Our St. Patrick's Day

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

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

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

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

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.