge bear, it's a big hit.

Nate's parent's invited us to join them at their campsite one night so we could experience a little "camping" without spending the night. We weren't sure that the kids would like sleeping all night in a tent, so this was the next best thing. Alyssa was sad we weren't staying so we told her we would do a backyard camp out another time.

Daddy-Daughter Camp Out

She was so excited!!

They were so cute and cozy in the tent. Unfortunately, after about 5 minutes in the tent it started to rain. They said it was really loud and Alyssa said, "there is no way I can sleep in here." So 10 minutes after they entered the tent, they were done. But they had a little camp out in the living room instead. I think it was ok with Alyssa anyway. She seemed a little nervous about sleeping in the tent and she didn't seem disappointed they got rained out. Maybe next year :)

Balloon Glow

We made it to the glow on Sunday night and we were a bit disappointed they didn't have more balloons. I think they had more the night before. But the kids loved it. Mason was in awe and loved when they would "glow" and make noise.

And the announcement....We are expecting baby #3 in April! I've been feeling pretty sick for the last 2 months, but I think I'm finally coming out of the fog and feeling a little better. We are excited and a little nervous about having 3 kids, but we are very blessed.

Devon's Wedding Part 2

2011-10-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

The Reception

There was a lot to do at Durango Mountain Resort. Nate and my family did some mountain biking, did a lot of swimming, alpine slide, bungee, everyone had a pretty good time

Look how much Mason loves his sister's kisses:)

Pool Time

They had a really fun pool at the resort and the kids loved it.

Mason had a grin on his face every time he went down the slide.

Alyssa was little more unsure.

4th of July

2011-09-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

After 3 months with no blogging I have a lot of catching up to do. One thing I wanted to make sure I documented was Devon's wedding. She married Kyle on July 2 in Durango and it was beautiful. Here is Part 1.....

The Shower

Alyssa on the bungee

She really liked it!

She is soo tiny up there!

The Big Day

A few more wedding pics to come and then a recap of our summer. Whoa, it's much easier to just keep up on this blogging thing, I have way to many pictures. I do have a pretty good excuse for my absence though....

June

2011-07-21T12:48:00.001-07:00

Finally an update on our summer. It's been fun and busy. Here are some pics of June....

Devon's Bachelorette Party {Memorial Day Weekend}

Spent the night in Denver at 16th St. Mall, went to the Cowboy Lounge (I'm way too old for that now, but i was 29 back then :), went to a Rockies game and had fun with Devon on her last nights as a single lady.

Having mimosas in the parking garage. Kinda random

Pictures of the gorgeous wedding to come...

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Summer is officially here....bring out the pool!

Mason was very unsure. He still really isn't a fan of the wading pool, but has warmed up to the water in the big pool.

Got him to sit for a minute

Loving it!

The swing Mason got for his B-Day

Loving the swingset in it's new location - on the grass. Definitely a better spot.

Alyssa learned to pump!! She is very proud of herself and asks me how many minutes she's been swinging by herself. It's nice I don't have to push her all the time.

Mason loves his bike!

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My 30th Birthday

It's not too bad being 30. It is just a number after all. Nate and I went to Denver for a night and went to a murder mystery dinner. Pretty laid back, but it was good. Nate will be joining me in the 30 club here soon :)

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Our annual trip the the North Pole

They were so cute riding together. Mason seemed to like the rides at first, but got more uneasy every time. I don't think he was feeling that great. But Alyssa loved all the rides, and was very concerned about the haunted house she remembered from last year. She talked about it the whole time, and decided maybe she would do it when she is 6 or 7.

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Helping Pop Pop in the yard

Mason loves digging in the dirt, what boy doesn't?

Alyssa helping Pop Pop with the rock

Another thing. I ran my first 5K last month, The Race for Life. I've never been much of a runner, but it's really the easiest way to stay in shape at this point. I'm learning to like it. I'll try another 5K this summer and then maybe I'll work on training for a 10K (yikes!)

Our month in review

2011-05-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

This is a very long post.. It's all the stuff I meant to post during the last month but never got around to. I realized we had a lot going on this month.......

Our trip to Vegas!

We had a great time. We saw two shows, Jabbawockeez and Ka, they were the highlight of the trip. It was really fun just spending uninterrupted time together. I wish we could get away every month!

Our hotel. It was pretty sweet.

The Jabbowaockeez set. I wish we had a pic of the Ka set, it was incredible. But we lost our camera right before the show, luckily we got it back.

Easter

We got back from Vegas the night before Easter. Not really the best time to be in Vegas really.

Indoor egg hunt

Mason loves chewing on balls and ripping them apart.

Our best family shot. Only took 15 tries :)

Cousins

Sick Baby

Mason was sick for almost a whole week. He was so sad. It was a tough week. But he was soo cuddly and slept on me most of the day. I really cherished that time since he rarely sits still at all these days.

Still not feeling great, but got some great shots of him sitting with Poppop...

and Grammy

Good Bye Paul and Julie!

Paul and Julie are off to North Carolina so Paul can go to seminary. We had the family altogether before they left.

Cousins

Grandparents and grandkids

The whole fam

We miss you guys!!!

Alyssa's Dance Recital

Alyssa had her first dance recital and it was so cute! She was so excited to have a pretty costume and dance on the stage. She had some classic moments, one where she forgot the dance and did the end pose about 30 seconds too early. It was a fun experience for her.

Little Ballerina

Tap dance, "You've got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story

Ballet dance, "Stay Awake", from Mary Poppins

Here she is laying on the floor, which is how they were supposed to end, but she laid down way too early and stayed there until most of the class had left the stage. Silly girl :)

Flowers from Mommy and Daddy

Beautiful Ballerina. One of my favorite pictures of her.

Mason's Baby Dedication

We had Mason dedicated to the Lord, last weekend, May 15th.

We were glad most of our family could be there.

We chose Ephesians 3:16-19 as Mason's verse...

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

We pray that Mason will grow up to be a man of God, that he will grasp the love of God and that he will be filled with His fullness.

Parenting 001

2011-05-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Parenting 001

I read this the other day and it was just the thing I needed to hear in the moment. Sometimes I do worry too much about the particulars and miss what is right in front of me. I do want my kids to remember that we loved them, loved God and that we had fun. A lot of the other stuff just isn't that important, although in the moment it seems like it. I don't want to worry so much about whether I'm disciplining Alyssa right, but pray more about her heart. I don't want to worry about where or when to send her to school, but to focus on teaching her about the Lord. I don't want to worry so much about having the perfect diet or eating all the right foods, but be thankful that we are healthy and happy. I want to stop comparing myself and my children to others, and to see our family as unique and wonderful.

Mason is ONE!!!

2011-04-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Mason is one! Wow. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. He is such a fun, happy boy and such a blessing to our family. I can't imagine life without him. We had an early birthday for him on Sunday. He was a little cranky that night, but he did enjoy the cake. I feel like he has really grown up in the last couple weeks and is acting more like a toddler than a baby. He is walking. He started taking about 6 steps at a time on April 9 and is walking 75% of the time now. He is trying to communicate more, but he really doesn't have any words. He loves to throw balls. One day he just started doing it, we never taught him or really showed him how. Nate thinks he's going to be an athlete. It's so neat to see how innately different God created boys and girls. Alyssa never threw balls at this age ( Nate already thinks Mason is better at throwing than Alyssa), she would hug and feed her babies. It's so fun to have one of each.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON MAN!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Mason, how old are you?

Happy Birthday Boy!

He started walking about a week ago and he is getting better everyday!

This kid is a little daredevil.

We had a little family party. Mason wasn't quite himself that day, maybe he was a bit overwhelmed. I still think he did have fun though.

My attempt at creativity.

He wasn't in to opening his presents. He liked them after they were opened.

He was not excited to sit in his highchair, but he didn't know what was coming....

He calmed down a bit once he saw the cake.

Eventually he decided to dig right in.

He wanted to feed everyone his cake.

I thought this would be the other way around. He's a strong little guy!

11 Months

2011-04-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Mason is less than 2 weeks from his birthday, so I had to get these pictures up before it was too late. I can't believe he is almost 1 ! This year has gone by too fast. He is a busy, busy boy. He started standing by himself for a few seconds at around 11 months and has taken 3-5 steps over the last couple weeks. He hasn't made a lot of progress recently, but I think he just needs a little confidence and he'll be off. He is learning a lot and communicating better. He points at things he likes all the time, he waves, he learned "so big", shakes his head 'no', he still doesn't say much, just an occasional mama or dada. It's so fun to see him learn.

I kinda thought we had the sleeping thing down, well at least better. But now we are struggling with him waking way too early. He was waking up at 6am for a while, which is early, but it's morning. But for a while now he has been waking up at 5ish and that is still night for me. We have tried earlier bedtimes and later bedtimes and nothing seems to consistently get him to sleep later. Someone just told me her 3 year old has gotten up at 5:15am since he was a baby. I really hope this isn't going to be his long term wake up time :( He's going to be staying with our parents overnight for the first time in a couple weeks when Nate and I are in Las Vegas.....I hope he sleeps good for them or they may never want to do it again.

11 months old 3/19/11

Mason is finally taking a sippy cup for most of his feedings! He is down to nursing in the morning and at night. Now Alyssa is so excited to feed him since she missed out on doing it the while first year.

Mason LOVES being outside. If he's ever fussy all we have to do it take him outside, no matter the weather and he calms right down. Although he gets upset again when we bring him in. I can't wait for summer when we can be outside all the time!

Our St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

I tried to do some fun things today for St. Patty's day and almost everything was a flop. We tried to make rainbow pudding, pudding was too runny to color and put into a glass. Alyssa was upset. Tried a cute rainbow craft using Alysaa's hands, her hands were too small and it didn't work right. Alyssa actually wasn't too upset. Alyssa tried cuting out a shamrock, it was a little difficult for her but she did try. Alyssa was a little upset. We tried having a picnic, it was too windy. Alyssa was upset. We tried riding her bike. This almost always ends up with her upset, but she did ok today. We did have green eggs for breakfast and that was a hit. I'm just a little frustrated. I really tried to make this a fun day for Alyssa and I feel like all she did all day was cry about something. Granted things didn't go as I had planned them, but it makes me feel like it's not worth the effort. I know it is worth the effort, maybe she'll remember when we had green egss, tried to make rainbow pudding and our lunch blew away. And hopefully she won't remember getting disciplined for various things and spending half of the morning crying. It's so worth it, my kids are so worth my time and effort. If only I could get things to go a little more smoothly.

Mason pushed his toy all over the culd-e-sac. He is getting so close to walking!

Alyssa is doing much better with her bike. She has had little interest in riding a bike and now that this little trike is too small I'm debating if I should get her a 'big girl' bike. So I've been telling her that if she practices riding and gets really good at it, we will get her a big bike with training wheels.

Love her green skirt, perfect for today.

A cute picture of Mason from the ski trip since I realized there weren't any of him.

Angel Fire Ski Trip

2011-03-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome time with our friends in Angel Fire, NM. It is hard to believe it had been 5 years since some of us had seen each other, but we seemed to pick up right where we left off. We had an intense game of Cities and Knights, played poker for old times sake and played many other games. We miss our game playing buddies! It was a little crazy with 5 kiddos running around but we found time for ourselves too. Nate and I got to ski 2 days and Alyssa even tried skiing for the first time! I think she did pretty well and actually really started enjoying it by the end of the first day. She really didn't understand the basics of the snowplow so she didn't have any control but Nate was a great teacher. Hopefully next year she will be blazing down the slopes on her own.

Pizza Alyssa! Make a pizza! We learned some lingo from listening to the ski school instructors...Pizza to snowplow and french fries to go straight. Kinda cute.

Yay Alyssa!

Nate spent a lot of time skiing backward so Alyssa could ski to him. Very exhausting I hear.

The Dad's teaching the kids to ski. David did awesome, he seemed to understand the snowplow a little better.

We did a little sledding, on the golf course, which I guess isn't allowed. So we got kicked off, but not before having some fun.

Mason loved the snow, but didn't really get any pictures of him playing in it.

One of the games of Cities and Knights. This must have been before it got really intense. Nate got a little fired up, but thats pretty much normal.

Daniel is the Lord of Catan

The guys

The Rio Grande Gorge

Alyssa and David. The were the best buddies.

The whole crew. Russ, Claire, Samuel and John(not pictured). Us. Rachel, Daniel and David. And Jonathan, Rachel's brother. It was so great to see you all! It will definitely not be another 5 years.

Friend Visit

2011-03-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

I got to spend almost a week with my friends Emily and Lindsay. Our friend Erica also came down from Loveland for a couple days with her kids. We all knew each other in WA and did Bible studies together for years. I miss these girls so much and it was fun to visit. It was also a little bit hectic with so many people in our house and kids running around everywhere. There were days when we were all so busy taking care of our kids, that we would finally sit down at nap time and say, "Hey, how are you?" We did have a couple evenings out to catch up and talk and we stayed up way too late almost every night. So thankful for these girls and that they came to visit me. Also thankful for my husband for being such a good sport and babysitting for us! Next time I think we will plan a girl's weekend away, with out kids.

Visit to Focus

The babies were so funny. They would just sit and look at whoever was sitting next to them. We got a new minivan a few weeks ago and it was nice to be able to fit everyone in one car. We love our new car and all the space and conveniences. So I've become a minivan mom, but I really don't mind, it's just so practical.

I think it's funny they are making the same face.

Lindsay helped us so much with the kids!

We went to the zoo one day. Mason loved the giraffes.

Alyssa took this picture of us.

Alyssa and Caleb loved the otters. They would scream everytime they swam past them.

Little buddies

T.V time meant a little bit a of quiet. For a couple minutes anyway.

Lindsay, Alyssa and Rugby. Lindsay and Rugby are great buddies. Rug has probably spent at least 3 months at Lindsay's house over the years. She would watch him while we took long trips to CO during Nate's deployments and stuff. He misses playing with her dogs.

Sunday we leave for Angel Fire, NM for a ski trip with some friends we met during Nate's pilot training. We haven't seen some of them in 5 years! We were all kidless back then and now there are 5 kids between us. It will be another fun and crazy week! Can't wait!

Mason 10 months

2011-03-04T11:55:00.001-08:00

Mason turned 10 months a couple weeks ago. His first year has gone by soo fast! His personality is growing all the time and he is definitely communicating when he wants something or doesn't like something. He is all over the place now, so we had to get a couple gates to corral him. We didn't have any gates for Alyssa, partly because of the layout of the house, having only her and the biggest thing... she actually listened when we told her 'no'. Mason DOES NOT listen. And maybe that's normal for 10 months, but man, I spend so much of my day telling him 'no' and redirecting him it's crazy. And he does not respond at all. He will do the same thing over and over again. I really hopes be starts catching on soon.

These pictures on my hope chest are getting more diffcult. He doesn't want to just sit there.

Mason is so fun. He is generally a really happy guy, loves playing with Daddy and Alyssa and exploring everything.

He is getting very close to walking. He can stand by him self for 10-15 seconds and then sits down. But it won't be long.

He is still eating like a champ and I hope gaining some weight. He still wears 6-9 month clothes, but I feel like he's growing.

He is sleeping much better(although not this week since he's teething), but he is an early riser and usually has one of us up by 6am. Lucky for me, Nate is awesome and lets me sleep in a lot of mornings.

He says mama and we've heard him say dada a couple time.

We love you so much Mason! I love having a little boy!

February recap

2011-03-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

I've been a bad blogger so here is a recap of February.....

Happy Valentines Day

Mason's First Valentine's

Cute hats my aunt made for the kiddos

We got this really fun ball that you can sit in and get rolled around. Alyssa loves getting flipped around in it. It's a great indoor thing to do when it's cold outside.

I actually tried it out, but I think I'm a little too old for such activities. Man I would have loved it when I was a kid!

Mason was a little scared of it, but he loved pressing his face against it and making funny faces.

Daddy-Daughter Dance

2011-02-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

Nate and Alyssa are off on a date tonight. They went to a Daddy-Daughter dance at the Y. It's was so sweet to see how excited she got when Nate gave her an invitation for a date with Daddy. Moments like that are priceless.

All dressed up

She was all into posing for these pictures. Silly girl.

Hope they have fun! I get a date with the handsome guy next weekend :)

Monkey Mason

2011-02-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

Mason is busy.

And he's trouble.

Caught him doing a lot of crazy things today.

Don't worry, he was being supervised. But man is he fast! I love this age of curiosity but it can be exhausting :)

Oh, is this not ok, mom?

He really got curious about the fireplace because we had a fire all day yesterday. Now he thinks it's cool place to climb, and I think it's a good place to fall and crack his head. Love this little guy.

The last of the Disney pics

2011-01-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

Epcot

2011-01-29T09:07:00.001-08:00

Alyssa loved the Nemo ride. She rode it 3 times.

Soarin' was another one of Alyssa's favorites. She flapped her arms the whole ride, so cute. Epcot was a great day for Alyssa. She had this little passport thing that she had stamped at every country, she liked that.

9 months

2011-01-19T19:05:00.002-08:00

Mason is growing up into a little man. He is crawling on all fours now and can pull up on almost anything. I think he may be an early walker. He is so smiley and so much fun!

He is a great eater, but still pretty small for his age. He is attempting to drink from a sippy cup and bottle which gives me a glimmer of hope for a night away soon :)

Mason is not a sleeper. At night anyway. He still hasn't been sleeping through the night, so we have resorted to some "drastic" measures to get him to sleep. We are kind of in the middle of it so I'll let you know if it works. I feel like I've been trying to 'fix' his sleep for months and I'm realizing that I may not be able to fix it. He has been napping great though so thats good.

Love that smile:)

I saw this on a friends blog and thought it was a cute. And it just so happened that we were approaching the 'he's been out as long as he was in' mark. It also happened to be right on his 9 month birthday. So....

39 weeks 2 days in

39 weeks 2 days out

Animal Kingdom

2011-01-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

We spent the second day at Animal Kingdom. It was our shortest day and we tried to fit in a lot. The park was really neat and we did a lot of walking. We rode the Everest rollercoater a couple times, did the safari, and saw The Lion King show. Alyssa freaked out again on the Dinosuar ride (actually really scary) and at A Bug's Life show ( a 4D show where they squirted us with water, had "bugs" run across our seats, and spiders come down from the ceiling. So we struck out again on those two. She enjoyed The Lion King show though and thats how we ended the day.

Everest!

The safari was really cool. We saw a lot of animals and the jeep ride was pretty fun too.

The Lion King

Mason with his 3D bug's life glasses. He didn't seem to mind the show :)

Disney World Day 1

2011-01-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

Our first day at Disney World. We got a late start the first day because Alyssa was up for about 2 hours in the middle of the night with an earache. Luckily it was just pressure from the plane trip and not an ear infection. We started at Hollywood Studios and Alyssa's first ride was the Tower of Terror. That was a mistake. We thought she would like the ride part since she's been pretty brave in the past. I knew it was a little scary (dark, old, creepy etc.) but it had been a while and if I would have gone on it first I wouldn't have taken Alyssa. She was so freaked out of the dark, and all the scary stuff. She really never mentioned the ride part, she just couldn't stop talking about everything else. We redeemed ourselves by taking her to The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast shows. They were pretty good. We headed to Magic Kingdom at lunch time. Our original plan was to take a break every afternoon and go back to the condo. It never happened. It just took too much time and ended up not being worth it. So our kiddos had to tough it out. Mason did great, but Alyssa got really tired at times. So we got Magic Kingdom just in time for the last Christmas parade of the season. It was the best! Probably one of the highlights. Alyssa loved it so much and waved the whole time. We did a couple rides that day including Splash Mountain, which Alyssa also hated. I was feeling pretty bad for her since she didn't like most of the rides we took her on the first day. So, note to self, don't take a 4 year old on all the scary rides, especially the first day, just because she's tall enough. Alyssa met some princesses and we ended the night with the Christmas fireworks. The castle is absolutely beautiful all lit up for Christmas! I'm so glad we got to see it. It was a busy first day but so much fun!

They invited the kids up to dance during a performance and Alyssa ran out to join in. She's so funny!

Beauty and the Beast. The costumes were amazing. I actually enjoyed it more than the Broadway version we saw last month.

\

Me and Nate outside Rockin' Rollercoaster. Best ride at Disney.

The Christmas parade

One of my favs. She put her arms up when they threw the confetti.

Alyssa with Sleeping Beauty. She saw Sleeping Beauty again another day and said "Sleeping Beauty didn't remember me".

Cinderella

Belle.

Meeting the characters was a highlight for Alyssa. We didn't wait more than 20 minutes for a ride (thanks to Nate for running all over the parks for fastpasses) but we waited in line 20-30 minutes to see most of the characters. That was something I didn't expect.

The castle lit up for Chritmas. Beautiful.

Fireworks. or pops as Alyssa used to say.

Alyssa and Addison. We had the chance to see both of our friends that have just recently moved to Florida. Nate, Tessa, Addison and Jake met up with us that day. The girls really enjoyed seeing each other.

We also got to see the Haag's the day we left. Logan and the kids came to our hotel for a swim and then we got to see their new house and hang out a bit before they took us to the airport. Thanks guys!

I wish this turned out better, but I still like it.

Walker Christmas

2011-01-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Our neighbors houses all lit up

The boys

Paul, Julie and Zoe

Mason and Poppop

Grammy and the kiddos

Climbing presents again with Eli

Alyssa and Cassi opening the first gift of Christmas, God's gift to us, the Bible.

Christmas Day

2011-01-07T14:28:00.001-08:00

One of my favorites

Here is the dollhouse I spent many nights working on. It turned out pretty good and Alyssa was very excited about it. I hope she takes care of it and doesn't destroy all the furniture, the furniture is pretty fragile. But she's 4 and I guess I need to expect some wear and tear.

Mason loved climbing on the presents. He was so cute on his 1st Christmas.

My new coat. Nate picked it out. He did a good job.

The Black Forest cake I made from scratch. It was a lot of work and very messy to make, but it was worth it.

The whole crew....We had everyone over to our house for Christmas dinner. It was nice to be home all day on Christmas.

Christmas Eve

2011-01-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

The Polar Express

2010-12-21T13:44:00.001-08:00

We had a big weekend with lots of activities! Sunday we went on the Santa train in Canon City. It's a lot like the Polar Express, we wore our jammies, had cocoa and cookies and went to the North Pole. It was really cute.

Alyssa and Mason in their Christmas jammies. (Thats our new family picture in the background, love it!)

Sweet boy

Mason looks huge! He's really not that big!

Getting ready to board the train.

Mason spent about half the train ride looking out the window like this. He loved looking out the window even when there wasn't much to see. It was nice that he was so entertained!

The "real" Santa

Telling Santa she wants a dollhouse for Christmas. My mom, Bethany and I have been working on restoring a dollhouse that has been in our family for 100 years. My great, great grandfather made it for my great grandmother in 1910. Then my grandma had it when she was little. My grandma gave it to me for Christmas when I was 3, and now it's going on to the next generation. I'm really excited to give it to her and hopefully she won't mind that it's not from Santa.

It's been really fun doing all this christmasy stuff, but I hope Alyssa isn't missing the true meaning of Christmas. How easy it is to get busy and wrapped up in all things "Christmas" and not focus on what truly matters. We are reading through the Christmas story and doing a cute little nativity activity. I really hope her 4 year old heart can understand a little of the miracle of Jesus being born as a baby, for us.

It's a bird, It's a plane, It's...Santa!

2010-12-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

Nate's work put on a really cool Christams party for the kids on Saturday. Santa and his elves jumped out of a plane and parachuted down to where we were waiting. It was neat.

Santa!

One of me favorites of these two :) Bethany has been hanging out with us a lot and joining in all the fun!

Alyssa knew this wasn't the "real" Santa. She said she could tell he was just dressed up like Santa. We decided Santa probably didn't know how to jump out of an airplane.

Ice skating

2010-12-21T13:31:00.001-08:00

Alyssa went ice skating for the first time on Friday. She really liked it and actually did pretty well. She was unsure at first but by the end she would skate holding on to just one persons hand. It was fun!

Ready to go!

One of my favorite pics of the two of them :)

Christmas playdate

2010-12-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

Had a playdate today with Emily, caleb and Ryan and Katie and Fisher. The kids made ornaments and decorated cookies. It was fun to visit with friends from WA!

Decorating cookies

Fisher

Emily and Caleb

Alyssa's creation

Mason and Ryan

All the kiddos, too bad nobody is looking.

Some Christmas Festivities

2010-12-17T15:09:00.000-08:00

Santa breakfast

Mason was adorable with Santa. He just wanted to snuggle up in his beard. Santa loved him too and said he wanted to keep him. This was after he'd seen probably a couple hundred kids. I guess most babies aren't a huge fan of Santa.

Our gingerbread house. We worked on this when Nate was home last weekend.

Some of Mason's new moves.... He can pull up on some low things like the fireplace, and is trying really hard to get the coordination to crawl. He's close, but the scooting works fine too.

He didn't get up on his own but he stood there for like 5 minutes.

Alyssa and Caleb

Emily and her kids are here to visit so we've been hanging out with them. It's so hard to get a good picture! We are going ice skating with them tonight. I'll let ya know how that goes!

Beauty and the Beast

2010-12-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Grammy and PopPop took us to see Beauty and the Beast last night. Alyssa was very excited about it, but as it got closer she started acting really whiney. I was a little frustrated that she was acting like that when she was getting to go to such a nice play. We got there and she was still acting funny, saying she was tired, which she was since it was bedtime and she hadn't napped. She came and sat on my lap about 15 minutes into it and and I knew what was up. She was burning up. So we only lasted until intermission. She really wasn't feeling well. PopPop took us home so Grammy and Sarah could watch the rest of the show. It was really good! The first half anyway. Alyssa was pretty bummed she didn't see her favorite part (when belle and the beast start falling in love). And she asked if we could come back tomorrow, sad :( The funny thing is, this isn't the first time she has been sick at a show like this. Last year when we went to see The Rockettes she was sick too. Man, better luck next time. Thank you Grammy and PopPop!

Christmas Lights

2010-12-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

Our cul-de-sac is famous for Christmas lights. When we tell people where we live we've had people say, "oh, thats the neighborhood that has a ton of Christmas lights." And then we say,"yep,that's our cul-de-sac." Two of our neighbors have been putting on an impressive show for 20 years. It pretty much looks like National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. Our landlord was nice enough to leave all their decorations, which made it a lot easier for us. We have about 1/20th of the lights that our neighbors have, but it's the most we've ever done. You will have to drive by and see for yourself!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

Mason's first Thanksgiving

Alyssa checking out the Black friday ads.

Olive fingers!

Eli trying to steal some of Mason's puffs. It was funny!

Playing piano at Grammy's. We may have some budding artists.

Mason 7 months

2010-11-23T07:48:00.001-08:00

Mason is 7 months! He is keeping me on my toes! He started doing the army crawl almost a month a go and he is getting FAST! I was hoping for another month of immobility, but he loves being on the move. He is very content on the floor and not so much in our arms anymore. My baby boy is growing up! He is super wiggly on the changing table and getting into things that he shouldn't be so we are starting to work on discipline. I can't beleive we are to that point already. He's learning. He loves playing with Alyssa and Daddy. He is sleeping about the same. Waking up between 5 and 6am to eat. Sometimes he thinks it's morning after the feeding. The last few days we've been putting him down later, around 8-8:30pm, and he has been sleeping til 8am after the 6 am feed. Thats been kind of nice, although now Alyssa think 6something is morning. ugh. If only they could coordinate their schedules :)

Alyssa's Birthday #4!

2010-11-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

Alyssa is 4!

My big girl!

We went to Chic-fil-A for lunch, went to a little cupcake shop for a treat and Alyssa had a bubble bath and her nails painted.

Nana came to wish Alyssa Happy Birthday!

Our 4 year old all tuckered out :)

Alyssa is 4!!

2010-11-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

Alyssa had her big 4th birthday party yesterday. It was at Chuck E Cheese, pretty exciting. She had 5 friends and our families there. It seemed like quite a whirlwind of activities. They played games, had cake, met Chuckie, opened presents and played some more. Alyssa enjoyed herself and I think all the other kids did too.

Birthday Girl!

Her pillow pet! That was the big thing she wanted for her b-day. She told everyone she wanted one, luckily she only got one:)

Getting ready for the ticket blaster.

She didn't actually catch anything, but she thought it was fun. They gave her some free tickets though.

Alyssa and Avery

Alyssa and Morgan

Coral and Blaise

Avery and Ashton

Pop Pop and Mason

Paul and Julie

Grammy and Pop Pop

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl! I love you!

Little Blue Eyes

2010-11-13T07:42:00.001-08:00

.....................................................................................

It's fun to see Alyssa and Mason starting to play together. One day while I was making dinner I asked Alyssa to play with Mason, and this is what they did. Mason loved all the attention from his big sister. It's hopefully the begining of a great brother-sister relationship.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder......

2010-11-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

I got to fly today!! Riding in the glider was so much fun. It was a perfect day, no wind and clear skies. The flight was really smooth and the view was incredible. It was so cool being up there in an aircraft with no engine. The tow plane pulled us up a couple thousand feet and then they cut the rope and we glided down. It was a really awesome experience!

Little Ballerina

2010-11-03T12:57:00.001-07:00

Alyssa started a ballet and tap class last week. The little girls are soo adorable. It is so cute to see 3 and 4 year old girls dancing around. The teacher is so good with them too. I was pretty surprised how well Alyssa did at following directions and paying attention. She really enjoys it.

Halloween

2010-11-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Alyssa was very excited to jump in the leaves, but there were too many pine needles so it was too pokey :(

Pumpkin carving. Such a beautiful day!

Alyssa's pumpkins

A C-17 flew over the Air Force game while we were outside carving pumpkins. The jump team jumped out of the C-17. Pretty cool.

They are doing a make up spouse flight on Thursday. Maybe we will have better luck!

Princess Snow White

The girls. Cassi and Alyssa

The boys. Mason and Eli

Great pic of them all together!

Little punkin head

Snow white and monkey

Fall Pictures

2010-10-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

Spouse Day

2010-10-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Today was spouse day at Nate's squadron. I was supposed to get a ride in a glider, but it ended up being too windy :( I was really looking forward to it, maybe next year.

Falcon. Pretty cool to see close up

The cockpit. I actually got in the glider thinking we were going to be able to go up. The glider in front of me was cleared to take off and then a big gust spun it around. So that was the end of that. They tried again later but it was still too windy....

Tow plane pulling the glider on take off. They release the rope between the glider and the plane in flight and then it just glides down to the ground. Pretty cool.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-27T12:36:00.001-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. They don't actually grow the pumpkins there, they just dumped them on the ground. I guess pumpkins don't grow well here. It was a little cold and windy but we had a good time. Alyssa loved the hay slides. We went on a tractor ride, climbed the hay tower, did the hay maze and picked out a few pumpkins. A nice festive fall day.

Some thoughts

2010-10-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have been challenged lately in my mothering. I feel like I'm being reminded all the time how quickly time goes and how we have this one chance to be with our kids, teach them, play with them, love them. The thing that is hard for me is balance....How do I balance my marriage, my children and myself and be the best wife, mother and me for all. I love my family, my husband, my kids, I really wouldn't want to be doing anything else than be here with them. But there is that pressure, that feeling that I'm not doing enough for someone. Am I living up to my potential? Am I doing enough as a mother? Am I teaching Alyssa enough? Do I hold Mason enough? Am I neglecting Nate? Am I spending enough time with the Lord? I feel challenged to be more aware of what God has called me to. What are God's dreams/desires for my life? I want to "live a life worthy of the calling you have received."(Ephesians 4:1). I know that being a wife and mother is what God has called me to and I want to do my best job at it. But ya know, it gets mundane sometimes and I take everday things for granted. I want to make the most of my time with my kids and Nate, not waste it or wish it away. One thing I remember my sister saying is she loved being four. She loved that year being home with my mom. The one thing I remember her saying is that she loved folding sheets with my mom. It wasn't the many activities she did, or pre-school or even DisneyLand (which we did do when she was 4), it was a simple, everyday, mundane task that my mom made fun for her. Thats what she remembers, or at least what I remember her saying. It really stuck with me and helps me remember how important it is to be all there, even in the ordinary. This poem "Time is of the Essence" brought all of this to mind today. It's in a book called A Mother's Heart, it's been good for me.

Now is the time to get things done...
wade in the water,
sit in the sun,
squish my toes
in the mud by the door,
explore the world in a girl just four.

Now is the time to get things done...
flowers,
snails,
how a cloud looks;
to ponder "up",
where God sleeps nights,
why mosquitoes take such big bites.

Later there'll be time
to sew and clean,
paint the hall
that soft new green,
to make new drapes,
refinish the floor-

Later on....when she's not just four.

I have an almost four year old who is about to get up from her nap. I can't wait to make the most out the afternoon with her :)

Mason 6 months

2010-10-20T07:59:00.002-07:00

My little man is 6 months old! Time has just flown by! Mason brings so much joy to our home, we are so blessed to have him. His smile is so sweet, he's starting to scrunch up his nose when he smiles.

He is getting really close to sitting on his own. He did pretty good for these pictures, but most of the time he tips over after a few seconds.

He would rather stand than sit at this point. He's pretty stable on those little legs.

He is starting to do this scooting thing....already. He can get to toys that are just out of reach. He pulls his knees up a little bit and pushes off. It really won't be long until this guy is mobile. I need to start baby proofing my house!

I know the next 6 months will fly by even faster than the first 6....they just grow up so fast.

*A little update on Mason's sleep. He is doing better. Still not where I'd like him to be at this point, but it's better. We went back to letting him cry it out in the night since the other methods weren't working and with some advice from a friend. He was waking up at 2am and 4am so we started with the 2am wake up. He cried at 2am for 4 nights and on the 5th night he didn't wake up at 2, he slept til 6am! He is now fairly consistently sleeping until 5am and then sleeping til 7, except last night, he was up at 3am:( But I feel like he is making progress. The next step, after I feel like he is consistently sleeping til at least 5, is to cut out the 5am feeding doing the same thing. He's close...I feel a full 8 hours of sleep coming very soon!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

2010-10-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Family Fun Day

2010-10-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

We try to have "Family Fun Night" every month or so, it's usually simple like ordering pizza and watching a movie of Alyssa's choosing. It's funny how ordinary things can be so fun for kids when you give it a fun name like "Family Fun Night". Saturday we tried to make a day of it, but it was really pretty ordinary for the most part.

Nate and Alyssa being silly. I forget what the were doing but Nate was making funny noises and Alyssa wanted to do it too :)

We had mickey mouse pancakes. Mason didn't get any but he was still as happy as can be.

We ran some errands to get firewood and some other supplies. Then we went to the park to play. This park has a merry-go-round! Haven't seen one in years.

Alyssa helping to build our first fire. It was a little smokey, but it was fun. Anyone have any advice on wood that doesn't stink up the house?

Getting cozy before the movie.

Mason was very intrigued by the fire.

Making our first s'mores in our fireplace.

We learned Alyssa isn't a huge fan of s'mores. She took one bite and was done with it. She did like the chocolate and graham crackers by themselves though.

Our little pumpkins:) This was before we tried to go the pumpkin patch. We got there and it was cold and very crowded. There were at least 3 bus loads full of kids, so we'll try it again another day. We saved the day by going to Focus instead. A great family weekend!

Mason's First Haircut

2010-10-08T12:52:00.001-07:00

Nate had been bugging me for a while to cut Mason's hair. I really wasn't ready to do it but Nate convinced me it was time. I have to admit it looks pretty good.

Before

What's going on?

He chewed the cape the whole time. He sat there unfazed, even when she used the razor...

So handsome!

I can't believe I just cut my 5 month olds hair!

More Pagosa

2010-10-06T11:54:00.001-07:00

Our weekend

2010-10-03T15:36:00.001-07:00

Alyssa and Cassi

Alyssa and Eli

The fam

Alyssa and Grandmama. Grandmama got Alyssa and Cassi matching cinderella jammies. They were a big hit!

Sweet little boy cousins

Dancing at the Houles

Getting along so well:)

A few pictures of the kiddos

2010-10-03T15:31:00.001-07:00

Mason 5 months

2010-10-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

He really isn't sitting up alone yet, but he's getting better all the time. It took a few shots of him falling over to get this one:)

Mason is 5 months old! He is doing great! He is getting more mobile, rolling a lot, he can turn himself 360 degress, and sometimes attempts to get on his knees. I think he will be crawling in another month or so and I'm not ready for that yet! He loves food. He is always watching us eat and wants whatever we have. He loves his baby food and cereal. So far he has had bananas, avocado, pears and applesauce. I tried sweet potatoes but they didn't settle well. Sleep is still an issue but we're working on it. Nate wants me to cut his hair, I really wanted to wait til he was 6 months but it is getting a little out of control. He is so much fun and we love him soo much!!

Pagosa Springs

2010-10-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Pagosa Springs. We were a little bummed that the trees weren't at their peak of color, but we had a great time. We went on a long hike one day. Nate and I had quite a workout carrying the kids for a few miles. I don't have pics of the hike yet, but the waterfall at the end of the trail was really neat. Nate and I had our 7th anniversary date. We went to dinner, had a huge banana split and then to the hot springs. It was a very relaxing evening. Sunday we met Devon in Durango and went to another hot springs. It was a great weekend, but we spent the week recovering from lack of sleep due to Mason's constant night wakings all weekend. Oh well, thats how it goes:)

Megan's visit

2010-10-03T08:15:00.001-07:00

Megan came to visit a couple weeks ago. We went to Manitou Lake in Woodland Park for the day. We had a picnic and walked around the lake. There was a "beware of mountain lions" sign and Alyssa was very concerned, she kept telling us to" keep your eyes peeled for mountain lions."

Stumped

2010-09-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

I wish I had some great news to report, that Mason was sleeping throught the night, but no. We've had some rough nights around here. Not just Mason either, Alyssa has been waking up at night which is completely out of character, ugh. So for a few nights when Alyssa was waking up every couple hours from 11-4, I had no energy to do anything but feed mason when he woke up at 4:30. The only problem is now he won't even go back to sleep when I feed him! He stays quiet about 20 min, poops and then won't go back to sleep. Any ideas on how to alter his potty schedule? Last night we let him cry about 20 min before I fed him, just to see if he might go back to sleep. No luck, so I fed him and he was up 20 min later with a dirty diaper. Changed him put him back down. We knew he was fine, fed and changed. So we let him cry for about 40 minutes. When we went to get him he was hysterical, hyperventilating and he had rolled over onto his tummy (another new problem). He would not calm down so I fed him again and he was out, well for an hour until I woke him up to start the day. I just cannot accept that 4:30am is morning, but it seems that Mason thinks so. The only thing I'm hoping for now is that he outgrows the 4 am wake up really soon.

Night 3 and 4

2010-09-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well last night didn't go as great as I'd hoped. He woke up at his usual time 3:45am, he wasn't that upset at first and was tempted to let him fuss a while but he started getting more upset so I went in and had him calmed down in about 5 min. I thought, yay that was quick. He made a little noise at 4:30am but went back to sleep. Then we heard him again at 4:50 am and had to go in. Took 15 min to get to to sleep. Up again at 5:30, took another 10-15min. He was very restless. I could calm him down quickly but he just kept stirring and would not sleep for more than 20-30 minutes. Finally he slept from 5:45 - 6:15 and then I fed him awake and laid him back down. He stayed in bed til 6:45, awake I think, then we were up for the day. So I'm not really sure what to think. He is just so restless after 4am. This was the case before too. I would feed him around 4am and then he'd be up 1.5-2hrs later. So I'm not sure if he's restless now because he's hungry or if it's because it's just a restless time for him. I'm hoping that it will get better cause I'm exhausted. I know that I have to stick with it a little longer to really see results, but I just wonder why he won't stay asleep. They don't really address this in the book, I need answers!! The other thing is with the "dream feed" I'm not able to go to bed early to try to get more sleep. I have to say up til 10:30 or 11pm to feed him. At least naptime is continuing to go well.

Night 4

I caved....I fed him at 4:30am. I just don't know. He woke up at 4 and I tried for 30 min to calm him.. He would calm down and I stood there to make sure he was asleep. I would climb into bed and he would start up again. This happened several times. He would calm down but would not stay asleep. He seemed hungry and thats one reason why I thought he wasn't able to sleep. So I fed him and he was semi awake when I put him back down, he slept til 7am. I was so exhausted I just did not have it in me to keep going to morning. I picked a bad time to do this too cause Nate hasn't been able to help much (checkrides, TDY). So I'm not sure if I'm going to keep trying this or if I'm going to go back to the 7:30pm til 4am, feed at 4 and then do the patting if he wakes up before 7. He just seems to be stuck at a 3-4 am wake up regardless if he has a dream feed or not. If nothing else, naptime is still going well so at least we fixed that problem. Why is this so hard!?

NIght 2 Day 2

2010-09-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last night was better than the night before. Nate got up with him so I got a little break, but still didn't sleep from 4- 4:45am. Mason woke up at 4am and Nate went in and did the sh/pat. He didn't even need to be picked up at all. It took about 15 minutes and he was asleep. About 5 minutes later we hear him again. Nate went in but by the time he got there he was already settling back to sleep, so Nate didn't have to do anything. About 20 min later we hear him again, Nate went in and gave him his lovey and he went back to sleep. After that he slept 1hr 15 min and woke up at 6. Nate tried to get him back to sleep but he seemed hungry so I went in and fed him with the lights on and made sure he didn't nurse back to sleep. I put him back down awake and he was quiet til 6:45 when I went in and got him to start the day. I don't know if he slept for those 30 min or not, but he was quiet. I put him down for his nap around 8:20 and he went down great and is still asleep at 9:10am. Now the hope is that he will take longer naps without waking up and that he will sleep til at least 6:30 in the morning. I'm really, really glad we did this. The last two days have been so great and stress free!

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The rest of the day went good. He slept 1.5 hrs for his morning nap and 2hrs 15 min at his second. He even woke up and fussed a little at the 2 hr point and went back to sleep for another 15 min. I didn't put him down for an evening nap today which I probably should have. He was fussy tonight. It seems like he wants to sleep more now that we've started this. Kinda weird, but good. So, I hope tonight gets even better. I really hope that he will sleep until at least 6:30am. This has been pretty tiring, but worth it so far. This probably isn't very interesting to most people, but I just want to have a record of everything we did so I can remember it down the road.

Sleep Training Day 1

2010-09-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

It was a really good day. Mason took 3 naps today and went down without any crying for all 3 of them. He even took the evening cat nap which he rarely takes anymore and would always take in the swing. He woke up from the 1st nap after about an hour so I went in and patted him until he settled. He slept another 30 minutes. The 2nd nap he slept 1hr 40 min and I patted him and he slept another 10 minutes. The goal is to get two 2 hour naps and a catnap around 30-45min. Today was way more than I hoped for. There was no stress and no crying. I know this is not the end of it, we will have some more rough days and nights, but it's encouraging that he made such great progress. Nate has night duty tonight. That means I get to sleep from 10:30pm to 6:30am! Haven't done that it a long time. Hopefully Mason will settle down half the time- 45 minutes tonight.

Sleep Training

2010-09-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start sleep training Mason. We have had a really rough time with sleeping for about a month and a half. Prior to a month and a half ago Mason was a great sleeper, for naps and at bedtime. He would go down without a fuss and would wake once at night for a feeding. Then he started waking more at night wanting to be fed since thats all he knew, and then he started screaming at naptime. I did cry it out with Alyssa around this stage at naptime, and it seemed to work for her. Going in just made it worse for her. So I tried the same thing with Mason and he would cry for an hour and not go to sleep. Then I started going in every few minutes to calm him and it still took forver for him to go down for a nap. The middle of the night was bad too. I tried not feeding him, I tried rocking, bouncing anything, he would fall asleep but would wake up 5 minutes later. Nate tried too with no luck. So I'm trying the pick up/put down method of the Baby Whisperer. Last night I made sure he didn't nurse to sleep, (which he does about half the time) and put him down awake at 7:45. He went right to sleep which is pretty normal. It's the only time lately he goes down without crying. Then I did a "dream feed" at 10:30 which I haven't been doing. He slept till 3:15am. Then the fun began. I did a mix of patting/ shushing in the crib and pick up/ put down. I would pat him as long as he wasn't too upset and when he started really crying I would pick him up until he calmed down (up to 2 minutes) and would lay him back down. He would start crying immediately and I would pick him up again. Eventually he got a little calmer in the crib and I just patted and shushed. He finally went to sleep, without a feeding! But it took 1 1/2 hours. I'm so glad there wasn't a clock in the room or I think I would have been more tempted to give up. He slept from 4:45 to 6:20. So about 8 hours from his dream feed. I'm glad the first night is over. I wasn't sure what to expect today at naptime, I expected another long episode. But.....I put him down at 8am, did a little naptime routine, layed him down with his lovey and I never heard a peep out of him!!! That is the first time in weeks and weeks that he's gone down for a nap without a huge fit. I guess I'll see how long he sleeps, but that is progress. I know we have some more difficult naps and nights ahead but it's good to see progress so quickly. I'm really realizing how different babies are. I was really all for cry it out and thought it would work for most babies if people really stuck to it, it did for Alyssa so why not Mason. But he needs something a little different and I think and hope this will be it for him. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Football Weekend

2010-09-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

This was a big football weekend for the kiddos. It was Alyssa and Mason's first Air Force football game and Mason's first Bronco game. It was such a beautiful day yesterday, perfect for football. I just LOVE fall in Colorado! We did a little tailgating before the game. We forgot the burgers, but we made due with buns, cheese and 4 hotdogs :) Alyssa was a bit tired before the game even started but we still managed to have a good time. Yay for football season!!!!

Pics with the Pop Pops

This is the first picture I have of Mason and Pop Pop Walker! How did that happen?!

Daddy's little football buddy

What a day